Sci-Fi Storm

After the abrupt departure of Roberto Orci as heir-apparent of the Star Trek franchise, the Enterprise has a new skipper at the helm in the form of Justin Lin, who revived the Fast & Furious franchise and directed four of the films.

Lin was in line to direct the next Bourne Legacy installment, but that was temporarily shelved in favor of a returning Matt Damon and another Bourne Identity film, opening up Lin’s schedule.

I only hope that he doesn’t end up continuing the high-speed improbable action sequences…I want a return to thought-provoking Trek.

Deadline reported last evening and then Variety seems to have confirmed that Paramount is kicking Roberto Orci out of the director’s chair for the Star Trek franchise.

The heir-apparent to J.J. Abrams, who left one franchise to take on Star Wars for Disney/Lucasfilm, apparently continued to butt heads with the studio over plans for the direction of the film/franchise (in one rumor I heard it involved a time machine gimmick that could have invalidated the events of the first two movies). He will remain on as a producer.

Paramount now needs to scramble to fill the center seat if they hope to still make a planned 2016 release. Rumors swirl about a short list already, with Trek fan Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) at the top of the list.

Leonard Nimoy has COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), a severe disease that limits lung function and is often linked to smoking.

Nimoy tweeted last week that he had the disease, even after quitting smoking 30 years ago. “Not soon enough. I have COPD. Grandpa says, quit now!! LLAP”

Today he gave an update in a couple of tweets: “Smokers, please understand. If you quit after you’re diagnosed with lung damage it’s too late. Grandpa says learn my lesson. Quit now…I’m doing OK. Just can’t walk distances. Love my life,family, friends and followers. LLAP”

“LLAP” is his typical signoff on his tweets, short for his signature Vulcan saying, “Live Long and Prosper”.

I wish I had the money…and the basement! Line Rainville, from Quebec Canada, remodeled her basement for $30,000, but it wasn’t your average finished basement. Instead, she themed it to various parts of the Enterprise, including the bridge, Spock’s quarters, observation deck, and rec room with faux replicators!

Jeri Ryan (Star Trek: Voyager, Body of Proof) is set to join Syfy’s newest original scripted series Helix for a multi-episode arc. Ryan joins a cast led by Billy Campbell (The Killing, Killing Lincoln) and Hiroyuki Sanada (The Wolverine, 47 Ronin) on the 13-episode drama series, executive produced by Ronald D. Moore (Battlestar Galactica, Outlander), Steven Maeda (Lost, The X-Files) who is also showrunner, and Lynda Obst (Sleepless in Seattle, Contact).

Ryan will portray the beautiful and charismatic Constance Sutton, the Chief Operating Officer of Ilaria Corporation, owner of Arctic Biosystems, the research facility where the series takes place. Charming and savvy, Sutton is used to getting her way at any cost.

Jeri Ryan is best known to science fiction fans for her role as Seven of Nine on the series Star Trek: Voyager. Most recently, Ryan has been a familiar face on primetime network television as Dr. Kate Murphy in ABC’s Body of Proof. She was also a series regular in Boston Public as Ronnie Cooke, the CBS legal drama Shark opposite James Woods, and NBC’s Dark Skies. In addition to her recurring roles on projects like Two and a Half Men, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit and Leverage, Jeri Ryan has also appeared on the big screen in films such as Down with Love and Dracula 2000.

Helix is an intense thriller about a team of scientists from the Centers for Disease Control who travel to the high-tech research facility Arctic Biosystems, to investigate a possible disease outbreak, only to find themselves pulled into a terrifying life-and-death struggle that may hold the key to mankind’s salvation or total annihilation. However, the lethal threat is just the tip of the iceberg, and as the virus evolves, the chilling truth begins to unravel.

Campbell stars as Dr. Alan Farragut, leader of the Centers for Disease Control outbreak field team called upon to investigate and control a potential outbreak. Sanada also stars as Dr. Hiroshi Hatake, director of Arctic Biosystems and its mysterious viral research program.

Helix also stars Kyra Zagorsky (Supernatural) as Dr. Julia Walker, Mark Ghanimé (Emily Owens, M.D.) as Major Sergio Balleseros, Jordan Hayes (House at the End of the Street) as Dr. Sarah Jordan, Meegwun Fairbrother as Daniel Aerov, Catherine Lemieux (White House Down) as Dr. Doreen Boyle and Neil Napier (Riddick) as Dr. Peter Farragut.

Helix is produced by Tall Ship Productions, Kaji Productions and Lynda Obst Productions in association with Sony Pictures Television. Prolific director and producer Jeffrey Reiner is directing the premiere episode of Helix.

Star Trek: Into Darkness, the second adventure in J.J. Abrams rebooted Star Trek franchise, is out on [sfs=1342]Blu-ray[/sfs] and [sfs=1343]DVD[/sfs] next Tuesday…is the Blu-ray worth it? I’d say a conditional Yes. What may be a deciding factor is how much you like special features.

First, some of the technical details…I will talk about the film later for those who would still like to avoid the “big spoiler” that is probably widely known across the interwebs by now…

The Blu-ray version of the movie comes on a single disc, with the 3D version on another disc, and both come with the feature alone on separate DVD…there is no additional special features disc included. The feature is in full 1080p, with a Dolby TrueHD 7.1 audio track (no DTS-HD track), as well as Dolby 5.1 English, French, Spanish and Portuguese, plus English Audio Description. It is also captioned in English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Portuguese.

The feature looks amazing on Blu-ray…and that is very important to this film, because the visuals are top notch, and there are a LOT of them. Spectacular scenes abound. The audio quality is good, although when listening just through my TV set was a little unbalanced volume-wise. At times the audio had to be turned way up to hear dialog, but then blasted the ears during fight scenes. I think this may be fairly typical however of most Blu-rays through my TV system, however, but I’m still on the search for a new HD-capable receiver.
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Every fan of Star Trek knows who actor Michael Ansara was…he played the Klingon commander Kang in the episode “Day of the Dove”, and then reprised the role not once but twice, on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager. Ansara passed away Wednesday at the age of 91.

You’ve probably seen him in many other things as well, with his distinctive face and voice…just in the SF and fantasy realm, Ansara had guest roles in Babylon 5, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (as Kane, Princess Ardala’s right-hand man, replacing the original actor from the pilot), Lost In Space (as the father of a young Kurt Russell), Land of the Giants, The Outer Limits and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea as well as the 1961 movie – overall, he has 189 different titles to his credit. In the late 50s, he had starring roles playing Native Americans in the series Broken Arrow and Law of the Plainsman.

He received a star on the Walk of Fame in 1960. He was also married to I Dream of Jeannie‘s Barbara Eden for sixteen years.

Star Trek: Into Darkness will be released on [sfs=1342]Blu-ray 3D[/sfs], [sfs=1344]Blu-ray[/sfs] and [sfs=1343]DVD[/sfs] on September 10th, but it will also get a digital release three weeks earlier!

From the press release:

DIRECTOR J.J. ABRAMS’ WORLDWIDE BLOCKBUSTER SETS A COURSE FOR BLU-RAY™, BLU-RAY 3D™ AND DVD
SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS

Global Hit Debuts Three Weeks Early on Digital August 20th

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. – Lauded by critics as “a sleek, thrilling epic” (Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly), “a clever, exhilarating action adventure” (Claudia Puig, USA Today) and “stratospherically entertaining” (Peter Travers, Rolling Stone), director J.J. Abrams’ phenomenal global sensation STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS makes its highly-anticipated debut on Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, DVD and On Demand on September 10, 2013 from Paramount Home Media Distribution. Fans can be the first to own the film on Digital when it arrives three weeks early on August 20th. Boasting “spectacular visual effects” (Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer) and “one of the best villains in recent memory” (Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News) STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS delighted audiences around the world, earning a coveted A CinemaScore.
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This commercial for the 2013 Audi S7 is “fascinating”, and could have been the king of the Super Bowl ads – if it played during the Super Bowl…

Here we get the “old” Spock in Leonard Nimoy, competing against “new” Spock Zachary Quinto, with the younger trying to beat the older at something. So he challenges Nimoy – last person to the country club buys lunch.

Plenty of chuckles along the way…but listen for the infamous little ditty that Nimoy sings as he drives…

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Just a month and a day away from the release of Star Trek: Into Darkness. Seriously, this James T. Kirk destroys the Enterprise in just his second stint? The old one at least got three seasons of episodes and two movies in before blowing it up himself… 🙂