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A new Star Trek movie is due out June 29, 2012!

Eternal Image Launches STAR TREK(TM) Cremation Caskets
First-Ever STAR TREK(TM) Cremation Caskets Now Available
FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich., Oct. 27, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Eternal Image, Inc. (the "Company") (OTC PINK:ETNL), a public company engaged in the design, manufacturing and marketing of officially licensed, Brand-name memorial products, today announced that it has launched its line of STAR TREK(TM) cremation caskets.
"Our Star Trek(TM) cremation caskets provide customers with a complete package for their loved one's cremation service," said Nick Popravsky, VP of Sales & Marketing for the Company. "We will soon be announcing the availability of a new Star Trek(TM) cremation urn that will provide the perfect complement to this cremation casket line."
Crafted from fiberboard and cloth, the official STAR TREK(TM) cremation caskets offer a new and previously unavailable option for families of STAR TREK(TM) fans that have arranged a traditional viewing.
The Company has three cremation casket models to choose from: Star Fleet Delta, Federation of Planets and Klingon. Consumers can view photos of these caskets as well as obtain ordering information by visiting the following link: http://www.eternalimage.net/product/star-trek/ 
Please call Eternal Image directly at 248-932-3333 for additional product information.

William Shatner on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno
Does This Thrill Bill? Part 1 (1/4/12)
Part 1: William Shatner joins Jay for Does This Thrill Bill?
Does This Thrill Bill? Part 2 (1/4/12)
Part 2: William Shatner joins Jay for Does This Thrill Bill?

THE CELEBRITY APPRENTICE
Meet George Takei, Aubrey O'Day and Lou Ferrigno
A Trekkie, a pop star and a hulk talk tasks, strategy and the truth about Celebrity Apprentice!
Video
Meet George Takei
George Takei - Star Trek's Sulu - talks about his chosen charity, the Japanese American National Museum. Video

STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION will be available in high-definition for the first time ever, in celebration of the show's 25th anniversary. Please also see the information on StarTrek.com  DVD Cover art
STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION®
TO BE AVAILABLE IN HIGH-DEFINITION FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER FOR ITS 25TH ANNIVERSARY
Star Trek: The Next Generation® – The Next Level Blu-ray Disc™ Will Be Released On January 31, 2012
Complete First Season Blu-ray Available Later in 2012
LOS ANGELES – September 28, 2011 – The beloved series STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION® will be transferred to high-definition for the first time ever and released on Blu-ray™, it was announced today by Ken Ross, Executive Vice President and General Manager of CBS Home Entertainment.
All 178 episodes from seven seasons will be transferred to true high-definition 1080p for release on Blu-ray and eventual runs on television and digital platforms both domestically and internationally.
“Fans have been clamoring for a high-definition release of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION® for years,” said Ross. “Transferring the series to high-definition presented difficult technical challenges, but our team has come up with a process to create true 1080p HD masters with true HD visual effects. We can’t wait to show fans how pristine the series looks and sounds with our upcoming Blu-ray releases.”
Transferring STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION® to high-definition presented numerous challenges – The series was originally shot on film and then transferred to videotape, which was used to edit episodes together. In order to create true HD masters, CBS is going back to the original uncut film negative – all 25,000 plus film reels of it – and cutting the episodes together exactly the way they originally aired. The visual effects were all shot on film and will be painstakingly recompositioned, not upconverted from videotape. The newly cut film will then be transferred to true high-definition with 7.1 DTS Master Audio. Denise and Mike Okuda are consulting on the project.
While the first full season won’t be available until later in 2012, CBS Home Entertainment is releasing STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION® – THE NEXT LEVEL, a single Blu-ray disc to give fans a taste of the series in HD, on January 31, 2012. The disc will include the feature-length pilot – “Encounter at Farpoint” – as well as two more “fan favorite” episodes, “The Inner Light” (Season 5) and “Sins of the Father” (Season 3). The single disc will be available for a suggested retail price of $21.99.
One of the most popular series in the STAR TREK franchise, STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION® celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2012. It premiered in first-run syndication during the week of September 28, 1987 and ran through 1994.
Set in the 24th century on the Starship Enterprise, about 100 years after the original STAR TREK series took place, the series starred Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Jonathan Frakes as Commander William T. Riker, LeVar Burton as Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge, Marina Sirtis as Counselor Deanna Troi, Brent Spiner as Lt. Commander Data, Michael Dorn as Lieutenant Worf, Gates McFadden as Dr. Beverly Crusher and Wil Wheaton as her son Wesley Crusher.
STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION® won numerous accolades, including 18 Emmy® awards, and was the first – and only – syndicated television show to be nominated for the Emmy® for Outstanding Drama Series for its seventh season. It was also ranked #46 on TV Guide’s 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time list in 2002.

Interview with Jeri Ryan about her appearance "Warehouse 13" on Syfy 7/28/11.

Interview with Kate Mulgrew, who is also guest-starring "Warehouse 13" on Syfy 8/25/11

Alfre Woodard (Lily, First Contact) is nominated for Guest Actress in a Drama Series. Vote in this poll!

CBS INTERACTIVE LAUNCHES THE OFFICIAL "STAR TREK(tm) PADD APP" FOR iPAD
App Merges 24th Century Technology into 21st Century Mobile Device
SAN FRANCISCO - July 11, 2011 - CBS Interactive today announced the launch of the official STAR TREK PADD app, based on the iconic television franchise. The STAR TREK PADD (Personal Access Display Device) app provides fans with the ultimate mobile "Trekker" experience. The app features an authentic reproduction of the LCARS interface-the fictional computer operating system depicted in the STAR TREK television series-as well as a rich, interactive database of STAR TREK television series information, including images and an episode guide. The STAR TREK PADD app is now available for $4.99 in the App Store .
Developed in conjunction with CBS Mobile by app development studio ArcTouch http://arctouch.com/ , the STAR TREK PADD app transports fans back through the extensive 40-year history of the STAR TREK television franchise, including its amazing universe of characters, planets and technology spanning from STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES all the way to STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE. The app also includes a recognizable computer voice as well as familiar STAR TREK-related sounds.
"STAR TREK fans are passionately involved with all things STAR TREK. The STAR TREK PADD app lets die-hard fans and casual enthusiasts use the authentic LCARS interface to access the extensive official STAR TREK database, and easily connect with other Trekkers. We expect that the app will also introduce the show to a new generation of fans, leveraging 21st century technology to provide a glimpse into the 24th century," said Rob Gelick, Senior Vice President and General Manager, CBS Mobile.
The app includes the following features:
* A rich LCARS graphical interface that provides an authentic and immersive experience, complete with STAR TREK-related sound effects and prompts from a recognizable computer voice. * An official database of STAR TREK information, including aliens, ships, places, and technologies as depicted in the STAR TREK television series, plus a detailed episode guide. * The official STAR TREK Facebook fan page and Twitter feed integrated into the app to let fans catch up on the latest news and connect with other Trekkers.
"Back when the PADD first appeared on STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, none of us imagined that today we'd be able to hold the real thing in our hands. But the STAR TREK PADD app, running on your iPad, is an actual miniature, handheld, touch-sensitive, 24th-century-style computer screen," said Michael Okuda, who was in charge of computer interface design for the Starships Enterprise and co-authored the STAR TREK Encyclopedia along with wife Denise.
"We're honored CBS chose us to develop the official STAR TREK PADD app," said Eric Shapiro, CEO of ArcTouch. "We're true STAR TREK fans and were intensely focused on making this app both useful and fun, while maintaining authenticity and reproducing the LCARS design faithfully."
The STAR TREK PADD app is now available for $4.99 from the iTunes App Store for the iPad in every one of the more than 120 international markets where the show's five series are licensed.
TM & (c) 2011 CBS Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved. STAR TREK and related marks are trademarks of CBS Studios Inc.
About CBS Interactive
CBS Interactive is the premier online content network for information and entertainment. Its brands dive deep into the things people care most about across news, sports, entertainment, technology and business. Leading properties include CNET, cbs.com, gamespot.com  CBSSports.com, cbsnews.com, tv.com  and much more. With hundreds of millions of unique visitors from around the world each month, CBS Interactive cbsinteractive.com is a global top 10 Web property and the largest premium content network online.
Follow CBS Interactive on Twitter and Facebook 

Scott Bakula Teases 'Funnier, Dramatic-er' MEN OF A CERTAIN AGE, Hopes for CHUCK Encore. http://bit.ly/l7LjTI

Michelle Forbes is nominated for a Critics' Choice Television Award. Watch it Monday, June, 20 on VH1.

Eva La Rue's AMC Return, William Shatner Is One PSYCH'd Dad, and More TV News. http://bit.ly/jvRoC2

Late night with Jimmy Fallon on NBC (6/9/11)
Kirstie Alley
Kirstie talks about her 'Organic Liason' and shows Jimmy how to cha-cha.
Total Iceholes with Kirstie Alley
Jimmy and Kirstie face off in a game of Total Iceholes for insane bragging rights.

Tonight Show - Kirstie Alley (Saavik) sat down with Jay on Friday to give us an update on her life. Look below to find out about her "Dancing With The Stars" experience and see what she really thinks of her competitors! And we welcomed Erik Rivera to the stage for his first stand up performance on the Tonight Show! See all the fun in the full episode here: VIDEO  Plus, Jay shares some extra footage following Katie Couric's last show!
Kristie Alley, Part 1 (5/20/11)
Part 1: Kirstie Alley talks about her weight loss and near death experience.
VIDEO 
Kristie Alley, Part 2 (5/20/11)
Part 2: Kirstie Alley talks about being in the DWTS finals and what bugs her about Maks.
VIDEOS 
Kristie Alley, Part 3 (5/20/11)
Part 3: Kirstie Alley calls her Dancing With The Stars competition liars.
VIDEOS 

According to German TV, anti-Starfleet rebels helped take down Osama Bin Laden

Tonight Show - watch the full show for a performance by Good Charlotte: VIDEO Plus, go backstage with Bryan and William Shatner in the included clip!
Backstage with Bryan: Does This Thrill Bill?
Bryan talks with William Shatner and the participants of "Does This Thrill Bill? VIDEO

KELSEY GRAMMER NARRATES PBS' "PIONEERS OF TELEVISION"; FOUR-PART SERIES CELEBRATES THE EXTRAORDINARY TALENT AND THEMES OF EARLY TELEVISION PREMIERING JANUARY 18, 2011 AT 8 PM (ET/PT) ON PBS
Television Icons James Garner, Linda Evans, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Angie Dickinson, Stefanie Powers, Robert Conrad, Mike Connors, Nichelle Nichols, Martin Landau, Bill Cosby, Fess Parker and Many Others Reveal How They Broke New Ground in Their Famous TV Roles
A special "Legendary Women of Television" event with Angie Dickinson, Linda Evans, Nichelle Nichols and Stefanie Powers will take place at New York City's 92nd Street Y on January 16 to mark the series premiere.
Join PBS as PIONEERS OF TELEVISION reveals intriguing stories and uncovers fascinating facts from the early days of television, including:
-- Gene Roddenberry's first choice to play Spock in "Star Trek."
-- William Shatner's first TV role (hint: it's not in the "Science Fiction" episode).
-- The first show to have actors use a Teleprompter instead of memorizing their lines.
-- America's biggest western movie star who turned down the starring role in "Gunsmoke."
-- Albert Einstein's favorite TV show (hint: its stars were puppets).
-- The woman and man who shared television's first interracial kiss.
-- The famous actors who started their careers as local children's TV hosts.
* * * Answers revealed on season two of PIONEERS OF TELEVISION (and below)!
These and many other little-known facts about some of the most beloved series and stars in television history are revealed when PIONEERS OF TELEVISION returns for a second season Tuesdays, January 18 - February 8, 2011, 8-9 p.m. ET/PT on PBS. Narrated by Kelsey Grammer, this four-part series transports viewers behind the scenes for a revealing look at the inception of four of the most popular genres in television: science fiction, westerns, crime dramas and local kids' TV.
Utilizing new interviews with legendary stars, along with never-before-seen images and timeless footage that still entertains decades later, PIONEERS OF TELEVISION brings to life the fascinating history of some of the most successful and beloved shows in television. Stars such as James Garner, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Nichelle Nichols, Angie Dickinson, Bill Cosby, Robert Culp, Stefanie Powers, Martin Landau, Peter Graves, Robert Conrad, Linda Evans, Mike Connors, Fess Parker and writer Stephen J. Cannell are among those interviewed whose imprint on the iconic genres they helped create still impact the medium today.
To mark the premiere, New York City's 92nd Street Y will celebrate the "Pioneers of Television" when they welcome four Legendary Women of Television: Angie Dickinson, Linda Evans, Nichelle Nichols and Stefanie Powers for a special evening event on Sunday, January 16. Additional information can be found at www.92y.org.
"PIONEERS OF TELEVISION takes viewers back in time to a different era of entertainment, both humorous and poignant," said John Wilson, PBS chief TV programming executive. "Executive producers Steve Boettcher and Michael Trinklein have once again delivered a remarkable series that captures the innovation, genius and vision behind the early years of television."
An icon of television in his own right, Kelsey Grammer, who is currently starring in Broadway's La Cage Aux Folles, played the celebrated character Dr. Frasier Crane over a span of 20 years. Says Boettcher, "We are thrilled to have Kelsey Grammer as our narrator, a TV legend that has tied the record for the longest-running television character in TV history. We appreciate his resonant voice, but we are even more heartened by his enthusiasm for PIONEERS OF TELEVISION."
PIONEERS OF TELEVISION depicts the epic beginnings of the four featured television genres and explores the stories and influences of their groundbreaking pioneers. The hour-long episodes are:
"SCIENCE FICTION" (Tuesday, January 18, 2011, 8-9 p.m. ET/PT): Storytellers Gene Roddenberry, Irwin Allen and Rod Serling created the storylines and characters behind the best-loved futuristic television of their time. But as Roddenberry's "Star Trek" competed for ratings with Allen's "Lost in Space," each show's creator aimed for a very different direction. This episode explores how Roddenberry and Serling (of "The Twilight Zone") used the future as a stage for modern morality plays, and William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Nichelle Nichols and other science-fiction stars describe how they prepared to interact on-camera with a malevolent alien force… or, perhaps, a giant radish.
"WESTERNS" (Tuesday, January 25, 2011, 8-9 p.m. ET/PT): Known everywhere as the quintessential American cultural identity, westerns filled small screens across the country night after night and were some of the most successful television shows in history. Fess Parker's portrayal of Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett channeled the bravery, independence, honesty and rugged individualism of a young nation -- and made Walt Disney enough money to build an empire. Westerns introduced James Garner, who starred in the television hit "Maverick," where he developed the reluctant hero character that would cement his successful TV and film career. Garner, in his only recent interview, and Parker tell their stories, and Linda Evans recalls how two strong female characters emerged with her onscreen interaction with Barbara Stanwyck in "The Big Valley." This episode also examines the success of Robert Conrad in "The Wild Wild West," the popularity of "Bonanza" and the creation of the classic series "Gunsmoke" with James Arness -- one of the longest-running television series of all
"CRIME DRAMAS" (Tuesday, February 1, 2011, 8-9 p.m. ET/PT): As viewers reveled in being transported to shadowy underworlds, creative geniuses emerged in the forms of Jack Webb ("Dragnet"), Desi Arnaz ("The Untouchables") and Bruce Geller ("Mannix" and "Mission: Impossible"). Groundbreaking actors Bill Cosby ("I Spy") and Angie Dickinson ("Police Woman") reveal the methods behind their successes as the first African-American and breakthrough female lead characters in a television series. Barbara Bain and Martin Landau share the secrets behind the innovative hit "Mission: Impossible"; Peter Falk's friends and colleagues recall the evolution of his "Columbo" character; and James Garner and series creator Stephen J. Cannell recount the success of the "The Rockford Files."
"LOCAL KIDS' TV" (Tuesday, February 8, 2011, 8-9 p.m. ET/PT): Local kids' programs shaped the childhoods of millions of American children in the early years of television. Performers such as Willard Scott and William Shatner honed their skills performing on live TV with small budgets and little support. With the flimsiest of second-hand store costumes and their own imaginations, they learned how to make their audience laugh, smile and think. One early talent, Stan Freberg, got off the bus in the middle of Hollywood, became a cartoon voice talent and created "Time for Beany" -- a show that captured seven out of 10 viewers, including Albert Einstein, during its run in Los Angeles. Freberg's story is told along with the stories of legendary Muppets creator Jim Henson (who started on local television as a teenager), actor Chuck McCann (originator of New York's "Puppet Hotel"), Larry Harmon (who popularized Bozo the Clown) and Nancy Claster (who developed the Baltimore kids' series "Romper Room" -- the first franchised show in television history).
* * * Talent Interviews and DVD Screeners are available upon request * * *
An encore presentation of three episodes from the first season of PIONEERS OF TELEVISION, which explore the early years of sitcoms, late night and variety shows, will air Tuesdays, February 15 - March 1, 2011, 8-9 p.m. ET/PT on PBS.
Access behind-the-scenes photos and watch video interviews with television pioneers on the PIONEERS OF TELEVISION Facebook page (facebook.com/pioneersoftelevision). The series will also be accompanied by a website on pbs.org, launching in late 2010, with a special "in memoriam" section featuring videos of the last interviews of Stephen J. Cannell, Robert Culp, Peter Graves and Fess Parker filmed by the PIONEERS OF TELEVISION producers shortly before their passing in 2010.
Beginning in January, the PIONEERS OF TELEVISION will star on PBS Arts, PBS' new website that offers Americans the opportunity to experience the arts and explore the creative process through special virtual art exhibits. The PIONEERS OF TELEVISION exhibit will focus on the art of acting for television, offering exclusive video clips of actors discussing their craft, along with rare backstage photos of TV's iconic stars preparing for their scenes. This unique insider's look at the world of television acting will be online at pbs.org/arts.
PIONEERS OF TELEVISION is produced for PBS by Boettcher/Trinklein Productions. Steve Boettcher is director/producer. Mike Trinklein is writer/producer. Underwriters are Public Television Viewers and PBS.
Don't miss selected PBS programs streaming free online, the day after broadcast, on the PBS Video Portal (pbs.org/video/).
* * * Answers:
-- Gene Roddenberry's first choice to play Spock in "Star Trek": Martin Landau
-- William Shatner's first TV role: Ranger Bob on "Howdy Doody" -- The first show to have actors use a Teleprompter instead of memorizing their lines: "Dragnet"
-- America's biggest western movie star who turned down the starring role in "Gunsmoke," (but recommended Jim Arness for the part): John Wayne
-- Albert Einstein's favorite TV show: Local Los Angeles children's show "Time for Beany" -- The woman and man who shared television's first interracial kiss: Nichelle Nichols' Lieutenant Uhura and William Shatner's Captain Kirk in "Star Trek"
-- The famous actors who started their careers as local children's TV hosts: Merv Griffin, Ted Knight, Soupy Sales and Adam West (among others)
About PBS
PBS, with its nearly 360 member stations, offers all Americans -- from every walk of life -- the opportunity to explore new ideas and new worlds through television and online content. Each month, PBS reaches more than 118 million people through television and nearly 21 million people online, inviting them to experience the worlds of science, history, nature and public affairs; to hear diverse viewpoints; and to take front row seats to world-class drama and performances. PBS' broad array of programs has been consistently honored by the industry’s most coveted award competitions. Teachers of children from pre-K through 12th grade turn to PBS for digital content and services that help bring classroom lessons to life. PBS' premier children's TV programming and its website, pbskids.org, are parents' and teachers' most trusted partners in inspiring and nurturing curiosity and love of learning in children. More information about PBS is available at www.pbs.org, one of the leading dot-org websites on the Internet.

Submit your questions for Simon Pegg!
Thirty (30) questions will be selected for the 6th Annual Christmas Q&A on Peggster.net.
http://www.peggster.net/

The Tonight Show last week
Chris Pine (James T. Kirk in the movies)
Part 1: Chris Pine talks about growing up in the Valley, lying to his shrink mom and auditions.
http://www.nbc.com/the-tonight-show/video/chris-pine/1259233/ 
Part 2: Chris Pine talks about playing Capt. Kirk and his new movie Unstoppable.
http://www.nbc.com/the-tonight-show/video/chris-pine-2/1259234/ 

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon Whoopi Goldberg (10/13/10)
Actress Whoopi Goldberg discusses the latest Tyler Perry film. VIDEO

Bid on an auction (proceeds go to help Haiti) and Nichelle Nichols may choose to follow you on Twitter, thank you on her Twitter, call you on the phone, and send you an autograph! Other celebrities are also involved, including Levar Burton and Jeri Ryan. More info at http://www.twitchange.com Bid ends 9/25/10.

How high are the expectations for the sequel to last year's Star Trek movie? Would you believe the film's creators have set their sights on The Dark Knight, which shattered all sorts of box office records two years ago?

"The bar is very very high for the sequel," Lost creator and Trek producer Damon Lindelof told Eonline. "We are looking at a movie like The Dark Knight which actually went one step beyond Batman Begins. It was really about something and at the same time was a superhero movie. We don’t want to abandon all the things that made the first movie work — have it be fun and emotional, but we also want the movie to thematically resonate, so we are putting on our highfalutin hats."

Lindelof isn't the only Star Trek producer thinking along those lines. "Our aspirations are for the [Star Trek sequel] to be even bigger and better than the first one," producer Bryan Burke told Trekmovie.com. "I don’t mean that just in scope, I mean content and characters and emotionally. We had a lot of conversations about Batman Begins and how that movie kind of re-invented that franchise, and we looked at what The Dark Knight did and how that really ramped it up and they went to a different place with that film, and how those two films keep re-inventing themselves and are not the same thing every time."

You can find both quotes, and more from an interview with Lindelof here:
http://trekmovie.com/2010/08/23/damon-lindelof-star-trek-sequel-will-go-one-step-beyond/

There are some interesting parallels between J.J. Abrams' Star Trek movie and Batman Begins. Both films grossed about the same amount of money ($372M for Batman vs. $385M for Trek). Both revived franchises that had been dormant at the box office since the previous installment bombed. The Dark Knight was far and away the biggest box office hit of 2008, earning over a billion dollars.

Ask William Shatner anything 8/18/10!

From the Star Trek and Science Fiction Media Forum: 

Star Trek writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman have settled on a story and villain for the sequel to J.J. Abrams' Star Trek reboot, and are preparing to turn it into script form. The film is currently slated for a summer 2012 release.

In an interview with Trekmovie.com, the co-writers refused to divulge any details about the story or villian. They'll be working with Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof to polish up their ideas and work out any issues that arise. They did say the sequel will have a different focus than the first film. "I think the emphasis is a little different as the first movie is really about watching the team come together," Kurtzman said. "That doesn’t go away in the second movie. The second movie is about how does the team now that they are on their journey, live together as a family, so that is still a big engine of the narrative."

The film apparently doesn't have a title yet, and the pair traded ideas with the interviewer about whether the film should stick with the format used by the Star Trek: The Next Generation films (Star Trek: [something]), or go the route the Batman franchise has gone, with The Dark Knight not referencing the franchise directly.

You can find a video of the full interview, and a partial transcript here:
http://trekmovie.com/2010/06/26/exclusive-video-roberto-orci-alex-kurtzman-on-status-of-star-trek-sequel-discuss-importance-of-villain-title-ideas/

"Encounter At Farpoint" Director Allen – Dead at 75
from TrekMovie.com by TrekMovie.com Staff

The man who directed the first episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, along with a number of other TNG and DS9 episodes passed away on Jun 27. Corey Allen, actor and Emmy-winning director, died in Hollywood of natural causes.

Former Doctor Who star David Tennant, and Anton Yelchin, who played Chekov in last year's Star Trek, have both joined the cast of Fright Night. The film is a remake of the 1985 film with the same name, about a teenager who discovers his neighbor is a vampire.

Yelchin will play the teenager, while Tennant takes on the role of a magician who claims to be an expert on vampires, a role originally played by Roddy McDowell. Collin Farrell and Toni Collette have also been cast in the film.

The BBC has a few more details on the Fright Night remake here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment_and_arts/10272352.stm

"GEORGE TAKEI'S AMERICA: A HOWARD 100 NEWS DOCUMENTARY" TO AIR ON SIRIUS XM RADIO
* Reported by Steve Langford of the Howard 100 News
* Premieres June 28 at 7:00 pm ET on Howard 101
Beloved Stern Show announcer and actor George Takei, like you've never heard him before....
On George Takei's America: A Howard 100 News Documentary, Takei transports listeners back into his family's emotional and compelling history, retracing with Howard 100 News reporter Steve Langford the exact steps he took as a 5-year old boy, when he and his little brother and baby sister and their parents were rounded up by American soldiers and ordered at gunpoint into prison camps for 4 years in the spring of 1942.
Takei takes us to the house in East Los Angeles, where the Takei family first surrendered, then showing us the horse stalls at Santa Anita Racetrack near Los Angeles, where George's family was forced to live under armed guard for several weeks, before being shipped off to prison camps in Arkansas and Northern California. But it's how George Takei's family survived this unspeakable injustice, ultimately taking this American tragedy and turning into the American dream, that makes George Takei's America....George Takei's "America the Beautiful."
Takei returns to his announcer's chair on The Howard Stern Show on August 9, and SIRIUS XM will air an encore presentation of George Takei's America: A Howard 100 News Documentary that night at 7:00 pm ET on Howard 101. Howard Stern programs both of his SIRIUS XM Radio channels, Howard 100 and Howard 101. Howard 100 and Howard 101 are available online worldwide through SIRIUS Internet Radio at http://www.sirius.com/  , as well as at  http://www.howardstern.com/  .
Audio clip from George Takei's America available here: http://www.sirius.com/howardstern 

Believe in Zero with Whoopi Goldberg (Guinan) and other celebs!

Vote for James Cromwell (Cochrane) for Sexiest Vegetarian Celebrity!

THE TONIGHT SHOW:
Cold Open w Kirstie Alley (Saavik)
Kirstie Alley helps Jay with diet food.
http://www.nbc.com/the-tonight-show/video/clips/cold-open-4-6/1216549
Kirstie Alley talks pet lemurs and married cheaters.
http://www.nbc.com/the-tonight-show/video/clips/kirstie-alley/1216683
Kirstie Alley talks blind dates and the d-word.
http://www.nbc.com/the-tonight-show/video/clips/kirstie-alley-continued/1216549

Kirstie Alley (Saavik) is on "The Marriage Ref" next week.  Jimmy, Kirstie, and Sheryl
Panelists Jimmy Fallon, Kirstie Alley, and Sheryl Crow help mediate a few marriages on the next Marriage Ref. http://www.nbc.com/the-marriage-ref/video/jimmy-kirstie-and-sheryl/1212533/

This was on the Soap Opera Digest website: Calliope and Eugene Reunion on DAYS? With Arleen Sorkin returning as the zany Calliope Jones, is it only a matter of time before John deLancie, her longtime partner in frolic and fun, returns as the equally zany Eugene Bradford? "Well, they want him back, but he's very busy," reveals Sorkin, who's kept in touch with deLancie over the years. "He's got a lot going on. Hopefully, they'll get him." Indeed, deLancie has enjoyed great success in film and prime-time since exiting daytime in 1989; most notably his seven-year run on STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION.

Walter Koenig's son found dead 2/25/10

Queen to knight 'Star Trek' star Stewart
Published: Dec. 20, 2009 at 2:52 PM
LONDON, Dec. 20 (UPI) -- Britain's Queen Elizabeth II will knight "Star Trek: The Next Generation" actor Patrick Stewart, Buckingham Palace sources say.
The Mirror reported Saturday that Stewart, who played Captain Jean- Luc Picard on the science-fiction TV series and in multiple "Trek" films, will be honored by the queen for his 50-year career on television, cinema and the theater.
"It's a fantastic accolade for a fantastic actor," an unidentified observer said of Stewart being added to the New Year's Honors list.
"He is a man at the very top of his trade who has mastered both popular TV and classic roles."
The Mirror said Stewart, who was born in Mirfield, England, began acting with a small drama group while attempting to become a reporter in his youth.
The 69-year-old actor went on to roles in films such as "Dune," "Masterminds" and the "X-Men" film series.

William Shatner has been a regular on The Tonight Show this season - doing
interpretive readings of novels, tweets, etc. What he didn't expect
while reading an excerpt from Sarah Palin's "Going Rogue"? A visit from
the author herself. Then, Palin turns the tables. Watch and see!
Shatner Gets Served By Palin (12/11/09) [4:22]
Sarah Palin makes a surprise appearance and gives Shatner the smackdown
he deserves!
Link:
http://www.tonightshowwithconanobrien.com/video/clips/shatner-gets-served-by-palin-121109/1184491/

Q&A with Scott Bakula

Never-before-aired 'Star Trek' pilot to be released

Bergen, Roddenberry to TV Hall of Fame
Inductees will be honored at a Jan. 20 ceremony
By Nellie Andreeva
Nov 10, 2009, 01:43 PM ET
Candice Bergen, Charles Lisanby, Don Pardo, Gene Roddenberry, Tom and Dick Smothers and Bob Stewart have been selected as the
next inductees into the Television Academy's Hall of Fame.
They will be honored at a Jan. 20 ceremony at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
"This year's inductees have challenged and shaped popular culture, changed television for the better and entertained us
royally while doing so," TV Academy Chairman-CEO John Shaffner said.
The inductees were selected by a Hall of Fame selection committee from submissions from TV Academy members and industry
representatives.
Top syndication and reality agent, WME partner Mark Itkin, chaired the committee, which included ABC TV Group president Anne
Sweeney, Fox's president of alternative entertainment Mike Darnell, MTV, VH1, CMT and Logo president of programming Brian
Graden, TV producer/director Lee Miller and production designer and president of the art directors guild Thomas Walsh.
"These individuals have each made extraordinary and lasting contributions that have meant so much to multiple generations of
television viewers," Itkin said. "Their work will endure for decades to come."
Miller will produce the Hall of Fame Gala with Kevin Hamburger.

Steam Trek (parody)

Seeker's sexy season 2 with 'T'Pol' and 'Cordelia'!

20 All-Time Coolest Heroes in Pop Culture

Game Dev Faces Legal Hassle Over Fake Shatner Mod

Jeri Ryan Gains Leverage at TNT

NASA Poster Depicts Next ISS Crew In Star Trek Uniforms

Is Star Trek a religion?

Why The New Star Trek Movie Sucks

The new Kirk & Spock - Interview with Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine on myspace

'Star Trek' has whopping $76.5 million opening

Star Trek movie Review from Variety
Another review

Star Trek Fans put Kirk's Command Chair in their Homes.
Buy your own!

Bakula's new TNT show "Men of a Certain Age"

Older news:

05-05-08 'Ghost Whisperer,' 'Star Trek: TNG' to Haunt Sci Fi Channel - Network can also access 'Charmed' and 'Early Edition'

Source: scifi.com

Doohan Trekking To Space

The remains of actor James Doohan, who played the starship Enterprise's chief engineer, Montgomery "Scotty" Scott, on Star Trek, will be blasted into space this month, the company organizing the flight told the Reuters news service. The Canadian-born actor died two years ago at the age of 85.

The Houston-based commercial company Space Services told Reuters that some of Doohan's remains were packed into a rocket at Las Cruces, N.M., on March 30, ahead of the flight scheduled for April 28.

The company had originally planned to blast Doohan's remains into space two years ago. But the flight was delayed by tests, then by a misfire during a practice launch last year.

From azcentral.com 9/21/06 

Remastered 'Star Trek' holds course with original

Sept. 21, 2006 12:00 AM

After watching two remastered episodes of the original Star Trek, I have one word of advice for Trekkers: Relax.

As a lifelong fan of the series (let's not go down the whole Trekker/Trekkie road), I was ecstatic to hear they were blowing the mustiness off the original series. Purists may cringe, but it's nice to see the starship Enterprise looking shiny and new, and orbiting real-looking planets.

As you may or may not know, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Star Trek, Paramount put the influential sci-fi TV series through a digital wash and rinse and swapped out the stodgy '60s special effects for modern computerized ships, planets and phaser fire. advertisement





To me, everything just looks better, including the planets, which now have cloud cover and no longer resemble big colorful blobs. The audio is clearer and the distinctive uniforms are vibrant again, and gone are the scratches, hairs and other junk that gummed up the negative.

Unlike George Lucas with the Star Wars series, or Steven Spielberg with E.T., the Paramount people say they didn't add or subtract any content. They just souped up what's already there. The Enterprise doesn't do barrel roles, nor do hundreds of enemy ships suddenly appear out of nowhere.

The computerized special effects are essentially digital replicas of the original models; Paramount even visited the Enterprise model hanging in the Smithsonian, taking exact measurements for the ship's computerized counterpart.

Over the weekend, Star Trek's new local home, Channel 61 (KASW), aired two refurbished episodes: "Miri," which starred Kim Darby as a teen survivor on a plague planet, and "Balance of Terror," in which Capt. Kirk (William Shatner) matches wits with a Romulan commander (Mark Lenard, who's better known for playing Spock's dad).

"Miri," with just a few special effects shots, isn't that great a test for the "HD quality" Star Trek. The uniforms look vivid (like they did on my grandmother's giant console TV set), but the show is set in a post-apocalyptic slum, not in outer space. I couldn't tell if the blue-red sores on the landing party were jazzed up; they still looked just as gross as I remember.

"Balance of Terror," essentially a Star Trek version of the submarine movie The Enemy Below, showcases the new format. The episode includes dozens of effects shots of the Enterprise battling a cloaked Romulan warbird. Actually, the Romulans benefit most from makeover. The warbird wasn't a staple on the show, and it looked like a flimsy model.

Now, as the camera sweeps over the top of the Romulan ship, we see what appear to be real metal plates, with variation from one to another. Wow. The techies also improved the look of the Romulans' plasma projectile, which chases the Enterprise into the interstellar hills.

A note for true Trekkers: When the Enterprise fires its phasers in "Balance of Terror" (a first-season episode), the blasts come in short bursts, like photon torpedoes. As the series went on, this inconsistency would be addressed, but Paramount doesn't tamper; the only improvements are brighter bursts and added reverb.

This may seem like a minor point (OK, it is), but it does prove that the digital remastering is meant to help the original effects shine through, rather than just re-doing them totally.

While some will consider these "improvements" as a betrayal of the original work, it's not worth too much righteous indignation. Star Trek, remember, is a sci-fi show, so the changes seem much more natural and hardly an affront.

And if any show deserves to have the best technology available, it's Star Trek, which inspired thousands to invent that technology in the first place.
 

From star-ecentral.com 9/26/06

From cinemablend.com

Star Trek Is A Rumor Wreck
By Josh Tyler: 2006-09-16

Seriously Paramount, give us some real information on Star Trek XI soon, or we'll tear ourselves to pieces. We can't take much more of this.

Forget every rumor you've heard about Trek casting over the past few months. We're back to square one again.

Remember how William Shatner confirmed that he'd been contacted about being in J.J. Abram's new Trek prequel? Forget it. He's now contradicting himself. On his official site he now says, "There are lots of underground rumblings about STAR TREK. Some of it is burbling, some of it is barely noticeable. I know nothing except that where’s there’s rumblings, there’s gas and in this case, the gas is coming from JJ Abrams and none of it seems to be directed in my direction."

Confused yet? Wait, there's more. Remember all the rumors about how Matt Damon was being approached to be Kirk? Remember how Abrams' approached Shatner about getting his blessing to cast Damon? Well apparently he wants him so bad that he's not even returning his calls. IESB asked Matt Damon about it at a recent press junket, and Matt denies everything. Apparently he hasn't heard anything from Abrams or Paramount. His publicist even went so far as to admit that they've even been calling around to Matt's talent agency to see for themselves if there have been any inquiries, and the answer is absolutely no.

The fact that Damon has his people checking on the project makes me think that perhaps he's interested in doing it, but if nobody offers it to him then it's going to be kind of tough for him to take it. What's going on with Star Trek XI? It's anybody's guess. At this rate there's a good chance that the Enterprise will end up being crewed by nothing but tribbles. They'll work for scale. Meanwhile, I'm going to my quarters with… a headache.

Kirk and Spock in new 'Star Trek' movie
Source: Jam! Movies
Date: 31st August, 2006
Posted by: Paul Heath

Jam! Movies have a bit of scoop. It seems that Spock and Captain Kirk (Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner) could be returning for the new STAR TREK movie. Nimoy dished some gossip to the site.

"The head of production at Paramount called my agency to tell them about this project and they are aware of Bill's and my contribution to the franchise, and they'd like us to know they might want some involvement. It was all very, very general.

"They might possibly want Bill and I to set up the story as a flashback. But that's just conjecture on my part."


Leonard Nimoy continues to prosper

Behind the iconic ears and bowl haircut you'll discover an interesting guy named Leonard

By JIM STOTEK -- Toronto Sun





Leonard Nimoy (AP file photo)
Three decades ago, as the craze over a long-cancelled show called Star Trek became feverish, Leonard Nimoy wrote a book called I Am Not Spock.

A little over 10 years ago, noticing that when people called out "Spock!" on the street he'd turn around, Nimoy bowed to the inevitable and wrote a book called I Am Spock.

Now J.J. Abrams is coming up with the next Star Trek movie, in which a young Kirk and Spock meet at Starfleet Academy. That means somebody else will be cast as Spock.

Which means, we tell Nimoy, you are not Spock again.

The Vulcan laughs. Nimoy lets go a loud guffaw over the phone from his Lake Tahoe home and says "I never thought of that. My next title should be 'I Am Not Necessarily Spock.' "

Retired, and devoted to his family and his photography hobby, Nimoy doesn't much care about doings in Hollywood. But the actor/director -- who'll be appearing this weekend alongside old friend William Shatner at the Canadian Expo at the Metro Convention Centre (the annual Nerd Woodstock) -- could be coerced to boldly go back for the right set of pointy ears.


"The head of production at Paramount called my agency to tell them about this project and they are aware of Bill's and my contribution to the franchise, and they'd like us to know they might want some involvement. It was all very, very general

"They might possibly want Bill and I to set up the story as a flashback. But that's just conjecture on my part."

Whether or not it brings him back to the screen, Star Trek has brought Nimoy out of the house quite a bit more this year -- the occasion being the 40th anniversary of the launch of the USS Enterprise's five-year mission on NBC, Sept. 8, 1966 (the episode, for trivia buffs out there, was "The Man Trap," about a salt-eating vampire creature let loose on the Enterprise).

"It is a long time ago," Nimoy says, "yet some of it is extremely fresh in my mind. I vividly remember some of the earliest makeup tests and wardrobe fittings, the first days of shooting. I remember shooting with Jeffrey Hunter on the first pilot (1965). And then the phone call I got from the studio saying they wanted to make a new pilot and they wanted me back."

Well, sort of wanted him. The most common studio memo that greeted the original Star Trek pilot (with Jeffrey Hunter as Capt. Pike) was "get rid of the guy with the ears."

And even 40 years ago last August, Nimoy recalls, "I opened up my mail one day and found a brochure from NBC's sales department which they were sending to potential sponsors. And in the photographs of me in that brochure, the pointy ears had been removed. I called Gene (Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry) and he said he explained that somebody in sales had become concerned that the religious Bible Belt might be offended by the idea of a devilish looking character coming into their homes. So to play it safe they got rid of the ears."

Instead, he became Trek's most popular character, surviving even his own death in Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan. "I really thought I was finished when I saw that script, it's over."

Nimoy likens today's appetite for Star Trek to the '70s, "when there was this great demand and no product" (the last Trek series, Enterprise, was cancelled two years ago).

In fact, though much is made of a rivalry between "Trekkers" and Star Wars fans, Nimoy credits George Lucas for giving Trek life. "In '77 I was in Equus on Broadway and I kept hearing about the phenomenal success of Star Wars. I went to a theatre in Times Square and the place was packed with screaming, shouting, cheering people. And I thought 'Wow. I think we're going to be getting a call from Paramount. And sure enough, three weeks later, they announced their Star Trek movie."

Along with Shatner, Nimoy had the active non-Trek career, his as a director (Star Trek IV and two movies shot in T.O., The Good Mother and the smash hit Three Men And A Baby).

"These days I'm very much involved with my photography. My work is in several museums in the U.S. and in galleries. I work with nudity, female figures." Some of them -- the ones in his Full Body Project --quite, shall we say, Rubenesque. "That's one of the areas of my work," he says. "Not all of it, but it is a definite thread."

(See it on leonardnimoyphotography.com).

As for attending Trek conferences, "That's like taking a victory lap," Nimoy says. "They say wonderful things and stroke your ego. They tell you how you've affected their lives in a positive way, and thanks for all the years of entertainment."

Ditto, we say, and thanks for talking to us.

"Live long and prosper," Nimoy says with a chuckle.

THE LEONARD FILE

BORN: March 26, 1931 in Boston, Mass., to Ukrainian-Jewish immigrants

MIDDLE NAME: Simon

MORE THAN JUST SPOCK: Film director, poet, author, musician and photographer (check out his work at leonardnimoyphotography.com)

ROLE REVERSAL: Nimoy replaced Martin Landau in Mission: Impossible in 1969. Ironically, Landau turned down the Spock role to play the "Rollin Hand" character in Mission Impossible.

MUSIC MAN: Nimoy also has released several albums of vocal recordings including Trek-related songs and cover versions of popular tunes.

DID YOU KNOW?: Nimoy directed a 1985 music video for The Bangles' Going Down to Liverpool.
-- source: wikipedia.com

SPOCK POINTS


He is part alien: half-Vulcan, half-Human.

Mr. Spock was in "constant struggle between the Vulcan logical self and his human emotional self"

Famous for his Vulcan nerve pinch. "This manoeuvre renders most humans and humanoids unconscious by applying pressure at the intersection of the shoulder and neck of humans."

Takei takes to Net Trek

George Takei, famous for playing helmsman Hikaru Sulu of the celebrated starship USS Enterprise in Star Trek (the original series), is returning to the role for a fan-produced, downloadable Internet-only episode of the show.
It's part of The New Voyages, a series of full-length Web episodes produced by longtime fan James Cawley. What started out as a fan effort has evolved into a slick production with professional outfits donating their time and resources, Cawley told the Associated Press.

The series unofficially continues the mythology of the original show, with its storylines taken from unfilmed scripts written for a planned 70s revival that never materialised.

Takei's episode, World Enough and Time, will see the intrepid helmsman being transported to an alien world. He spends 30 years there, aging and even having a child.

Cawley himself plays Captain James T. Kirk in The New Voyages.

Trekkers should check out the link below for more info on the series and to download the episodes.

Surfing: http://www.newvoyages.com/

From TVGuide.com 8/31/06
Exclusive! "New" Star Trek Is Set on Stunning by Michael Logan
Behold Star Trek's "new" Enterprise.
Star Trek purists, take a deep breath! On Sept. 16, the iconic ‘60s series will return to syndication for the first time since 1990, but with a startling difference: All 79 episodes are being digitally remastered with computer-generated effects not possible when Gene Roddenberry created the show 40 years ago. The news could cause Roddenberry loyalists to have a collective cow, but the longtime Trek staffers in charge of the makeover say they're honoring the late maestro's vision, not changing it.
"We're taking great pains to respect the integrity and style of the original," says Michael Okuda, who spent 18 years as a scenic-art supervisor on Star Trek films and spin-offs. "Our goal is to always ask ourselves: What would Roddenberry have done with today's technology?" Okuda's teammates on the two-year project are his wife, Denise Okuda, with whom he's authored several Trek reference books, and 14-year Trek production vet David Rossi.
The upgraded episodes — to be shown out of order and one per week — will kick off with "Balance of Terror," a big fan favorite "that gives us a chance to really show off the ‘new' Enterprise," says Okuda. "The exterior of the ship now has depth and detail, and it will fly more dynamically." Painted backdrops will also be brought to life: Once-empty star bases will have CGI people milling about, while static alien landscapes have been given slow-moving clouds and shimmering water. Okuda notes that a view of Earth in the 1966 episode "Miri" has been "replaced with a more accurate image, now that we've gone into deep space and looked back at ourselves."
Trek's opening theme is also getting an overhaul: The music has been re-recorded in stereo, and a new singer has been hired to wail those famous but wordless vocals. And goofs will be corrected: In "The Naked Time," there was no beam coming out of Scotty's phaser when he tried to cut through the bulkhead outside Engineering. Now there is.
The "new" Trek debuts Sept. 16.
Star Trek fans, pick up the new TV Guide to see what William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy have to say about the series' 40th anniversary.
Send in your comments about this article to letters@tvguide.com 

Zone, Trek Producer Piller Dies
Michael Piller, co-creator of USA Network's The Dead Zone TV show and a veteran Star Trek writer/producer, died in the early morning hours of Nov. 1 after a long fight with cancer, the official Star Trek Web site reported. He was 57.

George Takei (Sulu) told the world he was gay 10/27/05.  Most Trek fans responded with tolerance as usual.

Past Time Magazine articles from Time Magazine

November 25, 1996

ALIENS! ADVENTURE! ACTING!

BY RICHARD CORLISS

Captain Jean-Luc Picard is building up a head of righteous steam about the Borg, the evil race that once enslaved Picard and has now infested the Starship Enterprise with plans to do something very naughty to Planet Earth. Well, the Captain will not abandon ship. He will face up to the Borg, he says. "And I will make them pay for what they've done." As Patrick Stewart delivers this line with a majestic ferocity worthy of a Royal Shakespeare Company alumnus, the audience gapes in awe at a special effect more imposing than any ILM digital doodle. Here is real acting! In a Star Trek film! From the successor to William Shatner!

This is just one of the small wonders in Star Trek: First Contact, eighth in the big-screen series and second with the crew of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Here, for a change, is an action movie that takes its subject but not itself seriously. It has a theme: the temptation to become something other and powerful, instead of cozy, ordinary you. It borrows not only from the Trek canon, but from other science fiction (eek!--there's a killer alien on board!). Yet First Contact is no grab bag of camp gewgaws; it stands proud and apart, accessible even to the Trek-deficient. This old Star, it seems, has a lot of life in it.

In the script by Rick Berman, Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore, the Enterprise is sailing through space, with its Frisbee contours and fabulous tail fins, toward mop-up duty in the Federation's war against its ugliest nemesis. The Borg are flying back to the 21st century to prevent the first rendezvous between humans and benevolent extraterrestrials, then to "assimilate" all earthlings and turn them into crusty, cranky robots. Picard, who has been denied active duty for the very reason he needs to fight--because of his earlier assimilation by the Borg--disobeys orders and, y'know, saves the galaxy. But not before his android Data (Brent Spiner) is captured by the seductive queen Borg (Alice Krige).

Under the suave direction of Jonathan Frakes, who also plays the Enterprise's second-in-command, the movie glides along with purpose and style. It also allows for a fun detour into a "holographic novel" set in the dear Deco days of Indiana Jones. But it's mainly a three-way tug of souls among Picard, Data and the queen of all the Borg. When she whispers to her onetime conquest Picard, "You can't begin to imagine the life you denied yourself," she opens the movie up to the ache of memory--to a good man's second thoughts when he considers the road not taken, even if it's the road to Hell.

For their sequel, the Next Generation stalwarts will do battle with a creature even meaner and mouthier than the Borg: the McEnroe.

November 28, 1994

Trekking Onward

BY RICHARD ZOGLIN

FOR STAR TREK FANS, THE MEMORY STILL HURTS. IT WAS A Saturday Night Live sketch eight years ago, and William Shatner -- the indomitable Captain James Tiberius Kirk from the original TV series -- was playing himself making a guest appearance at a Star Trek convention. After fielding a few dumb questions from the nerdy, trivia-obsessed fans, he suddenly exploded: "I'd just like to say Get a life, will you, people?! I mean, for crying out loud, it was just a TV show!"

No matter that Shatner, in the sketch, quickly recanted, telling the crestfallen Trekkies that his outburst was, of course, a re-creation of "the evil Captain Kirk" from Episode 37. The put-down was like a phaser to the heart. Trekkies (or Trekkers, as many prefer to be called these days) have always existed in something of a parallel universe of TV viewing. They're the ones who can debate for hours the merits of the episode in which Mr. Spock mind-melded with a bloblike alien called the Horta, or the one where Captain Kirk time-traveled back to the Great Depression and fell in love with Joan Collins. They know the scientific properties of dilithium crystals, they have memorized the floor plan of the Starship Enterprise, and they can say, "Surrender or die!" in the Klingon language. They have immersed themselves, with a fervor matched by few devotees of any religious sect, in a fully imagined future world, where harmony and humanism have triumphed and the shackles of time and space can be cast aside almost at will. Trekkies are true-believing optimists, and a few of them may be nuts.

They are also the custodians of perhaps the most enduring and all-embracing pop-culture phenomenon of our time. Consider the industry that has grown out of a quirky TV series that ran for three years in the late 1960s, only to be canceled because of low ratings. Two decades later, a second series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, ran for seven seasons and became the highest-rated syndicated show in TV history. A third Trek series, Deep Space Nine, if not quite as big a hit, is currently the No. 1-rated drama in syndication. Six Star Trek movies have earned a total of nearly $500 million at the box office. Videocassettes (of every series episode, as well as the movies) are so popular that most video stores devote an entire section to them. Star Trek is seen around the world in 75 countries, and Trek mania has hit many of them; the official Star Trek fan club in Britain has 18,000 members. Trek-related merchandise, ranging from T shirts and backpacks to a $2,200 brass replica of the Enterprise, has exploded in the past five years, with total revenues topping $1 billion. More than 63 million Star Trek books are in print, and new titles -- from tell-alls by former cast members to novelizations of Trek episodes -- are appearing at the rate of more than 30 a year.

And the Trek phenomenon is bursting again like a fresh supernova. A seventh feature film, Star Trek: Generations, which opened over the weekend, brings together for the first time the two Enterprise big shots: Shatner as the heroic, headstrong Captain Kirk of the original series and of every movie until now; and Patrick Stewart, the bald-pated Brit who succeeded him as the more cerebral Captain Picard in The Next Generation. The new film, a smashingly entertaining mix of outer-space adventure and spaced-out metaphysics, almost certainly marks the last movie appearance of the classic Trek crew (Kirk, in a secret no one seems able to keep, dies at the end of the film) and launches what promises to be a new string of movies featuring Stewart and his Next Generation gang. With Deep Space Nine continuing, and yet another TV series, Star Trek: Voyager, debuting in January, the pump is primed for more TV-to-movie transfers in the future. The mother ship of all TV cult hits seems poised to boldly go where none has gone before: into eternity.

For all that, Star Trek has never won much respect. In the realm of long- running entertainment phenoms, Sherlock Holmes has more history; James Bond, more class; Star Wars and Indiana Jones, more cinematic cachet. And while no one sneers at the Baker Street Irregulars, noninitiates consider Trekkies to be pretty odd: Trekkies like Pete Mohney, a computer programmer in Birmingham, Alabama, who leads a double life as captain of his local Starfleet "ship," the Hephaestus NC-2004, and publisher of a 40-page Trekkie newsletter; or Jerry Murphy, a Sugar Grove, Illinois, business manager and father of two, who is commander of a local Klingon club and frequently dresses up as one of the big-browed aliens for charity events. "Nobody messes with Klingons," he says. "We're the bikers of the Star Trek world."

After all, you have to wonder about people who would pore over The Star Trek Encyclopedia, with 5,000 entries on every character, planet, gadget or concept ever mentioned in the series, from gagh ("serpent worms, a Klingon culinary delicacy") to Pollux V ("planet in the Beta Geminorum system that registered with no intelligent life-forms when the Enterprise investigated that area of space on Stardate 3468"). Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek's late creator and guiding spirit, once got a letter from a group of scientists who complained about a scene in which Captain Picard visited France and looked up at the night sky. By their calculations, they said, the stars could not have been in that position in France in the 24th century.

Yet Star Trek has legions of more temperate fans too. General Colin Powell is a watcher; so are Robin Williams, Mel Brooks and Stephen Hawking, the best- selling physicist (A Brief History of Time) who made a guest appearance in an episode of The Next Generation, playing poker with holographic re-creations of Albert Einstein and Sir Isaac Newton. Rachelle Chong, a member of the Federal Communications Commission, has decorated her office with Trek paraphernalia and dressed up as Captain Picard for Halloween. "I like the show because it shows me tomorrow," she says. And sometimes today: the cellular phone-like communicators used by the Trek crew back in the 1960s are almost exact precursors of the personal-communication systems the FCC has just begun issuing licenses for.

According to Paramount TV research, Star Trek's regular weekly audience of more than 20 million includes more high-income, college-educated viewers (as well as more men) than the average TV show. Even at the better than 200 Trekkie conventions held each year, the clientele is more likely to be middle- ! aged couples with kids in tow than computer geeks sporting Vulcan ears. "In the early days, everyone had a shirt and a costume," says Mary Warren, who was selling Trek apparel at a recent convention in Tucson, Arizona. "Now you get all these normal people in here." Among the 2,000 who attended was Elaine Koste, who came with her husband David and five-year-old daughter Karessa. "I use Star Trek as a tool to educate my daughter," said Koste. "It's good for her to see the characters deal with other races and teach good values."

"People have not gotten a real sense of what Star Trek fandom is really all about," says Leonard Nimoy, who played Mr. Spock, the superrational, pointy- eared Vulcan on the original series. "I talk to people in various professions all the time who say, 'I went to college to study this or that because of Star Trek."' Jonathan Frakes, Commander Riker on The Next Generation, concurs: "If you go in looking for geeks and nerds, then yeah, you'll find some. But this is a show that doesn't insult the audience. It is intelligent, literate and filled with messages and morals -- and that's what most of the people who watch are interested in."

Star Trek has evolved over the years from the brash, sometimes campy original series, with its Day-Glo colors and dime-store special effects, to the more meditative, slickly produced Next Generation, to the relatively conventional action-flick pleasures of the feature films. In all its incarnations, however, Star Trek conveys Roddenberry's optimistic view of the future. Sinister forces and evil aliens might lurk behind every star cluster, but on the bridge of the Enterprise, people of various races, cultures and planets work in utopian harmony. Their adventures, in the early days, were often allegories for earthbound problems like race relations and Vietnam -- problems that were solved with reason. A key concept of the show, which began during the Vietnam War, was the Prime Directive. It stated that the Enterprise crew must not interfere with the normal course of development of any civilization they might encounter.

The comforting ethos of the series was expressed not merely in the amity of the crew -- who never fought amongst themselves except when one or another had been taken over by aliens, which seemed to happen about every third episode. Beyond that, the freewheeling way the starship broke the constraints of time and space was a testament to unlimited human possibilities. Hundreds of light- years could be traversed in minutes (just accelerate to "warp factor"); crew members could be transported from place to place in an instant ("Beam me up, Scotty"). Time travel was a particular Star Trek favorite; characters were often shuttling back and forth to the past, trying to rectify mistakes of history and avoid disasters of the future. Talk about power trips!

Despite its techno-talk, Star Trek and The Next Generation were, at bottom, shows about the nature and meaning of being human. The endless parade of evil aliens and perverted civilizations -- from the bellicose Klingons to the pernicious Borg, with their hivelike collective consciousness -- was always contrasted to the civilized humans on board the Enterprise. The most popular characters were the nonhuman ones -- Spock, the "logical" Vulcan, and Data, the soulless android -- precisely because they were constantly being confronted with the human qualities they lacked: the emotions they either scorned (in Spock's case) or craved (in Data's).

Star Trek: Generations (directed by David Carson, who did several episodes of the series) continues the exploration of this theme. Data (Brent Spiner) has an "emotion chip" implanted in his brain, then suddenly has to deal with unfamiliar feelings like fear, remorse and giggly irresponsibility. Captain Picard, meanwhile, must overcome the siren-like lure of the Nexus, a timeless zone of pure joy that is being sought by the villainous Dr. Soran (Malcolm McDowell). The Nexus is a personalized fantasyland, where Picard experiences the idyllic home life he never had. Captain Kirk is there too, going through his own homey fantasy, but both must reject the Nexus and return to the real world to help defeat Soran. Responsibility, caring for others, recognizing your mortality -- these things too are part of being human.

Star Trek's optimistic morality plays were especially appealing when the show first went on the air in 1966. "It seemed like there was a hell of a lot of trouble in the world," says D.C. Fontana, a writer on the original show, "and it was a time there might not have been a whole lot of hope in America. And here comes this series that says mankind is better than we might think." Says Ian Spelling, who publishes a weekly Star Trek newspaper column: "It's a story of a positive future in which people are getting along. And if they're not, they're trying to work things out."

The multicultural Star Trek crew -- a Russian, a Japanese, a black woman, a ! Vulcan (make that multiplanetary) -- was of symbolic importance to many viewers. "As a teen, I was a fan," says Whoopi Goldberg, who had a recurring role in The Next Generation. "I recognized the multicultural, multiracial aspects, and different people getting together for a better world. Racial issues have been solved. Male-female problems have been solved. The show is about genuine equality."

Star Trek has won praise from many science-fiction writers. Ray Bradbury, a close friend of Roddenberry's until the latter's death in 1991, finds the show's popularity unsurprising: "We're living in a science-fiction time. We're swimming in an ocean of technology, and that's why Star Trek, Star Wars and 90% of the most successful films of the last 10 years are science fiction." Indeed, Star Trek has helped spark a revival of science fiction on TV, including such shows as Babylon 5 and SeaQuest DSV and an entire cable network, the Sci-Fi Channel.

Many scientists too admire the show for its faithfulness to the scientific method, if not to factual science. "They have a respect for the way science and engineering work," says Louis Friedman, a former programs director at Pasadena's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "For example, when you make measurements of a planet and try to determine its atmosphere, then get into the transporter ... well, if you had a transporter that's probably how you'd do it. They make it believable because they go through a reasonable process."

Others attribute Star Trek's popularity less to its science than to its dramatic and mythic qualities. Richard Slotkin, professor of English at Wesleyan University, says the show echoes the pioneer stories that dominate American history and literature. "What's so appealing about Star Trek is that it takes the old frontier myth and crosses it with a platoon movie," Slotkin says. "Instead of the whites against the Indians, you have a multiethnic crew against the Romulans and Klingons."

Star Trek has always had its literary pretensions; allusions to Shakespeare abound, and it has often been compared to The Odyssey. "There was something heroic and epic to the underlying themes," says Patrick Stewart, a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. "In terms of its ambition, the stage on which it was set was Homeric." Says Shatner: "I think there is a need for the culture to have a myth, like the Greeks had. We don't have any. So I think people look to Star Trek to set up a leader and a hearty band of followers. It's Greek classical storytelling." Not that the stars buy all the highfalutin analyses of their work. Kirk has been described as a classic Kennedyesque cold warrior. "That's too esoteric for me," says Shatner. "All I wanted to do was come up with a good character. I always played Kirk close to myself, mostly because of fatigue."

Shatner wouldn't have played Kirk at all if the original pilot for the series had pleased NBC. The show, which Roddenberry produced in 1964, starred Jeffrey Hunter as the captain. But NBC wanted changes, and by the time a new pilot was done, Hunter had dropped out. One actor who remained from the first pilot was Nimoy as Mr. Spock -- though only after Roddenberry persuaded NBC not to drop the character. The network had other alarming suggestions: at one point, Roddenberry recalled, NBC executives suggested that Spock smoke a space cigarette, to please a tobacco-company sponsor.

The original Star Trek never drew much of an audience, and it was saved from cancellation after two seasons only with the help of a letter-writing campaign from fans. But in its third season, NBC moved the show to a weak time slot, on Fridays at 10 p.m., and cut its budget by $9,000 an episode, putting a further crimp in the already bargain-basement special effects. The show was gone after that season.

But three seasons and 79 episodes were just enough to put the show's reruns into syndication, and there they were an enormous hit. By the end of the '70s, the success of Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind had prompted Paramount to give its TV space crew a crack at the big screen. Star Trek: The Motion Picture displeased hard-core fans. But it made a sturdy $82 million at the box office and launched a series of films that peaked in 1986 with Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, which grossed $110 million. Only Roddenberry felt left out. Though listed as executive consultant on all the films, he was largely supplanted by other producers. "He was pretty bitter about the films," recalls writer Tracy Torme. "He really felt like they took the films away from him."

Yet Roddenberry got a second chance on TV, when Star Trek: The Next Generation debuted in 1987. The show, set 80 years after the original, introduced a new Enterprise crew and had a much bigger budget. But still there was turmoil: Roddenberry's insistence on rewriting scripts alienated many of the writers. Things settled down when Rick Berman, Roddenberry's second-in- command, and co-executive producer Michael Piller took control. The show soon hit its stride, with an accomplished cast, better special effects and some of the most imaginative sci-fi writing ever for TV. The series was ended last May, at the height of its popularity, because Paramount wanted to switch it to the big screen exclusively.

Deep Space Nine is a drearier show, set in a kind of outer-space bus stop, where another imposing commander (Avery Brooks) presides over a melting pot of alien riffraff. The upcoming series, Voyager, aims to return to the exploration theme of the earlier series. Its premise: a Starfleet ship, chasing a band of rebels who oppose a Federation peace treaty, is transported (through a pesky space-time anomaly) to a distant part of the universe. The Starfleet crew and the rebel band must then join forces to find their way back home. The new show also responds to one longtime complaint about the Star Trek series: the lack of prominent roles for women. The captain of this Starfleet ship is played by Kate Mulgrew (replacing Genevieve Bujold, who quit the show after two days of shooting).

The Star Trek mystique has grown big enough that there's money to be made in debunking it. Two cast members from the original show, Nichelle Nichols (Uhura) and George Takei (Sulu), have written books in which they describe Shatner as an egomaniac on the set. Shatner has given his side in two volumes of Trek reminiscences, and some ex-colleagues charge that he has exaggerated his creative role. "The only thing that surprises me about Bill's (first) book," says Majel Barrett Roddenberry, who played Nurse Chapel in the original series and later married Roddenberry, "is that he managed to get it in the nonfiction category."

Bruised egos also resulted, not surprisingly, from the effort to combine the two TV casts for a passing of the torch in the new movie. Nimoy declined a role after he saw how small his part would be. "I told them," he says, "'The lines that you've written to be spoken by somebody named Spock can be easily distributed to any of the other characters on the screen."' Which is what happened: Captain Kirk appears with two lesser members of the old crew: chief engineer "Scotty" (James Doohan) and Ensign Chekov (Walter Koenig). Several members of the Next Generation cast, meanwhile, were less than thrilled with their relatively small amount of screen time. Says LeVar Burton, who plays Geordi: "Hopefully, if we do another one of these, we will have an opportunity to spread the wealth more."

Then there was the film's controversial ending. As originally shot, Captain Kirk was killed by a phaser in the back. But test audiences were reportedly dissatisfied, and the scene was reshot just weeks before the film opened. Kirk now has a more action-packed, though considerably lower-tech demise; Trek fans are already grumbling.

None of which will matter much if the film is, as expected, a big hit. Then all that Paramount will have to worry about is trying not to squeeze too much out of its cash cow. The studio plans to produce a new feature film every two years, while keeping two TV shows running simultaneously. "Star Trek will do fine if they don't kill the goose," says Barrett Roddenberry. Berman acknowledges the danger: "There's always the question about taking too many trips to the well, and one of the tasks Roddenberry left me with was at least to try to prevent that from happening."

Yet Roddenberry's old optimism seems to be prevailing. "Gene Roddenberry had a point of view that space is infinite as far as we know, and therefore the possibilities for stories are infinite," says Brent Spiner, with Data- like precision. "In the original series, I think they had explored some 18% of the universe. We (The Next Generation) went into another 15%. So that leaves 67% of the universe left to explore." Which, by our calculations, should carry the show well into the 21st century, and that's not even traveling at warp speed.

November 28, 1994

Star Trek: the Timeline

BY TEXT BY DAVID E. THIGPEN

1964: Desilu Studios tries to sell Star Trek to CBS, which declines and decides to air Lost in Space instead.

Sept. 1966: NBC broadcasts first episode, The Man Trap: Kirk outwits a vampire-like alien who has eyes for McCoy.

March 1967: McCoy says, "Dammit, Jim, I'm not a bricklayer, I'm a doctor!" First variation of this phrase.

1967: Even at its ratings peak, Star Trek ranks No. 52, behind such shows as Mr. Terrific and Iron Horse.

Dec. 1967: Trouble with Tribbles, peak of Star Trek humor.

Summer 1968: NBC announces cancellation of series but receives 1 million letters of protest and renews it.

Nov. 1968: TV's first interracial kiss, between Kirk and Uhura. Censors insist "no racial overtones," no open mouths.

1969: After 79 episodes NBC cancels series.

Feb. 1972: First Star Trek convention is held in New York City. Sci-fi guru Isaac Asimov attends.

1976: After reveiving 400,000 letters from Trekkies, NASA names space-shuttle prototype Enterprise.

1976: Leonard Nimoy writes I Am Not Spock.

Nov. 1979: Star Trek: The Motion Picture released. The franchise lives.

| Dec. 1982: Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan released; it features Kirstie Alley and Ricardo Montalban's cleavage. Spock dies.

June 1984: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. Spock lives!

1986: Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. In 1980s San Francisco, Spock and Kirk save the whales.

1986: In Saturday Night Life skit, Shatner tells convention of Vulcan-eared Trekkies to "get a life".

1987: Star Trek: The Next Generation TV series debuts with Shakespearean actor Patrick Stewart on the bridge and an android riding shotgun.

Oct. 1990: With 80th episode, TNG surpasses original series. Classic Trek fans aghast.

1991: Gene Roddenberry dies.

March 1992: "Star Trek the Exhibition" opens at the National Air and Space Museum and becomes the most heavily attended exhibit ever.

Jan. 1993: Spin-off series Deep Space Nine debuts. Alien soap opera.

Nov. 1994: Star Trek Generations. Kirk dies. Really

Jan. 1995: Star Trek: Voyager premieres. Lost in space.

24th century: Star Trek forgotten; cult forms around Shatner's '80s cop show, T.J. Hooker.

November 28, 1994

The Torch Has Passed Off-Camera, Too

BY MICHAEL WALSH

WHAT BECOMES A LEGEND MOST? FOR RICK BERMAN, who teamed up with Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry in 1987 and inherited the franchise mantle after Roddenberry's death four years later, the challenge has been to honor the creator's concept while also moving it forward. The original series was set in the 23rd century, The Next Generation in the 24th; but the century Berman has to worry about is the 21st.

"Star Trek was never, and hopefully never will be, my vision of the future," says Berman, 48, a former documentary filmmaker and children's TV producer. "It's Gene Roddenberry's vision that I agreed to uphold." The job is trickier than it might seem. Berman, a vice president at Paramount when Roddenberry tapped him as the producer of The Next Generation, has had to sail his enterprise between the Scylla of Roddenberry's own "prime directive" -- a stricture against any conflict among members of Starfleet -- and the Charybdis of mass-market appeal.

"I went through a rather strenuous apprenticeship," recalls Berman, a workaholic with few outside interests other than his wife Elizabeth and their three children. "I learned what was Star Trek and what wasn't. I learned all the nomenclature, all the rules and regulations. I learned the difference between shields and deflectors -- that was a day right there. Slowly, Gene began to trust my judgment and also to trust that I would adhere to the rules, that I would not be someone who would want to change Star Trek."

Still, he says, "there were some things that existed with Roddenberry that were very frustrating to us. Not to have conflict among your characters makes it very difficult, because all the conflict has to come from outside. On The Next Generation, with the exception of an android and a Klingon, pretty much everyone was human, and they weren't allowed to be involved in conflict, so that was very frustrating for the writers."

So frustrating that in the first two seasons TNG writers came and went like Tribbles as Roddenberry assiduously rewrote nearly every script to conform to his notion of futuristic collegiality and his distaste for warfare. He had written for such popular shows as Dragnet and Have Gun Will Travel, and candidly envisioned the original Star Trek series as a "Wagon Train to the stars." In his quintessentially '60s view, the final frontier may have been full of hostile Klingons and dangerous Romulans, but they were generally susceptible to a pep talk -- only occasionally augmented by a punch in the nose -- from Captain Kirk. "Everyone always wants me to do space battles," Roddenberry remarked in 1989. "Well, screw them. That's not what Star Trek is about."

Conflict, however, is the stuff of drama, and space battles are what the paying public wants to see, especially on the big screen. Since Roddenberry's death, Berman has evolved Star Trek into something darker, more elemental and more mysterious. "Rick was a little more broadminded about what I was permitted to explore as a character," observes Patrick Stewart, TNG's Captain Picard, and the new shows are stretching the Star Trek guidelines even more. On the current Deep Space Nine, set on a remote space station, Starfleet officers tangle with the alien races who share the outpost. And in the forthcoming Voyager series (which features the first female starship captain in a leading role, albeit in a form-fitting uniform), Federation stalwarts must make an uneasy truce with a contentious band taken on board in a distant part of the universe. "This way," explains Berman, "you have a core group of people who were not all brought up on Gene Roddenberry's 24th century Earth. They don't have to follow the rules."

Whether that reasoning will pass muster down the line remains to be seen, since Trek fans are notoriously alert to any noncanonical deviations from Roddenberry's holy writ. "The laws of Star Trek are totally fictional but are held by the fans with such reverence that they have to be followed as if they were Newton's," says Berman. "You have to treat them very carefully, because there are people who for 25 years have considered them sacred." Even so, there are times he contemplates heresy: on his desk sits a bust of Roddenberry, its eyes and ears covered by a blindfold. "Things are sometimes said in this office that he probably would not like to hear," Berman says.

December 28, 1992

Star Trek: The Next Frontier

BY JANICE C. SIMPSON

The setting, while not exactly Blade Runner territory, is a desolate space station -- a decidedly hostile environment. It includes a promenade with a space-age cash machine and a holographic brothel. Through it passes a contentious assortment of humans and aliens. Station Commander Benjamin Sisko, while as courageous and honorable as U.S.S. Enterprise captains James Kirk and Jean-Luc Picard, openly expresses his discontent with his hardship assignment.

What's going on here? Can this dark, gritty show really be the latest spin- off in the Star Trek saga -- that seemingly never-ending cult series about a Utopian future in which knowledge and technology conquer disease and poverty and all the races and species in the universe coexist in near perfect harmony? Yes, Mr. Spock, this is Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, a syndicated show premiering the week of Jan. 4. It takes Star Trek, created 27 years ago by visionary producer Gene Roddenberry, further into uncharted territory than ever before, and is the first Trek venture initiated since Roddenberry died last year. "We've managed to create conflict without breaking the ideals of what the show is all about," says co-executive producer Rick Berman. "That's one of our rules: You don't mess with Gene's vision. We bend things a little bit, but I believe we bend them in the same way that he would have."

They'd better. After all, a whole empire may be at stake. The initial 79 episodes of Star Trek, originally seen on NBC, are venerated as TV classics and are available on videocassette. A sequel series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, is in its sixth season in syndication and is seen by 20 million people each week, making it second only to Wheel of Fortune among syndicated shows. Six Star Trek movies have been made, grossing an aggregate of $500 million. There is a TV cartoon show, a theater-style attraction at the Universal Studios theme park and a legion of annual conventions of "Trekkers." A retrospective exhibit of Star Trekiana was held at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum earlier this year, and a chain of "virtual reality" Star Trek entertainment centers will open across the country next year.

In most ways, Deep Space Nine follows the familiar course charted by its predecessors. It is set in the same 24th century as The Next Generation and deals with many of the political situations introduced in that show. Familiar faces from older series pop up: Enterprise captain Picard appears in the pilot, and another Enterprise crew member, Miles O'Brien, has transferred completely to become chief operations officer for Deep Space Nine. "The synergy between the shows will become immediately obvious," says the other co-executive producer, Michael Piller.

The primary conflict in the new series is between the warmongering Cardassians, who gutted and abandoned the space station after being forced out, and the spiritually minded Bajorans, who have resorted to terrorism to end a century of foreign occupation in their homeland. The Bajorans' appeal for help to the Federation, the interplanetary U.N., brings Sisko and a motley crew of officers to Deep Space Nine. There they interact with a constantly changing cast of aliens who pass through the frontier outpost.

Like its predecessors, Deep Space Nine will explore philosophical questions and social problems. Plots in upcoming episodes deal with topics like racial prejudice and single parenthood. Captain Sisko is played by African-American actor Avery Brooks, who beat out 100 other contenders from all racial / backgrounds for the job, making him one of the few black actors to star in a dramatic series. Others in the cast include former model Terry Farrell as science officer Jadzia Dax, an alien who combines the personalities of a 300- year-old androgynous life form and a 28-year-old female in one being; Rene Auberjonois as security officer Odo, a displaced alien with shape-shifting capabilities that allow him to change into any form; Nana Visitor as first officer Kira Nerys, a former member of the Bajoran underground; Armin Shimerman as Quark, the money-grubbing bartender who provides comic relief; and Siddig El Fadil as medical officer Dr. Julian Bashir, a human doctor who adds hunk appeal.

But the real stars of the new series are set designer Herman Zimmerman and special-effects wizard Rob Legato. The basic set, which fills three sound stages at the Paramount studios, includes a five-level operations command center, the crew's cavelike sleeping quarters and the 80-ft. promenade. A good chunk of the $2 million-per-episode budget goes toward eye-popping optical effects, like travel into the wormhole that provides shortcuts through space and gives the station its strategic significance.

Before his death, creator Roddenberry "had gotten awfully mellow, and the show had begun to lose some of the excitement and nonsense and folderol that can make it fun to do," says his widow Majel Barrett, who provides the voice of the computer on all three series. Deep Space Nine "lends itself to a lot more excitement. It will be different, and yet it will fit into his universe." As Roddenberry knew all along, there are no final frontiers in the world of Star Trek.

February 28, 2000

William Shatner

BY JOEL STEIN; WILLIAM SHATNER

William Shatner, Captain Kirk on Star Trek, sings on TV for .

Q. Have you made more on priceline stock or on 30 years of milking suckers for everything they're worth at Star Trek conventions?

A. When priceline asked me how much it would cost them to do their commercials, I named my own price.

Q. Do you even know what a good price for Cheerios is?

A. $1.25 is a good price for a very large box of cereal.

Q. Not even close. You starred in the only movie ever made in Esperanto. Can you say bad career move in Esperanto?

A. Malo carrero.

Q. There's a Shatner building at McGill University. What gets taught there?

A. How to get laid without much trouble. That's what happens in the student union.

Q. When you were doing T.J. Hooker, could you tell that Nicole Eggert had what it took to be a Baywatch babe?

A. I could tell because of the see-through dresses that she was well on her way.

Q. Could you tell that Heather Locklear was going to be a much bigger star than Heather Thomas?

A. She told me she was going to be a huge star.

Q. When you first get a line of dialogue, how do you decide which words to stress? Dice? Darts?

A. It's done with a stress meter. You read the line to a stress meter, and when the arc of the line is at its highest point, you know that is the word to emphasize.

Q. What other songs will you do?

A. Madonna. And a little Esther Williams: emerge from a pool, dripping water from a clinging bathing suit.

Q. She did one of these Q&As. She can talk dirty.

A. Maybe she gets off talking dirty, and I bet you get off hearing her, huh, Joel? Secretly?

Q. There's no secret there.

November 28, 1994

Reconfigure the Modulators!

So you think you're Star Trek literate just because you know that phasers can stun and that while Klingons used to be bad guys, now they're good (most of the time, anyway). But can you decipher the techno-babble that Enterprise crew members are constantly spouting? For some help, TIME consulted Michael Okuda, one of the Star Trek technical experts:

"We need to remodulate the main deflector dish."

Deflectors are devices that protect starships by setting up an energy field. Dishes, which operate at specific frequencies, control the deflectors. Remodulating the frequency boosts the strength of the deflectors against incoming attacks.

"We can do it if we reconfigure the lateral sensor array."

Sensors are used to detect objects, life forms or anomalies in space. Reconfiguring them simply adjusts them, like focusing a lens. Watch for terms like "reconfigure" and "remodulate"; they're the workhorses of the Trek vocabulary.

"It should be possible if we decompile the pattern buffer."

Transporters can send people instantly from one location to another by converting their molecules into energy, then reassembling them. Every living being has a distinct pattern of molecules; the pattern buffer fixes the configuration by adjusting for the Doppler effect -- the apparent change in the frequency of the energy waves caused by motion.

"I'll verify the Heisenberg compensators."

The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle states that you cannot know a subatomic particle's exact position and its exact direction and velocity at the same time. To transport people you have to know all those things, so the Heisenberg compensator was devised to overcome that problem. It's an attempt by the Trek writers to signal that they are at least aware of the issue. And how does the Heisenberg compensator work? "It works very well, thank you," says Okuda.

May 14, 2001

Kate Mulgrew

BY KATE MULGREW; JOEL STEIN

Kate Mulgrew stars in Star Trek: Voyager; the finale airs May 23 at 8 p.m.

Q. I promise this will be painless.

A. I like it painful. Then I know I'm fully alive. Let's engage here.

Q. Why didn't you and Chakotay ever get it on? I have no idea what that means.

A. To get it on?

Q. No, Chakotay.

A. Chakotay is my first officer, right?

Q. Sure.

A. I had a hell of a task in front of me, to demystify a female in command for all those teenage boys who are Star Trek fans. Dropping trou, getting into all that trouble--red alert.

Q. Jeri Ryan plays this half borg, but the only inhuman thing I can see about her is this little design on her cheek, unless borgs have giant breasts.

A. She's amply endowed, but I don't think that's typical of the borg.

Q. You've got the second highest rated show on UPN, but isn't that like being the second best student at Gonzaga?

A. How dare you. That's my former husband's school.

Q. You played Mrs. Columbo. How much time did you have to spend visualizing having sex with Peter Falk?

A. As an actress it was my obligation to do so on a daily basis. As a human being I summarily avoided it.

Q. At home before sex, do you ever yell "Engage!" at your husband?

A. No, I talk about tachyon emissions.

Q. What's that?

A. Tachyon emissions are the most powerful subspace emissions. So I just pretend my husband is the ship. And we go to impulse.

Q. How do you spell this tachyon thing?

A. This is a hopeless interview because you've never watched even two seconds of Voyager. T-a-c-h-y-o-n. And I'm sure you know how to spell emissions.

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