Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a 1979 science fiction film released by Paramount Pictures. It is the first film based on the Star Trek television series. When a mysterious and immensely powerful alien cloud called V’ger approaches Earth, destroying everything in its path, Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) assumes command of his old starship—the USS Enterprise—to lead it on a mission to save the planet and determine V’ger’s origins.

When the original television series was cancelled in 1969, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry lobbied Paramount to continue the franchise through a film. The success of the series in syndication convinced the studio to begin work on a feature film in 1975. A series of writers attempted to craft a suitably epic script, but the attempts did not satisfy Paramount, so the studio scrapped the project in 1977. Paramount instead planned on returning the franchise to its roots with a new television series, Star Trek: Phase II. The box office success of Close Encounters of the Third Kind convinced Paramount that science fiction films other than Star Wars could do well at the box office, so the studio canceled production of Phase II and resumed its attempts at making a Star Trek film. In 1978, Paramount assembled the largest press conference held at the studio since the 1950s to announce that Academy Award–winning director Robert Wise would helm a $15 million film adaptation of the television series.

With the cancellation of the new television series, the writers rushed to adapt the planned pilot episode of Phase II, “In Thy Image,” into a film script. Constant revisions to the story meant that new versions of the shooting script were distributed hourly. The Enterprise was completely redesigned inside and out; costume designer Robert Fletcher provided new uniforms and production designer Harold Michelson fabricated new sets. Jerry Goldsmith composed the score, beginning an association with Star Trek that would continue until 2002. When the original contractors for the optical effects proved unable to complete their tasks in time, effects supervisor Douglas Trumbull was given carte blanche to meet the December 1979 release date. The film came together only days before the premiere; Wise took the just-completed film to its Washington, D.C., opening, but always felt that the theatrical version was a rough cut of the film he wanted to make.

Released in North America on December 7, 1979, Star Trek: The Motion Picture received mixed reviews from critics, many of whom criticized the film for its lack of action and over-reliance on special effects. The final production cost ballooned to approximately $46 million. The film earned $139 million worldwide, falling short of studio expectations but enough for Paramount to propose a cheaper sequel. Roddenberry was forced out of creative control for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. In 2001, Wise created a director’s cut for a special DVD release of the film; a team remastered the audio, tightened and added scenes, and used new computer-generated effects to complete his vision.

Directed by Robert Wise

Star Trek The Motion Picture Cast

Writers
  Television series Star Trek
   Gene Roddenberry
  Story
   Alan Dean Foster
  Screenplay
   Harold Livingston

Producers
  David C. Fein … producer (2001 director’s edition)
  Jon Povill … associate producer
  Gene Roddenberry … producer

Cast
  William Shatner … Admiral James T. Kirk
  Leonard Nimoy … Mr. Spock
  DeForest Kelley … Dr. Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy
  James Doohan … Cmdr. Montgomery ‘Scotty’ Scott
  George Takei … Lt. Cmdr. Hikaru Sulu
  Majel Barrett … Dr. Christine Chapel
  Walter Koenig … Lt. Pavel Chekov
  Nichelle Nichols … Lt. Cmdr. Uhura
  Persis Khambatta … Lt. Ilia
  Stephen Collins … Cmdr. Willard Decker
  Grace Lee Whitney … CPO Janice Rand
  Mark Lenard … Klingon Captain
  Billy Van Zandt … Alien Boy
  Roger Aaron Brown … Epsilon Technician
  Gary Faga … Airlock Technician
  David Gautreaux … Cmdr. Branch
  John D. Gowans … Assistant to Rand
  Howard Itzkowitz … Cargo Deck Ensign
  Jon Rashad Kamal … Cmdr. Sonak
  Marcy Lafferty … Chief DiFalco
  Michele Ameen Billy … Lieutenant
  Jeri McBride … Technician
  Terrence O’Connor … Chief Ross
  Michael Rougas … Lt. Cleary
  Susan J. Sullivan … Vice-Adm. Lori Ciana

Plot

A Starfleet monitoring station detects an alien force hidden in a massive cloud of energy moving through space towards Earth. The cloud destroys three Klingon warships and the monitoring station en route. On Earth, the starship Enterprise is undergoing a major refit; its former commander, James T. Kirk, has been promoted to Admiral and works in San Francisco as Chief of Starfleet Operations. Starfleet dispatches the Enterprise to investigate the cloud entity as the ship is the only one in intercept range, requiring its new systems to be tested in transit.

Persis Khambatta

Kirk takes command of the ship citing his experience, angering Captain Willard Decker, who had been overseeing the refit as its new commanding officer. Testing of Enterprise’s new systems goes poorly; two officers, including the science officer, are killed by a malfunctioning transporter, and improperly calibrated engines almost destroy the ship. The tension between Kirk and Decker increases when the admiral demonstrates his unfamiliarity with Enterprise. Spock arrives as replacement science officer, explaining that while on his home world undergoing a ritual to purge all emotion, he felt a consciousness that he believes emanates from the cloud.

The Enterprise intercepts the energy cloud and is heavily damaged by an alien vessel. A probe appears on the bridge, attacks Spock and abducts the navigator, Ilia. She is replaced by a robotic doppelgänger, a probe sent by “V’ger” to study the crew. Decker is distraught over the loss of Ilia, with whom he had a romantic history. He becomes troubled as he attempts to extract information from the doppelgänger, which has Ilia’s memories and feelings buried within. Spock takes a spacewalk to the alien vessel’s surface and attempts a telepathic mind meld with it. In doing so, he learns that the vessel is V’ger itself, a living machine.

At the heart of the massive ship, V’ger is revealed to be Voyager 6, a 20th-century Earth space probe believed lost. The damaged probe was found by an alien race of living machines that interpreted its programming as instructions to learn all that can be learned, and return that information to its creator. The machines upgraded the probe to fulfill its mission, and on its journey the probe gathered so much knowledge that it achieved consciousness. Spock realizes that V’ger lacks the ability to give itself a focus other than its original mission; having learned what it could on its journey home, it finds its existence empty and without purpose. Before transmitting all its information, V’ger insists that the Creator come in person to finish the sequence. Realizing that the machine wants to merge with its creator, Decker offers himself to V’ger; he merges with the Ilia probe and V’ger, creating a new form of life that disappears into another dimension. With Earth saved, Kirk directs the Enterprise out to space for future missions.

Trivia
Viewing Spock’s mind meld with V’Ger frame by frame shows images of the Klingons, Ilia, Epsilon IX, and the Voyager VI space probe.

Paramount then announced that they would be creating a new TV network, initially operating one night a week showing Paramount TV-movies and a new “Star Trek” series about the Enterprise’s second 5-year mission, with most of the original cast and the title “Star Trek Phase II”. It soon became clear that they could not make a go of the new network, but Paramount continued work on the new series in the hope of selling it to one of the existing networks.

For a previous unproduced TV series of his called “Genesis II”, Gene Roddenberry had created a story he called “Robot’s Return”. This was now rewritten for “Star Trek” by Alan Dean Foster under the title “In Thy Image”, and proposed as the two-hour premiere episode of “Star Trek Phase II”. However, Paramount executive ‘Michael Eisner’ responded, “We’ve been looking for the feature for five years and this is it”, and made the final decision to forget the new series and produce the story as a movie.

The decision was made in August 1977, but in order to keep the team together during the necessary renegotiation of contracts, Paramount kept it secret until March 1978; when Rona Barrett broke the secret in December 1977, they denied it. Meanwhile, they pretended that the TV series was still going to happen, even soliciting scripts for episodes that would never be made. Sets built for the TV series were used in the movie, but modelwork had to be redone after the changeover was made public, due to the need for finer detailing in a movie.

Director Robert E. Collins, whose background was mostly in television, was hired to direct the two-hour premiere, but after the change to a movie, Paramount wanted a more experienced director and replaced him with Robert Wise.

Gene Roddenberry wanted Alan Dean Foster to write the final script for the film, but Harold Livingston thought him too inexperienced and tried to hire Steven Bochco, who was unavailable; Michael Cimino, who wasn’t interested; and Bill L. Norton, who initially accepted but found it beyond his capabilities. In the end Livingston did the job himself. He disagreed repeatedly with Roddenberry over rewrites and other matters, and quit and returned several times.

The TV series was to have three new regular characters. Paramount was concerned that William Shatner might ask for too much money to continue playing Kirk if the run of the series was extended beyond the initial order of 13 episodes; the character of Decker was created so that if Kirk had to be written out, Decker could become the series’ new lead role. Decker was played in the movie by Stephen Collins.

Leonard Nimoy declined to return as Spock for the series, so a new Vulcan character called Lieutenant Xon was created to be the new science officer. An employee of an agent was dating a young actor, David Gautreaux, who had no agent of his own; she suggested him for the part and he got it, then was told that it was actually for a movie. When Nimoy finally agreed to do the movie, Spock replaced Xon in the script and Gautreaux was given the smaller part of Commander Branch.

The character of Lieutenant Ilia, played by Persis Khambatta, was also intended as a continuing role in the TV series.

The original version of the “Space Walk” sequence had both Spock and Captain Kirk travelling through V’ger. Because it complicated the flow of the film, the scene was reshot with Spock alone, and that’s what’s seen in the final cut. However, a fraction of this alternate scene remains in the longer version, where Kirk says, “I have him in sight”.

The V’ger prop was so large and involved so much work that one end of it was being used in scenes while the other end was still being built.

In the scene where Kirk addresses the crew prior to launching, much of the crew were extras who were noted Star Trek fans, including Bjo Trimble, co-organizer of the letter-writing campaign that kept the original Star Trek alive for a third season.

It was understood in the script, but not in the film, that Commander Willard Decker was the son of Commodore Matthew Decker, the half-crazed starship captain who committed suicide in the Star Trek episode ‘The Doomsday Machine’.

Jerry Goldsmith’s Academy Award-nominated score featured a special musical instrument called the ‘Blaster Beam’, an instrument 15 feet long, incorporating artillery shell casings and motorized magnets. It was used as part of any scene featuring V’ger. The instrument was invented by former child star turned New Age musician Craig Hundley who, in his youth, had portrayed Captain Kirk’s nephew, Peter Kirk, in the Star Trek episode, ‘Operation – Annihilate!’. He appeared in another episode as Tommy Starnes in ‘And the Children Shall Lead’.

Gene Roddenberry so loved the main theme from the score that he reused it for Star Trek: The Next Generation.

The voice of actress Majel Barrett (who plays Dr. Christine Chapel and was Gene Roddenberry’s wife) was used for Star Fleet computers such as that of the Enterprise throughout the “Star Trek” franchise, from the original Star Trek series through to the Star Trek reimagining. Her voice in this picture is already very recognizable although she doesn’t have a lot of lines.

Because of the need to re-build sets and models when the production switched from a television series to a big-budget feature film, the production was already ten weeks behind schedule before a single frame was shot. Director Robert Wise repeatedly considered quitting the production, and at one point even suggested that Paramount cancel the project altogether.

Robert Wise was convinced to accept the position as director by his wife, who was a huge fan of the original Star Trek television series. His wife was also instrumental in convincing Wise to campaign for Leonard Nimoy’s return to the project.

Prior to production, Gene Roddenberry joked that he wanted Richard Burton for the role of Kirk and Robert Redford to play Spock. The joke was reported as fact by some media. The role of Decker wasn’t cast until days before production started. Actors considered included: Andrew Robinson – who later played Elim Garak on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), Jordan Clarke, ‘Richard Kelton (I)’, Lance Henriksen, Tim Thomerson, ‘Stephen Macht (I)’, Art Hindle and Frederic Forrest.

This film marked the first appearance of the ridged-forehead Klingons. In the original TV series Gene Roddenberry wanted the Klingons to look alien, but budget constraints prevented this from being done beyond giving the actors dark mark-up and fake eyebrows. The change in the Klingons’ appearance was partially addressed in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode, ‘Trials and Tribble-ations’, establishing the existence of smooth-forehead Klingons. However, ridged-forehead Klingons appeared in the prequel series Star Trek: Enterprise prompting a satisfactory explanation to the brief existence of smooth-forehead Klingons. The episodes ‘Affliction’ and ‘Divergence’ showed their existence resulted from a viral mutation caused by Klingon experimentation with enhanced human DNA.

The original TV series theme by Alexander Courage can be heard briefly during Kirk’s log entry after Spock rejoins the crew. It can also be heard during two more “Captain’s Log” dictations. Except for the opening fanfare which became a regular part of later Trek films and a small excerpt heard at the end of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, and a significant reference toward the end of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, this is the only time in the film series that the television theme is heard in a major fashion.

Marcy Lafferty, who plays DiFalco, was married to William Shatner at the time.

In the DVD making of documentary, William Shatner says that at the time they were filming, there was no clear end to the film and that the writers were constantly re-writing the ending. He recalls that at one point he came up with what he considered a good ending and pitched it to co-star Leonard Nimoy who thought it was a good idea. They then went together to Robert Wise to pitch the idea to him. Wise also liked the idea. Now Shatner had to pitch it to Gene Roddenberry. Shatner claims that by the time he pitched the ending to Roddenberry that he was so exhausted from mustering up the energy to pitch the idea (in addition to the energy he use to work on the film) that his pitch didn’t go over so well and Gene Roddenberry rejected it. In his book “Star Trek Movie Memories” (1994), Shatner recalls the story differently: the scene in question is the one in which the Enterprise crew starts to leave the bridge in order to show the Ilia/Probe it is acting like a little child. When Roddenberry rejected it, Robert Wize got Harold Livingston to write the scene instead.

James Doohan’s twin sons, Montgomery Doohan and Christopher Doohan, appear as extras in the movie.

Uhura’s communications earpieces are the only original props from the original TV series. They were dug out of storage when it was realized someone had forgotten to make new ones for the movie.

Persis Khambatta became very emotional about having her head shaved for her role. She kept her shorn hair in a box for a time and asked Gene Roddenberry to take out insurance in case her hair didn’t grow back. It did.

The Klingon words spoken by the Klingon ship’s captain were actually invented by actor James Doohan (Commander Scott). Later, linguist Marc Okrand devised grammar and syntax rules for the language, along with more vocabulary words in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, and wrote a Klingon dictionary.

All of the extras in the rec-deck briefing sequence were Star Trek fans called upon to appear in the film. Most of their checks were not cashed; Harve Bennett said that they were probably framed as souvenirs by the fans.

Post-production went on right up until the day before the film’s world premiere. Because time was so short, all the prints of the film were shipped “wet” – fresh from the duplication lab – and were airlifted directly out from a warehouse on the Paramount lot as they were assembled. Rewrites took place daily during filming, most of them on the order of William Shatner or Leonard Nimoy dropping lines that were superfluous (“My character wouldn’t say that”, etc). The logistics of the very end of the film – Decker merging with V’Ger – was devised more or less on the spot.

When Spock mindmelds with the giant Ilia, a number of images are reflected across his spacesuit’s visor. Viewing the sequence in slow motion, you can see pictures foreshadowing V’ger’s identity.

Among the extras in the crew briefing sequence was writer David Gerrold, who had created the Tribbles for the original Star Trek series.

Many story ideas were considered during the early planning stages, including the Enterprise meeting God, preventing Kennedy’s assassination, becoming the Greek Titans, and trying to prevent a black hole from swallowing the galaxy. The Enterprise meeting God was used for Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, while preventing the Kennedy assassination was briefly reconsidered for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home before it was rejected again.

Gene Roddenberry had asked his wife Majel Barrett – Christine Chapel – if she would don fur and a tail to “reprise” the role of Lieutenant M’Ress from the animated Star Trek. She refused.

For the DVD release, the producers toyed with the idea of digitally inserting a shot of the NX-01 Enterprise (Jonathan Archer’s ship from the prequel series Star Trek: Enterprise) into the rec room scene where Decker shows Ilia a display of previous ships named Enterprise. The idea was eventually dropped, possibly since the shot would not be able to be seen clearly anyway (the pictures were not easily legible onscreen). The NX-01 would have replaced the shot of the ‘ringed’ S.S. Enterprise – which eventually appeared on “Enterprise” anyway (in the bar scene in the episode “First Flight”).

Leonard Nimoy agreed to appear in the film only after Paramount agreed to a settlement of his lawsuit against them for allowing his TV series likeness to be used by advertisers.

The producers and the cast were very worried about their appearance after being away from Star Trek for ten years. Special lighting and camera tricks were used to hide the cast’s aging, and William Shatner went on a near-starvation diet prior to filming. However, in all subsequent Star Trek movies it was decided to make the aging of the crew part of the story.

WILHELM SCREAM: In Engineering when Enterprise is attacked by the V’GER blast (“Special Edition” only), and in the transporter chamber, when Commanders Sonak and Ciani lose their patterns from its malfunction.

So far, this film still has the longest running time of any Star Trek movie. In fact, until the release of Star Trek this was the only one to break the two-hour mark.

Jerry Goldsmith’s famous theme for the movie almost didn’t happen. One of the first scenes Goldsmith scored was the scene when Kirk and Scotty do a flyover of the refit Enterprise. Robert Wise liked the music that Goldsmith composed, but in the end, he rejected it, saying it didn’t fit the movie because it lacked a theme/motif. Goldsmith went back to the drawing board and composed the famous theme that has become a staple of the Star Trek universe.

James Doohan also devised the Vulcan words heard during the Kolinahr sequence. The scenes were originally shot in English, and when it was decided to change the dialogue to Vulcan, Doohan wrote lines that fit the existing lip movements. Some of the subtitles were rearranged to make this less obvious.

Orson Welles narrated trailers for the film.

After the original Star Trek TV series proved a success in syndication, Paramount became interested in making a “Star Trek” movie. Writers who contributed ideas or draft scripts in 1975-77 included Gene Roddenberry, Jon Povill, Robert Silverberg, John D.F. Black, Harlan Ellison, Theodore Sturgeon, and Ray Bradbury. A story called “Star Trek: Planet of Titans” was selected; Chris Bryant and Allan Scott wrote a script, which was then rewritten by Philip Kaufman. At this point Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope burst upon the world, and Paramount reacted by canceling “Star Trek: Planet of Titans” before pre-production started. Allegedly they thought there wasn’t a sufficient market for another big science-fiction film.

Visual effects supervisor Douglas Trumbull claims that although the models built for the film were quite large, they were in fact not large enough to facilitate shooting many of the desired camera angles. The production had to commission a special periscope lens system from Panavision which allowed the shots to be accomplished. To achieve maximum depth-of-field, many of the shots also required very long exposure times of up to several minutes per frame.

The images of the interior of the V’ger cloud were created using airbrush paintings. Led by animation supervisor Alison Yerxa, a team of animators created thousands of air-brushings using white paint on black paper. These were then photographed, made into transparencies, and used as positive and negative masks on a special multi-plane animation camera. Color tints were then added using filters during the optical composting process. The sequence was inspired by a Canadian documentary called Universe, which visual effects supervisor Douglas Trumbull had seen during the making of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

At one time, according to the Guinness Book of Records, this was the most expensive film ever made with a total production cost of US$46 million.

Some of the clothing worn by the aliens in the movie (seen at Starfleet Headquarters) was made from unused bolts of cloth left over from The Ten Commandments

Director Robert Wise’s wife, Millicent, is also part of the crew in the Rec Room scene. She can be seen in front, close to David Gerrold.

In the DVD “making-of” documentary, there is archival behind the scenes footage of tests for make-up, costumes, and sets. Among the footage shown is an early screen test for Persis Khambatta as Lieutenant Ilia. In the test, she is wearing a female uniform from the original TV series: A gold one-piece mini-skirt dress with a Lieutenant stripe, black pantyhose, and black boots. This is due to the fact that it was her screen test for the aborted “Star Trek – Phase II” series, which was going to re-use the “Original Series” costume designs.

The amazing popularity of Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope had a definite impact on the storyline, pacing and even marketing of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Many hardcore sci-fi fans (including prominent sci-fi writers) viewed Star Wars as mere fantasy, an updating of Buck Rogers/Flash Gordon level matinee fluff. Gene Roddenberry always saw Star Trek as a more serious endeavor, and did not want Star Trek: The Motion Picture to be seen as “cashing in”. So the story for Star Trek: The Motion Picture was pushed toward more sophisticated and complex ideas, the decision was made to have no battle scenes of any type. In fact, the earliest Presskit promotional material for newspaper ads had as the main line, “There Is No Comparison”.

Almost all of the dialogue in the Enterprise bridge scenes had to be overdubbed by the actors in post-production. This was due to the fact that the animation/graphics seen on the bridge station display monitors was projected from behind the bridge set walls by dozens of 16 mm projectors (one for each display screen), as computer technology was not advanced enough at the time to use real computer monitors on a practical basis. As a result, the clattering sound of the noisy projectors nearly drowned out the voices of the actors, and their dialogue had to be dubbed over later at considerable added time and expense.

Just before the Epsilon IX station is destroyed by V’Ger, Cmdr. Branch (David Gautreaux) mentions that the size of the V’Ger cloud is “My God – over 82 AUs in diameter”. For comparative purposes, the distance between Earth and the Sun is 1 AU (short for “Astronomical Unit”) and the distance between the Sun and Pluto ranges between 30-40 AUs, which would mean the V’Ger cloud could theoretically encompass the entire Solar System! In the Director’s Cut, the line is altered by skillful sound editing, making the size of the cloud only “over 2 AU’s in diameter” – Wise perhaps (Wisely) decided 82 AUs was just too much.

For the Director’s Cut, Robert Wise received permission and a budget to complete the film as he had originally intended. Several special effects scenes, that could not be finished in 1979 due to time and budget constraints, were redone, sometimes with the use of the original models. A completely original model of V’Ger, as it appeared when the surrounding clouds had dissipated, was based on the cross-sectional reading of the ship that appeared on a screen in the movie. A computerized “model” of the Enterprise was created, using the original physical model as reference, to create new CGI shots.

When Spock travels through V’ger and sees all the incredible imagery, Darth Vader and Miss Piggy can be seen. It comes right after his line “Who or what are we dealing with?”. There are not actual photos of the two characters in this sequence. What you are actually seeing is an overhead perspective of the Epsilon IX station. The “Vader” mask is the antenna relays and the “Miss Piggy” snout is most likely the command tower. There are no actual photos of either of the characters.

Had this movie aired as a two-hour TV series premiere as intended, the episode title would have been “In Thy Image.”

Marvel Comics did a three-issue adaptation of this movie to kick-off their new Star Trek comic series. It was a good adaptation of this movie, except that they used the Memory Wall sequence instead of the Spock Walk sequence. It appears that they were using the original script as the basis for their adaptation and didn’t know the Memory Wall scene had been scrapped.

Another theory put forth on the Star Trek convention circuit as to the new look of the Klingons, was that any Klingon personnel that were expected to have any contact with human or other human-like races,(such as any posting near the neutral zone or for diplomatic missions,) were surgically altered to more easily blend in. That is why all the original series Klingons were “ridgeless.” Supposedly, according to the Star Trek rumor mill, by the time the motion picture came out, the story line says that the Klingons had abandoned this practice because they realized that their physical alterations made little difference with regards to how they were perceived.

The story of Star Trek: The Motion Picture is basically the same as “The Changeling” episode from the original series. In the episode, an Earth probe (Nomad) is merged with alien technology and goes on a murderous rampage destroying that which is not “perfect.”

In this movie, Mark Lenard plays a Klingon ship captain; this is the third alien species in the Star Trek franchise that the actor played – the first was the Romulan commander the Original Series episode “Balance of Terror,” then a recurring role as Spock’s father, Vulcan Ambassador Sarek.

The first time in the Star Trek canon that Yeoman Rand and Chekov have appeared together.

-Source(s) IMDB, Wikipedia

Amazon Specials!

Hello, I lost my other post and I was almost done. I stopped posting to look up some more famous Canadian-born movie stars and my post disappeared!! Here is most of the list I started compiling.

John Candy and Dan Akroyd. Dan Akroyd actually attended the same University in the 1970’s that I did: Carleton University.

Ghostbusters

Jim Carrey. Actually hails from Hamilton, but is too embarrassed to acknowledge Ontario’s largest “Industry” town, so he lies and cites Toronto as his hometown, more specifically, Newmarket. Whatever dude, you are STILL hilarious!

Michael J. Fox. Self-professed Army brat. Lived ALL OVER Canada. Peace to you, Michael!

Mike Meyers, another Torontonian. Shrek? Yes, please.

Pamela Anderson Lee, sex-bomb ultranair, hails from B.C. aka British Columbia.

Neve Campbell (Party of 5 on TV) hails from Guelph, Ontario, and Rachel McAdams was born in London, Ontario. Both these towns are an hour’s drive from Simcoe.

Elisha Cuthbert is from Calgary, Alberta,  and James Doohan and Carrie-Anne Moss are from Vancouver, B.C. I wonder if they knew Pamela Anderson before she was famous?

Carrie-Anne Moss became famous from playing Trinity in the Matrix movies. Keanu Reeves, although originally born in Lebanon, emigrated to Toronto with his mother while still a child and grew up there. To this day he makes Toronto his home, and considers himself Canadian.

Both Donald Sutherland and 24 star Keifer Sutherland continue to live in Toronto. It’s probably cheaper than living in Hollywood. Donald was actually born in one of the East Coast Provinces, New Brunswick I think. I have only been able to find one listing for Keifer being born in Toronto. No matter, they both have very strong residential ties to Toronto.

I used to think that Brendan Fraser, star of the Mummy and the Mummy Returns, Journey to the Centre of the Earth and most recently, Inkheart, had also been born in Canada.

The Mummy Returns

However, upon visiting Wikipedia, I discovered that he is the son of one Canadian parent and one American parent. He does not reside in Canada (that we know of…), so I guess he doesn’t count. But I love his face so much I just wanted to figure out a way to stick him in here!!

Ryan Gosling is from London, and Tom Green is from Pembroke. That’s in the Ottawa Valley, that’s why he talks a little funny, Ha ha Tom!

Phil Hartman, remember that guy from SNL? He has since passed away for many years now due to a family tragedy, but that guy was from Ontario, as well as Catharine O’Hara. (Home Alone mom).

Anna Paquin is from Winnipeg, Manitoba, she’s pretty cool.

Ryan Reynolds (just did a movie called The Proposal with Sandra Bullock) and Seth Rogan are both from Vancouver, B.C. That must be a real actors playground out there!

Martin Short grew up in Hamilton, Ontario, and HE’S not afraid to admit it. And boy, that guy can really sing. He actually spent a few years on stage on Broadway honing those talents, and his comedic spin on dance numbers has always been an attribute that I appreciated.

My all-time favorite Canadian-born Hollywood actor is none other than William Shatner, born in Montreal, Quebec. While he was considered for many years to be little more than a dramatic actor, I have always loved his sense of humour. This dear man has also suffered from the effects of tinatia, which is ear-drum damage which he attributed to the mini-explosions that were set off routinely on the set of Star Trek. In the out-takes for the Sandra Bullock movie, Miss Congeniality, there is a scene where Mr. Shatner messes up his line, and either Sandra Bullock or Candice Bergen says to him, “Oh Bill!” Without missing a beat, he says, “You know, there was a time when it was, “oh Bill!” (in a cute, excited voice), and now it’s just “Oh Bill!” (disappointed voice).” They all cracked up laughing and I thought, That’s right! I don’t see any arrogance in this man, he’s very human. Still love you, Bill!!!

Let this blog post serve as a reminder to my loved ones: Upon my death (which I hope is many, many years away), I wish to be cremated. Immediately.

I don’t want to be embalmed. I don’t want to be rolled out for public viewing. I don’t want a casket that will likely be too short and require an undertaker to cut my legs off at the knees to make me fit. And woe to my friends who would have to carry my heavy ass around in it.

And now you’re not even safe from abuse if you go the cryonics route, having your head frozen and saved until such a time that medical science will allow you to be resurrected with a new body.

The head of poor Ted Williams learned this the hard way. A new book reveals that his noggin suffered abuse at the hands of employees of the Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Scottsdale, Ariz. The baseball hall of famer’s head was allegedly used for batting practice, when an employee tried to knock a tuna can (!) from atop Williams’ frozen head (!!) with a monkey wrench (!!!). He missed, hitting Williams’ head and “tiny pieces of frozen head sprayed around the room.”

Yep, I’m certain. Cremation is the way to go. Just a simple urn, a lighthearted memorial service for friends and family, and then my ashes blasted into space where they will sail into the final frontier for eternity just like James Doohan’s remains … oh, wait… damn.

On second thought, just stick ‘em on a shelf somewhere.

Jonathan Frakes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jonathan Scott Frakes (born August 19, 1952) is an American actor, author and director, best known for his portrayal of Commander William T. Riker in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Moving on to directing in recent years, Frakes directed and also starred in Star Trek: First Contact as well as Star Trek: Insurrection, which earned him the nickname Two-Takes Frakes for his speed.

He is also the author of a book called The Abductors: Conspiracy.

For a time in the 1970s, Frakes worked for Marvel Comics, appearing at conventions in costume as Captain America.

Frakes moved to New York City and became a member of “The Impossible Ragtime Theater”. In that company, Frakes did his first off-Broadway acting in Eugene O’Neill’s The Hairy Ape. His first Broadway appearance was in Shenandoah. At the same time, he landed a role in the NBC soap opera The Doctors. When his character was dismissed from the soap, Frakes moved to Los Angeles, California and played guest spots in many of the top television shows of the 1970s and 1980s, including The Waltons, The Dukes of Hazzard, Matlock, and Steven Bochco’s Hill Street Blues. He played the part of Charles Lindbergh in a 1983 episode of Voyagers! titled “An Arrow Pointing East”. In 1983, he had a role in the short-lived NBC prime time soap opera Bare Essence (which also starred his future wife Genie Francis). He also had recurring roles in Falcon Crest and North & South before signing for the role of Riker on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Jonathan & Genie

He has done animation voice acting, most notably voicing the recurring role of David Xanatos in the animated series Gargoyles, and he provided the voice of his own head in a jar in the Futurama episode “Where No Fan Has Gone Before”. He had a small, uncredited role in the 1994 movie Camp Nowhere. He also reprised his role of Riker for a Next Generation cutaway on an episode of Family Guy that also featured his co-stars Patrick Stewart and Michael Dorn as their respective roles of Picard and Worf.

Frakes is one of only two Star Trek regulars to appear on four different Star Trek series (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise). (The only other regular to match or exceed that number is Majel Barrett-Roddenberry who appeared in all six television series.) He has also directed episodes in three of them (TNG, DS9 and VOY) and was a popular and innovative director on the Star Trek set, often finding completely new ways to shoot the show’s familiar sets. His directing career has included the films Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Insurrection. Additionally, Frakes was an executive producer for the WB show Roswell, directed several episodes and guest-starred in three episodes. His relationship with Star Trek is made light of in the episode “Secrets and Lies”, in which the alien character Max ironically auditions for a guest role as an alien for Star Trek: Enterprise.

Outside of acting, Frakes appeared on the Phish album Hoist, playing trombone on the track titled “Riker’s Mailbox”. Frakes would occasionally perform on the trombone during his tenure as Commander Riker, drawing on his college marching band experience.

Frakes hosted the television series Paranormal Borderline, which dealt with the paranormal and mysterious happenings and creatures. In one episode Frakes presented an interview of reporter Yolanda Gaskins with veteran astronaut Gordon Cooper, where they discussed the possibility of aliens having visited the Earth in the past.  Overall, the show was criticized and pulled off the air after it was found out that footage showing a yeti from the Himalayas was purposely faked by the show and its producers-Fox television. The “Snowwalker” footage, as it is known, purportedly shows a yeti as it is crossing through a valley in the Himalayas, walking in front of a Belgian couple who are traversing the area on skis. The network finally admitted the hoax, and Frakes distanced himself from the show. Similarly, he is also popular in hosting the hit TV series Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction which also dealt in the paranormal world. Frakes would allude to stories based on true events or fictional stories and only reveal the truth at the ending of each episode.

Frakes also appeared in Lois & Clark in the episode “Don’t Tug on Superman’s Cape” as Tim Lake, a rich collector who tries to add Superman to his and his wife Amber’s collection.

Frakes is also currently narrating the History Channel television show “That’s Impossible” which is on tuesdays at 10-11 eastern time.

Frakes has had a relationship with the production of TNT’s Leverage as a guest director. Jonathan Frakes is listed as the primary director in some episodes of both season 1 and season 2. It is unclear but likely that he will be directing episodes of Leverage regularly in the future, as Voyager Alumni Jeri Ryan is scheduled to have a recurring role on the show.

Jonathan works with The Workshops, The Waterfall Arts Center and The Saltwater Film Society, all located in Maine, where he teaches classes on film direction. He co-owns a home furnishings store with his wife in Belfast, Maine called The Cherished Home. Frakes is one of the best known tall actors at 6 ft 4 in (193 cm).

Trivia:

Daughter, Elizabeth Francis, born. [30 May 1997]

Marched trombone in Blue Band at Penn State University.

Son, Jameson Ivor, born 20 August 1994.

Educated at Penn State University and Harvard University.

Nickname: “Two-Takes Frakes,” for his efficient filming style on the set of Star Trek: First Contact (1996).

Has a cow-shaped mailbox, and retrieving the mail involves inserting one’s hand into the cow’s hindquarters. Frakes recorded trombone tracks for Phish’s “Hoist” album. Unforunately, his horn parts didn’t come out all that well – certainly not as well as the horn parts recorded by the Tower of Power horn section. As sort of a consolation prize, a brief interlude on the album is called Riker’s Mailbox.

Is a member of Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity.

Ellen J. Hornstein is his personal assistant/story editor for his production company, Goepp Circle Productions.

Shares a birthday with Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry.

Son-in-law of actor Ivor Francis.

He and Leonard Nimoy have both directed two Star Trek movies. In both cases, one of the films was a time travel story. In addition, both he and Nimoy were best known as the first officer of the USS Enterprise from their respective Star Trek series/movies.

In some of the first season episodes of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (1987), his character, 1st officer William Riker, was called “Bill”. In the seasons that followed, he was generally referred to as either Will or “Number One”.

His trademark beard was acquired during the filming of “North and South, Book II” (1986). It was patterned after a style popular during the American Civil War. He liked it so much, he continued to wear it after he returned to “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (1987) for its second season.

Has appeared in episodes of four different series with Marina Sirtis: “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (1987), “Gargoyles” (1994), “Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles” (1996) and “Enterprise” (2001).

Is the only ‘Star Trek’ regular to appear in four different ‘Star Trek’ series: “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (1987), “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” (1993), “Star Trek: Voyager” (1995) and “Enterprise” (2001). As well as narrate the 1996 “Star Trek: TNG” audio-book “Crossover”, featuring Ambassador Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Captain Scott (James Doohan), and Admiral McCoy (DeForest Kelley).

Along with Marina Sirtis, Armin Shimerman, John de Lancie, Michael Ansara and Richard Poe, he is one of six actors to play the same character on three different ‘Star Trek’ series. He played Commander William T. Riker in “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (1987), “Star Trek: Voyager” (1995) and “Enterprise” (2001). He also played the transporter double of this character, Lieutenant W. Thomas Riker, in “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (1987) and “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” (1993).

Along with Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner, Michael Dorn, Colm Meaney and Jeffrey Combs, he is one of only six actors to appear in the finales of two different “Star Trek” series (“Star Trek: The Next Generation” (1987) and “Enterprise” (2001)).

Has appeared with Kate Mulgrew in four different productions: Camp Nowhere (1994), “Gargoyles” (1994), “Star Trek: Voyager” (1995) and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002).

Godmother of his son Jameson is Elizabeth Berman (wife of Rick Berman-Star Trek producer/writer/creator)

Is the only actor who has appeared on “Star Trek” to share scenes with regulars from all five series (“Star Trek” (1966), “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (1987), “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” (1993), “Star Trek: Voyager” (1995) and “Enterprise” (2001)): James Doohan in the “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (1987) episode “Relics”, the entire cast of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (1987) in every episode of the series, Avery Brooks, Nana Visitor, Terry Farrell and Colm Meaney in the “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” (1993) episode “Defiant”, Armin Shimerman in the “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (1987) episodes “Haven”, “The Last Outpost” and “Firstborn”, Kate Mulgrew and Tim Russ in the “Star Trek: Voyager” (1995) episode “Death Wish” and the entire cast of “Enterprise” (2001) in the series finale “These Are the Voyages…”.

Along with Tim Russ, he is one of only two actors who have appeared in “Star Trek” to share scenes with four of the five captains: Patrick Stewart in every episode of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (1987), Star Trek: Generations (1994), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002), Avery Brooks in the “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” (1993) episode “Defiant”, Kate Mulgrew in the “Star Trek: Voyager” (1995) episode “Death Wish” and Scott Bakula in the “Enterprise” (2001) finale “These Are the Voyages…”.

He has played the same character, Commander William T. Riker, in four different series: “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (1987), “Star Trek: Voyager” (1995), “Enterprise” (2001) and “Family Guy” (1999).

When preparing for his audition for the role of Commander William T. Riker in Star Trek: The Next Generation, he had to watch videotapes from the original episodes because he knew nothing about the original Star Trek series.

Was interviewed and cast for Cdr. Riker personally by Gene Roddenberry. He told Frakes that he saw a certain, authoritative “glint” in his eye for that part which reminded him of his self, years ago, while in the LAPD and Air Force.

Shares first and last name with mid-20th Century aviator and stunt man Jonathan Frakes.

Along with Marc Alaimo, Rosalind Chao, Jeffrey Combs, John de Lancie, Michael Dorn and Tim Russ, he is one of only seven actors to appear in ten different seasons of “Star Trek”: “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (1987) Seasons One through Seven, “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” (1993) Season Three, “Star Trek: Voyager” (1995) Season Two and “Enterprise” (2001) Season Four.

Has written the sci-fi-book “The Abductors: Conspiracy” along with Dean Wesley Smith.

Calls Alfre Woodard his “godmother”. The two became friends as young actors in the 1970’s.

by James Doohan

If you don’t recognize the name James Doohan, or the catch phrase “Beam me up Scotty,” you are definitely not a fan of Star Trek. Which would then raise the question, why are you visiting the official web site of the Wicked Scholar Society? Shut it down and don’t look at it, it’s not for you.

Even though it was written several years ago, I only recently had the pleasure of reading the autobiography of this cast member from the original series. James Doohan is a Canadian chap who served in the Canadian Army and Air Force through all six years of the Second World War. Doohan’s book begins with an account of his youth in Ontario. The telling of the tale of his first sexual experience is perhaps best left untold and certainly is not the sort of thing I would brag about.

A good portion of the book deals with Doohan’s wartime experiences. This is of interest primarily to students of military history. Others may be upset by the graphic tales of the horrors of war. I quite enjoyed the stories about mangled flesh and dead bodies hanging from trees. Doohan was wounded several times during the war and carried several bullets in his buttocks for his entire life. We pick up the story in his own words. . . “I was shagging this French girl in the tall grass and got shot in the bum.”

After the war, Doohan became a thespian and was recognized as the hardest working actor in Canada, appearing almost constantly on radio, stage, and eventually, television. He moved to California and one fateful day, his agent called to tell him that he had an audition for the pilot for a new science fiction series called, you guessed it, “Star Trek.”

The book offers some fascinating insights into the inner workings of the show. It also adds another voice to the legion who all say that William Shatner is a bit of a dickhead. I’m sure if Shatner reads this book, he’ll be thinking that a more appropriate title might be “Beat Me Up Scotty”.

The more I read these books, the more I find the mystique of the series being eroded. You realize that these people are, of course, just actors and to them the series was just a job. Nonetheless, it’s an interesting read that goes well with a good Cuban and a fine port

In my alternate universe, he was simply The Spock (Courtesy: Marzipan 77)

This morning I saw Leonard Nimoy on The View. In fact, I’ve been seeing Nimoy almost all week on shows because of the promotion for the new Star Trek film in which we see Kirk, Spock and the rest of the bridge crew as young men and women. Nimoy is in the flick as an older Ambassador Spock. “Older” is right. Leonard Nimoy is now 78, his Spock voice is thinner with age, and he’s on his third wife. His latest foray into photography features very large women. James Doohan, Majel Barrett, Gene Roddenberry, and DeForest Kelley have all passed. It could be that this is Nimoy’s last Trek appearance, but as he said today, never say never.

I think that there is more affection for Nimoy than there is for William Shatner; more affection for Spock than there is for Kirk. I think it’s because the character of Spock revises the view of biracial people; he chooses to be Vulcan; he chooses to use his intellect before speaking. Yet Spock cannot help but display his humanity: his geekiness, his irritation, the significant lifting of his eyebrows, and the way he would signal or mask his emotions by saying, “Fascinating,” or “Interesting.” Not so noted was his quiet understanding of and affection for people like Christopher Pike, his mother Amanda, Flint, and women like Droxine and Liviana, the Romulan commander, and even for Tribbles and the Horta.

And Spock is not destroyed because he is different, but he is enhanced and made more interesting and attractive by it. That there is a portrait of Barack Obama going around wearing Star Trek gear and wearing pointed ears–Mr. Cerebral Cool–proves that Spock will continue to live on in the American cultural repository.

However, because I am female and black, I identified, as well as fell in love with the character, too; though I wasn’t supposed to. I was only supposed to relate to black characters or figures. White girls who were in love with Spock wanted to seduce him on an “I could do it” basis. And while he was alien, Spock was also part white, which meant that if he was going to make love to anybody not white, she had to be absolutely special. And class-wise, equal or superior.

And I was Spock, too; that is, as a tween, I was those things that made people misunderstand him, even to the point of equating him with the devil. Because I was easily hurt, I wished that I could assume some of that armor of his. Moreover, he as well I was deserving of love, and that is what I reacted to when I saw him on television 42 years ago.

Yet Nimoy himself is dismissive (and embarrassed) about the impact that he had on young girls and women when Star Trek was running on NBC. As the Wikipedia entry relates:

Spock, in fact, became a sex symbol of sorts to many young girls–something no one connected with the show had expected. Leonard Nimoy notes that the question of Spock’s extraordinary sex appeal emerged “almost any time I talked to someone in the press…I never give it a thought….to try to deal with the question of Mr. Spock as a sex symbol is silly.“

Whatever. It’s easier for him to deal with Kirk bedding women than Spock, I guess. I’m sure this response (from his 1970s book, I am Not Spock) has to do with his separating the character from the real man, and the typecasting he underwent after Star Trek went off the air. In my tweens and teens–and way into the reruns on Channel 2, I knew that it was a character I was enamored of, and not Leonard Nimoy.

In the alternate Star Trek universe, which comprises of books, cartoons and video games, and which is not part of the official Trek TV and film canon, it is Saavik who, as Spock’s former ward, bears his child and later marries him. But in my alternate Trek universe, Spock is the father of royal twins by their mother, the biracial queen of a black planet.

No one has ever been able to keep Trek enthusiasts from creating their own fan fiction: timelines, sexualities, worlds, religions, and new characters based on the original series and characters; in essence, extending Star Trek into subjects never seen or heard about on Sixties TV. I’ve heard of these stories, plays, comics, videos and novels being passed around privately, presented, placed on websites, and even sold at Trek conventions, since the 1990s. Until the rise of the Web, I thought I was the only one who’d written Trek fiction.

At 13, I had heard about Star Trek, but I was more into Batman and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. until one night, when I visited my childhood friends, Meemsy and his brother, and they were watching the show. Of course, I was hooked. I think it was when NBC threatened to get rid of the show, that I began to write my universe. And it wasn’t just because I was fascinated with Spock. I was also ticked that Uhura wasn’t getting as much action or attention from the men on the Enterprise, and why not from Spock, who was not completely white. When I saw Tuvok and his brown pointed ears on Star Trek: Voyager decades later, I smiled. Now women are ticked off that the new Uhura and the new Spock are getting it on.

It was hard to write the story at first. My mother tried to destroy every piece of juvenilia–junk, she called it–I wrote during that time. Her stated excuse was that I needed to learn math, but I knew then as I do now, that there was more to this inclination of hers, because she kept doing it for years. She made me to put the little hand-written manuscript in the garbage; but later, when it was part of my chores to put out the cans, I rescued it by putting it under my shirt. I smoothed out the pages, rewrote the ones stained with salad dressing, and hid them. I was so successful at hiding it that when I left home to go to college, the pages came with me.

The story is this: The Enterprise was confronted with a planetary system embroiled in war. It wasn’t just Oshuniya and Uresiya that was at war, but the Kingdom of Oshuniya, an all-black planet, itself had a civil war between a younger, usurper king half-brother and his older, rightful queen half-sister.

One of Nimoy's better looks, as the "Mirror Mirror" Spock (Courtesy: ToasterPastryphoto)

Queen Alixa was her name, and she too happened to be part-Vulcan; her father, Juozas, while a prince, had met and married an impressive Vulcan woman, Ke-Renn, of both warrior and noble blood. Unfortunately, the princess, pregnant with their second child, was slowly poisoned to death in a conspiracy. Later, when Alixa’s father became king, he unwittingly married the woman who helped to murder his wife, the Duchess Geantine. She in turn bore the king another heir, Prince Juozas, who appealed to those who distrusted Vulcans, wanted a male ruler, and upheld the purity of the royal blood. Queen Geantine later rose in rebellion on behalf of her son, and but committed suicide in the failed attempt.

When the first Juozas died, Alixa ascended the throne. In five years, however, her brother undermined the monarchy, playing on the queen’s refusal to use her powers on her own people. Eventually, the queen fled, setting up her court and war council near the frontier, and the prince declared himself king, Juozas II. In the process, however, he disappeared his uncle, poisoned his aunt until she was an invalid, forced his cousin to marry him, and imprisoned her twin brothers, all of whom were next in line to the throne. At the time the Enterprise comes onto the scene, the queen’s and the usurper’s forces had fought to a draw. The usurper’s wife, Seryona, had delivered a disappointment, a girl and princess, to the succession. Uresiya was beginning to win the war against its neighbor, and taking the Enterprise would have expanded the war.

Instead, the queen uses her powers to divert the forced beam over of the Enterprise command (Kirk, Sulu, Spock, Scotty, Uhura, Chekov, Bones) from the Uresiyans to her Oshuniya enclave, and hiding the Enterprise from view. For it was the queen who had asked for the intervention of the Federation in the first place to help bring the interplanetary war between Uresiya and Oshuniya to an end. When this is accomplished, even as the usurper king attacks the queen’s fortresses, she then challenges her half-brother to a fight to the death, and wins–all without using her powers.

Somewhere along the line, of course, the queen and Spock mate. She’s just as lonely as he is; a kind of freak among her own people with pointy ears, and more powerful than any other Vulcan he’s known because of her Oshuniya ancestry, and with the reserved demeanor. There’s no one else like her until Spock shows up. And perhaps, his presence is not an accident, as the Federation wants to put its best foot forward. For the first time, Alixa has someone her equal to talk to. By the time the civil war is concluded, and the queen is restored to her capital city and throne, she’s pregnant. Naturally, Spock accompanies her through all this.

Queen Alixa gives birth to twins, one of whom will marry his cousin and reconstitute the royal house. Spock makes two or three visits to see the queen and the twins during their childhood, adolescence and early adulthood, and stays in contact with them. He’s not exactly her husband or mate for life; he does not have a noble title; he is not one of her royal advisers, and they are not formally married according to the Oshuniya tradition, but the Federation recognizes that there is a tie.

I wrote this when I was 13, when I was feeling that I did not belong anywhere in my family, at school, in the black community, and wondered whether I would ever be attractive to a young man. Writing it affirmed me; that I could have a happy ending, too. Leonard Nimoy’s Spock represented Otherness as well as acceptance, a pride in ancestry as well as in being different, even for a black girl who wanted to be loved.

'STAR TREK' Movie Poster

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LEONARD NIMOY

'STAR TREK' Movie Poster

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Do I shoot it or have sex with it?
Knowing you, probably both.

(Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner and James Doohan)

picture: Alex. lol caption: lummox

» Recaption This

» See All Captions

J.J. ABRAMS 'STAR TREK' Already Confirmed For Sequel

Abrams recently confirmed a possible ‘CLOVERFIELD’ sequel in early development. Read more on that HERE.

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I don’t have many personal posts here, so for anyone who cares, I’ll bring you up to date on some big events recently.

Firstly, the biggest news: RocketBaby is a RocketBabyGirl! RocketMan wanted a surprise, but I did not; the technician wrote the gender on a slip of paper and put it in an envelope; less than 48 hours later, I had wheedled RocketMan into revealing the surprise. And a surprise, it was—everyone had guessed boy (except some of my closest friends who’d all recently had girls). So here’s RBG’s first headshot.
I haven’t had a haircut in six months, and my hair’s grown quite long (for me). I’ve been getting bored with it, so I figured now was the best time for a change: my hair’s growing super-fast, no Devil-Ettes gigs for another seven months, at least, and it’s springtime, the best time for change!
Before...
Several weeks back, RocketMan and I headed to WonderCon, and as usual, the costumers didn’t disappoint. Even better, The Hero of Canton, The Man They Call Jayne, was making an appearance in the 6′5″ hunky flesh! For the first time since I was 12 and got photographed with James Doohan at a Star Trek convention, I stood in line to get an autograph. And it was worth every minute.
Yipyipyipyipyip!	Me and Jayne!

Whereabouts: Philadelphia, PA

Word: colloquial [kŏ-loh-kwi-ăl] – adj. suitable for ordinary conversation but not for formal speech or writing, informal

Birthday: Alexander Graham Bell (1847), Jean Harlow (1911), James Doohan (1920), Doc Watson (1923), Tim Kazurinsky (1950), Ira Glass (1959), Jackie Joyner-Kersee (1962), Tone Lōc (1966), David Faustino (1974), Jessica Biel (1982)

Occurrence: 1991 – George Holliday films several Los Angeles police officers beating Rodney King. The four accused officers were orginally acquitted, setting off the L.A. riots. Two of them were eventually sentenced to 30-months each in jail. Rodney King is now a reality-television joke. George Holliday’s life has been turned upside-down because he filmed the whole thing. Funny how things seem so important at the time.

Irksome: “I’ll always be an Eagle.” Those were the words of safety Brian Dawkins after signing with the Denver Broncos over the weekend. On bulletin boards all across the internet, Eagles’ fans seem to be taking it well. For a change. And I think it is because the oft-wretched fans in this city are starting to understand that the Philadelphia Eagles are a top-notch football organization. (Click HERE to read Pete Prisco’s take on it.) Dawkins had every chance to stay in Philadelphia, a city he apparently loves and will no doubt be associated with in some way after his retirement as a player. Sure, he would’ve made less money. But isn’t asking the Eagles to pay him more than his declining skills are worth kind of unfair considering that the guy didn’t exactly light the world on fire last season? On the same token, would it be too much to ask a guy – already worth millions of dollars – to take a few million less to play for a team, and city, that he apparently loves? I don’t think so. For all of his talk of “heart” over the years, Dawkins sure didn’t show much of it this weekend as he donned the orange jersey. Don’t blame this on Coach Reid and Co. This one’s gotta fall square on the shoulders of B-Dawk.

Tidbit: One night, while watching The Dark Knight with Joymarie, I began to impersonate the voice that Christian Bale employed while playing the Batman part of his character. Not surprisingly, the imitation was spot-on. Joymarie said it sounded like it hurt, and it did a little. I wondered aloud if Bale had suffered any vocal cord problems while filming. Turns out he did. While filming Batman Begins, he lost his voice three different times due to the strain of altering his voice.

Quotation: Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to trends and fads and popular opinion. – Jack Kerouac

Song: “Worry ‘til Spring” by Sprengjuhöllin was the most popular song in Iceland in 2007. It is also the only song I’ve been able to find by this band that is sung in English. (That doesn’t mean more don’t exist.) It’s a great, simple song. Click HERE to read a semi-goofy review of Sprengjuhöllin.

Website: HearYa.com – great site for indie band reviews and free downloads

Gallimaufry: No matter how many times I watch the movie National Treasure, the only thing I take away from it is that Nicholas Cage runs like a girl…Finally found my copy of The Know-It-All: One Man’s Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World by A.J. Jacobs. Still need to finish, but, at this point, highly recommend it…Click HERE to read about a guy who made a bong big enough to place his hyperactive kitten into. He paid a $400 fine. Unbelievable…The Tyra Banks Show has been on the air for 3 ½ years. All of you out there who are hoping to one day have a career as a television personality, just keep repeating that last sentence over and over in your head. Gives you hope, right? You’re welcome…Lastly, congratulations to my brother, Jeremy, who moved into his new house last week after many months of spending every free minute working on it. Nice job, buddy, the place looks fantastic.

Florida became the 27th state in the Union on March 3rd, 1845.

The Apollo 9 mission was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on this date in 1969. It was the first test flight for the lunar landing module, tested in orbit above the Earth.

It’s the birthday of actor James Doohan (1920), best known as Scotty, the Chief Engineer of the Enterprise on the original “Star Trek” series.