North Carolina town councilman tenders resignation... in Klingon

Gowron, not David Waddell (but Gowron should have resigned too, when you think about it...) That does it: if I ever run for office again and win, I'm going to give my acceptance speech in High-Elvish Sindarin! Indian Trail is a nice town near Charlotte here in North Carolina.  And one of its city councilmmembers - one David Waddell - had decided that "enough was enough"...

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Two amazing fan films: sequel to STAR TREK's "Who Mourns for Adonais?" and ARKHAM RISING

An awful lot of the homegrown cinema lately seems to have more heart and soul than most of the big studio productions.  These two fan-created films are some of the best that I've seen lately. First up, it's a sequel to the original Star Trek episode "Who Mourns for Adonais?".  "Pilgrim of Eternity" has Michael Forest reprising his role as Apollo from the 1967 episode.  The script was written by Jack Treviño (who wrote the Star Trek:...

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Review of STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS

(One of the reasons why I haven't posted a review of this movie already - though it's been out for a week and I've seen it twice - is because I've wrestled with how to discuss Star Trek Into Darkness while being mindful of certain plot points.  Since most people know about "that" particular item by now anyway, I'm going to be openly sharing my thoughts about it. ...

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MAN OF STEEL trailer, and the last one for STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS

I've a theory: Benedict Cumberbatch is playing Khan Noonien Singh. In the post-Kelvin altered timeline the Botany Bay was found years earlier than it was in the original Star Trek series, and Khan wound up working for Starfleet's black ops. Then years later he comes back for revenge for something or 'nother and that's when he and Kirk will tangle for the "first" time.But if he's an entirely new character, I'm down for that too. Either way from...

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STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS has a new trailer!

Less than two months before this baby erupts across our peepers and I can't wait!Whether he turns out to be Khan or not, Benedict Cumberbatch has already sold me as being a classic Trek villain.Does anyone else think that the Starfleet war room looks a lot like the one in Dr. Strangelove? Here's praying that Star Trek Into Darkness doesn't end with Kirk riding a torpedo while whooping and hollerin'...

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President Obama sez he can't do "Jedi mind-meld"

I wonder if he can do a Sith neck-pinch. During his press conference earlier today about the "sequester" mess, President Barack Obama said the following... "I know that this has been some of the conventional wisdom that's been floating around Washington: That somehow, even though most people agree that I'm being reasonable, that most people agree that I'm presenting a fair...

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Winter Storm Khan is giving us snow today

Dear management and staff of The Weather Channel:You probably thought this was something "cute", didn't you?Next year, just drop the whole "names for winter storms" thing, okay? "Gandalf" was pushing it already. But not like this... "Khaaaaaaan!!"...

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It's the REAL first trailer for STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS!

Eleven days ago J.J. Abrams' boys at Bad Robot let loose their teaser for Star Trek Into Darkness. Paramount is officially calling that one an "announcement" for the upcoming movie.Then this afternoon they release what they're claiming is the actual first trailer for it.Confused? Yeah me too kinda.But I think most will agree: this could be, so far, the most intense and poignant...

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"So... shall we begin?" STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS teaser is online!

I'm telling y'all here and now, that when Star Trek Into Darkness comes out in May... that for the first time in my life I will show up on its premiere night wearing a Starfleet costume. And I will wear the uniform proudly! I even have an idea for it but you good readers will have to just wait and see :-)So what is it that would so motivate your friend and humble narrator to make such a drastic departure from his usual space saga haberdashery?Boldly...

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The first poster for STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS

Sometime in the 23rd century, it's gonna be a very bad day to be in London... (click to embiggen at warp speed)The figure looking across the blasted British landscape of the 23rd century is Benedict Cumberbatch's character. At this point I don't believe he's meant to be Gary Mitchell: the new ongoing Star Trek comic series overseen by J.J. Abrams' crew took care of the alternate...

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U.S. Government spent $100,000 determining if Jesus died for the Klingons

Senator Tom Coburn from Oklahoma has been digging into the details of the federal budget. Among the things our government is spending our money upon: inventing roll-up beef jerky, the study of goldfish swimming patterns and an iPhone app for scheduling coffee breaks.And then there's this: $100,000 of taxpayer money to look into the question of whether Jesus Christ died for...

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It's the first clip ever from STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS!

Last night during Conan O'Brien's show on TBS, J.J. Abrams was a guest and he brought along the very first bit of footage from Star Trek Into Darkness that Paramount allowed him to show the public!Want to see? Here it is!Star Trek Into Darkness, the sequel to 2009's Star Trek, warps into theaters on May 17th 2013. Until then, this clip will have to tide us over for the next seven mont...

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German public TV airing "Patterns of Force" - AKA the Nazi episode of STAR TREK - for first time tonight

Forty-three years after it first aired on American television in 1968 as part of Star Trek's second season, "Patterns of Force", the episode that had Kirk, Spock and the crew of the Enterprise looking for a Starfleet historian and finding an alien civilization modeled after Nazi Germany instead, will be broadcast for the first time tonight on public television in Germany.Why...

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Happy 80th Birthdays to William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy!

This is a momentous week for two of the greatest pop icons of our generation... or any generation. A few days ago William Shatner turned 80 and today his fellow Star Trek shipmate Leonard Nimoy gets to enter his ninth decade!Shatner and Nimoy: the men who brought James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock to life. May they live long and prosper!Hey, let's celebrate with some music! How...

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How J.J. Abrams' STAR TREK should have ended

Those wonderfully demented folks at How It Should Have Ended have struck again! This time the target is last year's stellar smash hit Star Trek, which was directed by J.J. Abrams and used every lens flare plug-in on the market.Here's how Star Trek should have ended...

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Some guy made a REAL working Star Trek phaser!

Jay Rob took an old-school Star Trek phaser gun toy, cannibalized the innards of a Blu-ray player to get at the laser diode, and pulled off one of the kewlest hardhacks I've ever seen. The result: a phaser that seriously works!Okay, it doesn't actually disintegrate anything and there's no "stun" setting... but Jay's phaser is powerful enough to pop balloons from across the room.Watch it in action...And if you're of the tinkerin' sort, Jay has posted...

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Linguist spends first three years of son's life speaking only Klingon

An expert at linguistics used nothing but the fictional Klingon language from the Star Trek franchise when he spoke to his son for the first three years of the kid's life.Dr. d'Armond Speers wanted to observe whether baby Alec would pick up Klingon as naturally as most babies learn English or any other real language. Speers was especially giddy about the prospect of Alec's...

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Want a BEAUTIFUL image from STAR TREK for your desktop?

If you saw Star Trek over the summer then you'll remember that stunning shot of the Enterprise rising out of the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan. Diamond Sky Productions has just posted two VERY high-res images from that scene: one of the Enterprise's engine nacelles breaking through the clouds and a second of the Enterprise emerged in all her glory. The image at right...

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The Star Trek reboot that could have been

With Star Trek still going warp speed at the box office, it's hard to grasp a time not long ago when the entire Star Trek brand had been written off by many people as a thing that had completely run its course. The previous few movies in the series had been severely lackluster and Star Trek: Enterprise failed to garner appreciable ratings on television.Such was the state...

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Last night: STAR TREK. In IMAX.

The 10 p.m. show was sold out at the Wachovia IMAX in Raleigh. Thank goodness for Fandango!And you still have a week to catch it in its limited IMAX run. However it is that you see Star Trek (click here for my review) I'll definitely recommend watching it in a theater with others. The crowd was just as enthusiastic about Star Trek yesterday evening as they were on opening...

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