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Sep 01 | George Takei will have a cameo in the new season of The Big Bang Theory. TV Squad reports that the former Star Trek actor will appear in an episode alongside guest star Katee Sackhoff. The show's executive producer Bill Prady suggested that Takei and Sackhoff will play different sides of Wolowitz's conscience as he considers reuniting with his ex-girlfriend Bernadette (Melissa Rauchberg).He explained: "George Takei plays himself, and he's the other person guiding Wolowitz in his thoughts as he tries to figure out what to do about Bernadette."
Aug 24 | Vulture has learned that Joe Hill's comic Locke & Key will no longer be coming to theaters, but instead will be adapted for television by Steven Spielberg, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Josh Friedman. Distributed by IDW Publishing, Locke & Key tells of Keyhouse, an unlikely New England mansion, with fantastic doors that transform all who dare to walk through them... and home to a hate-filled and relentless creature that will not rest until it forces open the most terrible door of them all. Friedman ("Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles") will write and produce. Kurtzman and Orci recently signed a deal with 20th Century Fox TV, so the studio will end up producing with Spielberg's DreamWorks TV.
Aug 18 | Jack Bender has signed on direct 7 Minutes in Heaven for Paramount, reports Heat Vision.The film, based on an original idea from Bender, tells the story of two teenagers who, upon returning from a round of the titular game, find all of their friends dead. J.J. Abrams will produce through Bad Robot, now at the stage of finding a writer to move the idea towards a full script.
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By BWilliams / 00:11, 19 January 2005 / Reviews - Books
Synopsis: Three gripping new adventures featuring the Starfleet Corps of Engineers!
Review: With each monthly installment of Pocket Books' electronic book series, STAR TREK: S.C.E. has continued to explore the depths of the final frontier with the crew of the U.S.S. da Vinci, solving problems that would otherwise seem unsolvable and doing the dirty work that no other Starfleet vessel would dare handle. In this new compilation, Pocket Books has reprinted a collection of five e-books into one volume under the banner name WILDFIRE, and after reading the entire collection, this one definitely lives up to its banner name and then some.
First up we have ENIGMA SHIP, written by the husband-and-wife team of J. Steven York and Christina F. York. Sent on a search and rescue mission, the crew of the da Vinci must seek out and locate the U.S.S. Lincoln, which is trapped within the confines of a giant holographic ship. The creators of the holographic ship, the Quanta, are able to sense what a person wants and then fulfill those needs within the confines of the holographic environment.
As the lead tale in the WILDFIRE compilation, ENIGMA SHIP is a fun and lighthearted yarn, with a good balance of characterization and action throughout the tale. We learn more about Kieran Duffy's character and his desire to improve upon the S.C.E. vessels, a running gag through the first quarter of the tale. Of course, it wouldn't be appropriate to mention a story about a holographic ship without mentioning the added contributions of one Reginald Barclay, everyone's favorite resident TREK neurotic, to save the day. As a stand-alone tale, ENIGMA SHIP is a quick, fun read through and through.
Next we have the two-part WAR STORIES, written by Keith R.A. DeCandido. This one is most interesting, as it presents the da Vinci crew through alien eyes. When an alien merchant receives a pirated batch of log entries stolen from the Starfleet data banks, he views events occurring through the eyes of the da Vinci's crew during the Dominion War. Through the alien merchant's eyes, we gain a new appreciation for the crew of the da Vinci, as does the alien merchant, and even in times of war does one gain new respect for his or her enemy.
This is one of the more interesting tales not only in the S.C.E. series, but also in the entire STAR TREK canon. Not many tales have been told in the form of log entries, whether in print, on television, or on film, and yet DeCandido pulls everything together quite convincingly. We learn that despite disparate backgrounds and the scars of war, they are first and foremost dedicated to their mission and their oath to Starfleet. Characterization of both the primary S.C.E. cast members and also all of the secondary characters is at a high, as DeCandido paints them as believable people with strengths, weaknesses, and scars.
Finally, David Mack brings us the two-part WILDFIRE. Mack, who recently brought us the hard-hitting two-part NEXT GENERATION adventure A TIME TO KILL and A TIME TO HEAL, brings his keen knowledge of scientific and military hardware to this tale of a rescue mission gone awry. When the da Vinci is sent to rescue the U.S.S. Orion from the atmosphere of a gas giant, the crew soon discovers that the Orion has aboard the prototype for the Wildfire device, a protomatter warhead that can ignite gas giants into stars. It's up to the da Vinci crew to work fast in preventing the Wildfire device from erupting, though they may pay a heavy price in the process.
Of the three stories represented in this paperback edition, I happened to enjoy David Mack's tale the most. Mack has a solid way of infusing deep character depth and emotion into each member of the da Vinci crew, proving as he did in his many multiple TREK works that a character's thoughts and feelings are just as important as the mission to be carried out. He especially brings depth to the relationship between Sonya Gomez and Kieran Duffy, but at the same time he throws a couple of curve balls the reader's way that catches both the readers and the da Vinci crew off guard. There's a raw intensity permeating the crew of the da Vinci, as each of the crewmembers experience an inevitable ending to their ship and their lives; it's very reminiscent of the last half of TITANIC. All I can say is that Mack's well-written ending changes the face of the S.C.E. forever.
With both WAR STORIES and WILDFIRE, the tales play better in one continuous form, and you can't really tell where one e-book ends and the other begins. The smooth transitions in paperback form serve both of these stories, as well as past multi-book stories, well, and there's no need to recap anything, though it would be nice for completion's sake if the recaps were included in print form.
As with FOUNDATIONS, WILDFIRE is a great way to get into the world of the S.C.E. and learn about the characters, while at the same time get caught up in one life-changing adventure after another. If you've enjoyed it in its e-book format, you'll like the print version. If you're like me and you haven't read any of the e-books, sit back and enjoy the ride.
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