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Nov 06 | J.J. Abrams is in talks to direct the opening episode of "Undercovers," his Warner Bros. secret agent pilot at NBC. Schedule permitting, Abrams, who also serves as executive producer and co-writer for the pilot, will make "Undercovers" the first TV pilot he has directed since 2004's "Lost" two-part opener, which is considered one of the best-directed pilots of all time and helped launch Abrams' career into helming such theatrical films as "Mission: Impossible 3" and "Star Trek." The NBC pilot has been described as a mix between "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" and "The Bourne Identity." The original report is at the Hollywood Reporter.
Nov 05 | The upcoming MMORPG Star Trek Online has been given a release date. The game will be launched on February 2 in North America, and February 5 in Europe
Nov 02 | Journalist Edward Gross posted in his SciFi TV Zone.com website an animation that takes place on the bridge of the Enterprise, and it's where you can hear his... lord help us... impersonation of William Shatner. The url for the video is this.
Oct 27 | Leonard Nimoy narrates a new documentary about a historic synagogue designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The film profiles Beth Sholom Synagogue in Elkins Park, Pa., the only synagogue designed by the renowned architect. The building, a National Historic Landmark, celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. A screening of the film will be shown at the dedication of the synagogue's newly designed visitors center on Nov. 15. Paul Goldberger, architecture critic for The New Yorker magazine, will be on hand
Oct 27 | Leonard Nimoy is celebrating Halloween by taking pictures of the most crazily outfitted attendee at the Santa Monica Museum of Art's Halla Gala. Nimoy, who has practiced fine art photography since the age of 14, is offering a private portrait session at the Viceroy Santa Monica hotel to whomever wins the gala's Secret Self costume contest.
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By GustavoLeao / 22:06, 6 October 2007 / Trek Books
Review by Jeff Ayers
Quote from two people while I was reading William Shatner's latest book on the bus. "William Shatner wrote a book?"
The pretty cover does not illustrate the travesty of prose that is to follow. It has always been my understanding that Kirk and Spock didn't meet until the day he took command of the Enterprise. Apparently that is not the case, at least according to Shatner's new book, The Academy Collision Course (co-written with Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens).
To further scare the reader, there is a paragraph at the front of the book that says: "The plot, story lines, and historical narrative presented in Star Trek: The Academy Collision Course constitute an imaginative work deriving solely from the author's unique personal vision." So how does Shatner depict the first meeting of Kirk and Spock? Kirk, hiding in a strip club after stealing a Starfleet vehicle and then trying to hide from the authorities, trips Spock, who was selling a stolen Vulcan artifact in the same club. Yes, you read that right.
Kirk is still traumatized by the events that occurred on Tarsus IV and he still blames Starfleet for not coming to their rescue sooner. His brother, Sam, steals equipment for money and is a basic lowlife. Their father is a total drunk and loses his name of George halfway through the novel and becomes Joseph. Kirk can't help but assist a beautiful cadet in proving her innocence of stealing dilithium and ends up being a hindrance to her career. Meanwhile Spock is trying to learn Earth culture, deal with his Vulcan heritage, and investigate thefts from the Vulcan Embassy. They of course team up and save the day.
The storyline is totally ludicrous from the start. Kirk calls Spock "Stretch" throughout the novel. If this was really his nickname for Spock, like Bones for McCoy, you would think we would have heard it WAY before now. The climax of the story goes so over the top and is so unbelievable that the reader is left laughing with the sheer lunacy and crying because you've wasted so much time reading this junk. The idea that Starfleet could be this incompetent is inexcusable. You might wonder how they end up in Starfleet-the answer is they must enlist or be sent to a penal colony. Yes, you read that right.
A couple of the thousands of questions that pop in the reader's head include: If they were in the Academy at the same time, then why did Spock end up with Captain Pike for several years and develop such a loyalty to him that Kirk didn't realize? Where is Gary Mitchell in all of this?
The last page says: "Midshipman Jim Kirk will return in Star Trek The Academy Trial Run." Run indeed. Run far away.
* out of **** (** if you imagine that Kirk and Spock are not the same characters we know and love while reading).
Reviewer Jeff Ayers is the author of Voyages of Imagination: The Star Trek Fiction Companion trade paperback, and webmaster of VoyagesOfImagination.com,
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