Nov 23 | Chuckreturns to NBC with a special two-hour show on Sunday, Jan 10, 2010, before returning to its regular time slot, Mondays at 8pm on the following night. It's return to prime time television can be attributed to a successful fan renewnal campaign last year. CHUCK is a one-hour, action-comedy series that follows Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi, "Less Than Perfect") -- a computer geek who is catapulted into a new career as the government's most vital secret agent. This upcoming season will include some special guest stars, including Brandon Routh of "Superman Returns" who will play CIA agent Daniel Shaw in an episode, and the addition of SUBWAY restaurant as a major advertiser to the show. Chuck averaged a 4.0/6 rating last season, about eight percent better than the recently cancelled "Trauma". Ratings-challenged Heroes moves back an hour when Chuck returns on Monday nights. STAR TREK VOYAGER's Robert Duncan McNeill serves Chuckas a supervising producer and director.
Nov 17 | Originally hired as co-executive producer to help with the second half of the show's first season, Kevin Murphy has now taken the reins of Caprica, the Battlestar Galactica prequel on Syfy, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He now serves as an executive producer along with Ronald D. Moore, David Eick and Jane Espenson and oversees the day-to-day functions of the show.
Nov 12 | Star Trek star Zachary Quinto is loosely attached to star in the romantic dramedy Whirligig, reports Risky Business.Quinto would play the lead role in the independent Canadian film, which is aiming to shoot early next year. The movie centers on a man who, in a misguided attempt to woo an older woman, befriends the woman's adopted son.Chaz Thorne is directing the pic, based on a screenplay by Michael Amo, creator of the Canadian supernatural series "The Listener."
Nov 11 | The CNS Foundation, is hosting an on-line charity auction at www.charitybuzz.com. One of the items they are auctioning is a signed movie poster of the new Star Trek movie which has all the cast members and writers. The president of our organization is Carol Abrams, JJ's mother, and she arranged for the donation from Bad Robot Production Company. J.J. Abrams is also a major donor to their organization. The funds raised will go to help find a cure to neurological disorders in children. The auction link is here.
Nov 10 | 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. More info at the Hollywood Reporter
Fan Report on Creation's "Salute to STAR TREK and Sci Fi Media" Convention
Written for TrekWeb by Jadzia-Dax
"Creation Entertainment held its "Salute to STAR TREK and Sci Fi Media" 2-day Convention over the weekend of October 2 - 3. The event was held at the Hilton Cherry Hill in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, just a short ride over the Benjamin Franklin Bridge from Philadelphia. Normally, Creation has held its Conventions at the Valley Forge Convention Center in Valley Forge, PA. But this year it appears that their usual locale had 4 events already scheduled for the weekend.
The Convention kicked off at noon on Saturday, October 2, 2004 with a music video "Salute to Classic STAR TREK", followed by a video of the original cast. Meanwhile, both Chase Masterson and Robert Picardo had already arrived and were signing autographs and talking with the crowds milling about the dealer tables. In addition, actors Tucker Smallwood, who most recently played a Xindi-Primate during the 3rd season of ENTERPRISE, and had earlier played a Species 8472 representation of an Admiral in VOYAGER, Scott Schwartz, of "Oceans 11" and VOYAGER (as a Hirogen), and now the first Orion male to be seen in a live-action STAR TREK series in an upcoming episode of ENTERPRISE, Herb Jefferson, Jr., the original "Boomer" from the 1978 series BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, and Keir Dullea, who played "Dave Bowman" in both 2001: A SPACE ODISSEY and 2010, were also on hand signing autographs. The audience programming continued with a music video "Salute to DS9", which preceded Chase Masterson's time on stage, where she remarked about the airline having lost her luggage and hoping the attendees didn't mind her attire (which consisted of black slacks and a white tank top). The very animated Masterson relayed her story about working with Robert Picardo in DS9's "Doctor Bashir, I Presume?" and some of the behind the scenes antics that occurred during the filming of the episode. She also talked about her recent work with the Sci Fi Channel and a new action movie due to air on Sci Fi the first part of 2005, which will also star Robert Beltran ("Chakotay") and Heather Johnson. When asked the perennial question about whether Paramount will ever make a DS9 movie, she gave the expected answer of "No.", where she clarified that it was felt that unlike TNG, DS9 had never become "mainstream", and she quipped that in any case, Paramount was the "ultimate Ferengi".
At the conclusion of the question and answer period, where she had reiterated some of her memories of her first audition for STAR TREK and meeting Avery Brooks, as well as talked about some of her former drama classmates, who included Garrett Wang ("Harry Kim") of VOY and Jonathan Del Arco ("Hugh") of TNG's "I, Borg" fame, she sang her own cover of the song "You Give Me Fever", which is featured on her CD.
The activities continued with an auction of various TREK and other sci-fi show items, followed by another music video "Salute to VOYAGER's Holographic Doctor", afterwhich Robert Picardo briefly took the stage to give his remarks. He talked about his current project starring in the musical Gemini: The Musical, which will be playing in downtown Philadelphia at the Hal Prince Theater, and is scheduled to run from October 9th - 31st. He also told the story behind a photo of himself in a STAR TREK magazine from about 6 - 8 years ago, where he was photographed leaning on a tombstone. He noted that the tombstone had actually been hand carved by a fan and given to him. He concluded his remarks with a song and had to run off to go to rehearsal for the musical.
The audience events continued with the playing of the fan favorite classic STAR TREK blooper reels, followed by a "STAR TREK Trivia" contest, with audience members participating, afterwhich it finally came time to introduce the star for the day, Leonard Nimoy.
Before his grand entrance, a music video "Salute to Mr. Spock" was played, then 3 of the Priceline commercials featuring both Nimoy and Shatner were played, and then it was time for Leonard Nimoy to take the stage to a packed audience.
For the next hour, Nimoy entertained the crowd with many friendly jabs directed at his collegue and friend William Shatner, but spent most of the time answering the many fan questions. Of note was a question about whether he would appear on ENTERPRISE, to which he smiled and dodged the question. When asked about one person who he would want to see or meet, he mentioned a recent issue of either Newsweek or Time magazine that had an article on Bob Dylan. And he said that the article made him recall the time, back in the '60s, when he had first met Bob Dylan and the two had talked about how they each dealt with being a phenomena and the stress that goes with that. So he thought that it might be interesting to meet with him again to talk about the subject so many years later.
When asked if Paramount ever decided to do a STARFLEET ACADEMY movie or show a young Kirk or Spock, who would he like to see play the role of a young Spock, Nimoy chuckled and once again artfully dodged the question. When asked whether he would ever direct again, he indicated that he would not, but elaborated as to why. He said that just after the release and success of STAR TREK II THE WRATH OF KHAN, when the decision was made to do another film, he had been talking with peers in the industry who had recommended that he give directing a shot as part of his career development. Thus he decided to offer himself for what would become STAR TREK III THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK, as director and in the role of Spock. He subsequently directed STAR TREK IV THE VOYAGE HOME, and later THREE MEN AND A BABY. He noted that after this, he found himself directing more and more and found that doing so was taking a toll on his life, as it would often involve a year or more commitment of time to a single film. Thus he concluded that he didn't want to give up that much time any more.
He answered a myriad of other questions including his opinion on directors like George Lucas choosing to alter their original films after the fact, whereby he quipped "George Lucas can do anything he wants!". He clarified by noting that after STAR WARS had released in 1977 and became such a successful film, "I fully expected that I would be getting a call from Paramount very soon...".
Near the end of the Q&A, he indicated that the entire cast felt that the film GALAXY QUEST was hilarious and that he personally loved it and he said that in all honesty, he didn't think there was another show that he would have picked in preference to STAR TREK to be a part of.
The audience program concluded with autographs by Nimoy, an after show Happy Hour, and Nimoy performing his 1-man show "Pictures, Poetry, and Prose" later that evening.
On Sunday, October 3, 2004, the programming kicked off at noon with another music video "The Friendship Music Video: Kirk/Spock", followed by a pre-recorded video greeting from Ricardo Montalban ("Khan"). Montalban's video interview had been done in June 2004 and it had been noted that due to a spinal chord injury that he was suffering from, he had been unable to attend conventions but offered to do a video that could be shown to attendees.
Montalban talked about his work in the original STAR TREK episode "Space Seed" and how he never considered his character a "villain" in a classic sense. He also talked about having been approached in the '80s during what was the 6th season of his popular FANTASY ISLAND series, to reprise the role of Khan for STAR TREK II THE WRATH OF KHAN. He said he felt honored that after having gone through all the past "villains" in the TREK series, his character was selected to be in the film. He talked about how he prepared for the role, contrasting it with his character ("Mr. Roarke") in FANTASY ISLAND, and building on the fact that his character "Khan" had been deeply in love with his wife, stranded on a harsh planet, and then his wife was killed by one of the local creatures. Thus he felt that the character was full of rage and wished revenge against the one who stranded him there - Kirk. He also laughed about some of the behind the scenes antics that went on during the m!
aking of the film including a gag where a blow-up doll version of the character "Tatoo" from FANTASY ISLAND had suddenly appeared next to him while he was doing a scene.
The next part of the interview, Montalban talked about his past career, which began around 1945, where he faced a Hollywood that had essentially cast him in the roles of all types of Hispanics including a Cuban, Brazillian, Argentinian, basically anything other than "Mexican", which he was. And he noted that at the time, Mexicans were continually portrayed negatively and that he decided to go on a crusade to change the image in Hollywood. He quipped that when they claimed they were looking for a "Latin Lover", he retorted that the only "Latin Lover" he knew was his father, who had been married for 53 years to one woman - his mother. Thus he decided to found an organization called "Nosotros", which would have its own theater - The "Ricardo Montalban Theater, dedicated to training young Hispanic actors and actresses in the trade, as well as training those interested in other behind the scenes trades such as writing, directing, producing, etc.
Next in the program was Keir Dullea, a veteran of some 23 feature films and a guest star on a number of television series, but best known in the science fiction world as "Dave Bowman" in the classic film 2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY. Keir was quite energetic in his discussing the things surrounding the preparations for and making of the actual film, including some rather detailed descriptions of the behind the scenes special effects that back then, could not be done in CGI (which didn't exist then). He talked about his enormous respect for the late Stanley Kubrick, a director for which he had been a fan of and he also talked about how he managed to have the opportunity to reprise his original role some 16 years later in 2010, with his character appearing at the point where he had left off in 2001.
Dullea took additional audience questions and then the session moved on to a music video "Salute to STAR TREK", another "STAR TREK Trivia Contest", and then a music video "Salute to ENTERPRISE". The activities then included an update on upcoming science fiction, fantasy, comic book genre films due to release soon, another auction, and then a Q&A session with Tucker Smallwood, Chase Masterson, and Scott Schwartz. Herb Jefferson, Jr., had to leave before the session began and couldn't attend.
At the conclusion of the group question and answer session and in preparation for the guest of the day, there was the airing of the music video "Salute to Captain Kirk", afterwhich "The Man", William Shatner took to the stage.
For the next hour, Shatner talked in detail about the past 10 days of filming in Riverside, Iowa (from where he had left to come to Philadelphia to attend the convention), and he jokingly quipped "We punked Riverside". He noted that over the past couple weeks, they had made many friends amongst the people in the town and he said that Leonard Nimoy had been scheduled to participate with him, but had been under the weather at the time and couldn't. Nimoy seemed okay yesterday during his session at the convention.
Shatner then talked about the upcoming release of his CD "Has Been" and how that came about. And then the question of the day about whether he planned on appearing on ENTERPRISE was asked and answered in the same general manner as has been previously reported in the media with respect to the status of the negotiations, which are ongoing. However Shatner jokingly quipped "They better fork over the dough or I won't be there". He reiterated how Rick Berman had originally come up with an idea of Shatner playing Kirk's grandfather and how he (Shatner) presented his pitch (which he still didn't elaborate on but said was done in conjunction with the Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens), and he said (jokingly) that Berman had fainted.
Shatner took a number of fan questions, including from some young fans, where one asked him whether he "still plays Captain Kirk", afterwhich Shatner joked "Rick Berman won't let me". He was asked about the film FREE ENTERPRISE and whether a sequel would be in the offing. He elaborated to the audience about what the original film was about and mentioned that if they were able to get the money together, a sequel would probably be made. He thought that it was possible that the character "William Shatner" in the film would probably end up going to study to be a rabbi.
Near the end of Shatner's Q&A, he was asked what he thought of the current state of the STAR TREK franchise and he commented that he hadn't watched the latest series and that he had been aware that the franchise wasn't as popular as it had been in the past. He said that he and the Reeves-Stevens had originally pitched the idea of a STARFLEET ACADEMY film, which would show a young Kirk and Spock in their early years together. He said when Paramount didn't show interest, that he and the Reeves-Stevens decided to pitch the idea to Simon and Schuster and said that fans should expect to see a 2 - 3 book series on the subject of the young Kirk and Spock, in the future.
At the conclusion of Shatner's part of the program, there was an autograph session with him and the convention ended with one last audience participation program, where selected audience members gave their suggestions on what they would do if they were in charge of the STAR TREK franchise and the audience voted for the best idea, with the winner receiving a box of various TREK collectibles.
All in all, it was good convention, although many long-time convention attendees noted that the numbers were down quite a bit from past Creation events in the area."
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