Feb 08 | While his "Lost" co-stars prepare to pack up and leave Hawaii, Daniel Dae Kim can plan to remain there for at least a few more months. Mr. Kim, who plays the time-traveling tough guy Jin on "Lost," has been the first actor cast in a coming remake of the crime drama "Hawaii Five-O," The Hollywood Reporter said. He has been cast as Chin Ho Kelly, a detective played by Kam Fong in the original series, which began in 1968. The "Hawaii Five-O" revival is being developed by the screenwriters Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci ("Star Trek," "Fringe") and Peter Lenkov, an executive producer of "CSI: NY."
Feb 03 | William Shatner has paid tribute to his former Boston Legal co-star Justin Mentell, who died in a freak car accident on Monday. The 27 year old was thrown from his Jeep after swerving off the road near Madison, Wisconsin and died at the scene of the tragic crash. The Star Trek legend was saddened to hear of Mentell's passing - as he's convinced the actor was destined for a glittering career. In a post on his Twitter.com page, Shatner writes, "I'm deeply saddened to hear about Justin Mentell. There's no telling how far up the ladder he may have climbed. My sympathies to his family."
Feb 01 | Journalist Edward Gross posted an article at SciFiTVZone.com called "The Making of the Star Trek Pilots, Part 3: "Assignment Earth"" which takes a retrospective look at the making of the Gene Roddenberry unsold TV pilot "Assignment Earth" filmed at Desilu Studios as a second season Star Trek episode. The article feature rare interviews - including authors involved with the character of Gary Seven in comics and in novels.
Note 10:59a: Just to be clear, this is a preview of a portion of the pilot.
THE 4400, THE DEAD ZONE, and BATTLESTAR GALACTICA have spurred a renewed
interest in science fiction on television these days, with ABC's
pseudo-genre series LOST and NBC's psychic-procedural MEDIUM becoming big
network hits and cable networks scoring coverted demos with genre fare. All
but LOST in this list come from former STAR TREK writers. CBS made headlines
by picking up a sci-fi thriller for its fall schedule called THRESHOLD,
created by BATMAN BEGINS screenwriter David Goyer and
co-written and co-executive produced by STAR TREK's newest alum,
Brannon Braga.
For all Goyer's talk about how different the show is, the preview of the pilot yields mixed results. Large
portions of the overall story presented here have been previously shown in an extended
trailer available for download at CBS's web site, and that may be part of
the reason for an underwhelming reaction. The first hour also ends with a cliffhanger, leaving the story largely unfinished (although the pilot will be longer when completed -- ed.). Admittedly, this also makes it difficult to get a complete picture of the series.
A pastiche of THE X-FILES, EVENT HORIZON, and countless other sci-fi movies in the vein of INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, the story strings together many ideas of the genre. From the mysterious alien contact that takes
place on a dingy ship of rough-hewn sea men, to the ensuing
"changes" that drive the crew to kill themselves and each other, to the
frightening revelation that the government investigators may have contracted
the madness by the end of the episode, much of this first script will be
familiar to genre fans.
Just as the trailer revealed, the intrepid team leader (Carla
Gugino in the 'Scully' role) deduces that an alien invasion from
inside our own bodies may be underway, but somehow the idea seems like
yesterday's news. After all, wasn't one of the premises of the long-running
X-FIlES mythology (and surely countless forebearers) that the aliens were
using bees to implant a "virus" among the population for some kind of
colonization program? And even DR. STRANGELOVE poked fun at the Red
Scare-era paranoia of "changes" coming from within due to flouridization of
the water supply.
For the obvious parallels to the post-9/11 sensibility, there is
surprisingly little mention of bioterrorism or terrorism at all in this
first installment. Instead, the script relies on the antiquated model
of competing superpowers, miscasting North Korea as the unseen "evil empire"
that has its own research team on the way to the cite of the oceananic
incident. The formula is dated in more ways than one, it's mainly a device to artificially force a climax -- the ship must be destroyed before those nasty Reds can get their hands on it. THRESHOLD would do much better to focus on the subversive angle of the threat from within, which although not new by any means, is far more on the minds of viewers in the wake of London and Egyptian bombings than a competing nation-state.
The basic subplot of THRESHOLD is that the government wants to keep any extraterrestial secrets to itself and it turns out not surprisingly that the aliens DO mean business (the nasty
kind) and as Gugino puts it, we've got to face down the nasty future and we
don't have time for preconceptions (of the "take me to your leader" variety). But THRESHOLD's greatest enemy may be the preconceptions it asks viewers to face about genre storytelling in this first portion.
It's not a bad show, though, and to its credit, the script includes plenty of self-conscious wisecracks that inject some life into dialogue. Brent Spiner's
eccentric doctor jokes about military personnel swarming about, "what is this, 'War of the Worlds'?" Later,
the 'Hoshi' linguist character (a tough talking "little person") contemplates the impact of alien existence
on world religions, commenting, "I don't recall, 'on the eighth day, God
created Klingons.'" Cute, and surely written by Braga. Spiner lends a familiar affability and is a welcome respite from the mousy twentysomething computer geek that inhabits so many shows (though we're not totally spared this archetype in THRESHOLD). Spiner quips at one point whether they're going to be paid for analyzing this alien flotsam, telling a naive younger character, "you don't have two ex-wives."
Overall, THRESHOLD stradles between its single-white-female-with-dog protagonist (and all the untapped psychological baggage about a person who's spent her entire professional career anticipating alien invasion), and the government conspiracy-"freaky aliens from the fourth dimension with triple-helix DNA" plot. Neither carries the show alone but together they present an interesting contemplation that beckons a return for part two. The destiny of this show is going to be determined by what the rest of the script does with the jumble of elements introduced here, and what approach clearly emerges.
Hi! I´m a great fan of Brent and I´m happy to know that he will return in a sci-fi series.
But I don´t understand very well what will be his character. I have met him in Milton Keynes and I hope to meet him in a not so long future - I would never believe that he was going to accept a new role in another series. Anyway, I´m satisfied, but I hope that the plot will be interesting.
I think that Brent is a professional actor, but he need to play in an interesting movie.
Quote:" THE 4400, THE DEAD ZONE, and BATTLESTAR GALACTICA have spurred a renewed interest in science fiction on television these days,
You wouldn't know that if you looked at UPN. haha
Quote:"CBS made headlines by picking up a sci-fi thriller for its fall schedule called THRESHOLD,
And UPN didn't? For a guy who has been working for Paramount for 18 years and to hear the suits praise this a-hole. You would think that they would of jumped at the chance to get Threshold on UPN. It only goes to show you that UPN thinks just like the Trek fans when it comes to Braga.....he is a lousy writer!
Quote:"created by BATMAN BEGINS screenwriter David Goyer and co-written and co-executive produced by STAR TREK's newest alum, Brannon Braga.
If anyone saw Batman Begins you will see that the movie was very well written. It held continuity through out. How can such a guy work with someone like Brannon who can't even spell the word continuity yet alone understand what it means.
Quote:"For all Goyer's talk about how different the show is, the preview of the pilot yields mixed results. Large portions of the overall story presented here have been previously shown in an extended trailer available for download at CBS's web site, and that may be part of the reason for an underwhelming reaction. The first hour also ends with a cliffhanger, leaving the story largely unfinished (although the pilot will be longer when completed -- ed.). Admittedly, this also makes it difficult to get a complete picture of the series.
It doesn't matter, Braga will take a page from his girlfriend Bermans hand book and just "blame the fans". Then he can throw in the old classic of "continuity pornographer".
Quote:"A pastiche of THE X-FILES, EVENT HORIZON, and countless other sci-fi movies in the vein of INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, the story strings together many ideas of the genre. From the mysterious alien contact that takes place on a dingy ship of rough-hewn sea men, to the ensuing "changes" that drive the crew to kill themselves and each other, to the frightening revelation that the government investigators may have contracted the madness by the end of the episode, much of this first script will be familiar to genre fans.
In otherwords nothing new. More rehashing with the hopes of being the new "flavour of the month".
Quote:"Just as the trailer revealed, the intrepid team leader (Carla Gugino in the 'Scully' role) deduces that an alien invasion from inside our own bodies may be underway, but somehow the idea seems like yesterday's news. After all, wasn't one of the premises of the long-running X-FIlES mythology (and surely countless forebearers) that the aliens were using bees to implant a "virus" among the population for some kind of colonization program? And even DR. STRANGELOVE poked fun at the Red Scare-era paranoia of "changes" coming from within due to flouridization of the water supply.
A Scully in the show. How original Braga!
Quote:"For the obvious parallels to the post-9/11 sensibility, there is surprisingly little mention of bioterrorism or terrorism at all in this first installment. Instead, the script relies on the antiquated model of competing superpowers, miscasting North Korea as the unseen "evil empire" that has its own research team on the way to the cite of the oceananic incident. The formula is dated in more ways than one, it's mainly a device to artificially force a climax -- the ship must be destroyed before those nasty Reds can get their hands on it. THRESHOLD would do much better to focus on the subversive angle of the threat from within, which although not new by any means, is far more on the minds of viewers in the wake of London and Egyptian bombings than a competing nation-state.
More 9/11 parallels? Ok whatever.
Quote:"It's not a bad show, though, and to its credit, the script includes plenty of self-conscious wisecracks that inject some life into dialogue. Brent Spiner's eccentric doctor jokes about military personnel swarming about, "what is this, 'War of the Worlds'?" Later, the 'Hoshi' linguist character (a tough talking "little person") contemplates the impact of alien existence on world religions, commenting, "I don't recall, 'on the eighth day, God created Klingons.'" Cute, and surely written by Braga. Spiner lends a familiar affability and is a welcome respite from the mousy twentysomething computer geek that inhabits so many shows (though we're not totally spared this archetype in THRESHOLD). Spiner quips at one point whether they're going to be paid for analyzing this alien flotsam, telling a naive younger character, "you don't have two ex-wives."
Oh Star Trek jokes....HOW F'ing original! OH WHAT A MUST SEE SHOW!!
Quote:"Overall, THRESHOLD stradles between its single-white-female-with-dog protagonist (and all the untapped psychological baggage about a person who's spent her entire professional career anticipating alien invasion), and the government conspiracy-"freaky aliens from the fourth dimension with triple-helix DNA" plot. Neither carries the show alone but together they present an interesting contemplation that beckons a return for part two. The destiny of this show is going to be determined by what the rest of the script does with the jumble of elements introduced here, and what approach clearly emerges
No thanks I will pass on Bragas new crap. If anyone here is a true Trek fan they will do the same.
If Braga and Goyer want this show to be succesful, they're going to have to be careful. Don't forget, TOS was actually comprised of more bad episodes than good, but it was still a lot of fun to watch, and the fans loved it so much that they brought it back from the dead. A TV show can have good production values and still fail miserably.
The description of this show in the article above sounds like the show is rather boring and very unoriginal. The only thing that draws me to wanting to see the show is to see how well (or poorly) Brannon Braga can write in a different setting. I think that if CBS is interested in keeping the show, even if it doesn't do well, the show will be revamped in the way that Seaquest was revamped.
In order for the story to work, as it has been related above, it will have to be PLANNED, unlike so many Enterprise episodes. They have to know where they're going with the main ideas of the story. Priorities may change as time passes, but they'll still need to have a roadmap of the general terrain they wish to tread, otherwise the show will just be all over the place, and that's just not how a succesful show looks, unless we're talking about Mork & Mindy, and even THAT had cohesive themes that they stuck with.
If Threshold is a success, then Brannon Braga will be somewhat vindicated and the bulk of the blame for the destruction of Star Trek will fall on Rick Berman.
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To me, truth is not some vague, foggy notion. Truth is real. And, at the same time, unreal. Fiction and fact and everything in between, plus some things I can't remember, all rolled into one big 'thing.' This is truth, to me.
Quote: ...Don't forget, TOS was actually comprised of more bad episodes than good...
Oh bullshit. Sure, TOS had some clunkers, but overall it was a good series with more good episodes than bad overall, even if you do factor in season three.
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"It's not important to me that people understand me."
Quote:"If Threshold is a success, then Brannon Braga will be somewhat vindicated and the bulk of the blame for the destruction of Star Trek will fall on Rick Berman.'
No. If this show is a success it will be because of Goyer.
Everything around him will dissolve, Spiner will turn into Data from TNG season 7(extra spackle required), and then he'll walk out of the holodeck.
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"Outer Space: The Last Frontier.
These are the trips of the Star Trek Enterprise. Its five year plan calls for us to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly fly where no man has gone in space. Live long, and be happy."
Everything around him will dissolve, Spiner will turn into Data from TNG season 7(extra spackle required), and then he'll walk out of the holodeck.
Hey I kind of like that idea.
Does anybody know when this show's going to be on. I never come across CBS so I haven't had the opportunity to see any of the commercials or anything.
Enlighten me if you could.
Further more. I've been quite pleased with much of the stuff that both Braga and Goyer have WRITTEN in the past. I find it hard to believe the series would bomb. However maybe it has been proven that Braga isn't in the best position to be the LEADER of a project like this.
I wonder what other Star Trek alumni will appear on Threshold?
Frakes?
Sirtis?
You know it's going to happen sooner or later!
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To me, truth is not some vague, foggy notion. Truth is real. And, at the same time, unreal. Fiction and fact and everything in between, plus some things I can't remember, all rolled into one big 'thing.' This is truth, to me.
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