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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.

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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."

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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.

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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

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Nov 08 | Unreality-SF.net has interviewed Star Trerk author James Swallow about some of his upcoming projects. He talks about Titan: Synthesis and Seven Deadly Sins: The Slow Knife, as well as some forthcoming Doctor Who and Stargate stories.

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News Story

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Harve Bennett on the Decline of Trek and Starfleet Academy Movie Plans

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By GustavoLeao / 10:33, 28 February 2006 / General Star Trek

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Trek Nation posted an exclusive interview with former Star Trek movie producer Harve Bennett (Star Trek II-V). Here are a few excerpts.



Trek Nation: Did you follow the decline and cancellation of Enterprise?

Harve Bennett: No. I am very uninvolved in the subsequent series for one reason, and that is that Next Generation came on when we were still doing the films. I saw the pilot, but it was hard to be writing Star Trek V and see what would be happening beyond. So I never got into it. People ask me questions about everything from episodes to whether I knew Michael Piller, and I didn't. [Rick] Berman was an executive at the studio, and I knew him well, but that was my only contact with The Next Generation.

Trek Nation: You were involved with the Starfleet Academy proposal.

Harve Bennett: I was very involved with that. We had a green light to picture which was cancelled only when there was a regime change at the studio and a concern that we should do something more conventional for the then-25th anniversary. We had 19 months to do it in. 19 months? There's no way to do a special effects picture in 19 months. The best time we had was Star Trek III, which was two years from concept to release date. And the reason for that is, we would write the script normally and that was an easy script, that was six weeks and we were ready to go. But the special effects planning takes the better part of the year. I said, 'It can't be done.' And then my time was up, so I left.

Trek Nation: Is that back in play now? There are rumors about it, it seems, every six months.

Harve Bennett: I'll tell you how recently it was. Before Sherry Lansing left [Paramount Pictures] last year, we had a meeting, about two years ago, in which I proposed that now was the time to do Starfleet Academy. And she loved it. We would have made it. But then she said the television department had asked her not to do it, because Enterprise was being produced and they thought that should be the prequel. Therefore, we did not do that. Could we make it now? If somebody wants to, I'm there. Technically, I'm retired, and non-technically but actually, I'm writing my own book. I'm considerably happy not to go into downtown Los Angeles every day.

Trek Nation: I'm not even sure, with the Viacom-CBS split, exactly who would make the decision to go ahead with the next movie or TV show.

Harve Bennett: I can't answer that question. I'm just as confused as you are. The whole conglomeration...I thought I understood it when Gulf & Western took over Paramount in my day. But I've lost track of it since. I still have a couple of connections there when I want to get legal things cleared up, though they may be gone now that Dreamworks is coming into the picture. If that deal goes through, I know at least three good friends who aren't going to be there. They'll put in their people.

Trek Nation: So you aren't actively pursuing the Starfleet Academy idea right now.

Harve Bennett: No, but I love it. Some of the steam went out of it when my dear DeForest Kelley died. He was going to be in it along with Bill [Shatner] and Leonard [Nimoy], those were the only two regulars, and they were involved in a flashback. That's how we incorporated the three main characters into the prequel: it was a memory. Kirk comes to the Academy to address the classmates and remembers his time, when they were 17.

Trek Nation: I had heard that Shatner was going to write a pilot, or was pitching something, along those lines...maybe it was to Pocket Books, not for television.

Harve Bennett: We always said that the benefit of doing this as a film was number one, you have nothing but good comes out of this because the original cast continues, the original Enterprise is there waiting to beam up our guys. Two, you have a potential television series called Starfleet Academy. I saw Bill a few weeks ago on the set of Boston Legal and Leonard I talk to occasionally from time to time. We remain friends. We're all about the same age. Critical this is a gentleman named Ralph Winter who was my associate producer on Star Trek II, and gradually became the man we all turned to for everything.

The full interview can be found here



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Get Harve, But Move Starfleet Academy -forward- and New TOS already ex | Report this post to moderator
By: Michael X. Maelstrom (Odo's file, contact, web site) @ 16:30:22 on Mar 02, 2006


Harve knows how to make solid Trek, Paramount would be very smart to bring him onto the production staff of a new series.

Next up: Bring Nick Meyer in.

I also like the Starfleet Academy idea, but Star Trek has got to move -forward- not backward.

You can still have your Shatner and Nimoy Academy flashbacks.

P.S:

If we want to see new TOS, we can check out www.StarTrekNewVoyages.com

De Hey Zeus, it's TOS mark II.

New actors portraying Kirk, Spock, McCoy and co, but they've got original TOS writers (David Gerrold, D.C Fontana) writing episodes, originalTrek FX supervisor guru (Ron B. Moore) onboard, Koenig has reprised his role as Chekov and Takei has signed on to reprise the role as Sulu on the series.

Production quality is steadfast becoming en par with TOS's too.

All they need is for Shatner and Nimoy to come onboard and it'll _be_ new TOS.

I've DL'ed the episodes, and all I can say is "Good Bloody Lord but that's strange and yet cool!"

The slogan for Star Trek: New Voyages ought be, "Prepare for a Mindblowing Warp to the Daze of Future-Past"

regards,
Michael X. Maelstrom.


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Image Michael X. Maelstrom, The Avante Guardian, Tag. Image
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M o n t r e a l, Q u e b e c, C a n a d a, E a r t h, S o m e t i m e s.


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Why keep going back? | Report this post to moderator
By: Cylykon (Odo's file, contact) @ 00:05:51 on Mar 02, 2006

Puh-leeez!! Just go forward to at least the 29th century and do something with Federation time ships. It could be totally dark, a new threat unlike anything before, with new Treknologies and amazing special effects. If only there were someone with the proper vision to write it and pull it off. As much as I love the "continuity pornography" of the Reese-Stevens, I don't think they're up to the task of creating something so new and bold. Perhaps Peter David? I've always enjoyed his Trek novels. I dunno. I just know that I want to walk out of the theatre with a stunned smile on my face.

Of course, the ultra cheap bastards and the cretinous chimps at Paramount would never spend more than they did on ST V on a new movie, so it isn't going to happen.

:(


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Why keep going back? | Report this post to moderator
By: Cylykon (Odo's file, contact) @ 00:03:50 on Mar 02, 2006

Puh-leeez!! Just go forward to at least the 29th century and do something with Federation time ships. It could be totally dark, a new threat unlike anything before, with new Treknologies and amazing special effects. If only there were someone with the proper vision to write it and pull it off. As much as I love the "continuity pornography" of the Reese-Stevens, I don't think they're up to the task of creating something so new and bold. Perhaps Peter David? I've always enjoyed his Trek novels. I dunno.

Of course, the ultra cheap bastards and the cretinous chimps at Paramount would never spend more than they did on ST V on a new movie, so it isn't going to happen.

:(


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It will never happen... | Report this post to moderator
By: Olaf the Berserker (Odo's file, contact) @ 21:07:26 on Feb 28, 2006

Sadly, we shall never see the likes of a Star Trek - Harve Bennett production again. TPTB see Trek as a loser with far too many strings attached to be worth the trouble.

I would love to see a Starfleet Academy series set 10 years after the end of Voyager.

Berserker!

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Berserker!


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  • RE: It will never happen... | Report this post to moderator
    By: paustin (Odo's file, contact) @ 07:21:55 on Mar 01, 2006

    lol jesus he just wont let go of that crappy Star Fleet Academy idea, if he had done it when he originally wanted the TOS films would have stopped at ST:IV, yeah great idea lets stop making these films while everyone is alive. I'll admit it makes more sense to do it now then it did back then. But I dont want to see some fag hot young actor play Kirk, I'm sure the marketting boys at Paramont would skrew it to a young audience , and I'd picture it being big and gay luike "Sky High" with phasers and shuttlecrafts...lol, no thanks.

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    Tony, who split from his wife Georgina after he replaced their fridge with a "warp coil"

    "OH MY" - George Takei


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uh... | Report this post to moderator
By: JediFonger (Odo's file, contact) @ 12:09:25 on Feb 28, 2006

why are we still harping on guys who are almost dead. my god, let it all go!

need... fresh... green blood...!

it's time to MOVE FWD on the trek timeline. no more going back the "golden age of trek", etc. there was none.

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LET THEM DIE!!!


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It's not "Rocket Man" but... | Report this post to moderator
By: Schpock (Odo's file, contact) @ 11:11:00 on Feb 28, 2006


So goodbye yellow brick road
Where the dogs of society howl
You can't plant me in your penthouse
I'm going back to my plough

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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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  • RE: It's not "Rocket Man" but... | Report this post to moderator
    By: sb2004 (Odo's file, contact) @ 14:44:19 on Feb 28, 2006

    Next time folks harp about Berman, remember the words "Harve Bennett" and "Starfleet Academy". Bennett has done some great work, but, really ... the whole idea of a Starfleet Academy film or series just gives me the shakes.

    (Now watch, The CW will announce a Starfleet Academy Saturday morning cartoon for their new network...)

    Al


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    • RE: It's not "Rocket Man" but... | Report this post to moderator
      By: Flynn 19 (Odo's file, contact) @ 16:15:36 on Feb 28, 2006

      It's an idea that can turn out either really, really awesome. Or really, really shit.

      I just don't trust the current regime to give us the former. So, for the moment, they should let it alone.


      Flynn 19

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      'Rose, you were fantastic. And you know what? So was I.'
      -The Doctor, Doctor Who (2005)


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