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.
Author Glenn Greenberg is an award-winning editor and writer whose work has appeared in numerous fiction anthologies, comic books, lifestyle and news magazines, and on several Web sites. THE ART OF THE COMEBACK marks his return to the STAR TREK universe - he previously developed and wrote the five-issue STAR TREK UNTOLD VOYAGES limited series for Marvel Comics, which chronicled adventures from the second five-year mission of Captain James T. Kirk and his crew aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise. His first S.C.E. eBook, titled THE ART OF THE DEAL, was published in 2004.
Glenn’s writing work for Marvel also included stints on such world-famous characters as Spider-Man, the Hulk, Dracula, and the Silver Surfer. As a Marvel editor, he is proudest of having developed the Starlord limited series written by bestselling science fiction author Timothy Zahn, as well as the inter-company crossover project, The Incredible Hulk vs. Superman, which made Glenn one of the very few Marvel editors in history to edit a project featuring DC Comics’ flagship character, Superman. For the GrayHaven Magazine Web site (www.ghmonline.com), Glenn was co-writer of the much-acclaimed, 35-part Internet column “The Life of Reilly,” in which he chronicled his rather reluctant role in the making of the infamous “Clone Saga” that ran through the Spider-Man titles in the mid-1990s. Glenn has written various articles for magazines such as Smoke and Time Out New York, and currently serves as editor and head writer for Scholastic News, a weekly newsmagazine for kids.
In 2002, his work on that magazine earned him the prestigious Distinguished Achievement Award from the Association of Educational Publishers. Glenn also writes regularly for the Scholastic News Online Web site (www.Scholastic.com/news), for which he provided all-day coverage of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on America.
TrekWeb.com brings you this exclusive interview with Greenberg, in which he talks about his upcoming STAR TREK STARFLEET CORPS OF ENGINEERS ebook, THE ART OF THE COMEBACK.
Q: What can you tell us about the plot of your upcoming Star Trek: Corps of Engineers e-book, THE ART OF THE COMEBACK?
GLENN: It’s a direct sequel to my first e-book, THE ART OF THE DEAL (Star Trek: S.C.E. #45). I pick up on some of the characters and situations that I introduced in that first story—particularly the villain, Rod Portlyn. I’ve also added some new characters and elements into the mix. That opened up some really fun and unexpected story possibilities. And I even get to revisit a beloved character that I haven’t touched since I wrote Star Trek comics for Marvel back in the late 1990s—oh, okay, I’ll spill. It’s Scotty!
In terms of the plot, well, I would say that at its core, it’s about redemption, obsession, revenge, faith, and coping with tragedy. I put the crewmembers of the U.S.S. da Vinci through some pretty tough times in this story, and we get to see how these people deal with some very harsh, even brutal, things that get thrown at them. And on top of it all, there’s the discovery of an ancient and vastly powerful alien artifact that, in the wrong hands, could cause chaos to erupt across the entire galaxy. So I cover a lot of ground!
Q: What can you reveal about the character of Rod Portlyn?
GLENN: When Portlyn first appears in THE ART OF THE COMEBACK, we find that he’s pretty much where I left him at the end of THE ART OF THE DEAL: he’s been defeated by Captain Gold and his crew, his business empire has been halved, his power, influence, and wealth have been dramatically reduced. He’s desperately searching for something—anything—that will put him back on top. That’s what he wants more than anything—to regain everything that he lost. And that will be his primary motivation in this story.
I also reveal more about Portlyn and his background, his history. That’s been a lot of fun! One of the new characters has a direct link to Portlyn, and many of my favorite moments in the story stem from this character.
Q: What are your feelings about the cover artwork by Michael Collins, who you worked with on Marvel Comics’ STAR TREK: UNTOLD VOYAGES series?
GLENN: Michael did the wonderful job I expected he’d do. Captain Gold and Domenica Corsi are featured on the cover, and it’s wild to see them presented visually, since they exist only on paper—no actors have ever portrayed them. And I really like the way Michael illustrated the alien artifact. He worked off of the description I gave of the object in my manuscript, so it’s the closest we’ve come to actually collaborating on something since we did the UNTOLD VOYAGES limited series. Working with Michael on UNTOLD VOYAGES was a really positive, creatively fulfilling experience for me. I felt we were really in synch with each other, and he brought a lot to the table. There were lots of little things that he’d throw into the artwork, little details, little in-jokes, that showed how much he knew what he was doing, how much he knew and understood Star Trek. It was always a pleasure to get the pages in from him and see how he interpreted the scenes I’d written for those comics. So I was happy when I found out that he was the illustrator for the cover of THE ART OF THE DEAL. It was almost like a reunion. Even more so with THE ART OF THE COMEBACK.
Q: How does your book relate to your previous e-book, THE ART OF THE DEAL?
GLENN: Like I said, it’s a direct sequel to THE ART OF THE DEAL. But it’s not simply a continuation of that story. There are new characters, new situations, completely new locales, and a different sensibility to the storytelling. For one thing, I made a conscious effort to add a little more humor this time around. I set that challenge for myself when I sat down to write this new story. I think I do drama and action pretty well, but for the most part, especially when it comes to writing for Star Trek, I haven’t done much full-out humor. With THE ART OF THE COMEBACK, I wanted to stretch myself as a writer by trying to successfully inject some funny stuff, some lightness, into the story, without sacrificing any of the overall drama. I looked to Nicholas Meyer and Harve Bennett for inspiration. Their screenplay for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is powerful, gripping, and highly dramatic—but there’s some really funny stuff in there too!
Also, I think I’ve delved deeper into the characters this time, and have shown them as real people as well as highly competent Starfleet officers. They get to “let their hair down,” so to speak. Particularly Captain Gold, Commander Gomez, and Security Chief Corsi.
Q: How do you like writing the new characters created by Pocket Books especially for the series? Who are your favorite characters?
GLENN: It took a while for me to familiarize myself with these characters, since most of them never appeared in a Star Trek TV series or movie. So I had to read a bunch of the manuscripts that had already been written for the series, to get a feel for the characters and the kinds of stories in which they appear. But once I got a handle on the characters, I found it a very enjoyable challenge to enter their world and try to put words into their mouths. I’ve found that part of the fun is “casting” the characters, the ones who’ve never been played by a real-life actor or actress. If I were writing Kirk or Spock or Picard, I would obviously write them with William Shatner or Leonard Nimoy or Patrick Stewart in mind. But for the most part, this crew exists only on paper, so that leaves it up to me to attach a particular real-life performer to a particular character and write the character as if he or she were going to be played by that performer. For example, my editor, Keith R.A. DeCandido, has said that in his mind, Captain Gold would best be portrayed by Harry Morgan, who played Colonel Potter on M*A*S*H. But when I’m writing Captain Gold, I’m writing him with Jack Klugman in mind! As I was reading the manuscripts, more and more, I just saw Jack Klugman in the role of Captain Gold, so that’s the approach I took. Keith has told me that he likes the way I portray Gold, so I guess it’s not a problem! As for my favorite characters, well, I’ve written two books with these characters thus far, and both of those books have centered primarily on Captain Gold and Security Chief Corsi, so I guess those are my favorites. Ironically, I set out both times to feature Commander Gomez prominently, and both times, I ended up whittling her role down to the point where she’s pretty much a supporting player. So I’d include Gomez as one of my favorites, but I haven’t been able to do quite as much with her as I’d like. Fortunately, though, with THE ART OF THE COMEBACK, I was able to give her a somewhat bigger, meatier part than she had in THE ART OF THE DEAL.
Q: Since the next movie appears to be a TOS prequel, some fans consider the S.C.E. e-books sort of the continuation of the 24th Century TNG universe. Do you feel that responsibility?
GLENN: Not really. As far as I know, there are plenty of other books that are carrying on the 24th Century TNG universe. There have been novels about the U.S.S. Titan, taking place after Nemesis and featuring Captain Riker and Deanna Troi. There have been Deep Space Nine books that go beyond the final episode. The only responsibility I really feel is to be true to the S.C.E. characters and their little universe. I used Captain Picard and the Enterprise in my first book, and I made sure to attach their appearance to a specific period in their history—after Insurrection and before Nemesis, as I recall. So I try to remain consistent with the established time line and continuity of the Star Trek universe, but if I’m writing an S.C.E. book, my main focus is on serving those characters as best as I can.
Q: Publisher IDW is publishing new Star Trek comics. Are you interested in writing Trek comics again? Any ideas you’d like to share?
GLENN: I do have an interest, yes. Whether IDW has an interest in me writing Trek comics again is the real question. I’ll just say that the folks in charge over there know of my interest. The ball’s in their court. I make it a point not to discuss or disclose story ideas that I have in development, so that’s not something I could share. Sorry!
Q: After THE ART OF THE COMEBACK, what are your future projects?
GLENN: Keith and I have discussed another S.C.E. project, and I’m in the very early stages of developing a story idea for that.
Q: Glenn, thank you for taking your time to talk with TrekWeb.
GLENN: My pleasure! Thanks for giving me the opportunity to let your readers know about THE ART OF THE COMEBACK.
THE ART OF THE COMEBACK will be released May 2007.
Thanks for the feedback, The Magrathean. And yes, this is the cover artwork, by comic book artist Michael Collins (Star Trek Untold Voyages, Star Trek New Frontier Double Time).
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