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
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.
Review by Patrick Hayes aka PatBorg Star Trek: Alien Spotlight: Andorians
The cover(s): As with most IDW books there are several covers you can pick from, or buy them all if you're a "real fan." I bought the "A" cover over the "B" cover because on the "A" you can actually see all of the Andorian's face, on "B" it's covered by a "ushaan-tor"--a weapon I've never heard or seen before. There is also an outstanding photo cover featuring an Andorian from Enterprise, as well as a sketch version of cover "A". I don't know why an Enterprise Andorian was featured on a story set in TNG universe, but, hey, I like aliens and photo covers, so I'm just nitpicking. Overall grade: B- The story: Without giving anything away, it's a very interesting plot/idea put forth by Paul D. Storrie: the only Andorian aboard the Enterprise (taking place before First Contact, judging by the costumes on the Starfleet officers), Sharad, is going to be taking some leave on Andoria and meeting up his family. Andorians were never featured as crew members on the television series, though based on the events of Enterprise, and brought up rightfully so in this story, it's obvious they should be. Their lack of presence in the series, and Federation worlds, is nicely justified. I have to give kudos to Storrie for explaining this well. However, once Sharad gets home the true plot of the story is made evident, with a twist by story's end. I just didn't buy it. This story was made to go over two issues, not crammed into one--this seems to be a problem with most "one-shot" stories from IDW. How can you tell there's too much story for one issue? Look at the amount of dialogue shoved onto pages 3, 10, 17, 21, and, worst of all, 22. I don't know if the story hurt the artist's choices, or the artist's layouts hurt the story, but dialogue should compliment a story, not drown the artwork. The ending is left open, I assume (and you know what happens when you assume...) for further adventures of Sharad. With the final twist revealed, I thought the lack of an ending was an obvious attempt for me to want to see what happened next. I don't. The Gorn and Vulcan Spotlights had endings, Andorians should have one. Overall grade: C- The art: Let me start with stating I love cartoony comic book art. I love Kyle Baker, Stephen DeSteffano, Sergio Aragones, Don Rosa, Don Martin, and Fred Hembeck. Can "cartoony" comic art work in a "serious" comic book story? Yes. Groo, for all its comic content, has very serious and real morals, and the epic nature and look of Uncle Scrooge comics comes through in the works of Carl Barks and Don Rosa. Can it work in a Star Trek comic book? I don't know. I've never seen a cartoony Trek comic, that wasn't Manga, until now. I'll give IDW and editor Andrew Steven Harris credit, they are experimenting with the look of Trek comics. This tale, drawn by Leonard O'Grady in unlike any Trek comic before--it's very cartoony looking. It borders on looking like a fan comic. Is that a bad thing? No, there have been plenty of fanzine artists who've hit the big time--Rob Liefeld was an artist in The Legion of Super-Heroes `zine Interlac before he hit the big time. Can it work? Yes. "Does it work for Trek?" is the big question. In this case, I've got to say no. If it were a funny Trek tale, sure. Maybe if there's to be Spotlight: Tribbles, but this doesn't work. Take page 15: it's a very serious moment, and the cartoony look of panels 3 and 4 ruin any drama the story is aiming for. And the last panel on the same page: that's really bad anatomy! O'Grady's layouts often play as talking heads for all the dialogue, and, as I stated earlier, is that Storrie's fault for writing it like that, or O'Grady's? I can't tell, but page 22 is just awful because of this. The last panel is too small to carry any emotion for the reader. There's also a lack of backgrounds; granted it's mostly set on the ice world of Andoria, but couldn't we have something more that heads, busts, and torso on the last third of the story? Nitpick: On an ice world shouldn't we be seeing cold breath in the air when people speak? Wasn't it that way on Enterprise when they went to Andoria? Overall grade: C-
The colors: O'Grady colored his own work in this issue, and I did like that. He has got a good eye for coloring, especially when used to help the story's mood. Like the dark tones with Troi in the first few pages, emphasized Sharad's emotional speech well. On pages 8 and 9 purple is used for a bar's background--this harkened back to the coloring of TOS, which I do like (though the 5th panel's emotion/impact was muted by this). Biggest problem with the coloring is that once the interior of Andoria is the setting, ice doesn't have too many colors, though if the layouts or the backgrounds had been by the artist, the blue and the white wouldn't have been so overpowering. Overall grade: B- The lettering: Chris Mowry does a competent job here. I went back to see if Mowry had to change the size of the lettering to have it all fit in a particular panel, and he (she?) did not. Kudos to a letterer who can maintain the same size throughout a comic without having to change the size of some lengthy speeches to fit in a predetermined space! I would like to know if Mowry or O'Grady did the sound effects, as the chanting on page 17 and the sound effects on page 19 didn't fit in with the art. Overall grade: B
The final line: So, if you're a Trek fan do you learn anything new about the Andorians? That's a capable YES. If you know nothing of the Andorians would you understand it? Also, YES. However, is this a comic worth owning? I've got to say NO. A political adventure without a resolution that has art that doesn't emotionally match the story? Again, thanks for trying IDW, but better luck with the Orions next month. Overall grade: C -- No need to buy this comic.
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