Sep 01 | George Takei will have a cameo in the new season of The Big Bang Theory. TV Squad reports that the former Star Trek actor will appear in an episode alongside guest star Katee Sackhoff. The show's executive producer Bill Prady suggested that Takei and Sackhoff will play different sides of Wolowitz's conscience as he considers reuniting with his ex-girlfriend Bernadette (Melissa Rauchberg).He explained: "George Takei plays himself, and he's the other person guiding Wolowitz in his thoughts as he tries to figure out what to do about Bernadette."
Aug 24 | Vulture has learned that Joe Hill's comic Locke & Key will no longer be coming to theaters, but instead will be adapted for television by Steven Spielberg, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Josh Friedman. Distributed by IDW Publishing, Locke & Key tells of Keyhouse, an unlikely New England mansion, with fantastic doors that transform all who dare to walk through them... and home to a hate-filled and relentless creature that will not rest until it forces open the most terrible door of them all. Friedman ("Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles") will write and produce. Kurtzman and Orci recently signed a deal with 20th Century Fox TV, so the studio will end up producing with Spielberg's DreamWorks TV.
Aug 18 | Jack Bender has signed on direct 7 Minutes in Heaven for Paramount, reports Heat Vision.The film, based on an original idea from Bender, tells the story of two teenagers who, upon returning from a round of the titular game, find all of their friends dead. J.J. Abrams will produce through Bad Robot, now at the stage of finding a writer to move the idea towards a full script.
Last night, I have the pleasure of watch the Star Trek animated fan film Borg War, created and produced by a fan named Geoffrey James, working alone at his home computer for 18 months, and in the process creating an exciting Star Trek adventure which runs for 85 minutes.
You can say that the movie it's a mashup of different Star Trek games, but James talent as a storyteller and director made the movie much more than that. The story is epic and awesome, and turned out to be much superior stuff than official Star Trek movies from Paramount like Insurrection and Nemesis. At the end, you wish Borg War was a live-action Star Trek movie produced by Paramount.
The use of the voices of Patrick Stewart as Picard and Tim Russ as Tuvok only adds to an incredible sense of a proper Star Trek adventure to this animated movie.
Set 15 years after the events of Star Trek Nemesis, Borg War depicts the conflict between the Federation, Klingons, Romulans, and a strain of Borg infected with a mind-controlling, flesh-mutating virus. The incursion of these diseased Borg throws the Alpha quadrant's finely balanced power structures into chaos. As Picard marshals the free races to oppose the Borg, the Klingons and Romulans use the turmoil as an excuse for interracial war. Meanwhile, the Borg themselves struggle against the infection, which is using them as a source for food. It is sort of like "Alien-meets-Star Trek", in a good and original way.
An older Captain Jean-Luc Picard is now the commander of Starbase Unity, but still in command of the Sovereing Class Enterprise-E, but with a all-new crew. Picard's counselor in this mission is Keeyla (voiced by Amanda Winn-Lee), the 18-year old daughter of Seven of Nine. And the Enterprise-E new chief engineer is none other than Reg Barclay (voiced by Dwight Schultz). Helping Picard in this mission is Tuvok, now captain of the powerful Defiant-class starship U.S.S. Dallas (there is a real cool scene in which the Dallas departs Deep Space Nine - again good visual effects).
In the beginning of the movie, the Alpha quadrant has been preparing for the return of the Borg by investing massive R&D in offensive and defensive weaponry. The Federation/Klingon alliance has worn thin, with younger warriors seeking a return to the old ways. A Borg Cube stumbles onto a Klingon freighter belonging to the House of Mi'qoch, the clan responsible for the Empire's anti-Borg development programme. The Mi'qoch clan sends its mightiest warship to investigate. The result is not good and it is Picard and Tuvok to the rescue. But unknown to then, the Borg has been assimilated by a race of mutant parasites exomorphs, who has dreams of conquest beyond the wildest computations of the Borg.
According to James, the software to make the movie (including the mid-range video editor) cost about $200 total. Everything that happens was scripted; there was no filmed "game play". Essentially the games - Elite Force 2 and Starfleet Command 3 - were crippled to generate raw footage under control of programming scripts. The result footage is amazing, with action and graphics with high quality (but with somewhat limited motion for the characters, who move like in a computer game). James lifted elements from the plots of the games, like the Romulans wanting to break up the Federation/Klingon alliance. Borg War was developed using Machinima, a moviemaking process that harnesses 3D rendering power and audio clips from computer games to create a new type of video entertainment. James created the movie by reprogramming computer games to generate raw footage, which he then edited to create the finished film. As I said, it took him 18 months to complete the project - a really labor of love and the resulted movie is impressive.
For me, the most exciting aspect of Borg Wars is that the story takes place in the post-Nemesis era, 17 years after the return of U.S.S. Voyager and the movie's storyline moves the Star Trek continuity and history foward, more close to the 25th century, exploring the adventures of an older Jean-Luc Picard and his new crew, and I must say James has created very interesting new characters, like Jureth (voiced by Greg Eagles), a klingon who is also a Starfleet officer, just like Worf used to be.
If you havent seen Borg War yet, give it a chance. The somewhat limited animation takes a time to get use to, but the results are impressive after you get used to it, and the story is really well written, an amazing storyline which brings back both beloved characters and new characters, in a battle to save the Federation and the entire Alpha Quadrant.
Go see it and thank me later.
7 out of 10
The entire feature is available for download at the official site.
You can also watch Borg War (in 10 episodes) on YouTube.
I applaud the guy's effort, but I guess I'm a snob. Some of the scenes don't even make sense! The "dialogue" is just clips from the video games. Come on, people.
Yes, the sound clips were all taken from the games and edited (see my interview with Geoffrey). But the result is fantastic and I think he did a great job. The post-Nemesis storyline is very interesting.
I disagree. BORG and WAR are the most obvious and least interesting ideas that I can think of for a Trek story. He may be a decent guy. He's a hard worker, thats for sure. But I couldn't bear 5 minutes.
Quote: I disagree. BORG and WAR are the most obvious and least interesting ideas that I can think of for a Trek story. He may be a decent guy. He's a hard worker, thats for sure. But I couldn't bear 5 minutes.
Yes, yes, Kirok. You've hated this project from the very start, as evidenced by your prior posts.
However, I note that Borg War has:
1. Gotten a positive review in Star Trek magazine
2. Been rated better than Nemesis by BusinessWeek
3. Had well over 2 million episodes downloaded
4. Is holding a 4 star average on YouTube
5. Is the first non-parody fan film approved by CBS for screening at the official convention
6. Was called "Very Cool" by Tim Russ.
So I can live with the fact that you still think it sucks. Especially since by your own admission you've never seen the movie. (Helpful hint: Unless you're watching Veggie Tales, you might need to watch an entire movie in order to understand every scene.)
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www.BorgWarMovie.org
BORG WAR -- The world's most popular independently-produced, feature-length animated Star Trek movie.
It's pretty amazing that the sound clips were all taken from the games. The storyline and dialogue is fairly seamless. The plot is more epic than anything we saw in Generations, Insurrection, and Nemesis, without resorting to fan-wankery.
The exomorphs were downright creepy and would have been fun to see on the big screen.
I'm continued amazed by the creativity of the fanbase, and far superior stories than anything that has been developed since Insurrection. It's far from perfect, but the basic concept yields a much more interesting movie to watch.
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"We're standing by to beam your survivors aboard our ship. Prepare to abandon your vessel."
"No – no, that is not our way. I regret that we meet in this way. You and I are of a kind. In a different reality, I could have called you friend."
"What purpose will it serve to die?"
"We are creatures of duty, captain. I have lived my life by it. Just... one more duty... to perform."
Yeah, I was really impressed. With the permission of producer/director Geoffrey James, there will be a screening of the Borg War movie in the next FIQ event, the brazilian version of Comic-Con, later this year.
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