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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.
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By GustavoLeao / 18:18, 2 September 2008 / Trek Books
TrekWeb talks to IDW writer (and former Editor) Andrew Steven Harris about the present and future of the Star Trek comic book license, including his upcoming Star Trek The Last Generation comic book mini series.
Andrew, you're currently writing the Star Trek: The Last Generation comic book, which goes on sale in November. What can you tell us about this alternate-reality miniseries ?
Most readers have seen the official solicitation, in the order catalogs that hit the stands last week, but here it is again, just in case:
* * *
Starfleet is no more. The Federation lies in ruin. And the Klingons have conquered Earth.
But a Resistance movement, led by Jean-Luc Picard, seeks to free humanity from the iron fist of Klingon rule. And now, finally, it may have the means to do it: An android named Data, who has scrutinized the timeline and discovered that things are not as they should be. A crucial moment, buried in the past, has gone awry-and as the Klingon warlord Worf closes in, time itself is running out...
For the first time ever, IDW Publishing proudly joins forces with Simon & Schuster's Pocket Books division, to deliver a Myriad Universes title in conjunction with the Star Trek alternate-universe prose novels of the same name. Plus, a special bonus excerpt from one of the Myriad Universes novels!
Full Color • $3.99 • 32 ad-free pages
* * *
Last Generation spirals out of the finale of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, in which an assassination plot threatens the historic Khitomer peace conference between the Federation and the Klingons, their homeworld now dying after an ecological disaster. In the movie, of course, Kirk derails the conspiracy just in time. In Last Generation, for reasons that become apparent later on, Kirk's rescue comes a moment too late; the conspiracy succeeds, the peace talks collapse, and the Federation and Klingons slide inexorably toward war. But, because the Klingons now find themselves in a battle for their very survival, they fight even more ferociously than ever before, leading to their eventual conquest of Earth.
The series itself begins seven decades after the failure at Khitomer; the Klingons now rule the planet, while Jean-Luc Picard champions a rebellion against them, struggling to liberate Earth. But for the Resistance, the situation has grown increasingly desperate-Worf, the Terran warlord, begins tightening his grip, and it's quickly becoming now-or-never, do-or-die. The rebellion's final hope lies in the computer brain of an android named Data, invented for the sole purpose of scrutinizing the Empire for weaknesses.
Instead of potential weaknesses, however, Data discovers a single, fundamental flaw underlying the entire foundation of Empire: It was never meant to conquer Earth. History has fractured, and the Empire, as it is now, was never meant to exist. When Picard recognizes that the cracks in the timeline all converge on Khitomer, he realizes that their only chance for survival has become to travel back to the past and repair the damage.
But this isn't as philosophically obvious as it sounds-the members of his Resistance have all lived inside the fist of the Empire's brutality for years, losing countless friends and family to unrepentant Klingon bloodlust. To some, the idea of changing time-even correctly-to transform their occupiers into trusted allies remains unthinkable, virtual madness.
So, with the Resistance racing against what may be its final days, Picard must contend with the splintering dissent that infects all guerrilla movements, holding his insurrection together by sheer force of personality, all while struggling against an overwhelmingly superior enemy and searching for a way to rethread history itself. It is, shall we say, not exactly a stroll through the vineyards.
About the specific story and character elements themselves: I'd rather not pull back the curtain too far, since for alternate universe stories one of the best aspects is the surprise of each new version of the characters and situations. I will say that in addition to alternate versions of Picard, Worf, and Data, you'll see a character from the Original Series, a character from Voyager, and a few other nifty surprises along the way. (A fan of "Yesterday's Enterprise"? You'll be happy here.) There's also a character who's only ever appeared in a Pocket Books novel, so artist Gordon Purcell will get to enjoy his latest visual contribution to Memory Beta.
Most changed among the familiar characters will be Wesley Crusher, though again I'm reluctant to go into too many details; it's no spoiler, though, that he features prominently into the series, since people have already seen him on covers for at least two of the five issues (so far-a third one is on the way). As you might imagine, a character of Wesley's age, involved in a Resistance movement, opens up all sorts of storytelling possibilities.
As for other classic aspects of Trek in Last Generation, you'll also discover quite a number of Easter Eggs throughout-stuff that doesn't elbow you out of the story when you recognize them, or leave you scratching your head when you don't, but which will hopefully give a nod of added appreciation if you're sharp enough to catch them. Clues to some of the story elements are already tucked into the covers that have been released, but I think it'd be more fun to let the readers uncover those surprises for themselves.
Where did the idea for The Last Generation come from? I saw that the first image released for the series was a tribute cover to an earlier issue of The X-Men. Did that have something to do with it?
The initial concept for Last Generation surfaced as a "Days of Future Past" epic for the Star Trek saga-the classic X-Men story of a dystopian future, time travel, and a bleak, utterly hostile world. The story always intrigued me, because unlike many other alternate-universe settings-"Mirror, Mirror" as the most obvious example-it didn't rely on darker or evil versions of the characters; these individuals actually became more heroic than before, because they struggled against more dangerous odds, with even higher stakes, and had to rise to even greater levels of heroism to confront the risks.
I followed that same theme with Star Trek: The Last Generation. You won't recognize much resemblance with the actual "Days of Future Past" storyline-Wesley Crusher from the future doesn't switch places with his younger self on the Holodeck, for example, the way that Kitty Pryde did in the X-Men's Danger Room-but I wanted that same heroic theme, that same level of desperate personal struggle and agonizing choices, focused through the lens of this different set of characters who we all know so well.
Can you talk about the time-travel aspects of Last Generation? Many fans are like you, they love time-travel stories, but are also critical of when they're not done well.
For the time-travel elements, once again I don't want to give too much away-but I will say that what you won't see, and what I've never been a fan of in time-travel stories, is the notorious "Reset Button": Something goes wrong in the past, the characters time-travel to fix it, and then-in a crucial moment at the climax of it all-suddenly everything blinks back to normal. And then you've got Deanna Troi rubbing her eyes on a bed somewhere, whispering, "Will, I just had the most incredible dream."
It's very, very unusual to witness that story executed correctly, and it's fraught with narrative peril, paradoxes that never get fully explained and all sorts of other permanently unraveled story threads. Even when they do offer an explanation, it's usually so convoluted and preoccupied with resolving stray, random details that it drains the finale of all dramatic color and impact.
Everyone who's ever read or seen a Reset Button story knows exactly what I'm talking about-to the point where when you see the button blinking in the distance, you stop bothering to care about how the characters get there, because you already know it won't matter in the end. Tom Paris dies getting Harry Kim to the dimensional rift, and you're somehow expected to be hanging off the edge of your seat, wondering how Robert Duncan McNeill will ever pay his rent next week. And then: Oh, look, there he is again on the bridge of Voyager, just in time for the final credits. Whew, close one.
Those who checked out my Borg Alien Spotlight know I'm a fan of time-travel stories, but also know my approach to them, so in The Last Generation it remains an open question throughout the series whether the characters will ever succeed in repairing their timeline, whether they somehow forge a new timeline, or whether they even prevail at all. That's really the only way I'd even consider writing a time-travel story, and it's the only way to legitimately establish honest dramatic tension without so typically cheating the readers out of everything at the end.
You mentioned Gordon Purcell, one of the biggest fan-favorite artists among Star Trek readers. Describe his work for Last Generation, and how is working with him?
I'll say this without any hint of co-creator flattery and in all honesty: Gordon is an absolute gem. I've been a fan of his work for longer than either of us care to remember, so I think it's fair to say he's one of the most respected and experienced Trek artists in the business. He's also one of the most professional-a rock-steady work ethic, polished and dynamic pages, dead-on likenesses, and one of the least discernible egos in the industry, despite that he's among the most revered pencilers in Trek comics.
When I had been editing the Trek line for IDW before moving up to writing, Gordon proved himself tremendously easy to work with, and frighteningly reliable, so I was thrilled when IDW Editor-in-Chief Chris Ryall offered to have him pencil the series for me. He's one of the few Trek creators I would have entirely trusted from day-one to execute the series I had in mind. The truth is, it's just as much a challenge for an artist as it is for a writer to deliver alternate takes on these characters-and maybe even moreso, since they need to render them distinctly different from the way they're accustomed to and yet still capture the individuals we're all familiar with.
In that respect, it helps out immensely that Gordon and I already enjoy a solid rapport from when he worked for me on the original Star Trek: Year Four title and the D.C. Fontana Second Stage series that followed. We've talked a great deal on the phone, both from when I worked from the editor's chair and now out front as a writer, and at the San Diego convention we finally had the chance to get together in person and run through some cool ideas for the book.
In fact, we had originally planned our meeting as just a lunch, but instead spent something like four hours together collaborating on the look of the series and visual story details. Gordon brings with him not just a legion of fans and years of Trek experience, but some tremendously insightful concepts on design that will make the series really stand out. Since it's an alternate-universe story, he can also finally stretch his considerable talents to depart from the routine designs of ships, bridges, uniforms and characters that Trek pages typically require him to execute.
And, as a pleasant flare of synchronicity: Gordon had originally drawn the Star Trek VI movie adaptation for DC Comics all the way back in 1991. So that gives us an opening to work in a few panels from his original book, updated to the current series, as the type of Easter-Egg prize that I mentioned above.
I understand that Last Generation is the first time IDW will collaborate with Simon & Schuster's Pocket Books division. Tell us about this partnership and what it means for the readers.
OK, so, a confession: when I first came to IDW, I arrived skeptical of integrating its stories directly with Pocket Books. I'd kept up with some of their books over the years, but the secret, unfriendly truth of Trek editing is that it's already demanding enough to keep in mind 700+ installments of the TV shows and films-more than any other comics license in history, really-without adding the goings-on of the novels into the mix. Someone just posted online a complete count of all the stories and novels, and there are actually more at this point now than episodes of all the TV shows put together.
I also found it a bit counterintuitive, since five other comics companies had held the Trek license before IDW, and their stories didn't follow the Pocket novels, the Pocket novels didn't follow them, and the comics publishers didn't even follow each other. In fact, it actually made more sense to follow other comics stories-if that kind of thing would happen at all-since those would more likely have had the same readers as ours, rather than fans of the prose books.
A very real concern also surfaces of boxing in your storytelling; as a storytelling company itself, IDW wants the creative freedom to shape its own books, and the last thing we'd want would be for a single sentence or passing line of dialog from the novels to capsize a great series pitch. That doesn't improve good storytelling, it actually erodes it; as I've said before, continuity is a virtue, but it's not the only virtue. And, to be quite honest, the fact-checking would become inconceivably exhausting-impossible to do even when just editing Trek comics, let alone all the other titles on a comics editor's calendar.
But, almost immediately after taking the job...I started to hear persistent and quite insightfully framed requests from readers for some kind of integration with Pocket Books. I started to consider the idea as a fan in addition to as an editor, and began to realize-yeah, you know what? That idea actually does make pretty decent sense.
So Marco Palmieri over at Pocket Books and I got in touch with each other and starting talking about some ideas-and, sure enough, I found myself steadily won over to the prospect of putting a couple of projects together. There's just so much potential there, the kind of stuff you can really deliver to the fans and get them excited about Trek fiction, both in prose and in graphic storytelling at the same time.
To me, that's always been a unique quality of good storytelling-not to get too philosophical here, but rather than like food, which feeds a physical craving and then you're done, good storytelling feeds an intellectual hunger that makes you actually want more. And the ideas we traded back and forth excited me not just as an editor, but as a reader-and that's the cornerstone of good publishing, when you produce the same type of stories you'd want to read as a fan yourself.
Also, as I probably mentioned in one of my earliest TrekWeb interviews, I'm really a true believer in the notion that comic books stand shoulder-to-shoulder with prose fiction. It became a guiding principle of my role as the IDW editor to expand the perimeter of Trek comics readership to fans of the novels, especially those who might have previously regarded comics as the ghetto section of Trek neighborhood. A number of notable authors had made significant contributions to this idea, crossing back and forth between prose and comics, like Peter David, Keith DeCandido, Andy Mangels, David Mack, and probably a couple more I'm forgetting about along the way (sorry!). So a partnership with Pocket Books seemed like a natural method to cultivate that.
Peter's New Frontier series for IDW represented a test-run for this idea, as part of the Second Stage premiere line of books I developed with Chris Ryall, in which we set out to showcase some of the top Trek storytellers in TV, prose and comics. The numbers for New Frontier #1 came in as the best-selling IDW Trek book in more than a year, so we knew we had a clear path ahead of us.
The Myriad Universes books that Pocket put in the pipeline seemed the perfect opportunity to move on that; they told fresh stories independent of each other, meaning it'd be an easy integration, and IDW could publish excerpts from the novels in place of its back-10 ad pages, giving readers an added bonus for the same cover price. And, since the Myriad Universes novels each focus on a different Trek crew, I'd develop a pitch that incorporated elements from different Trek series into a single story, as way to complement to that.
And, I should mention, CBS/Paramount really came through with full support for the idea, and actively encouraged it, since it signaled greater harmony and unified vision for Trek's non-canon storytelling. Paula Block, our primary contact representative over at Trek HQ, really became instrumental in lighting a fire in the engine and making sure all the approvals passed through smoothly.
What kind of partnership between the two companies will we see in the future? Will fans see a series based on the Star Trek: Titan novels featuring Captain Riker and his crew?
New Trek editor Andy Schmidt, who took over the captain's chair when I left to start writing, announced as one of his first decisions that he intends to more fully integrate IDW's Trek stories with the Pocket Books line. He's already begun publicly soliciting fan interest for a Titan series, which during my tenure as editor had been far and away one of the most requested concepts, second only to Deep Space Nine.
The problem with DS9, as has been previously discussed between IDW and the fans, remains that Sisko and company don't technically fit within the scope of its Trek license-currently, IDW produces only TOS and TNG titles, though it does retain the option to pick up DS9 in the future.
Titan, however, actually falls beneath the banner of TNG, so that makes its immediate chances for a series much more likely than DS9. Ultimately, though, remember that I'm writing now, not editing, so all this now remains up to Chris Ryall and Andy Schmidt, not me. Personally, I think Andy's a stellar choice (no pun intended) for the Trek editor spot, a consummately skilled writer and editor who's extremely well-connected with high-level professionals in the industry. So I think we'll see some top-notch projects coming off his desk, whatever they may be.
I do think, just as a personal view, that a Pocket Books creative partnership has great potential as an ongoing editorial pursuit. I've had the chance to get to know Marco at length, while Ed Schlesinger, editor for Peter David's New Frontier novels, has become a good buddy of mine. Margaret Clark, who asked me to moderate her Star Trek panel at the San Diego Comic-Con, has been a tremendous booster of the idea as well. (The panel was actually a joint effort between Pocket, IDW and Tokyopop, so take from that what you will.) I generally try to hijack the three of them for lunch whenever I'm in New York, and in my conversations with them throughout my time at IDW, they always seemed extremely receptive to the idea. IDW will also be publishing a Sir Apropos of Nothing title from Peter, based on his series of Pocket Books, and Pocket was the novels publisher for 30 Days of Night, IDW's signature comics series. So I wouldn't be surprised to see more Trek co-projects eventually get the green light in the future.
Again, however, all of this remains up to the astute judgment of Andy and Chris, based on how they gauge fan interest. So, if Titan or Vanguard or some other Pocket Books project is the type of thing you'd like to see, go over to the IDW message boards and let them know.
And, if I could resort to a bit of shameless self-promotion for the moment, Last Generation #1 is currently on retailer order sheets for the month, from the November catalog that came out last week. Publishing decisions in the comic book business are often based on how strongly retailers order a book, so if you want to show IDW and Pocket your support, now is the time to get to your local comics shop and put your name down. Strong sales off the shelves would be great, but they won't nearly have as much effect on encouraging new partnership projects as big order numbers coming in from the retailers.
Lets talk about John Byrne, one of the most iconic comic book creators of our time. He is working on several Star Trek projects for IDW, such as Romulans: The Hollow Crown and the Robert April/Christopher Pike tale titled Crew. What can you reveal to us about this project?
I can reveal that I'd get in a whole warp core of trouble if I revealed anything! It's tempting, because all of John's plans sound incredibly exciting. But Andy and Chris-who was actually the single person instrumental in bringing John into the Trek fold-are really the ones to coordinate when and how IDW intends to unveil what JB's got on his drawing board.
I can say that John's a lifelong Trek fan, and the Original Series for him is the centerpiece of the mythology, so his stories evoke all the sophistication and character-driven storytelling you'd associate with classic Trek. When I wrote the Borg Spotlight for IDW, people really seemed to like it, it sold well and got fantastic reviews-but it was difficult for me to actually get excited, because I knew that Byrne's Romulans book would hit the stands the next month and blow it away. (Which, IMHO, it did.) His issue outsold The Borg, which already had excellent orders, and that alone represents quite an accomplishment, considering that he continued to raise sales for the final issue of a miniseries, when numbers typically go into decline.
But, if I say anything beyond that, IDW will set me on fire with gasoline, and I'll become Christopher Pike to Andy Schmidt's Captain Kirk, sitting in a metal box and pushing buttons with three lights. And, for the 23rd Century, you'd think I'd be able to get something better than that.
Finally, Andrew, 2008 has been an awesome year for Star Trek comics. What readers can expect from IDW in 2009?
Thanks very much, Chris and I worked incredibly hard to put together Second Stage and really deliver a previously unseen level of high-profile Trek comics. Getting Byrne, Peter and D.C. Fontana to all sign on at the same time felt like a real home run, while Los Brothers Tipton have easily become the breakout stars that came up through IDW itself.
We also assembled a diversity of titles that tremendously satisfied me-a tie-in with Pocket Books, a Star Trek: Year Four series, an out-of-the-box project like Assignment: Earth, and a visit to everyone's favorite alternate reality, the Mirror Universe. Trek has all sorts of cool corners to its mythology, so I thought we put together a really engaging slate of books.
And, for a moment, can I also sing the praises of colorist Len O'Grady? You have no idea how much his talent contributes to the overall look and feel of the Trek books. Len did what I thought was a bang-up job on my Borg Spotlight, as well as on Byrne's Romulans issue, and you need only to compare those two titles one month apart (January and February) to see the breadth and depth of Len's ability.
Last Generation itself runs through March 2009, and after that I'd expect you'd start to see books in preparation for the upcoming STAR TREK movie, though exactly what shape those will take I'm not entirely sure. Again, it'll be up to Andy, Chris and IDW to decide. But I would repeat that Andy's one of the top editors in the industry-experienced, a solid creative vision and uncompromising editorial standards. So, really, the future of the IDW Trek line remains in very good hands.
[Star Trek: The Last Generation #1 goes on sale in November.]
More info from Andrew Steven Harris about his upcoming projects can be found at his official website.
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