Star Trek miscellany

[Carol the Dabbler]

There's another new Trek on the horizon, this time an animated comedy called Star Trek: Lower Decks, that focuses on the rank-and-file crew members of a low-profile ship.  I didn't notice any mention of which specific Trekverse it'll be set in, but sounds like it could be fun.

Unfortunately for some of us, it's being developed for CBS's ironically-named streaming service, All Access.

[Carol the Dabbler]

That new animated comedy (ST: Lower Decks) is in production, with two seasons already authorized and a release date of roughly "whenever we're ready."  Here's Wikipedia's overview.  It's still intended for streaming, but if it's any good it'll hopefully be available on DVD after that.

******

I just stumbled across this site last night (scroll down that page to see the full list).  It's a collection of in-depth interviews with people who were involved in the early days of television, including lengthy interviews with numerous people involved with the original Trek series.  Unfortunately the project doesn't seem to have begun in time to include Gene Roddenberry, DeForest Kelley, or James Doohan, but it does have the following (in alphabetical order):

Robert Butler (directed first pilot "The Cage")

Alexander Courage (composed Trek theme & some episode music)

Douglas S. Cramer (Paramount exec, oversaw Season 3)

Harlan Ellison (wrote episode "City on the Edge of Forever")

Dorothy "D.C." Fontana (story editor; wrote a number of episodes)

George Clayton Johnson (wrote episode "The Man Trap")

Robert Justman (heavily involved with both pilots and Seasons 1 and 2)

Walter Koenig (played Ens. Chekov)

Ricardo Montalban (played Kahn in episode "Space Seed")

Diana Muldaur (guest star, "Return to Tomorrow" & "Is There in Truth no Beauty?")

Nichelle Nichols (played Lt. Uhuru)

Leonard Nimoy (played Mr. Spock)

William Schallert (played Federation official Nilz Baris in "Trouble With Tribbles")

William Shatner (played Captain James T. Kirk)

Herbert F. Solow (Desilu exec; oversaw both pilots and Seasons 1 & 2)

George Takei (played Lt. Sulu)

Jane Wyatt (played Spock's mother Amanda in "Journey to Babel")

I have not watched any of these interviews yet, but certainly intend to have a look.  Please let me know if I've omitted any original-series Trek alumni who were interviewed.

[Carol the Dabbler]

I just found that the site linked to above includes a good bit of cross-referencing, including a list of interviewees who talk about Star Trek, and for each of them, links to each segment of their interview that discuss the show.  Looks like I missed quite a number of people, and have a good bit more viewing to look forward to.

I recommend Herb Solow's segments in particular; he gives a number of insights into everything from the development of ST, to factors leading to the show's cancellation.

[Carol the Dabbler]

ST: Discovery is about to become available on broadcast television -- but only in the UK so far.

https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2019-10-16/star-trek-discovery-will-be-free-to-air-for-the-first-time-on-e4-in-the-uk/

 

[Arcadia]

[Carol the Dabbler]

There, there -- it'll probably be on MeTV in another twenty years or so.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Sad news this week:  Dorothy (D.C.) Fontana has passed on suddenly at age 80.  She wrote a number of my favorite episodes, and I've always maintained that she understood Star Trek even better than Gene Roddenberry did.

[Arcadia]

Yes, she was one of my favorites as well. RIP.

Wasn't she the one who was on Jeopardy once?

[Carol the Dabbler]

16 hours ago, Arcadia said:

Wasn't [D. C. Fontana] the one who was on Jeopardy once?

I have no idea.  But if so, I'd love to have seen that!

[Carol the Dabbler]

Sad coincidence of the week:

Robert Walker, Jr., who played the title character in "Charlie X," the first Trek episode that Fontana wrote, also passed on this week, on Thursday.

[Arcadia]

Huh. I just saw that episode recently, and spent the rest of the day trying to remember his name. He was around quite a bit for awhile, I remember him being an actor I was always aware of.

[Carol the Dabbler]

42 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

He was around quite a bit for awhile, I remember him being an actor I was always aware of.

Right.  The obituary makes it sound like all he ever did was "Charlie X" and a couple of movies, but IMDb has quite a list (including a couple of very recent projects).

[Caya]

Is there anyone on this forum either from or planning to spend the holidays in Minnesota? If so: http://moundstheatre.org/event/its-an-honorable-life/ .

eta: In sad Star Trek news, https://www.pix11.com/news/national-news/benson-star-trek-actor-rene-auberjonois-has-died-at-79

https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/rene-auberjonois-remembered-by-star-trek-deep-space-nine-castmate-nana-visitor-1203429855/

[Artemis]

5 hours ago, Caya said:

Is there anyone on this forum either from or planning to spend the holidays in Minnesota? If so: http://moundstheatre.org/event/its-an-honorable-life/ .

Meeee!  That sounds hilarious, lol.

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

22 hours ago, Caya said:

In sad Star Trek news, https://www.pix11.com/news/national-news/benson-star-trek-actor-rene-auberjonois-has-died-at-79

https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/rene-auberjonois-remembered-by-star-trek-deep-space-nine-castmate-nana-visitor-1203429855/

That truly is sad.  Odo was one of my favorite DS9 characters, largely I think because Auberjonois did such a fine job.

Three in less than a week!  Ever since the deaths of Fontana (on the 3rd) and Walker (the 5th), I've been waiting for the third shoe to drop.  Hopefully this (on the 8th) is the last one, even though he wasn't original series.

[Carol the Dabbler]

22 hours ago, Caya said:

Is there anyone on this forum either from or planning to spend the holidays in Minnesota? If so: http://moundstheatre.org/event/its-an-honorable-life/ .

 

Quote

A Klingon fears he is too great a warrior to die in battle and will instead die of old age. Q leads him on a journey through his life [....]

The show is presented primarily in Klingon with projected English titles.

Note that the title is It's an Honorable Life.  Good heavens!!!

And another stage production at the same theater in January:  Burlesque Battle of the Stars: Trek Vs Wars .

[Arcadia]

On 12/11/2019 at 12:45 AM, Caya said:

Is there anyone on this forum either from or planning to spend the holidays in Minnesota? If so: http://moundstheatre.org/event/its-an-honorable-life/ .

I wish! It sounds awesome!

I always liked Rene Auberjonois, although I mostly remember him from Benson rather than Star Trek. RIP.

[Caya]

Had to admit I chuckled at Space Wizard.

In other Star Trek - related news, both my husband and I absolutely love Picard. Feels very Star Trekk-y, and of course Sir Patrick Stewart is always a joy to watch.

[Carol the Dabbler]

12 hours ago, Caya said:

both my husband and I absolutely love Picard. Feels very Star Trekk-y, and of course Sir Patrick Stewart is always a joy to watch.

Of course!  (We are currently rewatching Next Generation.)  Does each Picard episode tend to have a point (or a moral, if you will), as in the original series and Next Generation?

[Caya]

It has a strong moral behind its story arc indeed, but it's not standalone episodes like TNG was, more like DS9.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Can you give us a brief description of the situation at the beginning of the series?

[Artemis]

On 2/18/2020 at 9:47 AM, Caya said:

In other Star Trek - related news, both my husband and I absolutely love Picard. Feels very Star Trekk-y, and of course Sir Patrick Stewart is always a joy to watch.

I really want to see it, but I’m not willing to pay for another streaming subscription right now.  Maybe when the season is over, I’ll subscribe for a month and binge-watch it.

 

[Caya]

It's on Netflix here, fortunately, which we have anyway. eta: Mixed that up. Discovery is on Netflix, but Picard is on Amazon Prime.

@Carol the Dabbler: This is going to be a mild spoiler for, like, the first half of the first episode, which showcases the situation. Basically, Picard starts 14 years (I think) after where the first of the new Star Trek movies set off, only in the *old* universe - so the Romulus sun has gone supernova (and Spock is gone, I guess) and there are Romulan refugees within the Federation (that supernova was big enough to threaten more than just its own star system). Starfleet more or less reluctantly sent ships to rescue Romulans before the supernova when a major crisis occurred, namely androids on Mars getting injected with some killer code and going ballistic, and they halted the Romulus mission because of that internal crisis, causing Picard to quit in disgust. He's on his vineyard now, retired and still bitter about all those lost lives, oh and all research on androids was stopped after that crisis. And he's got a lovely, cuddly big staffie called Number One. 🐕

[Carol the Dabbler]

On 2/18/2020 at 11:23 PM, Carol the Dabbler said:

Does each Picard episode tend to have a point (or a moral, if you will), as in the original series and Next Generation?

As I mentioned recently, we're rewatching The Next Generation on the remastered DVDs.  In an extra feature that we saw just now, a staff member mentioned that Deja Q as originally planned had Q fooling the crew by pretending to have lost his super powers.  When they ran the story by Gene Roddenberry, he said "What's it about?" and they said "It's about Q leading the crew on a wild goose chase."  And he said (approximately) "No, that's not about anything.  If Q actually did lose his superpowers and the episode showed him coming to grips with that, then that would be about something."  (So of course they rewrote it accordingly.)

As you might guess from what I said a couple of days ago (in the quote box above), I've always loved that aspect of TOS and TNG, but I never realized that it was part of Roddenberry's basic concept.  (In fact, I think he sort of soft-pedaled it, in order to sell the original series as "Wagon Train to the stars.")  I still maintain that without people like D. C. Fontana and Gene Coon, Star Trek would not have had the deep-rooted appeal that it did (and still does) -- BUT I must henceforth give Gene Roddenberry full credit for the show always being about something. 

20 minutes ago, Caya said:

he's got a lovely, cuddly big staffie called Number One. 🐕

That would be a Staffordshire bull terrier?  (Had never heard of them before.)

Thanks for the background info.  Much as I love Jean-Luc Picard, that show might be just a bit much for my taste -- though if it were on broadcast TV, I'd presumably give it a chance.

[Artemis]

6 hours ago, Caya said:

It's on Netflix here, fortunately, which we have anyway.

Aw, lucky!  I’d have to pay for CBS All Access to watch “Picard” or “Star Trek: Discovery”.  Is the latter on Netflix there too?  I’m less interested in that one but I’d still like to try it.