It’s the franchise that has launched almost as many stars as there are in the sky, with a cast of characters that come to us as new but familiar. Will push-backed release dates, casting a series of reasonably unknowns, and a director known for his quick-cuts and jostled-camera wrangling lock phasers on target and kill one of the longest-running science fiction franchises in history?

The 2GuysTalking Podcast welcomes guest reviewer and fellow Trek aficionado Paul Spataro to this review of the most recent incarnation of “STAR TREK”, which graced theaters on STARDATE: 200906.03.

Click here to listen to this great fan-based podcast review of STAR TREK – 2009!

STAR TREK¹S GEORGE TAKEI AND PARTNER BRAD ALTMAN SIT DOWN EXCLUSIVELY WITH
TV GUIDE NETWORK¹S ³TV WATERCOOLER² TO DISCUSS THEIR NUPTIALS

From Tuxedos to Bachelor Parties and More, Takei and Altman Chat About
Their Soon-To-Be Married Life on Monday, July 14, 2008 at 8:00 PM ET/PT

Who: George Takei, best known for his role as Sulu on the original ³Star
Trek,² will sit down with his partner, Brad Altman, on TV Guide
Network¹s TV WATERCOOLER, marking their first national talk show
appearance since obtaining their marriage license. Viewers will hear
about the couple¹s wedding outfits, their wedding ring, and even catch
some hints about the upcoming ³Heroes² season premiere.  Don¹t miss TV
WATERCOOLER on Monday, July 14 when hosts John Fugelsang and Teresa
Strasser dish all the dirt about the pair¹s  upcoming marriage and
more.

When: Monday, July 14, 2008 at 8:00PM ET/PT

What: TV Guide Network’s signature series TV WATERCOOLER is designed to be
the original plugged-in and fun destination for every television fan.
Hosts John Fugelsang and Teresa Strasser examine favorite
“watercooler” shows, provide quotable commentary on the week’s big TV
stories and tackle the entire television landscape with wit and
smarts. The series features in-studio celebrity interviews, fan
feedback from the streets of Hollywood and signature segments.

Click Here to Read More…

I’ve actually had the pleasure of talking to George Takei at a dinner table with some other STAR TREK fans when we went to see him at a post convention event back in the 90′s.  The man is electric, bombastic, and really does understand the value of a fan, as well as the value of every conversation that he ever has with anyone.  Read on below for some more detail and I’ll have to dig out the picture I had of him with he and I at a convention.  It’s got to be about 10 years now.  Enjoy!  –Mike2GuysTalking

George Takei on Starring in Heroes
Source: Alice Chapman Newgen February 5, 2007

“Heroes” has been getting a lot of talk lately because of its great cast and Golden Globe nomination this year. The news keeps getting better. The distinguished and talented actor, George Takei, who played Sulu on the classic “Star Trek,” has come aboard this season as Hiro’s father, Kaito. His character portrays a very powerful industrialist with multi-faceted sides to his personality. Now, viewers have another good reason to turn on their TV sets to see the ever popular show on Monday nights.

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Trek’s’ Abraham Lincoln Dies
Source: CNN.Com

BRENTWOOD, New Hampshire (AP) — Lee Bergere, a veteran character actor who appeared in more than 200 television shows, including an original “Star Trek” episode in which he played Abraham Lincoln, has died. He was 88.

Bergere died Wednesday at the Colonial Poplin Nursing and Rehabilitation Facility in Fremont, said his daughter, Mimi Bergere. He had been living in New Hampshire for more than a decade.

During his 60-year career, Bergere also was known as Joseph, the head of the household on “Dynasty.” He had roles in “North and South,” “Falcon Crest,” “Hot L Baltimore” and “Incident at Vichy.”

On the 1966 “Star Trek” episode, called “The Savage Curtain,” he received a fan following from Trekkies.

In that episode, Captain Kirk meets his childhood hero, Lincoln, and they go to a planet to fight off Ghengis Khan.

Bergere also had a rich stage career, appearing in “Man of La Mancha” as the villain, the Duke, for its premiere in Los Angeles in 1967. That’s where he met Richard Kiley, who played Don Quixote and originated the role on Broadway. Bergere also played Quixote and other characters in the show in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York through the years.

Oy, I am so incredibly happy that I am Tivoing all of the remastered STAR TREK ToS episodes. This just came in on my AintItCool.Com wire and folks: This is the stuff that Trek needed YEARS ago to save it from the beast that was BermanBragga, the mostly crappy creature that had a stranglehold on most of the Trek property as it spiraled into a nosedive through the end of VOYAGER and almost all of ENTERPRISE. I love the before/after photos that are included here and hope that you all will take just a quick moment to put in your thoughts about it below. –Mike2GuysTalking

STAR TREK Remastered!!
Source: Ain’tItCool.Com
STAR TREK Remastered!! Vulcan Conformed!! Shuttlecraft Landing Before An Audience!! An Exclusive Ship Pic, Too!!

Merrick here…

..with some images from this weekend’s STAR TREK Remastered.

It’s “Journey to Babel”, the episode in which Enterprise is assigned to transport delegates (Spock’s parents among them) from many worlds to a conference on Babel. Along the way, many things go very wrong – including murder, the discovery of a secret operative, and a vicious attack by a high-speed alien vessel.

First up: a reworked shot of Enterprise orbiting Vulcan, from which Spock’s mom and dad will visit. Seems Vulcan’s appearance has been modified to (more or less) match the way it looked in the later TREK movies/subsequent series.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/31410

As a Star Trek purist, when I first heard that Paramount was redoing the effects on original Star Trek, I couldn’t shout from the rooftops fast enough how bad an idea this really was. 

But now, a few months into the project and having seen a few episodes of the updated Trek, I have to admit–it’s not nearly as vomit-inducing as it could have been. Heaven only knows it’s ten times better than the updated Star Wars triology that George Lucas foisted on us a few years ago.  

So here are some thoughts on the remastered Trek from an avid Trek fan (some might call me obsessed, but they just don’t understand….it runs far deeper than that)

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I got this tidbit from an International Star Trek Fan Association online:  It makes the brain bubble and squirm that after so many years an incarnations, the best that we can do with the likes and talents of JJ Abrams is to take us back to when “Kirk and Spock are younger men…”  /me shakes his head.  – Mike2GuysTalking

Source: STARFLEET International Unofficial Listerve  (www.sfi.org)
Script Completed for ‘Star Trek XI’
Director J.J. Abrams has confirmed that the script for Star Trek XI has been completed, that it will concern Capt. Kirk and Spock as very young men, that shooting will begin this year, and that the movie is targeted for release in 2008. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Abrams said that the story will satisfy even non-Trekkers. “On the one hand, for people who love Star Trek, the fix that they will get will be really satisfying, ” he told the magazine. ”For people who’ve never seen it or know it vaguely, I think they will enjoy it equally, because the movie does not require you to know anything about Star Trek. I would actually prefer [that] people don’t know the series, because I feel like they will come to it with an open mind.”

I hope that all of the staff here at the 2GuysTalking Television Blogs are taking notes for my retirement bash.  Giggle.  –Mike2GuysTalking

Mr. Spock Surprises College President
Source: Breitbart.Com

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — Wright State University President Kim Goldenberg received a surprise at his retirement bash _ a visit from Mr. Spock of “Star Trek,” aka actor Leonard Nimoy.

Nimoy greeted Goldenberg with the Vulcan salute, usually paired with the well-wishing, “Live long and prosper.”

Goldenberg, 59, said he and his wife, Shelley, are Trekkies.

“We don’t collect the paraphernalia and all that,” he said. “We like the show for its philosophies.”

Goldenberg will retire Jan. 31 after nine years as president of Wright State.

About 200 people attended the celebration Thursday night at the Dayton Art Institute.

Nimoy, 75, starred in the original “Star Trek” TV series, which ran from 1966-69, and in numerous “Star Trek” movies.

For those of you that live in cities that have actually been showing STAR TREK, at regular hours, on a regular basis over the last 20 years, you have my pound of jealousy to be sure. Living in St. Louis, I can vividly remember the days before Tivo, when we had to either set VCRs for 1:30am, on a SUNDAY NITE to catch the newest Deep Space Nine, the almost-as-hard-to-catch as a real UFO episodes of Voyager, and my favorite trump card: We didn’t even get to watch ENTERPRISE for 2 of it’s four seasons.

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Back in the days before TNG, there was a stat that said an episode of original Star Trek was airing somewhere in the world 24 hours a day.  Pretty impressive for a show that only ran 79 episodes, don’t you think?

That has probably fallen off, esp. in the late 90s when SciFi ponied up to be the only place you could see classic Trek.

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