Happy 80th Birthday, William Shatner

He's 80 and he's all over the place. Here are but 2 clips to celebrate the Captain whose heart will last forever --

On International Talk Like William Shatner Day (that's ... TODAY!), even celebrities mimic Shatner. To see what Jason Alexander is talking about, see the second video. That's "risk is our business" speech from the TOS episode "Return to Tomorrow:"







And don't forget, this Saturday is Leonard Nimoy's birthday.

Hat tip to TrekCore for the photos.

Video: What's in Spock's Scanner?

Via BlackMoonCGI:



Hat tip to Tony Murphy!

Video: 1973 STAR TREK Conventon

Thanks to beyondspock over at YouTube, here is a 6:40 film of the International STAR TREK Convention from February 16-19 1973, which was held at the Commodore Hotel, New York City. Attendees included in the film: Isaac Asimov, Oscar Katz, D.C. Fontana (on a TOS bridge mock up set) and Leonard Nimoy.



I don't know what the context is here. This was shot on film, edited together in a professional way, and is generally respectful to this odd little show that would not die. It's funny to recall this time, when if you said you liked STAR TREK it meant that NBC show from the 1960s. It was not this multi-limbed media machine, spewing out copies and reimaginations.

Perhaps this was a testament to early ongoing interest in the show - and the potential to make money from the franchise.

1973 would see David Gerrold's great books about STAR TREK, THE TROUBLE WITH TRIBBLES (all about writing that episode) and THE WORLD OF STAR TREK. James Blish continued with STAR TREK 9, another book in the series of STAR TREK episode serializations.

The first of the new permutations TOS (The Old Show) would appear that fall, with the all new STAR TREK: THE ANIMATED SERIES. Within 5 years, the new STAR TREK 2 TV series was announced -- with all of the cast returning except Leonard Nimoy -- and then suddenly transformed into a theatrical movie (with Nimoy, natch!) a year later.

The girl at the end of the clip, who moves herself to tears, reminded me that the whole STAR TREK mythology came from people like her: sincere, true believers. A little crazy, maybe. But a good kinda crazy.

Video: STAR TREK Anger Management

Via Laughing Squid with a Vulcan salute to Mark Anderson for the heads up!



One of the best mash ups I've seen.

STAR TREK and DOCTOR WHO Vs. Klingons, Daleks, Etc!

"Star Trek vs. Dr. Who" is the title of this illustration by Mayhew, for Wizard Magazine, and now colored by Summerset.


Above: Mayhew's original B&W version.

I have no context for the illustration except that it's cool -- and if it's NOT a comic book then it SHOULD be a comic book!

Hat tip to Combom!

Of course, it would be historically accurate to have the Second Doctor in the drawing, since he was on the BBC while TREK was originally airing!

STAR TREK: Lost and Rare ... and Silly

Not the Enterprise.


And -- get this -- Robert April was the Captain.


Way back in 1964, when Gene Roddenberry was pitching his "wagon train to the stars" concept, the original name for the Captain was to be Robert April. And the Enterprise was then named the SS Yorktown. If you knew this, then you are a TREK ubernerd. Like me.

TV shows go thru a lot of permutations before getting on air.

My friend Sean Kelly emailed me to let me know that there is a PDF of Gene Roddenberry's original pitch for STAR TREK. Also: an original series show bible is online - the booklet that would be handed to any would-be writer, explaining the show format. (And there's a lot more at this root directory.)

It's fascinating to look at that material and imagine what it was like back before we all knew what TREK was.

Here are a few great links to some rare and lost bits of TREK. Complete time wasting fun! OK, you've been warned.



Perhaps the best is STAR TREK HISTORY, a massive site about the series' production, with many includes rare behind-the-scenes photos, missing scenes, documents, and interviews. Above, Kirk's salute to the Romulan Commander from "Balance of Terror," cut from the final version of the episode.


Before THE NEXT GENERATION, there was gonna be PHASE II.

In the late 1970s, Paramount greenlighted a new STAR TREK series. Sets were built, costumes designed, scripts commissioned. The cast, except for Leonard Nimoy, was contracted to return. Suddenly, STAR TREK PHASE II, was killed. Paramount, seeing 20th Century Fox's STAR WARS success, decided to do a movie instead. Above: a photo from a PHASE II screentest for the Vulcan Xon, who was to be portrayed by David Gautreaux.


Mr. Gautreaux, perhaps as consolation for not playing Nimoy's replacement Vulcan, was given a small role in STAR TREK THE MOTION PICTURE (see above). He gets clobbered, along with the Epsilon 9 Space Station, by V'Ger, early on in the movie. More info on the never-to-be PHASE II series (also called STAR TREK PHASE 2) here.

They aren't rare, but you may or may not know about some of the amateur takes on TOS. Take a look at the 2 teasers for these Web productions.



There are a number of fan-made films, the most prominent being STAR TREK PHASE 2, which imagines a fourth season of the original series (and taking the title of the proposed sequel series). Above: a teaser from one of their recent episodes. That's original series music in the background. James Cawley, the man behind the PHASE 2 Web series, continues to mount impressive looking shows with the blessing of Paramount - and the participation of some of the pros who have worked professionally on TREK.



My favorite fan-made series is STARSHIP EXETER, about another ship in the fleet during Kirk's time. Take a look teaser, above. Production appears to have halted, which is too bad.

A few more links. I could go on and on, but I have to stop sometime:



Steve Roby's informative Lost Books of STAR TREK page.



STAR TREK LOLCats-style parody here.

Related: a video round up of STAR TREK parodies.

Related: "Assignment Earth" TV show titles.

Related: STAR TREK NBC Previews & alternate pilot footage.

Video: 2006 STAR TREK KFC Commercial

Kirk, Scotty, Uhura, Sulu, Chekov and an unnamed Red Shirt are all here in this live action commercial for Kentucky Fired Chicken. Although it was shown in 2006, this is the first time I've seen it, much less ever heard of it. Let me know if you ever saw it.

Shatner, Doohan, Nichols, Takei and Koenig lend their voices, as we watch other actors who act eerily like them in the 1960s, mouth their words. Although the character of Spock is mentioned, he is not seen. Although Doohan died in 2005, it sure sounds like his voice -- and he could have done the recording before he passed away. DeForest Kelley had died in 1999, so Dr. McCoy is absent. Perhaps there was an agreement to not to try to get someone to mimic him.

The KFC commercial is shot old school style: with lighting and some minor prosthetics on the actors playing the Enterprise crew. It's a unique bit of TREK. One can only imagine the greasy bridge controls. Please pass the Federation wet naps!



Big hat tip to Mark Evanier.

New Clips: DOCTOR WHO "A Christmas Carol"

Heaven knows what's going on, but it sure looks like fun. We'll all know Christmas Day.



More clips here, but don't tell me what's on them. I'm in a "no spoilers" mode ala River Song, OK? I only watched the above clip, which has a definite STAR TREK (2009) feel to it -- complete with strobing lights flaring.

STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE NATO Trailer 1979

Above: One was rumored to play Captain Kirk, the other WAS Captain Kirk: Richard Burton and William Shatner.

Below is a 12 minute trailer and a preview of selected scenes from STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE, which opened 31 years ago today. The extended trailer was put together to show to the National Association of Theatre Owners to placate nerves and make sure that STTMP was booked for its opening.

It's an unusual look at a movie. There is no finished music, the sound still had to go through post production, and there are a handful of effects. That's because the music and the effects for the V'Ger cloud were still to come. The whole movie was in a rush, with rumors of the prints still dripping wet when they arrived in movie theatres. There were also concerns that it wasn't such a good movie, and Paramount was very squeamish about a TV show cast being able to draw people to buy tickets for its expensive 1979 Christmas release. Paramount was so squeamish that there were rumors in preproduction that the cast would be replaced my "real" stars, and that Captain Kirk would be played by Richard Burton. The fans who sent those "Save STAR TREK" letters then began a "Save the STAR TREK Cast" drive.

Back to the video. What you do have here is entire scenes, with the "wrong music;" a temp track whose source I do not know -- but would love to find out. My guess is that it was tracked with some of Jerry Goldsmith's music from another feature. But that's, like I said, just a guess. At the end of the video, you do get to hear just a few seconds of the STTMP "march," the new theme which Roddenberry was so fond of he used it for the NEXT GENERATION series.

Video: Ultimate TV Sci Fi Mash Up

If you like STAR TREK, DOCTOR WHO, UFO an some other sci fi TV shows (if I tell you all of them it spoils some funny surprises), then this is the video mash up for you.



A big hat tip to Life, Doctor Who and Combom!

Muppets and STAR TREK

Video: STAR TREK Enterprise Pizza Cutter

I just learned about this over at Brian Fies' blog and now here's the video of the thing.



What can I say but ...

Video: STAR TREK "The Omega Glory" Canadian Style

Happy Canada Day!



And here's some of that same bit from The Original Series:



Yes, Mr. Shatner is Canadian!

CGI STAR TREK

There was a rumor, some years back, that there would be a CGI version of the old STAR TREK.

It didn't happen. But some test shots were leaked, including this one: a CGI version of Kirk doing the "risk is our business" speech.

Here's the CGI version:



And, for comparison, here is the original scene in the TOS episode Return to Tomorrow:



There is also a Spock scene. It's NSFW since the dialogue is Joe Pesci's lines from GOODFELLAS.

I think we all dodged a bullet when Paramount stopped this project.

Hat tip to Progressive Ruin via the Shatner-centric blog Look At His Butt!

New TV Show Pitch: STAR TREK: THE RIKERS

Via IO9: Marina Sirtis and Jonathan Frakes pitch a new sitcom for Counselor Troi and William Riker. Yes, a sitcom about them being married, and Geordi could be on it, and Worf ... but not "old baldy." It'll be "STAR TREK meets GALAXY QUEST," says Sirtis. They go on to talk about the show, their friendship and life on the set.



I think they are half serious and I would watch it. Well, at least I would watch the pilot.

Suggested show title: "The targ ate my homework."

Big hat tip to Mark Anderson!! Thanks, pal!



It'll be 23 years since THE NEXT GENERATION aired this September.

Video: STAR TREK Parodies

By no means exhaustive, but there are some I had not come across here.

It's about a half a minute long, but THE SIMPSON nails this promo for "Star Trek XII: So Very Tired" so very well.




From THE MAVIS BRAMSTON SHOW, a 1960s Australian comedy series. This is new to me and the only clip from a show parodying STAR TREK during its initial network run!



"Star Schtick" from an early 1970s WAYNE & SCHUSTER CBC comedy show. This is mini-epic in length, standard schtick (natch!) in cleverness.











Carol Burnett (with the wonderful Andrea Martin) from a 1991 one-shot (and probable pilot for a new Burnett variety show) titled, uh, THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW according to IMDB. More than likely, it may be from a short lived series titled CAROL & COMPANY:




THE WONDER YEARS parodies the "Spock's Brain" episode.




The one and only Kevin Pollak from a stand up routine in the months before the release of STAR TREK V. Pollak is the gold standard of Shatner impersonators.




"Star Truck" from the ANIMANIACS show:




"Steam Trek:" STAR TREK THE MOTION PICTURE as a silent movie, complete with tinkly piano music. This has been on YouTube for a couple of years.




Jim Carrey as Kirk in "The Wrath of Farrakhan" spoof from the Fox TV series IN LIVING COLOR.




The best: Belushi as Kirk for SNL, written by Trekker Michael O'Donoghue.

Video: The Making of "Trials and Tribble-ations"

"Trials and Tribble-ations," a fifth season episode of the STAR TREK DEEP SPACE NINE TV series, aired on November 4, 1996. Using technology pioneered by Robert Zemeckis' FORREST GUMP movie two years earlier, the DS9 special effects technicians were called on to plunk the cast of the show in an original series 1960s episode of STAR TREK. Not just any episode, mind. It was that "Trouble with Tribbles" one -- the one that everyone and their Mom has seen at least a couple of times.

Here is a Sci Fi Channel documentary about the behind the scenes work.

STAR TREK Actors in THE TWILIGHT ZONE

Above: "STAR TREK Meets TWILIGHT ZONE" via CelebrityOdor.com


Hey! You got your TREK in my ZONE!

Here is a fun tally of STAR TREK actors who were also in THE TWILIGHT ZONE, courtesy of Luvinthe60s:

Nightmare at 20,000 Feet (William Shatner)
A Quality of Mercy (Leonard Nimoy)
Valley of the Shadow (James Doohan)
The Encounter (George Takei)
Twenty-Two (Arlene Martel)
Of Late I Think of Cliffordville (Julie Newmar)
The Long Morrow (Robert Lansing, Mariette Hartley)
People are Alike All Over (Vic Perrin, Susan Oliver)
Dead Man's Shoes (Warren Stevens, Joan Marshall)
Probe 7 - Over and Out (Antoinette Bower)
The Lateness of the Hour (John Hoyt)
The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank (Sherry Jackson)
Five Characters in Search of an Exit (William Windom)
The Passersby (James Gregory, Joanne Linville)

Vic Perrin did a lot voiceover work for TREK as well.

I have a feeling this is not exhaustive. Even though I haven't seen every episode of TZ, I know that Shatner was in another episode, Nick of Time. Someone could do the same for THE OUTER LIMITS -- and list of actors would be similar!

And, while we're on the 1960s crossover topic -- here are some TREK actors who were on WILD WILD WEST, thanks to Ptolemy1961: :



And while we're on the subject, here is the WILD WILD WEST theme mashed up with the UFO theme. And it all fits real nice, too!

Video: Klingon Chancellor Gowron Shouting

From io9:

"Apparently, there was a Star Trek interactive board game that had Klingon Chancellor Gowron shouting at you to make your next move. But if you looped all of his shoutings together..."

YOU! LOOK AT ME! from Everything Is Terrible! on Vimeo.

Klingon Chancellor Gowron is played by actor Robert O'Reilly .

Big hat tip to my inky pal Mark Anderson!

Video: Malachi Throne at Wondercon

Here's a short interview with actor Malachi Throne at this year's Wondercon. Thanks to Zennie Abraham for this.



Related: My pal Brian Fies' visit to Wondercon.

And here's the original trailer for the STAR TREK episode "The Menagerie Part 1," which aired in the show's first season on November 17, 1966. Look for Malachi Throne in conversation with Captain Kirk at about the 27 second mark.