Right - time for something a bit new.
We've realised it's all well and good talking about Star Trek but what's going on now? There's no way we can post every day about everything so how about a monthly blagger's post? We'll pick the top five stories from the month, why they're important and the stuff you need to know. If you like it, we'll do one in April. If not, this might be the first and the last.
Wendy Hughes
Sad news to kick off the month that the actress who portrayed Lieutenant Commander Nella Daren in The Next Generation's sixth season episode Lessons died at the age of 61 following a battle with cancer. Hughes' character was one of the few to have romantic links to Captain Picard during the show's run and was an unusually music-centric episode which brought the fabled Ressikan flute back to the table and one of two appearances for stellar cartography (although it would look massively different in Generations).
The Ron Wilkerson (Imaginary Friend, Schisms, Lower Decks,) penned episode is well-remembered for Hughes performance as one of the few who stood up to Picard and in this case melted his heart a little bit too. Hughes' performance will of course be among those on the soon to be released season six blu-ray.
Warnog
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| Image from geeknation.com |
Fresh from their success with Vulcan Ale in Canada, the Federation of Beer has created a new taste sensation with the introduction of Klingon Warnog. Most likely a fine brew capable of raising the voices of any warrior in the halls of Q'onoS. Now you can drink in honour of Kahless (any excuse really) and sing of the triumphs of battle with a frothing tankard in hand. Ah...I can see it now....
Anyway, back to the 21st Century and according to a press release via the UK Guardian newspaper -
"Warnog incorporates rye malt into a modern Dunkelweizen grain bill, creating a flavor profile that is both familiar and unique...Warnog's aroma is predominantly mild banana and clove produced by the German wheat yeast, supported by subtle sweet malt character from the use of Munich malt. The flavor draws heavily from the blending of the rye malt and traditional clove character, creating a very rich and unique flavor. The inclusion of wheat and caramel malts help to round out the mouthfeel of this beer, making this Dunkelweizen hearty enough to be called a Klingon Warnog."
Sounds absolutely delicious and you would expect it to be served in big vats like blood wine a la Apocalypse Rising from Deep Space Nine. Will it make it over to the UK? Something in my mind says no however if anyone over the water fancies shipping us a few barrels to sample we won't be saying no. Reason to know about this? Hell, it's beer...Star Trek beer and that's definitely not your average everyday bit of news. Whether your local Harvester or Toby Carvery will be serving this is anyone's guess but we'll stay in hope.
Harlan Ellison City script to be a graphic novel
OK - this is BIG news. The original script for the legendary City on the Edge of Forever is getting laid down on the page. Yes, the ORIGINAL script and not the one that aired so this will be a must-have for every Star Trek fan out there as we'll get to see just what Ellison envisaged before it got into the hands of the studio. Right here's the facts bit - it'll be released in five parts which will cover more than we saw in the Hugo Award-winning hour long episode. Said Ellison in a quote I've found on Entertainment Weekly;
“For years, it has been a huge controversy,” Ellison told EW. “Which is better? My original version, as I dreamed it? Or as Roddenberry went back and had people rewrite? Now, for the first time since I had the original dream, somebody has interpreted it exactly as I dreamed it.”
The Ellison graphic novel will be published in the same month as his 80th birthday and will mark his 102nd publication in print, all of which can be viewed here. And when's it out? Try June this year.
Season Six on Blu-Ray
Fairly inevitable seeing as they've produced seasons one to five and I don't expect any prizes for guessing season seven will be following thereafter. As per usual the upgraded picture is mesmerizing and a huge leap from the original TV quality we experienced from 1987 onwards. Perhaps the bigger element here through is that, in keeping with seasons three through five, fans can pick up the movie edition of Chain of Command in box-licking HD quality to stick alongside The Best of Both Worlds, Redemption and Unification. I suspect that you've seen the trailers, read the blurb and just need to know it'll be landing in the US in June and should be crossing to the UK fairly soon afterwards.
Dropping over to TrekCore recently I spotted that the Chain of Command movie will feature commentary with the Okudas as well as Director of Photography Jonathan West and Captain Jellico himself, Ronny Cox. For those of you new to Some Kind of Star Trek we also put together a piece on the story here. Season six will feature the usual array of documentaries, bloopers and extras that have filled out and added to each of the preceding seasons.
Kind of reminds me of when they released this movie series on good old VHS back in the late 1990's. Going on this line of one movie per season I guess Gambit is the logical move for season seven as you would hope the full length version of All Good Things... will be the final installment on the full season set - but then if you're in the UK you'll remember it got released as part of the original run VHS series in it's two part format. Ugh. Bad memories.
STID deleted scenes
Ever feel like you got totally ripped off when you bought a DVD or a blu-ray? Yep, me too and it's directed straight at the release of Star Trek into Darkness where features were retailer specific and if you were in the UK, the DVD got, like, sod all bar two measly add ons. Bah. Rubbish.
So as if to appease us all, you can now scrabble around the internet or a certain video-based website and see all the bits that didn't make the movie and ended up fluttering to the floor of Abrams editing suite (or just being clicked and moved to another file on the PC is probably the reality...).
Surprisingly there are a lot of parts removed and TrekCore have done a fantastic job of listing them all through with full transcript on this page and also this one.
In bullet points here are the removed scenes (in order of appearance)
- A longer discussion between Pike and Kirk in the admiral's office after the Nibiru mission
- Kirk entering his Captain's Log after the Nibiru incident
- Thomas Harewood calls Admiral Marcus - watch out for the original Constitution Class ship in the frame
- Kirk sees Pike get shot by Khan during the attack on Starfleet HQ
- Carol Marcus explains her plummy English accent to Kirk
- A longer discourse between Uhura and the Klingons before Khan's arrival
- Extended fight with the Klingons before Khan appears
- Scotty blags his way aboard the Vengeance
- Kirk meets the Harewoods after recovering from death
The worst bit is now that if you try and search for them it's very difficult to find any that are still lurking around. If you do, drop us a link...
Tom Hardy scared when making Nemesis
For many fans the actual nightmare was when the film got released and for a few they're still trying to purge that nightmare to this day. It seems that for the young actor he was totally out of his depth and an utter bag of nerves. I don't think this comes across on the screen and Hardy certainly hid it well. Perhaps it was the three months off booze that helped here?!
In an interview for Total Film, Hardy came into the production after all of the Enterprise scenes had been filmed and worked 17 hour days to complete his appearances in the movie. Considering where his career is now with Inception, The Dark Knight Rises, Bronson and the upcoming Mad Max under his belt it's weird to think that this is really where it all started - and could have all ended looking at the reviews.
That's our top five picks for the month of March - but we also thought it's worth just text-byting a couple of others that caught our eye...Bubbling Under
Pine DUI charged and fined £48 - you drink, you drive, you get caught. Not great but that's the law.
Star Trek Online goes Mac - Seriously? It took this long to get over to the Apple side? Welcome to to fold iOS users...
Angry Birds - Any excuse these days huh? Oh well, it's as good as any to let them have one Star Trek appearance. It seems that they're going to be portraying the crew in a new comic.It's actually a variant of issue 34 of the main run but I'm saying nothing more...erm...ok...I had hoped that the franchise would avoid selling out in a similar way to Star Wars but I spoke way, way too soon....
Do you want to see more of our monthly news roundups? Let us know below or was there a story that we've missed from our top six?
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