Spock and Beyond

Simple title this time but one which more than adequately covers off what we're covering.

While the third movie is definitely filming and I have some bits on that here, what is interesting me more at the moment is William Shatner's LLAP campaign gathered alarming pace via the portals of social media.

Shatner asked for fans to selfie themselves doing the Vulcan hand gesture and sending it across to nimoytribute@gmail.com. (I never do selfies but I moved out of the comfort zone for this one and I'm assuming I'm in there somewhere). It seemed that the end result was up frighteningly quickly after the first request went out but the tribute image is stunning as have probably already seen and can see one more time above. 

Shatner took quite a verbal beating for not attending his long-time screen companion and friend's funeral and with this tribute the Captain Kirk actor has in some way rebuilt bridges with the fans, bringing the worldwide community together to create this memorable mosaic which will exist forever more.

It sounds like a nice way for fans to honour the man who was Spock and coming soon after the great news that Adam Nimoy has been fully funded for the documentary on his father it shows that Leonard's memory is still very much with the whole of the Star Trek fandom and will be for a long, long time to come. I was unable to help with the funding of the project due to other more immediate matters but I fully intend to follow and promote Adam's work as he brings all the parts together.

Loosely hanging off that Spock theme, Star Trek Beyond is starting to leak out a few images and bits of info here and there. Alongside Brit Idris Elba we have now had confirmation that Joe Taslim, known for The Raid and Fast and Furious 6 is joining the cast as well as Kingsman assassin Sofia Boutella. Certainly the third reboot movie is drawing in big names which does suggest the franchise is seeing something of a revival and maybe is inspiring a younger generation of actors. We can hope I suppose but if you were offered a massive paycheck to do Barney: The Movie you'd probably take it if it put food on the table. As a list of names, only Elba really clicked with me (showing age) due to his appearances on UK TV and in Thor. The others I wait to see and I'm planning to catch Kingsman soon so I might have a better opinion on Boutella shortly. 

We've also had four Omaze vids now featuring all combinations of the Beyond cast and the latest even pulled in director Justin Lin to nearly blow Ryan Cummins from Omaze to bits. The first of these featured an alien head and some cool Star Trek gadgets including the iconic flip communictor and other trinkets which will probably make a lot more sense in 12 months time (just under 330 days if you're counting).

The latest couple of minutes from Omaze returns Chris Pine and newcomer Idris Elba to the bleach-level-whitened bridge (Klingon or not to Klingon?) as they vie for the centre seat and generally muck around to promote their charities which are part of the competition. Remember, there's still time to visit the site and get involved and you could be in the new movie and see lots of really cool stuff most of us will have to wait until 2016 to see. If you spin by the Omaze website you can donate to receive a perk and stand a chance of getting one of the remaining walk-on roles. 

More precisely you have just 19 days left to donate anything from $10 for a digital campaign badge right up to $50,000 for an exclusive pre-screening of Star Trek Beyond. The more you donate, the more exclusive the perk itself and also the number of entries you receive into the draw to visit the movie sets in Vancouver. Being in the UK I'm stepping away from this one but it seems a good way of getting funds for the array of charities the cast are supporting and involving fans in the 50th anniversary event.

Talking of Lin - and not being as lame as the last link, the brilliant TrekCore shared a few on-set blurred, long distance shots which will pique fans interest. Nothing to over-analyse just yet but we have seen some odd wigs, tech and an alien headpiece so far as well as evidence that Lin has been on set. From what I've seen there does appear to be something akin to a ship hull taking formation along with the now compulsory green-screens. More will be forthcoming at a snail's pace I suspect but there's nothing better for column inches than rife speculation, fuzzy pictures and spurious rumour. I'm remaining positive and will likely be hitting the cinema at midnight as I did with Into Darkness in order to have my hopes and dreams smashed into tiny fragments one more time. Sucker for punishment? Yep.

The best pic I've seen so far is what might be the remnants of a crashed starship that I came across on TrekCore. Hopefully not some kind of massive super starship/craft controlled by some Big Evil Meglomaniac...I mean, not like that was the conclusion of the last two movies or anything...

Seen anything interesting to do with Star Trek Beyond? Any of this retaining your interest or are you not that fussed about the third installment of the reboot?

Like our page on Facebook 

Follow us on Twitter

+1 us on Google+

Add us on Tumblr

Add to to conversation on Star Trek: Risa

We're also live on YOUTUBE with selected reviews and articles to complement this site! What do you want to see on there?