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?

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Star Trek Into Darkness: The End in Sight

In the UK if you're reading this on Thursday 9th 2013, Star Trek Into Darkness is now in cinemas. The wait is over and we are now enlightened.

If it's Tuesday or Wednesday, you're still going to need a bit of a fix, right?

Star off by heading to the newsagents and picking up either (or both - sod it!) the SFX Star Trek special or this month's Star Trek Magazine which will give you some movie meat to slobber over. I'm off later to purchase so I'll let you know if they're worth the cover price.

How about this - two minutes of the cast talking with JJ about the movie. There's no spoilers and mainly it's JJ, Chris Pine and Simon Pegg doing the talking but it should ease the pain in preparation for later this week. If you're in the US or any other country, this is just another step/notch to tick off on the road towards premiere day which I hear will only be attended by Pine, Pegg and Cumberbatch in what is supposedly going to be a "low-key" affair in comparison to the other events across the globe we've seen in the last few weeks.

If that's not satisfied the hunger then how about this - a brand-new character profile and this time it's looking at helmsman Sulu played by John Cho.

This is about as non-specific and non-descript a preview as possible, focusing mainly on the opening Spock and the volcano sequence as well as some shots of Sulu going through the motions on the bridge of the Enterprise under the supervision of JJ Abrams during filming. As usual, here's some nice little screen captures from the limited new footage to keep you up to date. Featurette courtesy of SFX Magazine.

Great close-up of the new-style LCARS display aboard the shuttle

The volcano bites back

In discussion with Chris Pine and visionary JJ Abrams

And it's not over there. As the day draws to it's close in the UK, Are You #The1701 dropped the Carol Marcus sized bombshell of her character profile. 99.9% focused on the Meet Carol clip from recently it's an opportunity to welcome the newest crewmember onto the cast and see what she thinks about the relationships between the new science officer with Kirk and Spock. Additonally there's a few behind the scenes shots of Alice Eve working with a variety of actors and even one of Marcus regaled in the formal Starfleet greys complete with hat. Clip courtesy of Paramount.

Formal Marcus

In conversation with JJ

Still from video

Still from earlier trailer

I also caught this clip of Peter Weller talking about the movie over the weekend and forgot to post it - apparently he gives away a clue about his character in here but I can't for the life of me see it - please drop a note at the bottom if you do because I'm obviously missing the nose in front of my face, so to speak! The uniform he's wearing here does look slightly different to the one we've seen in the trailers (pic for comparison also left). Does this indicate that Marcus is actually part of some other organisation...say, Section 31 and this is THEIR uniform?! How about that for a possibility!

Also fans can look forward to an EXCLUSIVE clip being premiered on MTV News tomorrow. It'll be shown at 7.56pm ET so don't miss it! This will be followed by a half hour chat on the channel featuring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Benedict Cumberbatch, Zoe Saldana and JJ Abrahms.

Just as a nice little addition to today's blog - how about Nimoy vs Quinto in this brilliant and quirky little viral from Audi. My favourite bit in this? It has to be Prime Spock singing along in his Mercedes to a certain timeless classic or maybe it's The Wrath of Khan homage...or maybe...ok, ok it's just all a bit good and who care's if it's a blatant attempt to sell cars this just turns into pure Star Trek indulgence after about one second.

"...Fascinating..."

You can't help but raise a smile when you watch it. Perhaps one of the best commercials to have come out of the franchise during the Star Trek Into Darkness promo campaign if I do say so myself! 

With not long to go, don't forget you can catch up by clicking the Countdown to Star Trek Into Darkness link below to see all the SKoST updates...and if I hear one more comment about Star Wars impacting on JJ's ability to do Star Trek 3.....!!!

All stills clipped by SKoST

Star Trek Into Darkness: Three Day Weekend

For the UK it's a slightly longer weekend so I took the chance to combine three days into one and save you some page clicks. Yep, there's been a lot of happenings and I've tried to cram as many links, thoughts and pictures into just one ultimate new experience (hope it's worked)!

The weekend kicked off with the addition of Run into the teaser/snippet clan and aside from a few lines of dialogue it's not added much to the overall picture now forming around Star Trek Into Darkness. Not to say that it's poor as there is the suggestion of a Spock vs Harrison one-on-one similar to the one we saw of Kirk in April. Of course this this could also be an amazing bit of editing slipping two different scenes together in a few seconds therefore I won't be quoting any dialogue together purely based on that possibility.

The better videos released this weekend were two Behind the Scenes featurettes which, while not narrated and in some places are without any audio, let us get a sneak peek at some new scenes, some scenes from a different angle and even some general larking around. I've included the links to the video here as well as some stills (below) accompanied by captions. On the whole it seems to focus around bridge scenes as well as the first ten minutes of the film and Spock's mission within the volcano which opens the movie. Clip from Aramas Taralom.

Spock on the shuttlecraft during the movie's opening sequence

Chris Poine directed by Abrams on the bridge of the Enterprise

McCoy, Chekov and Kirk discuss how to rescue Spock from the volcano

The second half of the vid trends towards sequences on Qo'nos in the Klingon ship, McCoy and Kirk evading the natives, more Spock vs the Volcano as well as some snips of Kirk, Carol and Spock in various preparations for takes (including one close to that odd piece of equipment inscribed with CVN-65). My favourite though has to be JJ Abrams creating the undersea effect on the Enterprise bridge with the use of a heavy-duty torch. 

There's little new insight (cleverly because the newer bits don't have any sound) and where there is extensive narrative or long shots of scenes we've seen them already either in the trailers, those 9 minutes (if you were lucky) or within the plethora of trailers we've experienced.

Kirk and Spock hunting for Harrison on Qo'nos (note greenscreens)

McCoy gets frantic in sickbay

Marcus and Kirk head out into Engineering/Budweiser factory

JJ creates the sea aboard the Enterprise

But hold on there, that's not all that's been moving, shaking and downright happening in the Star Trek universe this weekend.

First of all, Chris Pine and Benedict Cumberbatch dropped in on the UK's Graham Norton Show to discuss the new movie. Not only was it an opportunity for some witty banter but also it meant a bit of a Star Trek meet-up as the third guest on the night was Kim Cattrall who made her own appearance as Valeris in The Undiscovered Country back in 1991. Cumberbatch also narrated an intro section for Graham in his most menacing voice. Portents of things to come this week in the cinema no doubt! The interview can be viewed here

If that's not satisfied your Star Trek appetite and you live in the UK, check out Channel 5 (remember it?!) at 8pm on Thursday for True Stories: Star Trek. Having read some of the preambles for it I'm not greatly thrilled and for more "hardcore" fans it won't be providing too many surprises seeing as it's tag line in a couple of newspapers including the Daily Express is about the fact that it got nearly got cancelled and never got off the ground. Hardly earth-shattering news...However, if you're in need of a fix and can't get to the flicks before the weekend then this may be your best chance at getting new Star Trek. Otherwise, rewatch Trek Nation off your SKY planner. 

Still from dailymail.co.uk

The UK's Jonathan Ross Show hosted Zachary Quinto and Zoe Saldana to talk about the summer blockbuster in the making. Again it was a less than formal affair especially as their host is renowned in the UK as a massive fan of the Star Trek franchise. At least they look like they're enjoying themselves backstage (left). You can read more about it on the Daily Mail website. Clip from UKTvHD.

Anyway, before we've even seen the opening weekend and how BIG this film could possibly be (after all it does seem to be on every advertising hoarding and bus stop I pass), there's already talk about Star Trek 3 and what it might encompass. Suggestions indicate it could well be a Klingon movie and that JJ will be involved to some degree, most likely producer. Writers Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman got cornered by trekmovie.com at the UK premiere and even discussed how fans influenced the film as well as where the next movie might head. Orci has also revealed that he would definitely want the next movie to be ready for 2016 (50 years). I expected this to be the case. Whether it's going to be full of Klingons, Borg or even MAYBE a return for the sinister character of John Harrison is yet to be confirmed although I would suspect the next few weeks takings will set that process into motion or - totally unlikely - send it crashing to the ground in flames. 

Also in the malestrom of the promo world there's not only been movement from Budweiser (posters - no surprise really) and Burger King (Malaysia) but also (and this is the weirdest thing EVER) Fisherman's Friends...I just had to include the direct link. It's just damn odd. Seriously. Courtesy of ScholzundFriends

Live now and certainly more logical to comprehend is the Uhura profile. It's the third in the series following entries for Kirk and Scotty, (all of the crew getting these perhaps?) allowing the actor behind the character a chance to talk about their motivations, what they thought of the role, how difficult it was.... It's only a minute and a fraction so enjoy. New footage-wise there's some discourse between Uhura and Sulu during Spock's volcanic encounter as well as some behind the scenes footage of Saldana training for the more physical aspects of the movie. There's also a nice one-pager on Alice Eve's arrival into the Star Trek franchise on startrek.com. When you get material on Carol you realise exactly how little you might have seen of her in the run up to the movie release (but a lot of her at the premieres actually!). I'm hoping she'll get a featurette similar to the three now released before it's too late.

Of the three I'm still a fan of the Scotty clip - I like Simon Pegg and was the first decent bit of promotional material he got for Star Trek Into Darkness! Below I've included a few screenshots from the Uhura featurette from selected points. Clip above from trekmovie.com

Zoe Saldana talks about the character of Uhura in Star Trek Into Darkness

In the shuttle with Sulu as Spock battles a volcano

Training for the physical demands of the new movie

Just to round off and something that got my goat a bit this week. My thoughts about the reboot are in a state of flux and probably will be until Thursday morning around 3am but there's always someone out there passing an opinion. I suspect that while a recent tweet by FORMER Star Trek exec producer Rick Berman betrayed his thoughts that the franchise should be on TV and was specifically designed for that 45 minute story-telling format I have a sense that its place on the big screen is firmly secured until the 2020's in the very least. Will JJ encourage a TV series in the next decade? I'd like to think it's a possibility at the least and with this new reinvigorated parallel universe what about the possibility of reimagining The Next Generation in the same universe and on the smaller screen?  Would we be more realistically looking at 13 episode seasons than 26 due to financial constraints? I'll send the email now...

Keep in touch with the latest news, views and air your opinions here - don't forget you can go back over any of the stories we've covered by clicking on the Countdown to Star Trek Into Darkness label below.

All screenshots taken by SKoST