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For news on the 2009 film Star Trek, click here.

16 May 2008

• Walter Koenig, Avery Brooks, Chase Masterson, Anthony Montgomery, and Alan Ruck are among the Star Trek celebrities appearing at the Motor City Comic Con this weekend. [1] Also, Wil Wheaton will be at Super-Con which takes place on 17 and 18 May, 2008, in San Jose, California. [2]

• Andrew Koenig (son of Walter Koenig) was sentenced to pay a $50 fine for protesting in front of a Rose Parade float on New Year’s Day. This sentence was suspended, however, after Koenig's attorney argued that the eight hours Koenig spent in jail when he was first arrested was punishment enough. Koenig will not be appealing the decision not to simply throw out the case. [3]

• Scott Bakula (ENT's Jonathan Archer) is currently busy filming The Informant with Matt Damon. Video and images of Bakula and Damon at a recent location shoot in Decatur, Illinois are available to view at Herald & Review. [4]

• Ron Perlman (the Reman viceroy in Star Trek Nemesis) will play an Eastern European gang lord in the upcoming action film Bunraku. [5]

15 May 2008

• TNG/DS9 vet Colm Meaney has a new show: the American version of the British series Life on Mars has been picked up by ABC for their fall 2008 schedule and is set to air Thursdays at 10pm EST. The show's original pilot was created and produced by David E. Kelley, but he will not be involved with the series and the pilot will reportedly be re-shot without his involvement. Also, even though William Shatner's Boston Legal – another series created by Kelley – was renewed for a fifth season, it will be the show's last and it will only be thirteen episodes long, which will bring the total number of episodes to 101. The series' brief return will be at a new day and time: Mondays at 10pm EST.

• In addition to the above, Bryan Fuller's Pushing Daisies and Rene Echevarria's Medium have been picked up for new seasons in the fall. Also returning will be the sitcoms Samantha Who?, which stars Tim Russ, and Chuck, which is produced and regularly directed by Robert Duncan McNeill. A number of shows starring Star Trek alumni will not be returning, however: Jeri Ryan's Shark, Nana Visitor's Wildfire, and Linda Park's Women's Murder Club all got the axe. For the status of other shows from Trek alumni, see the full report at TrekMovie.com.

14 May 2008

• Michelle Forbes will be appearing in the season finale of the ABC series Lost, co-created by Star Trek producers J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof and starring Terry O'Quinn. [6] The finale begins on Thursday at 10/9c.

13 May 2008

• Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard) has been nominated for a Tony Award as Lead Actor in a Play for his performance in Macbeth. Including Stewart's, the play earned a total of six nominations. [7] Stewart's TNG guest star Whoopi Goldberg will be hosting the Tony Awards ceremony on 15 June 2008. [8]

12 May 2008

• ABC has renewed William Shatner and John Larroquette's series Boston Legal for a fifth season. There was doubt as to whether the show would return after a February 2008 report announcing the shows renewed for ABC's 2008-09 TV season did not include Boston Legal. The series will return this fall thanks to a deal reached between ABC, 20th Century Fox TV, and series creator David E. Kelley. The deal also involved Kelley's departure from the American version of Life on Mars, based on the British series of the same name and starring TNG/DS9's Colm Meaney. [9]

9 May 2008

• Tasha Yar/Sela actress Denise Crosby will be heading to New York next week for a workshop production of the play Epitaph for John Dylan, scheduled to run June 2-15 at the 45th Street Theater. In addition, Crosby has a recurring role as "Gertie" on the AMC series Mad Men, which starts its second season this July. [10] [11] [12]

• DS9 star Rene Auberjonois has begun rehearsals for his performance as The Imaginary Invalid, which is scheduled to run from June 10th through July 27th at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC. [13]

• Star Trek Nemesis scribe John Logan will be writing a feature film adaptation of the video game Bioshock to be directed by Gore Verbinski. [14]

Did You Know...

Patrick Stewart and Avery Brooks

...that both Patrick Stewart and Avery Brooks directed the penultimate episode ("Preemptive Strike" and "The Dogs of War") of their respective series?

...that both Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan set records for box office earnings at their time of release?

Today in Trek history

1918

Barry Atwater is born.

1937

Yvonne Craig is born.

1947

Bill Smitrovich is born.

1966

Story outline submitted for TOS: "Miri".

1968

First draft script of TOS: "Elaan of Troyius" is submitted.

1970

The Thirteenth UK Story Arc continues in TV21 & Joe 90 #34 with the third of seven installments.

1988

TNG: "The Neutral Zone" airs.

1993

DS9: "If Wishes Were Horses" airs.

2001

VOY: "Renaissance Man" airs.

Article of the Week

IKS Rotarran

The IKS Rotarran was a Klingon Bird-of-Prey in service during the 2370s.

Following the withdrawal of Klingon fleet from Cardassian space in mid-2373, following the Cardassian's successful admittance into the Dominion, the Rotarran suffered half a dozen successive defeats in combat with the Jem'Hadar, mounting heavy casualties over a period of seven months.

Late that year, General Martok was assigned command of the Rotarran by the Klingon High Council and dispatched to locate the missing IKS B'Moth. Joining him as his first officer was Worf and Jadzia Dax as science officer; both serving on detached duty from Starfleet.

Plotting course for the last known position of the B'Moth, the Rotarran was forced to circumnavigate the Tong Beak Nebula in order to avoid the Jem'Hadar. Martok's wish to avoid a fight struck a sour chord with his weary crew.

On the way, Martok reviewed his crew's personnel reports, which included remarks such as: "dishonorable conduct," "lack of respect," "dereliction of duty," "inattention to orders," "unmotivated," and "insufficiently aggressive." This did not go over well with Martok nor Worf. Together they vowed to restore honor to the Rotarran and make it a ship worthy of the Empire.

Upcoming releases

Films

• Star Trek films: Star Trek (8 May 2009)

Episodes

• Remastered TOS (in syndication)
  • "A Private Little War" (weekend of 17 May 2008)
  • "Whom Gods Destroy" (weekend of 24 May 2008)
  • "The Mark of Gideon" (weekend of 31 May 2008
  • "The Lights of Zetar" (weekend of 7 June 2008)
  • "The Way to Eden" (weekend of 14 June 2008)
  • "Requiem for Methuselah" (weekend of 21 June 2008)

DVDs

• TOS-R Season 2 DVD (5 August 2008)

Novels and reference works

• Night of the Wolves (Star Trek: Terok Nor, paperback, out now)
• Dawn of the Eagles (Star Trek: Terok Nor, paperback, out now)
• These Haunted Seas (Pocket DS9 omnibus, trade paperback, 17 June 2008)
• Fearful Symmetry (Pocket DS9, paperback, 24 June 2008)

Comics

• IDW Publishing
  • Intelligence Gathering
    • #4, "Matters of the Mind" - released 23 April 2008
  • Turnaround (Star Trek: New Frontier)
    • #2, "Turnaround, Part II" - released 23 April 2008
    • #3 - solicited for 4 June 2008
  • Year Four: The Enterprise Experiment
    • #1, "Part 1" - released 16 April 2008
  • Star Trek: Assignment Earth
    • #1 - solicited for 21 May 2008
  • Trade paperback collections
    • Alien Spotlight - released 14 May 2008

Where to watch

Australia

Canada

New Zealand

South Africa

United Kingdom

United States (cable)