Category: Star Trek

Christmas is Hanging a Dying Vulcan on the Tree

By James Robert Shaw (The Wind up Geek)

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Halloween hasn’t even arrived yet but already Hallmark has me thinking of Christmas, especially of one that will be nerdy and bright. And how can you not help getting all nerdy at Christmas with this Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan The Needs of the Many Ornament. This ornament shows Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and Mr.Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and depicts the scene from Wrath of Khan where Spock saves the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise at the cost of his own life. In addition you can press a button on this keepsake ornament to hear the film’s quote The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few…or the one.

You can purchase the Needs of the Many ornament through the Hallmark website by clicking here.

Maybe in 2016 Hallmark will create a Star Trek III: The Search for Spock ornament, preferably one where Spock is reborn after dying for everyone’s sins. It would make a great Christmas tree topper.

Sources: @johnmartz, io9, and Rob Bricken.

John de Lancie lands at Emerald City 2014!

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

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Emerald City Comiccon announced today that Q himself will be at next year’s big event! For mortals, that means John de Lancie will be appearing all three days at this show.

This versatile actor made his way into the science fiction scene by playing the irrepressible and omnipotent anti-hero in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space 9 and Voyager. His on-screen panache made this character a unique fixture in the lexicon of this series and his ability to immerse himself into the roles he plays make him an actor that must be followed.

But with a career spanning nearly 40 years, some long-time television viewers may recall his appearance in The Six Million Dollar Man and Emergency! He’s become a fixture in the pop culture scene with roles that includes Stargate SG-1, but he shows that he has a voice to remember in Duck Dodgers and Young Justice. To hear his take in how television entertainment has evolved will no doubt be one huge panel worth attending, and to find out what he will be doing next will be equally exciting.

Diamond Select Kirk and Spock Action Figures

These new Star Trek toys are hot and highly posable…

StarTrek3Take a look at Diamond Select’s newest figures from their Star Trek license. Classic series Kirk and Spock come with interchangeable parts and cool-looking dioramas.

The engine room diorama that comes with the Kirk/Khan pack has a cardboard back that can be turn around to represent a different part of engineering.

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Star Trek: Into Darkness and IMAX’s FANFIX program

These Star Trek “limited edition” prints may well number roughly 25,000 since enough product has to be printed and shipped to all the participating theaters across North America.

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The IMAX premiere of Star Trek: Into Darkness was a crowd pleaser. Not only were fans treated to a well done movie, mixing some rebel rousing high brow action with a familiar story, but they were treated to a memento, a glow-in-the-dark poster of the Enterprise orbiting the Earth, with a rising sun to signify the final frontier. The painting of a sun and a starry background by artist Mark Englert will glow when the lights go out.

This item may seem gimmicky, but for the people who love merchandise, this collectible will no doubt be numerous and will last until stocks run out. Technically, they were available for people attending the Wednesday night show, and only select theaters are eligible to receive this box of posters to distribute. For the IMAX company, it’s their way of saying thank you for coming out and of introducing IMAX FANFIX™ to the masses. It’s not quite a rewards program, but it is a gesture with good intentions behind it.

These Star Trek “limited edition” prints may well number roughly 25,000 since enough product has to be printed and shipped to all the participating theaters across North America. Now if they were individually numbered, that would make a difference.

Gone is the IMAX 12:01 program, which saw a distribution of smaller 13.5×19.5 posters last year.

Star Trek: (Getting Deeper) Into Darkness, A Movie Review

If only Star Trek: Into Darkness was edited differently, it could have been a tale about Spock’s heroic journey.

Star Trek: Into Darkness PosterSpoiler alert

Star Trek: Into Darkness is a film that will no doubt have many fans wanting to make comparisons once the spoilers are known. By now, nearly everyone knows who the true villain is. This movie’s title card is enough to suggest the tone and direction. It’s to explore what drives men to do what they do. Sometimes that territory needs to be ventured into. And just where should the line be crossed?

The Prime Directive may be more than just a mandate to not interfere with fledgling civilizations, but in how culture gets developed. The intro is very Indiana Jones when Kirk and Bones are running away from some primitive tribe for reasons unexplained. Part of it may well do with causing a distraction so Spock can enter a volcano to save this tribe. But the plan has a few problems, and Kirk has to violate the Prime Directive to save his science officer.

In a plot that develops in one direction, the swing it makes is not necessarily politically driven. Some viewers may well read plenty of left-wing messages into this piece, but the way this film ends speaks for itself. Gone are the colorful suits the Federation that the classic and later TV series defined. When on duty, the standard red, blue and yellow are seen, but as for when they are presenting en masse, for the public to see, some viewers may well wonder what’s with the drab dark grey? Could J.J. Abrams version be a look in the mirror darkly? The first movie established the Spock from the original series universe does in fact exist. He chose to stay out of interfering in this canon’s timeline. As for what that means in this reboot as a whole, even this universe’s Spock is perplexed.

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