Shatner, Nimoy team up on sci-fi project

William Shatner, who played the commander of the starship USS Enterprise in the ’60s Star Trek series, arrived in Riverside [Iowa] Tuesday to hold auditions for four small parts in a low-budget, sci-fi movie he wrote with Star Trek co-star, Leonard Nimoy…..Although Kirk’s hometown was never mentioned in the TV series, Gene Roddenberry, the show’s…

Naked Wookiees and broken R2-D2s

“Yoda’s philosophy was quite simplistic. ‘If you get angry, you’re gonna lose.’ ‘Don’t try, do.’ He has a basic philosophy that is very charming. Not very profound, although young people consider it profound. I wish they would read more.” —Irvin Kershner, mentor of George Lucas. —Naked Wookiees and broken R2-D2s (CNN/AP) Similar:By Inferno's Light #StarTrek #DS9…

Radio 4 revives Hitchhiker's game

A computer game written by Douglas Adams is being revived to coincide with a new BBC Radio 4 series of The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy. The text adventure will appear on the station’s website and was described by the late Adams as “the first game to move beyond being ‘user friendly’”. “It’s actually ‘user…

Scotty Says Goodbye

“Beam Me Up Scotty…One Last Time” is the quite-serious title to a three-day event at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel billed as a farewell to the actor who, as fiery Montgomery Scott, ran the U.S.S. Enterprise’s engineering deck on Trek’s 1966-69 flagship series and six big-screen adventures. —Joal Ryan —Scotty Says Goodbye (E! Online) I managed to…

Oscar-winning composer Goldsmith dies

Academy Award-winning composer Jerry Goldsmith, who created the memorable music for scores of classic movies and television shows ranging from the “Star Trek” and “Planet of the Apes” series to “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” and “Dr. Kildare,” has died. He was 75. —Oscar-winning composer Goldsmith dies (CNN/AP) Similar:By Inferno's Light #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 5, Episode…

Guide to the Early Star Trek Novels

Today STAR TREK spans six television series, ten feature films and several interactive CD-ROMs. In addition, the STAR TREK afficionado had hundreds of novels to choose from with dozens more being published each year. It was not always thus. Those of us who were loving STAR TREK in the late 1960’s and into he early…

Beowulf Goes To Movies

Warner Brothers is developing a film based on the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Newcomer Matthew Sand will write the script for the film version of the story, about a knight who takes up the sword against a monster. The eighth-century tale centers on Beowulf of the Geats, who is called…

10 Dumb Moments in Sci-Fi Cinema

Once people overhear some pale guy with wizard hair explaining how a light saber simply isn’t possible, as the exposed plasma from the device would irradiate every living organism with a 5-kilometer radius, what are people supposed to think? “Sexy?” Yet, part of being a sci-fi fan is being its harshest critic, and so we…

Yoda 'speaks like Anglo-Saxon'

Mr Crystal, a professor of linguistics at Reading University for 20 years, said Yoda – a Jedi master in the Star Wars films – was a good way to get children interested in how preferences in English word order changed from the Anglo-Saxon era to that of Middle English. —Finlo Rohrer —Yoda ‘speaks like Anglo-Saxon’ (BBC)…

HHGG Interview with Myself

“When Zaphod first comes out of the temple and is approached by well wishers, the banana alien on the mole-horse needs to replace the multi-headed groupie.” You just don’t get notes like this every day. —Kerry Kirkpatrick —HHGG Interview with Myself  (Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy [Official Blog]) Similar:By Inferno's Light #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season…

Technology: Your Next Videogame

But the surprise for Xbox was Advent Rising from Majesco, a super-stylish “Star Wars”-meets-“The Matrix” action adventure, which is being written by sci-fi author Orson Scott Card, best known for the “Ender’s Game” series of novels. When writers of his caliber want to work on videogames, it’s more proof that electronic entertainment is no passing…

The Excuse Machine

Excuses remind me of The Trouble with Tribbles from the early Star Trek series: a space trader, Cyrano Jones, gives Uhura a purring ball of fluff known as a tribble. Charmed by the creature, Uhura takes it back to the Enterprise. However, as McCoy soon learns, tribbles are born pregnant and the more they eat…

Geography's conquest of history in The Diamond Age

Stephenson’s immensely creative novel offers a story about the disequilibrium between space and time, about reconstituting subjectivity in a world where geography has conquered history, and about the importance of narrative in the creation of subject positions. In this chapter, we argue that geography’s conquest of history defines the struggles over culture, identity, subjectivity, and…

[Christopher] Eccleston is new Doctor Who

“It signals our intention to take Doctor Who into the 21st century, as well as retaining its core traditional values – to be surprising, edgy and eccentric.” —Jane Tranter, BBC Controller of Drama Commissioning, —[Christopher] Eccleston is new Doctor Who (BBC) Similar:By Inferno's Light #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 5, Episode 15) Dominion / Cardassian edg…In Purgatory's…

Vegas 'Trek' attraction could revive franchise

The day is saved when the Enterprise arrives, along with its commander, Adm. Janeway (Kate Mulgrew (news)), and the doctor (Robert Picardo (news)) from the “Star Trek: Voyager” TV series. —Vegas ‘Trek’ attraction could revive franchise (Hollywood Reporter) Urk! Since when did Janeway command the Enterprise? Her ship is the Voyager. The technical details of this…

Star Trek Action Figure Collection

—Star Trek Action Figure Collection (NubiNubsUniverse.com) The really sad thing: I recognize most of these characters. Okay, the aliens from “Star Trek: The Next Generation” sort of blend into one another, but for the classic series, the episodes have been so firmly imprinted on my brain for decades that I can name most of the characters…

Technovelgy: Inventions from Science Fiction Novels and Books

—Technovelgy: Inventions from Science Fiction Novels and Books There’s no good blurb on this site, but it features news of technological advances that have been predicted in science-fiction. For instance, here’s the listing of real inventions first mentioned in Fahrenheit 451. Pretty cool. Similar:By Inferno's Light #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 5, Episode 15) Dominion /…