Who is the Best Star Trek Captain?

It's a subject that is certainly up for debate!  As I described in a previous entry, it's hard to compare Kirk and Picard.  However, I now propose that there is a compromise.... 

Star Trek: The Exhibition

As I mentioned in the previous entry, one of the stops on our honeymoon was at  Star Trek: The Exhibition in Orlando Florida.

It was great!  Yes, it was small-- just as reported.  But still, the model of the USS Enterprise Bridge from the original series was breathtaking to me.  I have to report that it wasn't quite at the right scale, however.  And yes, there were some design differences like the number of steps from one level of decking to the next, and Spock's station was wrong.  But still, sitting in the Captain's chair was a dream come true for me!   I couldn't get the smile off of my face. :)  In addition to the bridge, they had a Romulan shuttle from Star Trek Nemesis, an abundance of costumes, props, and shooting ship models from all the other shows and movies in the franchise.   Everything was real show-used items unless noted otherwise-- most of it was real though.  As a theatre technician and a Trekkie, getting to see real props and costumes causes an inner struggle.  The tekkie in me wants to see how they made the props.  I was saying things like "Is that phaser just painted wood?"  But the Trekkie in me  was thinking "OMG--a real phaser!"


I'd read online that they don't allow any photography and that if they catch you taking pictures, they ask to watch you delete the pictures from your camera. But there was no mention of this from the guy who sold us our ticket.  So... we snuck a shot of me sitting in the captain's chair.  :)

Just Like Earth

I've been watching a quite a bit of Star Trek (The Original Series) recently on Netflix and I've noticed something.  The USS Enterprise sure does visit a lot of planets that are "just like Earth".  The producers of the show did this for a number of reasons but mainly because it was cheap.  Why spend a ton of money creating an alien landscape or city when you can just film on the studio backlot or on a location in sunny southern California?  All you have to do is throw in some lines where the crew marvels at finding a planet that's just like Earth.  Something like this scene from The Paradise Syndrome...

MCCOY: Look at those pine trees.
KIRK: And that lake.
MCCOY: I swear that's honeysuckle I smell.
KIRK: I swear that's a little orange blossom thrown in. It's unbelievable. Growth exactly like that of Earth on a planet half a galaxy away. What are the odds on such duplication?
SPOCK: Astronomical, Captain. The relative size, age and composition of this planet makes it highly improbable that it would evolve similarly to Earth in any way.

And there you have it.  We can then film our alien planet scenes near the Franklin Reservoir just north of Los Angeles.  Just hope you don't bump into Andy and Opie going fishing.  That reservoir also served as the filming location for the lake near Mayberry in the Andy Griffith show.  The episodes Miri & City of the Edge of Forever were actually shot on the same backlot as the Andy Griffith show!  You can see Kirk and crew walk right past Andy's courthouse, Floyd's Barber Shop, etc.  Here's a whole web site dedicated to this fact.

Convenience isn't the only reason the writer's used Earth like planets in Star Trek.  Roddenberry wanted to use Star Trek to tell morality stories.  He felt that science fiction is at its best when it holds a mirror up to society and teaches us a lesson. So whenever he wanted to make a political statement about the world we live in-- the Enterprise would just go visit a world like ours to tell the story.

But it seems silly to think that there could be so many other Earth like planets in the universe, right?  Apparently not!  According to a recent article on io9.com,  There might be 2 million planets similar to Earth in our galaxy alone!  Here is a quick excerpt from the article:

 Based on the data from [NASA's Kepler probe], the JPL scientists estimated that 1.4 to 2.7 percent of all stars with the same basic properties as our Sun are home to Earth-like planets. That means a planet between 0.8 and two times the mass of Earth that lies within the habitable zone of its star. When you total up the amount of sun-like stars in the galaxy, that gives you two billion stars. And, of the hundred or so sun-like stars within a few dozen light-years of Earth, at least two of them should be home to habitable worlds.

JPL researcher Joseph Catanzarite points out just how many Earth-like planets there might really be:

"This means there are a lot of Earth analogs out there - two billion in the Milky Way galaxy. With that large a number, there's a good chance life and maybe even intelligent life might exist on some of those planets. And that's just our galaxy alone - there are 50 billion other galaxies."

So there!  The fact that the Enterprise bumps into Earth like planets all the time is suddenly not so far fetched!  As Spock would say, that's fascinating. :)

Museum of the Moving Image (Muppets, Star Trek, & Silence, Oh My!)

Tim and I went to the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, NY yesterday to see their exhibit on Jim Henson.  They were also showing The Muppets Go To The Movies-- a 1981 TV special which was originally produced to promote the feature film The Great Muppet Caper.  Both the exhibit and the movie were a lot of fun!  I highly recommend going to see the exhibit before it closes on March 4th.  If you grew up on Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock, or the Muppet Show you'll get a great insider's look at workings behind the Muppet world.

For fans of my current show, Silence! The Musical, might enjoy a visit to the Museum as well.  They have a rather extensive display on the scenic elements built for The Silence of the Lambs film.  The collection includes research materials, drawings, and even full model of the asylum in Baltimore and Buffalo Bill's basement from the climax of the film.  Speaking of Silence!-- make sure you come see the show soon!  I'm only working on it thru the end of February.  We've added a 10:30pm show THIS SATURDAY.  :)  There's also a CD signing event with the cast of Silence The Musical THIS THURSDAY at Barnes and Noble at 86th & Lex!  Come check it out.


Of course Museum of the Moving Image has a section dedicated entirely to Star Trek!  Well, not really... but there is some cool Trek stuff to see.  There is a section of the museum dedicated to the the moving image's influence on pop culture.  They have toys, lunch boxes, models, magazines, etc-- all sorts merchandising that has been released to promote movies and TV shows.  This list of items includes Star Trek action figures from the original series and the first movie, a model of the USS Enterprise (pictured here), a phaser water pistol, a cereal bowl and cup with Kirk & Spock on them, a Star Trek happy meal box from 1979, examples of Star Trek jewelry, several fan produced magazines, etc.  Outside of the world of Star Trek they fun stuff like a C3P0 scotch tape dispenser, a Batman lunch box and many more cool merchandising tie-in items.

There's also a display on Stop Motion animation where you can make your own little movie with paper cut outs.  They have it all set up so that you can make your own animated movie and then have it e-mailed to yourself.  Check out mine below!

I Saw William Shatner on Broadway!

I mentioned a while back that William Shatner was bringing his one man show: Shanter's World to Broadway.  It started previews on Tuesday and opens officially tonight.  The 90 minute (or so) show takes "audiences on a voyage through Shatner's life and career, from Shakespearean stage actor to internationally known icon and raconteur, known as much for his unique persona as for his expansive body of work on television and film." (playbill.com)

Tim and I went to see the show in its second preview last night.  I LOVED IT!  Now I will say-- I'm a pretty biased judge here.  As a Trekkie and as a fan of William Shatner it's hard for me to not love sitting in the same room as the man and listening to him tell stories.  It was really a huge treat.  Shatner seemed at home on the stage.  He was so calm and casual about the whole thing.  I felt like I was sitting in his living room sipping an iced tea while he entertained me with stories of his life.  He talked about his early life in the theatre working with some of the great men of our industry-- men I've read about and studied in college like Tyone Guthrie (founder of the Stratford Festival and the Guthrie Theatre) and Anthony Quayle (one of the founders of the Clarence Brown Theatre Company at my undergrad).  He talked about Gene Roddenberry asking him to do pilot for a space show-- a moment that changed his life.  He talked Star Trek's connection with NASA and described how he felt when he watched man land on the moon. He told us about his horses, talked about his family and briefly about the tragic death of his 3rd wife.  My emotions ran the gamut while I watched this living legend be so honest and human.  True, he rambled a little.  Sometimes the stories didn't really connect with each other-- he didn't tell a cohesive story with an arc from beginning to end. But that didn't really matter to me.  It was a great evening and I recommend that you go see his show too.

After the show we decided to go to the stage door for a glimpse of him up close.  We waiting with a small crowd of fans in the cold for about 20 minutes.  Finally, he stepped thru the door onto the sidewalk. The crowd erupted in cheers.  There was a barrage camera flashes.  Mr. Shatner paused for a moment, raised his hands and thanked us for coming.  I'm sure my face was beaming.  I had my iPhone in my hand and was unconsciously clicking pictures with it (mainly of the back of the head in front of me).  The others were cheering but I couldn't make a sound.  Time slowed down.  I was kind of frozen.  He looked great.  He was right there--- just a few feet from me.  I'm sure he said more, but I'm not sure what it was.  Before I knew it he was in his car and being driven away.   "Goodbye Bill!" I thought.  "See you again one day!"

Shatner's World runs on Broadway thru March 4th.  After which, Mr. Shatner will take his show on the road to cities all across the country.  Check out this video from Playbill.com in which Bill talks about his return to Broadway! :)

[I had trouble embedding the video-- but you view it by clicking THIS LINK.]

Star Trek vs Star Wars

Hatfields and McCoys.

Capulets and Montagues.

Boxers and Briefs.

Some rivalries are ages old and none is greater than the battle between Star Trek and Star Wars.  Nerds have been arguing over the finer points of these scifi franchises for over 30 years now.  It all started when the hugely successful Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope premiered in 1977.  Lucas's film a reached wider audience than Star Trek had been able to.  Since Trek's 3 year run on television had ended 8 years earlier, the show had found a strong fan base in re-runs and even prompted the production of an Emmy Award winning animated series.  Avid trekkies were organizing conventions, publishing fan written fiction and generally living in their mom's basements (hey-- these are my people I'm talking about here).   Then this new "Star" came onto the scene.  Star Wars was popular with nerds, cool kids, your mom... everyone.  It basically revolutionized the film industry and proved that a scrappy little space opera can make a TON of money.  Soon all the Hollywood studios were clamoring to compete.  Our friends over at Paramount realized that they already owned a scifi franchise with a built in fan base that might be able to match Star Wars spaceship for spaceship (and dollar for dollar).  They were in the process of developing a new Star Trek TV show called "Star Trek: Phase II".  The pilot episode of which was quickly transformed into Star Trek The Motion Picture and thrown into theaters in December of 1979 (5 months before Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Backwas released).   The gauntlet had been thrown.  It was to be all-out war between these two franchises.  They competed for our attention, devotion and for our allowance money all thru the 80's, 90's, & 00's.   Here is a quick breakdown of the dates

1966-1969 - Star Trek (The Original Series)

1973-1974 - Star Trek (The Animated Series)

May-1977 - Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

Nov-1978 - Star Wars Holiday Special

Dec-1979 - Star Trek: The Motion Picture

May-1980 - Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

Jun-1982 - Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

May-1983 - Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

Jun-1984 - Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

Nov-1984 - Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure

Nov-1985 - Ewoks: The Battle for Endor

Nov-1986 - Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

1987-1994 - Star Trek The Next Generation

Jun-1989 - Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

Dec-1991 - Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

1993-1999 - Star Trek Deep Space Nine

Nov-1994 - Star Trek Generations

1995-2001 - Star Trek Voyager

Nov-1996 - Star Trek: First Contact

Dec-1998 - Star Trek: Insurrection

May-1999 - Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

2001-2005 - Star Trek Enterprise

May-2002 - Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones

Dec-2002 - Star Trek Nemesis

2003-2005 - Star Wars: Clone Wars (animated series)

May-2005 - Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

Aug-2008 - Star Wars: The Clone Wars

May-2009 - Star Trek (JJ Abrams)

May-2013 - Star Trek 2 (JJ Abrams)

I totally understand why the Hollywood types behind these franchises love the competition. It's a friendly rivalry that generates press and sells more tickets.  How can we really have an opinion about which is better if we haven't seen them both?  So let's all go out to the movies so we can compare and contrast them fairly, right?  Who wins in this scenario?  Well, everyone does.  The producers sell their films and merchandising. The actors get paychecks and future contracts. And we get some amazing Science Fiction films and TV shows (not to mention toys, books, comic books, models, games, clothes...).  So yes-- rivalry is good for business.

But why do some fans get all bent out of shape over "which is better"?  Maybe it's because to most of the world they're the same thing!  I don't know how many times I was given Star Wars birthday cards when I was a kid by well meaning relatives who had no idea I was really a Trekkie.  For that matter, they had no idea there was a difference between Star Trek and Star Wars.  "Isn't that the one with Darth Vader and Dr. Spock?"   I've been dealing with this for years.  You see, I got into Star Trek when the Next Generation premiered in 1987.  But I didn't see a Star Wars movie until A New Hope was re-released in theaters (with added scenes new special effects) in 1997!  I grew up thinking of Star Wars as "that other space show"-- far inferior to my beloved Star Trek.  You see, Star Trek was beamed into my living room 5 times a week (well, once a week for TNG and 5 times for reruns of TOS).   To me, Star Wars was just a movie at the video store that I never asked my Mom to rent.  Aside from references to it on The Muppet Babies, I wasn't really aware of it.   But the Star Wars merchandising was (and is) EVERYWHERE!   That's one thing the Lucas people do much better than the folks at Paramount.  They licensee the hell out of their product and make it very easy to find Star Wars candy, comics, underwear, etc etc at any big box store you walk into like Wal-mart or Target.  As a Trekkie I can find this infuriating.

BUT-- do I really hate Star Wars?  Of course not!  Now that I've matured a little I can watch those Star Wars movies (especially A New Hope) and appreciate them as really good films.  There are some rich characters in Star Wars.  George Lucas created a fascinating reality and it's fun to get lost in.  I see Star Wars as different that Star Trek.  Not better or worse-- but just different.

Recently, there's been a lot of Youtube traffic from some of the Stars of these franchises going back and forth about the rivalry.  It all started over on William Shanter's youtube channel. He randomly started talking trash about Star Wars.  Carrie Fisher responded to which Shanter fired back.  Finally George Takei stepped in to talk some sense into the two of them (after all, he can't let Shanter get all the press).  Watch and enjoy George's response...

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvTCr5Z-0lA]

Bewitched Returning to TV??

 

Rumor has it that CBS and SONY are considering rebooting the Bewitched TV show.  Now, they've just ordered a script so this is still in the very early stages.  It doesn't have a full green light and no casting as been announced or anything like that.  Part of me is very excited about this!  I loved the original TV show with Elizabeth Montgomery!  But I'm only very cautious.  Apparently producers of the Will Ferrell/Nicole Kidman movie are also involved with this new TV pilot.  I hated that movie!  It lacked all the magic of the original TV show.   I wanted them to just make a Bewitched movie-- about an advertizing exec who's wife happens to be a magical witch.  Instead what we got was a movie about a failed actor trying to revitalize his career by doing a re-make of a classic TV show and casting a beautiful woman in the role of the witch who just happens to be a magical witch.  Um... that's just dumb.  And not funny.  

Pardon the quality of this video I found on YouTube, but it sums up my thoughts on that 2005 Bewitched movie.  Let's hope this new TV show doesn't provide similar disappointment.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mRAqbAtQ5I]