Happy First Contact Day! Here’s a “golden oldie”—and a thought for today

Aside from “Star Trek (Birth)Day” every Sept. 8, our favorite stellar storytelling playground’s other main holiday is of course today — April 5, the day from 2063 that every schoolchild knows as First Contact Day! Sitting here in 2019 it’s fun for me to direct newer fans to my interview a couple years back (below) with Noelle Hannibal, the “first …

STV— LAlert: Sundays through April = ‘The Improvised Generation’ new season!

By now it’s a tradition— my annual chat with some of the intrepid crew of the USS McGinley, now in their fifth season of bringing the narrative improv style of fun and pathos to L.A. audiences in the best  TNG-era Trek style as “The Improvised Generation.” So check out our visit below this away team of  (from left) Paul Hungerford, …

Looks like “The Brightest Star,” the next #ShortTreks, will make Trek history

UPDATE: “The Brightest Star” is beautiful, an old-school planetary culture exploration disguised as some well-received background on both Saru and his Kelpian people, well-timed in the Prime timeline … while at the same time, raising a host of new questions. It’s bizarrely and freshly off-kilter as to the “predators” of the famously “prey” Kelpians, and exactly who and how the …

My ‘Stellar Cartography’ maps/book set gets a 2018 update for Discovery—and more

But hurry:  The online pre-order special ends soon! Yes, it’s an all-NEW update of the showy Star Trek: Stellar Cartography wall maps and book set — coming Oct. 9 with TEN large 2-D maps from various Trek eras and cultures and a guidebook. The itch that first got me into Star Trek backgrounding is back again, courtesy of the good …

Kurtzman showruns Discovery for now—with a CBS deal that includes NEW Trek

Of COURSE this news breaks as I am packing for SoonerCon, and doing a Portal 47 guest show on the road… but I have a word or two (below). But between last week’s showrunner firing on Discovery and Alex Kurtzman’s new deal in takign solo control of DSC, with sources running amok with unconfirmed but plentiful stories about new Trek …

Off to WonderCon: On the hunt for Discovery-First Fans—and a P47 brief-up!

I’ve been talking here and there around the Interwebs lately of my big mission this year: To find and talk with new fans who came to the Trek family via Discovery only—Discovery First Fans! —without bridging over or carrying baggage from any prior Trek.* And my first chance is Anaheim’s WonderCon, the “little brother” to sprawling San Diego Comic-Con. —At …

TODAY IS THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF “THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE” DEBUT, Y’ALL

Drama, pathos, sister ships, most visual effects ever, a bittersweet tragic hero of such gravitas in a bravura ballsy performance rivaled only by Ricardo Montalban’s Khan, a Top Five (Top Two?) Best McCoy Scene Ever in the series, and best score ever and Jaws’ ripoff, er, inspiration. And THAT is why “The Doomsday Machine” by Norman Spinrad, guest starring William …

Happy birthday TNG—A look back at 30, just as the new kid on the block takes off

It’s officially The Next Generation‘s 30th birthday today, counting its on-air premiere—even as, we always say, it actually “premiered” across a whole week until Oct. 4, Monday through Sunday, in various markets. And later to the rest of the world, of course.  I said as much on TNG‘s 25th anniversary —and wow, look: we’ve been in the Blog Era that …

LA Alert! This SUNDAY join me, Gene Coon protege Andreea Kindryd—and The Improvised Generation

Save the date, SoCal Trekland: I am so excited for our first Trekland/Portal 47 production! THIS SUNDAY at 6 pm in Los Feliz, I get to present an unheralded witness to little-known Desilu Trek and ’60s history— live, and partnered with an incredibly talented pro Trek improv troupe… with hosted after-show meet-n-greet photo opps! But hurry—it’s only 45 seats (see …

FLASH: CBS “Discovery” plans @ San Diego Comic-Con explode with more events, galleries

For all those (weirdly and wrongly) claiming “CBS botched the 50th”… as I debunked on my very first  Trekland Tuesday LIVE, and elsewhere… comes exciting news today that, though late,  CBS is really on its game in the San Diego Comic-Con arena for getting fans (and maybe fans-to-be!) excited for the Sept. 24 debut. We knew about the big Ballroom …

UPDATED: My San Diego Comic-Con: A Trekland double-dose and a Portal 47 newbies bonus!

UPDATE! Now with SDCC app links… NEWS ANNOUNCEMENT coming…  CBS #DSC events update … a new Facebook fan page for Trekkers bound for SDCC … AND BONUS club meetup for new Portal 47 signees!   Hey! Here’s my San Diego Comic-Con plans! Can it be a year since the biggest Trek footprint at SDCC in history? Wow. Well, CBS has …

Even if the Star Trek: Discovery info drought ends at the Upfronts… just chill

Well—will this period of Trek history be remembered five years from now, much less 10 or 15? I’m talking about the relentless Discovery drumbeat of doom and even anger at the lack of info (aside from casting and some early-early trailers, of course… aside from that) that has permeated the interwaves for some time. I mean, I know delays and …

STV: Mike Westmore on his aliens *and* classic Hollywood on exhibit, Part 3

Such a great visit and personal tour that Star Trek makeup icon Mike Westmore gave us at his career retrospective at his alma mater that it took up three online visits! (See below the fold) But yes, even as the “Lifeforms” exhibit wraps April 30 at UC-Santa Barbara’s Art Design & Architecture Museum on campus, these online visits will live …

Need a worthy tax deduction for 2016 today? Enterprise in Space can help!

Hey, it’s Dec. 31—looking to help out a 501(c)3,  save on your taxes, and help the future too? Well, Enterprise in Space is a perfect match! I haven’t talked about EIS here in a long time, but the program to put 100+ student STEAM projects aboard a custom-designed orbiter  in 2021 is simply booming, including the addition of over a …

A rare political move: Trek Against Trump takes a stand

Well, this is unprecedented. Nearly 100 names and faces who brought Gene Roddenberry’s hopeful, future universe to life over five decades are diving into Campaign 2016 with “Trek Against Trump.” From the original series right through to the Kelvin timeline films and even Discovery—before and behind the camera alike, and alongside too. And, I’m proud to say, me too. It’s …