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Phoenix Comic Con 2011

If it were not for the enthusiasm of Star Trek fans, the magic would never have gone beyond the first two seasons of The Original Series. Star Trek conventions are a long standing gathering place for these fans, but I’d also been hearing about the Comic Cons. Comic Cons??? Really?

brochure for Phoenix comic Con
Early Brochure

The grand-daddy of Comic Cons in San Diego has capped attendance at 125,000 and I hear tales of long hours camping out for some panels. That’s too much for me to leap into, clueless that I am.

Phoenix Comic Con looked more accessible – manageable crowds, less expensive. The PR showed pictures of superheroes and figures unknown to me. But Leonard Nimoy would be there. I lost my heart to Spock  back in the 60’s and renewed my dedication with the 2009 reboot.  So off I went.

Star Trek images on Program

Phx CC Program

Any doubts I had about whether this would be a congregation of Star Trek enthusiasts was dispelled by the program. I scheduled myself for panels.

(click here to continue)

 

June 18, 2011 | Categories: Keeping Star Trek Alive | 1 Comment »

Actors Often Not Into “Mythos”

As a Trek fan, I get caught up in the story and in the characters.  I loved the mythos of TOS and TNG, the world that Kirk and Spock, that Capt. Pickard and Riker lived in. Spock and Data were practically real people to me.  To tell the truth, I cared more about the characters than about the actors who gave them life.

Going to ST conventions, I was surprised to realize that the actors weren’t talking about their characters or how they approached the role as much as they were talking about jokes they played on each other.  They didn’t seem as fascinated with the Star Trek mythos.  Brent Spiner, when asked a question about Data, admitted “I don’t know. I don’t remember.”  After working on a set, I realized why.  [to continue click here]

May 25, 2011 | Categories: Being on Set, Production | 4 Comments »

A Scene with Kirk- Almost

The Hollywood Reporter (THR) recently held a roundtable discussion with writers of upcoming summer blockbusters that included Roberto Orci, one of the writers of Star Trek 2009 and the much anticipated sequel. While Orci was speaking for “Cowboys and Aliens”, he mentioned a tidbit about Star Trek 2009. [for more, click here]

 

May 2, 2011 | Categories: Pre-Production: casting, locations, script, etc | Comments Off on A Scene with Kirk- Almost

Voyage Home from a Producer’s Viewpoint

Scene from The Voyage Home

“The Voyage Home” was one of the most favorite of the Star Trek movies – San Francisco, whales, laugh-out-loud memories.  Here’s an interview with producer Ralph Winter, in which he mentions some aspects that never occurred to me – Eddie Murphy??  What the headband saved Nimoy? and more!

http://www.startrek.com/article/the-voyage-home-with-producer-ralph-winter

April 24, 2011 | Categories: Production | Comments Off on Voyage Home from a Producer’s Viewpoint

Production Headaches We Take for Granted

Do you remember the days when if you filmed a picture of a TV screen, you saw black bars moving across it? You don’t see than anymore, right?  If you’re like me, you just took the change for granted, but there is a special technique behind it: 24-frame video playback.  If you’re asking “What’s that?”, click this link: http://www.btlnews.com/crafts/visual-fx/the-story-behind-the-screens/

March 23, 2011 | Categories: Production | Comments Off on Production Headaches We Take for Granted

David Mack on Guidelines for Writing

Author David Mack explains the freedoms and restrictions when it comes to writing Star Trek novels.

A fan since the original series syndication days, Mack came out of film school hoping to write for Star Trek: The Next Generation. “I hit a lot of obstacles,” he said. “[Editor] John [Ordover] gave me a copy of the writers’ guidelines for the novels. I went home, read them, realized my proposal-in-progress violated every instruction on the page, and decided not to waste John’s time with it. He appreciated this gesture so much that we became friends.”

….Writing for Star Trek means making sure not to violate the canon, established in the television series and movies. “[Canon] is the primary product upon which all official licenses tie-in products – books, comics, games, merchandise, etc. – are based and with which they must be consistent,” said Mack. “This is the official decree of the Star Trek licensing office at CBS Television Consumer Products, which currently owns and controls all things related to Star Trek. Their word is law. End of story.”   …. much more freedom with their own original non-canon characters, and even with minor characters from canon Star Trek.

For more, see http://www.ufplanets.com/ufp/fnn/herald/march2011/index.html

 

March 18, 2011 | Categories: Writing For Star Trek | Comments Off on David Mack on Guidelines for Writing

Where did Klingon come from?

The Klingon language wasn’t heard in The Original Series of Star Trek. There were a couple of lines of Klingon in the first motion picture that were actually created by James Doohan (Scotty)! By the second motion picture, more was needed. In this CLIP, Mark Okrand, chairman of the Washington Shakepeare Company’s board, discusses how he developed the Klingon language.
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February 27, 2011 | Categories: Pre-Production: casting, locations, script, etc | Comments Off on Where did Klingon come from?

Rick Berman, the former Star Trek executive producer

Here’s part 1 of an interesting interview with Executive Producer Rick Berman as he recounts the challenges of creating Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise. In this part, he talks about the transition as the ailing Roddenbury pulled back from the helm.
http://startrek.com/article/rick-berman-looks-back-at-18-years-of-trek-part-1

kirk berman picard

Cpt Kirk, Berman, Cpt Picard

February 9, 2011 | Categories: Pre-Production: casting, locations, script, etc | 1 Comment »

Casting

Here’s an interesting article on casting for Star Trek: http://www.trektoday.com/content/2011/02/surma-casting-star-trek/
If you were casting, would you have spotted the potential Klingon in Michael Dorn?

Worf unveiled=Michael Dorn

Dorn as Worf

Worf, Klingon

February 1, 2011 | Categories: Pre-Production: casting, locations, script, etc | Tags: , , , | 1 Comment »

Lucky Enough To Go On Set? Follow “Set Etiquette”!

–thanks to Katie Douthit, Make-up artist and teacher  in New Mexico, for the following tips-

As a fledgling make up person, I get my experience from working freebies on small efforts. Even there you can see the magic coming together. The tone is often informal, with friends and neighbors roaming around and watching. When I took make-up classes with Katie Douthit, she emphasized that in order to be part of the magic of professional filming, you needed to know how to behave on set, to know what could kill your chances. Below are some of the tips from Katie.

The movie world is a very competitive world with lots of people lined up to get their foot in the door. Developing people in their jobs is  not part of the culture. The least little thing can get you fired, without knowing what you did wrong.  To get your foot in the door, when they say jump, you say “how high”.  Never argue. Never get in a huff that something they want isn’t your job or they didn’t give you enough notice.

Nimoy "becoming" Spock

According to the union contract, you must be given 8 hours notice before a job, but the reality is that if you stick to that you won’t get the job.  If anything happens to the person scheduled for work, there is a list of other people anxious to take their place. Whoever answers “yes!” first, gets the job. That’s why it’s important to have a cell phone at all times, preferably one with email- the way most prefer to be contacted.  It’s also very important when you get a call, to acknowledge it ASAP. Never assume the caller will know you got the message.
(TO CONTINUE, click here)

January 30, 2011 | Categories: Being on Set | Tags: , , , , , | 1 Comment »

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