Star Trek Page 2

The Star Trek franchise is celebrating its 50th birthday this year with the movie Star Trek Beyond, the third in J.J. Abrams' rebooted saga. One of the new cast members this time around is Idris Elba, who plays the enigmatic villain Krall. 

Chris Pine also stars in Star Trek Beyond

Elba remembers watching the original 1966 TV series with his parents while growing up. "It was great to see a great diverse cast on TV, even before we knew what that was," he says. "But it was very interesting to hear a Scotsman, a black woman, an Asian all in one TV show, flying around space. That was pretty out there."

Continue reading: Idris Elba Wants To Be A Classic 'Star Trek' Villain

Chris Hemsworth is set to make a return to 'Star Trek 4'.

The 32-year-old actor is to reprise his role as George Kirk, the father that Captain James T. Kirk [played by Chris Pine] never knew, in the forthcoming blockbuster, despite being killed off in the first 'Star Trek' movie seven years ago.

Access Hollywood's Scott Mantz tweeted: ''BREAKING!! #JJAbrams confirms to me that a 4th #StarTrek movie will bring together #ChrisPine & #ChrisHemsworth!! (sic)''

Continue reading: Chris Hemsworth To Return To Star Trek 4

Star Trek script-writer Simon Pegg has defended the decision to portray the character of Hikaru Sulu as openly gay, and has insisted that he and George Takei – the actor who originally played Sulu – haven’t fallen out over the matter.

Speaking at the red carpet premiere in London of Star Trek Beyond on Tuesday (July 12th), Pegg addressed the matter which was revealed at the end of last week, where Takei, himself openly gay and a fervent LGBT rights campaigner, expressed disapproval at the decision to make Sulu, played by John Cho, an openly gay character, insisting that the film’s creators should have written in a new original character.

Simon Pegg at the premiere of 'Star Trek Beyond' in London

Continue reading: Simon Pegg Hasn't Fallen Out With George Takei Over Gay Sulu Character

One of Star Trek’s best-known characters, Hikaru Sulu, will be depicted as gay in the forthcoming blockbuster Star Trek Beyond.

American actor John Cho, who is reprising his role as the third officer and senior helmsman aboard the Enterprise for the second time having appeared in 2013’s Star Trek Into Darkness, will this time be playing Sulu as an openly gay character with a same sex partner.

Speaking to the Herald Sun, the 44 year old South Korean-born actor said that the portrayal was intended as a tribute to Takei, who is himself openly gay.

Continue reading: Hikaru Sulu To Be Portrayed As An Openly Gay Character In 'Star Trek Beyond'

Leonard Nimoy's son will direct and produce a documentary on Spock, the Star Trek character his father played in the original series of the cult sci-fi drama. Adam Nimoy, a television director, announced the news on Friday (27th March).The documentary, entitled For the Love of Spock, will be released to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Star Trek next year. The first episode of Star Trek aired on 8th September 1966.

A documentary about Leonard Nimoy and Spock will be directed and produced by his son, Adam Nimoy.

Read More: Star Trek Icon Leonard Nimoy Passes Away At The Age Of 83. 

Continue reading: Leonard Nimoy's Son Will Direct & Produce 'Star Trek' Spock Documentary

Leonard Nimoy, the American actor who played Mr. Spock in the eternally popular sci-fi series ‘Star Trek’, has died at the age of 83 in Los Angeles.

His son, Adam, told CNN that he died on Friday afternoon in the later stages of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. COPD is a disease of the lungs, from which Nimoy revealed a year ago that he was suffering, despite quitting smoking thirty years previously.

Leonard Nimoy passed away at the age of 83

Continue reading: 'Star Trek' Icon Leonard Nimoy Passes Away At The Age Of 83

Michael Ansara will forever be remembered as the man who portrayed one of sci-fi's most feared yet respected villains; Kang in the television series Star Trek. Following his death earlier this week, the actor will further be remembered as not only a great villain, but as a great actor who was respected by his peers, loved by his fans and will be missed by his friends, family and colleagues.

Born to American parents in a small village in Syria in 1922 (he returned to America with his parents two years later), Ansara first ventured into acting in the late 1940's, eventually breaking into television and some movie work after a few years performing on-stage. He first got his break portraying a Native American in two western series, playing Cochise in ABC's Broken Arrow and as Apache Deputy U.S. Marshal Sam Buckhart in NBC's Law of the Plainsman. He also appeared in a number of big screen Westerns as well as a number of Biblical epics, including The Robe, The Ten Commandments and The Greatest Story Ever Told, however it was his role as Kang that will be remembered the most.

Ansara's relationship with Star Trek began when he first appeared as the Klingon warrior Kang, going on to play him another two episodes in the 1990's in two separate spin-offs from the original series. He first appeared in the 1968 broadcast episode 'Day of the Dove' from the original Star Trek series, reprising his role for the Deep Space 9 episode 'Blood Oath' and again for the Voyager episode 'Flashback.'

Continue reading: Michael Ansara, One Of Star Trek's Most Famous Villain, Has Died Aged 91

Monsters University spent its second week at No.1 in the US Weekend Box Office grossing $46.2 million. The sequel of Monsters Inc. follows the early, not so jovial, relationship of Sulley and Mike as they attend college. Monsters University includes some big names from the acting community including Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi and Dame Helen Mirren.

Billy Crystal with ‘Mike Wazowski’, the character he voices in Monsters Inc. and Monsters University. 

Disney Pixar’s animation has fended off competition from Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy’s cop comedy The Heat. The comedy has received favourable reviews and the weekend box office reflects this, grossing since its release on Friday $40 million.

Continue reading: 'Monsters University' Fends Off 'The Heat': Still No.1 In US Box Office

Les Misérables star, Eddie Redmayne is set to play Stephen Hawking in a new biopic Theory of Everything directed by James Marsh, according Deadline.com Redmayne is currently filming Jupiter Ascending starring alongside Mila Kunis and Channing Tatum. It is currently unknown who will play Hawking's first wife. Filming for Theory of Everything is scheduled to begin this autumn.

Stephen Hawking is the world's most famous and revered scientist. The brilliance and accessibility of his works - A Brief History of Time, Horizon and a collection of science books for children - have ensured Hawking has a place not only in academia but in popular culture. 

However, Hawking is as well known for his disability as he is for his work. The world famous physicist was diagnosed, aged 21, with motor neuron disease. The illness, progressively worsening since Hawking's diagnosis in 1962, has confined Hawking to a wheelchair. He is unable to speak without a voice simulator. Despite all the difficulties Hawking faces he continues to teach at the University of Cambridge. 

Continue reading: Eddie Redmayne To Play Stephen Hawking In New Biopic

Sir Patrick Stewart found himself making headlines around the world this week after wandering into a Brooklyn pizzeria and announcing it was his first ever slice. The 72-year-old Star Trek actor was dragged into the eatery by his fiance who claimed she could cure his hangover with some premium melted cheese and a fizzy drink.

In a Twitter picture posted on Thursday, showing him enjoying his pizza, Stewart said, "My first ever pizza slice," which basically sent the Internet into frantic overdrive. How had one of the world's most famous actors never tried the delights of a pizza? However, all was not what it seemed, and Stewart told the New York Magazine, "People misunderstood. There was a school of thought that I had eaten my first pizza, but of course how could that possibly be true? I would have had to have stayed locked up in a cellar," he said, adding, "But nevertheless.this was my first slice of pizza, which I was only eating because my fiancée and I were a little hungover yesterday morning and she said what we need is pizza and a soothing drink - and she was right. It solved the problem." Nice work Patrick!

So there you have it, Sir Patrick Stewart has tried a pizza before, though never in slice form. Weird!

Continue reading: Sir Patrick Stewart Wants You To Know He's Tried Pizza Before, Honest

What’s that? A giant global corporation has ignored the creative integrity of the people it profits from in order to maximize gross income, potentially alienating future authors and jeopardizing their commerce? That’s right, Amazon is all-aboard the fan fiction train, next stop: avoiding tax on the profit it makes from it!

This means a fan of a book, like Twilight for instance, could write a story with Bella, Edward and Jacob, and sell it back to readers via the Kindle store. That is, if Stephenie Meyer signs up to it, which, considering the size of the brand, she probably won’t. It also means the latent homoerotic relationship between Star Trek’s Kirk and Spock, exhibited so often by completely normal fan fiction writers, can now be a nice little earner for them. Nice that.

It’s surprising just how many authors are signing up to let their work be taken by a fan and moulded into something else. Amazon reckon the "Kindle Worlds" project is a good thing for writers, as it is "an entirely new way to monetise their valuable franchises [and] it allows them to extend their worlds with new stories and characters and more deeply engage with existing fans".

Continue reading: Amazon Thinks Profits And Sanctions Fan Fiction Marketplace

It was a bitter sweet weekend for the team behind Star Trek Into Darkness, after the much-anticipated film managed to top the US Box Office on its debut weekend with exceptionally high figures, yet missed the figure of $100 million it was hoping for and even the figure set by its predecessor in 2009.

There’s been a lot of hype surrounding the new JJ Abrams film, but when was all said and done we reckon they’ll be disappointed with how it’s gone Stateside, with the film taking in a still-impressive $70.6 million, but one which pales in comparison to the hoped-for target and the $75.2 million taken in by 2009’s Star Trek. Trailing behind it was Iron Man 3, which posted still-respectable figures of $35.2 million, while The Great Gatsby was in third place with $23.4 million.

So why did Star Trek Into Darkness not meet expectations? The BBC reports that Hollywood.com’s Paul Dergarabedian reckons that the film is still something of a ‘fanboy’ film, and hasn’t crossed out into the general main stream like, say, a Twilight has. "It's a very specific brand, but I think the general public would love this movie, because it's such an action movie” he said. “But to get a hundred-million-plus opening weekend, unless you're Twilight, you really have to cross over to all audiences."

Continue reading: Star Trek Into Darkness Suffers US Box Office Disappointment

Star Trek Into Darkness eased its way to the top of the box office charts upon its American release this weekend, but it failed to hit the targets set by the money people, and the standards set by its predecessor.

Click for the Star Trek Into Darkness Feature!

Continue reading: Star Trek Into Darkness Fails To Impress At Box Office

Iron Man 3 and The Great Gatsby coasted along to a one-two finish in the American Box Office charts this weekend (10-12th May) without much pressure. In fact, the only other opening they had to deal with was Peeples, the Tina Gordon Chism-directed film that has faired pretty badly with the critics.

Click for the Star Trek Into Darkness Trailer!

But that’s all going to change this weekend what Star Trek Into Darkness is unleashed on the American people. J.J Abrams’ second Trekkie film has been reviewed almost as well as the first, and the first one was reviewed really well. Benedict Cumberbatch makes his debut in the franchise, playing Khan, while Chris Pine returns as James T. Kirk. The Enterprise’s crew are forced into a battlefield to capture or eliminate one man who could end the universe. And they’re going to do this in 132 minutes! What a way to kick off the weekend! Into Darkness will almost certainly blow Iron Man 3 and Gatsby out of the water on its American debut come May 17th. J.J Abrams will be forgoing his future Trekkie duties, though, as he takes on the Star Wars fanboys in exchange for their affection/disdain.

Continue reading: Star Trek Set To Stun Iron Man 3 And The Great Gatsby Off The Box Office Charts

Chris Pine, the actor set to play Captain Kirk in the upcoming Star Trek film, has talked of the pressures of taking on the iconic role.

Smokin' Aces star Pine is to step into the shoes of William Shatner in the JJ Abrams picture which tells of the adventures of the Starship Enterprise during their time at Star Fleet academy.

Though he confirmed he would reveal "not a thing" during an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the 27-year-old did let slip some small details about the movie, set for a Boxing Day release.

"I think the biggest mistake I could ever do would be to try to recreate what Mr Shatner did," he explained. "There are certain qualities that Kirk has that are vital for someone who is a leader of men.

"And those qualities, I definitely wanted to take from what Mr Shatner did in the original series. But my job is to take something new, to Take That and build upon it, really do my own thing. I just feel no pressure when it comes to that."

The young actor admitted he can understand the fears of hardcore fans but attempt to allay some of their concerns.

"I don't have that many credits and people are very worried that their Kirk is going to be destroyed. But I can only say that we're having a great time. JJ has been wonderful and the cast is phenomenal. I think what we're doing is very special."

Pine said he had not met Shatner, but added: "I've met Mr Nimoy a couple of times. He's been on set and we have a couple of scenes in the film, which will be nice, and I'm excited for those."

Though Heroes star Zachary Quinto is to play the young Vulcan, Pine's comments could imply that time travel is featured in the movie or that flashbacks will be used.

After a call for 'odd-looking' extras, much of the movie's major casting has been completed.

British comedy favourite Simon Pegg will play the young Scotty, Lord Of The Rings actor Karl Urban stars as Leonard 'Bones' McCoy and comic actor John Cho plays Mr Sulu.

Continue reading: New Captain Kirk Talks