Vic
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Star Trek Online is releasing our latest ship bundle -- the Recon Destroyer Bundle. Currently available in the C-store on PC, these brand-new Federation and Klingon ships will be releasing for Xbox One and Playstation 4 very soon as well. Romulans and Jem’Hadar can fly the ships of their allied factions, meaning they get access to these ships, too.
In these trying times, constant conflict and ever-present hostility have made exploration and reconnaissance at the edges of the frontier an even more dangerous endeavor than normal. The Recon Destroyer has been designed in response to this galactic atmosphere, providing a distinct combat-focus to a ship that is otherwise dedicated to scientific study and intelligence gathering.
The Lafayette-class is a modern re-design of the classic New Orleans-class, which first came into service with Starfleet in the mid-2300s.
The New Orleans-class starship was one of the many “graveyard ships” seen in the wreckage of Wolf 359 in the TNG episode “The Best of Both Worlds.” While quickly assembled to fill out the roster of Starfleet for a long-distance background shot, the ship still managed to capture fans’ imaginations with its distinct take on the Galaxy class aesthetic and its large mission pods – made from highlighter markers. Getting the New Orleans into Star Trek Online has been a longstanding goal, but since STO is set 30 years after Nemesis, we also wanted to evolve that design into something contemporary to the 25th-century Starfleet aesthetic.
In addition to the Lafayette-class Recon Destroyer for Starfleet, a new Klingon ship will also be coming to Star Trek Online. The Ketha-class Recon Raptor is the Klingon counterpart to the Lafayette-class Recon Destroyer and a fierce addition to the Imperial Fleet.
The Ketha-class Recon Raptor is a stealthy escort with a Science flair. A powerful warship, it can cloak, mount heavy cannons and an experimental weapon, and comes equipped with the Hyper-Focusing Trinary Arrays console.
We hope you enjoy these new ships, and we’ll see you in game.
Star Trek Online is a free-to-play massively multiplayer online game that allows players to explore the Star Trek universe from within. Players can forge their own destiny as Captain of a Federation starship, champion the Empire through the far reaches of the galaxy as a Klingon Warrior, rebuild the Romulan legacy as the commander of a Romulan Republic Warbird or carry out daring missions on behalf of the Dominion as a Jem’Hadar soldier. Captains can also explore iconic locations from the Star Trek universe, make contact with new alien species and battle alongside other players in customizable starships. Star Trek Online is currently available on PC, PlayStation4 and Xbox One.
To download and play Star Trek Online today for free, visit www.playstartrekonline.com.
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Star Trek: Discovery: Season One will be available as a limited-edition SteelBook on November 13 in the U.S. exclusively at Best Buy and select retailers in other territories, it was announced today by CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Media Distribution.
Further, CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Media Distribution also revealed the international release dates for the Star Trek: Discovery: Season One Blu-ray and DVD collections.
They are as follows:
- U.K. – November 19
- Scandinavia – November 19
- Benelux – November 21
- Brazil – November 21
- Spain – November 21
- Germany – November 22
- Australia – November 28
- Italy – December 4
- France – December 4
As previously reported, the four-disc Blu-ray and DVD collections, available to U.S. and Canadian fans, will feature all 15 first-season episodes of the CBS All Access series, as well as featurettes and other special features that will include cast and crew interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, and deleted and extended scenes.Star Trek: Discovery's first season is available on CBS All Access in the U.S. and Space Channel in Canada. It's available on Netflix in the rest of the world.
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The characters of Wesley R. Crusher and Jacob “Jake” Sisko stand as unique creations in the history of Star Trek – teenage characters who fans get to watch grow into adults as the show progresses. While children and teens had been guest stars during the original show, most notably “ And the Children Shall Lead,” it was not until the introduction of Wesley on Star Trek: The Next Generation and then Jake on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine that teens took a prominent role in Trek adventures.
My family’s dual signed Cirroc Lofton and Avery Brooks pictureOne of the most-important similarities between the characters is that both lost a parent. It is worth noting the deaths of Wesley’s father and Jake’s mother are connected to Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Wesley’s father was Jack Crusher, a Lieutenant Commander serving under Captain Picard on the U.S.S. Stargazer. Picard sent Crusher on the mission that lead to his death (“Encounter at Farpoint, Part I). Fourteen years later, Picard would be abducted by the Borg Collective and turned into Locutus, leading an assault at the Battle of Wolf 359 against Starfleet. This led to the death of Jake’s mother Jennifer aboard the U.S.S. Saratoga (“Emissary, Part I”). Wesley and Jake were lucky to have strong surviving parents in Beverly Crusher and Benjamin Sisko, respectively, and in the tradition of Star Trek serving as a metaphor to real life, these characters represent the challenges faced by single parent homes during the 1980s and 1990s.
Meeting Wil Wheaton during 2013Both Wesley and Jake were influenced by their parents in terms of career choices and hobbies. For example, Wesley and Jake learned about baseball from their fathers (“Evolution,” “Emissary, Part I”). Even more important to their characters, especially as teenagers, is watching Wesley and Jake decide which career paths to take as they grow into adulthood. The character development here is realistic, with Jake and Wesley both dealing with something many teens have to face – balancing parental expectations with personal goals.
For Wesley, living in space is a wonderful experience and he has a deep interest and commitment to Starfleet. He had good role models in his two Starfleet parents, which inspired his choice. This commitment almost entirely defines Wesley’s personality during his four years as a regular character on TNG. In fact, except for the occasional mention of friends, as in the Ten Forward scene at the end of “Evolution,” or his interactions with characters like Robin Lefler (“The Game”), most of Wesley’s friendships are with his Starfleet mentors, William Riker, Geordi La Forge, Data, and of course, Picard.
Wesley does have a crisis about whether or not to actually join Starfleet near the end of the series, and he questions if he made his choices because of what he wants or because of what he thought others wanted of him. He does leave his studies at the Academy for a while to go experience the universe with the Traveler (“Journey's End”), but he then returns to his original goal of joining Starfleet by the time of Star Trek Nemesis. He is seen at Riker and Deanna Troi’s wedding in a Lieutenant Junior Grade Starfleet uniform, and a deleted scene, the script, and the novelization explain that Wesley will be joining Riker’s crew on the U.S.S. Titan; it should be noted that some of the non-canon books offer a different explanation for why Wesley is wearing the uniform.
My family and I meeting Cirroc Lofton during 2015
By contrast, Jake is less enthusiastic about living in space, especially aboard Deep Space 9. The 1992 DS9 Writer’s Bible says that Jake “knows that his mom would still be alive if they did not live in space, and he has a suppressed bitterness about it.” Unlike Wesley, who immediately takes to life aboard a starship, Jake does not really see Starfleet as an option. Benjamin Sisko presumes his son will follow his example, and Jake is concerned about disappointing his father in early episodes of the show. In actuality, Jake wants to be a writer. This love of literature is hinted at in episodes, such as when Jake teaches his friend Nog how to read (“The Nagus”). While never as good a student as “I always get an A” Wesley Crusher, Jake has a creative and artistic side similar to the rest of his family. His father, Benjamin, enjoys jazz and art, and his grandfather, Joseph, is a master chef.
In the episode “Shadowplay,” Jake finally resolves this common teenage problem of balancing expectations and personal goals-- thanks to the advice and encouragement of Chief O’Brien.
O’Brien: What's wrong?
Jake: Nothing. It's just that – why does everyone assume that I'm going to the Academy?
O’Brien: Well, you want to go, don't you?
Jake: Not really.O’Brien tells Jake about his own experiences with his father, who wanted Miles to become a musician. Jake realizes that he must tell his father about not wanting to join Starfleet. In many ways, the relationship between Ben and Jake is one DS9’s best features. It shows the love that exists between fathers and sons, and the realistic dynamics of those kinds of relationships. Benjamin tells his son, “It's your life, Jake. You have to choose your own way. There is only one thing I want from you: find something you love; then do it the best you can.” This line is especially moving considering the excellent episode, “The Visitor,” a few seasons later, which shows a possible alternative future for the characters in one of Star Trek’s most-emotional and beautiful episodes ever.
One of the reasons that I as a teenager like Wesley and Jake is that both achieve their goals by taking advice from others, but also and ultimately by listening to their own dreams. They are great role models for children and teens because while one is interested in science and one is interested in the arts, both contribute to their family and society (galaxy!) by using their talents in the service of others.
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Star Trek 101 serves two functions: succinctly introduce Star Trek newcomers to the basic foundations and elements of the franchise and refresh the memories of longtime Trek fans. We're pulling our entries from the book Star Trek 101: A Practical Guide to Who, What, Where, And Why, written by Terry J. Erdmann & Paula M. Block and published in 2008 by Pocket Books. An invaluable resource, it encompasses Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Animated Series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise, as well as the first 10 Trek feature films.
Today, we share Star Trek 101's file on Zek.
Zek (Wallace Shawn)
Grand Nagus of Ferenginar
A master of commerce known as the Grand Nagus rules the Ferengi homeworld. That position is held by Zek, an elderly, utterly brilliant profiteer. Think Donald Trump, Alan Greenspan, and Scrooge McDuck all rolled into one diminutive wrinkled body.
(Editor's notes: Rom succeeded Zek as Grand Nagus in 2375. And to learn even more, check out our StarTrek.com interview with Wallace Shawn HERE.)
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Ask anyone in Hollywood about Roxann Dawson and they’ll tell you she’s one of the hottest go-to directors in town. She’s worked nonstop in recent years and in the next few months, audiences will be able to view her handiwork not just on TV’s most-popular show, This Is Us, but on the big-screen, as she makes her movie directing debut with Breakthrough, due out in April of 2019. And it all started with Star Trek. Dawson settled into a director’s chair for the first time on the Voyager episode, “Riddles,” and also directed “Workforce, Part II.” She went on to helm 10 episodes of Enterprise. Today, continuing our series of interviews with graduates of Star Trek’s unofficial directors’ school, StarTrek.com chats with Dawson.
How did you get your opportunity to direct Voyager?
Jeri Taylor was still there, and I spoke with her first. I said, "I'm very interested in directing. Can you let Rick (Berman) know that, and can you make this happen for me?" She said she’d love to, and she's really responsible for persuading Berman to give me an opportunity. I would have directed earlier, but I was pregnant and starting a family, so we put it off for a little bit. It was the fifth year or the sixth year. I ended up doing two episodes. I knew I loved directing in theater, but I didn't know that this would be something that I enjoyed doing until I really did it. I realized that as painful as it was, because it is in the beginning until you figure it out, it was something I wanted to pursue.
Who were the directors you shadowed?I basically shadowed every director I could, and on other shows. Buffy was going on then, on Angel. I’d reach out to other shows and sometimes observe all night long, and then show up at the set to work the next day, because they had a lot of night shoots on those shows. But any opportunity I had on any show I thought was intriguing, I’d reach out on my own and ask to shadow. It was different those days. I think that in a way it was less organized, so you could reach out, and as long as you convinced somebody you weren't completely crazy, sometimes they’d let you shadow. So, I had some wonderful opportunities with some wonderful directors.
What else did you do as part of that unofficial directors’ school?Production meetings, editing, any of the other meetings I could fit in. I’d watch dailies. I kind of set up my own thing where I’d create my own shot list, go in and see what was done in a day, then go the next day and watch how it was edited. I was also taking a class outside of that, which enabled me to do a couple of shorts that taught me a lot. I was just constantly working. It was very self-motivating. It was not a school in the sense that once you signed up they led you through these classes. It was really you put into it what you wanted to get out of it. I was voracious. I spent a lot of time on the sets learning.
Your first episode was "Riddles," which centered on Tuvok. What did you think when you got that script?
I loved it. The whole concept of it came to me pretty easily. Not easily, but… naturally. It didn't feel intimidating. So, that was exciting.
Were you nervous on set, or ready, or maybe a bit of both? First day, at least?
I was completely nervous. My first day was a Monday, and the Sunday before, in the morning, I'd been walking the sets, and I wasn't feeling very well. I actually never made it back to my home. My parents live closer to Paramount, and I ended up over there throwing up. I was sick with a high fever, and... Actually, that was Saturday. So, I had plenty of time to recuperate, and then I showed up on the set Monday morning. But I was deathly sick Saturday and Sunday before I went in. That probably took my nerves away, because I was just trying to be well enough to get through the day. So, it was quite a launch.
How satisfied were you with the finished episode?"Riddles" was a smaller episode, wasn't huge in scope, and I thought it had a lot of metaphors and other meanings. It was very contained and philosophical, and I could really concentrate on the acting and making the scenes work. So, it was a great first episode for me.
“Workforce, Part II" was next. How much more comfortable were you on that one?
There's a learning curve to this, and that was number two. There were new issues to deal with and new things to learn. I'm very rarely comfortable. I think if I'm comfortable I'm not doing my job. There are always so many challenges, and if you're too comfortable you're probably not trying hard enough.
You ended up directing 10 episodes of Enterprise. How fulfilling was that opportunity?
Oh, it was great, because it was a prequel. For me to explore how the characters would deal with the first time you were experiencing different things, it was so much fun. We got to show the first time we're meeting the aliens and establishing certain things within the Trek world. It was just wonderful to be able to explore all that, especially with a new cast. They were all young and excited, and you're in there with them starting something that, in a way, doesn't even have a history. You get to set how things are first experienced. So, that was exciting.
We won’t ask you to go through all 10 episodes, but was there one you're fond of for a particular reason?I think the Andorian episode. It might’ve been the first one I did, actually.
I loved that one. I can't believe... did I really do 10 episodes of Enterprise?
Yes.Oh, my God. Wow. Maybe the first one's more in my head only because it was the first, and it stuck with me. Even so, I enjoyed that as an experience making it and as a story to tell.
You’ve gone on to direct dozens of episodes of other shows. And now, you just directed Breakthrough, your first feature film. How different was directing a feature from TV after all these years?
Well, that it takes up an entire year of your life. That's part of it. But it's so exciting. It's been such a journey, so wonderful. I have to say, I have just been in love with this entire process. It premieres in April of next year, and we'll start seeing trailers come late fall. I couldn’t be happier.
What’s the basic setup of Breakthrough?It's based on a true story about a boy who fell into the ice while he was playing on Lake St. Louis, and he was pronounced dead. He was without a heartbeat for more than an hour. His mother came into the hospital and began to pray, and he came back to life. It's an extraordinary story, because that was only the beginning. He had a long journey that required a lot of other little miracles to happen along the way. But it's a story about a mother's love, a community's love. It's a human, hopeful story, which we need these days, and it's true. I worked very closely with the family, getting the script together and developing it for the feature, and it’s an extraordinary story that needs to be heard. I am so blessed to be able to be the one to tell it.
Are you a film director now, or will you go back and forth between TV and film?I think I'll go back and forth. I'm going do a This Is Us coming up in October. Chrissy Metz is the lead in my film, and I thought it’d be fun to go back and work with her again on her show. This Is Us is a great show, and she's such an amazing actress.
You last spoke with StarTrek.com in 2011. You said then that your kids were getting to the age where they might start watching Voyager, and you said you’d maybe watch it with them. So, did you ever watch Trek with your kids?
I didn't. My older daughter started watching some of them, and there were a couple of episodes I watched with them, but I wasn't going to force them to sit and watch seven years of Star Trek. I figure, it's there. At some point they can watch it when they want to. They were also really involved in what I was doing after Star Trek. Of course, I took them to a couple conventions, and then they became more curious. We often would come back and they'd go, "Let's put in a couple episodes and see what it is that everybody's so excited about."
You broke quite a bit of ground as a female Latin director. What are your thoughts about what’s going on now in Hollywood in terms of diversity behind the camera?
All I thought about was, "It's something I want to do, and I'll do it." I didn't think much about the fact that there weren't a lot of women directing. Now, in a way, there's more attention on that. It's a double-edged sword, I think. With more attention, people sense that maybe you didn't deserve to be there because of some sort of affirmative action, or you're maybe treated differently because you have to fill a quota, whereas I think when I was starting out, I was just there like anybody else. People were hard on me and I had to learn the ropes, and nobody gave me any special favors. It was tough, but I worked my way through it.
It's a little bit different now. The thing I hate hearing the most is when my agent calls me and says, "Why don't you look at this show. They're looking for female directors." It's like, "Well, I don't want to do a show that's looking for female directors. I want a show that's looking for a director." I never had to deal with this when I was first starting out. I was just doing a show (for which) I was up against other directors. So, I don't know. It's a double-edged sword. I'm very mixed on how I feel about the way it's been developing.
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Which Trek tech would you most want to have? That's the question StarTrek.com posed for our latest weekly poll. Fans could choose from Food Replicator, Holodeck, Phaser, Transporter, Tricorder and Universal Translator. More than 10,000 of you voted, and here are the results:
Transporter (35%)
Holodeck (32%)
Food Replicator (21%)
Universal Translator (6%)
Tricorder (3%, 357 votes)
Phaser (3%, 288 votes)
Be sure to vote in this week's poll...
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You’ve seen them at conventions: splotchy colored Bajoran nose ridges bumpy in all the wrong places. To use Gul Dukat’s favorite phrase, “rest assured” those intrepid cosplayers spent hours and hours working hard on their makeup. It’s difficult to create a three-dimensional ridge on a flat surface. But, “rest assured,” you can apply, in less than 10 minutes, Bajoran nose ridges that perfectly match your skin color and have absolutely no rough edges to speak of.
When I first decided to cosplay Major Kira, I spent forever on the nose ridges: researching different methods, buying various pre-made prosthetics, making my own out of various latexes and gels. It was expensive experimentation. But no matter what approach I took, I was never satisfied with the results. It took too much time to apply, or the edges or color didn’t blend into my skin. The best I ever got doing my own nose ridges was a one-hour application time with OK color match and marginal results blending the edges, and after sweating in it for the day as it progressively looked worse and worse, it would take a half hour to remove it carefully enough that I could use the nose again. Then I realized that cosplay is more like live theater than it is like film -- and changed my approach.
In filming, the camera will often be very close to the makeup, so the makeup has to actually be three-dimensional to create the desired illusion. Also in filming, there is a makeup artist there to do touch-ups in between takes. What looks like a continuous five-minute scene with perfect makeup is actually hours of work with multiple times to fix the makeup.
Cosplay, on the other hand, is much more like live theater. The viewing audience is in the same space as the performer, and usually over an arm’s length away, so a three-dimensional illusion can be achieved with highlights and shadows. Also, a cosplayer, like a stage performer, has one continuous performance with very little chance to touch up the makeup.
Instead of thinking like a makeup artist for film, think like a makeup artist for stage: use a variation of the stage makeup trick for old age wrinkles. As long as your audience is more than an arm’s length away, it looks three-dimensional and works better than prosthetic ridges because it uses your own skin color and there are no edges to blend. Even within an arm’s length, I’ve had people think it was three-dimensional. With a little practice, it takes just minutes to apply, stays on well for most of the day and takes seconds to remove.
In general, what you’re going to do is apply two colors in lines, the lines touching each other along their length. Where the two colors meet, but do not blend, it creates the illusion of a wrinkle.
You will need:• A pot of crème highlight. I use Ben Nye Ultralight, but that’s because I’m super-pale. Use a highlight that will work for your skin color.
• A pot of crème character shadow, dark enough to create a shadow effect against your skin color. I use Ben Nye Character Shadow.
• A ¼” flat brush or eye brow brush.
• Powder. I prefer a translucent powder, but any loose powder that matches your skin tone should work.
• A picture of the makeup you are copying. It doesn’t matter how many times I’ve done it, I always pull out a picture for reference. Google thinks I have no idea what Major Kira looks like, I’ve searched for the pictures so much.
Steps- Wash, dry and moisturize your face.
- Do your usual makeup routine that makes you happy. Or not.
- Using the flat brush apply the highlight in horizontal lines across your nose.
- The highlight lines will be directly above the shadow lines, which you will apply later.
- I wrinkle up my nose to see where the wrinkles naturally lie and follow those lines as much as possible.
- The lines will be about 1/16” thick each – so each line has a top edge and a bottom edge.
- Wipe the excess makeup from the brush.
- The highlight lines will be directly above the shadow lines, which you will apply later.
- Using the flat brush, carefully feather out the top edge of the highlight lines.
- Do not touch the bottom of the highlight lines with the brush.
- It is absolutely key to keep the bottom edge of the highlight line crisp and clean, but blend the top edge of the line so that it fades out.
- Clean off the brush, or at least wipe off most of the light-colored makeup from the bristles.
- Using the brush, directly below the highlight lines apply the shadow lines.
- Touch the brush right up against the crisp line of the bottom edge of the highlight lines, but not over that edge.
- The two colors should touch, but not overlap.
- Touch the brush right up against the crisp line of the bottom edge of the highlight lines, but not over that edge.
- Wipe the excess makeup from the brush.
- Using the brush, carefully feather out the bottom edge of the shadow lines, keeping the top edge of the shadow lines crisp and clean, blending out the bottom edges.
- Use powder to set the makeup.
- Do not rub the makeup when you’re wearing it, and it should last as long as your regular makeup does.
- Wash off along with your regular makeup, or use a baby wipe if you just want to take off the ridges.
Brooke Wilkins is a professional costumer at Evermore Park, a soon-to-open immersive story living experience, populated by satyrs, fairies and other mythical creatures, where guests can participate in the story happening around them. She is a Utah-based costumer, designing and constructing for 40-plus productions, including A Christmas Carol and The Little Mermaid. She recently created motion-capture suits that don’t look like motion-capture suits to be used as part of a live VR technology demo. Brooke runs Garak’s Tailor Shop at Star Trek Las Vegas. When not creating costumes professionally, she creates them for her own amusement and enjoys cosplaying at conventions, parties and at home with her nieces and nephews. See her blog at http://tanaquill.blogspot.com.
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Ready to feel old? The cute little kid who played Artim in Star Trek: Insurrection is 31 years old now, a dad and has worked steadily for the past 20 years (in the likes of The X-Files, Joan of Arcadia, the Twilight film saga, Boy Meets Girl, Scandal and Z Nation). Yes, we’re talking about Michael Welch, who made his big-screen acting debut as the inquisitive Ba’ku boy who befriended Data in the Jonathan Frakes-directed 1998 feature film. StarTrek.com recently caught up with the easygoing Welch, who looked back at his Trek experience and filled us in on his current projects.
You were so young when you were cast as Artim. Had you even heard of Star Trek?Yes. I actually was a fan of the Next Gen movies in particular at that point. I was super-excited about it. I knew that it was a great opportunity. And it wasn’t just a bit part. Artim was really cool. It was pretty meaty for a 10-year-old, so it was a good challenge.
What was the meat on the role for you?
The character was there. The function of the character was to humanize Data. It was to teach him how to empathize and, ultimately, teach him how to play. I thought that was such a fun thing to be able to do, because as a young actor the main thing that's interesting is just to play. That's mostly what I wanted to do. As you get older, things evolve, your sensibilities evolve and change over time, but I just loved playing pretend as a kid. I loved doing impressions and playing sports and all sorts of activities. Acting was an extension of my being playful. That was at Artim’s core, and I just connected to it really well and enjoyed delving into that.
What do you remember of the shoot?They built this beautiful set out in the middle of nowhere and everybody had cool costumes and everybody was really nice. This business can be cold sometimes, even for kids, but, man, they couldn't have been nicer to me. Frakes took me under his wing, and Brent Spiner couldn't be a better person. Working with those two, it couldn't have been a better situation. There were a ton of other kids on set, and we’d all do schooling together every day and we became good friends. It was like the greatest summer camp you can imagine.
Some people love the film. Others consider a big TNG episode. Your thoughts?
I love the moral exploration of, “Is it right to take one life to save 10?” -- and expanding that out to a larger scale in the case of the film. That was a very cool thing to explore. I think the film came out well. I can understand why a purist maybe wouldn't be as happy with it as some other Trek films, but I thought it came out really well.
Were you at the premiere?I was. I’m pretty sure that took place in Las Vegas. I remember getting out of a limo and being with my family. It was such an incredible thing to be a part of. I was next to Michael Dorn through a lot of the red-carpet stuff, and people were screaming for him. I'm fishing in my mind for specific memories, but there's nothing but good stuff.
Let’s get everyone caught up on your life today. If our facts are right, your upcoming films include The Purple Rose, Before Someone Gets Hurt, and Together. What excites you about each one?
The Purple Rose just got picked up by Lifetime. It's a thriller and based on a series of novels, so if it does well there could be a franchise there. I'm looking forward to that coming out and seeing how people respond. Together is a film I worked on in December. They're going to color correct it and hopefully get distribution, and that should be out this year. Before Someone Gets Hurt is a little horror movie I did in New York a couple years ago, and it's out on iTunes. And I just got off the phone with my agent. We closed a deal for a new film. So, it's a very good time for me.
You seem to gravitate toward indie films…I love indies. There's a different kind of energy on an indie set as opposed to a big studio production. A studio film tends to feel more like a machine and you're a bit of a cog in that machine. That's great because you can be assured of competence at every position. Indie films feel more like you're all thrown into a trench together, and you have to find a way to dig yourself out. It's a different kind of challenge, and there, I think, tends to be more camaraderie doing that together. You feel a little bit more like you're all in the trenches. I really do enjoy it, but listen, as an actor, you just want to work. Sometimes, you go with the opportunities that are available to you, and that's what's been available to me the past couple of years. But it's great. As long as I'm working, I'm happy. It makes no difference to me.
You were just out at Star Trek Las Vegas. Can we assume that based on your credits, especially Twilight, that you’d done conventions before?
Yes, I’ve done a few over the years. Insurrection was my first film. I was 10. It was a pretty incredible introduction to the film industry, and certainly I’d say it set me up for success and longevity for the rest of my career. In addition to Star Trek, I was in an episode of Stargate SG-1, I was in the Twilight films and a zombie show, too, Z Nation. So, I've been lucky enough to be a part of some pretty popular sci-fi and horror projects over the years and, as a result, I've definitely been a part of the convention circuit. For two years during the Twilight films, they sent me all over the world. It was a pretty remarkable experience. So, I'm definitely familiar with the convention culture.
And you're a dad now, right?Yes, sir. I've got a seven-month-old at home.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
Careers are funny things. And life comes at you fast, too. If we’d told you at age 10, when you were making Insurrection, that in 20 years you’d be married, have a kid and still be acting, would you take that?Absolutely, I would take it. I think I'm in an excellent position. This is one of the things I've struggled with over the years in the industry. People ask me, “What is your vision for your career?” And my perspective has always been that it's not really up for me to decide. As long as I'm doing everything that I can do to produce the best work that I can, to try to empower myself and continue to work in this business, how that manifests is almost not my business, you know? I don't know one career you could point to and then ask the actor, "Is this exactly how you imagined this would turn out," and they would say, "Oh, of course. Project for project it's how I planned the whole thing."
The margins are so tight in this industry. There are so many people trying to do this because it's such an incredible job and such a blessed life, that to shape it in my own mind beyond just being someone who is working almost feels a little too greedy to me. I leave it in the hands of powers higher than myself, and I just try to do the best that I can do.
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The Crystalline Entity, the giant space-dwelling creature that aligned itself with Lore in Star Trek: The Next Generation, is re-materializing in Star Trek Online. For the next three weeks on PC, until September 6th at 10am PT, Captains over level 50 will be able to face the Entity and earn Crystal Shards. You can turn in these shards for great rewards, including some brand-new Antiproton Heavy Cannons and Beam Arrays. But be careful… the Entity has only grown more powerful since its last appearance, and you’ll need to forge new tactics to take it down and end its threat to the galaxy.
This 10-man Task Force Operation warps Captains to the Entity’s latest location, charged with preventing it from extending its influence any further into space. The Crystalline Entity is a powerful foe – even the Enterprise D couldn’t take it on alone – so you’ll have to work together and discover new tactics to get over its resistance to energy damage. Veteran STO players will notice some new changes as well. When you attack the Entity, it will still split off smaller crystalline pieces that will attack you separately. At certain points in the combat, the Entity will enter an absorption phase and become totally immune to damage, as it prepares to unleash a powerful energy wave. You’ll have to prevent these smaller crystalline pieces from making that wave even stronger, or you’ll be knocked completely out of the fight.
We wish you luck, Captains. Journey to face one of the most powerful enemies in Star Trek. The Galaxy is counting on you.
Star Trek Online is a free-to-play massively multiplayer online game that allows players to explore the Star Trek universe from within. Players can forge their own destiny as Federation starship captain, champion the Empire through the galaxy's far reaches as a Klingon Warrior, rebuild the Romulan legacy as commander of a Romulan Republic Warbird or carry out daring missions on behalf of the Dominion as a Jem’Hadar soldier. Captains can also explore iconic locations from the Trek universe, make contact with new alien species and battle alongside other players in customizable starships. STO is currently available on PC, PlayStation4 and Xbox One.
To download and play Star Trek Online today for free, visit www.playstartrekonline.com.
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When there is no place like home, your rules and principles cannot help, and it feels like the entire quadrant is against you, how far would you go to get back? The journey aboard the U.S.S. Equinox put the limits of Federation ideology to the test.
Equinox Examination
The U.S.S. Equinox NCC-72381 was a top-of-the-line Nova-class science vessel. The Nova-class replaced the aging Oberth-class starship used for the past century. At a length of around 222 meters long, 8 decks, and a crew of 78, the ship was relatively small compared to other ships of the time.
It had a top speed of warp 8, which was efficient for general scientific missions. Two shuttlecraft and an optional “wave rider” shuttle, located on the bottom of the “saucer” section, made for a decent auxiliary craft complement. Armaments included 11 Type X phaser arrays and 3 photon torpedo launchers, giving the ship the ability to defend itself decently during its voyages.
The Journey BeginsThe Equinox was launched in the early 2370’s under the command of Captain Rudolph “Rudy” Ransom. Ransom was more of a scientist than a command officer. Promoted to captain after making contact with the previously thought-to-be-extinct Yridians, Ransom was an accomplished exobiologist. He preferred to elude any adversaries he came across, rather than face them in direct combat.
The Journey Takes a Wrong TurnIn early 2371, one of the most-unsettling things that could happen to a starship crew befell the Equinox. A non-humanoid entity called the “Caretaker” was abducting ships from throughout the galaxy to attempt to find a compatible mate. He was responsible for destroying the environment of a planet called Ocampa, deep in the Delta Quadrant, and nearly killing all life there. He managed to save some of the humanoid population and placed them in underground caverns. The Caretaker was nearing the end of his life when he pulled the Equinox 70,000 light years across the galaxy.
After finding none of the Equinox crew were compatible, the Caretaker let the ship go, but did not return them to the Alpha Quadrant. Instead, the ship had to find its own way back. In the first week of their exile, the ship encountered the Krowtonan Guard. This hostile species, claiming the Equinox had violated their territory, killed nearly half of the crew. Ransom decided continue on.
The Equinox crew trekked on with a once state-of-the-art vessel, never having the chance to repair it to its full effectiveness. They encountered many more belligerent species, losing even more crew and morale. The hope of seeking out new life and new civilizations probably seemed more like a good epitaph than a mission. On occasion, the ship encountered a few friendly species and even a wormhole, which took a leg off their journey. One such species, called the Ankari, would turn them on to a dubious hope they desperately needed.
Ransom’s DilemmaEquinox made it to the Ankari home world after a bout of prolonged suffering for the crew. They had not eaten in 16 days and the ship was severely damaged. The Ankari assisted with food and medical supplies, and upon the conclusion of the visit, the Ankari offered a blessing from their “Spirits of Good Fortune.” Captain Ransom and his officers scanned the “spirits,” only to discover they were a type of nucleogenic lifeform. Through trade, they were able to acquire one of the spirit summoning devices and opened the portal to the aliens' realm.
Unfortunately, in the attempt to study one of the lifeforms, the crew accidentally killed one of the creatures. Further scanning revealed that the compounds the creature consisted of could enhance the ship’s warp drive significantly. They traveled 10,000 light years in two weeks. The Federation principles now stood on the fence. With half the crew dead, a broken ship, and barely enough food to survive, Captain Ransom, representing the morals and ideals so highly regarded, had to make a decision: Their lives or those of an unknown alien species. Ransom chose in favor of his crew.
The Equinox crew would continue to abduct and utilize the nucleogenic lifeforms for their enhanced warp drive. The aliens did not take too kindly to this. They began to attack the Equinox repeatedly. Their effects on human tissue were devastating. Fortuitously for the Equinox, during one of these attacks, their distress call was received by the U.S.S. Voyager, also stranded in the Delta Quadrant. Voyager rescued the ship by extending its fully operational shields around the Equinox, protecting them from further alien portal attacks.
The Equinox SunsetThe two crews were excited at first to reunite. However, Ransom was concerned that were Captain Janeway to discover the truth about their modified engines, she would interfere. He attempted to hide the evidence, but through the investigation of the Voyager crew and the relative invincibility of the Voyager’s EMH doctor, all was revealed.
Janeway detained the Equinox crew but, they were able to escape with the help of the Equinox's EMH doctor, who had been corrupted by the removal of its ethical subroutines. Ransom and his crew escaped, stealing the vital new shielding device used to protect both ships from the portal aliens.
Voyager would eventually catch up to the Equinox and end its long journey with torpedoes. Ransom died onboard, attempting to save Voyager and the remaining crew from the Equinox’s warp core breach. He regretted some of his methods, but he still cared about getting his crew home.
The Next Nova
In a possible future, the Nova-class would eventually receive a refit in the late 24th or early 25th century. The U.S.S. Rhode Island, under the command of the finally-promoted Captain Harry Kim, caught up with Admiral Janeway in 2404 to prevent her from going back in time 26 years to assist her earlier self and U.S.S. Voyager in returning to the Alpha Quadrant much earlier than the Admiral’s history had unfolded.
Ian Kisluk is an avid Star Trek fan and collector. Trek model and prop building as well as stage acting are his most prolific passions. Follow him @Starchwreck on Twitter and check out Starchwreck Props and Models on Facebook. -
Rhonda Aldrich and Maury Sterling have a few things in common. First, they’re both Star Trek guest stars. She played Madeline, Dixon Hill's secretary, in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes "The Big Goodbye," Manhunt" and "Clues," while he portrayed the telepathic humanoid Tarquin in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode, "Exile." Now, they’re co-starring in Mayakovsky and Stalin, a new play by poet-playwright Murray Mednick. The show – which will end its run on August 19 at the Lounge Theater in Los Angeles -- is a dramatic character study incorporating historical footage and photos to explore two distantly connected relationships: Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin (Sterling) and his wife, Nadya, and Soviet poet Vladimir Mayakovsky and his married lover and “muse,” Lilya Brik. Aldrich plays Lilya’s mother, Yelena. StarTrek.com invited Aldrich and Sterling to interview each other about their Trek experiences and Mayakovsky and Stalin, and they obliged….
Maury, would you agree that Trek is like 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon, that there are 100s of people who worked on the shows/movies, and it’s inevitable that – like us – many of those people will eventually connect? Maury, your overlaps include Alice Krige, James Cromwell, Chris Pine, Ray Walston, Elizabeth Dennehy…Maury: Yes, I love how the Star Trek world connects so many people. And, thanks for showing me my connections! I actually just recently worked with Scott Bakula again, on an episode of NCIS: New Orleans.
Rhonda, who are some of the Trek people you worked with?
Rhonda: I worked with William Shatner on TJ Hooker. And, yes, I played a hooker. I worked with John Laroquette on Night Court -- also as a hooker! I've also worked with numerous actors from the entire Star Trek world in theater around L.A., particularly in my theater company, Antaeus. And now I get to work with you, who I loved on Homeland.
Maury, you played Tarquin on Enterprise. How do you audition for a role like that, where you know you’ll be in full-on makeup? Had you done anything like that before or after?
Maury: I don't remember having a clear idea of what I was in for. I do remember loving the language and character, and getting to play two characters for the price of one.
Your character was so lonely. What was the challenge for you in putting that across through the prosthetics?
Maury: The writing was so strong I didn't have to do a lot of work. Seeing the final look in the mirror was inspiring. And, the makeup department did such a good job that acting behind the mask wasn't hard.
From an acting perspective, you had three other interesting elements. Tarquin was telepathic. Much of the episode, it was just you and Linda Park. Plus, Scott Bakula and John Billingsley briefly “played” Tarquin. Tell me a little about each of those elements.
Maury: I mostly remember working with Linda. It was a long time ago. I'm a big fan of both Scott and John. So, it was a pinch-myself kind of experience. And making telepathy believable is always a challenge.
Rhonda, my turn. First, were you a Star Trek fan?Rhonda: Absolutely. I was thrilled to get the opportunity to do the show.
Maury, how about you? Were you a Trek fan?
Maury: I'll just say Shatner was a big influence in my life.
Rhonda, how did you win your role as Madeline?
Rhonda: I auditioned for the director and the producer, Rick Berman, with a scene with Captain Picard. Because the scene was set in the 40's, I modeled my character on Billie Dawn from the play Born Yesterday.
Did you know that it could be a recurring role?
Rhonda: I had no idea, but everybody loved playing the 40's characters. Patrick particularly enjoyed it.
How much fun did you have as Madeline to Patrick Stewart’s “Dix?”
Rhonda: I adored working with Patrick. He is such a gentleman and so kind. He was incredibly generous to me as a guest actor. He also tells great stories, so you are entertained the whole time.
You had a few seconds as well with Whoopi Goldberg, right?
Rhonda: The last episode I did was with Whoopi, and she was hilarious. She was also very generous and so smart.
You played a hologram in a colorful, playful holodeck program. How did you calibrate your performance, since Madeline wasn’t “real?”
Rhonda: I completely played it as a real person. I was in makeup, but how often do Trek fans recognize you? I get recognized by my voice a lot, I think because the period hair throws people off. And I get a lot of fan mail with people sending stills to autograph.
Maury, let’s talk about Mayakovsky and Stalin. You’d worked with Murry Mednick before, right?
Maury: I did. I was in a show he wrote called Fedunn that we did in 2002 at the Odyssey Theater.
What resonates most for you about this story?
Maury: Oh boy. I would say it's the power of an idea. The power of ideas. And how they can be used for good or evil. How they can be used to define our purpose in life.
Rhonda, let me ask you that same question. What resonates most for you about this story?
Rhonda: Stalin was a ruthless dictator and this is a play about power. Throughout history we are faced with the same problems. I also love Russian literature and the romance of it, and there is a romantic element to this story.
What interests you about Stalin as a character?
Maury: His fundamentalism. His paranoia. Exploring what goes on in the mind of a man who could affect the world on such a massive scale. He was nominated for two Nobel Peace Prizes. And he's responsible for the death of tens of millions of people.
Rhonda, what intrigues you about Yelena?
Rhonda: She is a very commanding presence as a mother. She is very practical, which is how I was brought up to be in Kansas. She is taking her daughter abroad to get an abortion. She is not sentimental. She just takes care of business.
Maury, last question: Your wife, Alexis, is in the show. Have you acted together before, and what’s it been like to share this experience?
Maury: We met doing All My Sons at the Ruskin Group Theatre in Santa Monica. We've loved it. We both love theater and it's special to get to do it together. She's a really talented lady and a good critic.
As noted, Mayakovsky and Stalin will be performed at the Lounge Theater in Los Angeles until August 19. The Lounge Theatre is located at 6201 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood, CA 90038 (just east of Vine). To purchase tickets, call (323) 960-4443 or go to www.plays411.com/stalin. -
Ethan Peck has been cast as Spock -- the half-human, half-Vulcan Science Officer of the U.S.S. Enterprise, and foster brother of Michael Burnham -- in the upcoming second season of Star Trek: Discovery. Peck is the grandson of legendary actor Gregory Peck, who counted among his final projects the 1998 TV miniseries Moby Dick, which starred Patrick Stewart as Captain Ahab, the role Gregory Peck famously played in the 1956 movie of the same name.
Peck grew up in Los Angeles and attended college at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. As an actor, his film and television credits include Passport to Paris, That '70s Show, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, 10 Things I Hate About You, In Time, Madam Secretary and The Curse of Sleeping Beauty.
"Through 52 years of television and film, a parallel universe and a mirror universe, Mr. Spock remains the only member of the original bridge crew to span every era of Star Trek," Discovery executive producer Alex Kurtzman said in a statement. "The great Leonard Nimoy, then the brilliant Zachary Quinto, brought incomparable humanity to a character forever torn between logic and emotion. We searched for months for an actor who would, like them, bring his own interpretation to the role. An actor who would, like them, effortlessly embody Spock’s greatest qualities, beyond obvious logic: empathy, intuition, compassion, confusion, and yearning. Ethan Peck walked into the room inhabiting all of these qualities, aware of his daunting responsibility to Leonard, Zack, and the fans, and ready to confront the challenge in the service of protecting and expanding on Spock’s legacy. In that spirit, we’re thrilled to welcome him to the family.”
Star Trek: Discovery's first season is available on CBS All Access in the U.S. and Space Channel in Canada. It's available on Netflix in the rest of the world.
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Human infants have just two instinctive fears at birth: the fear of falling, and the fear of loud noises. Every other fear is learned as we begin to experience what it’s like to be a separate entity in a world of endless variety.
By the time we grow from infancy to daring school-bound dynamos, we’re cautioned thousands of times: “Don’t talk to strangers!” “Stay close to me or someone might hurt you!” “Don’t do that; you’ll get hurt!” “Don’t go near that/them: it’s HOT (or they’re dangerous)!”
Very early on, we adopt our caregivers’ beliefs and attitudes about ‘earth aliens’— the people and other creatures who don’t look, communicate, or behave the way we do — at a time when we’re literally incapable of questioning the value, merit or accuracy of their beliefs. We embrace other people’s attitudes and fears years before we’re capable of deciding for ourselves whether they’re worthy of emulating or endorsing.
Science Fiction And Other Media Entertainment Mirrors Our Values And FearsBefore Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek came along, most science fiction shows depicted monstrous alien encounters in which only malevolent extraterrestrial species managed to make their way to Earth to wreak havoc. In these distressing adventures, our panicked, under-prepared armed forces threw everything they could at the invaders in all-out efforts to save us from rapacious, cruel alien oppressors. Today we still frequently see this kind of entertainment because being put on the collective edge of our seats sells tickets and because it underscores America’s culturally-prescribed need to be sufficiently prepared to fight alien “others” who do not think, live and act the way we believe they should.
Roddenberry sought to change American society’s default narrative about aliens, terrestrial and extraterrestrial. He wanted his viewers to explore the strange new worlds around and beyond us, to seek out new life and new civilizations with a sense of adventure and exhilaration rather than with trepidation and fear. Of course, to advance a watchable episode, there had to be obstacles to overcome and adversaries to encounter along the way. Roddenberry wanted us to examine what we’ve learned as a society and ask ourselves if it is helping or hurting the likelihood that we’ll ever embrace, as a species, the Vulcan (and Roddenberry’s own) concept of IDIC (the celebration of Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations).
Star Trek: The Original Series' Aliens Are Frequently Benign And at First Misunderstood
The first regular episode that aired, “The Man Trap” featured a desperate salt-dependent, shape-shifting creature — the last of its kind — and a scientist who was equally committed to making sure it survived. Their common goal was to get a sufficient supply of salt tablets from Captain Kirk and company to keep them alive in a dry desert climate where the loss of body salt through perspiration demanded a constant supply of the scarce mineral.
It was desperation that caused the creature to entice, subdue and extract from its human victims the salt in their bodies that it needed to survive; unfortunately, the creature’s actions resulted in the deaths of unwilling, unwitting donors. Dr. McCoy’s reaction before killing the creature touched everyone who witnessed it. He knew what he had to do, but he begged forgiveness even as he pulled the trigger. (Today’s environmental activists stand between the endangered and the entities endangering them, asking them to put away their guns, poisons and bulldozers before it’s too late for countless species whose continued existence — including our own — grows less certain by the hour.)
Another episode, “The Devil in the Dark” began with an urgent briefing in a mining colony where workers were being attacked and dissolved by an acid-producing “monster” whose sole motivation was keeping her offspring (which were incubating in silicone “eggs”) safe from the miners’ marauding ways.
The episode “The Cloud Minders” explored the inequality inherent in deeming other members of the same species exploitable, expendable laborers whose lives are valuable to those in power only as worker bees and producers of leisure, luxury and practical goods and services at heavy expense to themselves. The workers were sickened, poisoned and cruelly exploited by the conditions under which they were forced to work and live.
And the episode “ Let That Be Your Last Battlefield” explored racial bigotry and the subsequent slavery and animosity on both sides that evolved from it.
Sidestepping the Censors to Serve the Greater GoodBack in the 1960’s, Roddenberry knew he couldn’t get studio censors to allow controversial topics on the air unless they took place on other worlds. He knew that only a science fiction series could critically explore parochial perspectives and survive.
In fact, Roddenberry faced an uphill battle just getting the network to allow him to have a devilish-looking, pointy-eared Vulcan (an actual alien) as Kirk’s second in command. (Roddenberry initially wanted a woman as second in command but was denied.) Another battle was keeping Lt. Uhura, a black woman professional, on the bridge of the Enterprise along with a rainbow of international representatives: Mr. Sulu, a Japanese-American (just a generation after World War II ended, a war that pitted Americans against the Japanese in the Pacific and The Third Reich across Europe), and later Pavel Chekov, a proud, pontificating Russian (during the Cold War), so he was fashioned after Davy Jones of The Monkees, the spoonful of sugar that helped the medicine go down.
Roddenberry’s message seemed clear: enemies can become allies, old injuries can be healed, and peace can reign wherever and whenever people of goodwill decide to make it so. What it takes, from each subsequent generation, is a careful analysis and rethinking of the beliefs and attitudes that we adopted as eager young sponges from the people and media around us before we knew how to decide for ourselves the ultimate survivability of the viewpoints espoused by “us versus them” ideologies.
The Final Frontier
Was Gene Roddenberry’s vision of humankind in the 1960’s utopian, or was it (and is it still) just ahead of its time?
Every human soul on earth wants to be celebrated, not tolerated. It is when unfair advantage reigns that things get ugly, people get riled up, and the stuff hits the fan.
Again: Human infants have just two instinctive fears at birth: the fear of falling, and the fear of loud noises. Every other fear is learned.Gene Roddenberry embraced IDIC.
To learn more about this subject, please visit celebrated www.LearningForASmallWorld.com. The course "Star Trek: Inspiring Culture and Technology” provides greater depth on this and many more aspects of the history and impact of Star Trek.
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Star Trek fans, when they think of Voyager actors-turned-directors immediately and understandably reference Robert Duncan McNeill and Roxann Dawson, since they’ve gone on to stellar careers as directors. But let’s not forget that Robert Picardo also got in on the action of calling, “Action,” and he directed the episodes “Alter Ego” and “One Small Step.” To prep for his episodes, Picardo – like all of his fellow actor-directors -- participated in Trek’s unofficial directors’ school. StarTrek.com recently chatted with him about his determination to direct, his experiences making “Alter Ego” and “One Small Step,” why he didn’t pursue directing thereafter, and how a horror movie just might find him back in a director’s chair. Here’s what he had to say…
At what point did you realize you wanted to direct Voyager?
I think I came in with that ambition. I’d trained to direct on China Beach, which was the last major series role I had before Voyager. China Beach had a shortened final season and I’d gone through the training process and trailed a couple of directors, and never got the opportunity. So, it was in the back of my mind when I was cast on Voyager. I'm sure I wasn't the first actor to ask. Robbie was probably the first. Robbie and Roxann and I were in the pipeline, I think, visiting editorial, sitting with the editors, watching the different directors work. We were in the informal training process that Rick Berman very graciously offered the actors who expressed the desire to direct. Tim (Russ) as well.
What did you learn from watching the editing process?
We had several editors, and they were always welcoming, a pleasure to be around, very helpful in explaining if there was a particular angle or a choice that the director made that you didn't quite understand. They’d tell you why they chose one take versus another. The really helpful thing about going to editing is you see every decision the director made on the set. You’d see his setup. You’d see his coverage. You’d see all the building blocks to make the show.
Who were the directors you shadowed?Most of the regular directors were happy to have the actors watching over their shoulder. A Star Trek actor directing might get a slot over a regular director, but they were gracious to us and maintained relationships with us as actors and people. It would’ve been an unfortunate situation if they’d not been so gracious. Rick Kolbe was great about being shadowed. He had a very specific style. He liked to do closeup coverage on a long lens that gave a very specific look on the bridge, which was cool. It was harder for your focus puller, and it created other challenges, but it gave it a more immediate and exciting look. Les Landau was very helpful and really gracious.
What was the hardest aspect of directing to grasp?
Honestly, the reason I didn't personally pursue directing is that the whole experience of being in charge, and I know this sounds crazy, was not appealing to me. I love being an actor and I set out to do that with my life. I learned a lot from directing. I learned about how other actors work by having to watch them that carefully. I consider myself a director-proof actor. I don't argue with directors. I feel my job is to do it entirely on my own and when the director says, "Do this" or "Do that," I never argue. It’s like I have our universal translator built in my head to listen to directors, and if they give me a direction that I don't understand I say, “Thank you very much. That's a great note." Then, I try to figure out what they meant and make the adjustment, and if I don't agree with them at all I just say, "Thank you. That's great. That's very helpful," and I just do what I want. Most of them think you took their direction because you were gracious when you received it. This is not a mystery. All actors know this.
What I didn't care for in directing was the 150 questions you get asked every hour by every different discipline on the set. Wardrobe asks a question and the set decorators are asking something about the scene later in the day or about the set you never got to see because it wasn't completed when you started in pre-production. Some people get exhilarated by that feeling of intensity of the experience of being a director. I liked the usual down time I had as an actor, where I could look at the next day's work or do whatever I wanted to do. As a director, your brain is in overdrive for the 15- or 16-hour day. If I’d directed at an earlier stage of life, if I had done it on China Beach in my thirties, I probably would’ve continued directing, but beginning the process in my middle-forties on Star Trek, I just thought, “I don't know that I'm ever going to relax and enjoy this.” I proved to myself that I can direct, but I ultimately thought, “What am I going to be happier doing?” The answer, for me, was acting.
Your first Voyager episode as a director was “Alter Ego.” What comes to mind when you think of the experience of making it?
I was very happy with the work Tim and Garrett (Wagn) did, and our main guest star was Sandra Nelson (as Marayna), and she was terrific. She had a very vulnerable quality to her. I remember she had beautiful eyes. I even remember that her audition was really good. Sandra was lovely to work with. And I remember I directed a scene or two that I was in, particularly that luau with the two ladies. I didn’t want to go too crazy with it. I was afraid of the Holodeck stuff because I really was worried it was going to look like The Love Boat. But people seemed to like that moment. And they liked the episode, for the most part. It was a pretty good first episode for me, I think, but I liked the second one better.
And that would be “One Small Step." Why did you like it better?
When you direct a show, especially as a cast member, you’re assigned a story and you tell it as best you can. In my two episodes on Voyager I ran the gamut of experience because I went from a story that, for a number of reasons -- other than the kissing of the two beautiful girls in the Hawaiian outfits and the bikini tops -- wasn't a whole lot of fun to direct, to “One Small Step,” which had such a great emotional arc. I was excited to tell that story. Marvin Rush, our wonderful DP, was an asset to every director. He really helped fake some of the weightless shots. He had this great idea about putting someone on a camera dolly, just scissoring the dolly up and shooting the top of the actors’ bodies, so it looked like it was just floating. What he did to fake weightless on a budget and short time frame wasn’t easy to do.
Anyway, “One Small Step” was almost prescient. It was the only Voyager episode that really paid homage to NASA and to the beginnings of human space exploration. Star Trek was set so far in the future we didn't so much hear about the 1960's and real space travel, but "One Small Step" was very much about the shoulders of the giants we stand on or that we have stood on. And the story was about a mission to, if memory serves, Mars. I had a terrific, terrific guess star, Phil Morris. I grew up watching his dad on Mission: Impossible. Phil is a terrific, terrific human being; couldn't be a harder working, more committed actor. Also, he was in incredible physical shape, which helped faking the weightlessness. Jeri Ryan had a great part in that episode, too, some nice, touching moments that were good to see for a character that usually had such a limited emotional palette.
It’s been years since you’ve directed, but word is you may direct an upcoming project…That’s true. I’m developing a horror script with a friend and he wants me to direct that. I definitely want to act in it, and when we finish tweaking the script, I’ll decide then how much I really feel like I'm the guy to tell the story. It’d be fun to go back to directing knowing that it’d just really be for a lark on a low-budget movie.
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From human to Klingon in one minute? Don’t let the speed of this video fool you. From concept to screen, some of the creatures on Star Trek: Discovery took 600-700 hours of labor to develop.
The Klingon above is the handiwork of the Star Trek: Discovery makeup team, which has earned an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup for a Series, Limited Series, Movie or Special (for their work on "Will You Take My Hand?"). The nominated Discovery team includes:Glenn Hetrick, Special Makeup Effects Department Head
James Mackinnon, Special Makeup Effects Department Head
Hugo Villasenor, Special Makeup Effects Artist
Rocky Faulkner, Special Makeup Effects Artist
Chris Bridges, Additional Makeup Effects Artist
Shane Zander, Additional Makeup Effects Artist
Neville Page, Prosthetic Designer
Michael O’Brien, Prosthetic Designer
Star Trek: Discovery's first season is available on CBS All Access in the U.S. and Space Channel in Canada. It's available on Netflix in the rest of the world. -
Was it... The Original Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Enterprise or Discovery? Fans could choose those options when considering this week's StarTrek.com poll question: Which series had the best pilot? More than 10,000 fans voted, and here are the results:
Voyager (26%)
The Next Generation (22%)
Deep Space Nine (19%)
Discovery (12%)
The Original Series (11%)
Enterprise (10%)
Be sure to vote in this week's poll...
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There’s nothing more comforting than easing into the couch and delving into an episode of Star Trek. Be it Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Next Generation era of stories, Star Trek: Enterprise , Star Trek: Discovery or the Kelvin Timeline movies, we all love leaving 21st century Earth behind and warping our way into the future. That said, the sighting of a familiar face from the ‘real’ world never fails to catch our eye. We’ve met musicians, scientists, wrestlers and spiritual leaders as well as actors from the stage and screens both big and small during our tours throughout the galaxy.
We kick off our talent spotting Trek with one of the most-recognizable stars to enter the Star Trek galaxy, Kelsey Grammer.
Background
Born Allen Kelsey Grammer on February 21st, 1955, Grammer was destined for a life in front of the camera. Trained at the Juilliard School, he took a three-year internship at the Old Globe Theater in San Diego, California before his Broadway debut in a revival of Macbeth alongside Phillip Anglim, better known to Deep Space Nine fans as Vedek Bareil. The role of Cassio in Othello with Christopher Plummer in 1982 and Measure for Measure with Kate Mulgrew in 1985 bracketed two of his first major television roles in two presidential miniseries, Kennedy and George Washington, which co-starred amongst other Trek alumni Ron Canada, Megan Gallagher and Harry Groener.
1984 was also the year that saw Grammer’s first appearance as Doctor Frasier Crane on the soon-to-be-iconic Cheers, the role that would make him a star and, by the time he guest starred on TNG, would lead to an equally successful venture, the spin-off show, Frasier. Doctor Crane would win Grammer three Emmys and two Golden Globes and make him the only actor to win a Globe for playing the same character in three different series – Cheers, Frasier and a guest appearance on Wings.
On Star Trek
By the time TNG had reached its fifth season, it had not only entered the zeitgeist in a way TOS had never managed during its first run, but it was also attracting superstar fans who tuned in weekly. Tom Hanks, Robin Williams and Arnold Schwarzenegger were proud, card-carrying Trek fans, and all were reportedly at some point connected with potential roles in the franchise. With Cheers and Star Trek, the two most high-profile Paramount shows of the time in close proximity on the Paramount lot, it was only a matter of time before actors would begin to cross over from one show to the other.
During his final season on Cheers, Grammer appeared as Captain Morgan Bateson in the 18th episode of the fifth season, “Cause and Effect,” which aired on March 23rd, 1992, and was directed by Jonathan Frakes based on a Brannon Braga script. Grammer’s character was central to the plot, despite not appearing until late in the fifth act. Caught in a causality loop, the crew of the Enterprise-D eventually figured out their predicament, learning that the vessel they had repeatedly collided with was the Soyuz class U.S.S Bozeman, commanded by Bateson, which had been caught in the loop for 90 years.
Why It Was Unique
Grammer’s appearance was brief, but undoubtedly a classic Trek moment. We could only feel for Bateson and his crew as Picard said, “Perhaps you should beam aboard our ship. There’s something we need to discuss.” Bateson was unaware that 90 years had passed, still believing that the Bozeman was only three weeks out of Starbase.
Links to Other Trek Actors
Cheers, Frasier and Star Trek shared a vast number of actors who crossed time – and the Paramount lot – to inhabit each other’s galaxy. Rene Auberjonois, Robert Picardo, Brent Spiner, Patrick Stewart and Nana Visitor were just a few of the Trek alumni to visit Seattle, while most famously Kirstie Alley and Bebe Neuwirth traveled to the future and their own encounters with the crew of the Enterprise.
What Happened Next
Post-1992 would see Grammer begin his awards-laden 11-year stint on Frasier, followed by the short-lived TV series Back to You with Patricia Heaton and continuing his popular role as Sideshow Bob on The Simpsons. Film work included the voice of Stinky Pete in Famke Janssen and Beast in X-Men: The Last Stand -- alongside Patrick Stewart and Famke Janssen.
As for Captain Bateman, his story would continue in the 1997 hardcover book, Ship of the Line, by Diane Carey, which was set in the 23rd century, prior to the causality loop and the 24th as Bateson and his crew adjusted to life in the new century. He would return in two Strange New Worlds short stories, the Kirk-centric Specter and in The Next Generation Special #2 from DC Comics, not to mention a brief appearance in Captain’s Daughter, where we learn that Sulu turned down a posting on the Bozeman, a wise decision that saved him from being lost in time much like his fellow Enterprise crewmate Scotty.
Mark Newbold has been an avid Trek fan since the 1970's, when TOS was shown on UK TV, but it was the original cast movie series and TNG era that sealed the deal. Mark is a writer for Star Trek The Official Magazine, is editor-in-Chief of Star Trek: The Neutral Zone and was a stage host at Destination Star Trek Germany in 2018. At heart he's a Niner. Follow him on Twitter. -
CBS All Access has just released a full, 13-minute video of Patrick Stewart's surprise appearance at Star Trek Las Vegas, during which he announced that he would return to his iconic role as Jean-Luc Picard in a new Star Trek series that tells the story of the next chapter in Picard’s life. The remarkable moment took place on August 4 at STLV, as executive producer Alex Kurtzman told fans a new show was on the way and explained that he needed some help from a friend in explaining it. Enter... Sir Patrick.
Check it out in all its glory:
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“The power of the Starship Enterprise is at your command. Cross the galaxies with Warp Drive and Impulse Power. Defend the Federation with Photon Torpedoes and Phasers. Ward off the treacherous attack of the Klingons, the villians of the cosmos!” --
TI-99/4A Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator Manual
The 1970s and 1980s were pioneering days for the video game industry. Paralleling the innovations of home gaming and computing systems was the return of Star Trek in the form of new movie adventures. This parallel makes more sense when considering that it was Star Trek that helped inspire some of the real-world technologies that produced the video game revolution. The shared history of home video game systems and Star Trek is fascinating, and one of the earliest and most popular examples was the porting of SEGA’s 1983 Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator (SOS) vector game to home systems like the TI-99/4A.
Inspired by the Kobayashi Maru sequence from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and sporting visuals related to that training sequence, SEGA released the SOS to local arcades about a year after the film’s premiere. Available in both standing and sitting cabinet designs, the game had the unusual feature of both two-dimensional and three-dimensional graphics on the same screen. Starting with the voices of James Doohan informing players that “You are the Captain of the starship Enterprise” and Leonard Nimoy saying, “Welcome aboard, Captain,” the game challenged players to navigate around space, mines and other anomalies, while protecting starbases from Klingons, UFO flying saucers and Nomad. The game proved popular enough with fans that it was offered for the new desktop computer market (Commodore VIC-20, Commodore 64, Apple, and the TI-99/4A are some examples) and the new home video game console systems (ColecoVision, as an example).
The TI-99/4A was the first personal computer available to consumers with a 16 bit processor. Debuting during June 1981 and manufactured by Texas Instruments Inc., this early PC was a breakthrough in technology, especially because of its advanced solid state speech synthesis capabilities. Not only could the TI-99/4A’s games speak, but users could purchase a special headset that allowed speech-to-text and the control of certain game features via voice only. When a user said “run,” for example, an avatar in a baseball video game did as instructed.
Those kinds of futuristic features made the pairing of Star Trek and the TI-99/4A inevitable, especially considering the TI-99/4A’s speech capacities. Unfortunately, technology limitations of the era did not allow for Doohan or Nimoy’s actual voices to be used, but a synthesized voice spoke the same lines and introduced each section of the game with warnings such as “Entering Sector 1.6. Avoid mines, Captain!” The TI voices did have emotion and inflection, adding to the drama of the game.
The TI-99/4A graphics were a close approximation to its arcade inspiration, although not as detailed, with three boxes on screen. One screen provided information about shield capacity, photo torpedo inventory and warp power, and the other two boxes were two- and three-dimensional views of the action.
Interestingly and for no discernable reason, the game manual that is included with the TI-99/4A flips the image found on every other company’s manual and box version using the Klingon perspective-themed artwork. In all other versions, the Klingon phasers are firing from the left, yet with the TI-99/4A version, the phaser beam is from the right. Looking closely, then, the name of the U.S.S. Enterprise 1701 is clearly backwards on the hull.
None of that distracts from the fun of the Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator, one of the first games that allowed players to immerse themselves in the world of Trek and a herald of modern games like the virtual reality Star Trek Bridge Crew. One of this article’s authors, John, had a TI-99/4A and the Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator during the early 1980s. Amazingly, his computer still functions and the game works fine after more than 30 years.
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That is engineering that would make Scotty proud!
Maria Jose and John Tenuto are both sociology professors at the College of Lake County in Grayslake, Illinois, specializing in popular culture and subculture studies. The Tenutos have conducted extensive research on Star Trek’s history, and have presented at venues such as Creation Conventions, ReedPOP's official Star Trek 50th Anniversary Convention, St. Louis Science Center, and to the towns of Riverside, Iowa, and Vulcan, Alberta, Canada. They've appeared in episodes of the Netflix show The Toys that Made Us and written for the official Star Trek Magazine. Their research has been featured on BBC Radio, WGN News, CBS News, and in USA Today and WIRED Magazine. Contact the Tenutos at jtenuto@clcillinois.edu
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Star Trek Online is back from a wonderful Star Trek Las Vegas. We had five days of meeting fans at our booth, putting on panels with some of our favorite Star Trek actors, and enjoying exciting announcements like Patrick Stewart returning to the role of Jean-Luc Picard. If you followed along with our Twitter feed, you were kept up to date with all the action all week, including our Sunday Age of Discovery panel. But even if you didn’t – or if you just want to experience it all again – we won’t let you down.
Star Trek Online is a free-to-play massively multiplayer online game that allows players to explore the Star Trek universe from within. Players can forge their own destiny as Captain of a Federation starship, champion the Empire through the far reaches of the galaxy as a Klingon Warrior, rebuild the Romulan legacy as the commander of a Romulan Republic Warbird or carry out daring missions on behalf of the Dominion as a Jem’Hadar soldier. Captains can also explore iconic locations from the Star Trek universe, make contact with new alien species and battle alongside other players in customizable starships. Star Trek Online is currently available on PC, PlayStation4 and Xbox One.
To download and play Star Trek Online today for free, visit www.playstartrekonline.com.
Check out our epic panel with Mary Wiseman and Rekha Sharma, and you can check out the audio from that panel, and interviews with Lead Systems Designer Jeremy Randall and Lead Designer Al Rivera, right here:
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StarTrek.com is saddened to report the passing of Oscar-nominated cinematographer Richard H. Kline, who passed away on Tuesday, August 7, at the age of 91, in Los Angeles. Kline's many credits included Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and he earned his Oscar nominations for Camelot and the 1976 version of King Kong.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Kline served in the Navy from 1944 to 1946, then started his career as an assistant cameraman at Columbia Pictures just a month after his discharge. He worked on numerous films and television shows as assistant camera operator or camera operator before making the leap to director of photography, and working on such projects as Mr. Novak, Chamber of Horrors, The Andromeda Strain (with future TMP director Robert Wise), Hang 'Em High, Soylent Green, Battle for the Planet of the Apes, The Fury, Body Heat, All of Me, Howard the Duck and Double Impact.
“I had the pleasure to spend time with Dick when we were working on the Star Trek: The Motion Picture -- The Director's Edition." Daren Dochterman told StarTrek.com. "Going over the color timing on the film with him and Robert Wise was an amazing experience, and I learned so much. He was happy to lend his eye to making that look as good as possible."
"Richard was simply a photographic genius," Michael Matessino, restoration supervisor for the TMP -- The Director's Edition, told StarTrek.com. "Film was in his family’s blood and, as a result, his work has made a huge impact on cinema. He was a gracious and dear man whom I was privileged to know and spend time with.”
“His skillful photography is its own character in The Motion Picture, very intimate and thoughtful in purpose," David C. Fein, producer of TMP -- The Director's Edition. "I was always touched by his kindness, generosity and enthusiasm for his work, and I will always be grateful to have known and learned from him."
Kline is survived by his children, Paul Kline and Rija Kline Zucker, as well as four grandchildren. Please join StarTrek.com in offering our condolences to Kline's family, friends, colleagues and fans.
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Kate Mulgrew, Star Trek: Voyager's Captain Janeway, is on board for Destination Star Trek Birmingham, to be held this fall.
Mulgrew joins a guest list that already includes William Shatner, Jeri Ryan, Jason Isaacs, Nichelle Nichols, Armin Shimerman, Jayne Brook, Andrew Robinson, Jonathan Del Arco and real-life former NASA astronaut Fred Haise, among others. DST Birmingham which take place at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham, England, from October 19-21, 2018.
Along with autographs, photo ops and panels, fans attending the event will be able to take command of the bridge on the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 and NCC-1701-D, plus see props and costumes in the Destination Star Trek Museum. Photos ops will be available with Armin Shimerman, Max Grodenchik and Aron Eisenberg in makeup and costume as Quark, Rom and Nog.
Tickets for Destination Star Trek Birmingham are available at www.destinationstartrek.com. Keep an eye on StarTrek.com for additional news about Destination Star Trek guests and programming.
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Star Trek: Discovery: Season One will arrive on Blu-ray and DVD on November 13 from CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Media Distribution. The four-disc Blu-ray and DVD collections, available to U.S. and Canadian fans, will feature all 15 first-season episodes of the CBS All Access series, as well as featurettes and other special features that will include cast and crew interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, and deleted and extended scenes.
Among the featurettes are:
DISCOVERING DISCOVERY: THE CONCEPTS AND CASTING OF STAR TREK: DISCOVERY – Interviews with producers, writers and stars of Star Trek: Discovery about casting of the debut season.
THE STAR TREK THEME – A discussion with executive producer Alex Kurtzman and composer Jeff Russo about creating the Discovery theme and score for the show.
CREATURE COMFORTS – A behind-the-scenes look at the makeup and prosthetics department on Star Trek: Discovery, as they both modernize well-known Star Trek species like the Klingons, Vulcans and the Andorians, and bring to life a new species, the Kelpiens.
DESIGNING DISCOVERY – Insight into the production design department led by Tamara Deverell as they create the planets, the world within those worlds and the starships to travel amongst them.
CREATING SPACE – An exploration of how the VFX team, headed by Jason Zimmerman, pushes the envelope to create the reality of space, planets, and starships for Star Trek: Discovery.
PROP ME UP – Led by propmaster Mario Moreira, a voyage through the world of Discovery props, providing an inside look at the design process from inception to set.
FEEDING FRENZY – A fascinating look at the on-set food stylist who creates a galaxy of cuisine.
A FEMALE TOUCH – With strong female producers and writers off-screen and powerful female characters on-screen, Discovery exemplifies the groundbreaking inclusionary theme first put forth in the original series.
DRESS FOR SUCCESS – Costume designer Gersha Phillips and her team create a spectacular array of clothing, uniforms and armor for every kind of species in the galaxy.
STAR TREK: DISCOVERY: THE VOYAGE OF SEASON ONE – A look at the adventures and plot twists encountered in the first season by the crew of the Discovery.
In addition, and as noted, both the Star Trek: Discovery: Season One Blu-ray and DVD collections will include deleted and extended scenes.
Fans in the U.S. and Canada can pre-order on Amazon.com now.
Star Trek: Discovery's first season is available on CBS All Access in the U.S. and Space Channel in Canada. It's available on Netflix in the rest of the world.
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Star Trek Las Vegas – in addition to the wall-to-wall Discovery action -- offered tons of other great things to see, hear and experience on the event’s final day. StarTrek.com had our cameras ready to roll, and are pleased to share the following photo highlights:
The Perfect Bride herself, Famke Janssen, made her STLV debut.
Jordan Hoffman hosted the final One Trek Mind Live session of the weekend and led the assembled fans in selecting the Top 10 Mirror Characters. Number one was… Emperor Georgiou.
LeVar Burton, Robert Duncan McNeill and Rene Auberjonois joined moderator Ian Spelling for a conversation about how each of them made the leap from actor to director during their time on Trek.
Discovery actors Sarah Mitich, Sam Vartholomeos, Oyin Oladejo and Emily Coutts joined fans for a fun-filled game of Celebrity Trek Trivia.
Did you know that the phrase “Spock’s Brain” was uttered 37 times in the episode of the same name? Well, it was.
George Takei shared memories from his youth and career, including a sweet anecdote about Leonard Nimoy fighting for him and Nichelle Nichols when they were about to not be included in a Trek project.
Cast and crew from Deep Space Nine celebrated arguably the show’s finest hour, “Episode Preview: Far Beyond the Stars,” with a screen and mega-panel chat. On the panel: Ira Steven Behr, Nana Visitor, Rene Auberjonois, Armin Shimerman, Terry Farrell, Marc Alaimo, JG Hertzler, Aron Eisenberg, Cirroc Lofton, Jeffrey Combs, Marc Zicree.
And, of course, there was plenty of inventive cosplay.
Click HERE to check out all our previous coverage of STLV.
Are We Borg?
in Ten Forward
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“I am Locutus, a Borg. Resistance is futile. Your life as it has been is over.” Spoken by Captain Picard on the season-three finale of Star Trek: Next Generation, this has to be one of the most-chilling lines in the entire Star Trek canon. It’s not just Patrick Stewart’s cold-blooded delivery, but also the image that accompanies it. Picard has been modified. His head has been augmented with Borg technology, a cortical processor has been implanted in his brain and a laser scope is mounted below his right eye. A cable circulating hydraulic nano-fluids runs from his motorized right arm into his skull.
We are deeply fascinated and unsettled by this man who is no longer wholly human. Like Frankenstein’s monster Picard has been remade in a laboratory, his body hacked, drilled and resectioned. It’s fuel for our nightmares. Yet we live in a world where medical technology and freedom of aesthetic choice make implants and body modification possible, even commonplace.
When we can have acrylic rings inserted into our corneas to correct nearsightedness, defibrillators embedded in our chests to shock an arresting heart, and sacks of silicone implanted in our buttocks to create Kim Kardashian curves, why does Locutus disquiet us?
Aren’t we, like him, Borg?
Last week, I spent three hours in a dental chair while an oral surgeon implanted a titanium rod in my jaw. It’s a screw-like post that forms the base of a dental implant. I was so taken with the X-ray I asked the surgeon to email me a copy. Here in black and white is proof I am now a cyborg. Part human, part mechanical device. What you can’t see on the X-ray is the xenotransplant. Living tissue from a non-human species (bovine bone) has been packed around the implant where, over time, it will be integrated into my natural bone.
Assimilating a foreign species, technology embedded in my jaw: Am I Borg?
It’s estimated that as many as five million Americans are implanted with medical devices each year. The most-popular procedure is almost exclusively performed on children: a myringotomy where a polymer tube is inserted into the eardrum to prevent buildup of fluid in the inner ear. Nearly a million kids a year have this done. Yet we recoil when we see a Borg maturation chamber (Star Trek: Voyager) containing an infant augmented with cochlear implants.
Why? What’s the difference between our implant technology and the Borg’s? Is augmenting our bodies only acceptable when there is a medical need, such as a recurring ear infection or heart arrhythmia? What about procedures we elect to undergo for aesthetics? Breast augmentation, chin augmentation, silicone six packs? Over 300,000 Americans underwent breast augmentations in 2017. Clearly, there is widespread acceptance and adoption of body modification for both medical and aesthetic reasons.
Could the difference be then that we consider it immoral to remove healthy organs and limbs and replace them with performance-enhancing technology? When we believe the Borg have removed Picard’s right arm and replaced it with a prosthetic equipped with a multi-functional tool, we are repulsed. This represents mutilation to us… but does it also represent our future?
DARPA is currently developing wearable mobile machines called exoskeletons which increase the strength and endurance of troops in battle. Elon Musk’s company Neuralink is creating a BMI (brain-machine interface) which can be implanted into the human brain to augment intelligence and create a “neural lace” network. Google has filed patent on a lens implant that requires drilling a hole through the eye’s natural lens in a procedure eerily similar to the one performed on Picard by the Borg in Star Trek: First Contact. When big companies put big money into mashups of healthy human tissue and high tech you can bet we haven’t heard the last of it.
The drive to integrate our biology with our technology is part of a movement called transhumanism. Transhumanists believe in pushing human capabilities beyond their natural limits. Superior bodies, superior minds and immortality are the ultimate goals.
Borg are the living definition of transhuman. Their augmented bodies give them incredible physical strength. Their neural processors and collective “hive mind” give them a computational power beyond our understanding. And immortality? In Star Trek: Voyager, Seven of Nine, a former Borg, tells us, “When a drone is damaged beyond repair, it is discarded. But its memories continue to exist in the collective consciousness. To use a human term, the Borg are immortal.”
Is this why we feel both horror and fascination when we first see Locutus on the Borg cube? Do we recognize the Borg as an allegory for our future selves? If we continue to embrace technology and push the boundaries of what it means to be human will we evolve into drones who use their technology for one purpose: to acquire more technology?
Maybe.
The Borg, in their singular pursuit of technology, have lost appreciation for human beauty. Their bodies are enhanced solely for function. Could this be the real reason they repel us? Utilitarian black hoses plugged into necks, a scrapper’s yard of body hacks, hands a virtual toolbox of pincers and cogs? Neither slick nor pretty, the Borg are the embodiment of anti-aesthetic… which just might be the most alien thing about them. After all, haven’t we always hoped the future would be beautiful?
To learn more about this subject, please visit www.LearningForASmallWorld.com. The course "Star Trek: Inspiring Culture and Technology” provides greater depth on this and many more aspects of the history and impact of Star Trek.
J.V. Jones is a USA Today bestselling writer whose acclaimed Sword of Shadows series is published by Tor Books.
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