The Science of Star Trek

[Takara_Soong 4]

Captain Kirk explains it all

The Science of Star Trek is a two-hour documentary by Montreal filmmaker Alan Handel that explores the science of the classic sci-fi series and uses series star William Shatner as its narrator

 

BRENDAN KELLY

The Gazette (Montreal)

June 27, 2005

 

The Science of Star Trek will not be a dry, academic documentary, which is only natural given that it is a William Shatner project. The former Montrealer best known for his portrayal of Captain James Kirk in the original Star Trek series is anything but a straight man. He is a quirky, off-beat character, not unlike Denny Crane, the bizarre aging lawyer he plays in Boston Legal.

 

Shatner is infamous for his strange interviews and, in recent years, has been only too happy to play on his off-the-wall image with silly movie cameos, wacky TV ads and downright nutty music albums.

 

Alan Handel, the Montreal producer making The Science of Star Trek, said the two-hour documentary will feature legitimate scientific research. But it'll also be funny, like Shatner.

 

"The whole idea is to flesh out his humour and have his humour central to the whole thing," Handel said.

 

The documentary is based on Shatner's book, I'm Working on That: A Trek from Science Fiction to Science Fact (Simon & Schuster, $21), which looked at the science of Star Trek and explored whether any of the cult show's far-out ideas had become reality in the four decades since the show debuted.

 

"Part of the content and a lot of the flavour he's established in the book in a way that's consistent with Bill Shatner, icon, which is very self-deprecating and funny," Handel said.

 

The documentary, which is narrated and hosted by Shatner, features a number of scientists who were inspired as kids by Star Trek and went on to invent all kinds of things that were part of the science-fiction vision of Star Trek. When Handel discovered the book, he immediately figured it'd be a great TV project and he says it wasn't that tough to nab the rights to the book. "You just have to put up enough money," he said.

 

Handel Productions is currently finishing work on The Science of Star Trek (which is the working title) and expects to deliver it to the broadcasters in the fall. It will air sometime next season on the Discovery Channel in Canada, the History Channel in the U.S., and Channel 5 in Britain. In addition, Discovery Channel International will air the two-hour documentary on approximately 100 of its channels around the globe.

 

Handel has lucked out in the sense that Shatner is a lot hotter now than a couple of years ago thanks to Boston Legal. The Star Trek star has his hottest TV series since Star Trek in the spinoff from The Practice. He upped his profile big time earlier this year when he won the Golden Globe as best supporting actor in a TV series for his turn as the eccentric attorney on the legal drama.

 

Prior to working with Shatner, Handel had heard the stories about how odd the actor was, but he said he's been pleasantly surprised.

 

"He's been really good to deal with," Handel said. "People say very cautiously - 'So what's Shatner like to deal with?' But the god's honest truth - he's so professional."

 

Handel is set to follow the Shatner project with another story that has a Montreal twist to it. This time, he'll be turning the cameras on the Bronfman clan, looking at Edgar Bronfman Jr.'s controversial decision to shift the Bronfman family's holdings from the booze and chemical businesses to the sexier (but much more volatile) entertainment industry.

 

Edgar Bronfman Jr. has so far declined to be interviewed for the documentary, but Handel is still trying. He has also been turned down by Jean-Marie Messier, the CEO of French company Vivendi, which merged with Bronfman's Universal to form Vivendi Universal, one of the world's largest entertainment conglomerates.

 

But the filmmakers will be talking to insiders close to the family and Seagram, in part thanks to the help of consultant Anthony Bianco, who covered the Vivendi Universal story for Business Week.

 

The Bronfman documentary will be shot this summer and is slated to run next season on Global in English and on Canal D and Radio-Canada in French.

[Stephen of Borg 2]

I just pray it comes on the Discovery Channel in the US as well and not just in Canada, because I don't have the History Channel. Man, this will really suck if I can't see it