STV: Star Trek Continues' premiere week: Sneaky peeks!

Ready for even MORE new Trek?

In honor of the world premiere of Star Trek Continues  Friday at Phoenix Comicon with a gala screening, cast panel and signing—and yes, I hope many of you can join us—I put together this little pastiche of faces and moments from my own lenses during our January shoot for "Pilgrim of Eternity." It got its own world premiere as an exclusive clip I showed at BlasterCon in L.A. a couple weekends ago.

You can catch Grant Imahara from Mythbusters, Chris Doohan looking like another Doohan in red, fearless leader Vic Mignogna as Kirk and director, with Todd Haberkorn the Wonder Spock ... and a lot of the cast and crew, including me in McCoy togs and our Kim Stinger as Uhura bein'tough. I'll save some moments with Michael "Apollo" Forrest for a later time.

In fact, I have at least three more to spin out this week before the premiere on Friday night.  Meanwhile, if you crave EVEN MORE, bop over to the STC Facebook page, "Like" it, and scroll back through the last few weeks—there's been fun video and stills a-plenty.

For now, enjoy this teaser—literally!

STV: Kirk and Spock, on-set cut-ups: Star Trek Continues' Vic Mignogna and Todd Haberkorn

Let me introduce you to two of the best voice actors and most popular guests on the anime convention circuit—as well as a couple of all-around performers, directors and even editors: Vic Mignogna and Todd Haberkorn.

With all that, you're catching them at Trekland because Vic is the driving force—as producer, director, co-writer and Captain James T. Kirk—behind Star Trek Continues, which as you know by now this week is the latest "fan film" to debut that looks like anything but amateur. Todd, always at his side—well, sometimes—is holding on to the Spock ears and inflamed stoicism with great aplomb. (Vic was also crazy enough to ask me to step in at the 11th hour to play Dr. McCoy when the prior actor could not make the January shoot.)

With the world debut of "Pilgrim of Eternity" coming at Phoenix Comicon in big Room 120, this chat during the shoot is the third of four videos I'm premiering this week in the countdown to Friday night's huge screening and cast Q&A/signing event. Don't forget you can see more of the shorts at the STC website,  and more clips and stills at the Facebook page, too—which of course is easily Liked.

Till the premiere gets online ASAP after PHXCC for all to see ... Enjoy this third pre-premiere glimpse:



PLUS:  GRANT "MYTHBUSTERS" IMAHARA AS SULU—JUST CONFIRMED AS WELL!

The Trekland corner of Phoenix Comicon: THIS weekend

Outside of the granddaddy event in San Diego and anything else here in SoCal, the next-nearest big multi-genre fanbake is the booming Phoenix Comicon—coming up this Memorial Day weekend starting on Thursday, and only a six-hour drive away from L.A. That's only 1.5 Vegas trips—AND the same basic scenery!

After my first foray there last year and emceeing the TNG cast, et al, this 2013 Phoenix edition is huge for con-goers and huge for me too. Not just the world premiere of Star Trek Continues Friday 6-8 p.m. in the main hall—with most all the cast on hand for a screening, panel and signing—but a whole slew of events as well. PLUS a Con of Wrath benefit meet-up of course...

PHXCC is an urban downtown type con with three partner hotels within 2 blocks, industry and fans night events, and lots of eateries and pubs close by

PLUS, if plans hold, Friday afternoon will see the first time BOTH Nemeceks will make a domestic con since 2008—a rare chance for that OTHER signature on your "Prophecy" photo!

Here's the scoop:

My table is # 2514 — in the signing booth area — where I'll be most times I'm not on a panel. Aside from TREKLAND: On Speaker CDs, the last four fundraiser Klingons PADDS and other goodies...

... Make sure and come by as I'll have the new TREKLAND TRUNK, full of some non-Trek goodies that have been taking up too much room around here!

Plus these panels/events:

FRIDAY:
Star Trek Continues WORLD PREMIERE— 6- 8 pm: The screening of "Pilgrim of Eternity," a cast Q&A, and a mass signing!

SATURDAY:
Star Trek and the Human Potential— 10:30 - 11:30am ....I'm a panelist with a review of the uplift side of Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek. Come and share your passions of Trek and life!

Larry Nemecek's "Trekland: Between the Cracks" Show—12 - 1 pm — Yep, it's my main spectacle... come soak up what's new, peeps: in-jokes, history,


Our CON OF WRATH Benefit Meetup Party:  9-11 pm, at the Sheraton TBA : You pitch in $20 and get a screen credit for my documentary, you get two hours of me with prize trivia, rare Trek clips and snaps from the doc so far. And whatever else you can get me looped enough to say in public-private.



SUNDAY:
Trekland and You: The State of the Franchise Forum: Sunday 1:30 - 2:30 pm: It's a forum because you talk to each more than I do. Yep, it's where we open  each other's minds about what's now and future with Trek... the options... and we may even get around to  that little movie thing that came out this month.

 

UPDATE: GRANT IMAHARA (Sulu) WILL be able to join us Friday night!

STV: Preview Week Part 2: CHRIS Doohan provides the DNA as Scotty for 'Star Trek Continues'

Of all the fan films and all their cast members—celebrity or not—I doubt there is a case quite like what you see with one role in Star Trek Continues, where DNA trumps all.

Yes, the real-life actor behind one of those iconic Star Trek characters—the late, great Jimmy Doohan, our beloved "Scotty" of course —is being represented in the recast role by none other than his own son, Chris Doohan. Not an actor, Chris has slipped into the role, worked on his "Doohan Scotch" accent, and the result is absolutely amazing—as you can see in this test short filmed last summer.

As you can see in our meetup, Chris is pretty non-plussed by all this—which, as for all of us in the cast, was both a lot of hard work and just having a hoot of a shoot ...

Star Trek Continues has its world premiere at 6 p.m. this Friday, May 24 at Phoenix Comicon's main room—a screening, cast Q&A, and a mass signing! Look for it online as soon as possible via the STC website and the Facebook page.

STV: It's Grant 'Mythbusters' Imahara as Sulu! Must be premiere week for Star Trek Continues

Great news!

As if having Grant "Mythbusters" Imahara as our Sulu in the indie online series "Star Trek Continues" wasn't enough... as you can see in our vidchat below the fold ...

We just heard that Grant confirmed the Mythbusters shoot schedule will indeed let him join us for the episode's world premiere hoopla this Friday night at Phoenix Comicon. I was honored to have been asked to play McCoy in this series for the January shoot, but I also made sure to record several of our folk on camera for everyone in TREKLAND —and thus this little gem.

Here's Grant below ... in uniform and out ... for the episode wrangled and helmed by voice actor/director Vic Mignogna as Kirk, his colleague and popular voice actor Todd Haberkorn as Spock, Chris Doohan playing his dad's role as Scotty ... and original TOS "Apollo" Michael Forrest reprising his role ... in a very savvy way. Kim Stinger is Uhura and Wyatt Lenhart is Chekov, too, and Michele Specht plays Lt. McKenna, another new key character, along with Steve Dengler's Security Chief Drake.

There's a screening, panel and signing for the pilot "Pilgrim of Eternity," all starting Friday at 6 p.m. in the con's huge main room. The show will be online soon after, I'll be there all weekend... and I'll be rolling out more vidchats this week prior to the hoopla Friday. You could also check the website (with three short vignettes, from before my casting) and go LIKE the Facebook page, which has a ton more videos and behind-the-scenes photos. Caption contests, anyone?

Meanwhile, whaddya think about how well Grant channels his forebear? Yes, we go there, too:

NPR and me, etc: It's that mainstream media Trek again

UPDATE: You can catch the aired 20-minute NPR segment here ..... and the Voice of Russia "Prism" show here.

FLASH: I'll be on LIVE and in-studio Friday with SoCal NPR's KPCC and AirTalk host Larry Madden— 11:40 am PDT until the end of the show. If you aren't local, the station streams online, too.

Rumor has it we'll be talking about that Star Track thang—past, present and on down the road.

Which brings up the topic of the Mainstream Media —because, in case you hadn't noticed, we're tunic-deep in that special time again when they (or at least the closet-Trekfan hosts and producers sprinkled among them) can safely talk Star Trek beyond the latest science breakthrough or second-degree Trekland obituary.

I've been hit up by a number of media outlets to gab on about Gene's sandbox and JJ's corner of it, thanks to the media blitz of the Into Darkness premiere and hoopla. Aside from KPCC, I've also spoken with the Voice of Russia and Prism host Andrew Hiller in Washington, D.C. for a brief segment on his show online Friday and can be heard at that link.

So far, the print media has grabbed me for a bit in the Miami Herald already in a Sunday piece by Rene Rodriguez (left).... and there's more outlets out there who haven't sent me links yet—but I'll share them, in the next day or two... a couple from around the globe. It's all about everyone wanting opinions and context about THIS movie for the layman, and how it fits into the big 50-year Trek tableau. And, as we stay out of a time of active "aired" production, it's what we have to bite into.

It's a big-picture I continue to stay interested in, since there's so much "daily shiney" out there already to steal our attention elsewhere—a big picture I have written about already for years. Me love the canon details, yup ... but the long-view eddies and floes are good to keep in mind as well. It's fun to use the mainstream medial channels for that.

Plus, you never know just what mundane corner will yield up the next anal canonista or bigtime fan of Captain Proton, right?

Catch the captains' solo acts on EPIX tonight—and win a poster from Trekland, too!

If you bought your tickets for Into Darkness for opening day Friday and then they moved the
debut up on you to today, don't despair: You can still celebrate "STID Eve" in your universe in a very Trekkish way AND do it for free. AND even win a poster from TREKLAND!

Or, go crash a screening any time—you've got two weeks on this deal:

From EPIX and the team that brought you William Shatner's Get a Life and The Captains documentaries, you can catch five new BONUS specials on the net: a special one-hour solo spotlight on each of Trek's five center-seaters starting at 8 p.m. ET tonight....and online for those unable to see EPIX.

The exclusive EPIX "The Captains Close-Up" series features more of those interviews conducted by Shatner with his Starfleet colleagues Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew, Patrick Stewart, and Scott Bakula. And the special series kicks off with a close-up interview with Shatner himself.

You can even get a free limited-edition full-size poster from The Captains (above), perfect for autographing at the next big con or two (or three) you make it to. EPIX is supplying me with 10 of these lovelies to give away to the first TEN Treklanders in the U.S. who sign up at larrynemecek.com and answer this trivia question correctly:

All of Star Trek's five lead captains are fictitiously said to have been born in the onetime United States of America ... except who?

Just hit the newsletter signup link, fill it out for name and email—but add your trivia guess (a lead captain's last name) and your full mail address after your first name in that "first name " text field. Do it quick! The first 10 correct U.S. answers win their sender a poster shipped directly from EPIX; lack of a mail address prohibits receipt of your prize. In any case, the quiz offer closes at 9 P.M. PDT / 12 AM EDT on TUESDAY, May 21. Good luck!

Meanwhile, if you can't access EPIX on your cable or dish system, all the new "solo" films are available on EpixHD.com and can be watched via a limited free trial link.

After accessing that link, here's the direct page for each captain's spotlight:


The Captains Close Up: William Shatner

The Captains Close Up: Avery Brooks

The Captains Close Up: Kate Mulgrew

The Captains Close Up: Patrick Stewart

The Captains Close Up: Scott Bakula


At any time, the entire original The Captains as produced and directed by Shatner remains on view at EpixHD.com with no limits. It is not part of tonight's special lineup, though.

Into Darkness: The Story So Far ....

Or, make that: "the reviews so far."

Many of you know that I have commented on STID only once ... a non-spoiler observation on the Uhura/McCoy marketing shift a week ago ... and yet I saw a screening of it waaay last Wednesday at Paramount.

However, as those who are close Tweetsy followers of mine or Facebookers of Trekland know, I have made a few side comments as well.

I'm going to see STID a second time tonight just to keep ruminating on it before I comment ... So I wanted to recap for everyone my thoughts that have slipped out on all fronts, before it gets any later and it's too hard to claim them (again, all non-spoilers):

—This sucker will sell a TON of tickets. More than ST09.

—Maybe even more OVERSEAS than '09 did, hopefully. (Mexico is up 300% over 2009).

—Because—and this is hardly any amazing insight on my part to say so (ie, see Paramount quotees)—the global market is driving a lot of what this film is. As it is with all flicks in the "studio blockbuster" category these days, or even the wanna-be blockbusters.

—Which is why I tweeted: "Even more reason to have a Trek TV series back on again. No foreign masters." As in the kind that drive box-office profits.

—My first sum thoughts after the first screening: "Well, THAT was a really long way to go to keep a franchise viable."

But again—I want to take a second measure before I say any more. Its not like you can't be drowned in STID commentary everywhere already, and it's not all even still spoiler-free (ie, check out any Facebook page now from around the world, even if legit reviewers are still honoring the US debut before dishing in detail.)

A U.S. opening day which, by the way, is now officially THURSDAY—a day earlier than long heralded.

Overall ...With the ALT timeline of the JJverse, I tend to take the big picture and the long view in a lot of my feelings and observations on the new movie series... and its fans, yea and nay.  In fact, I also know that I'm not the target audience here (but I might get sneaked in the back door when no one's looking). After all, what can you say? Short of comment on Mr. and Mrs. Chekov's revised birthing frequency, or wonder why Captain Pike didn't usually have his bridge crew scan in multi-layer smart graphic mode.

So, stay tuned.

And if you want something worthwhile to spend the time in line with Thursday or Friday at your local cinema ... why not get the the single source of all your essential Into Darkness info? Even my regualr column is in there. Choose either the dead-tree version, or download it to your PADD or other interface.