STV: Trek2Chuck II — Bob Picardo on CHUCK March 9 ... and more!

The second in our series on the ex-Trekland family working on NBC's Monday-night hit Chuck:



Back in December we were able to grab our own Bob "The Doctor" Picardo—he of many roles, including the last commander of the late, great Stargate: Atlantis—during his nighttime location shoot for a guest spot on NBC's great Chuck series, with its plethora of former Trek veterans off-camera.

Bob's episode, "Chuck Vs. The Ultimate Weapon," airs Monday, March 9 on your NBC channel at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Central (as they say back home) ... or 8 p.m. Eastern and Pacific (as they say out here)...

Bob is also full of other project news, too—so take a listen. Let's translate that "fan favorite" status into even more real-world turnout.

Who da Kirk?

The recent GoAnimate and QUOG cute-imagery news does mean a fresh and, yes, direct invite for the kids to access Star Trek—kids of any age, that is. As CBS licensing chief Liz Kalodner says, they do "bring a smile"—and this Treklander thinks they in no way take away from the serious side of the sport.

But this QUOG-laden preview T-shirt from new licensee Trevco makes me wonder:

















Is that Kirkster image based on young Shat, Chris Pine.... or Phase II's James "Capt. Elvis" Cawley?

STV: Quark, Rom, and a new free screen-n-talk series



It's a laid-back and fun look at the philosophy, ethics and, yes, sprirituality of Star Trek through its various incarnations and alien perspectives. If you are in the Los Angeles area March 1, don't miss The Spirit of Star Trek: Makeup maestro Michael Westmore co-hosts with his pastor, the Rev. Curtis Webster, after screening an apropos episode—and would you believe the kickoff edition is about the Ferengi, with "Prophet Motive" onscreen and Armin Shimerman and Max Grodenchik afterwards as guests? Yes, there's more to come: Ethan Phillips, Robert Picardo, Robert O'Reilly and others are lined up for the monthly sessions.

The debut session is Sunday, March 1 from 7-9 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church of Encino, 4963 Balboa Boulevard just south of the 101 and Ventura Boulevard. Best of all, the thing is free—and don't be thrown by the church setting: this is obviously a nondenominational, free-flowing event and the discussion is open. If you don't believe me, take it from the Ferengi brothers themselves ... but better call to reserve, just in case: 818-788-1147.

This one's a bust—thank goodness

Bill Theiss would have loved it. I think.







And no, no licensing violations--just "Star Trek inspired"... like any modern fan film. Just check out the ("******star trek pin not included*****") disclaimer.

From a savvy designer of hip fashion corsets in L.A. ...

Meanwhile, back at the Hilton...

And while all eyes turn toward Neonopolis, how's it going back at the old Hilton site?

Part of the overall delay for beginning the rebirth of Star Trek: The Experience is the demolition overrun there, taking longer than expected as I saw recently. But as of mid-February, there are still a few last signs visible outside to the public visitor...

Stereotypes, schmereotypes

With one branch of the newly-split and re-imagined Star Trek: The Tou--er, Exhibition making its first real stop-to-stop move, the major old-guard Detroit Free Press newspaper has an excellent piece up about not only the attraction's arrival but metro Detroit's main fan group and their opinion of it.

Best of all, the whole tone of it re: members of the 21-year-old USS Intrepid club is very, well, normal. Some would even say respectful:

They do not live in their mothers’ basements.

Most, in fact, have basements of their own.

One is a neurosurgical nurse, another an administrative assistant and another a parts assembler. ...

This, from mainstream media? Local? Maybe it is the start of a new era ...

The Experience of the Future?

Thanks to a local story in the Las Vegas Sun and another in an online business journal, there's a ton of scuttlebutt right now about plans for the rebirth of Star Trek: The Experience—or not. The initial license is signed, as the Sun article notes, but everything we're hearing in Trekland is that the exact timeline, phasing and concept are still being worked out. The Sun quotes local developer and entrepreneur Rohit Joshi, who has worked under his new CBS/Paramount license to secure the museum collection and anything salvageable from the rides and decore for a new Experience at Neonopolis, the dining/entertainment complex he fronts downtown at the "Fremont Experience." The local buzz for helping renew this area of Vegas with the right formula of attractions is growing as well.

But as much as everyone would love a concrete presence by movie opening in May, that just doesn't seem do-able in just three months. What's more likely is some kind of a limited presence three months later for Creation's annual Vegas convention Aug. 6-9, which itself will be in a bit of new territory as everyone figures out the new landscape for Star Trek and the Vegas connection. Just the reality of time means major longterm—and new—aspects at ST:TE will have to wait until 2010, at the most. On the bright side, Joshi tells me the current U.S. economic downtown is leaving he and his group undaunted, having no affect on plans to move forward.

Meanwhile, for those unable to hit Vegas in winter as I did on a quick trip this week, check out the peek at top. Neonopolis is a three-story cube with a large corner breezeway access to an open-air interior court and outdoor access above it; it already has some restaurants and an 11-screen movie theatre, but there's still a chunk of space all ready to occupy—all of which would get a heavy external remodel in the new spirit of things, of course. Below, you see the proximity of the Neonopolis corner (at right) to the "Fremont Experience" curved canopy (at left) over old downtown Vegas: the waving cowboy icon sign and older original casino-hotels and shops are all further left.

Did Obama just have a 'Galileo Seven' moment?

You guys know it is not the intent of Trekland to inject politics unduly into these diatribes ... unless of course it's a treatise on the New Essentialists or the Terra Primers, or even the anti-Coridan bloc....

But did Obama just meet his Taurus II?

SPOCK: Strange. Step by step I have done the correct and logical thing...

MCCOY: And brought our furry friends down on our necks.

SPOCK: Yes. I seem to have miscalculated regarding them ... inculcated resentment on your part.

Aside from the cheesy, too-easy rhyme of "Barack" and "Spock"... and recalling that it's no secret the President is a Trekkie... an interesting thought crossed my mind this week, amid the spectacle of the President changing tone to sell his stimulus package in the Senate against withering attacks by Republicans and "10-to-1" calls against it by those whipped up by conservative talk radio. Like Spock on his first command with a shuttlecraft crew in "The Galileo Seven," the president seemed content that a rational, unconcerned trust in the facts and deductive logic of history would be quite enough to rationally carry the day.

Then the wall of fear and emotion set in, and quicker'n Bones could say, "It'll take more than logic to get us out of this," the president pivoted back into political-reality retorts and metaphors that got his point across. It's as if the lightbulb went off that "making the correct command decision, in the logical order" was not enough.

KIRK: You mean, you reasoned that it was time for an emotional outburst.

Don't worry. I'm not going overboard with any "Obama is a Vulcan" meme.

Spock never did hoops.

Krime and Klingons—NOT

OK, so the new Star Trek movie's marketing and licensing roll-out is something to behold—but I don't think cheap hold-ups for attention is part of it.

First thing I want to know about that guy caught on the security cams robbing a convenience store in Colorado Springs this week: was he really a Trekster, or was that mini-bat'tleh just the only thing he was able to jack from the local space-Goth metalsmith store? I mean, that video still did not exactly show off his "Klingon sword" as a to-scale model. From here, it doesn't even look like it's shaped correctly.

My point is, that guy could not have been a true fan—he never would have been caught dead in public, much less on camera, with a small-scaled prop. And that hoodie—what's he doing, doing cosplay as a Landru monk? The hems are all wrong, obviously. No drawstrings on Beta III.

Nope, he was clearly not a fan. So—sorry local media! I know you had a heyday with this guy and his "Klingon sword," as you kept putting it, but once again we have to cut through the "stereotypes" of the local press and get to the root of the truth. Just as most con-goers are not in costume, most petty hold-up clowns are not fans of Kahless.

UPDATE: A helpfully nerdy commenter at the Denver Post website proves me right: that blade looks to be a Klingon-like knockoff by a prop metalsmith, Kit Rae's "The Valdris" (and no, ever so cleverly, it's not Valkris.) How long til they promote it, "As used by punks in The Springs"?