From "bridge restoration" to glorious teaching museum: A Kickstarter for a do-able sci-fi dream is now UP

UPDATE: Apparently, Huston has embroiled me in a $500 donor reward for the campaign: drinks and brain-dissecting. See the page.


Well! It's a big week for a little project that *I*, of all people, first revealed to the world right here back in August 2012. Without naming names!

But Huston Huddleston's project is not so little anymore. Or in cognito.

Yep, after all those "Captain, I saved the bridge!" T-shirts and celebrity support pictures at cons all over the country, comes the big news Wednesday that the non-profit "Enterprise D Bridge Restoration Project" -turned-"New Starship" has zoomed in scope to now become the Hollywood Sci-Fi Museum project—still headed by Huston but with an army of fan volunteers, both white-collar and red-shirted.

The big splash announcement kicks off an $83,500 Kickstarter crowd-funding drive to fund the groundwork of the initial preview site in Hollywood by 2015 and the build to a permanent, custom museum circa 2018. There's donor levels from $1 to $4500...
and it's already got a healthy start. I hope you all can join in and give what you can—and as a board member honored to be asked to serve, I'll give my thanks up front.

Yes, that's right: I'm on the board for this, among a few other peeps you might have heard of before. I vetted this every step of the way or else I wouldn't be involved. So I know a lot of you are thinking, "Hey wait a minute—restoring and housing the Enterprise-D bridge is one thing... but ain't this a bit grandiose? Smells like 'too much, too fast, too overblown' to be real." Or even: "Hey—you're coming back around for more money?"

And these are just the showy parts ...

Fact is, as Huston found out the past two years of hitting up corporate and other big would-be donors, the first concept was too SMALL, in their eyes. That's why the scope and the focus have gone beyond the bridge—and even Trek itself. And even that left a few early supporters skeptical.

"The money guys simply didn't care JUST about the D bridge," Huston told me today. "Some Trek fans don't seem to grasp that not everyone cares about a used set that was from a tour, and from a show that ended 20 years ago."

Be clear: the first "New Starship" Kickstarter  in 2012 funded some of the early planning, so as to get invited to a ton of conventions to spread the world, enchant mainstream media, grab fan goodwill with free photo ops, mushroom the social media, and park a lot of celebrity butts in the captain's chair.

That 2012 total would barely fund a bridge wedding and party center, though... much less the real teaching tool that the touch-screen computers and simulators can be for school trips in science, history, math—in fact, the whole STEM teaching model to jump-start our national education and workforce needs. And the art and crafts of cinema storytelling as well. So what cooler place for dispensing real science and fictionizing than the icons of science fiction everyone is already in love with?

But really ... not just Trek, but ALL these studios and franchises? Doesn't that just multiply the cost and legal hassles even more? How is this even conceivable? It's a Vizzini moment if ever there was one, right?

Au contraire, says Huston: "The secret is, it's not-for-profit and educational. That's the only way this is going to work. Despite how nervous the studio lawyers are going to get, all the actors, directors, producers and writers and certainly fans all want this to happen."

Add to that a lot of museum professionals, management experts, legal and CPAs... closet fans, too: they've done a lot of "sweat equity" to put together a pretty impressive batch of business, marketing, finance, sustained operations, education outreach .... well, binders full of plans.

Grant's "Hall of Robots" welcome video

Plus, my Star Trek Continues "Sulu" buddy Grant Imahara is only the first celeb to shoot an exhibit video for the project—his, natch, on the Hall of Robots.

Which is all one other way I know this is more than just one fanboy's pipedream. All these closet fans—and not-so-closet fans—have already invested thousands of bucks of consulting hours to help get this launched.

"This just seems like the right thing at the right time, " Huston says.

Even Paul Allen's vaunted EMP sci-fi and rock museum in Seattle, mentioned breifly in the Kickstarter video, has had contact with the "Hollywood Sci-Fi Museum" and sees a relationship, not a competition. "They are totally supportive of our concept and amazing people, " Huston says, after a trip to meet with their staff and compare notes. "They just don't do what we're going to be doing," referring to the hands-on student simulators and education access. "It's two totally different concepts."

There's really nothing like this as a teaching/entertainment sci-fi mecca, especially in "media capital" L.A./Hollywood, and there's a lot of interest in both the jobs, and the tourism ...plus the attached hotel/center for a private owner. And then the green-energy/sustainability goals for the eventual all-new building.

A lot of hard work, money and long hours are still to go on this thing. But it is out there with enough planning, vision, and phased-in conception to attract a lot of the real folks who make real things go. Too big to dream? Too big to work? Right now, it's what it needs to be. I'm excited to be a part of it, since way back at the birth ... and can't wait to see what all these excited pro-fans can launch together. Starting—again—right now.



And this is just one of TWO wonderful, non-profit, Trek-related projects I'm going to be involved with as a board member and proud backer. Stay tuned ...

It's birthday boy Grant "Sulu" Imahara during "Lolani," the 2013 Star Trek Continues shoot for Episode 2!

Grant Imahara has a been a real hoot to know and work with amid my ongoing connection with Star Trek Continues ever since the pilot episode, and during the shoot for Episode 2 "Lolani" in 2013 his one day on set actually fell on his Oct. 23 birthday. (Note that this is just a couple days before my infamous "Cure" moment, and my voice is already suffering from Travel Crud.)

But Grant is in fine form, as you can tell by our quick vidgab (below the fold), filmed between takes and amidst the chaos. Watch for my shot of the moment when Sulu turned back into Mythbuster Grant and he tried to troubleshoot a stuck Suluscope (I always called it the "Viewmaster") ...along with a peek at the creatively-"sculpted" Enterprise birthday cake Grant was presented later that night.

As the world will see, Grant has a notable moment in Episode 3 of Star Trek Continues, coming in summer 2013. I missed seeing him during that shoot, so I guess it was a good thing I "saved" him back in Episode 1, eh?

And if all this "Continues" talk is new to you, what are you waiting for? Go here to see STC prior episodes on YouTube or Vimeo... and "like" the Facebook page as well to keep up with news of the latest stuff. And, yes, our Kirkstarter is indeed over with success.

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, you can catch those three npow that we have premiered the thing! And 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: 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:

WonderCon look-back: A Bones-Sulu reunion AND a hit panel on video

What a difference a year makes.

A year ago we were drowning in a monsoon that ruined the mood at what I called "strip mall con"—the normally San-Fran-based Wondercon, San Diego's little brother relocated to Anaheim for a year or two and struggling then to share parking with two high school sports events at the convention center there. Meh. People were drenched waiting in open air for slow, overwhelmed and distant shuttle buses.

This year? Wow, and not just for the very welcome sun:

FIRST, I pull off a successful meet-up for "The Con of Wrath" (more on that soon)...

... AND enjoy the largesse of some table space at the hubbub of Enterprise-D chair photo opps thanks to Huston Huddleston (rear, left) and his booming non-profit restoration project and science center "New Starship"....

...WHERE we had a McCoy-Sulu reunion with Grant Imahara of Mythbusters (left and right), soon to be seen as the helmsman opposite my doctor in the new Star Trek Continues indie online series—the pilot episode to debut at PhoenixComicon May 24 (more on THAT later, too!) ...

...PLUS have a wealth of Treklanders drop by: longtime Trek illustrator-author (and Voyager designer ) Rick Sternbach and Voyager illustrator Tim Earls .,.. PLUS post-production producer Steve Welke, all of whom recorded vidchats with me for the blog for later: look for them soon.

Rick...

...Tim...

...and Steve!

PLUS a genre psychology panel I was asked to join that garnered a lot of news attention, recorded on homespun video for posterity (with a cool opening sequence)—and more on THAT later as well.

We even worked!—and got in an interview on the run with one of the dealers who was a pivotal key in the saving of "The Con of Wrath," our documentary on the 1982 Ultimate Fantasy show in Houston that was Stat Trek's most glorious failure. You "Wrath" supporters will hear more about that as well.

I also made it over to the CBS Blu-ray Remastering panel, for the great clips and reaction from another full house (at left) to the Okudas, producer Roger Lay, doc director Robert Burnett and even Brannon the Braga back on his outreach effort. I was sad to hear., though, the offhand news that longtime TV Trek set decorator Jimmy Mees had just passed away. (More on him soon, as well.)

All in all, from my admittedly narrow point-of-view on 2 of the 3 days the weekend, my two days at WonderCon WERE a wonder—a good mix of fans, coming from all across the genre spectrum of course, even as the Trek variety tended to find me—and in surprisingly and healthy numbers, judging by both the panels and the obvious cosplay. I really, really was amazed at the contrast between last year and this—both in numbers and in Trek repping. It was a good year for the show in deed, where I heard totals jumped up from around 40,000 last year to 50,000 this time. With the entire convention center uncontested by high school cheerleaders and girls volleyball championships—confusing the anime fans boys with cosplay photo meltdown—things overall seemed more settled, and folks having a more leisurely and settled time.

I still miss, however, the lack of anywhere to go NOT associated with the nearby hotels—as helpful as they are, overflow choices are still limited. With Anaheim set up to fuel Disney full-time or to host events whose members hit Disney for the night... there's just no mom-and-pop or local nightlife or pubs/eateries in walking distance. And heaven forbid you give up your hard-won, hard-paid parking spot in midday or early evening! Whether WonderCon returns wholly to San Fransisco's Moscone Center, or maintains split campuses now in both OC and the Bay, is among the choices the WC has said it will consider... based on venue vibes like this. Wherever it is held, WonderCon is enjoying the boom of popularity as many regional comic-cons enjoy these days as people shy away—or are forced away from ticket sales shutouts—from megamonstrosity CCSD and its 150,000 bodies in July.

Finally, though—just a big thanks to everyone who came and braved the sunshine this year, and offered up some fun chat or good cosplay, or both:

Ex-Brit Ben Paddon of L.A.'s own TShirt 

Especiale gracias to you guys-n-gals who made it to any or all three of the panels I was a part of, including our "traditional" Saturday evening Trekland "Between the Cracks" show—even if we did have to have it in the "classroom" room, you stuck by. And look for those psych-panel video and donor tribute posts before much more time gets by.

Oh—and you wanna say something about the Hawaiian shirt? Well, GO ahead. Disrespect the uniform.