Listen: I deep-dive the Trek 2017 news on NPR & Trek.fm

For those of you who prefer your Trek 2017 info and discussion audio-style as well as deep,
I took part in two great discussions this week that are now downloadable for a listen at your leisure.

Many are familiar with The Ready Room, the flagship program of Chris Jones' Trek.fm network of podcasts—and for the third time this year he invited me on for a breaking-news special edition. This time, rather than the deaths of Leonard Nimoy and Harve Bennett, we had a much more upbeat time talking about the future: the news, business angle and still many questions surrounding "Star Trek 2017"—as well as the stupifying and varied fan reaction to the CBS All Access streaming platform it would pioneer. It's 90 minutes and quite a deep dive, by the times we plumb the angles and implications...and as usual I hope I brought some historical and production context many fans might not have thought of yet.

Also this week, NPR radio host Tom Ashbrook in Boston invited me on his On Point call-in talk show Friday to join two TV critics and bring the hot-news Trek perspective to the topic—the current so-called TV  "reboot" wave. Of course I made the point that Star Trek has already passed through its initial "regeneration" not once but twice, 1986 and 2009—and that to fans this represents not a TV fad but just the latest volume in the series FINALLY coming out, dammit. I had the last half-hour of the hour-long show, but it's all great fun with X-Files and Gilmore Girls getting the secondary attention from the other guests, as well as Trek. You can listen or download it as well at the link.

And if you are not in the download audio habit—that's simply what a podcast is!—they make a great on-demand companion for your long commute, your long jog or workout, or whenever meaningful (and specialized) audio can come in handy. 

Here's as good a time as any to try them out!  I've been a guest on 30+ shows all across Chris's Trek.fm network for years now and he even has a special page made up for them in Trek.fm's coveted "featured iTunes" status section...although you can get to them in a zillion ways—including just direct audio play off the website.

Of course, this was also the topic of this month's "Ask Dr. Trek" Roundtable telebriefing in my Portal 47 group of backstage deep-divers (that's the session where they pepper me, instead of a wonderful guest Trek voice you've likely never heard from—which is the second one of the month). And true to my archive opening feature in P47, I shared both Bob Justman's 1986 memos and Interstat fan letters that year to show how much things are still the same between 1986 and 2015.
 If you're diggin' these type of second-level info, past or future, you really should come through the Portal with us each month for the whole package!

"Poll: Obama's Trekkieness not extend to Klingon love?"

Well, that's the idea behind these graphic titles for an interview regarding this amazing National Geographic piece of journalism ...

Obama Better Suited To Fight Aliens, According To Poll

... titles put up for the story, and interview with a comedy writer, on the normally straight-laced Lawrence O'Donnell's The Last Word news show on MSNBC:

Do you think the Klingons are the most-mainstream Trek aliens a news show should use here for the mundanes? The Borg still have a ways to go?

TV TONIGHT: Trek vet Mike DeMeritt teases in-jokes on "Make It or Break It" —and a Frakes episode coming!

Are you a fan of Make It or Break It on ABC Family?
Michael DeMeritt, longtime 1st assistant director on Voyager and then Enterprise who's now starting Season 3 of the series, flagged me last week to let Treklanders know of some cool, old-school in-jokes coming up on the season premiere—TONIGHT.

And since one of our prime foci here at TREKLAND is letting y'all know of the current projects of the greater Trek family, I'm all too happy to oblige—especially when he sends along pics like this... and Number One himself is up soon in the director's rotation. Yep, that's smoooooth Jonny Frakes in the chair behind the lens with the THIRD episode, set to air April 9 (at right, with Mike and actress Tarah Paige); Jonathan West, veteran director of photography of the last five of DS9's seasons, is the DP, too. (More below).

The series story follows young would-be Olympic gymnasts as they train—and in tonight's season opener,  Mike reports on one "Easter egg" to watch out for: "When the kids first get to the USA training center, Austin takes Kaylie and her parents on a tour of the campus and shows them a statue to 'Otis' —a former Assistant Coach who met an unfortunate end at javelin practice. His oversized bust is now a symbol of luck and everyone wants to touch it, but in the Olympic years each team wants to steal it—for whoever has the bust at the end of training has always medalled in the Olympics.  It is a set-up for the season-long battle for ownership of the bronze bust.

"When show creator Holly Sorenson was asked by Production Designer Greg Grande what 'Otis' should look like, she answered, 'Michael DeMeritt!'  So, I gave my best angry Soviet-era scowl and they modeled the bust after me!"

Later, Mike says, in another set-up, the girls' characters come across the new coach's ranking board en route to naming five top finalists, anxious to see if they are listed on the left-side seven columns for prestigious direct training, or the right-side seven columns to work with assistants—those close to already being dropped. "Take a look at who is sitting 'on the bubble' in spot #8," he says, cryptically....

Overall, Mike tells me: "I really wish we had more episodes for this cycle, but I think this is some of the best work we have even done on the show—especially the family day episode."

By the way, Mike's book Poetry and Prose From The Director's Ass is still available on Amazon! Check it out.

No, we can't show the bust or signboard until after airing, so watch tonight and check back—and meanwhile, here's one of Mike's pics shared from the shoot of the THIRD episode with Jonathan directing, and Mike in action as 1st AD. He already says that one will be a pivotal "fan favorite," and we'll have more Treklander pics and teasers then:

The director's team for Episode 3 of Make It or Break It, airing April 9: standing with director Jonathan Frakes (Mr. Tall Guy) from left are Jonathan Miller, Key 2nd AD; fellow Treklander Mike DeMeritt, 1st AD; Iris Huezo, 2nd 2nd AD; Leah Cronican, Base Camp PA; and Kyle Mlodzik, Set PA)

STV: Ira Steven Behr, Part 2: On his new ALPHAS of SyFy—and DS9, of course

It's been some weeks for Ira Steven Behr since we posted Part I of our pre-ALPHAS vidchat.... In that time, the new 10 p.m. Monday series has come in for great critical and audience approval alike and become SyFy's newest hit.  


Meanwhile, here's our next piece with the DS9 showrunner, also of the late great The 4400 and many more—in which Ira addresses more of his new show and can't help but shout out to his old Trek days. Especially since I lead him there...with even more to come in Part 3: we're just getting warmed up.