Don't forget 'TNG 365'—another new stunner of a book

And now—a long-overdue review in praise of another  Trek offering that I hope has gotten its proper share of attention in this crazy holiday season: Paula Block and Terry Erdmann's luscious five-star TNG 365 book, a 744-page follow-up to their earlier tome, both from Abrams (and no—no relation).

The above means, if you still need a gift or two for your Trek giftee list, GET THIS. Especially, of course, if your own name is on that list.

Look, as you regular readers and viewers will know, and as I promised back in Post #1... TREKLAND is all about a personal take on the daily diet of Trek news you can get everywhere—either my own POV, or someone's else's.

And this gets pretty personal.

The shallow things would be to say—"Oh look! The authors extraordinaire used one of my own uniques for Entry 339 (left), and tossed in a nice shout-out for me and the TNG Companion" (Which folks still want to buy at conventions, despite it going out-of-print and into eBooks last year). Previously, only fans in a convention audience from time to time for my "Between The Cracks" Trek show got a glimpse of this slice of TNG history: the late-season self-poke at otherwise outstanding writers who had come and gone from TNG's very demanding niche. (And yes, per his intro for the book: that poster hung in Ron Moore's corner office bathroom, where I had the good sense to snap it during one of our annual archival interview sessions.)

But truth is, I'm jealous because TNG 365 gets to be everything I had hoped the TNG Companion could have been, and I had initially planned for, as the first reference book of the "modern" Trek era: lots of behind-the-scenes pics to go with the tale-telling—and in COLOR. Some images here are from studio vaults we barely got to use over the years in magazines... And some are even better: from the files of all the series' Treklanders who were smart enough to snap their own work in progress (or those around them). Like that one of mine. Until the digital revolution revamped the landscape, your only shot was to catch it and its brethren at a cool con show. (Or break into my house).

The gorgeous and rare photos, sketches and even memos also give a chance to tack on some (gasp) text to tell anew some of the best moments of TNG—because so much is on the "cutting room floor," as with the space and reprint limitations of my TNG Companion, for one. A lot had been used and consumed by magazines that most fans today will never have a chance to ever see. (Hey! You finally get Pulaski's full Writer's Guide bio! And Dan Curry's "Visible Klingon" anatomy poster (aside from that Enterprise glimpse) (at right)! And a zillion other things). There's even some bits here I had never seen nor heard before —heavens! There's even room for lots of cool off-lot context and cultural tie-in sidebars to boot, like products and fan moments— but all based around imagery. And even with seven season to cram in this time.

It also means that, even with the great documentary being assembled for the TNG remastering on Blu-ray, a book still holds far more Trek treasure than video, in many ways. But thanks for the cpntinued 25th anniversary hoo-haw, nonetheless.

I guess what I'm saying is that, obviously, TNG 365 is the perfect companion to your TNG Companion (ahem).  

If you didn't think to gift it by now, from your local well-stocked bookseller or even a tad late via online, don't forget it during the inevitable gift-swapalooza coming up post-holiday Dec. 26. Or anytime. (It's on Kindle, too.) All this and about 18 bucks. In hardback!

"Cookin' With Gas": Another holiday Trek gift from Pony

Merry Christmas or what-have-you—it's my pleasure to pass along a little holiday treat from my buddy Pony Horton, CGI FX whiz and sometime producer/actor extraordinaire with the flair for comedy ... who last yuletide brought us the gift of the inevitable Star Trek/Nixon mashup, 1701 Pennsylvania. Please tell me you saw it, starring Ralph Miller in the role he was born to play-gate?

Well, now, Pony is back, with this video present set in the future ...though it's not of a holiday theme per se, it's just his way of saying "greetings of the season." In that whimsical away.

UPDATE: You can see "Cookin' With Gas" direct at Pony's YouTube page ... enjoy!

Meanwhile here's Teaser #3, via Pony:


Cookin' With Gas teaser trailer #3 from Pony R. Horton on Vimeo.

STV: Gap-filling Star Trek with David Goodman and "Federation: The First 150 Years," Pt. 2

I'm rushing this into print because I hope you late shoppers still needing a cool Trek gift might see this and still do something about it!

That, and I just want to get more of this interview out, after our Part 1—because David Goodman and I had such a hoot. My very first reaction to Star Trek*, after posters and model kits, was the urge to fill up those annoying background gaps when it seemed we might not get any more on film--but to do it in a smart and agreeable way.

And with our fallow period of new Trek now in the Prime 'verse, and a return to Star Trek non-fiction looking better than ever, finally, David was the first true background fan to get a big chance again. I'm STILL jealous—and it has nothing to do with his time writing on Enterprise, or Futurama, or the MacFarlane Empire like Family Guy and American Dad—or just selling a new animated series to FOX, Murder Police.

So just hit that play button, because while I may even get an interviewee to cry, I rarely get them to curse at me. And rip me off on camera!

And know too: There is a Part 3 coming—one last entry about Trek canon and his gap-filling choices—plus a Part 4: apart from "FEDERATION: 150," David's prognostications on Trek now and future and my reaction to them. Keep staying tuned ... and for starters, listen to David's answer to the Eugenics War Conundrum ... the Cloaking Dilemma ... and Trill vs. Vulcan Parallelism...





*And I don't mean in 2009 ...

Pitch in: It's Armin in drag for the Antaeus Theatre

Shades of "Profit and Lace!"

No, this is not my video—but some choice bits shared by Armin Shimerman and Kitty Swink from their current group, the Antaeus Theatre, whom we've seen and mentioned before. The Antaeus bills itself as L.A.'s classical theatre ensemble—and that goes for the obscure as well as well-known plays.

But today I wanted  to share one of three videos for the Antaeus' end-of-year tax-deductible donor season (makes a nice gift!)—this one emphasizes how the company double-casts all plays so "the show can go on" on those days when cast members might otherwise get auditions or even gigs.

You'll also spot Linda "Hoshi" Park right up front— but keep watching, and you can catch another Treklander in a dress, too ...

See the other videos and pics, read about their education classes and outreach, and make a donation at their website here.

STV: Still time to get a Trek ornament—right, Kevin Dilmore?

Are you a fan of the Hallmark Star Trek holiday ornaments?

This may have been shot at ComicCon last summer, but it's a reminder that a) the Hallmark line has been a part of tree-trimming for fans since 1991 (!!) and b) with two weekends to go, it's still not too late to grab your ornament of choice—ship, figure, or scene?

Plus—you get: A sneak peak at the real 2013 ornament prototypes (as at right). And our nerdness over Scotty's prop, Kirk's hair... etc... etc...

Kevin Dilmore, of course, is not only a noted Star Trek fiction scribe with Pocket Books, —usually with writing partner Dayton Ward—but a writer (and Trek think-tanker) for Hallmark greetings in Kansas City. He also gets to show off a couple of his new franchise greeting cards, too. And a Batman?

Enjoy the madcap frenzy of ComicCon behind our talk... it could just as easily have been the buzz in a December department store display, right?

After movie news, try out a podcast or three. With me.

On top of this being an insanely busy month in Trekland old and new ... and the frenzy over a character name and a trailer ...

Well, when things calm down over John Harrison, perhaps you'll have time to try out a few podcasters ... who were good enough to have me on this past week.

We talked about everything from the opening salvos of Into Darkness mindgame hyper-promotion to fan generations with Doug Mirabello and Jose Munoz, Trek TV vets now on The Zero Room... where they forced me to explain all over again about The Con of Wrath. With some all-new points by the boys I hadn't even thought of. Our chat follows after their regular couple takes on comics/sci-fi news of the week.

Wayne Emery at the UK's Trek Mate was good enough to have me back on and share the concept of the Trekland: On Speaker debut CD as a late gift idea (foreign gift deadline is Friday!), and mentioned it there as well as current topics we'll all been buzzing about.We are the final segment there, after co-hosts' other takes.

Then, my buddy and colleague Teras Cassidy of Geek Nation Tours joined in on Germany's TrekcastDE with Malte Kirchner, where we spilled beans on the new Hollywood to Vegas 2013 Trek sites tour, now reservable on deposit ... and yes, "TLOS" Disc 1 as well. Honored to be Malte's second-efer all_english cast, too!


Really, if you want a taste of where Brit and German podding is going re: Trek, take a listen there and in future. Back in L.A., Doug and Jose (co-creators of the unsold Animated Star Trek pitch for the old st.com) cover the broad swath of things genre and fannish; they've done 211 episodes, and we just gave 'em a big taste of Trek this week in our first, too-long-delayed visit.

AND THEN: this Trekland Media Watch of note ends with a long article on ArsTechnica.com about Huston Huddleston's Enterprise-D bridge restoration/museum—a good involved read that was also good enough to include me.




And more's coming ... podders want to know about the CD and the Tour as last-minute gift ideas. Who can blame them? So stay tuned.


And now, back to our regularly scheduled program: "JJ's Movie Marketing Seminar."...

STV—"Federation" canon gap-filling, with David Goodman

Trek Background lovers, take note! You finally get your place back in the sun.

Star Trek Cool Week continues—as does our erstwhile focus on the new FEDERATION: The First 150 Years non-fiction book, capped now as promised by Part 1 of an extended and EXCLUSIVE vidchat with author and onetime Enterprise writer-producer David Goodman.

Oddly, it's the American Dad offices where we caught up with David to talk about his little history baby, FEDERATION: The Cool Book, and this look in brief at the beloved (by some of us) art of Trek "gap filling" that has gone on since the 1980s—and seems to blossom especially in time of "fallow production" (ie, a movies-only era, as then and now).

Listen as we hit some of the issues that fervent Trek canonistas care about—and I can say that, being one!—that he had to tackle and make choices.

And remember, this is just Part 1 with David... there is SO much more to come... in Part II!

It's FEDERATION DAY—exclusive art from the new non-fiction Trek book, on sale today

Well, this is exciting.

All joshing aside, as when we "opened our box" to unwrap the incredible FEDERATION: The First 150 Years:  I've known author David Goodman mainly from his day job—from when he signed aboard ENTERPRISE for its two middle seasons off the strength of his comedy writing for the classic "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" Trek homage on Futurama. Since then, of course, he's gone on to the Seth McFarlane Hit Factory and worked on both Family Guy and now American Dad.  

And just TODAY came news David's pilot for another animation comedy MURDER POLICE has just sold to series by Fox—so congrats, busy man.


But for today's EXCLUSIVE bit here: This original artwork of the founding UFP ambassadors and Charter signers—a full-page piece* by Mark McHaley, and just one of those to be found in FEDERATION amid a slew of original art concepts and graphic documents (click it open for it's full glory!).

To explain: That "unwrapping" vidpost is also where I told the improbable and personal story of all those various names that David uses here surrounding the Federation Charter ... and a refresher on its origins. And it's why FEDERATION's publishers and promoters allowed us the honor at Trekland of unveiling it for you. Suffice to say, I WISH I could tell my dad he had such a hand in Federation history ... and that my son really does not argue quite as much as a Tellarite.  And to think I owe it all to the TNG Companion and Penny Juday, the art department coordinator for Generations who said, "Hey, we can use some cool filler for the Picard scrapbook! Everyone is pitching in!" See how these goofy life stories snowball?

So to sum up: a must-have book with a cool concept (an anniversary exhibit on Memory Alpha), plus great artwork and removable goodies ... including this one, with an unexpected bonus personal "1994" touch for me. Just one more chink in the millions of stories that make up the Trek City. (And this one comes in time for gift-giving, of course, via Amazon.com).

And if this awesome art and our "unwrapping" tease are not enough—tomorrow follows with  another Trekland surprise: our EXCLUSIVE vidchat with David Goodman, in two parts. Stay tuned...




*The caption for McHaley's Page 90 chapter-opening artwork reads:  
Jonathan Archer speaking at the signing of the Federation Charter. Behind him, left to right, are Ambassadors T’Jan of Vulcan, Gort Sarahd of Andoria, Admiral Douglas, and Ambassador Natha Kell of Tellar

STV: Dan Curry on TNG's Season 2 Blu-ray—and the baby poop planet

As promised, here's the next segment of our recent extended chat with Star Trek's longtime master of visual effects, Dan Curry—this one targeted at his consulting work on the new remastered TNG Season 2 Blu-ray set.

As with Season 1, this CBS Home Entertainment set got a big nationwide boost from the Fathom Events screenings nationwide, including documentaries about how the remastering work was located, assembled and just done. Not to mention the big roundtable cast reunion. In all, it's 120 minutes  of NEW bonus footage—including Robert Burnett and Roger Lay's ongoing massive new TNG doc, an ALL NEW BLOOPER REEL of newly assembled outtakes put together fresh from the re-opened "dailies" of raw footage ... plus all the prior DVD-era  docs carried over as well.

This new 5-disc set (left) includes an incredible and rare longer version of the Data-Picard classic "The Measure of a Man" with footage filmed but originally cut for timing—preserved by then-writer Melinda Snodgrass, off the courtesy rough-edit VHS given her as a private gift!

But back to Dan—and yes, I finally do get the "baby poop planet" story on the record.   But that's not all—we'll have even more Trek tales with Dan in Part 3. And after that, Dan's very own "Trek2Chuck", whatever that might be. I never thought we'd have another installment in our Chuck series ... but you just never know, do you? Just like "remastering" TNG—who'da thunk it?  

Theater TNG-2: Your pics, posts—and the Burbank Saga!

Thanks for chiming in and sending pics from all over Sector America for Fathom's high-def "TNG Celebration of Season 2" in theaters Thursday night. Here's the results...

Bur first, my own story—though you guys who catch my Facebook and Twitter feeds probably already heard about our "Debacle in Burbank."

No, it wasn't quite The Con of Wrath. But it was amazing that, while the rest of the West Coast was getting its 7 p.m. curtain for the Fathom Events' "TNG Celebration of Season 2," marking the Tuesday release of the Season 2 Remastered Blu-ray TNG set, we were sitting at the ol' AMC 16 staring at .. a gray screen. For an hour. And 10 minutes.

See, video we had... audio we did not.

I had to tweet to make sure (with hope) that it was only us, not the whole Pacific Time Zone. And, it was, thankfully. To their credit, the Burbank AMC handed out free future passes to everyone who stuck it out— at least 90% of the 125 or so who first set up shop for the show. (Above: Our crowd, still 20 minutes before the so-called start time)

And a second free pass later, after the 10:18 p.m. programmed cutoff "cut off" all right—halfway through "The Measure of a Man." Oops. (Talk about, "Where's the OVERRIDE?") This time, only a 10-minute delay and a 10-minute back-up repeated in the episode—which, thankfully, let us see that amazing restored cut footage of the Ten-Forward party scene.)

But most of our audience, just as everyone did nationwide, hung on for the whole amazing big-screen experience—the docs, the powerful punch of "Measure" and the Q antics, Guinan mystique, and first hint of mindless Borg relentlessness, all in "Q Who."

Just as with Remastered Season 1's Fathom Event for the new Blu-Ray sets, lots of you sent in pics and comments, per our invite—including most of our five Trekland trivia ticket giveaway winners and guests, from around the country:


Charles Wagner, Chicago WINNER:  Had a fun evening watch some #StarTrek #TNG in the theater with my mom. Thanks to @larrynemecek and @fathomevents for the tickets.

 

Our Boston WINNER, too:

Lauree Little, @ismetoo, Orlando WINNER: Had a great time @ the #StarTrek #TNG S2 event! Thanks so much @larrynemecek! #GreatShow

John Williams, SEATTLE winner:  

I  thank you for having the contest. Inside the theater the crowd was about 30 people. They were pretty subdued. Oh well, I've been a fan of Star Trek since re-runs of the original series so I was excited to see what was in store. "Q-Who was great for the theater for the action and adventure aspects.

All in all, I had a great time. It doesn't seem like 25 years have passed. Showing these episodes highlights the quality of the Star Trek production and writing.

This illustrates the fact that having another series is highly desirable in continuing the fan support of Trek; movies are nice, but a weekly series would be great. [Stop stealing my soapbox, John!

But not all could be rosy:
Deborah P., NYC WINNER:  Thanks for the passes. Unfortunately, between work and traffic getting home, I wasn't able to make the show. I was watching the time tick away while I was in my car. Really disappointed. Ah well, so goes life.  

And here's more from the outposts:

Eric Hall , and Russell Boltz, USS Retributor, Salt Lake City: 

 






















Erika Yvette Figueroa, Charleston, SC area: Our little group down here had an event celebrating ST:TNG Season 2 on Blu-ray. We were sponsored by Fathom Events, Regal Theaters and Soundwave Music, Movies & Comics. Fathom came through with free passes which we gave away as door prizes. We also held a costume contest and gave away loads of Star Trek tchotchkes.

We did this for Season 1, and I hope Fathom and CBS Home Videos will continue to do so for the subsequent seasons.

Thanks for all you do Larry to keep Star Trek and its fandom alive! [No—thank YOU!]
 

Via Carl Stark from the USS Ticonderoga, Ogden, UT:

And then: No pics, but still more reports:


Think Geek's John Frazier, Fairfax, VA: The entire audience was debating the finer points of Picard's argument, and talked about how great the additional footage was. It was a great time, and I hope that there will be more of these showings!

Joe Daniele, Boston: The theater was packed and the crowd was brilliantly raucous and enthusiastic. I only hope Fathom continues this trend. I had never seen TNG or any syndicated Star Trek on the big screen and was pleasantly surprised and actually floored by the experience.

Paul Cannon, Hysham, MT: Only place showing #TNGS2 is 3.5 hrs away, but saw TNGS1 there. Life gets in the way. :-)

David Taylor, @SciFiCommons, Seattle:  I was a little surprised how much I enjoyed those episodes. I hadn’t seen either for a long, long, time.

Jonx, @delphinus44, "Jersey":  It was a great night !

Erika Clippinger @bassoongoddess , Silver Spring, FL :  I had tickets to go! But I had a dress rehearsal for orchestra. I cried.

David Williams, Phoenix: Kim and I were out for a showing last night. Great to see MOAM with additional footage! Theater was just about half full, but everybody enjoyed it!

Josh Hale, @expatminister, Lufkin, TX: Sadly, no pics. Only 5 folks in the theater. It is deep east Texas though.

Linda Webb Cleveland:  Jim Lowe and Chris are watching it in Albany, NY

Thomas Brown, Phoenix: @ Awatukee AMC 24. I wanted to take a picture of us next to the movie poster. The guy working the ticket counter told us that they dont put any up for special events. :(


And finally, to show that Treklanders are everywhere, EVEN right here with me:

Ted Thompson, Burbank, CA: "We went, and endured AMC's ineptitude, but loved the show - esp Measure - love that episode."


The Season 2 night cleverly ended with a Season THREE trailer for the CBS Blu-Ray set-to-come, as was tweeted too:NIck MInecci,@gettysburg7, Frederick, MD: The #TNG S3 trailer gave me goosebumps, seeing BoBW* on big screen, even in clips.  [*"The Best of Both Worlds," of course]

Does that mean that there's another Fathom theater night coming for Season 3, with  "BOTW" and the S3 trailer's similarly spotlighted "Yesterday's Enterprise" already pre-selected for the big-screen program?  No word yet, so we'll just have to wait—and keep up those long-range scans.