TV vs. Movie: Think about this

On the heels of my last musings about What Hath ST2009 Wrought... or will ... I thought I better get on the record with this now.

I've said it before and I'll be saying it again:

By any measure, whether this movie sinks or soars—and I'm betting on the latter!—I'm wondering when everyone will wake up and realize it is JUST a movie.

I don't mean the quality ... I mean the fact that's it just two hours of film. Taking two years to produce. And it's another two-year wait for just another two hours.

If this is the safest way back to public respect for Star Trek by the all-knowing mainstream media and the all-funding studio investors, then so be it.

But Star Trek will never again be how we now think and remember it—the fandom, the escalating excitement, the onrush of cool factor—until it returns to television. Not until we return to the days when there's one weekly adventure after another being constantly cranked out, not matter what the format or era or character set (assumig it's top-notch, of course) will we really return to the heady days of the '90s and early Aughts.

We need characters evolving, gadgets a-gleaming and canon deepening more than just two hours every two years.

Sometime around May 15 or 20, a week or two after this movie opens to roaring success, everyone will wake up and suddenly remember that fact.

STV: "Goggle Guy" Meets the Fans

Six months after we first met him as our very first vlog, "rookie" Trekland resident Anthony Vitale—the ubiquitous "Goggle Guy" welder of the ST film teaser trailer— is all grown up and surviving his first real meeting with fans: the annual and infamous Las Vegas Creation convention.

As we get back to our backlog of interviews, we are reminded that it's not often you can catch a Trek vet's first outing like this...low-key or otherwise...

Switching to Visual: Meet "Goggle Guy"

He walked in to audition for the role of a bridge officer, happened to mention he knew how to weld, and voila—JJ Abrams snapped him up to become The Welder. Or even "Goggle Guy," as a legion of overnight fans dubbed Anthony Vitale after his face filled the big screen amid a frame of arcing sparks when the new ST film trailer first hit screens in January '08.

No matter what else he does, Anthony will always own a piece of lore as the first new Star Trek face—no matter how brief—to go before audiences in the JJ Jeneration. After I sat down with him for an interview upcoming in Titan's Star Trek magazine, he played guinea pig for me and obliged a brief "shout out" vlog to say hi to the curious and help launch this site ...