Star Trek Beyond's machine finally peeps—for charity!

I was just saying on Facebook & the Twits how this has been the quietest Star Trek
movie
launch ever, especially of the Social Media age.

Perhaps it was just to get beyond a no-show amid the noise of San Diego Comic-Con (for STB, anyway)... because this popped up today.

Good on you, Paramount/Bad Robot, and entire cast. (Looks like the bridge made it to Vancouver, anyway. Maybe with a little less plexi, hmmm?)

And Make a Wish, always one of Gene's and Majel's fave causes, is in the mix, too:

 

And yes... stay tuned: with a few weeks to breathe, here, I WILL attack my own backlog of recent and new vids to post before Vegas Khaaann. Really.

LA ALERT: Fan-to-fan, join "Trek to the Troops" Saturday and help make up military care packages

 
A quick shout-out to all SoCal area Treklanders, or anyone who wants to help out our service men and women with a little real-life Starfleet flavor:

Christopher Mulrooney, whose "Trek to the Troops" organization makes sure that Trek and its fans and celebs have a way to help those in the uniform of this century, has a "Sci-Fi Fan Volunteer Day" packaging event and fun stuff  planned for all day tomorrow, Saturday, April 20, anytime from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (with noon hour off for lunch) at the Army National Guard Armory in Van Nuys, 17330 Victory Boulevard. Care packages assembled will be forwarded via the overall Operation Gratitude volunteer program, which sends over 100,000 packages a year to active duty personnel, woun ded warriors, veterans and their children alike.

You can help on site with all kinds of packaging; the link above has an NBC-4 local report on the work of volunteers. For his event, Chris says there will be photo ops, so come in costume if you have one. Check the link above for what to do, bring and expect. I'll be there as well for the Beta shift, as it were.


It's not even Trek-specific: Chris tells me there's elements of the local 501st Stormtroopers due to help out too—that is, if we can keep the whiteheads and the redshirts at peace.

If you can't make it, a suggested donation of $15 for one care package, or more, can be made at the TTTT website (left column).

Chris has been leading this L.A.-area show of Trek support for those in uniform since his own return from Iraq in 2005, and gotten a lot of high-ranking help to do so. As it turns out—surprise, surprise—a lot of today's troops are big Trek and sci-fi fans, and enjoy the support and even the surprises that the civvies group is able to beam into their lives.

Check out Trek to the Troops' Facebook page for the group to see how a lot of the past events have unfolded.

Thank pig noses and pointed eares: sharing diversity via Star Trek

Thank goodness we didn't exactly have overwhelming numbers after all, but I think the Roddenberry Vision fit right in with the rounds of kids last Saturday who came through our little corner of Multicultural Day at Western Nevada College in state capital Carson City.

Between simple dress-up and role-play for four aliens and "us humans," the kids tackled the problem of whose planet got to host the "party" or festival to mark the Federation's next big anniversary. That's about how simple we kept it...but the day's theme of diversity and cooperation hopefully came through. As well as the fun of slipping on those pig noses or blue pipe-cleaners antennae ...

Of course, I think we had as many parents who wanted to hang out and take pics of their kids, as their kids themselves. More than one mom or dad came over and thanked us for "teaching Star Trek to their kids." Seriously... perfectly normal looking spring-weekend parents. Maybe we've got something here?

Thanks to Daryl Frazetti for inviting and hosting me and letting us try this idea...and thanks to John and Marian at CBS Consumer Products for the official Spock ears that we used! (And why isn't there a licensed Tellarite porcine-nose or Klingon forehead or Andorian antennae on elastic—not just generics or put-togethers? Talk about a hole in the market there...)

Sorry I don't have the names for the faces... but you get the idea. :-)

LA Alert!: Sandra PIller's Toys for Tots holiday concert Dec. 6

All Treklanders know the name Piller, but this time we're not about the late great Michael, writer-producer and arguably "the man who saved Next Generation." Quite apart from his contributions, his widow Sandra Piller has always had a music career in her own right—an L.A. native with plenty of Nashville savvy. And since his passing in 2005, she has plunged right ahead to renew her singing and songwriting: her latest CD Kindred Spirits on Shady Hill Records is now out, a mix of heartfelt country and pop/folk.

This weekend, as part of the holiday cheer, I wanted to help Sandra get word out to the SoCal region: her band's holiday show this Sunday, Dec. 6, at Molly Malone's on Fairfax from 7-10 p.m. carries an admission price of simply an unwrapped toy for Toys for Tots.

Sandra is also introducing her new single, "Mistletoe and You." Go by and give her some support on what will be a fun night with good music and good food, and take another chance to help out Toys for Tots this year.

Facebookers can check out more at her event page here.

STV: Sept. 3—Bingo time! Fight AIDS' effects with John Billingsley

Actually, that's both John AND his wife Bonita Friedericy, whose charity of choice (as many fans know) is the AIDS Service Center of Pasadena, Calif., servicing much of Los Angeles County.

Catch them for this typically funky-wacky Bingo night Wednesday, Sept. 3 in the West Hollywood "Hamburger Mary's" set-up at 9 p.m. For L.A. area fans, get there a little early at 8688 Santa Monica Blvd, at Sweetzer Avenue; you can check out online both the Bingo series and the AIDS Service Center. Both are involved in other events, as you'll hear in this clip ... and sincere about inviting fans of not only Star Trek but NBC's returning Chuck series, which features Bonnie as NSA Gen. Beckman ...