Posts Tagged ‘Star Trek’

ThinkGeek has gotten in some new Star Trek items, and they're getting a little weird…

First up, a replica hand phaser kit.Not a snap-together, mind you, but all the same sort of parts used to create the original:

…the Star Trek Hero Prop Type-I Phaser Kit was created by Star Trek prop expert and special effects artist John Long (he's so knowledgeable about these props, auction houses rely on him to authenticate the real things). This ultra high quality, full-scale kit enables you to build a completely accurate re-creation of the original Hero version of this iconic prop (Hero props were the ones used in close-ups). You'll build a museum-quality replica of the actual studio filming prop – all the same materials, all the same electronics and functioning (it was molded off an original prop for perfect accuracy).

Which is seriously cool, and as close as you'll get to the real thing without a second mortgage. The next item is also seriously cool, if a little odd: the Star Trek Enterprise Bottle Opener.Officially licensed, this heavy and stylish opener is ready for anything, including the obligatory Romulan Ale jokes.

Handy and stunning, these chromed-out beauties do quick-work on bottles while still screaming Federation. They feel heavy in your hands, like a good phaser, so if diplomatic relations fail you, you can always chuck 'em at your hosts' heads as a weapon.

Again, cool. But the next one I have to wonder about: Red Shirt Star Trek Cologne.This strikes me as the exact opposite of Axe Body Spray, frankly.

Red Shirt Star Trek Cologne is both silly and not all at once. Sure it's mocking all the poor extras who filled the role of cannon fodder for Kirk and his crew, but it also smells really dang nice too. Because sometimes you just need to smell your best, and Red Shirt Star Trek Cologne is a way to do it in style. And who knows, you might not just be an extra destined to die – you could very well be this week's guest star.

Which makes me wonder if I could weaponize Axe. If you dumped a bucket of it on someone, would that person then be smothered by frantic, helpless aroused women? It would be a kind killing, or a really interesting method of suicide.

Finally, a collectible that's actually useful for something!

The limited edition version of these Star Trek Starfleet Academy Titanium Sporks engraved with the Starfleet logo and motto sold out quickly,  but you can get these standard issue eating utensils right away. Nosh like a Starfleet officer!

Just like the one Kirk used while a student (perhaps even while planning to cheat at the Kobayashi Maru scenario), these are laser engraved with the Starfleet emblem and other stuff which we'll tell you about soon. And remember, we know how important it is for you to hold a replica of Spock's Student Spork at the premier of the new movie! Live long, and prosper.

In stock at ThinkGeek.com

That… was an excellent movie.

I'm about to go into detail, so don't read on if you're avoiding spoilers. Lots of them.

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As Star Trek's inquisitive science officer Spock, he searched for answers across the galaxy. As the host of In Search Of, and any number of documentaries throughout his career, he has investigated topics that range from technology to aliens and the last days of the Romanovs. And over the past 40+ years he has handled countless conventions and interviews with wit and aplomb. But last Sunday morning, Leonard Nimoy finally heard a question that stumped him.

"My favorite color?" he asked incredulously as the audience howled with laughter. "Who sent you? Who are you?"

"Have you never been asked that before?" the fan asked.

"No!"

"Maybe that's why I asked."

Nimoy considered, then smiled broadly. "Well, good for you!"

(It's blue, by the way.)

Nearly one hundred and fifty people were listening to "A Discussion with Leonard Nimoy" Sunday morning at the FX International convention at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando. Eager fans shelled out admission fees from $125 to $250. Each received a goody bag with a movie poster, various collectible items and a voucher for an autograph from the man himself (Nimoy was holding court).

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Courtesy Playmates Toys

New Star Trek movie? New Star Trek toys. It's a fact of life, a universal constant, a law of brightly-colored, polypropylene nature.

"Thou shalt exalt every franchise movie, yea, unto the seventh generation, with a full line of toys, dishware, tie-in novels, comics, and commemorative plates, all of them limited-edition-collectible-first-run-mint artifacts to be treasured from a distance behind velvet ropes and saved for future generations to also not touch."

That's the way it's been for toys from Star Trek, Star Wars, and superheroes of all stripes for years now. Ever since some enterprising geek sold his pristine childhood memory for more than the one with chew marks and its head missing, new toys have been carefully removed from the peghooks at Walmart and Toys-R-Us and lovingly transported to their new and permanent home in a storage locker while the new owner enjoys the smug satisfaction of knowing it's there, somewhere.

I've never been a good collector. I open my stuff. I sort of always thought that was the point. When I was a kid if someone told me my toys were collectible I'd have thought they meant finding all the pieces again. Back in the 70s I asked for and received the original line of Star Trek dolls from Mego ($2.87 each, any two for $5.50), complete with vinyl-and-cardboard Bridge set ($12.97, with working transporter!). And I can guarantee that the crew of the Enterprise never had a more harrowing mission than the ones they experienced daily in my backyard.

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This year marks the 40th anniversary of the original Star Trek and, in the traditional reaction to that milestone date, it's having some work done.

(Yes, I know this makes three science fiction columns from me in a row, but when you get science fiction you get trilogies. It just happens.)

Paramount is celebrating 40 years of relatively successful franchising by having all 79 episodes — even the bad ones — of the iconic 1960s sci-fi series digitally remastered to bring back the color, fix some of the more embarrassing FX gaffes, punch up the music, add some depth to the planet scenes (so horizons no longer look like they're 20 feet away), and CG the space scenes so they look more like, you know, space. Purists gave a half-hearted outcry for the unsullied versions, but since the originals are still easily available — unlike the original theatrical Star Wars movies, which Lucas finally released yesterday under gunpoint — it hasn't been that big a deal.

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Doohan Space Flight Delayed

A rocket which will blast the ashes of Star Trek star James Doohan into space has had its take-off delayed because of engine trouble.

The Falcon One was to take the remains of Doohan, who played engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott aboard the fictional Starship Enterprise, from California into space next month but the launch is now scheduled for January instead.

Charles Chafer of Space Services Inc says, "They had an engine test they didn't like so they will do another month of testing."

'Star Trek' actor George Takei comes out

George Takei, who as helmsman Sulu steered the Starship Enterprise through three television seasons and six movies, has come out as a homosexual in the current issue of Frontiers, a biweekly Los Angeles magazine covering the gay and lesbian community.

Takei told The Associated Press on Thursday that his new onstage role as psychologist Martin Dysart in "Equus," helped inspire him to publicly discuss his sexuality.

[...]

"The world has changed from when I was a young teen feeling ashamed for being gay," he said. "The issue of gay marriage is now a political issue. That would have been unthinkable when I was young."

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I'm guessing this is not a big discovery for his friends and family if he's been with a guy for 18 years, but now I'm wondering what happens with his career. Does the Federation have a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy?