Nichols to Guest Star on The Young and The Restless

There's just no stopping Nichelle Nichols. Star Trek's beloved original Uhura will guest star on two episodes of the long-running soap opera The Young and The Restless. Nichols will play Lucinda Winters, the estranged mother of Neil Winters (Kristoff St. John). Her first appearance will come in the show's historic 11,000th episode, airing tomorrow, September 1, and she'll be back again on Monday, September 5. The Young and the Restless airs weekdays at 12:30 p.m. EST/11:30 a.m. PST on CBS Daytime.

"I got the call from The Young and the Restless while I was in San Diego at Comic Con celebrating my role in the 50th anniversary of Star Trek," Nichols said in a statement. "Next thing I knew, I was (transported) into Genoa City and, now, I'm guest-starring on the 11,000th episode of Y&R -- my favorite soap opera, which I have watched for decades. I'm not sure how many more thrills will come my way during this year of celebrations, but one thing that I do know for sure -- follow your dreams and you will live long and prosper."

Mal Young, executive producer of The Young and The Restless, noted, "For this landmark moment for our iconic show it felt right to cast an equally iconic actress. And who better than the amazing Nichelle Nichols to help us celebrate our 11,000th episode? Actors and crew alike were thrilled to work with such a terrific and notable talent, and we look forward to sharing the results with the viewers."

via Star Trek Latest News

Attack Wing Wave 26 Preview -- U.S.S. Enterprise-B

This September, WizKids/NECA will release Star Trek: Attack Wing Wave 26, and StarTrek.com has the exclusive First Look at the ships in the upcoming expansion packs, concluding with the U.S.S. Enterprise-B.

The U.S.S. Enterprise-B is a Federation Excelsior-class ship. On its maiden voyage, the Enterprise-B, under the command of Captain John Harriman, rescued 47 El-Aurian refugees from a Federation transport ship that was caught in an energy distortion. Honored quest, James T. Kirk was believed to be killed during the rescue when the ship's hull was breached. 

This version of U.S.S. Enterprise designated NCC-1701-B is a worthy successor and deserves the name Enterprise. With a Primary Weapon Value of 3, 1 Agility, 5 Hull, and 4 Shields this ship is similar to the original U.S.S. Enterprise and subsequent U.S.S. Enterprise-A (Refit), but with some obvious improvements. The special ability for the U.S.S. Enterprise-B allows you to replace one of its Battle Stations, Scan or blue Target Lock tokens that is beside your ship with an Evade Token. The generic version of this ship loses one Shield and one Crew Upgrade Slot compared to the named version.

The Captain in the U.S.S. Enterprise-B Expansion Pack is John Harriman. A level 2 Captain, John Harriman may be inexperienced but is a brave Captain nonetheless. His ability allows your ship to perform an Evade Action as a free Action. If you do this, you then place an Auxiliary Power Token beside your ship. Despite his rough start as a new Captain, John Harriman is a great addition to any evasive fleet that is looking to try and avoid danger at all costs.

No ship named Enterprise would be complete without a Sulu at the Helm. The U.S.S. Enterprise-B boasts Demora Sulu, the daughter of Hikaru Sulu, as Helmswoman.

If your ship is hit, after the Deal Damage phase, you may discard this card to immediately execute a maneuver from your Maneuver Dial with a speed of 3 or less. Following in her father's footsteps, Demora Sulu will make sure she keeps the ship out of the path of danger.

Other upgrades to the U.S.S. Enterprise-B include Improved Phasers which is a 4 dice attack at Range 2-3. This attack is treated as a Primary Weapon and places 2 Time Tokens on the card when you perform the attack. In terms of defense, Deflector Control allows you to Repair 1 Shield Token on your ship or flip up 3 of your disabled Shield Tokens over to their Active sides. You cannot use this Action if your ship is Cloaked.

Resonance Burst is a Tech Upgrade that allows you to target a ship within your forward firing arc and Range 1 of your ship. The target ship must then discard 1 Token (Evade, Battle Stations, Scan or Target Lock) that is beside it, of its choice. If there is a Cloak Token beside the target ship, flip it over to its red side.

Holo-Communicator allows you to target a friendly ship within Range 1-2. If you do so, you may perform the Action listed on that ship's Captain Card.

One of the great advantages Federation ships have is the ability to move backwards. Full Reverse makes this ability even better. During the Activation Phase, if you reveal a [Reverse] Maneuver, you may disable this card to add 1 to the speed of that maneuver. No other ship has ever been able to make a 3 reverse maneuver, making the U.S.S. Enterprise-B a one of a kind ship.

The U.S.S. Enterprise-B Expansion Pack is fresh out of dry dock and ready for you to take the helm. Try your luck with the special scenario "Maiden Voyage" and attempt to aid two Federation transport ships before they are destroyed by the energy distortion ribbon. Do you have what it takes to be the Captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise-B?

Visit WizKids/NECA at http://ift.tt/1Lzl5dK for additional information about Star Trek: Attack Wing. And keep an eye on StarTrek.com for more First Looks and previews, coming soon.

via Star Trek Latest News

Preview: Star Trek Mission New York

Are you ready? Star Trek: Mission New York, the three-day event, presented by ReedPop, will get underway on Friday and run through Sunday at the Javits Center in New York City. Mission New York will be the world's biggest Star Trek 50th anniversary celebration and the most experiential one as well, with panels, screenings, live podcasts, improv shows, a script reading, auctions, Trek Talks, gaming, autographs and photo opportunities, all of which will span across four stages and multiple rooms. Below, we've provided just a fraction of the schedule. And, for those who can't be there in person, StarTrek.com will have you covered, as we will be out in force, reporting back with full recaps each day, and also taking to social media via Instagram and Twitter to provide updates as the activities occur.

Meet the Stars

The talent you grew up with and love, spanning from The Original Series to Enterprise and from the J.J. Abrams movies to the upcoming Star Trek: Discovery, will be on hand for Mission New York. They'll all be on stage for talks, and also available for autographs and photo opportunities. 

Among the talk highlights, there will be reunions featuring members of The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise casts. And, one of the most-anticipated panels will feature writer-producers Kirsten Beyer and Nicholas Meyer, who will sit for a moderated Q&A during which they'll discuss their history with the Trek franchise and how it has led them to become involved in the new iteration, Discovery.

See World Premieres

Mission New York will proudly serve as the home to several world premieres. 

Put your hands together and cover your ears -- those Ceti eels get around -- for the exclusive world premiere of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan in 4K. Writer-director Nicholas Meyer will be joined by MTV's Josh Horowitz for a special Q&A about the making of this 1982 sci-fi masterpiece.

The Smithsonian Channel's documentary Building Star Trek features a star-studded lineup of astronauts, engineers, writers, innovators and Trek actors who'll celebrate to the 50th anniversary of the show that inspired the space age. 

Some of your favorite actors from film and television, including The Man in the High Castle's Arnold Chun as Spock, Anna George (New Girl) as Uhura, John Harlan Kim (The Librarians) as Sulu, Nadia Dajani (Elementary) as Gillian Taylor, Katarina Mohracova (The Knick) as Chekov and Robert Clohessy (Blue Bloods) as the Klingon Ambassador, will perform a never-to-repeated staged reading of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home in honor of its 30th anniversary. As for who will portray Captain Kirk, you'll have to join the fun to find out.

Play the Games

If you're a gamer and a Star Trek fan, you'll be in luck at MNY, as they'll have an entire pavilion, The Gaming Zone, teeming with the newest and most-immersive of Trek games. You can test drive the games, compete against fans and get a behind-the-scenes view at panels featuring the teams behind Star Trek: Bridge Crew, Star Trek Online and Star Trek Timelines.

Join the development team behind Star Trek: Bridge Crew, a brand-new Virtual Reality game from Ubisoft, that allows players to be part of a Starfleet crew and work together on the bridge of a ship. Learn more about how this game came to life, get a B-T-S look at when some famous alumni got to play for the first time, and learn more about Trek's newest ship, the U.S.S. Aegis. 

Get an exclusive, B-T-S look at development for Star Trek Online, the only massively multiplayer online role-playing game that lets you captain your own starship and explore Trek universe-expanding content. Game designers and producers will reveal the development process bringing the game to Xbox One and PlayStation4.

John de Lancie, known to Trek fans as Q, will join the Disruptor Beam development team for a session about the mobile game Star Trek Timelines. Whether you've been playing every day since the game launched in January, have played just a little or not at all, come to this session to learn more about the process of developing a Trek mobile game and what the Disruptor Beam team has planned for Timelines.

Join the Debate

Jordan Hoffman, StarTrek.com columnist and host of Engage: The Official Star Trek Podcast, brings his popular fan panel One Trek Mind Live to Mission New York, and you better get your deflector shields up. With the help of the audience, One Trek Mind Live will determine Star Trek's 50th Anniversary All-Star Crew. Argue like Andorians and Tellarites at this upbeat, rowdy panel.

Visit The Original Series Set Tour

Experience Trek like never before, as super-fan James Cawley and his team at Trekonderoga bring pieces of their Original Series Set Tour and props to MNY. Step aboard a piece of Bridge of the USS Enterprise, or beam down to an alien world by using the transporter console. And check out all the Trek props, too.

Meet the Artists

Artists featured in the Star Trek: 50 Artists. 50 Years. exhibition will be signing prints all weekend at The Paley Center for Media booth on the show floor. 

Turn the Page

Many popular Trek authors and editors will make the trek to MNY in order to interact with fans. They'll also participate in a wide variety of panels spread across the weekend. Be sure to check out:

Star Trek novelists and editors take fans inside the books. How did the Star Trek tie-in novels get started? How has that program evolved over time? What are some of its milestones? What is its current state? And how is the Pocket program observing Trek's 50th anniversary?

Join IDW Publishing's Editor in Chief Chris Ryall, Group Editor Sarah Gaydos, Trek comics scribe Mike Johnson, and special guest, superstar artist John Byrne, as they discuss the world of Trek comics, with a focus on Byrne's incredible contributions, and the Trek comics coming from IDW. Also be on the lookout for surprise guests, a major announcement, giveaways and more. 

The rich, diverse world of Trek is so vast that writers have spent decades trying to find the best way to easily explain it to fans. Now, join three authors who've done just that: Andrew Fazekas, author of Star Trek: The Official Guide to Our Universe, Paul Ruditis, writer of The Star Trek Book and Star Trek Visual Dictionary, and Richard Michelson, writer of Fascinating: The Life of Leonard Nimoy, as they explore their research into Trek and the processes for writing their books. Moderated by Derek Tyler, a fellow writer and a winner of the Strange New Worlds contest.

Join the Conversation

Fans who wish to dig deep into Star Trek and learn more about the venerable franchise's profound influence on society, science and pop culture can participate in an array of Trek Talks that promise to be informative, thought-provoking, educational and even touching. Topics explore the role of literature in Star Trek to space exploration, technology and more.

NASA will be front and center for several Trek Talks, including on that will detail how NASA is turning science fiction into reality. Robert Picardo moderates this discussion that will be accompanied by special video content featuring both NASA and Star Trek talent.  

Get Exclusives

Looking for show exclusives? There will be plenty on the show floor.

If you want to show the world that you're at Mission New York, you can do so with the variety of MNY-exclusive merchandise that will be available at the show store.

FanSets offers its new collection of Star Trek pins and pin sets including an exclusive MNY pin. 

Icon Heroes will beam into Mission New York with a limited edition NCC-1701 Saucer Mouse Pad. 

Eaglemoss will offer a selection of products from Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection as part of a Buy 3, Get 1 Free promotion. The items will include regular issues, specials, plaques, shuttles, brand-new collector's binders, and the limited-availability Mirror Universe variant of the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701.

Hallmark will arrive at Mission New York with a show-exclusive ship, U.S.S. Enterprise.

Titan Magazines will commemorate Star Trek's 50th anniversary with an exclusive cover at Mission New York and the book Star Trek Beyond Collector's Edition. Fans can subscribe to Star Trek Magazine and receive a free exclusive Kirk Titans figure from Where No Man Has Gone Before. 

And So Much More

The United States Postal Service will introduce a new Trek-inspired stamp series to celebrate the show's 50th anniversary. The stamps will be officially released at an exclusive First Day of Issue Ceremony at MNY. Guests will include Walter Koenig and the Postmaster General. Post-ceremony, head to the USPS Cancellation Station on the Show Floor to get your commemorative cancelation stamp.

Roger Lay, Jr., Rod Roddenberry and others will reveal never-seen-before clips and photos from some of the most-famous TOS episodes during this exclusive preview of upcoming Blu-ray releases celebrating 50 years of Trek. The panel will offer fans will get a peek at some of the new content created to celebrate this milestone, including never-before-seen TOS footage from the cutting room floor that will appear in the release of Star Trek: The Roddenberry Vault.

Learn the inside story of The Wand Company, from how it took on the challenges, overcame various development hurdles and created the mechanical design necessary to successfully bring the Star Trek: The Original Series Communicator, science fiction's most iconic prop, to life – 50 years after the hero prop was built and issued to the Enterprise crew.

Get a B-T-S look at Eaglemoss's award-winning Star Trek Starships Collection. This series reproduces all manner of ships from each of the series and every movie in painstaking detail. In conversation with Matt Singer, EIC of ScreenCrush.com, Eaglemoss's own Trek expert, Ben Robinson, will reveal how ships are selected and crafted from original blueprints, photos and production notes. He will also discuss upcoming products and finish with a Q&A.

Keep an eye on StarTrek.com for ongoing coverage. And also be sure to visit http://ift.tt/1ZZtShj for the full schedule, tickets and booth numbers, as well as the Star Trek: Mission New York social media pages (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram).

via Star Trek Latest News

Happy National Toasted Marshmallow Day!!

It's National Toasted Marshmallow Day, y'all!! We kid you not. August 30 really is National Toasted Marshmallow Day, and to, ahem, toast the day, we thought we'd once again look back at one of the weirdest, least-logical Star Trek tie-in products ever created. Girls and boys, ladies and gentlemen, Andorians and Klingons... we present the infamous Kraft Star Trek V: The Final Frontier Marshmallow Dispenser.

A marshmallow dispenser? Star Trek? One that looks more like a light saber from another sci-fi universe than any Trek prop anyone's ever seen? Yes, yes and more yes.

The dispenser was, as we all know, inspired by the legendary/love-it-or-hate-it Star Trek V campfire sequence at Yosemite National Park, the one that builds to Kirk, Spock and McCoy, having devoured far too many of Bones' bourbon beans, singing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat." Just before the "singing" starts, Spock — having consulted the computer library to familiarize himself with the customs associated with camping out — whips out a "marshmelon" dispenser. Marshmelon? Yeah, we have no idea, either, though we've heard the unsubstantiated scuttlebutt that McCoy messed with the ship's computer just to rattle Spock's cage.

Somehow, though, that quick marshmelon mention was enough for Paramount to convince Kraft to offer their plastic version to fans who sent in a proof of purchase from a bag of Jet-Puffed Marshmallows. It pushes out three full-size marshmallows, providing, well, nanoseconds of wondrous fun. And, for reasons unexplained, it comes with an attached plastic fork and spoon, as well as a congratulatory note from Admiral James T. Kirk himself.

It should shock absolutely no one that the marshmallow disspenser remains a popular collectible among fans. StarTrek.com looked today on Amazon and eBay, and depending on its condition and whether or not the package has been opened, a marshmallow dispenser can fetch anywhere from $25 to $69, though we've seen it for less (around $7-$25) in recent months.

via Star Trek Latest News

Forever Scotty

Where in the world was Jimmy Doohan? You name it! That's where you could find the beloved James Doohan, who portrayed Montgomery Scott, heroic engineer of Star Trek (now celebrating 50 years of adventure).

Maybe you met him, too. Jimmy did a ton of SF conventions in the USA (as well as Canada, Australia, England and Germany) throughout the late 1970s, '80s, '90s. He graced video stores and other promotional appearances, autograph shows, parades. There were hundreds of chances to meet Jimmy. He was, in part, doing it all for the money. An older man with a much younger new family, he knew he might not be able (or around) to pay for college and his kids' other expenses unless the bucks were made today and put aside for tomorrow.

But it was more than money. Jimmy Doohan (who died in 2005) truly loved people and seemed to like nothing more than to stand around, drink in hand, surrounded by fans and talk with anyone about life, World War II (where he served heroically), and, of course, being "Scotty." A hale fellow well met! He also discussed his career in an entertaining autobiography, Beam Me Up, Scotty (co-authored with Peter David), and numerous Starlog interviews.

We learned so much about Jimmy in those chats. "You're part of my forum," he quipped to Starlog's Kathryn M. Drennan in 1989 (issue #146) before detailing life-changing backstories. "I was wounded on D-Day," he noted, as part of the First Wave assault on Juno Beach in 1944. After recovering, he became an Air Observation Pilot, reputedly "the craziest pilot in the Royal Canadian Artillery (not Air Force)," as sometimes erroneously reported. "There wasn't anything that I didn't try [as a flyer]. If it was in the air, there was no way that I didn't absolutely adore it. And I can remember vividly everything that happened."

In the late 1940s and '50s, he became "Canada's busiest actor," racking up 4,000 radio show appearances and 400+ TV gigs. "If an actor has any pride in himself, he always wants to do more," Jimmy told Robert Greenberger (#62, 1983).

So, he moved to Hollywood. And accents were key to his success. "I've been doing dialects ever since I can remember -- since I was allowed to go to movies, from age six or seven," Jimmy explained to Jim George & J. Cat McDowell (#94, 1985). "I can remember my mother telling me that I used to change accents when I would walk from one room to another."

That's a versatility he frequently demonstrated at conventions. He had a standard routine on stage at Trek cons where before taking audience questions he would detail in differing accents how Scotty might sound if he was another nationality (his upper-class British take was hilarious). He would also explain all the things that would occur if Scotty was in command ("Number one, I would get the girl!"  Spock would stay out of his Engine Room so there would be no more star-upstaging-the-expert-engineer, last-minute, save-the-ship antics. "That really bugged me!" And "I would limit Ensign Kirk to only one woman every four months!"). And, so often, Jimmy would field the same F.A.Q.s (Frequently Asked Questions) from the audience.

Favorite TOS episode? "The Doomsday Machine."

America's space program? "That's the future of the country. We have to have a good space program to advance our technology. We have to keep dreaming about what to do in space."

More Trek films with the classic cast? "We showed our age in each of those movies, and the audiences didn't stop coming."

Fans? "I love them! I have so much fun with them."

I once asked him, as we sat side-by-side at an autograph table, if he ever tired of answering the same bloody things over and over and over again. "You know, Dave," he said, "it's the first time they have asked me the question." So, that latest inquirer also deserved his best answer. What a great attitude! And one I've taken to heart to this day.

"Actors never retire!" Jimmy announced to Randy & Jean-Marc Lofficier (#112-113, 1986). "I'm quite content to be an actor, that's all I want. I just want to be the best actor I can possibly be. That's what I promised God I was going to do, and He certainly hasn't put any barriers in my way, other than typecasting me in Star Trek."

Furthermore, "I read for many roles," he admitted in 1985. "Some of the 'experts' say they can't get rid of the picture of me as a Scotsman. So, as far as Hollywood is concerned, I will probably forever and ever play a Scotsman, and I don't want to do that, cause I was trained for other things."

Years later, Jimmy clarified matters for Lynne Stephens (#176, 1992). "To get me to work, people just have to ask me. Because my experiences are so varied. I'm of the opinion that there isn't anything I don't know how to do... I did so much."

And again, "I know I'm Scotty and that's it. It's just one of those things."

Jimmy Doohan was ubiquitous. I met him at the very first Starlog Festival, a convention held in Chicago in spring 1984. Ultimately, I did more than 200 cons as a guest — and Jimmy was at about 25 of them. Atlanta. Atlantic City. Baltimore. Buffalo. Cleveland. Denver. Philadelphia. Scranton-Wilkes Barre. Silver Spring. Etc. At least two of three Star Trek cruises on which I sailed (he helped lead the singing of "Happy Birthday" to me in an Everglades area restaurant when the date coincided with a park outing). And more.

Where in the world was Jimmy Doohan? Everywhere!

I attended a press event at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida — and a surprise guest trotted on stage to tout the first of a short-lived series of Disney-sponsored, theme park-based SF conventions. Jimmy Doohan!

My then-girlfriend and I were in NYC, at the off-Broadway version of Return to Forbidden Planet (a musical mixing Shakespeare, rock & roll songs and science fiction), and the gigantic video screen came on with pretaped footage of this production's surprise local narrator. Jimmy Doohan!

I did another con in Chicago, more than a decade after my first there, and a fellow guest posed with most attendees (for individual photo ops) while appropriately dressed in surprising traditional Scottish garb, a kilt. Jimmy Doohan!

But my best memory of Jimmy Doohan comes from a con in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. I had been there as a kid and visited the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, a fabulous showcase of art and artifacts from the real West as well as Western movies and television. It includes the Hall of Great Westerners, the Hall of Great Western Performers (i.e. actors) and the Rodeo Hall of Fame. I suggested to con organizer Jonathan Harris that we fly to Oklahoma a day early to allow for a museum visit. So, he arranged it.

Jon, his parents and his wife Susan were in one small rental car. Jimmy had his own rental and extra space, so I ended up riding shotgun with him. Let me tell you: If you don't know someone very well, after spending most of a day alone together in a car, you will. You have no choice but to talk to each other. He chatted about his exploits in WWII and how a "Dear Jim" letter made him want "to show her" and prompted him to become an actor. It was pretty serious stuff. And I thought, for a time, I was talking to the real Jimmy Doohan.

We got the V.I.P. tour of (what was then known as) the Cowboy Hall of Fame, complete with a personal guide — and it was great fun to have Jimmy along to ooohh and ahhh over the legends of the West. But, nonetheless, my finest time was spent alone with him in a rental car, zooming in, about and around Oklahoma City.

That and having him give me an autographed, official Jimmy Doohan caricature refrigerator magnet. It holds court forever, still Scotty, on my Frigidaire.

David McDonnell, "the maitre'd of the science fiction universe," has dished up coverage of pop culture for more than three decades. Beginning his professional career in 1975 with the weekly "Media Report" news column in The Comic Buyers' Guide, he joined Jim Steranko's Mediascene Prevue in 1980. After 31 months as Starlog's Managing Editor (beginning in October 1982), he became that pioneering SF magazine's longtime Editor (1985-2009). He also served as Editor of its sister publications Comics Scene, Fangoria and Fantasy Worlds. At the same time, he edited numerous licensed movie one-shots (Star Trek and James Bond films, Aliens, Willow, etc.) and three ongoing official magazine series devoted to Trek TV sagas (The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager). He apparently still holds this galaxy's record for editing more magazine pieces about Star Trek in total than any other individual, human or alien.

Copyright 2016 David McDonnell

via Star Trek Latest News

Preview: Building Star Trek

The Smithsonian Channel documentary Building Star Trek is set to premiere on September 4 at 8p.m. ET/PT. The program will feature a star-studded lineup of astronauts, engineers, writers, innovators and Star Trek actors who'll celebrate to the 50th anniversary of the show that inspired the spage age. Among the participants are Simon Pegg, Karl Urban, Professor John Howell of the University of Rochester; Dr.  Margaret Weitekamp, Curator at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum; Dr. Sonny Kohli, Team Leader of Cloud DX, one of the finalists for the Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE; David Grier, Professor of Physics and Director of the Center for Soft Matter Research at New York University, who is developing a real-life Tractor Beam; and Dr. Rob Afzal, Lockheed Martin Senior Fellow Laser Sensor and Systems, who is working to harness the power of lasers.

StarTrek.com recently spoke with Elliot Halpern of yap films, Executive Producer of Building Star Trek. Halpern discussed his personal appreciation of Star Trek and previewed what viewers will see on September 4 when they check out the documentary. Here's what he had to say:

First, how deep does your own love of Star Trek run?

I was nine years old and starting Grade 6, when Star Trek: The Original Series premiered in September 1966. One of my friends was the first on our block to have this amazing invention: a color TV. So my friends and I would go to his house and, rapt, watch Star Trek together. It was the very first show I ever saw in color, which seemed appropriate because it was projecting an incredible new world. I was a huge sci-fi and comic book fan and the series blew me away.  I spent each week waiting for the next episode. It was the heady days of the Apollo program and the idea of exploring the universe, of the last frontier, really captured my imagination. Inspired by the show, for my birthday that year, I got my first telescope. I dreamed of going to the stars one day, but for the time being I was totally enthralled by observing them and by exploring them through Star Trek. And while I was interested in all the subsequent series and films, TOS is still for me "Star Trek." You never get over your first love!

How did you get involved with Building Star Trek?

In the fall of 2014, with the 50th anniversary of TOS on the horizon, it was an amazing opportunity to pay homage to a beloved institution that personally meant so much to me. Working with Smithsonian Channel was a great fit.

Give audiences a sense of what they will see with Building Star Trek…

We didn't want to make a nostalgic looking-back kind of film. We wanted to do something very Star Trek: look into the future. So the idea was to take all of Star Trek's amazing science and technology — as embodied in all of its cool props, like the phaser and the tricorder — and investigate how that tech is still influencing cutting-edge developments of today. Passionate scientists inspired by Star Trek are right now creating real-life tractor beams, competing for the Tricorder Prize, and making missile-hunting phasers and claoking devices, among other cool stuff. We also follow the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's conservationists as they meticulously restore the original 11-foot model of the Enterprise used in TOS. There is one other major element of the show. The EMP Museum in Seattle created an immersive exhibit of the TOS bridge. We follow them as they scour the world for all of the TOS props and sets, everything from a phaser and a Tribble to the captain's chair and console.

What elements of the Trek phenomenon personally fascinate you the most — and why?

Its endurance; the cultural and moral values it champions, and the science and technology it has and continues to inspire. At the end of the day, the things that have really stayed with me are the idealized Planet Earth — everyone working together— and the ethical/philosophical questions that the series regularly posed.

We'll hear from scientists and actors and writers, etc. How tough or easy was it to wrangle some of the people, and once you got them, what kinds of contributions did they make to the project? Please give us a few examples...

The folks featured in the special were very gracious about giving us some of their time. The writers D.C. Fontana and David Gerrold gave us amazing perspectives on what is was like to work on the series, the creative challenges, the ambitions, and the audience response; for example, that judging by the fan mail from female viewers, Leonard Nimoy was the show's stealth sex symbol, not William Shatner. Current stars Simon Pegg and Karl Urban gave us this great, loving look back at TOS to discover what its appeal was — with humor and intelligence. And Nichelle Nichols revealed for the first time on camera why she really didn't think the groundbreaking kiss between Uhura and Kirk was such a big deal. But you'll have to watch the film to find out.

From inception to completion, how long have you been involved in Building Star Trek, and what were your day-to-day responsibilities on the project?

I think we first started talking with Smithsonian Channel in the fall of 2014 and we delivered July 2016, so I was involved with this for over a year and a half. As an executive producer and creative director of yap films inc., I had oversight over all aspects of development and production.

What are some of the discoveries/revelations made in Building Star Trek that most surprised you, and that you think will most surprise viewers or resonate with them?

On a personal note: Early on in the process of putting the film together, Dr. Margaret Weitekamp, curator at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, invited a group of individuals with a special expertise in all things Star Trek to provide advice on the conservation of the original 11-foot model of the Enterprise. We had an opportunity to film that meeting. I was very excited about actually seeing the model first-hand. But I didn't expect to have such a strong emotional reaction to being in its presence. It gave me the chills. It blew me away. I thought back to the nine-year-old boy I was when I first watched the series. I couldn't have imagined then that someday — 50 years into the future -- I would actually be making a film about my favorite series and find myself only inches away from the iconic model. It was really amazing.

It's these kinds of experiences that keep me excited about making documentaries. I hope viewers will have the same reaction to seeing these beloved objects close-up, whether it's the enterprise or the captain's chair or the console. I think the whole story about what happened to the set of the Enterprise after the series went off the air will really be of interest to viewers. As well, the fact that 50 years later, the series and its vision of the future has inspired so many of the world's leading scientists to boldly go into a future where some of Star Trek's most fanciful inventions are becoming a reality.

Building Star Trek will premiere on-air and stream for free on http://ift.tt/1dM1i8I on September 4, 8PM ET/PT.

via Star Trek Latest News