Trek Talks: NASA & Star Trek Boldly Go at SDCC

Fans made early Saturday night an educational and entertaining San Diego Comic-Con experience by attending the panel Trek Talks: NASA and Star Trek Boldly Go. Moderated by Voyager's very own Robert Picardo, the panel featured the insights of Astronaut Kjell Lindgren, NASA Johnson Space Center; Bobak Ferdowsi, Flight Systems Engineer, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory; Amber Staughn, Astrophysicist, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; and Jay Falker, Early Stage Portfolio Executive, Space Technology Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters.

The panel opened with "A Message from the Captain: Science Fact and Science Fiction" featuring William Shatner.

"How did watching me inspire you?" Picardo joked as he kicked off the proceedings. 

The group then discussed how Star Trek has influenced many of us to fall in love with the infinite possibilities of space exploration. Everyone agreed that the various Trek television series and films have also made an indelible, direct impact on NASA. In fact, many NASA scientists, engineers and astronauts cite Star Trek as inspiring them to pursue careers in their fields. Panel topics explored how NASA's vision of the future mimics the world of Star Trek and considered where it differed, as well explored how some technologies depicted in the Star Trek world have become a reality in our own world.

Asked if Star Trek or science fiction inspired his career path, Lindgren replied, "Absolutely.  I grew up on a steady diet of sci-fi."  

Dr. Straughn noted that the forthcoming James Webb Space Telescope will be "100 times more powerful" than the Hubble Telescope.

Ferdowsi pointed out that, "These icy worlds, moons of Jupiter, Saturn... We're sending Europa up there to look for signs of life." 

Meanwhile, Dr. Falker explained that he loved the study of what he termed "impossible" science. And he knows of what he speaks, having worked on two types of tractor beams. The next challenge? "A replicator." Dr. Ferdowsi got people thinking when he acknowledged an interesting challenge in the search for life in space: making sure it didn't originate on Earth. 

And Dr. Straughn believes that there's intelligent life beyond Earth, but feels that "we may not find it in our lifetime. The universe is vast!" Of course, that's probably not the worst thing, since that's precisely what Star Trek is all about. 

The panel ran out of time before a special video, "NASA on the Edge of Forever" could but played, but StarTrek.com has it for all of the fans.

 

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Character That Best Represented Humanity Was...

Data, The Doctor, Odo, Seven of Nine, Spock and T'Pol are often referred to as the Star Trek characters that most represented humanity and turned the mirror on ourselves. So, putting a spin on that, StarTrek.com, for our latest weekly poll, asked Which character best represents humanity? More than 5,000 fans voted, and here are the results:

 

Data (42%)

The Doctor (21% 1299 votes)

Spock (21% 1290 votes)

Seven of Nine (10%)

Odo (4%)

T'Pol (2%)

 

And did your fellow fans agree with the character you chose?

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SDCC Celebrates 50 Years of Star Trek

Gene Roddenberry would have been proud. More than 50 years after production commenced on Star Trek: The Original Series, his groundbreaking creation continues to live long and prosper. On Saturday afternoon, 6,000-plus fans filled Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con for the panel Star Trek: Celebrating 50 Years. Moderated by Bryan Fuller, who later showed a teaser video that revealed the title of the upcoming series to be Star Trek: Discovery, the panel featured William Shatner, Jeri Ryan, Scott Bakula, Michael Dorn and Brent Spiner.

Fuller told the fans, "I didn't want to be a writer. I wanted to be a Star Trek writer. So, being here today is a dream come true." He challenged the crowd to "think about the promise of Star Trek" and to consider "What we can all do to get there." Then he addressed the stars at the dais beside him. "They've represented the faces of the future," he observed, "for the 50 years of Star Trek."

For the better part of an hour, Fuller posed questions to the actors about their experiences on Trek and about the enduring power, societal impact and popularity of the franchise. He then opened the floor to fans who asked questions of their own.  

Shatner was asked if, assuming Kirk's death could be "undone," would that resurrection interest him? "Hell, yeah," he replied with a pure Shatner delivery. Fuller, citing the TNG episode "The Measure of a Man," queried Spiner as to his thoughts on the state of the world.

Spiner said, "I think Star Trek in general has been about individual rights and about respecting everyone, no matter who or what they are. We're living in a world right now where that sort of respect is being challenged not only all over the world, but in our country. It's disturbing. I think a lot of our politicians and a lot of our fellow citizens could take a page from Star Trek and have more respect for humanity." Bakula said, "I continue to be hopeful that, even when it gets dark, we as a species will figure things out."

Next, a fan thanked the assembled talent for "bringing such a beloved and progressive show to the world, and then addressed her question to Fuller. She wanted to know how Discovery would pick up those threads. "The new show has to continue to be progressive," he said. "It has to push boundaries. It has to give us hope for the future." He also revealed that Discovery will be "telling stories like a novel," in what he referred to as "chapters."

Other anecdotes from the panel:

Fuller, while prepping got Discovery, spoke to astronaut and TNG guest star Mae Jemison, who told him that seeing Nichelle Nichols on TOS had inspired her.

A young man stepped up the microphone to ask a question and some in the crowd booed mildly when they saw on the screen that he was sporting a Star Wars shirt. "We can like both," the fan said, a statement repeated by Fuller. Ryan agreed, saying, "Inclusion. Gene's vision. Exactly."

Everyone offered interesting answers to a question asking about the actors' favorite bits of Trek tech. Dorn chose the PADDs, while Shatner went with the communicator and Spiner selected the replicator, a choice that led to a heartfelt conversation about just how unnecessary real-world hunger, especially in the United States, could and should be. Bakula joked that Enterprise didn't have many cool gadgets, but he shared an affection for the "glow in the dark blue gel" that the cast occasionally slathered on each other in order to decontaminate themselves.

And on it went, with plenty of laughs, thoughtful memories and more. Spiner and Dorn politely declined to do theinfamous dueling Gregory Peck imitations, while Ryan addressed the difficulties of joining Voyager mid-run and replacing a departing character. Near the end, Fuller compelled everyone in the audience to hold hands as one, and he encouraged everyone to "make a promise to leave this room with love, to leave this room with hope." He also led a moment of silence for Leonard Nimoy and Anton Yelchin and all those involved with Trek whom we've lost over the years. And then, to cheers, Fuller introduced a video that revealed both the latest great Trek ship, the U.S.S. Discovery (NCC-1031), and the Star Trek: Discovery logo.

Though the main public event ended there, Fuller and the actors then headed into another room for a half-hour press conference, during which they were joined by Discovery co-producers Heather Kadin and Rod Roddenberry, and fielded questions from the media.

And that was followed by a short red carpet session during which they posed for photos separately and together, and fielded a few more questions from the journalists on hand. The highlight of the press conference was an expansive, thoughtful 5-minute rumination by Shatner on Star Trek's legacy which touched on dinosaur bones and the Greeks, a few of his books, Stephen Hawking, science fiction as mythology, dilithium crystals, an executive/Trek fan who lent him a private jet, and more, all based on a so-called "mere television show" that's lasted 50 years and counting, and has changed the world. "That's what the meaning of Star Trek really is," he concluded to extended applause from his fellow actors, Fuller and the assembled journalists.

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The Roddenberry Vault Coming to Blu-ray

Star Trek: The Roddenberry Vault, a panel presented on Saturday at San Diego Comic-Con, found Rod Roddenberry, Michael Okuda, Denise Okuda, Trevor Roth and CBS's Phil Bishop sharing with moderator Roger Lay Jr. and the many fans in attendance details about the upcoming, long in the works Blu-ray, Star Trek: The Original Series -- The Roddenberry Vault arriving later this year. One amusing revelation: the code name for the effort was "Sargon."

So, what's in the Vault? Denise Okuda summed it up best when she noted, "maybe a line of dialogue, an alternate take, things on the cutting room floor. This is a time capsule into when this show was made."

Mike Okuda added, "You get a sense of who the actors really are, like Nimoy before a take, directors giving direction, and behind the scenes moments." Gathering the footage was no easy task.

Roth explained that "this footage had been dormant for 50 years. You'd try to uncoil it and it would wrap around you like a mummy. It's a process."

Roddenberry recalled that, "You name the problem with old film, we had it. It was even in my mom's basement that flooded several times."

Fans were treated to clips from The Roddenberry Vault that included comments from William Shatner and Adam Nimoy, the latter of whom was in the audience for the panel. The clips included flubs and unguarded private moments as the actors prepared for scenes, reacted to their own performances, danced for a moment and/or cracked each other up.

The new Blu-ray will include all-new interviews with such cast and production figures as William Shatner (Captain James T. Kirk), writers Dorothy "D.C." Fontana, David Gerrold, & John D.F. Black, director Ralph Senensky, casting director Joseph D'Agosta, visual effects artist Richard Edlund, and more. Also featured is an exploration into the series' long-lasting appeal via interviews with some of Star Trek's biggest fans, among them The Big Bang Theory co-creator Bill Prady, The Simpsons writer/producer David Mirkin, Family Guy writer/producer David A. Goodman, NASA's Bobak Ferdowsi, Bill Nye (The Science Guy), and many more.

Special feature documentaries include Inside The Roddenberry Vault – A multi-part glimpse at classic episodes from new angles and perspectives; Star Trek: Revisiting A Classic – A look at life on the set during production; and Strange New Worlds: Visualizing The Fantastic – an inside look at the groundbreaking work of the series' designers and visual effects artists.

And, lastly, The Roddenberry Vault will feature 12 Original Series episodes, rendered in high-definition Blu-ray and selected based on their relevance to the Vault's lost/unseen material including "The Corbomite Maneuver, "Space Seed," "The Devil in the Dark," "The City on the Edge of Forever," "Mirror, Mirror" and "The Trouble With Tribbles."

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Introducing the U.S.S. Discovery

And the name of the newest Star Trek television series is... Star Trek: Discovery, with the show's main ship called the U.S.S. Discovery (NCC-1031). Executive Producer Bryan Fuller revealed the details and debuted the logo today during a standing-room-only "Star Trek 50th Anniversary" panel in Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con.

Fuller -- who in the early morning served fans in line donuts and coffee -- treated Hall H attendees to an exclusive first look video of the test flight of the U.S.S. Discovery, the newest Starfleet ship in the storied franchise's return to television.

 

"It's an incredible honor to have shared the stage with these representatives of all the Star Trek series that have ever been," Bryan Fuller told StarTrek.com. "And it's also an honor to have them be the launching pad for for a new series that has something we all relate to in Star Trek mythology, which is discovery."

 

 

Star Trek: Discovery is coming to CBS All Access in January 2017, following the premiere on the CBS Television Network, and will be distributed concurrently on Netflix in 188 countries and through Bell Media in Canada. 

Follow Star Trek: Discovery at:

Twitter	@StarTrekCBS
Instagram	@StarTrekCBS
Snapchat	@StarTrekCBS
Facebook	http://ift.tt/2a3UkxS

 

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Trek Talks: Science, Smithsonian and Star Trek

Building Star Trek, a two-hour documentary, will premiere September 4 on the Smithsonian Channel, and attendees at Friday's San Diego Comic-Con panel called Trek Talks: Science, Smithsonian and Star Trek, were treated to a special preview of the film.

Dr. Margaret Weitekamp, Curator at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum the Smithsonian, served as moderator. She was joined by Brooks Peck, Curator of the EMP Museum in Seattle; 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; Elizabeth Trojian, Executive Producer of Smithsonian Channel's Building Star Trek; and Dr. Sonny Kohli, Team Leader of Cloud DX, a finalist for the Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE. 

Dr. Weitekamp first welcomed everyone in the audience to the event and then debuted the trailer, which featured several people on the panel, as well as Nichelle Nichols, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg and David Gerrold. Further, the trailer teased the ways in which the documentary will examine how, from the cutting-edge labs of the Smithsonian Institution to the front lines of the digital economy, the promises -- scientifically and socially -- made in Star Trek are coming true. So that means everything from the phaser, tractor beam and invisibility cloak to the tricorder, communicator and warp drive, not to mention race relations. Also, the documentary will chronicle the exhaustive and brilliant restoration of the 11-foot-long, 200-pound studio model of the U.S.S. Enterprise model from The Original Series. Next, Dr. Weitekamp invited the panelist to talk a bit about themselves and their love of Star Trek. Below are snippets of their comments:

Trojian "was a Next Generation freak as a kid. So it was an honor to work on such a project." The props on the various Trek shows, she noted, were "objects that hold dreams." In other words, part of the documentary's goal was to illustrate how "Star Trek is the stuff of dreams, and helps make dreams real."

Dr. Kohli and his team's tricorder, whether it wins the XPRIZE contest or not, "can detect an outbreak (of an infectious disease) at its source. I'm talking about changing mankind."

Peck saw the Trek exhibit at the EMP Museum as an opportunity to answer the question, "Why does a show, 50 years on, continue to influence so many people in so many ways?"

Grier and his team, thanks to a failed scientific endeavor, discovered the basics of a tractor beam. Of course, it's just a start, as Trek-like functionality "is a couple of hundred years away from reality."

The conversation then turned the documentary's examination of the Enterprise model restoration effort. It's been a five-year process, Dr. Weitekamp noted, her personal five-year mission to remove the model from its gift shop home, restore her to her former glory and give her a new home in the just-opened Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall at the Smithsonian.

She pointed out that the model "is a miniature in that it's smaller than the real original ship would have been," and noted that the last time it had been touched for production was during the making of "The Trouble with Tribbles." It had not been worked on at the Smithsonian since 1991, so "the project became how to get it in better shape and in a better place."

The floor was then opened to fans, who posed questions to the panelists until time ran out. One question stood out, as a fan inquired about if or when the Smithsonian's restoration team will release the color codes used when refurbishing the Enterprise model. Dr. Weitekamp said, "Yes, the codes will be released," eliciting genuine excitement among more than a few people, clearly modelers, in the audience. The codes may be revealed "later this month," but more likely in August.

Building Star Trek will premiere September 4 on the Smithsonian Channel.

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Five Decades of Star Trek Comics Honored at SDCC

Star Trek: Five Decades of Comics -- a panel held on Friday at Comic-Con -- brought together a Who's Who of comic book figures that included writers Mike Johnson, Len Wein, Scott Tipton and Donny Cates, artist JK Woodward, IDW Publishing's Sarah Gaydos (who moderated) and Chris Ryall, as well as John Van Citters from CBS Consumer Products. The group took the fans in attendance through a detailed and engaging celebration of all the 4-color Star Trek worlds, featuring a look at every past iteration, via a timeline, and previews of things to come.

Gaydos started by noting that Star Trek comics have been their nearly from the beginning of Trek, "even before, in some cases, a particular country got to see the shows or movies. That's kind of awesome, in a way."

Wein recounted that he was working for Gold Key when he asked his bosses, "Do you mind if I took it (the Trek line) over?" As he noted, he was "the one who really knew about Star Trek." He corrected mistakes, including fire spewing for the Enterprise's nacelles. Gaydos, talking over visuals on a screen, showed how the Trek line of comics evolved as it moved from company to company, including:

Gold Key

Marvel

Wildstorm

Tokyopop

IDW

And then, of course, there were Trek-centric newspaper comic strips, also collected in book form for recent IDW releases, as well as the utterly unforgettable Give-a-Show Projector sagas. 

IDW Publishing has issued Star Trek comics since 2007 and the group talked animatedly about the behind-the-scenes machinations that resulted in Harlan Ellison bringing to life his City on the Edge of Forever long-form story, which also involved Mike Johnson and JK Woodward.

Wein illustrated the challenge when he quipped that "Harlan likes to burn bridges... while he's on them." Woodward called it "the most nerve-wracking job I ever worked on... at first." When they met, Ellison complimented Woodward's art but insulted his choice of clothes. "It was oddly calming," Woodward said, "after he insulted me."

After talking about the first nearly 50 years of Trek comics, Gaydos reached the "forever" part of the conversation. The current Star Trek ongoing series will conclude with issues 59 and 60, in which, quite inventively, the classic TOS crew will crossover with the current Enterprise crew.

Gaydos showed images of panels featuring Leonard Nimoy's Spock interacting with Chris Pine's Kirk. Problems presented to the Enterprise crews, Gaydos promised, will be solved old-school Trek style, "with teamwork and science."

Gaydos also previewed other upcoming Trek series, including the just-announced Boldly Go, set following the events of Beyond. Issue #1 be out in October.

And then there's Waypoint, out in September, an anthology that will celebrate every iteration of Trek. The Woodward covers for it are a remarkable, franchise-spanning triptych. Cates is writing it, having been approached initially by Gaydos via text. She'd asked if he's a Trek nerd. "I'm 30 and I work in comics," he recalled replying to her. "Of course, I am." And Gaydos also offered an exclusive reveal of Issue #2, which will feature a Gold Key-style cover. 

And the hour ended with Van Citters and IDW honoring Johnson as "The most-prolific writer of Star Trek comics... Ever." Johnson smiled broadly as the audience applauded and he accepted a gorgeous art piece, created by Woodward, which depicted Johnson in the captain's chair of the Enterprise.

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