25th Anniversary of "The Final Frontier"

Well, it's been 25 years since "Star Trek 5: The Final Frontier" opened on June 9th, 1989, and the pain is still there; Sybok could do little to relieve it. (Who, by the way, could have made a KILLING as a psychotherapist on Earth, and done much better than chasing a non-existent Sean Connery.)

There are only a few entries on this film on my blog, evidence of the pitiful reception it had then and the general lack of love. Sure, it had its good points, but so does the drunk Uncle that is an embarrassment to the family. Read the entries on this blog, all compiled here!

Happy "Khan" Day!

June 4th, 1982 was the release date of what many feel to be the best of the Trek movies, "The Wrath Of Khan." Here is a link to view all the articles, clippings and photos on this site related to this exciting and moving film: Click here!

30 Year Anniversary of "Star Trek III: The Search For Spock"

Hard to believe that it's been 30 years since "TSFS" premiered on June 1st, 1984. How well I remember the real excitement I felt over it! I bought the novelization a few days before seeing the movie, but held out on reading the end so that there would be some surprises. Here are the sum total of articles, clippings and photos on this site associated with this film for your review:  Click here!

If you haven't seen them already, or in a while, they will cause many great memories to resurface!

Star Trek: The Animated Series Coloring Book

The Animated Series (or TAS as it is known) holds a lot of nostalgia for me and many others. Although I was already a fan of Trek before I saw it, TAS was really my first extensive introduction to the series, since it was in first-run, while in the early 70's the original series re-runs had not kicked in to the extent they would a few years later, and were harder to find. Although I never had a TAS coloring book, I have found an excellent site by Kail Tescar devoted to the series that has created an entire gallery of such pages! Go here to view them, then print your choices out and let your kids have at it! You can help a little too.

Below are some samples from the site. Sharpen your crayons and  have fun!

Bonus: a sexy painting of Lt. Uhura found online for your enjoyment!

View the full size image here.

Source:  http://instagram.com/p/XXtN2PtcNj/#

Happy Valentine's Day, Kirk-style!

Kirk was a real romancer, so, guys, take a cue from him today and learn how to make your lady swoon! If you don't get the same results, tell her to close her eyes and imagine you are the young Captain Kirk.

In case you didn't get enough, here's another one with the same theme, but using a different song: http://youtu.be/yvbS-2LWIOU

Bonus: Star Trek's first couple: Decker and Illia from "Star Trek: The Motion Picture." They would later be re-named and written into "Star Trek: The Next Generation" as Commander Riker and Deanna Troi.

The Red Shirt's Dream

(Click on the image to view full-size.)

 "This is the traditional Earthman greeting, honest!"

 I was finally going through my accumulated emails from my various blogs after the Christmas holidays, and found some neat messages. One was the subject of my last post, the Trekker from Logan's Run. Another one contained a link to a very amusing and well-drawn and animated video, which I am sharing below. I particularly like the humorously exaggerated depiction of the Green Orion Animal Woman! Here's what the email said about the video:

Hey Fred! I love your blog, what an awesome collection to share with the world, I'm really enjoying it! I wanted to pass along a project I'm working on, I hope you enjoy it as I enjoy yours - it's a Star Trek parody about those members of the intrepid space crew who were unlucky enough to don red shirts. In an even unluckier twist, they keep coming back for more..

.(go here to view it full-size:) http://youtu.be/kTr9hR-hfr4

This is the first of the scripts to be animated, more to come! I appreciate the look, and hey, if you love it and want to post it on your site, I'd appreciate that even more!

Best regards, Rich Moyer Creative Director / Animator

www.richmoyer.com




Watch another of Rich's Red Shirt animations here for even more voluptuous G.O.S.G. action! http://youtu.be/JWR_MoZA-9g 

BONUS: want to see something else funny? Watch this trailer for the '09 Star Trek film re-edited using bloopers from the film ! It's priceless!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYnLO-MVRaY#t=93

The Trekker In "Logan's Run"

 In 1976, the biggest movie to come out that year (at least according to me) was "Logan's Run." I saw it several times in the theater, bought the novel, and the soundtrack LP. I even saved up about $50 to buy a set of over-sized lobby cards from the movie at the Ft. Lauderdale specialty shop "Starship Enterprises."

One thing I noticed immediately was that a Star Trek fan extra snuck in the Vulcan salute at the end! Have you ever seen it? Watch at the end when the young people are reaching for the old man... right in the foreground, one of the raised hands briefly makes the Vulcan hand sign, and it made it in the movie! And it wasn't just off to the side in a subtle motion... but it actually blocked the view of Peter Ustinov's face for a moment! See my screen capture of the moment below... (click on the image to view full-size.)

"Live long and prosper, old dude!"

I originally wrote about this in a post about "Logan's Run" over on my sci-fi/nostalgia blog "Fantastic Flashbacks." You can read the original post here.  I ended the post with the line "My sneaky Trekker friend, whoever you are, I applaud you!"

Well, thanks to the internet, that person has stepped up and claimed this bit of filmic Trekker identification! Here is an email that I got from him:

 Fred,

Thought you might be interested to learn that I was the Vulcan Hand Salute kid in Logan's Run.  My mother was a talent agent in Dallas after we moved here from L.A. in 1970.  I had done many national commercials through an agent there and my mom decided to open an agency in the new film frontier of Dallas.  As a result, she always sent me on extra calls for films made in Dallas at the time like Logan's Run, Phantom of the Paradise, Semi-Tough and others.  I remember working weeks on end on LR culminating to the big finale of filming the destruction of "Dome City" filmed at the Ft. Worth Water Gardens.  We were directed to wait on the far side of a wall for the explosions and then came over to gather around the first old person we'd ever seen, played by the late Peter Ustinov.  I also remember a girl from our agency was selected to be the one to touch the old man's face.  Rumor has it this required a "special audition", but who really knows. Anyway, I was simply wanting to find a way to locate myself in the crowd and didn't do it long, I thought.  I feared it would get noticed and end up on the cutting room floor, but as you mentioned, made the final print.  I had forgotten about this until a friend of mine from back then called me and said the salute had made the Internet.  So, there it is and thanks for the applaud.

Adam Wyse

Thanks, Adam, for writing and sharing with me -and the readers- your story! Now we know... and you certainly did make your mark that stood out from the rest of the crowd!

Bonus: Since today's post concerns the Vulcan salute, here is a nice image I found online that is a mock-up of the old Gold Key Trek comics with nice modern artwork!