In addition, stick around to hear Sam’s comments on recent reporting about the potential sale of Paramount to other corporate buyers, and Alex’s wish for Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 to have a Trek ’09tie-in.
WeeklyTrek is available to subscribe and download each week on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify— and we’ll be sharing the details of each new episode right here on TrekCore each week if you’re simply just looking to listen in from the web.
Do you have a wish or theory you’d like to share on the show? Tweet to Alex at @WeeklyTrek, or email us with your thoughts about wishes, theories, or anything else about the latest in Star Trek news!
EXO-6 this week revealed their fourth entry in the growing line of 1:6-scale Star Trek: The Next Generation figures — the chief engineer of the Enterprise-D, Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge.
(Photo: EXO-6)
Modeled after actor LeVar Burton’s appearance in the later seasons of The Next Generation, this new La Forge figure measures approximately 11.25 inches tall and includes a screen-accurate operations-division gold Starfleet uniform, complete with miniature combadge and rank pips.
The figure itself was constructed with more than 30 parts of articulation for the usual range of posing options, and features a VISOR which reveals the character’s blind eyes when removed. Along with a collection of interchangeable hands, the engineer comes with a Starfleet Type II phaser (with holster), Mark VII science tricorder (with holster), data padd — plus a collection of Starfleet engineering tools in housed in his familiar grey carrying case.
The Star Trek: Enterprise cast lost one of its prominent recurrent guest stars this week, after actor Gary Graham passed away January 22 at age 73.
Announced on Facebook by Graham’s ex-wife Susan Lavelle, the actor rose to sci-fi promenance first in 1989’s futuristic fighting film Robot Jox, then as Detective Matthew Sikes in the television adaptation of Alien Nation. That series aired on the FOX network from 1989-1990, and was followed by a series of Alien Nation television movies which aired between 1994 and 1997.
Graham made his first venture into the Star Trek franchise as Tanis, a treacherous Ocampan who attempted to exploit Kes’ nascent mental abilities in the Season 2 Star Trek: Voyager episode “Cold Fire.”
Graham (right) with frequent scene partner Vaughn Armstrong (Admiral Forrest). (CBS Studios)
Six years after his Voyager appearance, Graham joined the recurring Star Trek: Enterprise cast as Vulcan ambassador Soval, the leading representative of Vulcan’s diplomatic relationship with Earth.
The actor appeared in twelve episodes over the show’s four-season run (including one appearance as Soval’s Mirror Universe counterpart in “In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II”), gradually shifting the ambassador from one of Captain Archer’s harshest critics to a strong supporter of Earth and the newly-formed Coalition of Planets.
Since then, the actor had been a frequent face at Creation Entertainment’s Star Trek conventions, both as a celebrity guest and as frontman for the band “Sons of Kirk,” often seen on stage at the annual Las Vegas event.
Gary Graham is survived by his wife Becky Hopkins and daughter Haleyee Graham, who shared her own comments on Twitter following the news of his passing.
Thank you all for your kind words and condolences. My dad was an amazing actor, father, and husband… he was full of faith, humor, charisma and gratitude for being alive. He loved such a beautiful life and loved and cherished all his fans so, so much
Issue #10 of Star Trek Explorer,the official magazine for the Star Trek Universe, beams down to subscribers next week — and we’ve got an exclusive look at a new feature diving into the creation of the very first Original Series pilot episode, “The Cage.”
Vina (Susan Oliver) and Pike (Jeffrey Hunter) on planet Talos IV. (“The Cage”)
Writer Joe Nazzaro explores the development of “The Cage” in the upcoming issue, speaking to episode director Robert Butler (in an interview conducted before his passing in November 2023).
There’s a nineteenth century French quote that loosely translates into ‘The more things change, the more they stay the same.’ As long-time science fiction fans will attest, that phrase certainly applies to the original 1965 Star Trek pilot, “The Cage”. Although it was rejected by the network and eventually repurposed into a two-part episode of the new series, “The Cage” has become a pivotal back-story element in the new Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
One of the architects behind “The Cage” was award-winning director Robert Butler, who throughout the sixties, seventies and eighties was responsible for some of the most distinguished pilots in TV history, including Batman, Hogan’s Heroes, Remington Steele, and Hill Street Blues. An associate director in 1950’s live television, Butler began directing with the half-hour Jackie Cooper series Hennessey and never stopped working after that.
Another early series was The Lieutenant, created by writer Gene Rodenberry, which led to Butler’s directing gig on “The Cage.”
“I had done two or three episodes of the series, which was about a marine lieutenant in peacetime, and that was an hour series that ran a season or two, and Gene liked what I had done, so when he created Star Trek, he asked me to do it.”
Butler, a virtual novice to science fiction, recalls reading the script and wondering if perhaps there was a bit too much in it to pull off. “It was just stuffed with SF [SciFi] elements. I remember saying to my wife, ‘This thing is going to be hard for the audience to follow; it’s too jam-packed!’
“She suggested I do it anyway and maybe it would clear up, so I shot it, but remember NBC saying, ‘We like it, we believe it, but we don’t understand it; do it again!’
Oliver, Gene Roddenberry, Robert Butler, and Bob Justman during production of “The Cage.”
So how does one even begin to deal with a jam-packed science fiction script full of effects that had rarely been done on a television schedule or budget?
“You just give the elephant a spoonful at a time,” responds Butler. “You work on the moment at hand to make it as convincing and believable as you can, so in pre-production, you try and support those moments in preparation; getting the right costumes, getting the right special effects and the right design; inch by inch and a spoonful at a time.
“I remember the old woman who reverts to being an old hag for example, that was a stock SF trick. At the time, instead of morphing, which one would do now, what you did was time-lapse photography. There would be a head brace for her to hold her head in an appropriate position, you would shoot a piece of the scene and then she would go change makeup, and then shoot another piece. A lot of the execution was actually standard science fiction execution.”
Maybe so, but in the mid-1960s, such effects were hardly standard fare in weekly television. “That’s true, and of course a pilot takes even more time and money to work these things out, such as the beaming up and beaming down, which we had to invent for the pilot, which was basically an old disappearance magic trick. They later added the Tinkerbell dust, but it was essentially the same trick.
“During rehearsal, I remember consciously thinking about The Thing, specifically about the performances and I was bored at that time with the ‘exclamation points.’ All SF, fantasy and enlarged melodrama was played in an excited tone: ‘My God, I just saw him, and you’ve got to be careful!’ The Thing was so dry and quiet because they were afraid the beast would overhear them. We tried that for maybe two days, and I talked to the cast about declaiming and exclaiming and I said ‘Let’s make this thing dry and realistic!’ I wanted to add vérité to our science fiction.”
Needless to say, that approach did not work.
The newsstand and subscriber-exclusive covers of STAR TREK EXPLORER #10.
You can read the full interview with Butler — along interviews with Susanna Thompson, Penny Johnson Jerald and Derek Tyler Attico, a guide to Strange New Worlds’ first season, and new Star Trek short fiction stores — when Star Trek Explorer #10 goes on sale January 23.
Star Trek: Discovery won’t be returning to Paramount+ until sometime in April, but attendees at the annual South by Southwest (SXSW) TV and Film Festival will get the first chance to experience the Season 5 premiere.
The festival is scheduled for March 8-16 in Austin, Texas; while no specific date/time has yet been announced for the Discovery screening, the premiere episode — titled “Red Directive” per WGA listings — will debut several weeks ahead of the public release.
The SXSW announcement also brings us the first episode synopsis of Season 5, giving the first specifics about the galaxy-wide treasure hunt that will span the concluding season — and giving us context for a ship seen in July’s “look ahead” featurette.
Captain Burnham and the U.S.S. Discovery are sent to retrieve a mysterious 800-year-old Romulan vessel; until the artifact hidden inside is stolen, leading to an epic chase. Meanwhile, Saru is offered the position of a lifetime, and Tilly’s efforts to help pull her into a tangled web of secrecy.
We also got to see an extended scene from inside this derelict ship in the five-minute preview shared at San Diego Comic Con back in July:
Despite being set in the far far future, the series looks to be connecting itself back to the more well-known era of Starfleet adventures — 800 years before Discovery’s current setting (the 3190s) is the late 24th century, and if taken literally this would be a Romulan ship from the era between Star Trek: Prodigy and Star Trek: Picard.
What big Romulan event happened during that time period? Most notably, the destriuction of the Romulan homeworld after its star went supernova, as depicted in the flashback scenes of 2009’s Star Trek film; the surrounding evacuation efforts and post-nova fallout served as driving events through the first season of Star Trek: Picard.
The derelict Romulan ship (left) and a model of the Romulan science ship in TNG’s “The Next Phase.” (Paramount+)Inside what seems to be the Romulan ship. (Paramount+)
As for the rest of the episode synopsis, it seems that Saru (Doug Jones) and Tilly (Mary Wiseman) will be sharing a storyline, bringing the pair back into each others’ orbit after the young Lieutenant’s transfer to Starfleet Headquarters in Season 4.
Saru is offered the position of a lifetime, and Tilly’s efforts to help pull her into a tangled web of secrecy.
Captain Saru (Doug Jones) and Lieutenant Tilly (Mary Wiseman). (Paramount+)
As we move into the Spring there’s sure to be much more information about Season 5, so keep your sensors locked on TrekCore for all those details as they arrive — in the meantime, let us know what you think about the “Red Directive” synopsis in the comments below!
The churn of Star Trek movie developement continues to bubble over at Paramount Pictures, where today news broke that another new film is in the works to revive the theatrical arm of the franchise.
First reported by Deadline, Star Wars: Andor lead director Toby Haynes has been tapped to direct a film described as “an origin story that takes place decades before the original 2009 Star Trek film,” scripted by writer Seth Grahame-Smith (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, The Lego Batman Movie).
Deadline reports:
EXCLUSIVE: Even as they continue to develop the final chapter in its main [Kelvin Timeline] Star Trek series, Paramount is looking to expand on the IPs universe as it has tapped Toby Haynes to direct a new film that expands on the Star Trek universe with Seth Grahame-Smith penning the script.
J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot is producing and sources tell Deadline that while plot details are being kept under wraps this project is an origin story that takes place decades before the original 2009 Star Trek film. Insiders go on to add the final chapter in the [Kelvin Timeline] series, Star Trek 4, remains in active development.
While produced by J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, which brought fans the three Kelvin Timeline films (Trek ’09, Star Trek Into Darkness, and Star Trek Beyond), today’s reporting does not provide specifics on this new prequel film’s setting. This could be a tale told in past of the Kelvin Timeline itself, or perhaps decades before Kirk and Spock in the Prime Trek universe — or it may be some sort of story told independent of either, a standalone movie less tied to existing franchise continuity.
Whatever this new picture brings to the table, it won’t star Chris Pine and the rest of the Kelvin-verse Enterprise crew; both Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter note that a fourth Kelvin film — which exited Paramount’s schedule back in 2022 — is still on a separate development track within Paramount.
We’ll continue to bring you news on this new Star Trek film concept as it becomes available.
The Autobiography of Benjamin Siskoby Derek Tyler Attico is the best of Titan Books’ line of Star Trek autobiographies that it has published to date.
Following the autobiographies of James T. Kirk,Jean-Luc Picard (both by David A. Goodman), Kathryn Janeway, and Spock(both by Una McCormack), Attico takes over for the story of Benjamin Sisko and takes on the hard task of figuring out how to make an autobiography work for a character who ascended to a higher plane of existence — and one whose fate in canon is not yet known.
Previous autobiographies have been written from the furthest point in the character’s life prior to what we know of their death, and included lengthy sections on the character’s life before the events we saw on screen, quick recaps of those on-screen events, and then normally some information about what happened to the character after they last appeared in canon.
In the case of the Picard and Janeway books, this makes for a bit of an awkward read; both were written before the characters’ respective returns in Picard and Prodigy and so the narrative about what happened to these characters after Nemesis and Voyager respectively differ from the canon.
A portrait of a young Benjamin Sisko by artist Russell Walks. (Titan Books)
Attico could have made a similar choice for Sisko if he had chosen to tell the story of his return from the Bajoran Wormhole and all the events that happened after. But in a decision that serves the book very well — and also future proofs it against the possibility the character does return in some way in future Star Trek — the author declines to take this route. Established in a framing narrative for the autobiography, this is the story of Benjamin Sisko as told in Deep Space Nine, from his birth all the way through the events of “What You Leave Behind.”
Attico does a great job capturing Ben Sisko’s voice, and telling a story that feels authentic and true to who Sisko is as a person. The book also feels the most authentically connected to the show in which it came from. Previous Star Trek autobiographies from Titan have been a little frustrating in the presence of canon mistakes or interpretations for the characters that don’t make sense. The Sisko autobiography, perhaps because it hews closest to the source material, avoids all of that and fits extremely well with what we know about the Sisko character from the TV show.
It also wrestles with some inconsistencies in the character’s backstory from the show. I hadn’t remembered, for example, that Sisko makes one reference to having two brothers in “Paradise,” in addition to his sister Judith. In the rest of the series, particularly after Joseph Sisko is introduced, the brothers are never mentioned again, and you’d be forgiven for operating under the assumption (as I did before I read this book) that Sisko had only one sibling. Attico weaves all that together nicely, and demonstrates a strong command of the backstory for Benjamin Sisko.
Sisko’s Creole Kitchen, revisited in STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS. (Paramount+)
There’s a lot to like in the way Attico breaks down the character’s life and shows us pieces of it, but the best stuff is in describing Sisko’s childhood in New Orleans. Attico brings the Sisko’s restaurant façade briefly glimpsed in the show to life in a vibrant 24th century New Orleans that feels futuristic but retaining the unique culture of the city that its had for several centuries. Sisko’s family, his parents and grandparents, are well rendered, and help you understand where the different aspects of Sisko’s personality came from.
It is also great to go deeper into the Sisko/Dax relationship, this time with Curzon during Sisko’s earlier years. Getting to see how the two character met and how they developed their bond adds depth and nuance to your understanding of Sisko. The same is true of his relationship with Jennifer Sisko; Attico has a smart and surprising take on the way we saw their first meeting in Sisko’s orb vision in “Emissary” that I got a kick out of.
Sisko enters a memory of his first meeting with Jennifer in “Emissary.” (Paramount)
The inclusion of Captain Benjamin Sisko into the line of Titan Books’ Star Trek autobiographies was overdue, but I am pleased that the publishing house waited to find the right author to take on Sisko’s story. They succeeded in tapping Derek Tyler Attico for the task, who gives us a rich portrayal of Sisko’s life and story up to and including the events of Deep Space Nine. This autobiography is the best companion to the show of any of the previous books in the series, and should be applauded.
On this week’s episode of WeeklyTrek — TrekCore’s news podcast — host Alex Perry is joined by Stephen Van Doren to discuss all the latest Star Trek news.
This week, Alex and his guest discuss the following stories from TrekCore and around the web:
In addition, stick around to hear Stephen’s wish for Star Trek to lean less on nostalgia and begin doing more interesting and innovative things, and Alex’s wish for Netflix to upload the “Lost and Found” in its original full-length format.
WeeklyTrek is available to subscribe and download each week on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify— and we’ll be sharing the details of each new episode right here on TrekCore each week if you’re simply just looking to listen in from the web.
Do you have a wish or theory you’d like to share on the show? Tweet to Alex at @WeeklyTrek, or email us with your thoughts about wishes, theories, or anything else about the latest in Star Trek news!
We’ve seen the end of Jean-Luc Picard’s story several times over the last thirty years — following the conclusion of Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1994, the final film Star Trek: Nemesis in 2002, and Star Trek: Picard just last year — but now the actor has shared that a film script focused on the starship captain is in the works.
STAR TREK: PICARD — “Dominion” (Paramount+)
Since the press tour for Picard Season 3 began back in 2022, Stewart has often hinted that there is an opportunity for one more Trek film for Jean-Luc Picard (and his Next Gen cohorts), from a joke at New York Comic Con…
Patrick Stewart egging on the crowd about maybe doing "one more movie!" — this is NOT an announcement! — while Brent Spiner asks the Paramount+ reps in the room for his own series#starTrek#StarTrekPicard#NYCC
…to an interview with IndieWire where the actor suggested elements from Picard Season 3 could carry over into a big-screen adventure.
“I think we could do a movie, a ‘Picard’-based movie,” he said. “Now not necessarily at all about Picard but about all of us. And to take many of those wonderful elements, particularly from Season 3 of ‘Picard’ and take out of that what I think could be an extraordinary movie. I keep telling people and mentioning it, and so far there’s been no eager response, but it might well happen. And that would be I think a very appropriate way to say, ‘And goodbye folks.’
Now in a recent interview with the Happy Sad Confused podcast (recorded in November 2023 during the actor’s memior press tour, as noted by TrekMovie.com), Stewart has revealed that there’s actually a Picard-focused script in the works that by now is likely already in his hands.
Stewart told host Josh Horowitz (at timecode 35:16) that:
“I heard… about a script that is being written, but written specifically with [me] to play in it [as Picard] — and and I’ve been told to expect to receive it within a week or so. I’m so excited, because it sounds like the kind of project where the experimentation that I want to do will be essential for this kind of material.”
There’s also no guarantee that if the film does get made, other members of the Next Generation (or Picard) cast would appear, noting the “experimentation” that Stewart mentions in his comments; Stewart famously agreed to return to the character for Star Trek: Picard if it was not treated as the reunion show Season 3 ultimately provided.
So it’s truly anyone’s guess if this script will lead to another, last, we-really-mean-it final Star Trek adventure for Jean-Luc Picard and Patrick Stewart — in the meantime, let us know your thoughts about this “Picard movie” in the comments below!
We’re back from our holiday break, and now it’s time to catch up on some of the news we missed — starting with a look ahead to the forthcoming final season of Star Trek: Discovery.
Normally held back under a veil of secrecy until closer to airdate, with the long delays since Discovery finished filming (almost a year will have passed when the upcoming season airs), we’ve gotten a look early thanks to script registration listings on the Writers Guild of America website. The final year of Discovery will be a now-standard Trek season of ten episodes, with contributions from twelve different writers including series showrunner Michelle Paradise.
Oyin Oladejo as Owosekun, Patrick Kwok-Choon as Rhys, and Sonequa Martin-Green as Michael Burnham. (Paramount+)
While it’s of course still very possible that these final episode titles may change between their 2022-2023 registration dates and the April 2024 airings, here is what’s been listed as of this week:
Season 5 begins with “Red Directive” (Episode 501) by Michelle Paradise, followed by “Under the Twin Moons” (502) by Alan McElroy and “Jinaal” (503) by the Kyle Jarrow and Lauren Wilkinson.
The season continues with “Face the Strange” (504) by Sean Cochran, “Mirrors” (505) by Johanna Lee and Carlos Cisco, “Whistlespeak” (506) by Kennith Lin and Brandon A. Schultz, then “Erigah” (507) by M. Raven Metzner, and then “Labyrinths” (508) as a second entry from Lauren Wilkinson, joined by Eric J. Robins.
Discovery’s final entries are known to be a two-part story, with “Lagrange Point” (509) directed by Jonathan Frakes and written by Sean Cochran and Ari Friedman, while the concluding “Life, Itself” (510) is scripted by Kyle Jarrow and showrunner Michelle Paradise, and directed by longtime supervising director and executive producer Olatunde Osunsanme.
Elias Toufexis as L’ak, and Eve Harlow as Moll. (Paramount+)
There’s already been plenty of speculation in the Trek community about these titles over the last few days, but we’ll throw in our ideas as well.
“Under the Twin Moons” may be a Saru-focused episode, as his homeworld of Kaminar is known to have two moons (as seen in “The Brighest Star” and “That Hope is You, Part 2”).
The twin moons of Kaminar seen in “That Hope Is You, Part 2.” (Paramount+)
“Face the Strange” is likely a reference to David Bowie’s song “Changes,” where listeners are told to “Turn and face the strange.”
Perhaps “Whistlespeak” might refer to whale song… if Discovery decides to check in on the Whale Probe aliens from Star Trek IV: The VoyageHome in the 32nd century? (This one’s pretty unlikely, we’ll admit!)
Anyway, we’re still a ways off from really learning more about the upcoming final season of Star Trek: Discovery, which will be returning sometime this April and is — so far — the only live-action Star Trek scheduled for 2024.
Keep checking back to TrekCore as we get closer to the show’s return for more on the closing chapter of the Discovery story!
