This weekend marks the start of filming on the STAR TREK BEYOND film set we’ve been watching in Dubai, as the movie production rolls camera at the Central Park Towers construction site.
As the cast and crew head to the set, our sources tell us they’ve started to block off the ground-level views of the build, but we’ve got a few more — but hopefully not final — looks at the location.
It’s certainly harder than ever to describe the saucer-shaped set piece as anything but a crash site, with the field of debris spread across the metropolitan plaza. Whether it’s the same ship seen in Vancouver is still up for debate — perhaps we’ll know more as the weekend shoot progresses.
* * *
Finally this week, we’ve also learned that Sofia Boutella has made the journey from Vancouver to Dubai to join the rest of the crew, as the actress posted this shot from the foot of the Burj Khalifa hotel on social media.
https://www.instagram.com/p/8l1gtfNxPm/
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Admiral Kathryn Janeway faces a tribunal determined to execute her for supposed crimes committed during Voyager’s maiden trek through the Delta Quadrant.
Captain Chakotay knows that the Kinara, several species now allied against the Full Circle fleet, are not all they appear to be. The Confederacy of the Worlds of the First Quadrant—a pact he cannot trust—is his only hope for unravelling the Kinara’s true agenda and rescuing Admiral Janeway.
Meanwhile, Seven and Tom Paris are forced to betray the trust of their superiors in a desperate bid to reveal the lengths to which a fellow officer has gone in the name of protecting the Federation from the legendary Caeliar.
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Star Trek: Voyager – Atonement picks up right where Kirsten Beyer’s previous Voyager novel, Acts of Contrition, left off. Kathryn Janeway has turned herself over to the Kinara, an alliance of Delta Quadrant species who want to execute the Admiral for the “crimes” committed by her and her crew during Voyager’s first trip through the region.
However, the leaders pushing for this alliance are not who they appear to be; rather, they are being controlled by the Neyser consciousnesses led by the being who took control of the “Meegan” hologram way back at the beginning of the Full Circle mission to the Delta Quadrant.
Meanwhile, back at Earth, Seven of Nine, Tom Paris, Samantha Wildman, and Dr. Sharak continue their work to free Axum and the rest of the victims of Commander Jefferson Briggs, a researcher who is employing extreme, unethical methods in his attempts to cure the “catomic plague.”
Beyer’s previous Voyager novels are definite must-reads before jumping into ‘Atonement.’
If this sounds like a lot, it is. Atonement relies heavily on the plots of the novels that precede it, most notably Protectors and Acts of Contrition. Atonement ends up being the conclusion of a trilogy formed by these three novels. Therefore, if you have not yet read the two previous books, I would urge you to do so before picking up Atonement.
Atonement, as the title suggests, is about facing the consequences of one’s actions, but more than that, it is about the revelation of one’s true character. This theme is repeated throughout the novel. Commander Briggs is revealed to be a monster, even though he believed he was acting in the best interests of the Federation.
The Federation itself is revealed, through the actions of Janeway and her fleet, to be a force for good in the galaxy (for the most part). The Confederacy is revealed to be, well, us. Our present-day society is very much mirrored by the actions and attitude of the Confederacy, and while they may not quite be up to snuff to be an ally of the Federation, the future holds many possibilities, and there is potential there for an on-going relationship going forward.
I really enjoyed the resolution of many of the plot threads in this story. Tom Paris and his mother, Julia, come to a place of reconciliation, and while B’Elanna may never forgive her, things are not as dark as they were in the previous novel. Also, the resolution to The Doctor’s storyline was very impressive.
The messy, imperfect ending to The Doctor’s story was one of my favorite things.
I was, sadly, expecting a reset-button ending to this story, in which his memories of Seven of Nine were restored and everything works out, but Kirsten Beyer surprised me with how this story was resolved. Of course, I shouldn’t have been surprised; Beyer has proven to have a knack for meaningful stories and non-reset button endings.
For the most part, I came away from Atonement immensely satisfied with the way the story has been concluded. Nobody writes these characters better than Kirsten Beyer, and in this novel we even got the treat of a couple of scenes featuring Elim Garak, one of my favorite Trek characters of all time!
Also, because Voyager is currently set a little earlier than the rest of the 24th Century novel timeline, we got a number of scenes with another favorite: Federation President Nan Bacco, which was a very pleasant surprise!
In Star Trek: Voyager – Atonement, we learn that there are ideals worth living up to, and that there are always going to be those who want to tear down all that has been built. Like “The Drumhead,” the lesson here is to stick to our principles, and to always remain vigilant and on guard against forces that would take us away from what is ethical and right.
While filming has just wrapped in Vancouver and is only beginning in Dubai, it seems Paramount Pictures may have finally started to dip into the STAR TREK BEYOND marketing budget for the MIPCOM entertainment trade show in Cannes.
Mostly targeted towards the television industry — MIPCOM held the first public screening of the The X-Files relaunch this week — the convention center is filled with thousands of industry players looking to buy and sell content and make the best deals they can on an international stage.
Like Disney’s D23 event from earlier this summer, the expo hall is also filled with advertisements for many entertainment brands, such as AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead, NBCUniversal’s Mr. Robot, plenty of international productions… and surprisingly, STAR TREK BEYOND as well?
Reportedly on display at the Paramount booth, Twitter user Romain Nigita snapped this photo of what would seem to be the first official promotion for the upcoming film.
Should this be real, it’s a placeholder image in nearly every way: the pictures of Chris Pine, Zoe Saldana, and Zachary Quinto is obviously temporary, created from the 2009 cast photography shoot, and the logo used is basically a copy of the temporary title artwork created for TrekMovie.com’s headline feed. Until we see the logo used in a more official capacity, we wouldn’t put too much weight into the design shown here.
That being said, this would appear to be the first Paramount-created item to feature the STAR TREK BEYOND title, and should quell doubts for those who are still waiting for the studio to “confirm” the film’s name.
Hopefully other visitors to the MIPCOM expo will capture additional views of this poster to confirm its authenticity.
This weekend brought our first look at STAR TREK BEYOND in Dubai, with a glimpse at what appears to be the leading edge of a starship. Now, we have another view of this ongoing build at the foot of the Central Park Towers in Dubai.
While the ever-present greenscreen setup will serve to both mask the city behind the set and provide a canvas for a digital extension — implying that filming at this location will be done on the ground level — questions still remain about the nature of this build. We’re not quite sure if the blue discoloration over the right side of the set is simply a trick of the light, but it certainly seems to be a bit more than shadow on the construction.
Until we’re able to see another shot of this set piece, however, to verify or eliminate the blue coloration — we’re not jumping to any conclusions.
UPDATE: Here’s a pair of additional views, from a higher vantage point:
Based on these, we’re discounting the blue coloration from the first photo above as simply shadowing. Now that we can see some people around the set, we can finally get a good idea of the size of this construction.
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Our two favorite non-fiction Star Trek authors, who have brought us some of the most comprehensive looks behind the scenes of the Trek franchise, are without a doubt Paula M. Block and Terry J. Erdmann.
Once again, this married research team has produced an amazing look into a new aspect of Trek production: the wardrobe and costume work that’s brought the future to life for the past five decades.
Taking some time out of their busy schedules, Paula and Terry spoke via email with TrekCore about their latest release.
* * *
TREKCORE: The two of you have worked together on several previous Star Trek non-fiction releases, perhaps most notably the wonderfully in-depth Deep Space Nine Companionand wonderful TOS 365 and TNG 365photo collections.
What drew you to this project, focusing exclusively on the fashions of the Star Trek franchise?
Paula M. Block and Terry J. Erdmann: To be honest, we were asked whether we were interested in doing it. CBS, the licensor, and publisher Insight Editions were both familiar with our previous books about Star Trek, and they assumed we were up to the job. It sounded like a fascinating project — so of course we said yes.
TREKCORE: There must have been a tremendous amount of research that went into this book. How did your work process on Star Trek Costumes differ from your previous projects?
PM & TE: We’ve developed a technique over the years, which we followed, though it turns out that every book is a bit different: we contact people who have been associated with the particular aspect of Star Trek we’re researching, and ask them a lot of questions.
This time, because we now live in Oregon, we also made a lengthy visit to Los Angeles to go through CBS’s Star Trek image archives. We also contacted libraries across the United States that our research revealed were in possession of costume sketches donated by some of the costume designers.
“Mirror” men: Spock and Kirk’s uniforms from the Terran Empire’s ISS Enterprise.
TREKCORE: What about the costumes themselves, were you able to get up close and personal with the original pieces?
PM & TE: CBS had a number of original costumes in storage and a few more on office display mannequins; some of them are the costumes that fans get to see as part of the Star Trek traveling exhibitions around the world. We were able to look at — and touch — some of those while we were in Los Angeles.
CBS was also in contact with several fan collectors who had purchased costumes over the years, and we asked the collectors if they’d mind bringing them in for some special photo sessions. After the costumes were fitted on rented mannequins, photographer Ethan Boehme set up lighting and did a fabulous job of capturing images.
TREKCORE: Aside from photography, what concept artwork or costume design material did you have access to?
PM & TE: The studio has a collection of concept art from the various television shows and movies that we were allowed to use. In other cases, we tracked down art that had been sold through auction houses. For instance, Bonham’s handled the auction of William Theiss’s estate after his death. And we found additional pieces in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Library and Harvard University’s library.
Concept art for the once-and-done pajama-style uniforms from ‘Star Trek: The Motion Picture.’
TREKCORE: Which of Star Trek‘s costume designers did you have a chance to speak to while you were working on this book?
PM & TE: We held conversations with six of the designers, and they went into great detail about certain costumes from the franchise.. For the Borg, we got perspective from three different designers — Durinda Rice Wood, Robert Blackman and Deborah Everton, who each created a unique take on the Borg over the years.
Bob Blackman also told us a story about the evolution of Seven of Nine’s silver regeneration suit that is particularly fascinating.
TREKCORE: Many Star Trek civilizations seem to follow what we call the ‘planet of the hats’ trend, where everyone shares the same style of clothing, headgear, hairstyles, etc. Did you spend much time discussing the process of designing fashion trends for entire alien species?
PM & TE: We think that was most obvious in the work of William Theiss for the original series and for the first season of The Next Generation, but each designer had their own rationales for what people on certain planets would tend to wear based on their civilizations.
Ferengi fashion stands tall in ‘Star Trek Costumes’ — okay, not tall, but you know what we mean.
TREKCORE: What insights did you learn about the costuming trends as Star Trek has progressed through the decades? How have the uniforms evolved over the years?
PM & TE: Each of the designers were obviously influenced by the fashion look of his or her particular era. William Theiss, for example, was surrounded by the revolutionary fashion scene of the Sixties. While some of his designs definitely resembled those of Mary Quant and Rudi Gernreich, he professed a personal preference for Pierre Cardin and Donald Brooks.
Robert Blackman enjoyed looking at fashion from all eras, and drew upon, for example, Balenciaga, when he designed fashions for Famke Janssen in “The Perfect Mate.” Interestingly, when Michael Kaplan was charged with recreating the Star Trek look for J.J. Abrams’ movies, he reviewed the work of Sixties era designers like Quant, Gernreich and Andre Courreges.
And it’s amazing how much all of the designers were influenced by hardware stores and thrift shops.
As for the uniforms, they certainly became more ‘military’ styled for the early movies, and then swung to a less-military look for the Next Generation and early Deep Space Nine and Voyager designs — and then military-styled again for the later films featuring the TNG crew.
While the earlier incarnations had only one or two variations on standard uniforms for a particular version of Star Trek — say a duty uniform and a dress uniform—Michael Kaplan created a whole bunch of different outfits for different jobs for the Abrams’ reboot movies.
Lovely sketches of Michael Kaplan’s copper volcano suit from ‘Into Darkness’ shine.
TREKCORE: What was the most surprising thing you learned about costume design while working on this book?
PM & TE: While the design process is a proverbial “one man show,” it truly takes a village to run a wardrobe department involving everyone from the executive producer to the local jewelry designer. It’s a miracle that a complicated costume can sometimes be created overnight — or even on the spot, as BarBara Luna explains regarding one outfit she wears in “Mirror, Mirror.”
TREKCORE: Do you have any personal favorite looks from those featured in the book?
We also really like both of Kamala’s outfits in “The Perfect Mate,” and Jadzia’s wedding dress from DS9. We gave a special page to the Cat Dancer from Star Trek V — it’ll surprise you — and we included a full-length shot of Riker’s “boy toy” outfit from “Angel One,” but unfortunately not with him wearing it. This is a tough question to answer, because there are so many to mention.
Paula hangs with the Duras sisters — well, their armor — at CBS Consumer Products’ offices.
TREKCORE: Was any part of your research targeted towards any of the makeup or hair/wig design — or is that something for another book?
PM & TE: Ooh — what a good idea. May the question go from your words to some publisher’s ears!
TREKCORE: Did either of you have any fashion background before starting Star Trek Costumes?
PM & TE: Well, we’ve both been wearing clothing since we were babies — just don’t ask us about the Seventies.
Questions supplied by TrekCore Guest Contributor Anna Marquardt.
The final weeks of filming on STAR TREK BEYOND started up in Dubai on Friday morning, with an aerial show that brought high-rise residents to their balconies in the city’s downtown region.
The longest road in the United Arab Emirates, Highway E 11 — known as Sheikh Zayed Road as it passes through Dubai — is the central passage through the city, delivering travelers to some of the biggest skyscrapers in town. As wide as eight lanes in many areas, a portion of this vast roadway was completely shut down to allow STAR TREK BEYOND to film aerial photography via helicopter this morning.
An advisory notice posted by The H Dubai hotel, located along Sheikh Zayed Road.
The airborne activity certainly didn’t go unnoticed by the residents of Dubai’s downtown towers, as the 6AM (local time) flyby brought a loud wakeup call to the skies.
We don’t know as of yet what this flyby filming will be used for in the upcoming film, but it’s likely to be heavily augmented with digital graphics to mask the reality of the 21st Century city.
* * *
In addition, the first set construction photos from STAR TREK BEYOND have also begun appearing on social media out of Dubai. What began as a collection of angular pieces of construction material…
https://www.instagram.com/p/8SjqUwoWW2/
…has now taken the shape of what can only be the leading edge of a Federation starship’s saucer section.
While the first inclination seems to connect this downed vessel with the massive ‘crashed starship’ set from back in Vancouver, remember that that seemed to be set in more of a wooded area, aligning with the first location shoot in the Squamish forest.
This build certainly seems to be set in a metropolitan location, a far cry from the woods of British Columbia — and let’s not forget that last time around, the Vengeance crashed into downtown San Francisco.
* * *
Finally, as has been widely reported, TMZ has gotten a few last-minute set photos from the STAR TREK BEYOND shoot in Vancouver this week, including some final glimpses of the location set at the Pitt River Quarries outside of the city — which we first brought you over a month ago, thank you very much.
While this may be old news to regular TrekCore readers, one interesting thing visible here is the strange honeycomb-like feature showcased in the second photo. This is the same structural design of a set piece shown in our exclusive photos of the ‘crashed starship’ set from back in August:
Which means we may have finally gotten confirmation that the two sets are definitely related. Additionally, though most of the equipment shown are portable greenscreens — with the green removed — there does appear to be several transmitter-like equipment connected to the honeycomb structure: perhaps some sort of forcefield generators or other high-energy technology?
We’ll find out next July.
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Our Trek Comics editor Patrick Hayes is back with a review of this month’s issue of IDW Publishing’s Star Trek comic series: the final chapter of “Deity,” the next adventure in the new Five Year Mission.
As usual, this release is available in two different covers, both spectacular in their own right.
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The first cover of this month’s pair begins with the regular cover by Tony Shasteen. This is a terrific cover featuring images of Kirk and Spock above the Drowning City, home to the natives of Banks-216.Kirk and Spock look just like their film counterparts and the city is quite spectacular. It resembles the Sagrada Familia, the giant Bascilica designed by Antoni Gaudi. The coloring is also really good; it’s been a while since a calm cityscape has been on the front of Trek comic.
The subscription photo cover features Lieutenant Uhura turning to seek clarification on an instruction that’s been given. It features Zoe Saldana at her station with a nice white and violet color scheme on the setting. This character doesn’t do much in this issue, but who am I to slight a cover featuring Saldana?
Sulu starts off the tale with a recap of Issue #1 in his supplemental log: the Lieutenant lead a team to this world where their observation blind failed and they’ve been captured by the locals. They’re marched though large fields of wheat to the Drowning City. Sulu tries to speak to the native leading them, but is told to be silent until before the Aerie.
High above the planet, the Enterprise is face to face with a ship shaped like a crescent that dwarfs them. Chekov reports that they’re being scanned, while Spock adds that an energy transfer has been completed between the unknown ship and somewhere on the surface. The Prime Directive has been broken, now Kirk has to decide how much further he has to strain it to save his people.
This second and final chapter of “Deity,” by Mike Johnson, has a split story that showcases the risks involved with observing a new race. Sulu demonstrates the expected amount of courage and regret at what’s occurred and it was neat to see him in his first leadership position on an away mission. This will keep readers wondering how long it will be before he’s promoted to captain of his own ship; hopefully, it won’t take seven films.
The action on the Enterprise is the A-story of the issue, as Kirk has to make some tough choices. It was good to have Spock towing the Federation’s line before Kirk’s emotional considerations, but knowing who the captain is, the final say is never in doubt, making the action taken on Page 9 predictable.
It’s at this point that the story takes a turn, and not for the better. A new voice appears on Page 10 and changes the focus for the Enterprise’s crew. Within two pages Kirk is fielding opinions from his senior staff and they approach their problem from very different directions.
I was very surprised at Kirk’s reaction on Pages 14 and 15; this seemed well beyond Kirk’s established pattern of interference, but then I realized I’m thinking of pre-reboot Trek. This Captain Kirk is still evolving. There is a fantastic change in a group’s thinking on 16, but it’s never expanded on, nor is the location ever returned to. This is followed by an action on 17 that has a surprising result on 18. The final two pages wrap up the preceding 38 pages (if one were to include the previous issue) far too quickly.
There is much unresolved, with no mention of how it will be resolved, save a one panel explanation on 19. The final page of the issue addresses Sulu’s performance. I’m not concerned with Sulu, I know he’ll be fine. I’m more concerned with the natives on Banks-216. Additionally, the wonderful addition of new characters introduced in the previous issue have become silent and useless, serving only to represent crewmembers: characterization abandoned for a body count.
This story seems as if it were edited down from something larger and needs four to five pages to answer the unanswered at its close.
This is some of the best character work I’ve seen from Tony Shasteen, but those backgrounds are still looking like photo inserts. The first page shows super work on the Enterprise away team being marched off by the natives. Sulu and Scotty look terrific, which just the right amount of regret on the lead officer’s face.
The crew on board Starfleet’s flagship also look good: Spock displays nice looks of surprise and terseness for a Vulcan, Kirk just the right amount of displeasure at the decisions he’s weighing, and concern from Chekov at the peril they’re facing, though why he’s smiling at the bottom of 13 eludes me.
The aliens look great. I’m always pleased when alien creatures look bizarre, yet somehow familiar. The residents of Banks-216 certainly fall under this description. They could be simply dismissed as giant bird people, but there’s too much detail to allow for a such a simplistic definition. The work on their eyes is great, as is the decorations on their beaks and the piercing in their ears.
The close-up of one of the Aerie on Page 7 is great: I love the feather work around the throat, giving the character an aged look, and the expression on its face gives it quite a bit of gravitas. A nice twist in this species is that Shasteen gets to illustrate a detailed picture of one of their young. In drawing one of their children next to one of their elders makes this species more realistic, as one can see how they age.
However, the backgrounds are again the bugaboo of the visuals. The double-paged spread of Pages 2 and 3 is spectacular, but looks an awful lot like a picture dropped in and manipulated with slight additions. There are two tell-tale signs of this on Page 2 alone: the sky and the beach. The sky contains a photo of some clouds placed in. How can one tell? Look at the sparse linework in the top left corner over them to suggest they were drawn in, yet on Page 3 there’s no linework — it’s just the photo. Now I could be wrong, Shasteen might have painted those clouds in, but it doesn’t look like it.
Another example is the beach. When a photo is run through a computer sometimes shadows come out as dots or smudges because the machine can’t process the image flawlessly. There’s a pier that starts on Page 2 and runs on to 3. Just below where the base of the pier leaves the beach there are several dots and smears of shadows. They look more like a photographic after effect rather than an artistic contribution.
The interiors of the Enterprise are even worse, containing the blurry computer console backgrounds that have haunted this series for almost a year. The first two panels on Page 5 illustrate this, and I’m reviewing this book from a tablet — I can only imagine how imprecise this setting looks in a comic sized illustration.
These settings leave me shaking my head in wonder.
Davide Mastrolonardo’s contributions to this issue are excellent. The opening panel has a wonderful job done on the large wheat fields the characters are walking through, which highlights the bright colors on our heroes’ clothes and the native’s clothes and crests. The appearance of the Drowning City is also well done, colored in a very natural way.
The double-page splash that follows on 4 and 5 is outstanding with the coloring on the alien ship superb, as is its energy wake on the Enterprise. Added to this are the panel inserts of what’s occurring on board the Enterprise — cool blues for settings and white boarders around them make them stand out.
The best coloring is on Page 11 where this same color pattern is just perfection.
This was a revelation by Neil Uyetake this issue. In addition to dialogue and narration, there are two types of alien speech and they’re incredible.
One of the joys of reading a comic book is the lettering because a font is another way to suggest to a reader the alien-ness of a character and Uytake does double duty this month. I would love to revisit this world just to look at the natives’ speech. As for the second font, I won’t spoil whom it’s from, but it, too, is awesome. I hope this group is also revisited in a later issue.
There’s a transporter sound in this issue; it’s the only sound for it’s the only one the story requires. I have to add that I still believe that a crewmember’s log should be in a different font from the actual log as it’s a different form of communication.
On hand for the first stop on the thirteen-day BEYOND Middle East tour was the all-male panel of executive producer Jeffrey Chernov, co-writer Doug Jung, director Justin Lin, and cast members Chris Pine, Simon Pegg, Zachary Quinto, Idris Elba, Karl Urban, and Anton Yelchin.
There was no sign of John Cho or female leads Sofia Boutella and Zoe Saldana, the latter of whom spent the week in New York City (according to Saldana’s social media postings).
Photo courtesy of the Dubai Film & Television Commission.
Chernov launched the presentation by praising the city of Dubai and its aptness for Star Trek:
Dubai represents the future of what the frontier would be like in our film, and is an excellent place to shoot the movie as well as a special opportunity for all of us. This is not just the third of three movies, but has a new, refreshing twist, and Dubai’s great visuals really fit the story.
This sentiment was echoed by Captain Kirk actor Chris Pine, who likened his first-time visit to the ultra-modern city to a bit of time travel, and how the locals have welcomed the crew.
I love discovering new places and Dubai is such a stunning city – it looks like a future land! I am extremely happy to be here making this great film with Justin and the team, and so far my experiences have been wonderful, people have been gracious and welcoming.
Art is a wonderful equalizer and we can always count on art to remind us of our sameness.
Of course, co-writer Simon Pegg is no stranger to Dubai, who visited the area almost five years ago while filming Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol with Tom Cruise in 2010. The English actor commented on modernizing the Trek adventure with the traditional roots of the franchise:
This has to be a new ‘Star Trek.’ One of the reasons ‘Star Trek’ is so popular is it gives us a utopian idea of all of us living together. More and more filmmakers have the responsibility to show cultures in a full way.
‘Star Trek’ is the ultimate expression of bridging cultures; it imagined a universe where there was no conflict, and it has always been about bringing cultures together. It still offers that, which is why it is so beloved by people.
Idris Elba spoke a little more about his villain role, and what it’s like to play a character so different from himself:
Most actors will tell you that writers tend to really flesh out villains more because they just want to get stuff off their chest, and leading characters tend to take a safer line.
I enjoy the expressions you can take on in a villainous role because I’m such a nice guy in real life.
Finally, Jeffrey Chernov made the first public comments on that massive extras casting call from earlier this summer, confirming that over 200 people have made the cut to appear on-camera while STAR TREK BEYOND films in Dubai… and that another 600 people will be involved behind the scenes on the film while production is in town, including those participating in the local internship program we reported on in August.
Photo courtesy of the Dubai Film & Television Commission.
Once BEYOND wraps it’s thirteen-day stint in Dubai, that’s the expected end of principle photography on the film, a coda to the three months spent Vancouver (which Zachary Quinto compared to a stint “at summer camp”). The Dubai production is expected to film at both Dubai Studio City’s soundstages and at several indoor and outdoor locations around the city before concluding the week of October 11.
We’ll continue to watch as things progress overseas over the next few weeks.
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There’s been a lot of speculation as to the attendees at next summer’s 50th Anniversary Star Trek convention in Las Vegas, and while Creation Entertainment has released a preliminary guest list, there are still a host of Trek luminaries yet to comment on their participation.
Today, however, one of the biggest names in Star Trek announced that he’s leaning towards attending his first convention in decades.
The 50th is pretty important. A lot of folks have asked me to appear in Vegas. I think I’m going to end my 20 year absence, and attend.
This would be a huge get for Creation and an extremely rare treat for the Las Vegas convention attendees, as Berman — the heir to Gene Roddenberry’s stewardship over the Star Trek franchise — has rarely made public appearances at fan settings.
His participation would be such a wonderful surprise for those making the trip to the Rio hotel next August, and of all the years to come out of Trek retirement, this may be the perfect timing to reconnect with the fan community.
Now we just need somebody to give Creation Jolene Blalock’s phone number.
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As we’ve been reporting for the past year, the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum team is working hard to plan and execute a world-class preservation of the classic USS Enterprise filming model, used in the original Star Trek series, in time for the Museum’s 2016 renovation and expansion.
While they’ve captured new X-Ray imaging of the model’s interior, and have had a panel of experts visit to work out a long-term game plan for the conservation team’s workflow over the next several months, the Museum team is now expanding their project to include fan support, launching a call for vintage photography of the model going back to the first public unveiling in 1972.
Smithsonian Enlists Star Trek Fans to Help
Send USS Enterprise Back in Time
National Air and Space Museum Seeks Photos
to Document Artifact’s History
The National Air and Space Museum is asking Star Trek fans to search their memory banks for firsthand, pre-1976 images or film of the original studio model of the USS Enterprise. Conservators are working to restore the ship to its appearance from August 1967, and they will use the primary-source photos as reference materials for the project. Hailing frequencies are open to the public at StarshipEnterprise@si.edu.
The 11-foot-long studio model used in all 79 episodes is currently in the Emil Buehler Conservation Laboratory at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va. It will go on display in the museum’s Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall in 2016. The public can watch for updates on the museum’s social channels and join in the conversation by using #MilestonesofFlight.
The Enterprise model has undergone eight major modifications since it was built in 1964, both during and after production of the series. The current restoration will restore the ship to its August 1967 appearance, during and after the production of the episode “The Trouble with Tribbles,” which is the last time the Enterprise was altered throughout the original Star Trek.
Fans’ first contact was in April 1972, when the model appeared at Golden West College in Huntington Beach, Calif., during Space Week, a 10-day gathering of space-related activities attended by more than 50,000 people. In 1974 and ’75 the ship was displayed in the Smithsonian’s Arts & Industries Building in Washington, D.C., while the National Air and Space Museum’s new home on Independence Avenue was under construction.
Firsthand, original images or film of the ship under construction, during filming or on public display at any time before 1976 are particularly useful.
Screen captures from the television series, or existing images and clips available online, are not needed.
The National Air and Space Museum building on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., is located at Sixth Street and Independence Avenue S.W. The museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is located in Chantilly, Va., near Washington Dulles International Airport. Attendance at both buildings combined exceeded 8 million in 2014, making it the most visited museum in America.
The museum’s research, collections, exhibitions and programs focus on aeronautical history, space history and planetary studies. Both buildings are open from 10 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. every day (closed Dec. 25).
As you may remember, we were lucky enough to go behind the scenes at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum earlier this year, and spend some up-close-and-personal time with the Enterprise model and the conservation team.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CA8D5lK8guE
If you’re able to provide any personal video or photography of the classic starship model, please reach out to the Museum team via the email address above — or post in the comments below!
Photo by Rachael Edgar on Twitter.
TREKCORE: The two of you have worked together on several previous Star Trek non-fiction releases, perhaps most notably the wonderfully in-depth 
