The blade is made from laser-etched stainless steel, and the body is made from a durable zinc-alloy chromium plate. Mostly, it just looks awesome and you know it will impress your friends.
It’s available at ThinkGeek for $24.99.
http://www.slipperybrick.com/2010/09/star-trek-enterprise-pizza-wheel/
Nichelle Nichols is a singer, dancer, actress and activist, but she's best known “Star Trek,” as the original Lt. Uhura, the fictional USS Enterprise's chief communications officer and the first African-American woman featured in a major TV show.
But her influence on space travel isn't confined to fictional galaxies. Nichols helped NASA recruit the first female and minority astronauts into the space shuttle program, including Sally Ride, the first American female astronaut. She serves on the board of governors of the National Space Society and on the advisory board of the International Space Camp.
In the 1970s, you worked with NASA to recruit women and minorities into the space shuttle program. What was that process like?
NASA didn't quite understand why women and people of color weren't responding to their recruitment call. I didn't understand why they didn't understand: that they had put out there how many recruitment drives they had conducted before that one and it had always remained an all-white, all-male astronaut corps. I promised NASA that I would bring in so many qualified women and people of color that they wouldn't know who to choose. I went to universities with strong science and engineering programs, I went to the Black Engineers' convention and they opened their arms. Women of all colors, African-Americans, Asians and our Spanish community were very skeptical. By the time I finished speaking with them, I brought in more than 3,800 qualified people of color and women to apply. Now, an integrated Space Shuttle corps is de rigueur .We all know about the defense and intelligence industries' explosive growth in recent years -- but sentry work outsourced to space aliens? That's a new phenomenon. Nevertheless, there they were on Saturday night, staking out sidewalks in Rosslyn: humanoids (or so it seemed) wearing red T-shirts distinctly marked "Klingon Security."
The lookouts were holding placards that pointed the way to the Rosslyn Spectrum, which was hosting a rare interplanetary cultural extravaganza: Washington Shakespeare Company's "By Any Other Name: An Evening of Shakespeare in Klingon," featuring "Star Trek" alumnus George Takei.
Who could question the need for the extra sentinels outside the venue? In announcing the one-night-only benefit -- built around the language invented for the Klingon figures in the "Star Trek" franchise -- Washington Shakespeare essentially cried havoc and let slip the dogs of media frenzy. The event was covered by news outlets in Canada, England, India and Indonesia, as well as around the United States. Demand was such that, according to Executive Director Warren Arbogast, the company began selling less desirable seats it had originally intended to seal off.
"Tonight, all the galaxy's a stage!" proclaimed company member Joe Palka, the evening's master of ceremonies, kicking off the proceedings on a dais near a large red Klingon flag. There were brief remarks by Arbogast and Washington Shakespeare Artistic Director Christopher Henley -- each of whom appeared in mild shock over the attention their experiment had received. Arbogast displayed the rumpled restaurant napkin on which he and Henley had scribbled their original ideas for the event.
The introductions paved the way for an amusing autobiographical talk by Washington Shakespeare board president Marc Okrand, who just happens to be the linguist recruited by Paramount Studios in the 1980s to invent the Klingon tongue. The bespectacled academic-turned-sci-fi-luminary gave a wry rundown of the syntax and exotic sound structure he'd concocted for the language. ("There's no "K" in Klingon, and that's that!" he insisted, illustrating the raspy, back-of-the-throat "kh"-type consonants he'd woven into the lingo instead). He good-humoredly recalled how various "Star Trek" actors and directors had inadvertently mauled his concepts over the years, forcing him to invent all sorts of baroque grammatical rules and double meanings for Klingon, a tongue he formalized in 1985's "Klingon Dictionary." (Later updated, it is now, of course, available in Kindle format.)
The evening really shifted into gear with the performances -- in Klingon and English -- of the Laertes-Hamlet duel scene from Shakespeare's most celebrated tragedy, as well as a passage of Beatrice-Benedick banter from "Much Ado About Nothing." (Those two works by the Bard have been translated in their entirety by the Klingon Language Institute, a Pennsylvania-based organization.) Four thuggish-looking Klingons, sporting gnarled foreheads and robed regalia and clutching spears and scimitars, looked on as the two "Hamlet" renditions were performed side by side -- a minute or two of the grating, guttural Klingon version, followed by a minute or two of the English one.
Riffing on the conceit that the Bard originally composed in Klingon ("You have not experienced Shakespeare until you have read him in the original Klingon," a character famously pronounced in the film "Star Trek VI"), actors from the extraterrestrial version periodically broke character to tell the English-language actors that the transliterations were inaccurate. The four berobed Klingons pounded their spears now and then and roared softly in outrage -- or maybe enthusiasm. It was hard to tell.
Henley and actor Jay Hardee glided gracefully through the "Much Ado" material, followed by Okrand and Rachel Wyman barking out the exchange in Klingon. Finally, Takei stalked onstage and delivered a dignified but rather stiff and emotionless interpretation of Cassius's Act 1, Scene 2 speech to Brutus in "Julius Caesar." ("Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world/like a Colossus . . . .") Rounding out the proceedings was a question-and-answer session fielded by Henley, Okrand and Takei.
Thespians and Trekkies who missed the event need not despair: Arbogast announced that Washington Shakespeare's Bard-in-Klingon gamble will likely be featured in an upcoming BBC documentary on language. To that end, "By Any Other Name" (minus Takei) may be remounted next February for a camera crew.
What's with the insatiable appetite for classics in a concocted parlance? The fault, dear reader, is not in our stars, but in ourselves: that we are suckers for a gimmick.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/26/AR2010092602805.html
J.J. Abrams may not make The Wrath of Khan Part II for the Star Trek sequel, but the original Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan was part of the inspiration for Star Trek XI.
Although one element of The Wrath of Khan particularly caught Abrams’ attention, Abrams can’t really think of anything else in the Trek universe that specifically inspires him when it comes to planning the sequel to 2009′s Star Trek XI.
This makes it a bit tougher when it comes to making a second movie. “Which is, on the one hand, a great opportunity, on the other hand, it’s the greatest challenge,” said Abrams. “Where do you go? What do you focus on? But I’m incredibly excited about the prospects.”
http://www.trektoday.com/content/2010/09/abrams-on-inspiration-for-star-trek/
Today we stumbled upon a great reason to bid on and buy your favorite Star Trek actor’s autograph and photo…to help cure breast cancer via Project Teddy Bear.
Project Teddy Bear was started by Lisa Spodak in 2004 as a way to raise money for her third Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. On her website she says, “I’d wait outside theaters, talk shows or other events for celebrities and explain to them that I was doing the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer and trying to raise $10,000. I’d ask them to sign a little tag that said “Thank You for Your Donation to The Avon Walk for Breast Cancer” and to pose for a picture with the stuffed Avon Breast Cancer Crusade bear. Then I’d post all the pictures on the web and conduct an online auction. Voila! The almost $4,000 that I raised with Project Teddy Bear helped me raise a total of $15,000!” Read the full story here. Since then she has risen over $150,000 for The Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, and is still going.
Currently an auction featuring Wil Wheaton (TNG) is up and running on eBay until Oct 06, 2010 19:21:17 PDT and more Star Trek alumnae that are still to come include; Scott Bakula (Enterprise), Jonathan Frakes (TNG), Ethan Philips (Voyager), Armin Shimerman (DS9), Brent Spiner, Dean Stockwell (Quantum Leap & Enterprise).
If you just so happen to like other celebrities other than Star Trek, Lisa has a ton more to choose from (seriously…a ton…you should see the whole list). The other celebrities include; Matthew Broderick, William B. Davis, Rosario Dawson, Micky Dolenz, Sean Patrick Flanery, Mick Fleetwood, Cuba Gooding Jr., Val Kilmer, Rue McClanahan, Jason Momoa, Brittany Murphy, Kathy Najimy, Corin Nemec, Adrian Pasdar, and Jewel Staite.
See all the Live and UpcomingStar Trek Deep Space Nine returns as the setting for an upcoming browser-based game. Along with another yet unannounced game, German developer Keen Studios has a new Facebook title focusing on the classic Star Trek universe slated for release in the summer of 2011. Little is known about the title at this point, other than its name and projected launch date.
Star Trek production alum Michael Okuda, the man responsible for the design of the space station, and one of the key designers of the Next Generation and it’s sister series is working as a consultant with the game studio to make sure the game has an authentic to the Tv universe feel. His wife, Denise Okuda, who was also a scene designer and video editor on the TV shows will contribute as well.
I’m not sure what sort of gameplay to expect here, but it’s nice to see such an interesting setting within the Star Trek universe getting some attention outside Cryptic’s Star Trek Online universe. With the movies now residing in a parallel timeline it seems the only source of new adventures with these classic settings might be online.
http://news.filefront.com/new-star-trek-game-announced-for-summer-2011-star-trek-infinite-space/Actor Karl Urban says he’s looking forward to reprising his role as Dr. Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy in the next installment of “Star Trek.” Urban, who’s currently promoting his upcoming action film “Red,” said that in particular, he enjoyed working himself into a state of constant consternation during the first film.
“Of cantankerousness?” he asked rhetorically of Bones’ cranky disposition. “It’s fun actually, a lot of fun.”
Urban has appeared in some of the biggest franchises of the last decade, including the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy and the second film in the saga of Jason Bourne, “The Bourne Supremacy.” He said that he is confident that a follow-up will maintain a similar focus on characters rather than sci-fi spectacle. “I have no doubt that we will be able to continue to strengthen and deepen those relationships,” he said. “To me that was always the most interesting thing about ‘Star Trek,’ is that it was character-driven. It’s a wonderful, smart thing that J.J. [Abrams] and Roberto [Orci] and Alex [Kurtzman] have done, to maintain that.”
J.J. Abrams’ “Star Trek” was itself a sort of risky proposition for Paramount Pictures, who more or less exhausted the existing universe’s big-screen prospects by the time 2002’s “Star Trek: Nemesis” arrived in theaters. Abrams’ version not only rebooted the series’ mythology, but reintroduced the core ensemble to audiences in a way that appealed both to longtime fans and newcomers. Urban said he looks forward to further exploring his character within this developing universe of this new “Star Trek” franchise.
“I think there’s such a wonderful, rich tapestry of characters and territory to explore,” Urban observed. “The great thing is that we’ve got a bunch of Einsteins working on it –- you know, J.J. and Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman that are really sharp. But I’m really looking forward to seeing where we take the next story.”
http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2010/09/30/karl-urban-talks-star-trek-2/
