Review: The Fifty Year Mission: The First 25 Years by Edward Gross & Mark Altman

Ever since William Shatner committed his memories about working on Star Trek to print, it seems like there have been a lot of books pulling back the curtain on what went on behind the scenes of the original series. And if you were to take the time to put together all those various accounts of what went into creating Star Trek, whether it be from the technical, creative or personal side, you’d probably get a fairly good idea of how the original series came to be on our screens.

But if you don’t have that much time or shelf space, you could simply pick up Edward Gross and Mark Altman’s new book The Fifty Year Mission, The First 25 Years: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral Historyof Star Trek. Weighing it at close to 600 pages, this first installment of two this year from Gross and Altman covers the history of the original crew of the starship Enterprise, from the initial vision by Gene Roddenberry to the cast literally signing off at the end of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

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Comic Book Friday: Star Trek, Volume 11

Star Trek Volume 11 by Mike Johnson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

IDW’s re-imagining of certain episodes of the original (and still the best) Star Trek has been hit or miss. This latest installment, collecting issues 46 – 49 of the on-going series is no exception.

The collection starts off with a re-telling of one of my favorite installments from classic Trek, “The Tholian Web.” As with other re-imaginings of episodes from the original series, I find myself torn between wanting the story to be as faithful as possible to the original story and somehow offer me something new to make it feel like it’s worth my time to spend reading this version of the story. Unfortunately, this telling of the Tholian storyline doesn’t really succeed on either level. The new twist is that in the re-imagined universe, the NCC-1701 has the ability to separate the saucer section. So the Enterprise is in two pieces, trapped in the titular web, which I suppose should double the drama. Instead it merely isolates the characters who need to be working together to get out of this region of space.

All Good Things Star Trek Podcast, Episode 48: Star Trek Kids

It’s been a while since I posted the latest installment of the All Good Things Star Trek Podcast.   Part of it is a hiatus we took due to real-world stuff interfering with recording.

This week, Barry and I look at kids on Star Trek.  This shouldn’t be confused with one of our earliest podcasts when we examined having kids on the Next Generation Enterprise.  This time out we look at some of kids and teens who graced our screens over the nearly fifty year run of Star Trek.   Of course, we’ll get into Wesley Crusher (with shout-outs to Wil Wheaton, in case he wants to either comment on the show or maybe be a celebrity interview on a future installment), Alexander, Jake Sisko, Nog, Naomi Wildman and the Borg kids.

So if you want to get back in touch with your inner child, give this week’s installment a listen.  You can listen and/or download it HERE or try listening directly below.

http://www.podbean.com/media/player/7k53b-582eaf

All Good Things Star Trek Podcast, Episode 46: The Wrath of Cons

On the latest installment of of All Good Things, Barry sits back and lets Michael rant about the recently completed comic book mini-series Star Trek/Planet of the Apes: The Primate Directive.

We also have some news and commentary about the upcoming Trek holiday ornaments.

Then we jump into a conversation about conventions.  We share memories of going to cons, celebrities we’ve met and the dealer rooms we’ve browsed.

So why not pull up a comfortable chair and enjoy our latest episode?  You can download the episode HERE or listen via the player below.

http://www.podbean.com/media/player/furvx-57728d

All Good Things: A Star Trek Podcast, Episode 44: Medical Ethics

This week, Barry and I celebrate our podcast’s first birthday wishing we could have a nice slice of cellular pep-tide cake.  After we discuss this week’s news, we delve into our main topic — medical ethics in Star Trek.

Star Trek has predicated a lot of technological advances and while I still wish they’d come up with a hypospray for getting shots, there are some interesting questions raised by all five series about medicine.

You can listen to the installment below or download it HERE.

http://www.podbean.com/media/player/ivgmp-572042

All Good Things: A Star Trek Podcast, Episode 44: William T. Riker: The Man, the Myth, the Legend

The only thing that confuses Commander Riker is why it took us so long to do an episode focused on him.

“Mr Worf, fire.”

It’s been twenty-five years since those words were first spoken and the music swelled to a conclusion, ending the third season of Next Generation.   

In celebration of that pivotal moment in Trek history, Barry and I turn the character spotlight onto Commander William T. Riker, also known as Number One, from Star Trek: The Next Generation.  What makes Riker tick and just what makes him such a memorable part of the Trek universe?  Also, we may delve into the pattern that begins to emerge for Riker-centered stories with the poor guy having to question his sanity a lot.

We also discuss the passing of the late, great James Horner and his contribution to the musical landscape of Trek (and other movies).

As always, you can tune in below or follow the link to download HERE.  You can also subscribe in iTunes or via your favorite podcast feeder so you’ll never miss an episode!

http://www.podbean.com/media/player/n53ec-56fb0d

All Good Things: A Star Trek Podcast, Episode 43: Questions and Answers

If you listen to this week’s installment, this picture will make a LOT more sense.

On this week’s installment of the All Good Things podcast, Barry and I put each other on the spot. We each ask the other three questions — from the sublime to the absurd — and then try to provide a reasonable, intelligent discord on the subject at hand (even Barry’s last question, which I will leave for you to listen and find out just how wacky and fun it is).

We also discuss news of the week and avoid a long rant by me on the Star Trek/Planet of the Apes crossover (keep tuning in!  It’s coming).

You can tune in below (assuming the embed code works like it says it will) or you can listen and/or download it HERE.

http://www.podbean.com/media/player/h3w78-56d1be