Several members of the Star Trek family have big news to report this week.

Patrick Stewart has been nominated for a Tony Award (Broadway's highest honor) in the Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play for his role as the title character in "Macbeth". His costar Kate Fleetwood was recognized in the Leading Actress category. The play received six noms overall, including Best Revival of a Play. This production came to New York after a very successful run on London's West End.

The Tony Awards will be presented in a telecast on June 15, live on CBS from Radio City Music Hall. Stewart's friend and fellow TNG alum Whoopi Goldberg will host the event.

Patrick appeared with Whoopi (a Tony winner herself) on "The View" this past week. Click here to see if ABC posted a clip from his appearance.

Trivia question: Which other regular cast members from any of the Star Trek series have been nominated for a Tony Award?

Think you know? Send your answer to mwade@roddenberry.com

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William Shatner has a new autobiography out this week, titled "Up Till Now" which is available at Amazon. Covering his more than sixty years as an actor, the always-entertaining Mr. Shatner has always been unafraid of having fun at his own expense. The audiobook excerpt (read by The Man himself) should entice you to click "BUY BOOK" immediately!

Once I've had a chance to read it (and most likely listen to the audiobook as well) I'll pass along my comments... but based on all his other books (Yes, I've read them all. Haven't you?) my expectations are very high!

The ever-present Shatner has been making the rounds of the talk shows to promote this latest endeavor (he really is the hardest working man in show business), so keep an eye out for him. You can hear a podcast of his May 8 phone-in on the Adam Carolla show.

 

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We haven't seen their work on the screen, but they're still welcome new members of the Star Trek family: movie screenwriters Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci and director J.J. Abrams have another project on their hands. Their new series "Fringe" is on the Fox primetime schedule for this fall. K&O & Abrams scripted, and are executive producers with Bryan Burk, Robert M. Williams Jr. and Alex Graves (who directed the pilot). Look for this genre offering to premiere with a two-hour movie on August 26th!

There's so much alumni news, the rest will have to wait until my column on Tuesday!

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Star Trek Remastered

Mugato fans - rejoice! This weekend's Star Trek Remastered episode is "A Private Little War". Production number 45, this episode aired February 2, 1968 in the series' second season.

The teleplay was written by Gene Roddenberry, with the story credited to Jud Crucis. You'll never guess who directed this one: Would you believe... Marc Daniels?

Writer Don Ingalls, who also wrote "The Alternative Factor", chose the pseudonym "Jud Crucis" after his story was extensively rewritten. Earlier in his career he wrote and produced several episodes of "Have Gun, Will Travel" (for which Gene Roddenberry wrote several scripts). Like Roddenberry, before becoming a writer, Ingalls was an officer in the Los Angeles Police Department.

A very talky episode, with some of the worst wigs ever seen in the history of television. I guess they spent all their fur money on the Mugato. The episode credits that ape-like creature as "The Gumato" which was the name in the script. However, DeForest Kelley kept mispronouncing it as "Mugato" - so that's how it was heard in the episode.

McCoy has a line which belies his normally keen medical prowess. Briefing Kirk on Spock's prognosis after being shot, the good Doctor says, "He'll live or die now, Jim. I don't know which." Huh?

A notable scene is the "debate" on the bridge between Kirk, Scotty, Uhura and Chekov discussing the development of weapons on this and other planets. It was surprising to see Uhura and Chekov - typically relegated to lines like "Hailing frequencies open" - chiming in with real information about the topic at hand, and engaging in the conversation. That is, until Kirk shuts them down.

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Remastered Trivia

Superfan and trivia expert Barbara Hamper from San Antonio, Texas is putting the rest of Trek-fandom to shame.

She was first to correctly identify the couple walking on the Starbase 11 "mall" in the night-time shot (earlier column) as Michael and Denise Okuda! One of the perks of overseeing the production of the new Remastered episodes is that you might get a chance to sneak yourself into a scene... Excellent sleuthing, Barbara! 

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