Fans at last weekend’s Grand Slam Convention in Burbank witnessed a moment in Star Trek history: the two men who portray “Spock” in the upcoming “Star Trek” feature film at a convention for the first time.

Zachary Quinto started his first-ever fan gathering by asking the audience, “What do I do? Seriously...” Unaccustomed to the on-stage protocol, he quickly seemed right at ease before the appreciative crowd, answering questions about his role on Heroes and even a few about his latest movie role.

Highlights included his recounting of doing numerous press appearances to promote the launch of Heroes, and taking every opportunity to mention that he would be very interested in the Spock role. That did the trick, catching the attention of the film’s producers and casting director. A fan asked Quinto to give the assembled throng just “a taste” of Spock, a single line reading in character. The actor’s reply was a drawn out, “Ummmmmm...., no!” Sporting a pair of heavy dark-rimmed glasses, Quinto declined repeated requests to remove them, choosing not to reveal his still-regrowing eyebrows, a casualty of the Vulcan makeup process. When a fan asked about sequels, Quinto quipped that he’s signed up “for 17 films” but then revealed a more reasonable and customary tally of three (options for two more films if the first one does well).

At the end of Quinto’s allotted time, Leonard Nimoy stepped up to the stage unannounced, to thunderous applause. The original Spock is always charming on stage, and though I’ve seen him dozens of times at gatherings like these, this time he seemed more excited and enthusiastic than ever.

Nimoy recounted attending a recent political event at which Presidential candidate Barack Obama greeted him with the Vulcan salute. To the well-known story about being offered the opportunity to direct “Star Trek Generations” he added that one of the reasons he declined was that he refused to kill Kirk. “If I had directed, Kirk would not have died!” When asked about the “shoestring budget” for his first film appearance (“Zombies of the Stratosphere” 1952) he replied, “We didn’t even HAVE shoestrings!”

Regarding the new film, Nimoy said that in 1998 we had “Star Trek: Insurrection” and next year “We’ll have Star Trek’s Resurrection!” He was ebullient about the quality of the script and his high regard for the producers and director J.J. Abrams, and is clearly expecting that fans will love the film.

Quinto returned to the stage and the two answered fan questions and bantered like old friends. It’s clear that there’s a mutual admiration and respect between these two, along with genuine affection. Nimoy said he felt emotional about playing Spock for what is probably the last time, but that he felt very comfortable that the role was now in extremely capable hands. As a symbolic gesture, Nimoy presented Quinto with his “#1 Vulcan” t-shirt that we’ve seen him wear at several conventions, effectively passing the mantle of Spock to the young actor. It was a poignant closing to their appearance.

---

Fox Fielding New Sci-Fi Fare

The brilliant Ronald D. Moore (writer/producer for TNG and DS9, not to mention the outstanding Battlestar Galactica) has landed a new sci-fi series at Fox entitled “Virtuality”. According to Hollywood Reporter, the series takes place during the 10-year mission of Earth’s first starship, the Phaeton. To keep the 12 crew members amused during the voyage, the ship is equipped with “advanced virtual reality modules,” which (of course) go awry. The two-hour “backdoor pilot” is slated to begin production in July.

Also on the Fox greenlight board is another pilot that may be of interest to Star Trek fans: A comedy that chronicles the daily routine of the crew of an intergalactic spaceship. The title? “Boldly Going Nowhere”. Argh. Anyone else remember “Homeboys in Outer Space”?

---

Star Trek Remastered

The Star Trek Remastered episode this weekend is "The Conscience of the King" - production number lucky 13, which aired in the middle of the first season on December 8, 1966. The remastered version of the episode was originally shown in September 2007.

Written by Barry Trivers, who penned single episodes of more than two dozen television series and three dozen films in a career that dated back to 1931. This was his only Star Trek episode. His range of genres was broad: the two series he wrote for just prior to this assignment were the WWII drama “Combat” and the frontier drama “Daniel Boone”, and after Trek he wrote an episode of the jungle drama “Tarzan”.

Director Gerd Oswald was also responsible for first-season episode “The Alternative Factor”. His resume includes the original “Outer Limits” TV series and the notable noir “A Kiss Before Dying” (1956) featuring Jeffrey Hunter.

This is clearly an episode early in the series’ development, evident by two nice character moments: Spock gives a very intense speech explaining the history of Kodos during a hallway walk with McCoy, and Uhura sings a ballad for the ill-fated Riley as she’s surrounded by attentive crewmembers in the Rec Room.

This episode is available on the Season 1 Remastered DVD set, so we know that, aside from the pristine picture and gloriously restored color, there are only a few new enhanced visual effects shots of the Enterprise orbiting Planet Q and the Benicia Colony.

---

Remastered Trivia

Congratulations to dedicated fan Barbara Hamper from San Antonio, Texas! Barbara was the first to write me with the titles of the four episodes that contained the word “incident” (from my April 4 column). Perhaps what stumped people was the inclusion of two episodes from the little-seen and underappreciated Animated Series. They are:

The Enterprise Incident (TOS)
The Andorian Incident (ENT)
The Terratin Incident (ANI)
The Counter-Clock Incident (ANI)

I had the pleasure of meeting Barbara on the opening weekend of Star Trek The Tour. She had traveled all the way from Texas just for the event!

---

Star Trek Family Birthday

You can catch him on the remastered Star Trek episodes, or hear him on Howard Stern’s satellite radio show, but whatever you do, don’t forget to wish George Takei a very happy birthday on April 20th!

Click here to add your comments in the Roddenberry Forum

Site Search Transmitter Newsletter