Review – Star Trek: Aurora, Part 1
August 24th, 2009
I’ve been meaning to watch the available portions of Star Trek: Aurora for quite some time now. I stumbled upon it at least a year ago and bookmarked it but it wasn’t until today that I watched the first installment. I was blown away. I knew from the still images available on the website that the computer generated animation appeared incredible. I had no idea it would look even better in motion.
Review: Starship Farragut, “Power Source” Act I
August 23rd, 2009
It took almost a month but I finally sat down and watched the first act of the first episode of Starship Farragut: The Animated Episodes, titled “Power Source.” I wrote about the series on July 28th in a post about fan films/fan series in general, explaining that I didn’t have much experience with fan films, but expressing interest in watching Starship Farragut: The Animated Episodes and Star Trek: Aurora, a CG-animated project.
Some of the comments in response to my post rightly suggested that using the term “fan” implies that such productions are amateurish, when in fact many are incredibly professional and involve — in the case of some Star Trek projects — actors and writers from various television incarnations. Still, the fact remains that even the best fan films are still produced by fans, so until someone comes up with a better term I think we’re stuck with fan film, fan production or fan series. But enough about that. On to the review.
Rant: Pocket Books & Star Trek
July 14th, 2009
I’ve been reading Star Trek novels published by Pocket Books since I was in the second grade. I’ve consumed hundreds of novels, a few anthologies and the occasional series companion. Lately, though, I’ve found myself less and less interested in the stories being put out by Pocket Books. The question I’m forced to ask is whether the problem is with the publisher and its authors or with me. Has the Star Trek novel line become stagnant or have I simply outgrown it?
Interested in IDW’s Star Trek (2009) Comics?
June 29th, 2009
Star Trek (2009) just finished its eighth weekend at the box office (and has now made $246.3 million domestically). A sequel has been ordered but won’t hit theaters until Summer 2011 at the earliest. But that doesn’t mean the fun has to stop. There are already tons of memorabilia and collectibles relating to the movie available. A novelization, action figures, trading cards, toys, a soundtrack and more.
Plus, IDW Publishing has a pair of comic miniseries planned that will continue the story of the movie. Are you interested?
Star Trek (2009) This Close to $100 Million
May 14th, 2009
According to Box Office Mojo, Star Trek (2009) has made $99,002,539 domestically as of yesterday (Wednesday, May 13th). That makes it the seventh highest-grossing film of the year thus far. It is also now the second highest-grossing Star Trek film unadjusted for inflation. With an additional $42.7 million internationally the movie has made a grand total of $141,769,261.
Friday, May 15th, 2009 Update
Star Trek (2009) has now made $104,610,837 domestically through Thursday, May 14th according to updated figures from Box Office Mojo.
Another Review of Star Trek (2009)
May 10th, 2009
Over the past nine months, I’ve been periodically writing in about Star Trek as part of my increased duties in the relaunch of this website. In a way, this could not be more strange. Lower Decks is a direct descendent of the original Section31.com, an effort to keep an old family together that quickly realized it would have to embrace a wider audience in order to survive. In fact, except for the reviews of the new Star Trek movie and the half dozen columns I’ve done about the celebrated franchise, you’d hardly know it to come upon this site blind today that it was once so one-dimensional. And in a strange way, what’s true for Lower Decks is true for the new Star Trek film.
Review of Star Trek (2009)
May 8th, 2009
Star Trek (2009) was the perfect summer blockbuster. If you don’t like summer blockbusters perhaps this isn’t the movie for you. If you don’t like to mix your summer blockbusters with your Star Trek, well, I’ll address that later. The mix of action and humor in the movie was nearly flawless, the acting excellent and the plot, while not perfect, fit the bill. Plus, Karl Urban did a splendid job as Dr. McCoy, so there’s that.
There were some plot holes and I have some complaints but I was pleasantly surprised by the movie and I enjoyed every minute of it. And I don’t think it ruins or negates or impacts at all any of the other movies or television shows. It just adds to the franchise in its own way.
Discuss Star Trek (2009)
May 7th, 2009
Lower Decks began, way back in 1997, as a website dedicated to the Star Trek franchise (read more about our history here). Later this evening, the eleventh feature film based on Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry, opens in theaters across the United States. Star Trek (2009) stars, among others, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Leonard Nimoy (who played Spock in the original television series) and is directed by J.J. Abrams, the man behind both Lost and Fringe.
Expectations are high for Star Trek (2009). Can it revive a forty-year-old franchise that hasn’t had a movie in theaters since 2003 (Nemesis) or a television show on the air since 2005 (Star Trek: Enterprise)? With its youthful cast of primarily unknown actors and actresses how will hardcore fans of Star Trek react?
Judging from this thread at the Observation Lounge there will be a lot of fans seeing the movie tonight and good word of mouth could help power the movie through the weekend. Once you’ve seen Star Trek (2009) please visit the Observation Lounge and/or hit the comments below to post your thoughts and reactions.
One Month to Star Trek (2009)
April 8th, 2009
On May 8th, 2009 Star Trek (2009) opens in theaters. That’s only a month away. Judging from what I’ve been reading online a lot of people are looking forward to this new take on the Star Trek franchise. I’m not one of them. Oh, I’ll be seeing it on the big screen. I might even go out of my way to see it opening night. But I’m not excited for it. As has been the case with every Star Trek movie I’ve remained as unspoiled as possible. I’ve seen the pictures and watched the trailers. That’s it.
And frankly, I’m not sure what to think.
Star Trek (2009) Sequel Ordered
March 31st, 2009
More than a month before Star Trek (2009) hits theaters, Paramount Pictures has already ordered a sequel, according to Variety.com. Returning will be producer J.J. Abrams (who also directed Star Trek (2009), writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman and co-producers Damon Lindelof (who will help write the sequel) and Bryan Burk. From the Variety.com article:
“There’s obviously a lot of hubris involved in signing on to write a sequel of a movie that hasn’t even come out yet,” said Lindelof, co-creator with Abrams of ABC’s “Lost” who produced the upcoming “Trek” but did not contribute to Orci and Kurtzman’s screenplay. “But we’re so excited about the first one that we wanted to proceed.”
As for potential storylines, Kurtzman stressed that the writing team will wait to take a cue from fan reaction about which direction to go.
“Obviously we discussed ideas, but we are waiting to see how audiences respond next month,” he said. “With a franchise rebirth, the first movie has to be about origin. But with a second, you have the opportunity to explore incredibly exciting things. We’ll be ambitious about what we’ll do.”
In the unlikely event that the new Star Trek movie is a flop, how embarrassing will it be for Paramount, Abrahams and all involved if the sequel winds up being scrapped?
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