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SciFi Diner Podcast Ep. 90 – Our Interview with Dr. Star Trek Himself, Larry Nemecek.
The SciFi Diner Podcast
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Tonight’s Diners: Scott & Miles
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On the menu tonight:
- Interview with Dr. Star Trek himself, Larry Nemecek
- Our Batman Trivia
- J.J. Abrams is Horrified about the Fringe move
- Big Bang Theory gets recognized at the Globes
- Sanctuary gets season 4
- Unique LOST Fan Film
- First look at the BBC Series Trailer Outcasts
- The New Spiderman goes Old School
- A Snowy Star Wars Trench Run you won’t want to miss
- Miles’ DVD Review: DC Showcase: Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam
- This Week In Star Trek: Don’t Miss PBS’s “Pioneers of Television” Featuring Star Trek & Gene Roddenberry Jan 18th and a Mulgrew Interview segment
- SciFi Five In Five: Larry Nemechek
Trivia:
Trivia Question: Which villains were original in the 1966 Batman TV series?
Choices: To hear the choices, you’ll have to listen to the first 15 minutes of the podcast.
The Prize: An autographed copy of The Essential Batman Encyclopedia
You will have until February 2nd to answer this question. Send your answer with your mailing address to scifidinerpodcast@gmail.com, call us at 18885084343, or DM us on Twitter at @scifidiner. Make sure you include your e-mail with all entries! Only one entry per person. The SciFi Diner is not responsible for any injuries occurring if you secretly decide to dress in a black cape and go out at night. No Code word.
Podcast Promos:
Leviathan Chronicles Podcast Special Edition Episodes
The Interview: Larry Nemecek
Sharing some common TNG crew history with ENTERPRISE’s John and Jolene |
Take a fondness for NASA’s pioneering “Right Stuff,” run it through a science-fiction and fandom filter with a big love of history, and toss in schooling and careers in news, theatre and entertainment—and that starts to explain the Larry Nemecek story.
From his local news perch, Larry’s annual “TNG” concordance guides caught the eye of Star Trek’s TV writers and Pocket Books all the way from Oklahoma, of all places—so much so that the ST: The Next Generation Companion became the first episode guide for modern Star Trek, twice updated, and a move to good ol’ Burbank seemed in order.
That’s when Trekland truly beckoned—and that’s where the reputation for both fan-cool and pro-savvy straight talk was born. Check it out yourself:
- …a noted Star Trek author, editor, archivist, consultant and producer.
- ~ Memory-Alpha.org
It’s all there: Not just articles, columns, collaborations and live events, but years of on-lot sourcing media or solo writing with the Original Trek Fact Files from the U.K., or the Japan DVD series … consulting work with the old startrek.com, or seven years creating, editing and leading Star Trek Communicator licensed magazine. Most fun are consulting gigs with the Star Trek: The Experience museum and rides … exhibits like the Star Trek World Tour, Star Trek: Federation Science, Star Trek: The Tour … and DVD bonus feature projects on and off camera. A story sale to Voyager that became the episode “Prophecy” with wife Janet was a hoot as well.
And that library: years of backstage images and over 500 archival audio interviews with Star Trek’s creative lights—it all needs airing, too. Most have never been transcribed, much less published—and the great Trekland family over the years has plenty to tell. Now there’s fan films and audio plays, too … reclaiming and reinventing the roots of fandom itself, once again.
On all his projects, Larry brings a wide-ranging but unique and down-to-earth perspective—including the sharing of tales as a guest and pundit at conventions across the country or the likes of Canada, Germany, England, France, Italy, Austria, and the Czech Republic, so far. Or even smoothing the way for guests, professionals and/or fans to find each other.
Oh, and don’t try the “get a life” line … Larry is a longtime docent at the State Historic Park ranch house of his hero and fellow Okie, Will Rogers, near Santa Monica, Calif. There’s also family—you know wife Janet and her Voyager heritage from the con circuit, too—plus travel, politics, big band and classic rock and country, keyboards … and, of course, FOOTBALL. Boomer Sooner!
The Main Course:
TV News:
J.J. Abrams Horrified About ‘Fringe’ Move To Fridays Thanks to Airlock Alpha
J.J. Abrams Horrified About ‘Fringe’ Move To Fridays However, the ‘Star Trek’ director says he has faith in Fox
Abrams showing how his head would explode if he understood the decision
Fans remain mostly aghast that Fox has moved cult favorite “Fringe” to Friday. But no one is more scared about this move than one of the show’s creators himself, J.J. Abrams.
“Oh, I’m horrified beyond belief,” Abrams recently told Collider. “But as a fan of the genre and the show, I’m hoping that fans will tune in.”
Fox said the move to Fridays was made so that there would be plenty of room for “American Idol” and its mid-season lineup.
“Fringe,” however, seems to have always had a rocky life, even behind the cameras. The pilot, for example, was filmed in Toronto, but production moved to New York for the first season. Once tax incentives ran out there, the show moved to Vancouver, British Columbia for its second and third seasons.
That all came amidst discussion that there was an end point being planned for the show, making some speculate that such an end could be coming sooner than many had thought.
Despite this latest bump in the road, Abrams insists that in no way does this illustrate any concern the network has over the future of the show, and Abrams remains
“What I am thrilled about is that the network has been incredibly supportive and, despite its move to Friday, they’ve been nothing but encouraging of the show,” Abrams said. “It’s still on the air in its third season, and it’s not easy to do that. It’s not easy to get to Season 3 of anything.
“They’ve allowed the show to become truly great, I think. The question is will audiences find a great show on Friday nights? I pray that they do.”
And, according to Abrams, the upcoming episodes are something that fans will certainly get a kick out of.
“I certainly can promise that it will be worth their while,” he said. “The episodes that are coming up are spectacular. I guess you can just be hopeful and say that if the work is good enough, it will find the audience.
“I think they’re doing better work now, even in the second half of Season 3, than they’ve ever done in the series. I’m just crossing my fingers that fans of the show show up.”
“Fringe” moves to Fridays beginning Jan. 21.
* Is Abrams on crack? This is FOX we’re talking about!
Sci Fi show gets recognized by the Golden Globe awards. Well, sort of.
Big Bang Theory’ Star Jim Parsons Takes Home a Well-Deserved Golden Globe
Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Television Series-Comedy or Musical
The humble Jim Parsons doesn’t seem to wallow in his victory, but he seems pleased and pleasantly surprised. But it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, especially Mr. Parsons. Last year, he took home the
Emmy for the same role, that of awkward physicist Dr. Sheldon Cooper. Cooper has become not only a memorable character, but a meme in his own right. Parsons never breaks his distinct character: socially inept (some would say possibly autistic), stubborn, fiercely logical Sheldon Cooper.
Parsons’ competition was fiercely competitive. Other nominees included previous winner Steve Carrell for his portrayal of The Office‘s Michael Scott, Emmy and Golden-Globe winner Alec Baldwin for his critically praised Jack Donaghy on 30 Rock, and Thomas Jane for his previously Globed gigolo in “Hung.” Maybe it was just Parsons’ turn for the award; he certainly belongs among this year’s men of situation comedy [and/or musical]. He also edged past Matthew Morrison’s teacher with a can-do attitude on the highly awarded “Glee” (which was responsible for three awards this year).
While a fairly standard 3-camera set up, “The Big Bang Theory” is a pretty standard situation comedy, but Jim Parsons really shines in his role, practically gelling the plot around him. The first few episodes of the series show an entirely different dynamic, where the boy-meets-girl, will-they-won’t-they dynamic of Johnny Galecki’s Leonard Hofstadter and Kaley Cuoco’s Penny initially dominated the action. The next three and a half seasons have been dominated by Parsons’ character: While Dr. Cooper is difficult, awkward, and stubborn, he still is entirely believable and beloved. Sure, Dr. Cooper’s friends are annoyed by him, but they need him and like him.
Syfy’s Sanctuary renewed for a 13-episode fourth season
If you were hoping you’d get another chance to follow the adventures of Dr. Helen Magnus and the Sanctuary crew, you’re in luck—because Syfy has just renewed the revolutionary series for a 13-episode fourth season.
Here’s Syfy’s official announcement:
SYFY RENEWS SANCTUARY FOR SEASON FOURNEW YORK – January 18, 2011 – Syfy has greenlit production on a fourth season of Sanctuary, it was announced today by Mark Stern, President, Original Programming, Syfy & Co-Head, Original Content, Universal Cable Productions. Sanctuary season 4 is slated to commence production on a 13-episode season in spring 2011 in Vancouver, BC with an eye towards a fall 2011 premiere on Syfy.
Sanctuary follows brilliant scientist Dr. Helen Magnus (Amanda Tapping) and her team, who use their unique combination of instinct, medicine and cutting-edge science to find and aid a clandestine population of beings that the world refuses to believe exists. The series also stars Robin Dunne as forensic psychiatrist Dr. Will Zimmerman, Agam Darshi as the quick-witted Kate Freelander, Ryan Robbins as tech wiz Henry Foss and Christopher Heyerdahl as the sinister John Druitt.
One of television’s most groundbreaking series, shooting almost entirely on green screen, Sanctuary was the first television series in North America to use the RED camera exclusively. Its stunning visual effects were nominated for a 2008 Emmy Award.
Created by Damian Kindler (Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis), Sanctuary is produced in association with Syfy and is distributed by Tricon Films and Television. Season three of the series is executive produced by Damian Kindler, Amanda Tapping, Martin Wood, Keith Beedie and Tricon Films.
So are you looking forward to another season of Sanctuary?
LOST Fan Film Shot on actual sets.
OK, so maybe the word “awesome” oversells Corey Vidal’s Lost fan film “The Man Who Brought Us Here”—after all, the script and acting can’t be said to approach anything near professional levels. But the fact that Vidal shot his video on the show’s actual locations? That IS awesome.
Vidal went to Hawaii and used many of Lost’s actual sets—which makes it feel “real” in a way that most other fan films can never hope to achieve—to add an epilogue to the series.
Check out the intriguing result below.
1st Outcasts trailer: Every sci-fi series you’ve ever seen at once
The first trailer for the BBC’s highly anticipated sci-fi series Outcasts is out, and after watching it a couple of times we thought—does it want to be Firefly? Maybe a little … and maybe it wants to be every sci-fi series you’ve ever seen all at once. But why not take a look and make up your own mind?
Looking at the trailer, we got a bit of that Firefly, Battlestar: Galactica, Stargate and even Star Wars mashup vibe that the creators of the series seem to have been striving for.
The story centers around a group of Earth survivors trying to build a new life on Planet Carpathia. From what we’re seeing here, things may not go as smoothly as a baby’s behind for our group of pioneers—but that’s what makes for interesting TV, right?
Outcasts stars Jamie Bamber (Battlestar: Galactica), Hermione Norris (Spooks) and Eric Mabius (Resident Evil, Ugly Betty). There’s no air date yet for either the BBC or BBC America, but we hope it won’t be too long before we get to see the series on our TVs.
So what do you think? Does the trailer make you even more excited about seeing Outcasts?
MOVIE NEWS:
New Spider-Man to swing with old-school web-shooters
If you look closely at the recently released photo of Andrew Garfield in his Spidey gear, you can just make out a pair of metallic doodads on his hands. Emma Stone confirms what sharp-eyed fans have deduced: that Peter Parker builds his web-shooters in Marc Webb’s reboot.
Even though, in the comics, science whiz Peter Parker invented the gizmos that would allow him to shoot webs from his wrists, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy turned them into a biological process—a side effect of the same spider bite that gave Peter his powers. (That, in and of itself, might be a remnant from James Cameron’s time on Spider-Man: In his 1991 treatment for an abandoned Spidey movie, Peter discovers the bio-organic web spouts after a particularly gooey dream.)
But on the Golden Globes red carpet, the new Gwen Stacy seems to have confirmed that the new webslinger will swing mechanically with three simple words:
“It’s a device.”
Me, I kind of like the idea of Peter Parker being able to show off his boy-genius chops a bit. After all, it’s no harder to buy a kid inventing web-shooters (and the web goop itself) than that he got bit by a radioactive spider and can stick to walls.
Star Wars Trench Run in the Snow!
Okay, it’s winter and you’re bored, so what do you do? You could build a trench and fly an X-wing down it in order to exploit an unprotected exhaust port. And actually, that’s what filmmakers Mike P. Nelson and Aaron Dabelow did.
Right now, 49 out of 50 states are under a blanket of snow (Florida, get with the program), but that doesn’t scares these Minnesotans, who typically endure winters that remind most people of Hoth. Out in the cold they went, to turn their winter wonderland into a Death Star run.
It’s just like bullseyeing womp rats in Beggar’s Canyon.
Snowy trench run from Aaron Dabelow on Vimeo.
DVD News:
DC Showcase: Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam
Featuring such voice talents of : James Garner, Jerry McConnel, Danica McCellar. On it you get about a 25 minutes episode of Superman & Captain Marvel. You also get a few short episodes featuring Jonah Hex, Green Arrow and the Spectre. You’ll also get about 4 past episodes of Batman & Justice League featuring the characters of Jonah Hex & Captain Marvel.
My thoughts. I’m surprised there wasn’t as much publicity for this piece. I didn’t see any promos for it on any other animated movie dvds. I saw it at a dvd kiosk at Walmart. Granted you didn’t get much in quantity, but I thought you got plenty of quality. The main episode featuring the origin story of Captain Marvel the battle between him, Superman vs. Black Adam was very solid. The shorts were also enjoyable. I also enjoyed watching some of the past episodes of the animated Bat Man & Justice League.
So if you’ve enjoyed the animated movies put out by DC/Warner Brothers in the past, I think you’ll enjoy this.
TWIST (This Week In Star Trek):
Don’t Miss PBS’s “Pioneers of Television” Featuring Star Trek & Gene Roddenberry Jan 18th
Well, tomorrow is January 18th and we know exactly where we’re going to be at 7pm Central…sitting on the couch, smack-dab in front of the TV! That’s when PBS will be airing the “Pioneers of Television: Science Fiction”!!!
This episode (the Season 2 premiere) is going to be a doozy! It is focusing on 3 major pioneers of sci-fi television; Gene Roddenberry (Star Trek), Rod Serling (Twilight Zone), and Irwin Allen (Lost in Space). Not only will there be backstory and insights to all of these series, but there’s also a bunch of cast interviews including The Shat, Leonard Nimoy and Nichelle Nichols.
PBS says; Gene Roddenberry had the kernel of an idea for “Star Trek” as early as 1961, and he planned for each episode of the series to deliver a cathartic two-punch in the form of entertaining adventure and moral message. But Roddenberry met resistance from NBC. The network insisted that the “Star Trek” pilot presented fascinating ideas but lacked excitement. Roddenberry reworked the script and brought actor William Shatner to the key role of Captain James T. Kirk. NBC executives were satisfied with the changes, and the series “Star Trek,” hit small screens in 1966. Unlike anything that had come before it, “Star Trek” addressed issues of race, gender, war, nuclear proliferation and drug abuse in a context that was palatable to the public. And the on-screen chemistry between Captain Kirk and logical Dr. Spock, played by Leonard Nimoy, was unmistakable. The series became a cult classic, spawning an impressive franchise of movies, animated series, merchandise and fan groups.
What do you think it meant – to viewers, to kids, to the industry at large – to have a female captain in place on the bridge and on the set?
Mulgrew: I think it was important. Of course, I do. I think it was time. I’ve always felt that Paramount was so very brave to do that because there was a lot of money on the line, and we could have really tanked. If men had chosen to turn me off altogether we could have tanked very quickly, and then they would have had to scramble and get a man to do the whole thing. But enough men said, “Let’s give her a shot.” And that told me it was time, the right time, because that’s how you assess everything in a culture – if men can come along for the difficult part of the ride. And they did. They gave me a tough time for a season and a half, and then they said, “She can do it.” But, definitely, it was time in the history of television and in the history of the world. That’s one of the great achievements of my life, that I got to play Janeway.
SciFi Five in Five with Larry Nemecek:
Favorite Star Trek: Next Generation Episodes:
- Yesterday’s Enterprise
- Best of Both Worlds
- Measure of the Man
- Chain of Command
- Captain’s Holiday
- The Offspring
Top Star Trek Characters Ever:
- Leonard McCoy
- Scotty
- All the captains
- Spock
- Barkly
- Rom
- Garrack
- The Doctor from Voyager
- Que
- Dr. Salar
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