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SciFi Diner Podcast Ep. 132

Our Interview with Marty Gear from Balticon

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Tonight’s Diners: Scott & Miles

Welcome to the Diner.

If you have listened to the show for sometime, we would love to have you leave feedback on iTunes. We know not all of you use iTunes, but for those that do, it helps us become more visible. If you don’t use iTunes, your feedback is still valuable. Visit our webpage at https://scifidinerpodcast.com and leave a comment on the show notes or email us at scifidinerpodcast@gmail.com We want to know what you are thinking about what we are saying and what shows you are watching.

Music at the end of this week’s episode is the song The Final Rewind by Tyrad.

Menu:

• Interview:Marty Gear from Balticon
• Trivia:  New Trivia with a chance to win Kristen Bauer AND Emelie Ullerup
• TV News:  Fringe Renewed!
• Movie News:  What Watchmen’s mistakes taught Whedon about making The Avengers
• DVD Review: Justice League: Doom
• TWIST: Will Wheaton talks about life after TNG. Star Trek Sequel Spoiler News, Composer Joel Goldsmith Dead at 54
• SciFi Five in Five:  Great Star Trek Voyager EMH Doctor Quotes

Promos:

The TrekCast Podcast

Balticon

Our Interview with Marty Gear from Balticon

Up to the year 2000, Balticon was traditionally held on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of Easter weekend in a Baltimore area hotel. As of 2001, Balticon moved to the Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday of Memorial Day weekend. Contact BSFS to have your name added to our mailing list.

BSFS publishes an annual fanzine (fan magazine) BSFAN in conjunction with Balticon. The BSFAN generally contains bios of the current Guests of Honor at Balticon, (usually) a bibliography of our author Guest of Honor’s works, articles on science fiction, short stories, the winning entries in the Young Writer’s Contest, reviews, advertisements, and anything else the editors deem appropriate or related.

BSFS has presented “The Compton Crook Award” each year since 1983, for “… the best first novel in the genre published during the previous year…” The winning author is invited to Balticon (BSFS pays transportation and lodging) and presented with the cash award. Compton Crook, who used the nom de plume Stephen Tall, died in 1981. He was a long time Baltimore resident, Towson University professor, and, of course, a science fiction author.

BSFS holds a yearly “Young Writers Contest.” Contest submissions must be in the field of science fiction or fantasy. Contestants shall reside in, or attend school in Maryland, and be no older than 18 years of age as of the date of Balticon. Submissions shall be no more than 2500 words in length. The first, second and third place winners are invited to and announced at Balticon. Please see the BSFS Young Writer’s contest rules web page for the full rules or contact BSFS for a hard copy.

BSFS and Balticon support the BSFS Books for Kids charity (BSFS Books for Kids) with change collection jars and a charity auction (of donated books, artwork, or services) at Balticon.

BSFS produces a monthly newsletter addressing club business that is distributed free to all members and is exchanged with other Science Fiction Clubs throughout the world.

BSFS was the third Science Fiction Club in the country to own a building. LASFS (Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society) and NESFA (New England Science Fiction Association) are the other two. The former theater at 3310 East Baltimore Street, in the Highlandtown section of Baltimore, is being slowly renovated as time and money allow.

BSFS maintains a library of science fiction and fantasy books with over 10,000 titles (mostly paperbacks) as well as periodicals, videotapes and DVD’s. BSFS members and the public may borrow most of these books and videos. BSFS also has an extensive collection of old pulp SF magazines on microfiche.

TV News:

From Rado: ‘Fringe’ Renewed for Fifth and Final Season

UPDATED: The Fox drama will return for a 13-episode season, allowing the series to hit 100 episodes.

Fox has renewed the cult drama for a fifth and final season, giving the go-ahead on 13 more episodes. The renewal will bring the sci-fi series to an end after 100 episodes, a critical syndication threshold for the series’ studio, Warner Bros. TV.

“Fringe is a remarkably creative series that has set the bar as one of television’s most imaginative dramas,” said Fox entertainment chief Kevin Reilly. “Bringing it back for a final 13 allows us to provide the climactic conclusion that its passionate and loyal fans deserve. The amazing work the producers, writers and the incredibly talented cast and crew have delivered the last four seasons has literally been out of this world. Although the end is bittersweet, it’s going to be a very exciting final chapter.”

Added showrunners Jeff Pinkner and J.H. Wyman: “This pickup means the world (both of them) to us, because we love sharing these stories with our enthusiastic fans. On behalf of the cast and crew, we applaud our fans and Fox for allowing us to imagine the impossibilities together for so long. Season five is going to be a conclusive thrill ride for all of us.”

Fringe, which moved to Friday nights in its third season, has hit ratings lows on multiple occasions this year in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demo (0.9) and is hovering around 3 million viewers, according to Nielsen. Still, the perennial bubble show has maintained a vocal fan base, with critical and awards support, including two Emmy nominations in technical categories.

In anticipation of an official decision, the cast and crew shot multiple endings for the show’s two-part season finale, set to air May 11, which cast members have spoken publicly about.

Well-known Fringe fan Reilly acknowledged in January that the network was losing money with the heavily mythologized series. “At that rating, on that night (Fridays), it’s impossible to make money … and we’re not in the business of losing money,” Reilly said at the time, with some speculating that the statement was as much a negotiating ploy as it was an honest statement.

“I mean, 88 [episodes] is good, but 100 is better,” Wyman told THR in February of his desire to see the series continue. “We would never want to continue unless we felt that we had something incredibly creative to say and to do. We do, and if the powers that be deem it a plausible solution to go forward, then we’re thrilled.”

Movie News:

What Watchmen’s mistakes taught Whedon about making The Avengers

As the old saying goes, we’re all standing on the shoulders of giants. You’d be a fool not learn from the errors of those that came before. So when Joss Whedon got involved with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, he looked at the mistakes of earlier comic book flicks and discovered the secret of the satisfying superhero movie.

During the Avengers press tour, Whedon was asked how one goes about making a good comic book adaptation, and his answer is both simple and obvious—and yet it eludes so many people who attempt to make them:

“It’s capturing the essence of the comic and being true to what’s wonderful about it, while remembering that it’s a movie and not a comic. I think Spider-Man, the first one particularly, really captured [the spirit of the comic]. They figured out the formula of oh, tell the story that they told in the comic. It was compelling, that’s why it’s iconic, but at the same time they did certain things that only a movie can do [but] were in the vein of the comic.

“I think you see things like The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, where they just threw out the comic, or Watchmen, where they do it frame for frame, and neither of them work. You have to give the spirit of the thing and then step away from that, and create something cinematic and new.”

It must be harder than he makes it seem, right? I mean, if it was that easy, everyone would do it … right? Right?!

DVD Review:

Justice League: DOOM

Vandal Savage steals confidential files Batman has compiled on the members of the Justice League, and learns all their weaknesses.

Kevin Conroy  …  Batman (voice)

Tim Daly  Tim Daly  …  Superman (voice)

Susan Eisenberg  Susan Eisenberg  …  Wonder Woman (voice)

Nathan Fillion  Nathan Fillion  …  Green Lantern (voice)

Carl Lumbly  Carl Lumbly  …  Martian Manhunter / Ma’alefa’ak (voice)

Michael Rosenbaum  Michael Rosenbaum  …  The Flash (voice)

Bumper Robinson  Bumper Robinson  …  Cyborg (voice)

Carlos Alazraqui  Carlos Alazraqui  …  Bane / Terrorist Member (voice)

Claudia Black  Claudia Black  …  Cheetah (voice)

 

This week in Star Trek:

Will Wheaton talks about after leaving TNG.

Major Star Trek Sequel Spoilers April 30, 2012

by Anthony Pascale

There have been a lot of rumors and spoilers floating around the web in the last few months, including some new ones today. So TrekMovie has checked with sources and can confirm some of these reports as well as adding some new info into the mix. See below for 3 spoilers about the Star Trek sequel but do not click below if you don’t want to spoil the fun (seriously don’t…just for Spoiler-fans).

Star Trek Sequel SPOILERS

Before we start it is important to note that it is still the case that no plot or character information for the Star Trek sequel has been officially confirmed by Paramount or anyone associated with the movie. The following based on reports from other outlets and/or TrekMovie sources. As always, Paramount’s policy is to not comment on what they consider rumors.

you have been warned

Spoiler 1: Leonard Nimoy returns as Spock Prime

The first spoiler was actually let out of the bag by the actor himself when talking to CNN last week (see video), and now AICN is reporting that Nimoy returning for the sequel. TrekMovie sources have confirmed that Nimoy indeed is back as Spock Prime and he has already completed his work for the film. Spock Prime was last seen at the end of the 2009 movie sending off the new crew of the USS Enterprise, leaving him to help the Vulcans who survived Nero’s destruction of their home planet.

This spoiler comes as somewhat of a surprise, as Nimoy himself had previously indicated that he was happy to let the new cast take the reigns of the franchise forward. But apparently JJ Abrams and crew were able to convince the actor and Star Trek legend to come out of retirement one last time to play Spock. On a historic note, this would be Nimoy’s eighth  appearance in a Star Trek feature film, which will be a record (he and Shatner are now tied with seven movies each).

Leonard Nimoy in the 2009 “Star Trek” – returns for the sequel

UPDATE: Nimoy tweets about talking to JJ

Leonard doesn’t even seem to be trying to keep this one a secret. Here is a tweet he sent out this morning:

Spoiler 2: Cumberbatch is playing Khan

TrekMovie was first in reporting that Benedict Cumberbatch had joined the Star Trek sequel cast, to play a villain (originally a role offered to Benecio del Toro). A few outlets have also reported (including today’s AICN) that this villain was Trek’s most famous bad guy – the exiled Eugenics War leader Khan Noonien Singh (originally played by Ricardo Montalban). TrekMovie has also confirmed this with a number of sources so we no longer consider it to be a rumor. Khan is back in 2013, however sources indicate that the film is not a rehash of “Space Seed,” the original Star Trek episode where Kirk and crew first encounter the genetic superman from the past.

While big news, this is actually not a huge surprise. Trek’s new filmmakers have often cited the Christopher Nolan’s Batman series as their model, with the second film The Dark Knight successfully brining back the Joker and Khan is the closest to Trek gets to Batman’s Joker. And again the team kind of already let the cat out of the bag on this one when they recorded the DVD commentary back in 2009 and said they had considered a post-credits sceene showing the Botany Bay, Khan’s sleeper ship. Then of course there is Abrams widely reported casting process which began with Benecio del Toro and went through a number other prominent Latino (like Montalban) actors before he ended up picking Cumberbatch, after what has been said to be a very powerful audition.

Spy photo of Zachary Quinto as Spock fighting Cumberbatch’s villain – now known to be playing Khan

Spoiler 3: Klingons featured in Star Trek sequel

This third spoiler is not something from the new AICN report, but multiple TrekMovie sources have confirmed that the Klingons will be featured in the Star Trek sequel. Of course Klingons were were originally going to be part of the 2009 movie as well – in a subplot where they had captured Nero and his crew after the destruction of the USS Kelvin, however those scenes were cut from the final release (but did appear on the DVD/Blu-ray). TrekMovie sources indicate that this time the Klingons are not a sub-plot that could be easily cut out of the film, so we will finally see the JJ-verse version of Klingons on the big screen.

This spoiler seems to be a no brainer. The Klingons are likely Star Trek’s best known adversary aliens, and they appeared in most of the movies featuring the original cast. The intent was to put them in the last one and fans have been asking for Klingons to make the cut for the sequel.

Klingons in deleted scene from the 2009 “Star Trek” movie – but they should make the final cut of the 2013 sequel

Sequel production enters final stretch

TrekMovie has also confirmed that the Star Trek sequel has wrapped up shooting on stages and on location in southern califormia. The film remains on schedule with a couple more weeks of shooting on  on location in northern California.

That’s it for now, stay tuned to TrekMovie for all your Star Trek sequel news.

 

Composer Joel Goldsmith Dead at 54 April 30, 2012

by Jeff Bond

Joel Goldsmith, son of famed film composer Jerry Goldsmith and a talented composer in his own right, died of cancer at the age of 54. Joel was the eldest of six children by Jerry Goldsmith, and he reportedly began assisting his father with electronics in his scores as early as 1976 on the science fiction adventure Logan’s Run.

Joel Goldsmith – 1957 – 2012

Around the same time Joel began working in film as a boom operator and sound mixer on films like Joe Dante’s Piranha. Joel frequently assisted his father as Jerry Goldsmith expanded the range of his electronic music palette on scores like Runaway (the score of which Joel Goldsmith co-produced) and Hoosiers.

Joel made two important contributions to the Star Trek feature film franchise. With Alan Howarth and others he worked to develop electronic sound effects for 1979’s Star Trek – The Motion Picture, which featured an Oscar-nominated score by his father. In 1996 Jerry Goldsmith found himself in the middle of delays and rescores on the adventure film The Ghost and the Darkness just as he was beginning to prepare to score the second Next Generation feature film, Star Trek First Contact. Goldsmith called in Joel to assist him on the project and wound up writing a substantial amount of the score, particularly a number of the cues involving the Borg’s takeover of the Enterprise as well as the film’s climactic action involving the flight of the first warp drive ship Phoenix and Picard and Data’s struggle with the Borg Queen on the Enterprise. GNP Records recently released an expanded album of the score that includes all of Joel Goldsmith’s contributions, including the climactic cue, “Flight of the Phoenix.”

Joel Goldsmith is probably more familiar to fans for his contributions to a different “Star” franchise—he wrote scores for an astonishing 350 episodes of Syfy’s Stargate series including Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis and Stargate: Universe. Joel wrote the title music for the latter two series, and earned three Emmy Award nominations for his work on Stargate: Atlantis and Stargate: Universe.

Joel Goldsmith had a talent for dramatically powerful television themes, including one for the Witchblade and Sanctuary TV shows and a terrific theme for the short-lived 1993 show The Untouchables. Joel had his father’s gift for working in the sci-fi and fantasy genres, something that went back to his early collaborative work with composer Richard Band (both worked on the score to the 1978 film Laserblast and 1980’s The Day Time Ended). He provided a droll electronic score to Steve Martin’s sci-fi-themed comedy The Man With Two Brains in 1983 and wrote a stupendous full-on orchestral score to Roland Emmerich’s 1990 sci-fi adventure Moon 44, a work that showed the younger Goldsmith just as capable of working on a large-scale action canvas as his father was. He continued to collaborate with Jerry Goldsmith on television projects like H.E.L.P. and Brotherhood of the Gun while tackling further genre works like the 1996 direct-to-video movie Vampirella, episodes of the revived 1997 Outer Limits TV series, and the sword and sorcery adventure Kull the Conquerer. He also easily handled dramas and comedies like Man’s Best Friend (1993), Shiloh (1996), Shadow of a Doubt (1998) and Diamonds (1999).

 

SciFi 5@5:

Great quotes from ST Voyager’s EMH: The Doctor

1. Kes: On my home-world it’s much simpler. You choose a mate for life. There’s no distrust, no envy, no betrayal.

The Doctor: Your world must have very dry literature.

2. The Doctor: All of us have violent instincts. We have evolved from predators. Well, not me, of course. I’ve been programmed by you predators.

3. Seska: I won’t play these games with the trick of light.

The Doctor: Sticks and stones won’t break my bones, so you can imagine how I feel about being called names.

4. Vidian Doctor: “ Strange . Accding to my readings, you aren’t here.” Doctor: Believe me. I wish I weren’t.

5. Janeway: “I need to know if we did serious harm to that life-form.”

Doctor: “Let’s see … you ran your ship through it, fired phasers at it, and blew a hole in it with a photon torpedo. I’d say it’s a pretty good chance that you did some fairly significant –(than the Captain mutes him.)