Transcendental Pi
From the right Space Seed /
Grew the Amok Time baking.
Warped fork-ter for two.
.
.
#haiku #poem #poetry #poet #writing #writer #pun #startrek #spaceseed #space #seed #amoktime #time #pi #pie #davidebooker #thanksgiving #pumpkin #november #thursday #2019 #112819 #haiga #photo
Filed under 2019, haiku, photo, poem, poet, poetry, poetry by author, Poetry by David E. Booker, Star Trek
Multigrain for Picard
Made chewing very hard
On the bridge to make it so.
Because of that special dough
When the Romulans did appear
The sandwich would not clear
His throat so he could order
“Data, warp 8 to the boarder!”
Now, over 20 years have passed
And his days in Starfleet amassed
In history books where stories are told
Of his feats, both brave and bold.
But there is one footnote aside
About the one mission that was tried.
Enterprise and crew were almost lost
Until Number One grabbed and tossed
The multi-grain demon across the bridge
Striking Worf upon his ridge,
And then he slapped Picard on the back
Which caused the Captain to go “Hack-ack-ack.”
Worf thought that meant aim and fire
Photons and phaser banks entire.
When the weapons were all depleted
And Picard was finally seated
Worf peeled the sandwich from his head
Took a bite and boldly said,
“Needs mustard.”
Filed under 2019, poetry by author, Star Trek
‘Star Trek’ Copyright Battle Pits Paramount and CBS Against ‘Professional’ Fan Film
Enterprising producer raised over $1.2 million, and promised a ‘feature-quality’ movie
by Mark Perton
Source: http://www.newsweek.com/star-trek-fan-fiction-451320
Star Trek, the venerable sci-fi franchise that turns 50 this year, has long been known for the dedication of its fans. In the late 1960s, when the original TV series was threatened with cancellation after two seasons, a letter-writing campaign brought the show back for a third year. After the show was canceled the following year, fan conventions kept the Trek dream alive, screening rare clips and “blooper reels” which, in that pre-VCR, pre-YouTube era, allowed them to explore the frontiers of their favorite show.
Fans at those conventions also shared fan fiction: mostly mimeographed stories that created new adventures for the characters that left TV two years shy of completing their “five year mission.” Over time, fan fiction evolved and became a multimedia genre, and even as Star Trek was revived and developed as a major media property encompassing a dozen motion pictures and hundreds of TV episodes, fan-produced films became a mainstay of YouTube and other video sites.
Kirk (left) and Spock (right) of Star Trek.
Today’s fan films, like written fan fiction, occupy a legal gray zone. While some can potentially be considered satire or commentary, and therefore, legally permitted works, many can easily be classified as unauthorized exploitation of copyrighted material—and could be shut down by the copyright’s owners.
For the most part, Paramount Pictures and CBS, which jointly own the copyrights associated with Star Trek, have turned a blind eye to non-commercial fan productions, and have even seemed to encourage them. James Cawley, a fan producer who built detailed reproductions of original Star Trek sets in his upstate New York studio, had a cameo in J.J. Abrams’ 2009 Star Trek film. Paramount also borrowed props from Cawley’s studio for use in the series Star Trek: Enterprise, and named a ship in one episode the Ticonderoga, a reference to the fan producer’s hometown.
Fan efforts have also been embraced by many in the “official” Star Trek creative community; fan films have featured dozens of cast members from Paramount’s productions, including original series stars Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols and George Takei, and actors from many other Trek outings, ranging from Star Trek: Voyager’s Tim Russ to Alan Ruck, who played hapless starship captain John Harriman in Star Trek: Generations (but is, of course, best known for playing hapless teenager Cameron Frye in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off). One fan series includes Chris Doohan, the son of the actor who played Scotty in the original series, taking over his father’s role. Even Majel Barrett Roddenberry, wife of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, reprised her role as the voice of the U.S.S. Enterprise’s computer in a fan production. Writers like original series legends D.C. Fontana and David Gerrold (best known for the classic episode “The Trouble With Tribbles”) have contributed scripts to fan films.
For years, fan producers formed a close community, trading tips and cast members, sharing props and studios, and engaging in friendly competition over things like the accuracy of their sets, their interpretations of classic characters and the quality of their productions. And their productions became increasingly more polished as digital technology allowed them to create CGI space battles and elaborate green screen sets, and do sophisticated editing and post-production work on affordable computers. To produce these ever-more sophisticated films, fans turned to crowdfunding, in some cases raising hundreds of thousands of dollars through platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo.
As the fan films began working with budgets that rivaled those of some independent movies, and successfully recruited cast and crew members who had worked on commercial Trek properties, one nagging question kept coming up: When will someone go too far and draw the ire of Paramount and CBS? As Hollywood news site The Wrap put it last August, after the fan film Star Trek: Axanar—which its producer said would be as good as something “coming out of the studio”—raised over $1 million through its crowdfunding campaigns, “the seven-figure bankroll raises questions about just how ‘fan’ the project is and at what point it poses a threat to the authorized franchise.”
Axanar’s budget and boasts may have been too much for Paramount and CBS, and in December, the two companies sued Axanar Productions, claiming that its work “infringe[s] Plaintiffs’ works by using innumerable copyrighted elements of Star Trek, including its settings, characters, species, and themes.” The suit named the production company, studio head Alec Peters, and “Does 1-20,” an unnamed group that could expand to include personnel such as director Robert Meyer Burnett, an industry professional who had previously produced featurettes for CBS’ Star Trek Blu-ray releases.
In its lawsuit, Paramount and CBS cited the fact that the Axanar team referred to their project as a “fully professional, independent Star Trek film” that raised over $1 million, adding that the producers “enjoy a direct financial benefit from the preparation, duplication and distribution of the infringing Axanar Works.”
Indeed, Axanar Productions boasted of plans to use its studio to produce other films and actively defended its broader ambitions. Unlike other fan producers, who largely volunteer their time, Axanar’s Peters paid himself a salary of $38,000 in 2015. Axanar also built a merchandising business, offering everything from scale models of ships featured in its films to Axanar-branded coffee on a “donor” website.
Rather than fold up his tent, Peters fought back, and brought on pro bono lawyers to defend his right to produce the film, saying that it’s a non-commercial production, is covered under fair use doctrines, and that the suit is too vague and broad, claiming ownership of things like the fictitious Klingon language. In the meantime, production on Axanar was halted, leaving a 20-minute teaser, Prelude to Axanar (which is also a subject of the lawsuit), as the nascent studio’s only product.
Paramount and CBS may be particularly sensitive at the moment to unauthorized works designed, as the Axanar team put it, to “look and feel like a true Star Trek movie.” The studios are gearing up for the July release of the latest film in the series, Star Trek: Beyond, along with a major merchandising blitz in conjunction with the film and the franchise’s 50th anniversary. Based on the combination of ticket sales and licensing, Star Trek properties could bring in close to $1 billion this year. And in 2017, CBS will launch the sixth live-action Star Trek TV series, with a risky online-only model designed to anchor the network’s CBS All Access streaming service; if successful, the new series could add over $400 million to CBS’s bottom line next year.
As the suit has progressed, it has has split the once tight-knit fan film community. Some fans believe that Peters is going too far.
“There is no question in my mind that CBS owns Star Trek,” fan film producer James Cawley recently commented in a popular Star Trek forum. “They have been very gracious to allow us to play in their sandbox for many years,” he wrote, adding that “if CBS says, stop making fan films, we would abide by their wishes and say thank you.” In a seeming comparison between Axanar’s ambitions and more traditional fan fiction, he commented: “I don’t rent my sets, I don’t charge for anything, and I certainly have never gotten any salary for playing Trek with my friends” and, “I did it for nothing but the love of the game, if and when it ends at least I can say I played by the rules I was given when I cross the finish line.”
Meanwhile, Peters has taken on his erstwhile compatriots, pointing out to the Trek news site 1701News that he’s built a professional team: “They’re not fans who are voice actors, or Elvis impersonators who have a hobby and have always wanted to play Capt. Kirk.” (Cawley, who played Kirk in several of his own productions, is also an Elvis impersonator, while another fan producer and Kirk actor, Vic Mignogna, is a voice actor.)
The suit has also highlighted rifts among those affiliated with the official Star Trek productions. Star Trek: Beyond director Justin Lin took to Twitter to defend Axanar, writing: “This is getting ridiculous! I support the fans. Star Trek belongs to all of us.” However, Rod Roddenberry, son of Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, and an executive producer on CBS’ forthcoming Star Trek series, commented to an interviewer that, while he’s “a fan of fans keeping Star Trek alive,” fan producers have to “follow the rules and do it right,” or “there’s going to be prices and penalties to pay.”
Fallout from the case has already hurt other fan productions. Mignogna’s latest installment of his Star Trek Continues series is far behind in its crowdfunding goals, and the producer told fan site The Bronze Review, “there are a lot of scared folks out there, afraid to donate to a fan production due to the climate now.” In late April, another fan project, Star Trek: Federation Rising, was canceled, after its producer said he was contacted by CBS executives, who “advised me that their legal team strongly suggested that we do not move forward.” In a Facebook posting, producer Tommy Kraft thanked CBS “for reaching out to me, rather than including us in their ongoing lawsuit against Axanar.”
Kraft also announced plans to produce an original science fiction film, completely devoid of any Star Trek intellectual property. If there’s a silver lining to the current situation, it may well be based on plans like Kraft’s. One only need look at the history of fan-fiction author Erika Mitchell. After writing a set of stories featuring characters from the popular Twilight books, Mitchell, under the pen-name E.L. James, reworked her tales and removed all references to Twilight. The resulting work, the Fifty Shades of Grey series, has since sold more than 125 million copies worldwide, has been adapted as a major motion picture and has earned Mitchell over $100 million.
Perhaps freedom from Paramount and CBS’s properties, could, in the end, allow former Trek projects to boldly go where no fan film has gone before.
Source: http://www.newsweek.com/star-trek-fan-fiction-451320
Star Trek
For those writers who will be mailing out manuscripts in 2016, particularly science fiction manuscripts, these stamps may be just the item you’ll need. Who knows, since they are forever stamps, writers might be using them into the 23rd Century.
Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the television premiere, the new Star Trek Forever stamps showcase four digital illustrations inspired by classic elements of the television program:
Star Trek US postage stamps for 2016
The words “SPACE… THE FINAL FRONTIER,” from Captain Kirk’s famous voice-over appear beneath the stamps against a background of stars. The stamps were designed by Heads of State under the art direction of Antonio Alcalá.
Source: https://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2015/pr15_069.htm
A new video mashes up clips from “Star Wars” and “Star Trek” into a trailer for a fake 1985 film whose release would have been the sci-fi event of the century.
by MIKE WALL, Space.com Senior Writer
“Trapped in a galaxy far, far away, Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the famous starship Enterprise are left to the mercy of an evil galactic empire and caught in the middle of an interstellar war,” the narrator of the fake movie, called “The Carbonite Maneuver,” intones as the Enterprise is captured by a “Star Wars” Imperial Star Destroyer.
Details at: http://www.space.com/29404-star-wars-star-trek-mashup-video.html?cmpid=NL_SP_weekly_2015-05-15
“Legends will unite and galaxies will clash as your imagination embarks upon a fantastic flight into fantasy-film history,” the narrator adds in the 85-second video, which was posted to YouTube on May 6. “‘The Carbonite Maneuver:’ a cosmic spectacle unlike anything you’ve seen before.”
The fake film’s title is, appropriately enough, a nod to both sci-fi franchises. Han Solo was flash-frozen in carbonite in “The Empire Strikes Back,” and one episode in the first season of the original “Star Trek” TV series was called “The Corbomite Maneuver.” (In the episode, Captain Kirk bluffs away a potential attacker by claiming that the Enterprise is protected by an imaginary substance called corbomite.)
The trailer shows multiple meldings of the “Star Wars” and “Star Trek” universes. For example, Captain Kirk comes face to face with the humanoid robot C-3PO, TIE fighters fire at the Enterprise during a deep-space chase, and the iconic “Star Trek” vessel zooms down the trench of the planet-destroying Death Star.
There are some nice touches in the credits as well. “The Carbonite Maneuver” was supposedly written by Lawrence Kasdan, who co-wrote two of the first three “Star Wars” films (“The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi”), and the music is attributed to the English composer Gustav Holst. (The works of Holst, who died in 1934, reportedly served as inspiration to John Williams, who has written the music for all “Star Wars” films to date.)
“The Carbonite Maneuver” is rated PG. It opens June 5, 1985; a related video game is available now from Atari.
[Editor’s note: Build your own captain’s chair and join along.]
Watch the co-host of the “Mythbusters” science show make a functional “Star Trek” chair worthy of Captain Kirk, with help from his friend Jeremy Williams.
Source: http://www.cnet.com/news/mythbuster-adam-savage-builds-star-trek-captains-chair/
Adam Savage, co-host of the Discovery channel’s “MythBusters” science show, never shies away from a challenge. When he acquired a disappointing replica of a “Star Trek” captain’s chair, instead of being content with it, the longtime prop maker decided to make a brand-new and better chair.
n the latest video from Tested.com, Savage shows off his impressive captain’s chair, and then with help from his friend Jeremy Williams does some electronics magic to wire the chair’s lighting system and implement sound effects. After some troubleshooting, the duo add various LED lights, light strips, power sources, speakers and of course, many wires.
“As I was building it, I’d like it to have a feature that no other chair has,” Savage said in the video. “So I ended up adding a couple of features like a viewer, which is in ‘The Cage,’ which is the unaired pilot of ‘Star Trek.’ [And] I added one other feature so I made a drawer (in the base) for the props.”
The handcrafted chair has five interface panels, which include the switch bank of rocker switches, the lights display, five push buttons and the intercom.
The result is the ultimate, one-of-a-kind “Star Trek” captain’s chair with details that would impress even Scotty. Check out this photo gallery to see behind-the-scenes shots of the build process.
The Top 100 Star Trek Episodes Of All Time!.
Star Trek gave us six TV series, spanning over 700 episodes, because it’s such a rich universe. And a Federation starship is the perfect vehicle to tell unforgettable stories. But which Star Trek stories are the best? To find out, we painstakingly compiled the 100 greatest Trek episodes, from any of the series.
What makes for a great Star Trek episode? Obviously, the fun quotient has to be high, and there need to be awesome character moments. But I’d argue that a really notable Trek story explores some ideas, or some ethical quandaries, in a way that sticks with you after you’re done watching. If one thing has defined Trek throughout its run, it’s that.
So here’s our list of the 100 best Star Trek episodes. Please let us know which episodes we missed, or ranked incorrectly!
Warning: some spoilers below, although we try not to give away all the plot twists.
The rest of the article: http://io9.com/the-top-100-star-trek-episodes-of-all-time-1641565699?utm_campaign=socialflow_io9_facebook&utm_source=io9_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow
[Blog editor’s note: While I’m not sure I agree with the ranking in all cases here (Who would?), the fact that many episodes of the original Star Trek made it onto this list and even the number in the top twenty, shows the writing level of the original series.]
[Editor’s note: You could call this finding old friends through fictional characters. It’s interesting what storytelling can achieve.]
Charleston Daily Mail | Old friends reunite over “Star Trek” fan films.
Dale Morton was 43 years old when his childhood fantasy came true.
He walked through the red turbolift doors and found himself standing on the bridge of the USS Enterprise.
The screens were all lit up, the lights were all blinking and it was all Morton could do to keep his welling emotions under control.
There, in the middle, room was the command chair where Captain Kirk recorded so many of his famous captain’s logs.
“I’m standing in the place where Kirk usually stands. I’m standing in his point of view,” Morton said.
To his right was the station where Commander Spock dutifully monitored the spaceship’s shields.
A few steps over was the panel, where engineer Montgomery Scott would crank the ship’s engines until he was “giving her all she’s got, Captain.”
Morton wasn’t really aboard the Enterprise, obviously, but it was the closest possible thing.
– See more at: http://www.charlestondailymail.com/article/20140717/DM06/140719379/1420
Filed under Star Trek
Star Trek Data & Trek Helped Fan Feel More Comfortable in Her Own Skin.
[Editor’s note: This article is an example of how a fictional character can help someone in real life.]
by Samantha Bell
All my life, I’ve had trouble relating to people. Social skills never came easily to me (and still don’t). As one could probably guess, this was frustrating, and left me many times in a state of helplessness – or worse yet, hopelessness. By my doctors, teachers, coaches and especially my peers, my differences were always perceived as something negative, something to be ashamed of, an ailment I needed to overcome before I could start my “real” life. For a while, they had me convinced. I was mad at myself and the world, and in my moments of despair, I was left wondering what I should, or even could, do.
Turns out, it was not a matter of what to do, but who could help. Despite all my efforts to fit in, I found myself drawn to Star Trek, which set me apart even more. I never imagined it would end up giving me the encouragement I needed to change my life. Star Trek is inspirational for many reasons: a utopian future, the advancement of science. But in my case, it was a single character who really moved me – everyone’s favorite android, Data.
At first, I saw him as just another alien life-form that I would watch,
Read the rest at: http://www.startrek.com/article/data-trek-helped-fan-feel-more-comfortable-in-her-own-skin
Filed under Star Trek
8 Starship Enterprise Facts Every Trekker Should Know – Neatorama.
To boldly go where no man has gone before, you’d need a really good starship – and to launch Star Trek, the pop culture phenomenon that entertained and inspired millions, you’d need a pretty darned good one! And that is exactly what the United Space Starship Enterprise delivered. Here are 8 Starship Enterprise facts every Trekker should know:
Filed under Star Trek
Booker's Blog 