Star Trek

I have pointed it out before in postings here, on Twitter, and on our various shows, we are living with Star Trek technology already today… well, in many areas at least. In some ways, we surpassed what was predicted 45 years ago when the series premiered. For example, fax machines are really a relic of the past (even though some insist on still using them). We saw similar technology in Trek originally. Today we have iPhones, iPads, flat screen HDTVs… it is almost the bridge of the Enterprise right there.

Every month there seems to be a new post somewhere comparing today's technology with that of Star Trek's technology, so I won't repeat that here. Though with that said, I thought I would share the following infographic on it. It is not complete (in addition to fax machines which are now passé today, we saw Uhura wearing what can be compared to today's bluetooth ear pieces. Neither are represented on this graphic, but there's probably too many to include in one graphic anyway).

Today marks 45 years since the very first episode of Star Trek aired. It was September 8, 1966 when NBC aired 'The Man Trap' to an unsuspecting audience. It is not the "birthday" of Star Trek... die-hard fans ('Trekkers') know that the series had two pilot episodes commissioned. The first pilot, 'The Cage' dates back to 1964, and the follow-up pilot, 'Where No Man Has Gone Before,' to 1965. The first episode to air was not meant to go out first, but the suits at NBC wanted an episode with a "monster" in it (they felt it had to compete with Lost in Space at the time), 'The Man Trap' had a monster and therefore it was selected to air first.

This anniversary is bittersweet for me. It comes just a couple weeks after loosing a long time friend who had been a great Star Trek fan. It was an unexpected loss and therefore I have to say even now, I am still in shock and disbelief about it.

This photo of Grace Lee Whitney I took in 2007 at the New England Fan Experience convention via my DSLR, and post processed today on the iPhone using Photo fx and PictureShow before sharing via Instagram.

These photos of Leonard Nimoy were taken in 1986 at a convention in NYC with an analog SLR (put together here now using the Diptic by Peak Systems iOS app) and posted to Instagram. I wish the lighting was better. Oh well. By the way, Nimoy is a photographer himself too.

Once again I had the pleasure of being a guest on The Chronic Rift ( @chronic_rift ) podcast with John Drew and Keith R.A. DeCandido hosting and with fellow guest, Chris S. Carothers. In this latest roundtable episode (126), we discuss fan clubs. Predominantly Doctor Who and Star Trek clubs were discussed in this episode. Chris shared information about the club, USS Richthofen, a chapter of Starfleet, The International Star Trek Fan Association, Inc., while I was there speaking about the Gallifreyan Embassy, the Doctor Who club I founded in 1985 as well as Doctor Who: Podshock.

It was 44 years ago today, on September 8, 1966 that we first went where no one has gone before. Yes, it was the debut of Star Trek on television. Happy anniversary exploring the final frontier for 44 years now. Granted, Star Trek really began years before (even having two different pilots produced), but it was on this date that it premiered on NBC.

Rarely do I have time to devote to watch movies these days. It is because of that I had this blu-ray disc still in the box set since I got it in the first half of 2009. After popping some long-expired stale popcorn, I decided to sit myself down and watch Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (Amazon link).

Earlier this week, on Wednesday, January 27, 2010, Apple announced the long rumored tablet device. Like many Apple announcements, it has generated a flurry of talk in the media and tech circles. Not since the Apple iPhone announcement three years ago have I seen such a reaction to this new device, the Apple iPad.

Comedian Kevin Pollak ( @kevinpollak ) talks about Star Trek's William Shatner ( @WilliamShatner ) (who Kevin has done impressions of over the years) at the Blogworld & New Media Expo 2009 in Las Vegas, NV. This was part of the closing keynote address hosted by Guy Kawasaki ( @GuyKawasaki ).

Please give a listen to my friend and fellow podcaster, Allison Sheridan's NosillaCast podcast when she sits down with none other than Eugene "Rod" Roddenberry (or just Rod) in the latest episode of her "technology geek podcast with an EVER so slight Macintosh bias!"

After seeing the new Star Trek film and giving some initial reactions via Twitter, people are asking me for a fuller explanation of what I thought of it. The 140 characters that Twitter offers with each tweet does not lend itself to expressing my thoughts on this new re-imagined and reboot of Star Trek, so I will use this space to explain a little further about and will most likely do a full review in an upcoming podcast.

So the new Star Trek reboot has opened. Let's not be coy about it, it is indeed a reboot. It's a relaunch of the series or "franchise" if you will. It is Star Trek for a new generation, not The Next Generation.

Like the Star Wars film series, there are certain things that long-time die-hard fans find themselves buying over again and again with each new step in media technology. Perhaps you have done it as well, perhaps on a smaller scale with let's say The Beatles buying them on vinyl, 8-track, cassettes, compact discs, and then digital... err... oh they never made it that far yet, perhaps The Beatles is not the perfect example. Let's just stick with Star Wars and Star Trek here, but you get the idea. Back in the day

Hitchhiker's Guide to British Sci-Fi - Episode 3
Running Time: 1:00:12

News on Gallifrey 20, The Prisoner, Day of the Triffids, Life on Mars, New Red Dwarf, Doctor Who, Blake's 7, Torchwood, BBC America, and even Star Trek.

Hosted by Louis Trapani, Ken Deep, and James Naughton.

On the 18th of December 2008, we lost "The First Lady of Star Trek" otherwise known as Majel Barrett Roddenberry. Although I had only met her once, and never had the opportunity to have her on any of our shows or interview her, she touched the lives of many Star Trek fans, myself included.