Confirmed: New contract to keep Star Trek The Experience alive in Vegas



SCI FI Wire confirmed today that a contract has been signed with CBS/Paramount to reopen the Star Trek The Experience exhibit in Las Vegas on May 8 —starting with at least a new restaurant and retail shop—to coincide with the opening of J.J. Abram's Star Trek movie.

"It is a bit premature to talk about it, but I can confirm that a contract has been signed," Liz Kalodner, executive vice president and general manager of CBS consumer products in New York, told SCI FI Wire exclusively. "I do not have any further comment."

Las Vegas city public information officer Jace Radke confirmed to SCI FI Wire that the Star Trek The Experience, which was to be closed at its home at the Las Vegas Hilton this year, will move downtown to the Neonopolis Center. "This is going to be a major part of the downtown redevelopment we have been working on, and the city department of business development has been trying to encourage attractions like this to the area," he said.

The Experience featured a restaurant and bar, shops and motion-simulator rides themed to Star Trek: The Next Generation ("Klingon Encounter") and Star Trek: Voyager ("Borg Invasion 4-D"). It's expected the new exhibit would feature similar rides at some point. For now, however, the plans envision just a new version of Quark's Restaurant and Bar, a Museum of the Future (perhaps incorporating elements and characters from the new movie) and a shop.

For his part, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said, "We are very excited about this for downtown."

The move would be part of the city's effort to redevelop the older part of downtown Las Vegas—situated at the end of the Strip of large casinos—into a more vibrant tourist and residential area. The Neonopolis project is one of the centerpieces of the area.

Radke added, "We are trying to secure other projects as well, but this Star Trek exhibit is happening, and we hope to have a portion of it ready by May 8. We're working on getting the Ts crossed and the Is dotted in the contract."



Journalist Mark Hansel, who writes for In Business Las Vegas, has seen the contracts signed by studio officials, Neonopolis owners and the city of Las Vegas. "I have seen the contract, and I know that the city redevelopment manager met with CBS officials in New York to seal the deal," said Hansel, who has covered the downtown redevelopment for years for In Business and the Las Vegas Sun. "They are hoping that there will be some sort of premiere event at the time of the movie opening that will be out here. Obviously, the big premiere will be in Hollywood, but they hope to have something out here, too."

The costumes, the historic timeline, models of the ships and other items at the Star Trek Experience exhibit will be moved to a museum that is planned for the new location, but much of the exhibit probably wouldn't be opened until the end of 2010.

"I wouldn't expect the cool stuff for about a year," Hansel said. "A lot of it also depends on the popularity of the movie and how well it does, but the trailer looks like it's going to be pretty great." He added: "The price is going to be cheaper, maybe $20 or $25, and there may be package deals or year-long memberships, that kind of thing."

Hansel said interest in the exhibit waned in recent years. "I talked to people in the town about it, and they just weren't going or interested, but now there's a new buzz, especially since this is going back to the early years of the series," he added.

The new venue already has a 3-D enabled movie theater, and there may be plans to have a 4-D "experiential" ride similar to the ones at the Hilton. Neonopolis manager Rohit Joshi projected that 7 million visitors could come to the exhibit a year, which Hansel said is "a reasonable estimate."

Neonopolis will also host the Southern Nevada Fine Arts Museum, a Barbizon School, the Spanish-language Telemundo station and an upscale nightclub. The biggest draw is expected to be the Star Trek The Experience.

Breaking News: Is The Next Generation In The New Star Trek Movie?



Today at the IDW Comics panel at WonderCon, they discussed the Transformers, G.I. Joe and Star Trek prequel comics. When it came time to talk about Star trek's prequel comics, they were talking about how the Next Generation cast plays an important role in the story of the prequel and that in the last issue, (issue 4 I believe) it ends in a major cliffhanger with Nero that leads right into the new J.J. Abrams Star Trek movie.

"The end of issue 4 is a cliffhanger and is going to continue in the first few minutes of the movie."

Right after that was said, another writer (or artist) said that part of the movie will take place with the Next Generation cast and to look out for that. Another guy on the panel gave him a quick "uh oh" look.

After that, someone from the audience asked "So are members of the Next Generation cast in the new Trek movie?" to which the same guy replied, "I really cannot say anything about that."

Oops! I think you already did!

So that's news to me. I never thought of J.J. Abrams tying in the Next Generation cast to this remake of the Trek universe. Do the Next Generation guys have something to do with Nero's appearance as the villain in the new Trek movie? Because Nero is a character in the prequel comics with the Next generation cast.

Does the cliffhanger and the beginning of the Trek movie involve the Next generation cast? And who in the cast would return?

I video taped the panel, so look for that soon. For now, it's debate time! Did J.J. put characters from Next Generation into the beginning of his Trek movie?

Exclusive First Look At Cover Of Star Trek Movie Adaptation (w/ New Plot Summary)

Some of the best Star Trek movie news to come out in February was announcement that sci-fi legend Alan Dean Foster would be adapting the Orci and Kurtzman script into a Novel. TrekMovie was the first with that news and today we have the exclusive first look at the front and back covers of the book, including the ‘blurb’ which gives a pretty good (spoilery) outline of the movie.

Star Trek - The Novel by Alan Dean Foster
Here is the front cover, which reflects some of the new promotional material showing up in theaters.


Star Trek Novel adaptation - Front Cover & Spine

Back cover blurb outlines plot for Star Trek
We also have the back cover, which has the following plot summary for the novel (and the movie) outlining the origin story for Kirk and Spock and the crisis they will face with Nero and his Narada coming from the future:

One grew up in the cornfields of Iowa, fighting for his independence, for a way out of a life that promised only indifference, aimlessness, and obscurity

The other grew up on the jagged cliffs of the harsh Vulcan desert, fighting for acceptance, for a way to reconcile the logic he was taught with the emotions he felt.

In the far reaches of the galaxy, a machine of war bursts into existence in a place and time it was never meant to be. On a mission of retribution of the destruction of his planet, its half-mad captain seeks the death of every intelligent being, and the annihilation of every civilized world.

Kirk and Spock, two completely different and unyielding personalities, must find a way to lead the only crew, aboard the only ship, that can stop him


Star Trek Novel adaptation - Back Cover

Decoding the blurb
Running that blurb through TrekMovie’s magic decoder ring, we come up with this:

Star Trek is a coming of age story for James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock who each deal with childhood struggles before coming together on the USS Enterprise, as very different people. They start at odds, but find a way to work together, along with the rest of the classic Trek crew, towards that friendship and family that has become legend.

They do this when faced with the crisis of Nero, a hell-bent for revenge Romulan from the future who is wreaking havoc across the Federation with his giant monster-like ship, the Narada. It seems that he has taken the destruction of his home planet Romulus personally, and is particularly pissed off at a certain pointy eared half-Vulcan whom he was working with in the 24th century before he came back in time and started cutting a swath across the galaxy.

Read the movie May 12th + message from author
The trade paperback (measuring 5 5/16″ x 8 1/4″) has an official release date of May 12th and can be preordered at Amazon (currently discounted to $10.20). There will be audio and e-book versions, also available on May 12th. As noted in our last article on this, the novel is 192 pages long. Some fans wondered if that was short, and so Alan Dean Foster has weighed in, with a comment at TrekMovie saying:

The [Star Trek] novel manuscript came in at about 79,000 words. Not War & Peace, not Stephen King, but far, far from a novella.

When comparing number of pages in a book, remember also that font size enters into the number of words per page.

And don’t forget about the prequel comic
And if you want to get the full Star Trek experience, then you will also want to pick up the comic book prequel series, "Star Trek Countdown." The series is halfway through with the final (of four) issues coming out the last week of April. This will conincide with the release of a trade paperback compiling all four issues. If you haven’t been reading the comics so far, this TPB is your best bet as the first two comics are already sold out.


Star Trek Countdown (comic book prequel to movie)
- Trade Paperback - Front Cover

Bryan Singer Wants Jack the Giant Killer To Be 3D, Paramount Considering 3D Star Trek Sequel



I’ll probably be waiting a long time to hear that Ken Loach or Joe Swanberg is looking into 3D for their next production, but it seems that stereography really has caught on with franchise-type pictures, genre films and so on. Over the last few weeks there’s been explicit discussion of an ‘Avatar effect’, a redoubled interest in the form from the studios looking, jaws dead on the floor, at the box-office receipts for Cameron’s latest.

Is this perceived effect real? It seems it will be, and I’m sure that seems to be no surprise if you think of Hollywood as cash grabbing. But is it really the money men driving the decision to go 3D? Might it not be the creatives?

Bryan Singer has reportedly requested New Line allow his next picture Jack the Giant Killer be shot in 3D. The discussion is apparently still ongoing. It’s the pen hovering over the checkbook that’s hesitating here, not the artist.

The New York Times say that their sources spoke “on condition of anonymity because of studio policy”. When it comes to Paramount, however, they are able to cite Katie Martin Kelley directly. She says that the final decision on whether or not Transformers 3 and/or Star Trek 2 will be shot in 3D had been made. Here’s the fullest statement on Trek given in the article:

Paramount executives have already begun debating whether to shoot the next film in 3-D, even if that increases the cost and production difficulty, according to one person who was briefed on the talks.

I reported yesterday that the debate over stereography for Transformers 3 was still ongoing. It seems to be that Michael Bay has already said he doesn’t like 3D and is now sticking to his guns, whether or not he’s changed his mind at all. My money is on him losing the fight and issuing some sort of back-pedal statement on his official site - and before long too.

Paramount Has Asked J.J. Abrams to Film ‘Star Trek 2′ in 3D



Here’s a great example of just how uncreative Hollywood can be. J.J. Abrams recently stated that he has yet to see the screenplay for Star Trek 2 and that, without seeing the screenplay, he won’t commit to directing the picture. So – as of this moment – he is not directing the film. Despite that, in a new interview with Vulture, Abrams admits Paramount has already asked him to shoot the film in 3D. That’s not to say that it will be shot in 3D, whether Abrams directs or not, just that it’s been suggested very early in the process.

A film should be the creative, collected vision of all those involved. But when studios are suggesting 3D without even knowing who the director of the film is, it certainly feels like they’re just grabbing for those extra few dollars per ticket. Read J.J’s quote about this and more after the jump.

In the interview with Vulture, Abrams admits that Paramount asked him to shoot the film in 3D and followed up by saying this:

I have nothing against 3-D in theory. But I’ve also never run to the movies because something’s in 3-D. [As for Trek], as soon as I read the script, if it says, ‘Somebody pushes a weapon toward the camera in a menacing way,’ and we think, ‘That’d be better in 3-D!’… I dunno. What do you wanna see? 2-D or 3D?

The journalist said they didn’t care. Abrams continued:

I’m a big fan of whip pans, which is very hard to do in 3-D. You know, when I was in New York fifteen years ago, and I sort of had the flu, I remember turning the TV on. There were these kids in a very dark, kind of muddy movie that was on a local channel, talking about making out. Then you cut to them walking in the forest, and somebody had a paddleball, and they were doing it right to the camera. It was like this weird, experimental Fellini movie. I was like, “What the f*** is this movie?” And it was Friday the 13th Part 3 in 3-D — without sex, violence, or 3-D! It was genius.

Like Abrams suggests, if a film is developed, written and thought of as a visual, three dimensional story, then by all means, make the movie in 3D. But it really bothers me to think that 3D isn’t being thought of as a creative choice, but a financial one. In all probability, Paramount is just assuming Abrams will direct and that’s why they asked him. But Abrams isn’t stupid. He knows 3D is popular right now. He should be the one suggesting 3D to Paramount, not the other way around. It simply doesn’t feel as organic.

Warner Brothers took the first step in honoring the viewer when it comes to 3D when they canceled the 3D release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One. But if other studios don’t follow suit and treat 3D with respect, it’s just going to ruin a whole bunch of otherwise good movies.