Region 2 "Newsletter of the Year" Award, 2012
Region 2 "Newsletter of the Year" Award, 2nd Place, 2011
Region 2 "Best Electronic Newsletter" Award, 2009

Volume I
Number 75
June / Early July 2014
CONTENTS
UPCOMING EVENTS
•  Sat.-Sun., July 26-27: SAVE THE DATES, KEEP THEM OPEN!
•  Saturday, August 2: Away Mission to Guardians of the Galaxy
•  Saturday, August 9: Away Mission to Night at the Museum


SAVE THESE DATES NOW:  DETAILS TO BE ANNOUNCED

•  Saturday, September 27: STARFLEET Bowling Challenge
•  Friday, October 31: USS Republic Halloween Spooktacular
•  Sat.-Sun., Dec. 6-7, 2014: Farragut Fest 2014 (Kingsland GA)
•  Saturday, Dec. 20: USS Republic Holiday Party
& CO Election

NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
•  Capt. Watts and the Republic to be featured in reality series
•  The TrekTrax Atlanta 2014 Postmortem Report
•  TrekTrax Atlanta, TrekTrak and Scotty t-shirts still available
•  Personnel Records
•  Library Computer
•  Recent Chapter Event Photos

SIDEBAR
•  Belated June Birthdays
•  July Membership Renewals
•  About the Republic
•  For More Information
•  USS Republic Online
•  Crew Roster
•  News from TrekMovie.com
    Orci hints at new setting and aliens for next Star Trek; talks         directing, Kirk sex, gay character & more
   
 Star Trek Into Darkness shut out at Saturn Awards + TNG         wins for Blu-ray
   
 New Star Trek writers: J. J. Abrams "still guiding light"         behind 2016 movie
UPCOMING EVENTS
Away Mission to Guardians of the Galaxy

1:00 p.m. Saturday, August 2, 2014
AMC North Dekalb Mall 16
2050 Lawrenceville Hwy
Decatur GA  30033
From Marvel, the studio that brought you the global blockbuster franchises of Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and The Avengers, comes a new team—the Guardians of the Galaxy.  An action-packed, epic space adventure, Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy expands the Marvel Cinematic Universe into the cosmos, where brash adventurer Peter Quill finds himself the object of an unrelenting bounty hunt after stealing a mysterious orb coveted by Ronan, a powerful villain with ambitions that threaten the entire universe.  To evade the ever-persistent Ronan, Quill is forced into an uneasy truce with a quartet of disparate misfits—Rocket, a gun-toting raccoon; Groot, a tree-like humanoid; the deadly and enigmatic Gamora; and the revenge-driven Drax the Destroyer.  But when Quill discovers the true power of the orb and the menace it poses to the cosmos, he must do his best to rally his ragtag rivals for a last, desperate stand—with the galaxy's fate in the balance.

Make plans to join your USS Republic crewmates for this late-summer science fiction blockbuster!  Tickets for adults are only $7.50 for this showtime, compared to $10.25 for an evening showtime at the same theater and $10.00 for a matinee showtime at the nearby Regal Hollywood 24 in Chamblee.  (See?  We really do check these things out for you!)  Click the link below to be taken directly to Fandango's checkout page for this showtime at this theater.  Buy your ticket now to avoid a possible sell-out and join your fellow crewmates on this away mission to Guardians of the Galaxy!
Away Mission to Night at the Museum

6:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Saturday, August 9, 2014
Tellus Science Museum
100 Tellus Drive, Cartersville GA  30120
(770) 386-0576
Have you ever wanted to ask the Wright Brothers about their first successful flight?  Or would you like to tell Galileo how much the telescope has changed since his days?  Or maybe you'd like to tell Katniss Everdeen that you were rooting for her in The Hunger Games!

Ensigns Lee and Tiffany Johnson, Republic CO Capt Eric L. Watts and ENS1 Wil Sims at last year's Night of the Museum event.
On Saturday, August 9, you'll have the chance to meet these and other popular characters from science and science fiction when Night at the Museum returns to Tellus!  Actors portraying historical figures like Albert Einstein and Marie Curie will impress you with their scientific discoveries, while pop-science characters like Indiana Jones and Captain America will explain how science was important in their everyday "lives."

Every visitor will receive an autograph book to document this special night.  Children 12 and under are encouraged to dress up as their favorite science or science fiction character and participate in an Instagram photo contest.  We will award a special prize for the winner.

If that's not enough for you, then stay for a crowd-pleasing show by the Tellus Madd Scientists!  See how our wacky experts experiment with science to bring you the best programs in the state.  The Tellus Madd Scientists crew will be sure to entertain and amaze you with demonstrations that explode with fun.

Don't worry about grabbing dinner on the run—the Café will be open until 9:00 p.m.
Tellus Science Museum Members: $10, Non-Members: $20
Advance ticket purchase recommended, as this event may sell out.  Call (770) 606-5700 ext 431 to purchase your tickets.
Want to carpool to Cartersville?  Contact the Captain!

Characters and cosplayers from several popular franchises participated in the fourth annual Night at the Museum, August 4, 2012.
Photo courtesy of the 501st Georgia Garrison
NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

Captain Watts and the USS Republic to be featured in new reality series
Exciting news!  USS Republic CO Fleet Captain Eric L. Watts has been asked to participate in a brand new reality series that "celebrates the passion of fans around the South, while showcasing how they take their passion to the next level."  After an exchange of several emails and a lengthy phone conversation earlier this week, the producers of this new series have agreed that it would be appropriate and desirable to film portions of this episode at a USS Republic chapter event where there are lots of Star Trek fans in costume.  Filming will take place in late July but an exact date has not yet been confirmed.  As soon as a date is confirmed, some type of costume-friendly event or activity will be planned and announced and all members and friends of the USS Republic will be invited (encouraged, urged, etc.) to attend and participate.

It seems likely that the producers will choose the weekend of July 26-27 for filming, but this is only a guess.  If you are interested in being included in this production, please keep that weekend open and clear on your calendars and be ready to commit to whatever time and location is confirmed.  Please note: You will be asked to sign a release form in order to appear in this series.

One of Captain Eric's preliminary concerns about this series was that it might be exploitative, sensationalistic or disrespectful of Star Trek fans, similar to the criticism that the SyFy channel's Heroes of Cosplay reality series has received from the cosplay community.  The producers have assured Captain Eric that, although they've asked for an opportunity to film a group of Star Trek fans in costume, this new series is intended to showcase passionate fans in a respectful and positive light.  And what better group of Star Trek fans to appear in such a series than members of the Republic?
The TrekTrax Atlanta 2014 Postmortem Report
The fourth annual TrekTrax Atlanta (TXA), the science fiction/space opera convention hosted by the USS Republic, was held April 25-27, 2014, at the Atlanta Marriott Northwest at Galleria hotel in the Cumberland area of northwest Atlanta.  Our Guests of Honor were Arlene Martel (best known to Star Trek fans as T'Pring in the original series episode "Amok Time"), Felix Silla (Twiki in Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, an Ewok in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, Lucifer in the original Battlestar Galactica, a Talosian in the first Star Trek pilot "The Cage," Cousin Itt in the original The Addams Family) and Jeremy Roberts (Lt. Commander Dimitri Valtane in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Flashback").  Our special guest for the second year in a row was Keith R. A. DeCandido, the prolific writer/editor of many Star Trek and other sci-fi franchise novels, novellas, short stories, comic books and eBooks.

Nearly three dozen additional guests included cast and crew members from the Star Trek fan film productions Project: Potemkin, Star Trek: Reliant, Starship Farragut and Star Trek: Phase II; musical acts Go, Robo! Go! and Hyperspace; puppet troupes Felt Nerdy and Death By Puppets; cast members from The Spirit of Broadway's The Skywalkers; local sci-fi podcasters Mike Gordon and Bobby Nash from Earth Station One; local radio talk show host Dan Carroll from Seriously, Dan; and local personality Betsy Goodrich, performing as her alter-ego "Danger Woman."

Over the course of the three-day convention, TrekTrax Atlanta presented over 50 different events on two concurrent tracks of programming: one dedicated to the Star Trek universe and the other dedicated to Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica and Firefly.  This is actually almost the same number of panels and events that were presented in 2013 on three tracks of programming.  We listened to the feedback we received about there being too many different things going on at the same time in previous years' conventions, causing our attendees to miss too many events that they wanted to see, but we also listened to the feedback about wanting to see more events and activities related to other popular science fiction TV shows and movies other than "just" Star Trek.  We accomplished both goals by 1) consolidating the previous year's Star Trek, Klingon and Costuming & Makeup tracks into one "all Star Trek, all the time" track and creating a second track devoted to everything else, and 2) decreasing the time between panels from a half hour to 15 minutes.  This allowed for more panels and events to be scheduled on each track while cutting the number of tracks down to only two, so more people could see more of the programming we presented.  This restructuring of the programming schedule was successful and very well-received by this year's attendees.

Special events this year included a VIP champagne reception, a tremendously popular sci-fi puppet show, a Broadway-style tribute to Star Wars, musical performances by two live bands, the first-ever TrekTrax Atlanta Masquerade and of course, the 15th annual Miss Klingon Empire Beauty Pageant, which was won after an honorable competition by Albuquerque, New Mexico, resident and University of New Mexico student Cree Myers, whose victory was featured in her student newspaper, here.  TXA also hosted a gaming room, a dealers room and a con suite.  During our second annual "Star Trek Fan Film Festival," no less than 62 different Star Trek fan films, including episodes from various series and several standalone films, were screened in our Video Room.  And finally, on Saturday night, cast and crew members from Project: Potemkin, Star Trek: Reliant, Starship Farragut and Star Trek: Phase II came together to film a Project: Potemkin vignette, "Ladies Night Out," which will premiere on the Internet sometime next year.  This marks the second time that several independent Star Trek fan film productions have collaborated on a single film, and TrekTrax Atlanta is pleased to have hosted the production.

Most of this year's attendees will tell you that they had a great time at this year's convention.  All three of our Guests of Honor were absolutely delightful, approachable and entertaining, and we are grateful to have hosted them.  The addition of Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica and Firefly programming events were very well-received and brought new fans to the convention.  Operationally, things went fairly well overall, with most of our planned events and activities starting and ending on time, with (as far as we know) no major technical glitches with any equipment, aside from not being able to get our badge label printer working until several hours after Registration opened.  That said, we did have one major at-con disappointment and another issue has arisen post-con.

We worked very hard to put together a brand new art show for this year's convention, but all that went down in a spectacular blaze of glory at the convention.  Due to an out-of-state family emergency, our Art Show Director was unable to put together the kind of art show we had hoped for and about a month before the convention, that responsibility was taken over by members of our Convention Operations staff, who had very little time to plan and prepare the event.  Add to that issue were the facts that one of our confirmed artists had to cancel his appearance two weeks before the convention and our other confirmed artist was an altogether no-show.  As a result, our art show was an empty room with no art and no artists.  Although this was a huge disappointment for us, the majority of our attendees didn't seem to notice its absence, probably due to the fact that we'd never had one before.  We remain committed to presenting an art show next year and have already begun contacting potential artists.

The other matter is a bit more serious.  It has come to our attention that an unknown number of attendees have not yet received the prepaid photos that were taken of them with our Guests of Honor by the photographer with whom we contracted to provide that service.  We are currently in contact with the photographer and are working to resolve this unfortunate issue as quickly and as amicably as possible.  If you paid to have your picture taken with our guests and have not received your photo, please contact the Chairman with the details of your transaction.

In 2011, TrekTrax Atlanta attendance numbered 25 guests, 45 staff volunteers and 187 paid memberships for a total attendance of 257 persons.  In 2012, attendance numbered 33 guests, 45 staff volunteers and 162 paid memberships for a total paid attendance of 240 persons, a 6.6% decrease from the previous year.  In 2013, attendance numbered 43 guests and comps, 41 staff volunteers and 97 paid memberships for a total attendance of 181 persons, a 24.6% decrease from the previous year.  This year, TrekTrax Atlanta attendance included 72 guests and comps, 40 staff volunteers and 134 paid memberships for a total attendance of 246 persons, a spectacular increase of 35.9% over the previous year, making this our second-best year ever and falling just twelve persons short of being our best year ever.

This dramatic (and very welcome) increase in attendance may be partly due to our increased focus on other popular science fiction outer space franchises besides Star Trek, but is more likely due to the unprecedented amount of advertising and promotion that we did this year.  We had fan tables at last year's TimeGate and Sci-Fi Summer Con and this year's Chattacon and AnachroCon conventions, and handed out marketing cards and flyers at last year's Night at the Museum, The Skywalkers, Project: Potemkin Open House and Farragut Fest events.  We also distributed those same marketing cards and flyers at more than two dozen comic book and gaming stores in the metro area and mailed them to a couple of out-of-state conventions.  We listed ourselves on more than two dozen online convention calendars, promoted heavily on dozens of Star Trek, Klingon and Firefly Facebook pages, donated a dozen gift certificates for free memberships to a handful of charity fundraising events, emailed a promotional newsletter to more than 700 addresses, purchased a classified ad in six local Hometown newspapers (Decatur Dispatch, Lilburn Living, Norcross News, Tucker Times, Ponce Press and Brookhaven Buzz) and a one-sixth-page black-and-white display ad in the latter two, and purchased a one-eighth-page color ad in Creative Loafing and a banner ad on their web site.  We also received an unexpected and free plug in the April issue of the widely read and highly regarded Atlanta magazine.  While it's difficult to quantify and qualify the return on investment (whether time, effort or financial) that each of these marketing strategies produced, it seems clear that in the aggregate, the end result was a significant increase in awareness of and attendance at our convention.

That said, and despite a more than one-third increase in attendance, we still did not reach the attendance figure that we had hoped to in 2014 and on which we based our budget.  We hoped—and needed—to reach the 300-person mark in attendance in order to break even.  Coming in at 246 for the year puts us at 54 people below the red line, and if you multiply that number by the price of a membership, you can quickly determine that the convention fell short of its financial projections by a couple thousand dollars.  While that is a troubling number, and one which must be addressed and included in future fiscal and budgetary planning, the good news is that all our bills are paid and our entire debt sits on the Total Amount Due line of a single credit card.  As we move forward into plans for 2015, we'll be looking for every way possible to reduce our expenses and increase our revenue while servicing our debt and still putting on "the best damned convention that no one's ever heard of."

TrekTrax Atlanta Chairman Eric L. Watts would like to thank all those persons who worked to make this year's convention the operational success that it was, including Director of Convention Operations Charles H. Strobel, Director of Technical Operations Matt Steinberg, Director of On-Site Registration Russell Ruhland, Director of Guest Transportation & Services Mark A. Ozanick, Star Trek Programming Director Brian Holloway, Star Wars Programming Director Cheralyn Lambeth, Battlestar Galactica Programming Director Marcia Patterson, Firefly Programming Director Jenna "Tink" McCoy, Video Room Director Clay Leaphart, Videography Director Marq Collins, Security Director Jeff "Legoless" Moore and Con Suite Director Jay Cannon, as well as everyone who served on their staffs.  More than a thousand photos from this year's convention can be seen in our Flickr album here.

We are currently in negotiations with a hotel for 2015 and hope to announce that location next issue.  We have also begun reaching out to potential celebrity guests and will announce those names when they are confirmed.  We are also working on developing a brand new signature event for next year that we hope will be the Next Big Thing, something we believe will attract an unprecedented amount of attention and recognition to our convention.

TrekTrax Atlanta 2015 will be held on April 24-27.  We want and need your support and attendance at next year's convention and hope to see you there!
TrekTrax Atlanta, TrekTrak and Scotty t-shirts still available
CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE
Still available!  A limited selection of commemorative souvenir t-shirts from this year's and last year's TrekTrax Atlanta, our previously offered Scotty fundraiser t-shirt, and even a few still-new shirts from the 2006 TrekTrak at Dragon*Con.  This year's con shirt features a full-color design with this year's celebrity guests Arlene Martel, Felix Silla and Jeremy Roberts on a high-quality Gildan 50/50 polycot blend shirt.  Last year's con shirt features an attractive three-color design with guest of honor Manu Intiraymi.  The TrekTrak t-shirt features George Takei, Denise Crosby and Tony Todd.  Available only in the sizes and colors shown in the drop-down menus.  All shirts are only $20 postpaid to domestic US addresses.  Please select your shirt from the PayPal buttons below.
TrekTrax Atlanta 2014 T-Shirts
SMALL, MEDIUM AND LARGE
XL AND 2XL
SIZE & COLOR
SIZE & COLOR
TrekTrax Atlanta 2013 T-Shirts
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Scotty T-Shirts
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TrekTrak 2006 T-Shirts
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Personnel Records
Congratulations to ENS2 Tracey S. Harwell, who received a grade of HONORS for the STARFLEET Academy course "Officer's Training School" from the Institute of Leadership Studies, completed on May 26, 2014.

STARFLEET Academy is a special collection of correspondence courses available to every STARFLEET member.  Over 60 Academy Colleges offer courses spanning all aspects of Star Trek and science fiction; some courses even cover non-sci-fi real world topics.  Each college offers dozens of different courses at varying levels of challenge from super-easy to really hard.  In total, there are nearly 1,000 different courses available.  Take a course today!

Something special going on in your life?  Submit your Personnel Record for publication in the next issue of The Republiqué!

Library Computer
CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE
The Spock That Might Have Been

Shown here is an early—perhaps the earliest—costume design for Spock, created by the Western Costume Company.  It included a black leather skull cap and appears to have been heavily influenced by Western's previous costume design for
Space Patrol, a science fiction TV show that ran from 1950 to 1955 (below). Luckily, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry later met costume designer Bill Theiss, who was eventually hired to design the costumes for "The Cage," Star Trek and, twenty years later, Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Recent Chapter Event Photos
CLICK ANY PHOTO TO ENLARGE
Outlantacon / Gaylaxicon  ||  May 2-4, 2014
USS Republic CO Fleet Captain Eric L. Watts had the opportunity to speak with folks at Outlantacon about the prior weekend's TrekTrax Atlanta, as well as sell a few leftover t-shirts.
Left: Captain Eric with ENS1 Russell J. Broomfield.

Right: Captain Eric with "Lt. Nea D'Angel, Chief Fashion Consultant to the USS
Enterprise" (Jevocas "Java" Green) and "Moxie Ann Magnus," Chief Cosmetology Officer aboard the USS Enterprise.
Trek Trance: Star Trek Dance Party  ||  May 9, 2014
Although not an official chapter event, several members and friends of the Republic attended this Star Trek-themed dance party held at the Legend Cafe in Doraville.  Click the link below to see hundreds of amazing photos taken of the fun, festivities and costumes.
TimeGate  ||  May 23-25, 2014
ENS1 Mark A. Ozanick, FCapt Eric L. Watts and Remy Loste work the TrekTrax Atlanta fan table at TimeGate.
TimeGate's guests this year included author and college instructor Diana Botsford and the utterly fabulous "Moxie Ann Magnus."

BELATED JUNE BIRTHDAYS

Wednesday, June 4
ENS1 Renardo Hunter

JULY MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS
These members' dues will expire in July
.  Please renew now!

ENS1 Wilford B. ("Will") Sims

ABOUT THE REPUBLIC
The USS Republic NCC-1371 was originally commissioned as a chapter of STARFLEET International on May 14, 1988, at the Dixie-Trek convention in Atlanta, Georgia.  As of June 30, 2014, the Republic crew includes 28 members who are active members of STARFLEET in good standing.
The Republic plans and coordinates an active schedule of events for its members, but does not hold meetings on a consistently fixed date each month.
Because the USS Republic is a duly commissioned chapter of STARFLEET International and is bound and governed by its Constitution and By-Laws, membership in STARFLEET is a prerequisite for membership in the Republic.  STARFLEET dues for one person are $20 for a "Standard Membership" or $10 for an "E-Membership" and chapter dues are $10 per person for either membership option.  A combined payment for all dues is collected by the Republic (family discounts are available with certain conditions and restrictions).  Additional information about the two STARFLEET membership options, amounts due for additional family members, payment options and payment instructions is on the "How to Join" page of our award-winning web site.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

USS REPUBLIC ONLINE

CREW ROSTER
AS OF JUNE 30, 2014
CDT Zarena Nova Tucker
ENS1 "Wolfy"

NEWS from
Orci hints at new setting and aliens for next Star Trek; talks directing, Kirk sex, gay character & more
By TrekMovie.com Staff
June 26, 2014
In a just-released podcast interview, Roberto Orci discussed the challenge he faces as a first-time director for the next Star Trek movie, dropped some hints for the setting and about new aliens, talked about visiting the set of Star Wars to pick up tips from J. J. Abrams, opined on Kirk sex scenes and a gay character and more.
Orci talks about 2016 Star Trek movie
Geoff Boucher—formerly of the L. A. Times Hero Complex and Entertainment Weekly—has a great new podcast as part of the Nerdist Network titled "Humans from Earth."  And Star Trek writer/producer (and soon-to-be director) Roberto Orci was a guest for the second episode, which just went online.  It is worth listening to the full interview, which runs about an hour.
TrekMovie has grabbed some of the key quotes from Bob about the upcoming 2016 Star Trek film.
Orci hints at new setting and new aliens
Much has been said about how both the 2009 Star Trek film and 2013's Star Trek Into Darkness were very Earth-centric.  But for the next one, Orci promises that will change.
Orci: In [Into Darkness], they set out finally where the original series started.  The first two films—especially the 2009 [Star Trek]—was an origin story.  It was about them coming together.  So they weren't the characters they were in the original series.  They were growing into them and that continues on in the second movie.  So in this movie, they are closer than they are to the original series characters than you have ever seen.  They have set off on their five-year mission.  So their adventure is going to be in deep space.
And later in the podcast, the subject of creature design came up, and in that discussion Orci hinted at new aliens for the next Star Trek.
Orci: We have discussed [the challenges of creature design].  The advantage we have is there is new technology available.  Even though I am a fan and I know J. J. is a fan of as much practical sets and creature design you can do, we can also augment it with the technology that exists today, CGI.  So in a way, we have a freedom that is a little bit unexplored.  I hope to do that in the next Star Trek.
And later, he picked up on that point again when discussing aliens in Star Trek.
Orci: The Horta is actually the villain in the next one—no—they are in deep space now, so let's see what's out there.
And when a fan asserted that with the new Star Trek films, "You have to go back to the Romulans or the Klingons," Orci countered, "But wait, why do you have to go back to them?"  He went on to say:
Orci: Because this is an alternative universe, I think we can choose.  I don't feel the pressure to revisit anyone or not.  We are lucky that way, but we have the ability to cherry-pick what has become before.  It will depend on what serves the story best.
As for his favorite Star Trek aliens, Orci cited the Gorn, tribbles, Romulans and Vulcans.
Orci getting tips watching J. J. direct Star Wars + talks Wars/Trek rivalry
The podcast was recorded a couple weeks ago, shortly before Bob was to fly to the U. K. to visit the set where J. J. Abrams is shooting Star Wars.  He said that the trip was motivated to get some mentoring from his longtime collaborator, J. J. Abrams.
Orci: That is why I am going [to visit with J. J. Abrams the set of Star Wars Episode VII].  I am going to steal as much wisdom as I can.  I am fortunate to have seen a lot of directors direct and I plan on picking all of their brains.  Every one of them has a different style and different tricks.  And they also have—one of them just sent me Directing for Dummies [laughs].  So that is what you do.  This is not a time to not ask for help and not get the cumulative wisdom of all the people I have been lucky enough to see and work with.
Orci later talked about the Star Wars/Star Trek rivalry:
Orci: It is daunting to try and compete with Star Wars, especially since they may be released so close to each other.  So it certainly motivates me to make it as good as possible.  It is interesting to me to have a friend of mine working on the other one, so hopefully it doesn't turn into I'm the team that Globetrotters play against—the Washington Generals—hopefully it is going to be a little more competitive than that.
Less Kirk sex?  And a gay character?
Boucher asked Orci if he might try to "escalate" and try to top the sex scenes with Capt. Kirk from the last two Star Trek films, but Bob indicated Kirk might go in a different direction:
Orci: In the first film, [Kirk] is like a college guy—or a cadet—who finds himself in a dorm, lights come on and she's green!  In the second film, he finds himself with humanoid felines.  In the third film, he is a little bit more of an adult, so I don't know.
The subject of introducing a gay character into Star Trek came up and Orci seemed open to the idea.  When asked, he responded:
Orci: I would like to see that.
Delving deeper, Bob had this to say about addressing social issues in Star Trek:
Orci: It can be part of a character and not be the whole shebang.  It doesn't have to be like South Park, like "what have we learned today."  It can be so normalized that it just exists.  I agree it can't be shoe-horned in.  And it is not necessary for it to be the whole point of the thing.  It is an ensemble and there are lots of people to represent, so no one point of view should hog it.
Promises less secrecy
Much has been said about J. J. Abrams' penchant for secrecy.  When asked if he would follow the same course or be more open, Orci was hoping to be more transparent:
Orci: I think it is going to be more of a mix.  On the one hand, you want the story to have surprises.  Otherwise, why even go to the movie?  On the other hand, you want to share enough of it to let people know what they are going to get and what they can expect and what the experience is going to feel like.  In terms of behind the scenes, audiences are now so savvy, I think it is kind of fun to be more transparent.  And let people into the process of how you are doing things and let them watch you do the movie.  You can see behind the scenes without knowing what the context of the scene is or what the story is.
Shatner or other TOS cast?
Bob was also asked if it was possible to—like they have done with Leonard Nimoy—bring back William Shatner or one of the other original series actors.  He replied:
Orci: It's possible.  Whatever serves the story.  That's my version of "no comment."
There is much more in the podcast including talking about writing collaborations, his history with Trek (including favorite episodes and characters), contrasting TOS and TNG, meeting Shatner and Nimoy and much more.  Go to Nerdist.com to listen to the full interview.
REPRINTED FROM TREKMOVIE.COM
© 2014 SciFanatic Network

Star Trek Into Darkness shut out at Saturn Awards + TNG wins for Blu-ray
By TrekMovie.com Staff
June 27, 2014
Thursday night in Burbank was the last stop in awards season, with the 40th Saturn Awards, honoring the best in science fiction and fantasy.  Last summer's Star Trek Into Darkness went into the night with five nominations, but got shut out.  There were also more Trek-related winners and losers at the Saturns.
Into Darkness falls to Gravity at the Saturn Awards
The 40th awards show for the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films was held in Burbank, California.  J. J. Abrams' 2013 feature Star Trek Into Darkness was nominated for five Saturn Awards, but wasn't triumphant in any of its categories.  The big winner of the night was Warner Bros.' Gravity, starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney.  The film picked up five awards, three of which were in categories with Into Darkness.
Star Trek Into Darkness was nominated for Best Science Fiction Film, Best Director (J. J. Abrams), Best Special/Visual Effects (Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Ben Grossman, Burt Dalton), Best Supporting Actor (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Best Costume (Michael Kaplan).  The winners of those awards were Gravity; Alfanso Cuoron (for Gravity); Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, David Shirk and Neil Corbould (for Gravity); Ben Kingsley (for Iron Man 3) and Trish Summerville (for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire), respectively.
Into Darkness isn't the first Trek film to get shut out at the Saturns.  All the Star Trek films with the exception of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier received Saturn nominations ranging from two (Generations) to ten (The Motion Picture and First Contact).  Four Trek films picked up one award at the Saturns (The Motion Picture, The Voyage Home, The Undiscovered Country and 2009's Star Trek).  The Wrath of Khan took home two and First Contact has the record with three wins.
The Saturn Awards marks the end to "award season."  All in all, Into Darkness was nominated for three People's Choice Awards, three Film Critics' Awards, two Teen Choice Awards, an Academy Award, a BAFTA, an MTV Movie Award and an Empire Award, along with some guild technical awards... none of which it won.  So far, the only awards won were a Britannia Award for Benedict Cumberbatch, a Satellite Award for the Blu-ray release and a Hollywood Movie Award for J. J. Abrams, plus one silver and two bronze awards at the Key Art Awards (for a trailer and the Star Trek app).
Star Trek TNG Blu-rays win again + Trek nonfic author honored
And for the second year in a row, CBS Home Entertainment won for Best DVD or Blu-ray TV Series for Star Trek: The Next Generation (Seasons 3, 4 and 5).  Last year, they won for Seasons 1 and 2.  TNG beat out releases for The Adventures of Superboy (Season 3), Search (The Complete Series), Under the Dome (Season 1), The Walking Dead (Season 3) and The White Queen (Season 1).
Author Marc Cushman received a Special Recognition Award for his two recent Star Trek books, These Are the Voyages: TOS: Season One and These Are the Voyages: TOS: Season Two, which detail the making of the original Star Trek series and cover the making and development of each episode.  This project took six years of research to complete.  The third book (Season 3) will be published later this year.
Fuller & McDowell pick up special awards + Fuller shares TV award with Bad Robot
A number of Star Trek alumni were up for awards and some were also getting special honors.  Actor Malcolm McDowell (Soran in Star Trek: Generations) picked up the Life Career Award, and Star Trek: Voyager and Deep Space Nine writing/producing vet Bryan Fuller was honored with the Dan Curtis Legacy Award.
In addition, Fuller's latest series Hannibal was up for four awards and took home two, including tying for Best Network Television series with the now-cancelled Revolution (produced by Star Trek producers J. J. Abrams and Bryan Burk).  One of the shows Hannibal beat was Sleepy Hollow (from producers Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman).  The Orci/Kurtzman-produced sci-fi film Ender's Game was also up for three awards, but came home empty-handed.  Also shut-out was The World's End, which was up for three awards, including Best Actor and Best Writer for Simon Pegg.
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New Star Trek writers: J. J. Abrams "still guiding light" behind 2016 movie
By Matt Wright
June 30, 2014
In a new interview, Patrick McKay and J. D. Payne—co-writers along with Roberto Orci for the upcoming Star Trek film—talk about their background with the franchise, where they see the next movie headed and how much producer J. J. Abrams is involved.
Payne and McKay talk next Trek
Much has been said about Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness producer/director J. J. Abrams' involvement in the 2016 Star Trek film now that he is focused on directing Star Wars Episode VII.  The next Trek film is being produced by Abrams and his Bad Robot production company, but some question his involvement—even prompting Wil Wheaton to make a joke about it on his Syfy TV show last week.  However, in a two-part interview with TrekCore, Patrick McKay and J. D. Payne say Abrams is still very much involved in the creative process for upcoming Trek feature.
Bad Robot, J. J. and his team are really at the heart of this movie's development.  They are the guiding light by which we all do our work.  J. J.'s been a key part of helping us spin this tale from the beginning, and if there are people who think that we've lost him to Star Wars this time around, that's not the truth as far as we see it.
The writing duo also discuss where the next movie is headed.
Patrick McKay: We're very much thinking about a movie that would stand alongside the first two, in a general sense, but more specifically, I would say that in working with our wonderful co-writer Roberto Orci, it began very much as a conversation.  "Well, what would you guys like to see in the movie?"  "Is there an area we all want to explore?"  Nothing was off the table—all along, it's been about the coolest, best movie we can write.  There's no sort of requirement saying we have to do this or that.  I think it's very much been a blank canvas.
J. D. Payne: What we keep on coming back to is the basic credo of Star Trek, that opening prologue you hear at the beginning of each original series episode.  That's our mantra for what we're trying to accomplish here.
The guys also talked about their introductions to Trek.
Patrick McKay: I've probably seen every episode of the original series; I've seen the movies many, many times.  I remember when The Next Generation was premiering, it was such a big deal.  I watched at least the first couple of seasons—you know, I do actually remember watching "The Best of Both Worlds" as it aired.  That was great.
J. D. Payne: I think that the first episode I ever saw was "Frame of Mind," and it was like discovering jazz or something.  How has this been out there my entire life and I'd never seen it before?!  After that, I was just plugged into it.  I would tape it off of television, edit out the commercials and I had my own little library of Star Trek and got super, super into it.  I just loved the sense it had for the possibility of what could be "out there."
There's much more over at TrekCore, including their thoughts on Kirk's quick promotion, their writing process with Bob Orci and how they take fan feedback.  Read the full interview (in two parts) at TrekCore.
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© 2014 SciFanatic Network
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The Republiqué Volume I, Number 75, June / Early July 2014.
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