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Feb 05 | Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner, Michael Dorn, LeVar Burton, Gates McFadden, Wil Wheaton and Denise Crosby will be part of Star Trek® TNG EXPOsed – a full-cast reunion of Star Trek: The Next Generation® to be held at the Calgary Expo April 27-29, 2012. The special reunion event will be held at Calgary Stampede Corral on the evening of Saturday, April 28, 2012. This auspicious occasion marks the 25th anniversary of Star Trek: The Next Generation® and will be the first time in over twenty years that the cast has participated in an event such as this. Included in the evening’s program is a 90 minute panel discussion, a Q&A session, and a video presentation in honour of the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation®. A commemorative guide will produced solely for this event along with exclusive merchandise. This is a separate ticketed event with tickets going on sale through Ticketmaster on February 18, 2012 at 10 AM MST. Although the cast will be participating in various panels throughout the course of the weekend, Star Trek® TNG EXPOsed will be the only opportunity to see all nine of the cast members in one incredible panel. Tickets will be available at www.ticketmaster.com and range from $40-$125 CDN.
Jan 30 | A large, heavy pewter sculpture that Paramount
commissioned, commemorating the series finale of DS9 in 1999 is available on eBay.
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By BWilliams / 16:55, 7 February 2005 / Reviews - Books
Synopsis: As James T. Kirk, Spock, and Leonard McCoy attempt to cope with the personal fallout of the V’Ger incident, a chapter from their mutual past is reopened, raising troubling new questions. Now echoes of the V’Ger encounter reverberate among the Enterprise officers…
Review: Christopher L. Bennett is a new face to the STAR TREK novel group, yet he's no stranger to the STAR TREK universe overall, having made prior contributions to the S.C.E. series and the DS9 anthology PROPHECY AND CHANGE, as well as being an active presence on the PsiPhi BBS board. Now, Bennett has graduated to the big leagues with his first novel EX MACHINA, a wonderful tale that puts the crew of the Enterprise at the heart of their most introspective battle yet.
EX MACHINA picks up two weeks after the events of STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE, with everyone on Earth and on the Enterprise feeling the effects of the V'Ger incident. But Kirk, Spock, and McCoy are not content with sitting around feeling melancholy. After all, this is STAR TREK we're talking about here, and one of the tenets of a successful tale is finding adventure, and that's exactly what Bennett does in EX MACHINA by picking up the threads of one of the Original Series episodes and expanding upon it. The Fabrini home world, last seen in the third season episode 'For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky", is experiencing significant change at its very cultural and political heart. When the Fabrini home world undergoes a major political movement that threatens its very religion to the core, it's up to Kirk and company to set things right while coming to terms with what's been eating away at their souls for the past three years.
Bennett has an extremely strong insight into the STAR TREK universe, and his tale is ripe with references from all of the television series and the various comics and novels. Keeping a watchful eye on continuity, Bennett successfully manages to blend the various references throughout EX MACHINA while at the same time crafting a well-developed story in the process. Attention to scientific detail is at the forefront of Bennett's tome, as he carefully integrates scientific reality into the framework of the tale. I haven't seen such attention to detail since the works of Diane Duane!
Another strong quality Bennett brings to EX MACHINA is a deep exploration of the many alien cultures that populate the Enterprise. Referenced only in passing in promotional materials from TMP, Bennett gives life to the many aliens and cultures devised by Robert Fletcher for the film. No alien culture escapes Bennett's careful eye, especially Ensign Zaand, the bug-eyed alien 'boy" from TMP who took offense to Kirk's command of the Enterprise. Bennett brings him front and center as a key player in the tale's events, coming to terms with his professional bias towards Kirk. Bennett also further fleshes out the main cast's personal struggles "" Kirk with his decisions about command, Spock with the post-Kohlinahr training on Vulcan, McCoy with returning to active starship duty, Sulu pursuing the command track, and Chekov being taken seriously in his work "" making TMP all the more understandable when viewed in context with this novel. He's got a solid grasp on characterization all the way throughout EX MACHINA, and no one escapes his watchful eye or is considered insignificant. That's the mark of a great writer, one who makes you care about all of the people in a story, and this is one of Bennett's many strengths.
And yet, Bennett writes this tale with an awareness of modern-day events influencing the tale in the process, with allusions to the recent Iraqi elections, the constant military conflicts in Iraq, and the ongoing debates of teaching creation or evolution to young people in schools. At its best, STAR TREK shows us what our world is like through futuristic eyes, and Bennett succeeds in showing us what our world is like and what we need to do to make it better while at the same time improving upon our own individual conditions.
EX MACHINA is an excellent debut outing for Christopher Bennett, one that you cannot help but enjoy. My only recommendation: cue up the Jerry Goldsmith score to TMP, sit back, and absorb yourself in a first-class adventure!
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