Voices From Krypton

VOICES FROM KRYPTON IS MOVING

Although this blog will remain for archival purposes, new updates on the adventures of Superman in all of his incarnations will be found over at Earths Mightiest.com. Just click on the image below to be brought there.

FLEISCHER REVIEWS "AVATAR"

"Fleish-who?" you're probably asking. Fleischer could possibly be the dopiest superhero ever created, and while his full exploits can be found over at Comic Book Movie by clicking HERE, we're presenting his audio review of James Cameron's Avatar.

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SUPERMAN RETURNS: DIRECTOR'S CUT CAMPAIGN

Flicksnews.net has gotten behind a campaign for a director's cut of Bryan Singer's Superman Returns. Notes the site, "Singer stated back when the film was released that the original cut was 2 hours and 45 minutes before the film was trimmed for its theatrical release. A number of significant scenes ended up on the cutting room floor such as the Return to Krypton sequence, scenes with Ben Hubbard and Martha Kent, Kal Penn's character's dialogue was cut, an opening sequence with comic book opening similar to Superman: The Movie's opening, Clark adjusting back to life on earth, young Clark growing up, and lots of dialogue and extended scenes that supposedly added to the film and gave it better pacing and beats." For more information, go to the official site for the campaign, HERE. Check out the trailer they've put together:

Superman Returns: The Bryan Singer Cut from srtbsc on Vimeo.

SMALLVILLE TV MOVIE

According to EW's Michael Ausiello, the two-part Justice Society episode of Smallville is going to be broadcast as a TV movie event scheduled for January 29th. Says Ausiello, "The Geoff Johns-penned episodes — titled 'Society' and 'Legends' and featuring such DC Comics stalwarts as Stargirl, Hawkman, and Dr. Fate — were originally designed to air separately. But, according to Smallville insiders, CW execs felt they could get more mileage out of combining them."

JUSTICE LEAGUE: CRISIS ON TWO EARTHS TRAILER

SCIFITVZONE.COM: THE VIDEO

FROM THE ARCHIVES: J.J. ABRAMS TALKS "SUPERMAN"

With MTV's new interview with J.J. Abrams about how he would potentially be interested in revisiting the Superman movie script he had written at the beginning of the decade, VFK decided to dip into the archives to resurrect this 2002 interview with Abrams in which he talked a (tiny) bit about the project. As fans may recall, a review of his script was posted on Aint It Cool News and it was truly shredded. Shortly thereafter Warner Bros., based on fan outcry based on the review, shelved the script. Of course given Abrams' current status in Hollywood, WB could very seriously reconsider that screenplay. Back in 2002, while Abrams was in the midst of production on the second season of Alias, he spoke to VFK Editor Edward Gross about the project. He doesn't reveal much in the way of details, but certainly expresses his enthusiasm over the project. This was the version that was supposed to be directed by McG and potentially starring Brendan Fraser as Superman. VOICES FROM KRYPTON: The real question, of course, is how you came to be signed on as the writer of the new Superman film. 

J.J. ABRAMS: Pretty simple, really. They approached me about doing the movie. I took a meeting. For me, I miss doing movies. I love doing TV, but I wanted to do another film. What’s been nice is working with producers with incredible records, like Jerry Bruckheimer and my idols. What’s wonderful about working on Superman is that as a kid I was the biggest fan. My three and a half year old son goes to bed almost every night wearing a Superman shirt. I couldn’t pass it up. 

VOICES FROM KRYPTON: What’s the approach to the material? 

J.J. ABRAMS: What’s nice is that after a lot of years of trying to get this going and not succeeding, everyone’s coming at it with a very fresh, open mind. What’s exciting for me is that we’ve got some incredible, really big ideas that go beyond just the one story we’re telling. ALIAS has actually been an amazing training ground for me. In this Superman we’re talking a lot about where he’s come from and where he’s going. I can’t talk about specifics, but I can tell you that there are a lot of exciting, big ideas. I think it’s Superman for everyone and not just for people who already know the character. It’s for the uninitiated. 

VOICES FROM KRYPTON: Do you feel the first two Christopher Reeve films are a tremendous shadow to overcome, or do you basically just ignore them? 

J.J. ABRAMS: I think it’s really a question of embracing what has come before it. This, in many ways, is a retelling of Superman. They did four of those movies, then they did Supergirl — you have to start fresh. I don’t think this should be looked at as the fifth sequel. 

VOICES FROM KRYPTON: From what I’ve gathered from people I’ve spoken to in the past, producer Jon Peters isn’t much of a fan of the Superman costume or the image of Superman flying. This, of course, begs the question: why bother making a Superman movie? 

J.J. ABRAMS: It’s safe to say that if Superman doesn’t fly, it would be a disappointment. I do think that we’re approaching this in a very fresh way, but there are certain things that people have come to realize are important. You have to have the costume and you want to do a Superman movie that will be so satisfying. I’m so sick of going to big blockbuster movies and leaving feeling like I died a little bit, like, “Oh my God, how disappointing was that?” What’s so exciting for us is that we’re approaching this thing knowing and feeling the kind of movie that as kids we used to see. I feel that we’re going to try as hard as we can to make this a satisfying experience.

SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE DIRECTOR RICHARD DONNER TURNS 80!

Richard Donner -- the man who revolutionized the superhero movie genre with 1978's SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE, turned 80 on October 24th. And to celebrate, we're taking a look back at excerpts from an interview with Mr. Donner from the archives in which he talks about the making of the film. THE CHALLENGE: "You never realize how big and impossible a job it is to tackle a picture, because if you did you'd probably never do it. I knew I had a major picture with major problems, but you surround yourself with very talented people; you have an approach, and you're going to correlate all of those suggestions and thoughts--hopefully--into some sense of objectivity, and you go out and make it. 'We had the task of making that film out of my office. I had a secretary, an assistant and a wonderful editor. Things were a mess throughout the making of the entire film. Every time we wanted to do something, their production department would cancel it, bills weren't paid, people wouldn't deliver products, and we had to hustle, rob, beg, borrow and steal. SUPERMAN is a tribute to a lot of dedicated filmmakers, I'll tell you that. But, hey, that's showbiz!" ON MARIO PUZO'S ORIGINAL SCRIPT FOR THE FILM: "It was a well-written script, but it was a ridiculous script. For one thing, here was this producer, a guy named Pierre Spengler, who was going to supervise making this film for the Salkinds, and he had a 550-page screenplay. Well, number one, I said, 'You can't shoot this screenplay because you'll be shooting for five years.' And he said, 'Oh, no. It's fine.' I said, 'That's totally asinine,' but that was literally a shooting script, and they planned to shoot all 550 pages. You know, 110 pages is plenty for a script, so even for two features that was too much. "It was a parody to start with, in an odd sort of way, but they parodied a parody and kept compounding that felony all the way through until it became much like the BATMAN television series. They had things in it like Superman is looking for Lex Luthor; he flies down and taps a bald man on the shoulder. He turns around and it's Telly Savalas, who says, 'Who loves ya, baby?' I couldn't see going that way with it." MORE CHALLENGES: "When I agreed to do the film, I was concerned that Superman shouldn't get screwed up. I never realized what a challenge I was taking on. When I arrived at Shepperton Studios and saw the preparation, I asked them to show me the flying material. I watched it and was stunned to see a man walking along who's jerked off the ground by two wires, and then landing out of control. So that was the first thing we had to correct. Then we had to cast the role, and they wanted to use Robert Redford or something." "We had seen just about every actor imaginable from television to motion pictures to everything else. Nobody fit the costume. Nobody could fly. If you saw Bob Redford flying, it would be Bob Redford flying. There was no sense of reality. That was the key to it, the flying. You had to believe that a man could fly. I tested quite a few of the actors, but nothing worked. The producers even sent over their dentist. I swear to God that's true." CASTING CHRISTOPHER REEVE: "I met Christopher Reeve in New York. I had gotten a call from someone who said, 'There's a kid who's terrific. Would you like to see him?' He was about 20 or 30 pounds lighter, his hair was a sandy color, and he had dressed in the burliest clothes he could find to make him look good. He just had this great look, and I gave him my glasses to wear, and he looked so much like the part it was unbelievable. Nobody wanted to go with him because he was an unknown, but the idea to me was that we should go with an unknown so that you could make it believable. It ended up just that. "I still have photos from his screen-test. He was this stringbag, this skinny, skinny kid in blue leotards with an 'S' cut into the front of it, sweat pouring out from his arms, and black shoe polish on his hair to give it a black look. But he swore to me he was an athlete and that he could put on weight and build up, so we hired him. We gave him a given amount of time, set him up with this Olympic body trainer and poured all kinds of protein into him, and one day he flew in to our office and was perfect." HIS APPROACH "I knew the Superman legend and grew up on it. I knew I didn't want to do what television had done to it. Every kid remembers the TV show. My biggest responsibility to the project, I felt, was somehow having to find some sort of objectivity in visualizing Superman, because everybody has seen him in their own way--either in the reality of a drawing or in the fantasy of their own mind. So I had this tremendous responsibility of trying to find some sort of middle road. Also of jumping the time lap from 1938 to 1978. That was the most difficult flight of them all: not just making him fly, but making him fly through that time warp to be accepted today. "As we got into it, I saw it as three separate films. It was a trilogy in our eyes. One was Krypton, where we broke away from tradition, because when I came on to the project, their preparation for Krypton was exactly the way it looked in 1939, and I just knew that was wrong. Then a very wondrous man, John Barry, who had also done STAR WARS and died shortly after making this film, came up with a 'modern' Krypton, which we felt was crystalline, like the inside of a stone. Then came the second part of the trilogy, which was Smallville. We didn't research the comic book all that much, but we did spend a lot of time in Norman Rockwell. We just wanted to make it Kansas-Americana. When we got to Metropolis, we wanted to go back to the comic book." FINAL THOUGHTS "The thing that got to me on the film and that I wanted to do much more of--and I guess if I didn't have so much story I would have--is the idea of Superman appealing to our daydreams. How many of us have had a great desire to be Superman? To be impervious to pain and accomplish anything that you set out to do? Also, it seems like people are beginning to help each other a little more, and that's the whole point of Superman. He's there to help us, and wouldn't we all like to be him for one goddamned minute? It's a mythology that reaches what is real today. Most mythology, as you know, is period in its being. He just seems to have gone along with time so very well. "As for my personal feelings? I obviously have a tremendous affection for Superman and what he stands for in my life. I owe him everything." Happy Birthday, Richard Donner. And thank you!

MARV WOLFMAN INTERVIEW: THE RUBY-SPEARS SUPERMAN ANIMATED SERIES

Back in 1988, CBS premiered a new animated series focusing on the adventures of Superman. The "A" story was a Man of Steel tale based in Metropolis, while the "B" segment was a visual scrapbook of sorts, flashing back to Clark Kent as a child in smallville. Veteran writer Marv Wolfman was the creative guiding force of the show and as the series is released on DVD, he took the time to reflect with Voices From Krypton on the show.

VOICES FROM KRYPTON: What was the genesis of this particular series -- what made them want to do it, were there any early development ideas that evolved into the final show?

MARV WOLFMAN: CBS was interested in doing a Superman show although Judy Price, the head of CBS kids at the time, was not; she didn't care for superhero shows but since her bosses wanted it, she did it. I was called in by CBS and hired by them to write the pilot. Once they approved the story I did, it was assigned to Ruby-Spears to do. By the way, despite not liking super-heroes, Judy came up with the idea of the Superman Album stories at the end, which I think were some of the best stories we had.

VOICES FROM KRYPTON: Since this wasn't so far removed from the days of the various incarnations of Super Friends, was there much of a struggle to give the show or the stories within it an "edge"? In other words, much in the way of problems with "standards and practices"?

MARV WOLFMAN: We had a lot of problems with S&P, but still managed to get away with some stuff. I would like to think the slight edge we gave the material was interesting enough for them to okay it. I would have liked to go further, but they were pretty strict. For example, I ended my pilot episode story with a big fight between Superman and the robots which they forced me to change. Superman couldn't crash through the robots because, and I quote - "Even robots have souls." I had to come up with something non-violent, so I had Superman reprogram the robots to collapse. I would have liked the show to go more into the kind of material done in the old Fleischer cartoons, but there was no way to do that then. Also, R&B liked lots of dialog and I would have liked to eliminate most of it during the  action. If you look at the pilot there's less dialog in that one than later shows, but even that had more than I would have preferred.  By the way, Joe Ruby and Ken Spears were great people to work with and I loved my time at the studio. They asked me to stay on but there were no shows for me to work on so I moved onto other things. But I very much enjoyed my time there. and especially working with Joe who was the creative head of the studio while Ken handled most of the business, at least while I was there.

VOICES FROM KRYPTON: The show's opening incorporated the John Williams Superman theme. I loved it, but I'm curious why it was there and if it was a challenge to get the rights.

MARV WOLFMAN: I actually named the show The Adventures of Superman for the old TV show and asked if they could get a little bit of the John Williams score (it was expensive) and put it with new music as well as the old TV show dialog to give it a best of all possible worlds feel. It was a pure fan thing for me.

VOICES FROM KRYPTON: On a creative and personal level, what was the appeal of doing this show? 

MARV WOLFMAN: Creatively, I got to do Superman stories I had not seen in the kid's cartoons before. I got to blend the Lex Luthor I re-created [in the comics] with the movie version. He acted like the businessman Luthor I came up with, but talked like the Gene Hackman version which was a lot of fun to do. 

VOICES FROM KRYPTON: You've obviously been involved with the character a number of times. Why do you like him?

MARV WOLFMAN: Maybe because I saw my first Superman TV show when I was between 5-7, but I always felt Superman was the epitome of what a super-hero should be. He represents the right in people. The goodness. But he's now a boy scout. I just like that completely optimistic viewpoint he has. He does what's right because it's the right thing to do, not for any ulterior motive. 

VOICES FROM KRYPTON: I've loved the character since I was a kid and always get excited when there's a new incarnation. However, today he seems like SUCH a hard sell to the modern audience. Do you agree? And in your opinion, what needs to be done to make the character connect with people? 

MARV WOLFMAN: Actually I disagree. Smallville has been on TV and popular for nine years now. Very few TV shows, let alone SF shows, last nearly that long. That indicates they found a way to make him connect with the modern audience. Follow their lead; make him human and with faults, but ultimately believing in doing what's right. Smallville makes him cool. You don't need to go dark with Superman; you need to remember he's a human being. He was raised since a baby in Smallville. He's more man than super and if you keep it that way, you'll make him interesting. Once you care more about the super aspect of him you lose the humanity. 

FROM THE ARCHIVES: PIERCE BROSNAN ON "TOMORROW NEVER DIES," PART 2

A sci-fi Bond? Martin Scorsese directing a Bond film? Adapting Casino Royale long before the actual film was made? These are among the subjects that Pierce Brosnan and I discussed in the days leading up to the release of his second 007 adventure, Tomorrow Never Dies.

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MERLIN: THE SERIES — AN INTRODUCTION

Fans anticipating the theatrical release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince may find some solace in NBC's Merlin, which debuts on June 21st and will be airing throughout the summer.

   A series created for England's BBC, it has garnered a powerful international following and promises to do the same in America as it traces the evolution of the wizard Merlin, exploring how an angst-filled teenager will ultimately take his place alongside King Arthur of Camelot.

   Johnny Caps, who co-created the show with Julian Murphy, notes that the duo's creative pleasure comes from developing high-concept shows, such as this one and the previously-produced British series Hex. "To us, it's the ultimate challenge as program makers and creators," he explains. "With naturalistic drama, you sort of take the camera outside and there you are, but with high-concept and period shows, you have to create a new world and the rules of that world."

   The writing pair began exploring different mythologies in literature and legend that could serve as the basis of a different kind of TV show. Appealing to them was the Arthurian myth and Merlin.

   "From there," Caps says, "we came up with the idea of a story about a young Merlin that would allow us to spin stories around a young boy who realizes he's different and has superpowers, like Spider-Man and so on. Then we thought if we have a young Merlin, why don't we bring in young Arthur and have Prince Arthur rather than King Arthur of legend? I've been a huge Smallville fan, and I thought it was so clever how they subverted the expectations of all of those characters. We realized we had this rich mythology of Morgana, of Guinevere, of Arthur, of Merlin, and we thought, 'Why not bring all of those characters in and let's start the story before the legend began?' The story snowballed from there. We have young Arthur who is not the king of legend. Instead, he's this young, kind of sporty guy, bit of an idiot, basically, but he has the potential to be a great king.

   "Then," he adds, "we said, 'Let's have Guinevere as a young serving girl. The audience knows she's to be Queen of England at some point, but they'll be intrigued as to what her journey will be to get there. So we started playing around with that and it felt really good. So we developed four or five scripts, fine-tuning that concept and then later on we thought, 'Why doesn't Merlin exist in a world where magic is banished? So everything he does he has to do secretly.' All of this happened over a year or two years. It kept on improving and it felt right."

   Merlin has felt right to audiences around the world, who are embracing the show which is currently shooting its second season of 13 episodes.  Look for much more coverage of Merlin coming soon to Voices From Krypton.

FROM THE ARCHIVES: PIERCE BROSNAN ON TOMORROW NEVER DIES, PART 1

by Edward Gross

in the weeks leading up to the release of Tomorrow Never Dies, Pierce Brosnan began the PR push for the film. At the time that I had an opportunity to catch up with him -- having spoken to him three times before (for Nomads, on location with GoldenEye and for Dante's Peak) -- James Cameron's Titanic was on the horizon, and nobody knew what that would mean to the Bond film.
   In the first part of this interview, we discuss the impact the success of GoldenEye had had on his life and career, and a bit of the story evolution of Tomorrow Never Dies. More on the latter will elaborated on when part two posts later this week.

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"BEING HUMAN": VAMPIRES, WEREWOLVES & GHOSTS

BBC America has announced that its picked up the British series Being Human, which follows the lives of a vampire, werewolf and ghost that share a house together. It sounds like a sitcom, but it is, instead, a riveting series that, during the course of its six episodes, is suggesting a power along the lines of Buffy or Angel. For full details on the show, head over to our sister site, Vampire Paradise, by clicking HERE.

LAURA VANDERVOORT INTERVIEW: "SMALLVILLE," "V" & "INTO THE BLUE 2"

by Edward Gross

Laura Vandervoort is, of course, best known these days for having play Kara/Supergirl on Supergirl on Smallville. But there’s a lot more to come from her. This month look for her starring turn in the Warner Premier DVD film Into the Blue 2, in which she plays Dani, who must work with her husband Sabastian (Chris Carmack) and several others to try and find the lost treasure of Columbus, but instead is involved with a race to find an errant nuclear device before a group of criminals do.
   More recently, Laura spent two days on the set of the new “V”, playing the character of Lisa who uses her sexuality to manipulate teenaged humans into siding with her people against their own kind. In the pilot she has her sights set on Tyler Evans and his best friend, Brandon. In the following exclusive interview, Laura discusses both projects.

VISITORS AMONG US: When you’re doing a movie that’s a DVD sequel to a theatrical film, is there a stigma attached to it?

LAURA VANDERVOORT: Oh, yeah. Any sequel has to try to live up to the original. I think we did a good job of not following the storyline exactly. We have our own adventure, an action-related story. I think we did a good job. Of course there’s going to be a stigma of it being a bathing suit movie with some young people and that there won’t be much to it, but I think we found a good storyline. We’ve got some great actors in it, so hopefully people will like it.

VISITORS AMONG US: I thought the plot element of Into the Blue 2 regarding somebody searching for an errant nuke was pretty cool.

LAURA VANDERVOORT: They added that aspect into it to get the guys to watch, and also the girls. My character gets to be the strong one in the movie, which is a nice change from a lot of other movies out there. The girl gets to save the day and she’s just as strong as her partner, Sebastian.

VISITORS AMONG US: Being a strong female should be nothing to you.

LAURA VANDERVOORT: [laughs] I’m trying to make a living off of that.

VISITORS AMONG US: Is that what drew you into the film?

LAURA VANDERVOORT: I didn’t know much about the original Into the Blue except that there are a lot of bikinis and I wasn’t sure if that was for me. But there was really more than that, because my character, Dani, in the script is actually a lot tougher. What drew me to it, and I think what I’m drawn to in a lot of roles, is the chance to play the ass-kicking girl.  I just find damsels in distress to be a little dull. In this one I got to do a lot of action, I was scuba-trained, I was doing a lot of stunts and actually fractured my ankle while we were shooting the movie. But it’s worth it. I love all of that stuff more than anything, to just really put your heart and soul into it.

VISITORS AMONG US: When you’re playing a kick-ass character, how much of that is a reflection of you as a person and how much of that is wish fulfillment?

LAURA VANDERVOORT: I think my boyfriend would tell you that I’m not tough. I cry and all of that, but I think getting these roles is an opportunity to express that side of me. I was in karate for so much of my life that I have that need to kick butt to get the adrenaline out. I think that’s a great place to do it, because I get to do it as another person. I can go nuts and people aren’t going to think I’m strange, and I can be really butch. As much as it might not be believable to some people because I’m some blond girl, I love it. Most of the stuff I’ve done since Into the Blue have been cops, aliens and crazy stuff I love to play.

VISITORS AMONG US: Speaking of aliens, how did you come to be involved with “V”?

LAURA VANDERVOORT: I got a phone call. They were shooting in Vancouver and I’ve played an alien similar to the one in “V” before and they wanted to know if I wanted to be a part of it. I jumped and said, “Yeah!” It was just two days of shooting for me, because it’s an introduction of my character in the pilot. If it goes to series, hopefully the character will evolve. It was great. I’ve never seen the original, but I’ve heard amazing things about it. There are a lot of good rumors on set that this is going to be big. They have a good cast, and I play the enticing young teenage alien trying to enroll the teen humans on the ship with her looks.

VISITORS AMONG US: I know you only played her for two days, but in your mind who is your character of Lisa?

"V"CAST#1: THE PODCAST FOR VISITORS AMONG US.COM

ABC has given the greenlight for "V": The Series for 13 episodes scheduled for midseason. The series, a remake of the '80s version, stars Lost's Elizabeth Mitchell as FBI agent Erica Evans, who ultimately leads a resistance movement against the alien Visitors, who claim to be our friends but who are actually here for conquest. In this first audio/video podcast from our sister site, www.visitorsamongus.com,  we take a look at promos for the original and ABC versions and feature an audio excerpt from an interview with actress Laura Vandervoort, who plays the Visitor Lisa on the new show.

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JOHN, PAUL, KIRK AND SPOCK: THE NEW FAB FOUR

The new Star Trek succeeds on a number of levels, one of which (and it’s fairly significant) is the establishing of the relationship between Chris Pine’s James T. Kirk and Zachary Quinto’s Spock. As was the case with William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, there’s an instant rapport between the two actors that translates on screen. And in terms of the characters, there is a whole new level of connection made by the fact that Nero is responsible for the death of Kirk’s father and Spock’s mother. Interestingly, the inspiration for this, according to co-writer Bob Orci, was the relationship between Beatles John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
   “We looked at John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s friendship as part of our model for Kirk and Spock,” says Orci. “They were opposites and they bonded very young because they both lost their mothers when they were teens.  They might not have actually gotten along at the time had it not been for that kind of a bond. They were the only ones who kind of understood each other’s pain about having lost their mother, so they were definitely an influence on Kirk and Spock.  You know, Star Trek and the Beatles were products of the ‘60s, so sometimes you have to tie it all together.”
    So, which of the Star Trek team is Lennon and which is McCartney?  “The more you read about them, the more you realize how they each had elements of the other,” Orci notes. “The Yin and Yang each have elements of the other color within their spot. I think it depends on the day. On the one hand you can say that Lennon was the intellectual like Spock, but on the other hand he was also kind of the leader of the band, so you can say he was Kirk in that way. And certainly Paul had more of the Spock haircut and the eyebrows. I guess we’ll be able to answer that one later, when we see how Kirk and Spock develop.”
   But Orci considers this question a moment longer before adding confidently, “You know what? Spock is Lennon, because Paul is the optimist who can kind of see through the pain and still keep his chin up. That’s Kirk. Spock is a little more fatalistic with his logic, as John Lennon was.”

Check out the book Trek Classic: The Unofficial Making of the Original Series by clicking HERE.

STAR TREK: THE UNFILMED PREQUEL

As J.J. Abrams’ version of Star Trek has proven, the idea of new actors taking on the roles made famous by William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley  and company seems like something of a no-brainer. But this wasn’t the first time the idea was broached, producer Harve Bennett and screenwriter David Loughery having worked on a prequel following their efforts on 1989’s Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.
     “Every time they went to make one of those Star Trek movies,” explains Loughery, “the producers and the studio always ran into the same problem in getting the original cast together. The reasons for that were money, power, creative differences, ego, health, unavailability… all of those things. [Producer] Harve Bennett always had this ace up his sleeve, which was if we can’t get everybody together for one of these Star Trek movies, we should do a prequel.”
   Starfleet Academy, which ultimately fell aside in favor of 1991’s Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, chronicled the story of a young James T. Kirk, a Spock who is estranged from his parents and becomes the first Vulcan to attend Starfleet Academy, and Leonard McCoy, a 30-year-old doctor who attends the Academy after having pulled the plug on his terminally ill father and is searching for meaning his his life. Michael Curtiz’ 1940 film The Santa Fe Trail served as an inspiration for what Bennett envisioned as the classic triumvirate’s first trek. The film which could have been made, according to Bennett, for $27 million. would also have avoided the hefty multi-million dollar salaries of Shatner and Nimoy, as well as the escalating payments made to the other cast members.
   David Loughery explains, “When I heard about the idea, I thought it was terrific.  Not from the point of view of recasting, but from the point of view of storytelling, because I worked so closely with the characters on Star Trek V, that the idea of doing an origin story – where you show them as young cadets – was tremendously exciting. What it was, was a real coming of age story. In outline form, it was the story of Kirk and Spock meeting for the first time as cadets here on earth. We’ve got a young Jim Kirk, who’s kind of cocky and wild. He’s not exactly what you might think starship captain material might be. He’s like one of these kids who would rather fly hot planes and chase girls. Spock is this brilliant, arrogant, aloof to the point of obnoxiousness, genius. It’s this mask he’s hiding behind to cover his own conflicting human emotions. He’s an outcast, he left Vulcan in shame against his father’s wishes and, like all adolescents, he’s trying to find a place to fit in, but he keeps screwing it up.
    “Over the course of this story,” he continues, “which is one year at Starfleet Academy, Kirk and Spock are sort of put to the test and they begin as rivals and end up as friends and comrades who learn that they have to combine their talents for the first time to defeat a deadly enemy. In the final scene, where they say goodbye at graduation and go their separate ways, we’re able to see the legend that these two boys are going to grow up to become. We felt that there was a powerful story there, one that the audience would be interested in. We’re always interested in young Indiana Jones and young Sherlock Holmes, and how they started and came to be who they are. This was sort of the way to explain Kirk and Spock and where they came from.”

To learn more about the history and voyages of Kirk and Spock, check out author Edward Gross' book Trek Classic: The Unofficial Making of the Original Series, a comprehensive behind the scenes look at the 1960s show featuring a complete episode guide and interviews with dozens of writers, directors and producers. For more information, just click HERE.

STAR TREK SEASON ONE ON BLU-RAY

J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek has the ability to reawaken the dormant Trekkie within you. That’s certainly the feeling you get as you walk out of the film, suddenly aware of why you had fallen in love with the franchise in the first place. Kind of like that moment at the end of Wrath of Khan, when Bones asks Kirk, “You okay, Jim? How do you feel?”, to which Kirk responds, “Young. I feel young.”

There’s a sense of Trek giddiness that struck this writer that hasn’t been felt since the months and weeks leading up to the release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture back in 1979. And while that film, in many ways, took away a bit of the joy, this new one merely makes you hungry for more. Thankfully the taste for that particular meal can be satiated with the CBS/Paramount release of season one of the original series on Blu-ray.

On a creative level, season one of Star Trek was all about the bringing together the elements that would come to define the show, and its evolution is obvious as the season unfolds. Along the way we start to sense the depth of the Kirk/Spock relationship, which manages to be given even more weight thanks to the addition of the Abrams film.

And part of the key to the Blu-ray set, as inadvertent as it may have been, is that it serves as the natural follow-up to that big screen adventure. In particular, one should check out the episodes “Where No Man Has Gone Before” (the second pilot, and the first to team Shatner with Leonard Nimoy) and the first regular episode shot, “The Corbomite Maneuver.” It’s a whole new experience following the feature film as the actors are still discovering themselves, and the characters each other.

TREK CLASSIC: THE UNOFFICIAL MAKING OF THE ORIGINAL SERIES

While J.J. Abrams reimagines Star Trek for the current generation, Trek Classic goes back to the beginning to explore the creation, development and evolution of the original 1966-69 television series that inspired him. Armed with the voices of dozens of writers, directors, producers and actors, veteran entertainment journalist Edward Gross goes behind the scenes of every episode of the original Star Trek.
   New material in this revised edition (which had its beginnings as a part of Captains’ Logs: The Complete Trek Voyages), in addition to the satirical artwork Tom Holtkamp, explores the connection between key guest characters or episodes and future adventures set in the universe created by the late Gene Roddenberry.
   Plus a special appendix section provides an in depth behind the scenes look at the Deep Space Nine episode “Trials and Tribble-ations,” a 30th anniversary tribute to the original that ingeniously ties the two shows together.
   Whether you’re a veteran fan or newly converted, these are the original voyages of Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Sulu, Uhura, Chekov and Scotty.
   Where J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek ends, Trek Classic begins.
   Trek Classic: The Unofficial Making of the Original Series is available for $15 (postage paid) in the United States and $20 (postage paid) outside of America. To order this book, please click HERE.

"GOLDFINGER" ON THE BIG SCREEN

by Edward Gross

A few  years ago I was working on the manuscript for the book Planet of the Apes Revisited, and while I was writing I thought I’d pop on the James Bond film Goldfinger, considered by many (myself included) to be quintessential Bond. 
   About 15 minutes into the film – probably at a point in which M was briefing 007 on his assignment – my oldest son walked in and watched for a couple of minutes.  While my Bond growing up was Sean Connery, my three boys’ was Pierce Brosnan, which was fine with me. I thought Brosnan was great , my feeling being that if Connery’s Bond had a baby with Roger Moore’s Bond, it would have been Brosnan’s Bond. All  of them, as well as George Lazenby, Timothy Dalton and Daniel Craig, were fine with me. Hell, I’ve often joked that Pee Wee Herman could play the character, and I’d be there.
   Anyway, back to my son. His Bond was the one surrounded by explosions , fast-cutting action and a refusal on the filmmakers’ part to slow things down for more than a few minutes at a clip.  As a result, his Bond was different from the Bond of my youth, which at the time was considered just as fast-cutting.  Because of that, it wasn’t long before he rolled his eyes and muttered, “Oh my God, there’s so much talking.” And with that he pretty much left the room.
   I was dumb-founded. Maybe even a little offended. Nonetheless, I had a planet of talking simians to deal with, so I turned my attention back to work.
   Flash forward to 2009 and I discovered that a movie theatre in Teaneck, New Jersey, located about six miles from my office, was showing (for one night only!) Goldfinger on the big screen.  I immediately contacted a Bond buddy and we made plans to see it.
   I was pretty excited. The last time I had seen Goldfinger on the big screen was back in 1971. It was at the Marine Theatre (long since torn down, unfortunately) on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, New York, and part of a triple feature with Dr. No and From Russia With Love. It was the days before VHS killed the movie reissue, and I was in my glory.  Kind of how I felt that night recently as I sat down to watch the film, popcorn in hand.
   This is probably a good time to point out that James Bond, whether it’s the latest film or one of the classics, is my personal time machine. Marty McFly and Doc Brown may have a DeLorean, Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock can turn to the Guardian of Forever, but all I need is to be sitting in a theatre as the lights dim, the opening chords of the James Bond theme begin and that series of circles moves across the screen before morphing into a gun barrel. At that moment, with an uncontrollable grin on my face, I’m back to being a little kid, the rest of the world fading away while I become immersed in the world of Bond. James Bond.
   So there I sat, feeling like a kid, as Goldfinger began. And once again I thrilled to Connery identifying himself to the oh-so-beautiful Shirley Eaton as Jill Masterson; that same beautiful woman sadly discovered dead, and painted in paint. Gold paint. The escalating conflict between Bond and Auric Goldfinger, and by default Odd Job; Bond nearly split in two by a laser (accompanied by the classic dialogue from 007, “Do you expect me to talk?” to which Goldfinger replies, “No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die.”), the introduction of Pussy Galore (still can’t believe they got away with that one), the unfolding of Operation Grand Slam, the exciting final act in Fort Knox; and the classic quips (“Where’s your butler friend?”  “Oh, he blew a fuse”; “What’s happened? Where’s Goldfinger?” “Playing his golden harp”).
   So, how did it play to the modern me as opposed to that 11-year-old who saw it back in ’71? Pretty damn close! As much as I’ve come to admire Daniel Craig as 007, Connery instantly reminded me why he was, is and ever shall be James Bond. The villain of the piece and his larger-than-life plans may be more acceptable by today’s standards as part of the machinations of Dr. Evil in the Austin Powers films rather than the re-bourne action genre of recent years, but it’s still a lot of fun to watch. There are, however, a couple of sticking points that were far more bothersome to me this time than in years past. For instance, why on earth does Goldfinger bother detailing Operation Grand Slam for the gathered gangsters only to kill them? Well, of course it’s so that Bond and the audience can know what he’s planning, but it’s really kind of dopey. But not, I insist, as dopey as what follows.
   Mr. Solo (one of the aforementioned gangsters) decides that he doesn’t want to be a part of this outlandish scheme. Goldfinger seems to acquiesce and prepares to bid him well, having $1 million in gold bullion placed in the trunk of the car that Odd Job is going to drive to the airport. Instead, on the way, Odd Job veers off the main road, stops the car, shoots Solo dead, brings the car to a junkyard, has it crushed into a cube, an industrial magnet deposits the cube into the back of a pick-up truck that was waiting there apparently for just such an occasion, Odd Job drives the truck back to Goldfinger’s horse farm, where Goldfingers gives orders for the gold to be extracted from the cube as Bond wryly notes, “You did say he had a crushing appointment.”
   Okay, what the hell was the point of that? If you were going to kill Solo anyway, just do it! Why go through all that trouble just to bring Solo’s remains back to the farm and then have to extract the now crushed gold from all of that blood, bones and organs? And speaking of gold – how in God’s name was Solo going to check it in at the airport?  Was that all done so that Bond could crack wise?
   That bit of illogic aside, it was great seeing Sean Connery where he should be, playing James Bond on the big screen. And as the credits began to roll, accompanied by the reprise of Shirley Bassey’s “Goldfinger” theme, eleven words appeared on the screen that, again, filled me with excitement: “The end of Goldfinger, but James Bond will return in Thunderball.”  
   The perfect bookend to the gun-barrel sequence that opened the film, and, together,  the most important continuing elements of my moviegoing life, with the former promising to sweep me away in adventure and the latter providing reassurance that it would only be a matter of time before I had the chance to do it all over again.