TVSquad

Star Trek icon George Takei was recently roasted by the Friars Club. Author Peter David wrote about the experience on his blog as one of the roasters.

I'm sorry this wasn't one of the Comedy Central roasts (such as the recent one of Bob Saget) as I probably would have enjoyed watching it "live". On the other hand, those tend to be hit and miss (the Shatner one was great. Saget was not so much). Also, the Comedy Central roasts tend to get in anybody with a Comedy Central contract to be the roasters (with only a few personally connected roasters lumped in). The Friars Club roasts (which to the best of my knowledge are not televised although there are some taped segments on the website) seem to use more people who have a personal connection with the person being roasted.

At first, I wasn't certain why George Takei would be the subject of a roast. I could only conclude that his recent association with the Howard Stern show might have given him the necessary contacts to join the Friars Club. I hope the segments of the roast are online soon. They're probably hilarious.

TrekMovie.com has posted screen shots of the new posters for the upcoming Star Trek movie. These posters (four in total) were apparently given out at the recent VegasCon to go with four given out at the SDCC of Kirk and Spock. From left to right, the posters are of Sulu, Scotty, McCoy and Chekov.

Frankly, I don't think any of them look like the originals. John Cho has a longer face than George Takei. Simon Pegg looks like a smaller guy (at least they didn't immediately give him the mustache that James Doohan later grew). It's tough to tell with Karl Urban because of the angle of his profile, but he looks nowhere near as ornery as Deforest Kelley. Anton Yelchin has a much stronger jaw than Walter Koenig.

Do you think people would watch a movie in which they basically use only the names and don't really try to duplicate the looks of the original actors? I suppose this won't bother a new generation of Trek fans who don't know the original cast anyway. What do you think?

Since it's Star Trek Week here at TV Squad (the original series, that is), I thought I'd post the first official teaser poster ads for the movie that show what Chris Pine and Zachery Quinto look like as James. T. Kirk and Spock.

Now, it's wrong to judge a book by its cover, or in this case a movie from a teaser poster. But if we can judge the movie on the casting of one of the major parts and/or the makeup used on that actor, then this movie looks awesome. Quinto (Sylar on Heroes) is a terrific choice to play a younger Spock. I say "younger" and not "young" because Quinto is only a few years younger than Leonard Nimoy was when he debuted as Spock on NBC in the 60s. There's not a lot of info about the plot of the movie, only that it takes place before the original show and involves Starfleet, so I'm not sure exactly how young Kirk and Spock are supposed to be (plus we're talking about a half Vulcan here so getting into those details are probably pointless).

But what about the guy playing Kirk?

Do not adjust your web browser. You are now entering the Retro Squad, where we are reviewing past episodes of classic TV shows.

Ever since I was allowed to make my own decisions, I have tried to emulate Jim Kirk. Whenever I have a tough choice to make I ask myself WWJTKD? When I became a father, I continued that practice and it's helped out immeasurably.

You Can't Make Everybody Happy
During his career, Captain Kirk has been forced to make unpopular decisions. Even though the decision is always the right one, there are always people (sometimes a lot of people) who end up wanting him court-martialed or worse. As I became responsible for people other than myself, I had to realize that like Kirk, I have to make the decision that I know is right even if it makes my kids hate me.

The legacy of Star Trek includes many memorable guest stars, Joan Collins as Edith Keeler in "City on the Edge of Forever," Ricardo Montalban as Khan on "Space Seed," Jane Wyatt as Spock's mother on "Journey to Babel." And those are just the ones that come first to mind.

But what about the less celebrated stars who appeared on ST? There were many who made a great impression because of the larger than life character they were given to play, and the ability to seize the spotlight.

Here are five of my favorite, and most memorable, though less celebrated, Trek stars...

Having grown up in a Star Trek household from way back, I'm fairly familiar with a lot of the catch phrases from the original series, which ran from 1966 to 1969. Here are six that still make their way into conversation around here:

1. "Beam me up, Scotty." Gracing bumper stickers and coffee mugs everywhere, and often followed by "There's no intelligent life down here," this is likely the most recognizable phrase from the series. Here's the thing, though. According to Wikipedia, the exact phrase was never actually spoken in any Star Trek television episode or film. Capt. Kirk comes closest to saying the phrase in the episode, "The Gamesters of Triskelion" ("Scotty, beam us up"); in the animated episodes "The Lorelei Signal" and "The Infinite Vulcan" ("Beam us up, Scotty"); in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home ("Scotty, beam me up"); and in Star Trek Generations ("Beam them out of there, Scotty.")

This article could easily have been called "James T. Kirk's Top Five Loves", one of which would undoubtedly be the Enterprise, or "James T. Kirk's Top Five Seductions", but those titles didn't quite convey the connotation I was looking for. As everybody who ever watched Trek Classic knows, the good captain had his fair share of women, getting involved with a different one once every three episodes or so.

The man oozed excess testosterone, which might have explained his hair loss later on. You'd think the 23rd century would learn to regrow it better. Then came the 24th century look when baldness was "in". But I digress. It was also his self-confidence that made him without question a chick magnet. This aspect of the character undoubtedly appealed to the uber-nerds who watched Star Trek then and now.

It's Star Trek: TOS Week here at Retro Squad and I came across this gallery of photos from a photographer named Steve Schofield. His site says that he is "concerned with exploring the fascination that the British public has with American popular culture and the sub-cultural world of fandom."

The photos on his site show science fiction (and other pop culture genres) fans in natural settings, mostly sitting or standing around the house. The contrast is rather interesting. The guy on the right looks like he just beamed down to a present-day home in one of Star Trek's many time travel episodes.

Topless Robot has posted a list of the top 10 sci-fi television shows that were canceled too soon.

I've never seen most of the other shows (and if a lot of America followed my example, that could somewhat explain their early cancellation), but I have watched numbers 1,2 and 7. Star Trek is an obvious choice for number 1 given that it is still the icon of science-fiction television.

I've heard good things about Max Headroom (number 3) and would probably at least watch it on DVD should it ever be released in the format. I disagree about the 1981 Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series (number 2) and think it works best at its current length. I find it interesting how the only reason the author wanted to extend Buck Rogers In the 25th Century was to see more of Erin Gray ("Off think. Off think. Off think").

To many people, William Shatner is a beloved TV icon. To others, he's a shameless self-promoter, a commercial pitchman for everything from margarine to hotel rooms. Few feel neutral about Shatner, so this story may come as something of a surprise. William Shatner rarely watches himself on TV and film. Like a lot of actors, when he works, he's in the moment and doesn't go back and study what he did and why. It's been working for him. As Denny Crane on Boston Legal, he's won two Emmys in the last three years.

The "big" shows are over, and now the typically low-key summer TV schedule begins. Oh sure, there are some real gems in there that are still airing or will start soon, but overall the excitement is nothing like the September-through-May period. Maybe people are ... gasp ... going outside to enjoy the sun?

It's been two years since we first delved into the world of Retro Squad, so we're back now with what we believe is a better format. Rather than pick a few shows and only review one season from each throughout the summer, we're doing theme/show weeks. These weeks will not only have standout episode reviews from any past season, but we'll have themed lists, Vs., interviews and videos. There are only so many weeks in the summer, so we can't cover all of your favorites, but I think there's something for just about everyone here. Check out the schedule below, after the jump.