Can shoes or cologne be considered fanboy collectibles? We'll find out together as a very different breed of Star Trek collectibles arrives in time for the post-Thanksgiving gift buying frenzy.
J.J. Abrams made Trek sexy again -- especially the original TV show from the 1960s. So Paramount and CBS put their marketing and licensing people to work. What did they come up with from just inside the Windsor Gate on Melrose?
The Vermont Teddy Bear Company is offering shorter, furrier versions of Captain James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock (right) for about $100 each. I've acquired one of these, and they're well made with a lot of attention to detail in their little uniforms.
Also, make sure you check out the Airwalk Terrain Hi Skate Star Trek StarFleet Edition sneakers from Payless. For $50, you get a really well-made urban sneaker that just happens to bear a Starfleet insignia. And they come in the departmental uniform colors of the original Enterprise crew -- gold, blue and red.
If you're like me, and I know I am, you've wondered what it would like if the U.S.S. Enterprise descended on the Hollywood Hills.
Fortunately, Paramount held the big DVD and Blu-ray release party for J.J. Abrams' Star Trek movie at the Griffith Park Observatory Monday night, and the Enterprise took up a standard orbit around the famous planetarium landmark.
While the film's creators and cast mingled inside the observatory, a high-definition multimedia system projected video images of Trek visual effects up against the building's walls.
So, for a few moments, the Enterprise (almost to scale) swooped in for a visit before heading away at warp factor one.
After all, CBS Paramount has done very, very well with that original Star Trek episode. It's regarded as -- and is -- the all-time best show in the entire original ST canon. Ironically, Ellison never liked what Roddenberry and company had done with his script.
The male nerd interest quotient just shot way up for Legend of the Seeker.
Actress Jolene Blalock (Vulcan T'Pol in Star Trek: Enterprise) is joining the cast of the New Zealand-based, Disney produced fantasy series as a recurring villain. According to a Disney press release, Blalock begins filming this week as "a mysterious Sister of the Dark who possesses very powerful magic."
It'll help you a lot to understand this next but if you're a fan of the show, but Blalock will not only threaten heroic Richard (Craig Horner) and "his quest to defeat evil forces," but her real goal is to destroy the lovely female lead, Kahlan (Bridget Regan).
I wanted to add a spoiler warning with this post, but sadly, John Cho, who plays FBI agent Demetri Noh on ABC's FlashForward, is pretty tight lipped about all the big reveals that are coming up this season. I had the chance to speak with him recently, and despite my continued harassment, he's good at keeping secrets.
But, that doesn't mean fans will have to wait long for answers to start rolling in about the mysterious massive blackout that allowed everyone in the world to see into the future.
"I have been excited by and impressed by how much they're revealing this early on," he said. "There's been serious bombshells on a weekly basis ... I feel like they [the writers] are very conscious about giving the audience a lot of information."
A television obituary has slipped through the cracks. Dick Durock has passed away. Who is Dick Durock, you ask? Why, he played the title character in the Swamp Thing movie written and directed by Wes Craven and its subsequent poor follow-up, as well as the television series based on the movies. Also, he played an evil Hulk in The Incredible Hulk television series and was a stuntman on various television shows including Star Trek.
I remember watching that Incredible Hulk episode as a kid, and my first thought was "that second Hulk isn't anywhere near as muscular as the first." Still, in his prime Dick Durock could have undoubtedly kicked my ass.
Just to prove how tough Dick Durock was ... I don't know many people who have long battles with pancreatic cancer. Usually, that takes you out in a hurry. If you could stand up to Lou Ferrigno, pancreatic cancer was in for one hell of a fight.
As the fall release date for the J.J. Abrams Star Trek DVD closes in, Star Trek merchandising is making a comeback.
Everything Trek made a huge bull rush earlier this summer when the first major run of merchandising took hold. Everything from bottle openers to iPod got the final frontier treatment. Now the DVD is shaking the space trees again.
The long-rumored Star Trek colognes beamed their way into stores last week -- immediately becoming a product that folks might want to try as curiosity without ever admitting they bought it.
The merchandise opportunities for classic shows like Star Trek has been outlandish, to say the very least.
You can show your financial love for Star Trek by buying Star Trek toys, Star Trekapparel, Star Trekcell phones, Star TrekPez dispensers, Star Trek burial coffins, Star Trekliving room furniture and even Star Trekerotic theme art. Don't click that last link if you're at work, school or don't really want to know what James Doohan would look like spread eagle on a Tribble skin rug.
Now the folks at Genki Wear, a geek themed jewelry manufacturer, have helped the Enterprise explore a strange new world of merchandising and seek out new lifeline accounts and financial liquidations with a line of Star Trek-inspired cologne and perfumes.
Thanks to the magic of the Internet, we can now recall that around the time the Star Trek franchise was moving from television to movies with Star Trek: The Motion Picture (waaayyyyy back in the 70's), apparently Paramount had Klingons shilling for McDonald's Happy Meals. No, seriously.
It makes me wonder exactly what was in the Happy Meals that made the Klingons like it so much. Wasn't it established during Star Trek: The Next Generation that Klingons like to eat live worms? Perhaps that was in place of the french fries. I recall eating a Happy Meal or two back in the day and don't recall eating anything that would be palatable to a Klingon.
I'm sure there has been much sillier Star Trek merchandise being pushed since then given the ubiquity of the franchise, but this commercial did make me laugh a little. Here's the video so you can judge for yourself.
There's still plenty of Comic-Con International coverage en route from me, including exclusive interviews you'll only find here.
But, as the Monday morning after the madness dawns, we'll take a few minutes and review the major impressions left by the four day weekend.
What happened? What were the biggest themes of the convention and what didn't happen that everyone was hoping would. In other words, what was Comic-Con 2009, and where did it fall short?
CBS/Paramount is inviting attendees of San Diego's Comic-Con to get into some trouble with Tribbles -- and to take photos of the fur flying for all the world to see.
Announced by David Gerrold, Tribble inventor (not a title you hear every day) and writer of the fan-favorite "The Trouble with Tribbles," the Star TrekComic-Con booth is offering a limited number of Tribbles for fans to steal away with into the San Diego night.
Fans are then asked to take creative photographs with their Tribbles and to post them at CBS-BDLive.com.
To celebrate the release of the second season of the original Star Trek on Blu-ray, Paramount will be handing out free Tribbles at the San Diego Comic Con. Not only that, but they are asking people to upload digital photos of them and their Tribbles in unusual circumstances.
This might not be the best of ideas. All it takes is one wise-ass uploading a Tribble while in a compromising situation involving leather, chains and whipped cream to ruin it for everyone else.
Star Trek fans who bought the first season of the remastered original series on Blu-ray can now enjoy new enhanced features for the discs online this week.
The online portal is a clever way for CBS/Paramount to make the Star Trek: "The Original Series Season One" a gift that keeps on giving. The Blu-ray issue included the enhanced CG visual effects that accompanied the most recent remastering.
Since the odds are only hardcore fans drop the money to buy an entire season set of the original series just to see a clearer picture and new special effects, CBS/Paramount obviously wants to appeal to such fans with even more in-depth commentary than the discs already provide.
There are a lot of really horrible things that have put America on the map: Jerry Springer, our ability to infuse anything edible with cheese, the fact that we're probably working on infusing something inedible with cheese.
Guns, however, shouldn't be one of them. The Second Amendment stands as one of many great testaments to the idea of freedom that our forefathers envisioned for their people. They felt a government should trust their people with great responsibility if they truly believed in the concept of freedom and democracy.
Sure, if they came to the present and saw that we primarily use that responsibility for hunting moose from helicopters and negotiating with the Domino's guy they might take it right back, but the idea is what's important.
So to celebrate one of America's latest of many birthday to come because fireworks are technically illegal in my neck of the woods, here are your TV's seven greatest guns.
Can shoes or cologne be considered fanboy collectibles? We'll find out together as a very different breed of Star Trek collectibles arrives in time for the post-Thanksgiving gift buying frenzy.
You have to admire the tenacity of writer 
The male nerd interest quotient just shot way up for Legend of the Seeker.
I wanted to add a spoiler warning with this post, but sadly, John Cho, who plays FBI agent Demetri Noh on ABC's 
A television obituary has slipped through the cracks. Dick Durock 
As the fall release date for the J.J. Abrams Star Trek DVD closes in, Star Trek merchandising is making a comeback.
The merchandise opportunities for classic shows like Star Trek has been outlandish, to say the very least. 
Thanks to the magic of the Internet, we can now recall that around the time the Star Trek franchise was moving from television to movies with 
There's still plenty of Comic-Con International coverage en route from me, including exclusive interviews you'll only find here.
CBS/Paramount is inviting attendees of San Diego's Comic-Con to get into some trouble with Tribbles -- and to take photos of the fur flying for all the world to see.
To celebrate the release of the second season of the original Star Trek on Blu-ray, Paramount will be 
Star Trek fans who bought the first season of the remastered original series on Blu-ray can now enjoy new enhanced features for the discs online this week.
There are a lot of really horrible things that have put America on the map: Jerry Springer, our ability to infuse anything edible with cheese, the fact that we're probably working on infusing something inedible with cheese. 
The TV Squad Podcast: The Prisoner, '80s TV, soap news and more
Let's talk about spoilers ...
The Prisoner -- An early look
