How Leonard Nimoy was spirited out of a hotel--and William Shatner in--past thousands of clamoring fans. Why Nichelle Nichols made Joan Winston cry. The Saturday Night riot. Jimmy Doohan giving security guards cardiac arrest. "Losing" George Takei, finding him, losing him. Needing three fans to bring DeForest Kelley a quart of orange juice... Here it is! The story behind the Star trek conventions--complete with catastrophes, calamities, hilarious adventures, and heartwarming anecdotes. It's everything you always wanted to know about your favorite show and stars--and how a handful of dedicated fans created the world-wide phenomena of the conventions. Joan Winston was there from the very beginning and she chronicles it all in a fast and funny account!
Celebrate Star Trek: The Original Series with this epic, fully authorized coffee-table book! New interviews, archival conversations, never-before-seen art and sketches, and more! Gene Roddenberry’s “Wagon Train to the Stars” continues to live long and prosper, with Discovery, Lower Decks, and Picard currently on the air, and Strange New Worlds on the way. But it all began 55 years ago with Star Trek: The Original Series. The second installment in Hero Collector’s Celebration line (following Star Trek: Voyager – A Celebration), Star Trek: The Original Series – A Celebration includes more than a dozen new interviews with cast and creatives, scores of never-before-seen photographs and sketches, as well as chapters taking fresh looks at the show’s creation, directing, visual effects, props, and most-pivotal episodes.
First airing in 1966, with a promise to “boldly go where no man has gone before,” Star Trek would eventually become a bona fide phenomenon. Week after week, viewers of the series tuned in to watch Captain Kirk, Spock, and the rest of the crew of the USS Enterprise as they conducted their five-year mission in space. Their mission was cut short by a corporate monolith that demanded higher ratings, but Star Trek lived on in syndication, ultimately becoming a multibillion-dollar media franchise. With merchandise spin-offs, feature films, and several television iterations—from The Next Generation to Discovery—Star Trek is a firmly established part of the American cultural landscape. In Star Trek: A Cultural History, M. Keith Booker offers an intriguing account of the series from its original run to its far-reaching impact on society. By placing the Star Trek franchise within the context of American history and popular culture, the author explores how the series engaged with political and social issues such as the Vietnam War, race, gender, and the advancement of technology. While this book emphasizes the original series, it also addresses the significance of subsequent programs, as well as the numerous films and extensive array of novels, comic books, and merchandise that have been produced in the decades since. A show that originally resonated with science fiction fans, Star Trek has also intrigued the general public due to its engaging characters, exciting plotlines, and vision of a better future. It is those exact elements that allowed Star Trek to go from simply a good show to the massive media franchise it is today. Star Trek: A Cultural History will appeal to scholars of media, television, and popular culture, as well as to fans of the show.
Wil Wheaton--blogger, geek, and Star Trek: The Next Generation's Wesley Crusher--gives us five short-but-true tales of life in the so-called Space Age in Dancing Barefoot. With a true geek's unflinching honesty, Wil examines life, love, the web, and the absurdities of Hollywood in these compelling autobiographical narratives. Based on pieces first published in Wil's hugely popular blog, www.wilwheaton.net, the stories in Dancing Barefoot chronicle a teen TV star's journey to maturity and self-acceptance. Far from the usual celebrity tell-all, Dancing Barefoot is a vivid account of one man's version of that universal story, the search for self. If you've ever fallen in love, wondered what goes on behind the scenes at a Star Trek convention, or thought hard about the meaning of life, you'll find a kindred soul in the pages of Dancing Barefoot. In the process of uncovering his true geeky self, Wil Wheaton speaks to the inner geek in all of us. The stories: Houses in Motion - Memories fill the emptiness left within a childhood home, and saying goodbye brings them to life. Ready Or Not Here I Come - A game of hide-n-seek with the kids works as a time machine, taking Wil on a tour of the hiding and seeking of years gone by. Inferno - Two 15-year-olds pass in the night leaving behind pleasant memories and a perfumed Car Wars Deluxe Edition Box Set. We Close Our Eyes - A few beautiful moments spent dancing in the rain. The Saga of SpongeBob VegasPants - A story of love, hate, laughter and the acceptance of all things Trek.
Hardback volume showcasing the diverse work of one of Star Trek's most talented alumni, Dan Curry, whose contributions to the TV shows and movies include visual effects, practical effects, title design and weaponry. With more than 50 years of history to its name, Star Trek is one of the world's most treasured popular culture institutions, and seven-time Emmy award winner Dan Curry is one of its most enduring talents. His amazing contributions have ranged from directing, title design and concept art to practical on-set effects and weapon design. From The Next Generation to Enterprise, Dan's incredibly diverse Star Trek work has resulted in some of the series' most memorable moments. Star Trek: The Artistry of Dan Curry reveals the many and varied techniques used to produce some of the most spectacular visual effects used in the various series, while Dan also goes in-depth to divulge the secrets of some of his own personal favorite creations. This is a book for all Star Trek fans to treasure!
Introduction: Seeing past the state of the art -- That which survives: design networks and blueprint culture between fandom and franchise -- Used universes and immaculate realities: appropriation and authorship in the age of previz -- Chains of evidence: augmented performance before and after the digital -- Microgenres in migration: special effects and transmedia travel -- Conclusion: The effects of special effects.
Journey to the final frontier of sci-fi zombie horror! Jim Pike was the world’s biggest Star Trek fan—until two tours of duty in Afghanistan destroyed his faith in the human race. Now he sleepwalks through life as the assistant manager of a small hotel in downtown Houston. But when hundreds of Trekkies arrive in his lobby for a science-fiction convention, Jim finds himself surrounded by costumed Klingons, Vulcans, and Ferengi—plus a strange virus that transforms its carriers into savage, flesh-eating zombies! As bloody corpses stumble to life and the planet teeters on the brink of total apocalypse, Jim must deliver a ragtag crew of fanboys and fangirls to safety. Dressed in homemade uniforms and armed with prop phasers, their prime directive is to survive. But how long can they last in the ultimate no-win scenario?
