Star Trek in the News - December 9, 2010

Did anyone see Criminal Minds last night? Dr. Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler) dropped another of his amusing Star Trek references, noting that no one ever actually said “Beam me up, Scotty” on TOS. What made the bit even more of an inside joke than usual was the presence in the scene of guest star Rachel Nichols as a FBI cadet – and daughter of a serial killer -- who helps Dr. Reid and the BAU team investigate the case of a serial killer preying on the residents of a gated community. Nichols co-starred on J.J. Abrams’ series Alias during its fifth and final season, and more recently she played Gaila, the Orion cadet, in Star Trek (2009). The actress has also completed the upcoming film Conan the Barbarian and her three-episode stint on Criminal Minds reportedly may become a steady gig.

John Logan, screenwriter of Nemesis and fresh off a stint as the playwright behind the Tony Award-winning drama Red, has penned the upcoming features Coriolanus, Rango and Hugo Cabret. Coriolanus is an adaptation of the Shakespeare play starring and directed by Ralph Fiennes, while Rango is an animated feature boasting voice talent that includes Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher, Claudia Black (of Farscape) and Logan’s Red star, Alfred Molina. Hugo Cabret, currently rolling under the direction of Martin Scorsese, is a family-drama-fantasy that stars Chloe Moretz, Jude Law, Sacha Baron Cohen and Christopher Lee.

Roxann Dawson, who played B’Elanna Torres on Voyager for its entire run, hasn’t acted in several years, preferring instead to direct. Her recent output includes episodes of Rizzoli & Isles, The Closer and The Good Wife. Dawson’s episode of The Good Wife, entitled “On Tap,” aired last month and featured among its guest stars Remy Auberjonois, son of DS9’s Odo, Rene Auberjonois.

Marc DeVidts isn’t a Star Trek actor, writer, producer, director or anything like that, but he’s certainly been in the news the past few days. DeVidts is the inventive Trek enthusiast who modernized his Miami home by rigging together a door from Home Depot, an air compressor, a pneumatic hose and fittings, as well as a PIC micro-controller, and crafting a whooshing door like those seen (and heard) aboard the Enterprise. Check out the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVtB2Lrd1vg

Colm Meaney, who played Miles O’Brien on TNG and DS9, was most recently seen as Russell Brand’s estranged father in the comedy Get Him to the Greek. The actor has completed half a dozen upcoming films, among them, Alleged, a drama with Brian Dennehy; Bel Ami, a drama-thriller starring Robert Pattinson, Christina Ricci and Uma Thurman; and Soldiers of Fortune, an action-adventure featuring Sean Bean, Dominic Monaghan, Ving Rhames and a couple of other familiar Star Trek faces: Christian Slater (Star Trek VI) and James Cromwell (TNG, First Contact and Enterprise).

Chris Pine is currently shooting This Means War alongside Reese Witherspoon, Tom Hardy and Angela Bassett for director McG. Since our last report that he was attached to star in Welcome to People, Pine has signed on for the film, which will mark the directing debut of Star Trek (2009) screenwriter Alex Kurtzman. The film will begin production next month, with Pine joined by actress Elizabeth Banks.

George Takei has narrated the short film The Potential Wives of Norman Mao, about a 33-year-old Asian man-child and his parents’ quest to find him a proper Chinese spouse. The film has wrapped principal photography, but director Derek Nguyen is trying to raise the $6,000 needed to complete post-production work. Those who contribute funds, depending on their level of donation, will receive everything from a tee shirt to a script autographed by Takei to an executive producer credit. For details click here.

Veteran Star Trek author Peter David has his next project. He’s been hired by Del Rey to pen the novelization of the upcoming film Transformers: Dark of the Moon.

Finally, Marina Sirtis – TNG’s Deanna Troi – has completed production on an action-thriller entitled Shadows from the Sky, in which a soldier tries to solve the mystery of a plane crash that killed everyone on board, including his ex-girlfriend. The film’s cast also includes Sean Bean, Yvonne Strahovski, Talia Shire and John Rhys-Davies. Trek fans will recall that Rhys-Davies appeared twice on Voyager as Leonardo da Vinci, in the episodes “Scorpion” and Concerning Flight.”