Star Trek in the News - May 9, 2011

Congrats to Chris Hemsworth. The Australian actor, who first generated serious heat as Kirk’s doomed father, George Kirk, in Star Trek (2009), hammered the competition this past weekend at the box office, as his comic-book epic Thor, in which he stars as the title character, grossed $66 million. Hemsworth will be seen next in Joss Whedon’s The Cabin in the Wood and the remake of Red Dawn, and he’ll soon reprise his role as Thor in the superhero round-up feature The Avengers, which will reunite him with Whedon.

Roxann Dawson cut her teeth as a director while still playing B’Elanna Torres on Star Trek: Voyager, helming the episodes “Riddles” and “Workforce, Part II.” These days, she’s pretty much left acting behind and settled into the director’s chair. She directed multiple episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise, Crossing Jordan, Cold Case (on which she also served as a producer), Heroes, The Closer, The Mentalist and The Good Wife. Her latest episode of The Good Wife, entitled “Getting Off,” will air tomorrow night, May 10, on CBS. Among the guest stars in “Getting Off” is Sarah Silverman, who portrays the proprietor of an adultery website. Voyager fans may recall that Silverman appeared as the scientist Rain Robinson in the episodes “Future’s End, Part I and II,” in which she not only kissed Tom Paris, but memorably called Tuvok a “freakasaurus.”

Meanwhile, Silverman is all over the place. She’s got tons of followers on Twitter, recently published a memoir, The Bedwetter, and is a regular on the stand-up comedy circuit. And on the way is Take This Waltz, a big-screen drama-comedy in which she stars with Michelle Williams and Seth Rogen. Rogen memorably played the slightly crazed Star Trek fan, Admiral Seasholtz, in Fanboys, which also featured a memorable cameo from William Shatner. But back to Silverman; does anyone remember that Voyager and Enterprise guest star Tucker Smallwood appeared as God in two episodes of Silverman’s own series, The Sarah Silverman Program?

The busiest retired man in history is at it again. TOS legend Leonard Nimoy will beam down to Boston today to speak to students and the public at Boston University as part of the school’s Friends of the Libraries of BU Speakers Series. Nimoy, who actually hails from Boston, spoke briefly to the school’s magazine, BU Today, and offered the following very logical advice to aspiring actors:  “You had better be dedicated, because it’s a long road,” he said. “Get experience, by training, training, training. Be passionate. Don’t look for yourself in the art -- look for the art in yourself.” If you’re in Boston and want to attend, call 617-363-3697 for details.

Nick Sagan, who penned two episodes of TNG and five episodes of Voyager, and who served as a story editor on Voyager from 1998-1999, will soon be represented on the big-screen by an adaptation of his popular first novel, Idlewild. The film is currently in development and imagined as a live-action sci-fi tale by Iain McCaig. Meanwhile, McCaig is best known by fans of that other mega-franchise, Star Wars, having served as a concept artist on Episodes I, II and III, though he also spent some time in the Star Trek universe himself. Early in his career, he worked as a storyboard artist on Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. McCaig is also currently serving as the concept design supervisor on the upcoming John Carter of Mars.

Following that thread, John Carter of Mars counts among its stars the actor Don Stark. Stark is most recognized for his role as Bob Pinciotti on the long-running sitcom That ‘70s Show, but he made a mark – or two of them, actually -- on Star Trek as well. How? First, he played the trader Ashrock in the Deep Space Nine episode “Melora.” And, later, he appeared in Star Trek: First Contact as Nicky the Nose, the metal-beaked gangster character in Captain Picard’s Dixon Hill holo-novel program.