Spock, Kirk, & . . . Spock on Saturday Night Live

Coming Soon To A Theatre Near You . . .

Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán y Merino (November 25, 1920 – January 14, 2009)

Best known for his role as Khan Noonien Singh in Star Trek, as Mr.Roarke in Fantasy Island, and as a spokesman for the Chrysler Cordoba and its ". . . fine Corinthian leather." Here are a few sides of the many facets of Ricardo Montalban.











The following is an excerpt of an interview conducted in 2002.



To view the entire interview go
here,
here, or
here.

Upcoming Movies

Wally Wingert's AckerMansion and More

Over at his excellent blog, News From Me, Mark Evanier embedded a YouTube video of voice actor, Wally Wingert, posted by a woman who calls herself GloZell. After a bit of investigation, I discovered that GloZell shot three videos of Wingert in his home showing off his collection of memorabilia.

Notice:
I want to apologize for her chaotic and uninformed comments as well as her poor camera work, but Wingert's collection is interesting enough to make the videos worth watching.













Uncle Davver, the horror host with the most . . .the most . . .err . . .well, YOU figure it out!

To learn more about Wally (No relation to "Wall-E") Wingert's voice acting, go to IMDB, Wikipedia, or Voice Chasers.

Robert Justman, "Star Trek" Producer, dead at 81

Robert Harris Justman (July 13, 1926 – May 28, 2008), who served as Gene Roddenberry's right hand man during the production of the original Star Trek series and was involved with the production of Mission: Impossible, The Adventures of Superman, Search, Then Came Bronson and Star Trek: The Next Generation, died from complications of Parkinson's disease. He was 81. Go here for a BBC interview.

Below are a series of recorded interviews I located on YouTube:


















Robert H. Justman

Producer, Robert Justman, was born in New York City on July 13, 1926. His job titles in the film industry included production assistant, assistant director, associate producer, co-producer, supervising producer, production manager, and he acted in The Outer Limits episode “A Feasibility Study” as the “Elder of Luminos.” His film credits include Joe Palooka in the Squared Circle (1950), Kiss Me Deadly (1955), and Mutiny on the Bounty (1962.) The television series on which he worked include The Adventures of Superman (1953-1958), The Outer Limits (1963-1965), Star Trek (1966-1969) Mission: Impossible (1966 Pilot), Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1988.) Justman and Herbert Solow co-wrote Inside Star Trek: The Real Story, published by Pocket Books in 1996.

At the time Justman was casting for Star Trek: The Next Generation, he saw Patrick Stewart on stage, turned to his wife and said, “I think I’ve found our new captain.” Arranging a meeting between Gene Roddenberry and Stewart, Justman felt that the conversation had gone well when Roddenberry was bidding Stewart goodbye, closed the door, turned to Justman and said, “I won’t have him.” When questioned, Roddenberry would not say why he felt Stewart was wrong for the part, but Justman had his suspicions: Roddenberry had conceived of Jean-Luc Picard as a masculine, virile Frenchman with a lot of hair. “And Patrick didn't fit that at all. Patrick was not so handsome, he was distinctive, and he was quite bald. Quite bald,” said Justman. He would not give up on Stewart, so Justman continued to badger Roddenberry and Roddenberry continued to say no. A new producer, Rick Berman, came on the scene, saw some film of Stewart, and fell in love with the actors work. Roddenberry still resisted, and eventually Justman realized he needed to approach the problem from a different angle. One day in a meeting, Justman announced that he never wanted to hear the name Patrick Stewart ever again. Whenever someone mentioned Stewart’s name, Justman would fain anger, state it was over with Stewart and to move on. One day, the final candidate for the role of Picard came to audition, did his reading, spoke to Roddenberry and Justman, and then left. The room was deadly silent. Roddenberry heaved a great sigh and said, “All right, I’ll go with Patrick.”
Justman died on May 28th, 2008 in Los Angeles, California from complications of Parkinson’s disease.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Justman

http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jun/01/local/me-justman1

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0433226/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/st/clips/clip27.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/st/interviews/justman/page6.shtml

http://trekmovie.com/2008/05/31/tos-tng-producer-robert-justman-has-passed-away/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/st/interviews/justman/index.shtml

http://www.memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Robert_Justman

http://trekmovie.com/2007/03/18/bob-justman-talks-tos-and-tos-r-with-trekmoviecom/

http://www.trektoday.com/news/010608_01.shtml

Joseph Pevney, noted "Star Trek Director dies at 96

Joseph Pevney, a film and television director who directed 14 of the most popular episodes of the original "Star Trek" TV series including "The City on the Edge of Forever," "Amok Time," "The Trouble With Tribbles" and "Journey to Babel.", has died at the age of 96. You can learn more
here.



Joseph Pevney

Director, Joseph Pevney, was born on September 15th, 1911 in New York, New York. Pevney began his career as a boy soprano in 1924, growing into acting roles on stage and screen. In 1950, he began his career as a film director with Shakedown and Undercover Girl. In 1959, Pevney began his television career with the unsold pilot, Destination Space.

While his television directing ranged from Adam-12 to Wagon Train, from Bewitched to Little House on the Prairie, from a CBS Schoolbreak Special to Trapper John, Md, Pevney is best remembered for his work on the series, Star Trek. Pevney directed fourteen episodes, tying with Marc Daniels. Among the fan favorites are Arena, The Devil in the Dark, The City on the Edge of Forever, Amok Time, Journey to Babel, The Deadly Years, Wolf in the Fold, and The Trouble with Tribbles. Joseph Pevney died in Palm Desert, California on May 18th, 2008 at the age of 96.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Pevney

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0678928/

http://www.memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Joseph_Pevney

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/joseph-pevney-director-of-journeyman-versatility-858292.html

http://wcbstv.com/entertainment/star.trek.Joseph.2.735877.html

http://trekmovie.com/2008/05/25/tos-director-joseph-pevney-dies-at-96/

"Star Trek" composer, Alexander Courage, dead at the age of 88

On May 15th, Star Trek composer Alexander Courage died at the age of 88. He had been in declining health since 2005
See more here.

Below is series of documentary clips including Alexander Courage and John Williams.




Alexander Courage Pt. 2 of 4


Alexander Courage Pt. 3 of 4


Alexander Courage Pt. 4 of 4

Alexander Mair Courage Jr.

Composer, Alexander Courage, was born on December 10th, 1919 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After graduating from the Eastman School of Music in 1941, Courage served as an Army Air Forces bandleader during World War II. Courage began his 54-year career as a composer in 1946 for CBS Radio, moving to MGM as an arranger and orchestrator in 1948. He worked on or orchestrated a string of musicals over the next twelve years including Annie Get Your Gun, The Band Wagon, Doctor Dolittle, Fiddler on the Roof, Gigi, Hello, Dolly!, My Fair Lady, Show Boat, and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. In the ‘60s, Courage brought his prodigious talents to 20th Century Fox, and it was in 1959 when he began his work on what would turn out to be over 350 television episodes.

Courage orchestrated films scored by Adolph Deutsch (Some Like It Hot), Jerry Goldsmith (Mulan), Andre Previn (My Fair Lady), and John Williams (Superman.) Courage later continued his collaboration during John Williams tenure with the Boston Pops Orchestra.
Despite his work on such films and television series as Superman, Lost in Space, and Star Trek, Courage was not a fan of fantasy and science fiction, telling one interviewer, “I think it’s just marvelous malarkey,” he said. “So you write some marvelous malarkey music that goes with it.”

Best known to the public-at-large for writing the Star Trek theme, Courage felt ill used by the series creator, Gene Roddenberry. Courage looked to the song “Beyond the Blue Horizon” as a jumping-off-point, working the fast, train-like pulsating rhythm under the soaring melody. He envisioned using a soprano singer (Loulie Jean Norman), an organ, a flute, and even a vibraphone. Roddenberry wanted to increase the importance of the female voice and the finished product sounded more like a soprano solo. Roddenberry’s “help” did not end there. In order to share in the royalties, Roddenberry wrote lyrics that begin: “Beyond the rim of the star-light/My love is wand’ring in star flight.” The only known commercial recording is by Nichelle “Uhura” Nichols and it appears on her 1991 album, “Out of This World.”

On May 15, 2008 at the age of 88, Alexander “Sandy” Courage died in the Sunrise Assisted Living facility in Pacific Palisades, California from complications following a stroke.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Courage

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0006021/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/30/AR2008053003013.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/31/arts/television/31courage-1.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vH0aSwFKacw

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-courage30-2008may30,0,5756996.story

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/alexander-courage-composer-of-the-star-trek-theme-837440.html

http://www.filmmusicsociety.org/news_events/features/2008/052808.html#

http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/trek.asp

http://www.daisyplanet.com/st/info/Nic_Out.html

Classic Star Trek, Off Kilter

Nancy Freeman and Larry Warner told me that these fan produced recreations of Classic Star Trek episodes existed on YouTube. I believe these are Turkish, but I'm not sure.

Randy Pausch - The Last Lecture - "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams"

On September 18, 2007, Professor Randy Pausch, a virtual reality pioneer and human-computer interaction researcher, of Carnegie Mellon University gave his last lecture at the university before a packed audience in McConomy Auditorium. This was noteworthy because Pausch had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, given three-to-six months of good health, and this was to be his very last lecture, ever. Family, friends, and colleagues came from all over the world to share that moment in the life of Randy Pausch.

Pausch spoke about lessons he has learned throughout his life, goals he set, brick walls he has broken through, and advice he has for others to achieve their own dreams. The lecture was well received and Pausch went about the business of living out the time he had left with his family. Then something happened. A video recording of the lecture had been made available on the Internet and viewings now number over six million. On September 20th, 2008, Jeffrey Zaslow of the Wall Street Journal wrote a column about Pausch. A few months later, Pausch was approached by publishers, asking that he turn his experiences and his "Last Lecture" into a book. Pausch contacted Zaslow and they co-authored "The Last Lecture" for Hyperion Press, a publishing division of Disney. The book was released on April 8th, 2008. The next day, Diane Sawyer's interview with Professor Pausch aired on ABC (owned by Disney) and has generated a nationwide out pouring of concern and empathy for his inspirational story.

To find out more about Randy Pausch, including his current condition, go to his home page.





Randy Pausch Lecture: Time Management


Randy Pausch's other projects:

The Legacy of Randy Pausch

Alice is an free, innovative 3D programming environment provided by Carnegie Mellon University that makes it easy to create an animation for telling a story, playing an interactive game, or a video to share on the web.

The Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) at Carnegie Mellon University offers a two-year Masters of Entertainment Technology degree, jointly conferred by Carnegie Mellon University's College of Fine Arts and School of Computer Science.

A Star Trek Barbershop Quartet? Fascinating.

Hilarious barbershop quartet parody of Star Trek by H-Fidelity Quartet. Go here for more. Thanks to Denise Wallentinson for pointing this out.