A new in-universe book finds that famous Star Trek Vulcan and #1 identifiable character of the franchise, the great Mr. Spock, providing a first-hand account as an elder statesman from his vantage after he became the ambassador to Romulus in Star Trek: The Next Generation’s “Unification” arc and just before he attempts to take his jellyfish-inspired ship with Red Matter to create a black hole in J.J. Abrams’ 2009 movie, Star Trek. The Autobiography of Mr. Spock: The Life of a Federation Legend is edited by (actually written by) frequent Star Trek in-universe writer Una McCormack, just released by Titan Books. Readers will learn Spock intended this as a memoir for Jean-Luc Picard, with whom he melded after Picard’s meld with Spock’s father just before his death in the episode, “Sarek.”
Like the split between fans of the third Star Wars trilogy and The Mandalorian, fans of Star Trek probably see themselves aligned to prefer either Star Trek: Discovery or Star Trek: Picard. Or maybe there’s even a better contrast between Star Trek: Discovery’s first season worldbuilding vs. that series’ second season’s throwback concepts. Was your favorite character the badass Mirror Universe Emperor Philippa Georgiou (formerly Federation Captain), played by the sly and fabulous Michelle Yeoh (the only actor onscreen who could actually immobilize someone in real life with her martial arts skill and the highest paid actress in Asia)? Maybe it was the very Original Series-inspired engineer Jett Reno, who got the best dialogue and had the best style of any character in this decade of Trekdom, played by the brilliantly funny Tig Notaro? Maybe it is the series lead, the very straight-laced Ant-Man and The Wasp-inspired sci-fi-meets-superheroine, Captain Michael Burnham, played by Sonequa Martin-Green? Or maybe it is Anson Mount giving his own superhero performance as an early (and later?) famous Captain Christopher Pike of the familiar good ship Enterprise? Turns out, if any one of the above fits the bill for you, Star Trek has something for you heading your way.
Big weekend news from New York Comic Con 2018 for fans of Star Trek: A new art book takes a look at a major creator across the Star Trek series and movies, and we get a new glimpse at the some familiar characters but new faces as CBS rolls out another trailer for Season 2 of Star Trek: Discovery.
Over the past few decades, few creators have had as great an impact on the look of Star Trek than production designer, illustrator, and model maker John Eaves. From Star Trek V through the new reboot movies, and from Star Trek: The Next Generation through the new Discovery series, Eaves has designed hundreds of props and ships. From the look of Captain Picard’s last ship, the Enterprise NCC-1701-E, to today’s U.S.S. Discovery NCC-1031, the Federation wouldn’t look the same without his contributions. You can pre-order here at Amazon a new, comprehensive look at Eaves’ work for Star Trek in Star Trek: The Art of John Eaves. Take your first look inside the pages of this new book in preview pages released this week in advance of NYCC, below.
At the Discovery panel at NYCC 2018 this weekend, the show revealed the next preview for Season 2 of Star Trek: Discovery. Keep an eye out for the new Number One played by X-Men’s original film Mystique and The Librarians star Rebecca Romijn, and a glimpse at Ethan Peck as the next Spock, looking like he’s fresh out of some long-term cryo-sleep:
Peck? As in Gregory Peck? Turns out Oscar-winning actor Gregory Peck has a grandson who took to the acting business–Ethan Peck–and he has been tapped to co-star in the next season of Star Trek Discovery. This will be the 13th actor to portray the half-human, half-Vulcan Mr. Spock in the more than five decades of the franchise–a role performed by more actors in the franchise than any other character. Peck appears in the photo below (center) with Leonard Nimoy’s family, released today (and if the woman at left looks familiar, that’s because it’s Terry Farrell, who played Dax on Deep Space Nine, Leonard’s daughter-in-law, married to Leonard’s son Adam earlier this year).
Although he wasn’t “that kid in Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” Peck did play a boy in the Disney fantasy film (which also featured former Star Trek actor Alice Krige). He has also appeared in The Drew Carey Show, That ’70s Show, and the TV series version of 10 Things I Hate About You, among other things.
Here is an excerpt from the announcement earlier today about Peck from Star Trek Discovery executive producer Alex Kurtzman:
“Through 52 years of television and film, a parallel universe and a mirror universe, Mr. Spock remains the only member of the original bridge crew to span every era of Star Trek.”
Oops. Actually Spock did not appear in Star Trek Enterprise. So Spock has been in almost all the eras of Star Trek to be put to TV or film. Kurtzman continued:
“The great Leonard Nimoy, then the brilliant Zachary Quinto, brought incomparable humanity to a character forever torn between logic and emotion. We searched for months for an actor who would, like them, bring his own interpretation to the role.”
Pretty much anyone–sci-fi fan or not–can tell you Leonard Nimoy portrayed Spock the longest, from the pilot to the original series through the second film in the J.J. Abrams movie series, Star Trek Into Darkness (and a photo of him appeared in the next film Star Trek Beyond). The character is almost without question the most iconic sci-fi character of the post-television era.
Zachary Quinto has taken on Spock for the three Abrams movies–that is, the part of young Spock in the separate, Kelvin timeline. So where did we come up with eleven other actors who performed the role of Spock well in advance of Peck being handed his first tricorder?
Audiences have seen Spock several times before. Remember in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, moviegoers saw Spock grow up on the Genesis planet, where he was played at age nine by Carl Krakoff:
