All I can say is that I offer my sincerest condolences to the family. Hopefully she is up there chilling out with Gene Roddenberry. Thanks for all you brought us Trekkers! I appreciate it all! You will be missed.

I read this on www.roddenberry.com and thought I should post it.

Majel Barrett Roddenberry passed away this morning, December 18, 2008, at 12:27 AM in her Bel Air home. She died peacefully, in her sleep, and was surrounded by family and loved ones.

“My mother truly acknowledged and appreciated the fact that Star Trek fans played a vital role in keeping the Roddenberry dream alive for the past 42 years. It was her love for the fans, and their love in return, that kept her going for so long after my father passed away.” – Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, Jr.

Feel free to post your own condolences in the “comments.”

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Well, it has been picked up by Cryptic Entertainment, and from their site it is looking pretty good. It already looks better (based on the site) than Perpetual Entertainment ever had it looking. You’ll have to swing by the site and take a look.

Official Star Trek Online Site

Do you guys recognize all the races in the above picture? I see a Vulcan, a Human and an Andorian. I have no idea who the other races are! Do Vulcans now come in bald Reptile and Night Elf flavors?

They even have a forum where you can go chat about it. Hopefully they will take a little advice from the fans when developing it.

Star Trek Online Forums

You can find wallpaper based on the new video game here:

Star Trek Online Wallpaper

There appears to be no release date set yet and they are not yet to the stages of Beta testing the game yet. Pricing has not been established either. It sounds like they scrapped all previous development and are building the thing from the ground up.

Here are a couple of excerpts from their FAQ section that I find interesting:

Q: When does the game take place?
A: Approximately 30 years after the events in Star Trek Nemesis. The game starts in 2409. Technology has advanced and the galaxy is a much more volatile place.

Q: What races will I be able to play?
A: The plan is Human, Vulcan, Andorian, Klingon, Orion, Gorn, and several others. You will also be able to create your own race with its own custom look and attributes.

Hopefully they don’t stray too much from the what little there is of Star Trek canon. I hate it when non-fans develop games and it ends up being a poorly developed “B” sci-fi game. I’m keeping my hopes up!

I looked on E-bay initially, but didn’t like what I saw. A lot of the costumes were simple jumpsuits that looked really cheap. I think the manufacturer of my least favorite costumes were by Rubies.

I want the real pips & pins, including an authentic looking com badge. I want to get a TNG Season 3+ uniform. I decided the only way to do this was to make one myself. I found a couple of sites where you can get the pips & pins and a pattern to make a nice looking uniform.

You can get your pips, pins & badges here:

Roddenberry.com
Starland.com

You can get your patterns here:

Roddenbery.com
Exscapeprops.com
Starland.com

Please be aware that I have never actually purchased from these sites, so I cannot verify their credibility.

Enjoy making your Star Trek costume this year!

I decided, since this would be the last time, to go ahead and fork out the 80+ bucks for the latinum pass. This included the pictures in the Borg Chamber, Captain’s Chair and the backstage pass. It all ended up being very fun, yet very sad at the same time.

The place was packed! It was fun to remember the previous experiences I had there. They had a nice memorial set up, which consisted of sheets of paper taped to the wall. Each sheet of paper had notes and memories from visitors. There were even a few e-mails that they had printed out and hung on the wall. It was nice to see I wasn’t the only one who was sad about it leaving.

Contrary to many rumors, Gretchen, our backstage pass guide, told us there were no plans to move the exhibit anywhere else. She informed us that it would probably be going away for good. She said this was especially sad because many of the actors who dressed up as aliens had been there for years. This was their life. By the way, the backstage pass was well worth the money!

She also told us that nobody knew for sure what was going to happen with all the props. The owners of Star Trek The Experience (Cedar Fair Entertainment) own the props, but Paramount owns the rights. She said everything was still very much up in the air. I personally hope they auction off some of the stuff as souvenirs.

While my wife, child and I were getting our Star Trek caricatures drawn, the artist told us that the Las Vegas Hilton was planning on replacing the exhibit with a Michael Jackson exhibit. Can you believe that! What a bunch of garbage.

To finish, I got to eat one last time at Quark’s Bar & Grill and got to get my picture taken, with my two-month old son, on the captain’s chair! That will be a great memory. I am raising this kid to appreciate Sci-Fi and Star Trek!

According to TrekToday.com, the fate of Star Trek The Experience has been shaky at best. Apparently the Las Vegas Hilton changed ownership, which helped lead to its demise. Apparently the contract between CBS and Cedar Fair (currently run The Experience) were not renewed. This is after cost reductions were implemented.

If you have time in the next two months, pay it a visit. The restaurant is great, gift shops are fun and the rides are blast. Also be sure to do the Backstage Tour. I got my picture taken on a replica of the NCC1701D bridge and in a Borg drone chamber. Great stuff! I think I will try to head down in August. It will probably be very busy.

You can read a copy of the press release here:

A few excerpts of the news release are as follows:

Las Vegas – Star Trek: The Experience, Las Vegas’ premier interactive attraction will conclude its historic 11 year run at the Las Vegas Hilton on September 1, 2008….

Asked if there is any final transmission he’d like to convey from the Enterprise bridge, Chad Boutte, Operations Manager and Director of Marketing said “Hailing frequencies open. We’d like to thank all the fans and friends of Star Trek, whose constant and amazing support we’ve enjoyed throughout our tenure at the Las Vegas Hilton. As we boldly go into the futures that await, know that we take your love of Star Trek: The Experience with us. We share the memories of time spent in the most unique place in the Galaxy, and we carry those memories into our futures with us. Live long, and prosper.

Hailing frequencies closed.”

Hopefully they auction off some of the stuff there. I would love to own a piece of that history. Perhaps I will go to the convention being held there August 6-10. It will be the last convention held there.  You can read more about the convention here. Go check it out while you can!!!

The article goes on to quote John Cho as saying:

“I had lunch with George before we started filming,” Cho said. “I wrote him a letter, and we met, and he gave me what amounted to a blessing, and in his typically classy way, … I told him I was nervous, and he said, ‘Relax. Pretty soon people are going to refer to me as the guy who played the old version of John Cho.’”

I think it is pretty cool that John Cho takes feels it important to pay tribute to the original character. So far I think the cast for the new Star Trek XI looks like a great bunch. Many of them are excellent actors. If Star Trek XI ends up doing well in the box office, I’m sure there is room for more movies. I will certainly be there in line buying tickets!

There are a lot of crappy copies of the trailer floating around on the Internet. Just seeing the Enterprise under construction got the trekky in me going! Here is a decent copy of the teaser. Enjoy!

Now I can’t say for sure if things are really looking that bad, but the former Perpetual Entertainment recently had its assets liquidated and has been acquired by the newly developed Perpetual LLC. The new company claims it is taking the Star Trek MMORPG in a more casual direction. Is that code for “we don’t know what we’re doing?”

Perpetual recently canceled development of Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising to focus more time on Star Trek. This could be good if they really are trying to get the game done, hopefully with quality in mind. It could also be bad being that they are canceling projects. Could Star Trek be next on the chopping block?

The icing on the cake so far is that Perpetual is now being sued for unpaid bills by the PR Firm Kohkne for work done on Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising.

Articles on the lawsuite (Kohnke v. Perpetual):

Kohnke v. Perpetual – The Opening Round

Screenshots of Lawsuit

In closing I would like to say that I am a huge fan of Star Trek. I have played MMORPGs like World of Warcraft and enjoy them. A Star Trek MMORPG is a guaranteed sell for me. Although I am still hopeful the game will turn out well, my gut feeling is that the game will either never materialize or will suck like the majority of all the other Star Trek video games. Here’s to hoping!

**UPDATE**

It looks like our dreams for a Star Trek MMORPG are dead for now. Perpetual Entertainment, also known as P2 Entertainment, seems to have closed its doors for good. You can read more here.

As this argument ensued at work, people around us started laughing, thinking we had both truly lost our minds. Perhaps we did a little. The argument then turned to Star Wars vs. Star Trek. These were our main arguments in a condensed and far smaller format:

Friend: Star Destroyer big, Enterprise small.
Me: Enterprise faster, more maneuverable.
Friend: Thousands of lasers.
Me: Lasers dude?! You’re kidding me. Phasers kick Lasers in any match.
Friend: Super Star Destroyer and Death Star kill the Enterprise.
Me: Agreed. I don’t think the Enterprise D or E would win those two. So I throw in the Borg.
Friend: <Pure silence ensues.>
Me: Nuff said.

I have found in my own observations that there are a lot more casual Star Wars fans than casual Star Trek fans. I have also found, again in my own observations, that there are a lot more die-hard Star Trek fans than there are die-hard Star Wars fans. This means in most “forum” based arguments on this topic, Star Wars will almost always win by sheer numbers.

Many people try to throw The Force into the mixture. I used to think this was a big deal as well, especially when watching the classic trilogy of Star Wars (ANH, ESB, ROTJ). The Force kicks trash in those movies. Then the prequel Star Wars movies came out. TPM, AOTC & ROTS have changed my mind on this. I now think The Force would be a minuscule influence in any such fight.

In The Phantom Menace we discover that Midichlorians actually dictate one’s power with the force. It’s not something you can get stronger with (except training), unless there are synthetic Midichlorians being produced and injected into the blood stream. You will also discover in Revenge of the Sith that a bunch of clone troopers can EASILY wipe out the Jedi. I can’t even begin to tell you how disappointed I was watching the Jedi get seemingly killed in seconds by a blaster!

A lot of the argumentative stats in this epic battle are taken from non-canon books, video games and other non-canon sources. This includes both sides of the argument. And let’s not throw in the Expanded Universe from Star Wars into the argument. The Expanded Universe of Star Wars books contradict themselves on every level.

I have done my own research and have found the following sites to be useful when determining who would win a U.S.S. Enterprise D/E vs. Star Wars Star Destroyer battle.

List of Ultimate Star Wars vs. Star Trek Sites:

ST-V-SW.net (Great arguments in favor of Star Trek <when looking at sheer firepower and defense capabilities>. Well researched data with sources to back it up.)

StarDestroyer.net (Great arguments in favor of Star Wars. Seems to utilize a lot of non-canon data.)

Answers.com also has a nice article on the subject that you can read here.

There are a lot of awesome ships in the Sci-Fi universe not limited to just Star Wars or Star Trek. Let’s throw an Asgard or Replicator ship into the mixture, or perhaps a Battlestar from Battlestar Galactica. The Battlestars look awesome!

TheForce.net has some great Star Trek, Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica specs, although who knows if the sources are accurate. You can find them here.

Again, I realize this argument will never come to an end, but it sure is fun!

I still have that poster, but it has since bent and ripped over the years. I was lucky enough a couple of years ago to get a hold of a new, still in the plastic wrap, poster off the Internet. Isn’t the Internet wonderful? On the back of the poster were listed all the Galoob Star Trek TNG action figures. I still have the poster in the plastic, but plan on framing it and proudly hanging it on the wall. What can I say? I am proud to be a Star Trek geek.

Once I had the poster, I of course had to get some of the toys listed on the back. Somehow Santa Clause caught wind of this and I got a Commander Riker and a die cast NCC1701D Star Trek Enterprise for Christmas. The saucer section even separated. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. These toys, unfortunately, are now long gone.

Front of Die Cast Enterprise:

Back of Die Cast Enterprise

So what did I do later on as an adult? I got on e-bay and purchased a bunch of these toys for my own personal collection. I probably have 15 action figures and the die cast NCC1701D all in the box with the blister and card still in good condition. E-bay has tons of Galoob Star Trek toys available, with many of them still in good condition. You can find these Galoob toys here.

Some of the action figures were produced differently, making some of them collector’s items. The first release of these toys, in 1988, had a flat blister. The second release of toys had face paint variations and an indented blister. Data went through the most variations.

The first Data released had an almost blue colored face. This is considered to be the most collectible Commander Data. The face was changed by Galoob to make it look more human. The face turned out very dark. Data was later created with lighter skin and yellow lips, like an android. Quality control was a little lax and some of the Datas produced had a speckled-face look. I actually own one of those. You will also notice that some of the Commander Rikers and Captain Picards ended up with yellow lips. Oops!

I hope you have learned a little about Galoob’s Star Trek line of action figures. This site has some great pictures of the different Galoob Star Trek TNG toy variations.