Season Finale Available Now!

Get it Now at The Hidden Frontier Website!

Communicator Phone Delayed....

Source: Trek Today

The anticipated Star Trek Communicator Phone has an original series design and menus reflective of Next Generation PADDs and consoles, but unfortunately you won't be able to get one as a gift this holiday season.

The Inquirer reports that the phone has been delayed until 2006, though it is expected to be available in time for Star Trek's 40th anniversary.

The communicator phone is made by Sona Mobile, which said that the company has been flooded with requests for a quick turnaround. But quality standards required a longer production time.

Though the outer design of the phone resembles communicators of Captain Kirk's era, it is the voice of Lieutenant Commander Worf alerting owners of incoming calls. The phone chirps like a communicator when flipped open to reveal a set of menus reminiscent of Next Gen panels.

Images of the phone are available at Sona Mobile's web site, which also reveals that the phone can play Fleet Wars, an MMOG involving the Federation, the Romulans and the Borg.

Each phone comes with an eBook version of Star Trek Vanguard: Harbinger and can play clips from Star Trek episodes and movies.

Pat Morita Passes...

Souce: Slice of Sci-Fi.com
By:Kyle Nin

Pat Morita, most famous as Mr. Miyagi, the Oscar winning wise karate master in the Karate Kid films has died at the age of 73. His other notable and most recognizable character was Arnold, the cranky owner of Arnold's Drive-In eatery in TV's award winning Happy Days.

While confining most of his roles to drama and comedy, Morita was no stranger to Science Fiction, making guest appearances in The Incredible Hulk, the short-lived series Space Rangers, and The Outer Limits.

Morita died on Thanksgiving Day at his home in Las Vegas of natural causes. He is survived by his wife of 12 years.

French Sci-Fi Comming In Spring...

Source: Slice of Sci-Fi and Film Force

Luc Besson's Banlieue 13 ("District 13") will be coming to North America. The science fiction actioner was a fairly big hit in its native France and has played elsewhere around the world. Besson, the prolific French filmmaker, wrote and produced B13, while Pierre Morel directed; Morel had previously worked with Besson on The Transporter, as had lead actor Cyril Raffaelli.

Banlieue 13 is set in the crime-ridden ghettos of Paris, 2010. Parts of the city have been walled off by the government to contain the lawlessness, and District 13 is one of the worst areas. The story follows a vigilante named Leïto (David Belle) and a young martial-arts-trained cop named Damien (Raffaelli) as they take on the nefarious crime lord Taha. Taha has acquired a neutron bomb for some evil scheme, and he must be stopped before he puts that plan into action.

What makes the film stand out is its emphasis on creative, acrobatic stunts during the fight scenes. Co-star David Belle, in fact, is the founder of Parkour – a freestyle athletics movement that combines running, dancing, martial arts, and aerobatics in the navigation of difficult obstacle courses.

CBS Cancels Threshold

Source:Trek Today

CBS has cancelled Brannon Braga's Threshold after a move to Tuesday nights resulted in a drop in ratings.

E! Online's Kristin Veitch noted as an aside in her column about the plug being pulled on long-running thriller Alias that Braga's first series after the cancellation of Star Trek: Enterprise had been dropped by the network. The show finished a distant third in its time slot on November 22nd.

The show had not really had a chance to settle into its new time, noted TV Squad. Threshold traded its previous Friday 9 p.m. slot with Close To Home, which saw a rise on Friday in ratings from its original spot Tuesdays at 10. Threshold's Tuesday airing put it into competition with the highly-rated Law and Order: SVU, and this week it went up against the American Music Awards as well.

Threshold recently signed Catherine Bell, formerly of JAG, to play a new character. The series starred Carla Gugino and Star Trek: The Next Generation's Brent Spiner (Data).

TV Fodder stated that there had been no word whether the remaining episodes of Threshold would be aired on CBS or streamed online, where the network has been offering previous episodes to build an audience for the show.

Special Report...

Hey Gang!

Odeo, our Podcasting host has taken down it's uploading software for the time being for upgrades.

We are in the process of scrambling to find annother host for temp use until the Odeo services are back up, and ready for us to use. So, until further notice, we won't be having a show for you to tune in.

We apologize for this, and we're working on a solution as we speak.

We'll let you know as son as something comes open!

Alvin & Will

Update:

Ok kids, we have a new temporary hosting solution through Switchpod. However the solution came with ads within our podcast. to listen to the test, click on the link for the test podcast on the right, and look for the third listing (will be up top, if you choose not to listen to the ads) to listen to the test podcast. We'll be updating you each week as to the status of getting back to our regular Odeo Channel, or annother solution as soon as we can come up with it.

We've also linked up with some of the best aggregators on the net for you to direct download, and save our shows in iTunes for your listening pleasure!

Thanks for bearing with us as we make this change, and we hope to have an actual show out next week~!!
A & W

Grand Master Named....

Source: SciFi Wire

Prolific and irascible SF author Harlan Ellison has been named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and will be honored at the Nebula Award Weekend in Tempe, Ariz., May 4-7, 2006, the SFWA Web site reported. SF writer William F. Nolan will serve as the 2006 Author Emeritus.

Since his first sale, "Glowworm," to Infinity Science Fiction in 1956, Ellison has shaped and sometimes re-shaped modern science fiction, the SFWA said. As a writer and as an anthologist, his influence, though sometimes controversial, has been vast. Ellison won seven Hugo Awards; three Nebula Awards; many script-writing awards for his television work, which included episodes of the original Star Trek; an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America; and various World Fantasy Awards.

Always a champion for writers, Ellison led the legal fight against AOL with his "Kick Internet Piracy" campaign to hold Internet service providers responsible for pirate sites. He also helped to launch the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

Nolan was born in 1928 in Kansas City, Mo., and sold his first fiction in 1954. His work has included a broad range of material, including science fiction, fantasy, horror, westerns and mysteries. He's authored more than 150 stories and 75 books, including 13 novels. Among the best-known of his novels is Logan's Run, co-authored with George Clayton Johnson, and later on his own Logan's World and Logan's Search. His work has earned praise from such writers as Stephen King, Ray Bradbury and Joe R. Landsdale.

Nimoy Not Sorry To Be Spock...

Source: Trek Today

Nearly thirty years after he famously declared I Am Not Spock in a book with the same title, Leonard Nimoy is happy to concede, "I am the actor who played Spock, so, I guess, in some meaningful sense, I am Spock."

Indeed, he wrote a follow-up in 1995 proclaiming just that.

"I am totally comfortable with [this situation]," Nimoy told MassLive.com while in Springfield for the United Fan Con the weekend before last. "I am not really, I mean, not 'really' Mr. Spock. I am an actor who played that part."

The first book, he said, was a study in how an actor creates a character, but he found that fans were offended by the implication. "I gave the book a very bad title. It was my idea, and it was a bad idea. I thought it would be interesting to people, but it turned out to be a problem."

He wrote I Am Spock in part to clear up that misunderstanding, since it led to a belief that he didn't like Spock and Star Trek. "I come from Boston. My parents come from Russia...I told about the differences between myself and Spock, because people are very curious."

At 74, Nimoy has retired from both acting and directing, expressing his creativity through photography. His art was on display at UFC, which had the highest pre-registration in 15 years.

For more, including Nimoy's recollection of traveling to Russia for the debut there of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, see the original article at MassLive.com.

Shatner Talks About New Books...

Source: Trek Today

It is William Shatner's belief that when Kirk and Spock first encountered one another, they didn't like each other very much.

"They meet and have no fondness for each other. They're bound by their mutual rebellion," Shatner explained to The Edmonton Sun of his plan for a series of books about young Kirk and Spock, which he hopes might form the groundwork for the next Star Trek film or TV show. Because Vulcans live much longer than humans and there is virtually no canonical information on Kirk's birth, it has been speculated that Spock could be several years older than Kirk, but Shatner imagines them as near-contemporaries growing up together. "It'll be an interesting read and hopefully it'll be an interesting series, as we find out how the boys became men."

I for one, will be interested in see how this develops...

James Doohan Flight Delayed...

Source: Reuters and Yahoo News
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Plans to launch the remains of "Star Trek" actor James Doohan into space next month have been delayed pending more rocket engine tests, organizers said on Wednesday.

Doohan, who played the "Star Trek" engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott on the TV series, died in July at age 85. In accord with his last wishes, his cremated remains were set to be launched into space by commercial flight operators Space Services.

Charles Chafer of Space Services said the flight, due to blast off from California, was likely to be delayed from December 6 until at least February because engineers working on the Falcon One rocket wanted to do some more engine tests.

Doohan's remains will be packed into a tube that is ejected from the rocket and expected to orbit Earth for 50 to 200 years.

Chafer said the remains of 200 other people from as far afield as Russia, Japan and Australia would also be on the flight.

"They literally come from all walks of life -- from rocket scientists to restaurant owners and truck drivers. They were mostly people who were interested in space or anyone who just liked to walk out and look up at the stars at night," said Chafer.

Finale Released to Newsleter Subscribers...

Rob Caves, Executive Producer of Star Trek: Hidden Frontier announced to newsletter subscribers recently that the season finale of Her Battle Lantern's Lit was available for download, with the release to the general website comming soon!

He also repoerted that while the cast, and most of the crew were on hiatus from the show that he was working on CGI shots to be included for the 7th, and "monumental" season to conclude the Hidden Frontier series.

Shows for the final season would start production in January 2006 and was stated to be longer than most of the current episodes from the prior 6 seasons.

We'll keep you up to date as Season 7 begins production next year!

Star Trek Alums Face Manticore

Two STAR TREK alumnus, Robert Beltran (STAR TREK: Voyager) and Chase Masterson (STAR TREK: Deep Space Nine) are teaming up in Sci-Fi Channel's MANTICORE.

Half-Lion and Half-Dragon, the deadliest weapon of the ancient world is reborn and on the loose in modern-day Iraq.

Now, one squad of U.S. soldiers must risk their lives to stop the creature before it wipes out all mankind.

A New Team To Produce Next Star Trek Series...

Source:SciFi Pulse
By: Ian M. Cullen

Over that last few months there has been much discussions within Fandom about when who and where the next Star Trek show will be taking place, the biggest question is when will there be a new show, the answer at present is still very much up in the air as to when, and Rick Berman who has been the caretaker of Star Trek since the tragic passing of the series creator Gene Roddenberry is as in the dark as the rest of us. In issue 124 of the official UK Star Trek Magazine Berman revealed his thoughts on what will happen when Paramount decide to go once more unto the Trek.

In a recent readers poll which was filled in by the readers of Star Trek Magazine fans were asked what current shows could Star Trek learn from as and when it returns and the answers were pretty close between Doctor Who, Stargate Atlantis and the controversial much loved and much hated re-imagining of Battlestar Galactica.

“That’s hard to comment on. It’s certainly an interesting conclusion. When they re-energise the franchise it’s going to be the result of someone fresh, someone who has not been extensively involved with Star Trek, coming up with a new approach to the series. I think when Roddenberry created The Next Generation it was similar in many ways to the original shows, but obviously with a brand – new cast and a lot of new elements to the universe and to the spaceship. But since then, we did nearly 700 hours of Star Trek. So when the time to reinvent it or reinvigorate it, it’s going to have to be something very fresh and new, and my guess is that it would very possibly be from someone other than the people who have been creatively involved with it in the past.”

One thing that has been on the minds of many fans is the current status of the 11 th Star Trek movie, some elements of Fandom have also asked why it has to be a new crew and why can it not be the Enterprise Crew? Berman gave a somewhat revealing answer to this which pretty much states that nothing is set in stone as of yet.

“I would say that the storyline of the movie is still up in the air. The original story that has been put into development took place after Enterprise was done. Whether the next movie takes place there or whether it takes place at another point, I think that the studio’s feeling is that it would be nice to try to do a feature film with a fresh, new, none television series crew. So if Paramount decides that they’re going to reinvigorate or reinvent Star Trek at some point in the future, that would probably negate the use of characters from the existing shows.”

“By the way, I would say that the film is still in the same early stages of development it was the last time we talked.” Berman added while talking to Ian Spelling.

This year has been a pretty bad time for Star Trek having lost some pretty prominent names. Berman was asked for his thoughts on the losses of James Doohan and Robert Wise and provided the following by way of his own personal remembrances of both men.

“I met Robert Wise. One night I was at a Hollywood function, and my wife and I were sitting at a table along with some other people. We saw that the table next to ours was occupied by just one person, and it was Robert Wise. My wife walked over to him and said, ‘Would you please come and join us?’ He came and sat with us for the evening, and he was a lovely person. Obviously, we’re all incredibly grateful to him. Jimmy, who I worked with and who I knew, was a doll. He was just a very talented and sweet man. They’re both missed.”

As to other projects Berman reveals that he does have a few things in the works right now which he cannot reveal as of yet.

“My biggest focus right now is my involvement in some series ideas we’re trying to develop, and hopefully I can tell you more the next time we talk.”

The Full interview is a part of the Star Trek Magazine new issue #124 published in the U.K. which also includes interviews with Chase Masterson, and Kate Mulgrew

Harry Potter Has Smash Opening

Source: Coming Soon

Warner Bros. Pictures' Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire earned a massive $101.4 million from 3,858 theaters in just its first three days, according to studio estimates. Warner Bros. Pictures' fourth installment in the popular "Harry Potter" franchise, directed by Mike Newell, averaged an impressive $26,289 per theater.

The $150 million-budgeted film set a new record for biggest opening in November, surpassing Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, which debuted to $90.3 million in 2001. It is also the fourth biggest weekend for a film in box office history, passing up Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban ($93.7 million) and trailing just Spider-Man ($114.8 million), Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith ($108.4 million) and Shrek 2 ($108 million). "Goblet of Fire" is the second-best opener of 2005, behind "Revenge of the Sith," and has tied Spider-Man, "Sith" and The Matrix Reloaded in reaching the $100 million mark in three days.

For its single day performances, the film's $39.355 million Friday box office is the second-highest ever, behind only Spider-Man ($39.406 million) and above "Prisoner of Azkaban" ($38.3 million). The Friday total is also the fourth best opening day in history. The Saturday total of $35.5 million is the fourth biggest for that day.

While earning considerably less, 20th Century Fox's Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line collected a solid $22.4 million in second place. Starring Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, James Mangold's well-reviewed drama averaged a strong $7,565 per location.

Walt Disney Pictures' Chicken Little dropped two spots to third with $14.8 million in its third weekend. The computer-animated comedy has earned $99.2 million so far.

Fourth place belonged to The Weinstein Co.'s Derailed, which added $6.5 million. The $22 million Clive Owen and Jennifer Aniston thriller is at $21.8 million after two weeks.

Director Jon Favreau's space adventure Zathura rounded out the top five with $5.1 million in its second weekend. Budgeted at $65 million, the film has made $20.3 million.

Writer/director Neil Jordan's Breakfast on Pluto, with Cillian Murphy, Stephen Rea, Brendan Gleeson and Liam Neeson, earned $34,900 from just three theaters for an average of $11,633. The dramedy has earned $45,000 since opening on Wednesday.

Threshold Announces Bell Joining Cast

Source: SciFi Wire
Brannon Braga, co-creator and executive producer of CBS' SF drama Threshold, said that Catherine Bell will soon join the show's cast in a recurring role. Bell, who will also star in SCI FI Channel's upcoming original miniseries The Triangle, will play a genetic engineer who joins the Red Team of Molley Caffrey (Carla Gugino), which is trying to stop an alien threat. Bell is perhaps best known for playing Lt. Col. Sarah "Mac" MacKenzie on CBS' long-running series JAG.

A New Look Is Here!

Welcome to Sci-Fi News 2.0! We hope you enjoy the new look as we slowly start to make changes to the page, and prepare for a slow transition hopefully after the first of the year to our own servers to better serve you!

Look for our next podcast to be comming soon with a major news story on Star Wars Galaxies, info on Star Trek:Online from a special Guest, and Alvin's gonna be in via a report on what he's got planned. (It's a secret, and he won't tell!) So, check back with us for the release of Sci-Fi News Show #5!

Season Finale...

Watch for it this week on the Star Trek: Hidden Frontier Website!

Galaxies Player? We Want To Hear From You!

Are you playing Star Wars Galaxies?

Have you played the NGE on the Testcenter Servers?

We want to hear from you!

send your feedback on your expirience with the new version of SWG to us via text at scifi_news2001@yahoo.com, or record us a little voice message by using the id 'scifi_news2001' to record a 2 minute message via Yahoo IM with voice!

Star Wars Galaxies Announces New Game Enhancements

In A letter dated Nov. 2nd, Julio Torres, producer from Lucasarts announced the Star Wars Galaxies Community that starting this month, the game title would be introducing major enhancements to the core programming of Galaxies and fundementally changing the game from a turned based system to a more fast paced enviorment, with a new conglomerated set of professions, and a new look, and feel for the quest based programming which is soon to be in place.

There's going to be 3 new combat views. 1st Person, Overhead, and 3rd Person over the shoulder. The major changes in the professions listings are from the some 20+, to just 9. Here's the official list:

1. Bounty Hunter
2. Commando
3. Entertainer
4. Medic
5. Officer
6. Smuggler
7. Spy
8. Trader
9. Jedi

Yes folks now you will be able to start out as a Jedi padawan.

For the veteran players, SOE will be offering you the chance to have a look at all 9 professions with respec tokens, to get a look, and feel for them before you decide on your sole profesion for your character. For new characters once the transition is complete, they will only be able to choose one profession for each character on their accounts.

Veteran players willl also be getting some special "Loyalty Rewards" for transitioning over to the new gamplay system. They are:

Elder Buff: Increases to combat abillites which can be shared with new players
Elder Title: Recognition of your status as a valued veteran player
The 9 token respecs talked about above
Jedi Bonus Items: Power enhanced Robe, Lightsaber color crystal, and the opportunity to play as a transcended blue glowing Jedi character
10 additional combat levels to expand on to Combat Lvl 90.

To read about the full story about the changes to start within the month of November, check out the Star Wars Galaxies Website for Mr. Torres' letter, in which you will find the F.A.Q. that has been published with the full details of the changes.

Stay tuned to hear more on the changes as they move to the live servers, and we gain more information!