Star Trek

The last couple weeks we've been following the developments surrounding Star Trek Beyond's announcement that they'll be revealing the character Sulu as gay in the upcoming film --- a decision largely made to serve as a nod to George Takei (who played Mr. Sulu for many years in movies and television) who came out as gay in 2005 after many years of keeping his sexual orientation to himself.



Long story short, George Takei told the press that he didn't think the show's creator Gene Roydenberry would approve of the decision, though he did say that he appreciates it --

"I wish John Cho well in the role I once played, and congratulate Simon Pegg on his daring and groundbreaking storytelling," Takei wrote. "While I would have gone with the development of a new character in this instance, I do fully understand and appreciate what they are doing — as ever, boldly going where no one has gone before."
J.J. Abrams offered his thoughts on well, George Takei's thoughts regarding the matter:

"I feel that George Takei’s reaction ― I’m sure has more to do with George Takei, and the baggage he brings to the proceedings. I think it may be his perception of having played a character a certain way. It might mean something personally to him. I have nothing but respect for the man, but I think it’s a preposterous thing for, of all people, a ‘Star Trek’ actor — who’s come out himself — to say that Gene Roddenberry wouldn’t have wanted this.” 

"It’s about time that there’s a gay character in this universe," Abrams said. 

Mr. Hikaru Sulu, who is played in the modern Star Trek films by actor John Cho is set to be revealed as gay in the next film, Star Trek Beyond. When we next pick up with Mr. Hikaru Sulu in Star Trek Beyond, he is portrayed as a father with a same-sex partner and a daughter. While it's a clear fact, it's also carried out in a casual manner, with no fanfare -- it's just there, which is something Cho appreciated.

"I liked the approach, which was not to make a big thing out of it," Cho told the Australian newspaper The Herald Sun while he was on a press tour for the movie. "[That] is where I hope we are going as a species, to not politicize one's personal orientations."

The change, also comes as a nod by writer (also stars in film) Simon Pegg and director Justin Lin, to the OG Sulu, Mr. George Takei. Takei played Sulu for many years in the television and film series, and didn't come out as gay until 2005. When asked why it took so long, Takei said it was because as an actor in the 60s, he'd have gotten no work in the industry as an openly declared gay male. 

Star Trek Beyond debuts in theaters July 22, 2016. Check out the latest, final trailer for the movie below:

NASA engineer and physicist Harold White is working on using the theory of relativity to travel at warp speed. The ship will be called IXS Enterprise, while he's still working on the math to prove it can be done, the concept art has already been completed by designer Mark Rademaker. In an interview with The Washington Post Rademaker explained the purpose behind the designs:

"We wanted to have a decent image of a theory conforming Warp ship to motivate young people to pursue a STEM career," Rademaker said in an e-mail interview. "It does have some Sci-Fi features that might never transfer to a possible final design, unless we really want to."

When Gene Roddenberry's computer died—RIP—it took the method of accessing the 200 or so floppy disks of unpublished work with it. Moves were made, possible miracles occurred, and we're here to reveal how this grand mystery was solved.

Roddenberry previously had a reputation for performing much of his work on his Macintosh, but it turns out he put in a notable amount of time on his personal brand computer. Now that was a sign of good, no great, things to come.

The crux of the problem here: Roddenberry who passed away in 1991, left a couple containers of big 'ol floppy disks. Unfortunately, floppy disks went out of use at the turn of the 21st century.

Roddenberry's estate refused to admit defeat. They sought help from DriveSavers Data Recovery. As relayed by the company's director of engineering, Mike Cobb, most of the disks were 1980s-era 5.25-inch double-density disks with the capacity to pack an impressive 160KB in storage. Cobb went on to disclose most the discs were from an older operating system called CP/M.

CP/M was a widely employed operating system in the 1970s and 1980s, but ultimately was bested by Microsoft's DOS. The DOS from Microsoft won out with its ease of use. Yeah, nice work Bill.

"The older disks, we had to actually figure out how to physically read them," Cobb told PCWorld. "The difficult part was CP/M and the file system itself and how it was written."

Things took a turn for the worst from there, when they couldn't get Roddenberry's computer to turn on. They were forced to sleuth the layout of the tracks on the disc—a process that drew out for near three months. Fast forward and 30 of the discs ended up being damaged. Fortunately, as luck would have it, most the damages covered what Cobb's determined as blank space.

Was it really that big and unsolvable a mystery though?

Yes, from the other end of the spectrum here, we have a fleet of Scotty engine room minions with claims that components from that era are still available, and that all you'd need to know is what word processing program he used. Next hypothetical step, from Windows or Apple OS, you'd convert the txt files to a familiar format.

At this time we don't know what kinds of treasures, hidden episodes, were recovered on those discs.

Was this case and its complexity overstated for the sake of justifying a handsome invoice?

This woman threw together a Starfleet uniform that's practically on point, and her Christmas tree brooch ends up looking just like the infamous Starfleet combadge.

William Shatner put out a call to action from all the Trekkies in the world Aug. 1, asking them to take a selfie of Spock's famous salute.

I need everyone's help. Take a selfie of you doing the LLAP sign and email the photo to NIMOYTribute@gmail.com pic.twitter.com/b2gTMftn7J

— William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) August 1, 2015

He didn't say what it was for, only that it would be a tribute to the Leonard Nimoy, six months after the actor's death.

Shatner also spoke out on his Who Say page asking for the same thing, without giving a hint as to what he would do with the collection of photos.

On the evening of Aug. 9, he shared what because of all the fan selfies:

Why did I ask for all those #LLAP selfies? For a @gishwhes task as a tribute to Leonard. Thank you! pic.twitter.com/3NQZ5siINe

— William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) August 9, 2015

The mosaic uses over 6,000 selfies from fans throughout the globe, honoring the late Mr. Nimoy with the 'Live Long and Prosper' salute.

The tribute was also done for the charitable scavenger hunt organization Gishwhes, which is run by Supernatural actor Misha Collins.

Additionally, Shatner tweeted that the mosaic had been submitted for a Guinness World Record. He didn't specify which one, exactly. Most selfie Spock? Best Leonard Nimoy tribute? Most feels on a Monday?

Regardless, it's great.

Canadians and Trekkies have been “Spocking” their five-dollar bills for years, but since Leonard Nimoy’s death there’s a been a surge in people sharing the defaced bills online to pay tribute.

Last week the Canadian Design Resource (CDR) Twitter account encouraged its followers to scribble on former Canadian Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier’s face to honor Nimoy.

"Spock" your $5 bills for Leonard Nimoy pic.twitter.com/bKdKyC3l4q

— Design Canada (@The_CDR) February 27, 2015

There’s a community on Facebook called “SpockingYourFives” which explains the origins which is says are “shrouded in secrecy.”

Many years ago, some clever individual whos name has no doubt been forgotten in the annals of time noticed that Sir Wilfrid Laurier’s portrait on the Canadian five-dollar bill looked remarkably like a certain famous Vulcan. And thus the Spock five was born. With the advent of the new Canadian five-dollar bill, Laurier looks even more like Leonard Nimoy, ensuring the Spock five has a long and prosperous future.

With the increased attention towards “Spocking,” the Bank of Canada has come out saying that the practice is actually perfectly legal, but they still don’t want you to do it.

“The Bank of Canada feels that writing and markings on bank notes are inappropriate as they are a symbol of our country and a source of national pride,” bank spokeswoman Josianne Menard told theCBC.

Captain Kirk approves:

And the defacing of the Canadian $5 bill warms my heart

— William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) March 2, 2015

Images Via: Twitter/CDR