Christie's International announced Wednesday that its huge Star Trek auction will be among the first to take advantage of a new online system that will allow bidders to experience the drama of the auction room from the comfort of their homes.

"Christie's Live" will combine real-time video and audio with clear bidding instructions to allow users to "virtually" attend auctions at Christie's salesrooms across the globe. The technology was developed in partnership with Auction Management Solutions of Tampa, Florida.

The auction house will roll out the system to selected sales during a six-month introductory phase, including the Trek auction taking place October 5-7 from New York (related story). Online users will have to download free, customized software from www.christies.com, and register at least 48 hours in advance of the sale so that a credit check can be done and a unique "paddle number" can be issued.

During the live sale, the auctioneer will have a screen in front of him in the sale room, and can look directly into the camera when addressing an online bidder, according to a Reuters article. Although Christie's and other auction houses have attempted Internet bidding programs before, it proved impractical until broadband technology became more prevalent. For more on this story, see this CNN.com link.

Christie's will have a booth at Comic-Con in San Diego next weekend (related story) where they will display various items from the Star Trek auction.

Fuller's "Amazing Screw-On Head" Premieres Online

"President Abraham Lincoln's top spy is a bodyless head known only as Screw-On Head." Thus is the one-line synopsis of a bizarre new horror/comedy animated series called The Amazing Screw-On Head, developed and executive produced by Bryan Fuller (writer/producer for Star Trek: Voyager).

The pilot episode of Screw-On Head, written by Fuller, premiered yesterday on SCI FI Pulse, the broadband channel of SciFi.com, two weeks in advance of its July 27 debut on the Sci-Fi Channel. After you watch the pilot, SciFi.com asks you to fill out an online survey crafted by the NBC Universal research department. The results of the online survey will help Sci-Fi Channel executives decide whether or not to greenlight the pilot to series.

You can view the 22-minute video and fill out the survey at www.scifi.com/amazingscrewonhead.

The Amazing Screw-On Head is based on the comic book by Mike Mignola, who serves as art director on the show. It features the voices of Paul Giamatti, David Hyde Pierce and Molly Shannon.

Creation Previews Trek Puppet Show

You read it right — a puppet show with a Star Trek theme. "Trek: The Musical Auditions – The Puppet Show Variant" is a musical comedy that Creation Entertainment will present in Las Vegas during the 40th anniversary celebration there in August. But first they are previewing it in Burbank, Calif., and inviting fans to attend for free. The performance will take place Monday, July 24, at 8 p.m., at the Burbank Airport Hilton (where they've held their Farscape and other conventions), and it runs about 80 minutes. It will be taped for DVD release.

To reserve complimentary tickets, e-mail sponsors@creationent.com no later than July 22. Give your name and how many will attend. To learn more about the show, visit Creation's Las Vegas convention page and scroll about halfway down.

British Farmer Groks Spock Crop

A U.K. fan has gone to aMAZEing lengths to celebrate Star Trek's 40th anniversary ... and bad pun aside, it's quite a sight to behold. Farmer Tom Pearcy has created a "maize maze" in his 32-acre cornfield near York, utilizing satellite technology to carve out a pattern that includes depictions of Spock's visage, the Enterprise firing upon a Borg cube, and a Saturn-like planet that reads "1966-2006." It is presumably the largest maze of its kind in the world.

To see a picture of the crop pattern and read more about it, visit this Sun Online link.

Luckinbill to Speak at "Final Frontier" Screening in Connecticut

Next Friday, July 21, the Ridgefield Playhouse Film Society in Ridgefield, Connecticut, will hold a special screening of "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier," and Laurence Luckinbill, who played Spock's half-brother "Sybok," will be on hand for a Q&A afterwards. Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for seniors and $7.50 for students, and may be purchased by calling the box office at (203) 438-5795. For more information, visit www.ridgefieldplayhouse.org.

In an interview for a local newspaper, Luckinbill confesses he knew little about Star Trek when he signed on for the role. "I didn't know the difference between a Vulcan and a Klingon," he says. He has since seen all the Star Trek movies, but "Final Frontier" is still his favorite, giving credit to director William Shatner. "Bill is great to work for. He knows what he wants to do and how he wants to do it." Luckinbill adds that Shatner chose him for the role after seeing him play Franklin D. Roosevelt in the TV mini-series "Freedom to Speak."

To read the full story, see this link at NewsTimesLive.com.

Shatner Touts Virtues of Horseback Riding

Speaking of Shatner, the captain's passion for horseback riding was profiled this week in Daily Variety as part of a feature about celebrities and their favorite sports.

"At its best, it's the unity of horse and rider, the feeling of oneness when the horse becomes part of your body," Shatner relates in the article. He says he was "smitten from an early age" when he began riding rental horses as a kid in Montreal.

"They have kept me energized and competitive, and I met my wife (Elizabeth) as a result of these horses, and that saved my life," Shatner comments, referring to the dark days in 1999 after his previous wife, Nerine, was found drowned in the family home in North Hollywood.

You can see the full article at this Variety.com link.

Tony Todd on Queen Mary

If you prefer to celebrate Star Trek's 40th anniversary on the water, and you also happen to be a Buffy/Angel and Smallville fan, this may be for you. James Marsters, who played "Spike" in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, is hosting a weekend gathering with dignitaries from all those shows and more aboard the Queen Mary, the historic cruise liner docked in Long Beach, Calif.

Tony Todd will be one of the special guests of the event, which takes place September 8-10 (the actual weekend of Trek's 40th anniversary, when several other events are taking place). Todd played Worf's brother "Kurn" in several episodes of The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. He was also the fully-grown "Jake Sisko" in "The Visitor," and a Hirogen in Voyager's "Prey."

Another VIP with Trek connections is Jane Espenson. Before she became a major creative force on Buffy (as writer and co-executive producer), Espenson wrote the DS9 episode "Accession."

To learn more about the "James Marsters & Friends" weekend, visit www.jamesmarsters.com.

More Showbiz News: Bowman, Cochran, Shiban, Judd

Rob Bowman, who helmed several episodes of TNG, is one of six directors lending his talents to the eight-part anthology miniseries "Nightmares and Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King." Bowman directed the hour titled "Umney's Last Case" starring William H. Macy. It will air on TNT next Wednesday, July 19, at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT. (Check your local listings.)

Shannon Cochran, who has played several roles in Trek including "Senator Tal'aura" in "Star Trek Nemesis," is currently on stage in Chicago. She is performing in "The Unmentionables," a satirical comedy about privileged Americans living in Africa. It runs through August 27 at the Steppenwolf Theatre. Visit www.steppenwolf.org for more info.

John Shiban, who wrote for Star Trek: Enterprise in its second season, has been cited in a Daily Variety feature called "Game Changers," a profile of "individuals and companies who are innovating the technology and business of home entertainment." Shiban is a partner in Raw Feed, a production company making movies directly for DVD, but with more style and a higher profile than most in that category. Their first film, "Rest Stop," written and directed by Shiban, was financed by Warner Bros., and could end up airing on TV before its DVD release on October 17. "We just wanted to make movies without going through some kind of five-year development hell," Shiban says.

An independent film starring Ashley Judd ("Robin Lefler") that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival has been picked up for distribution. "Come Early Morning" is tentatively scheduled to open in selected cities on November 17. Judd plays a hard-working construction supervisor in Arkansas whose life has become a series of boozy one-night stands, until she meets a newcomer who compels her to confront her demons. The story parallels Judd's recent revelations of depression brought on by a difficult childhood, according to The Hollywood Reporter.