Star Trek in the News - September 3, 2010

Clifton Collins Jr., who played Ayel in the Star Trek reboot, has been a busy man. He recently appeared as the Vegan Police in the feature Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and co-stars on NBC’s series The Event, which will premiere on September 20 and casts Collins as Thomas, a major figure in the show’s conspiracy saga. He also stars in The Experiment, a drama-thriller with Adrien Brody, Forest Whitaker and Maggie Grace; the comedy Freeloaders with Jane Seymour, Olivia Munn and Courtney Peldon; and The FP, a comedy with Dash Mihok and Sean Whalen, the latter of whom guest starred as Zoumas in the Enterprise episode “Canamar.”

Actually, Courtney Peldon is no stranger to the Trek universe herself. The actress guest starred as the heroic Red Squadron cadet Karen Farris in the DS9 episode “Valiant” and co-starred with fellow Trek regulars and/or guests Walter Koenig, Marina Sirtis, Gary Graham, Erick Avari, Patricia Tallman and the late Andrew Koenig in InAlienable. In addition to Freeloaders, she’s soon to begin production on a horror movie entitled Reborn.

Fallout: New Vegas, a videogame that will be released by Bethesda Softworks on October 19, features the voice talents of Ron Perlman from Nemesis; William Sadler, who played the recurring character Sloan on DS9; Michael Dorn from TNG and DS9; Rene Auberjonois from DS9; and DS9 guest star John Doman, who appeared as Lenaris Holem in the episode “Shakaar.” They join such recognizable names as Matthew Perry, Kris Kristofferson, Danny Trejo, Zach Levi and Wayne Newton. The post-apocalyptic game is a follow-up to Fallout 3. Perlman narrates, while Dorn provides the voice of a super-mutant, Sadler is a robot with the personality of an old-school cowboy, Auberjonois does the talking for an enigmatic character named Mr. House, and Doman is a charismatic dictator.

Doman will also be seen soon in a feature film entitled All Good Things. The love story/murder mystery stars Kristen Wiig, Ryan Gosling and a couple of familiar Trek faces: Frank Langella, who played Minister Jaro in a trio of DS9 episodes, and  Kirsten Dunst, who counts the role of Hedril in the TNG episode “Dark Page” as one of her earliest credits. Langella also has Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps and the thriller Unknown White Male on the way, while Dunst will be on view in the romance-drama Upside Down, the adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, and Lars von Trier’s sci-fi drama Melancholia.

Tony Todd will reprise his role as Mr. Bludworth in the horror sequel Final Destination 5. A Trek fan favorite, Todd played Worf’s brother Kurn on TNG and DS9, the Alpha Hirogen in the “Prey” episode of Voyager, as well as the adult version of Jake Sisko in the DS9 hour “The Visitor.” Additionally, he lent his voice to the character of Korban for the game Star Trek: Elite Force II. Final Destination 5 isn’t the actor’s only current project. The ubiquitous Todd has also completed a role in the pilot of the aforementioned series The Event, the horror film Hatchet II, and, among several other projects, A Night at the Silent Movie Theater.

A Night at the Silent Movie Theater, it should be noted, is an independent comedy from Tim Russ of Voyager. Russ, who played Tuvok, for all seven seasons of Voyager, has found his niche behind the camera. A Night at the Silent Movie Theater co-stars Russ’s Voyager colleague Ethan Phillips. Russ, as director, has also completed a sci-fi short called War of Heaven, which stars Walter Koenig, Lana Wood and Richard Hatch.

Speaking of directors, Star Trek co-writer Alex Kurtzman is set to make his directorial debut with Welcome to People, a family drama he wrote several years ago. Kurtzman will also produce Welcome to People with the help of longtime writing-producing partner Roberto Orci, with whom he worked on Star Trek.

Still on the directing front, Roxann Dawson, B’Elanna on Voyager, continues to make her mark behind the camera. She directed her third episode of The Closer, “Heart Attack,” which aired last month. One of the series’ regulars is Jonathan Del Arco, who memorably guest starred as Hugh, the Borg, in a couple of TNG episodes and later appeared as Fantome on Voyager. Dawson also called the shots on summer episodes of Rizzoli & Isles and Lie to Me.

LeVar Burton, TNG’s beloved Geordi LaForge, will host the IndieCade Red Carpet Awards ceremony and reception. The awards, which will be handed out on October 8 as part of the IndieCade 2010 festival, are designed to shine a light on independent games and to cultivate artistry and innovation in interactive media.

Lastly, StarTrek.com is saddened to report the passing of Kenny Endoso. Endoso, a veteran Hollywood stuntman who worked on The Search for Spock and First Contact, succumbed to cancer on August 10 after a six-year battle against the disease. StarTrek.com sends its condolences to his family and friends.