Trek Week 2: The Wrath of Contest

wrath of contestJ.J. Abrams’ re-think of the Star Trek universe was many more times Romulus shatteringly awesome than even the most optimistic Trek geek ever hoped.  It re-energized an aging property.  Everyone outside (and many within) fandom believed it could not be done.  Making more than $380 million in worldwide box office, the film was successful in kindling the flame of Trek-love and guaranteeing a sequel and many more romps through the Trek universe.

The DVD hits store shelves on November 17th.  Because we geeked to the movie so hard, we’re offering you the chance to win a copy of the 2-disc special edition DVD complete with digital copy.

But wait!  That’s not all.

We’re also throwing in a copy of IDW’s terrific prequel comic Star Trek: Countdown.  Countdown tells the story of Spock and Nero fighting to avert the disaster which spawns the events of the film.  In thrilling fashion, we are provided the tale of two men from vastly different backgrounds who become allies.  We see how allies become bitter enemies.

Countdown enriches the enjoyment of the film, but it’s great on its own.

One lucky winner gets both the DVD and Star Trek: Countdown.

The Deets:

All you gotta do is post your recommendations for the sequel in the comments below.

One entry per person, please.

Winners will be chosen at random.

Items will only be shipped within the continental United States.

You must be 18 or older to enter.

Contest ends Friday, Novemer 20 at 5:00 pm Central time.

Oh, and here’s a snippet of one of the DVD extras… who knew Wil Wheaton was in Trek 2009?

Written on November 9th, 2009 , Comics, Contests, Movies & TV, Star Trek Tags: , , , ,
TREK WEEK 2!

trekweek2

I know what you’re thinking, looking at our new snazzy background.  What the hell?  Star Trek came out six months ago!

And you’d be right  Star Trek did come out six months ago.  But guess what?  It comes out on DVD and Blu-Ray next Tuesday, November 17th!

To celebrate, we’re giving you another week of ultra awesome Trek goodness – including a chance to win the DVD!  Check back on Monday for our first stories, and keep reading all week at Ideology of Madness for all the details!

Written on November 8th, 2009 , Movies & TV, Star Trek Tags:
Tonight on Back Seat Producers… STAR TREK!

humanYours truly is guesting on tonight’s episode of Back Seat Producers streaming live across the interwebz.  We’ll be talking about the new Star Trek movie on the Ustream, which means you can participate with us in the chatroom.

Set your phasers to awesome and come on over to the Back Seat Producers channel at 9 o’clock central time tonight.

Red alert, bitches.  We’re overloading the warp core!

Written on June 3rd, 2009 , Podcasts, Star Trek Tags: ,
Your Morning Head: Trek books are delicious candy

067102127301lzzzzzzzIt’s no secret, I loves me some Star Trek.  The movies, the TV shows, and the comics?  All of them I regard with deep affection.  The novels though?  I’m crazy for the novels.

I’ve not read all of them.  Hell, I doubt I’ve even read most of them.  That would be a full time job.

Trek books are the purest kind of brain candy, providing a familiar escape.  They offer an easy transition to a far-a-way place that while strange, is populated by friends we’ve known a long, long time. These stories are neither challenging nor threatening.

Strangely enough, that is some times a good thing.

I love a book that’s in my face, pushing me, agitating me to consider new ideas… even scaring me.  But there are times when you need the comfort of a known quantity, the friendly voice of a beloved character.

Star Trek books have gotten me through some stressful times.   In a lot of respects, these books are a security blanket I clutch when times are bad. Read the rest of this entry »

Written on May 28th, 2009 , Books, Columns, Star Trek, Your Morning Head Tags: ,
Geeks in the Mist: Star Trek Captains
niners-hat

So American he makes eagles cry.

I’m a Saint Louis Cardinals fan.  Cubs fans receive nothing but mockery from me, Royals fans, even more.

Some might wonder why I’m such an ass to people that are fans of different baseball franchises.  Why should I care?  They don’t know me, the players would leave in a heartbeat for more money if it weren’t for their contracts and it’s expensive.  Baseball players get millions of dollars to hang out and play a game, so why give a crap?

I’d ask the same about the low, yet unending argument over Captains in Star Trek.  Usually Jean Luc Picard and James T. Kirk are the centers for such geeky word exchanges (Which pisses me off since Ben Sisko was easily the best.  He had the most soul) It has settled down in recent years, but I have heard the rumblings resurging with the impending release of the new Star Trek movie directed by J.J. Abrams.  For some reason, people think this man walks on water, but they obviously haven’t seen Cloverfield or half of the episodes of Lost

In all, there have been five Captains (Try to name them all, FULL NAMES with actor names, no peeking, and yes, we are counting Enterprise.)  James Kirk, Jean-Luc Picard, Ben Sisko, Kathryn Janeway and Jonathan Archer.  Each has varying degrees of competence and strengths  I think for this column, we can lay out everything and you, the reader, can decide for yourself which one is worthy of your worship. Read the rest of this entry »

Written on May 9th, 2009 , Columns, Geeks in the Mist, Movies & TV, Star Trek Tags: , ,
Your Morning Head: Star Trek Rocked the Warp Core

startrekmovie1I saw the new Star Trek movie last night.

It rocked hard.

Seriously, crazy awesome.

Casting was brilliant, story was spot-on and the action was ladled in awesome sauce.  JJ Abrams, please, please, please say you’ll make the next one.

To give you an indication of how good the movie is and how well it will do… My wife, who is not an SF fan and who does not much care for Trek, loved it.  She laughed, she cheered, was totally into the film.

It won both a die-hard fan who’s been skeptical up until recently, and my non-geek, non-fan wife. Read the rest of this entry »

Written on May 8th, 2009 , Columns, Movies & TV, Star Trek, Your Morning Head Tags: , ,
Madness at the Movies: Star Trek (Paul’s Take)
Chris Pine plays James T. Krik in Star Trek

Chris Pine plays James T. Krik in Star Trek

The most disappointing aspect for me about seeing Star Trek last night in DIGITAL IMAX was that there was literally not a single person in costume.  I don’t know if it’s fear of ridicule, or just the fact that no one does that anymore, but hell, people dressed up to see The Dark Knight, and I’d venture to say that Batman fans don’t hold a candle to Trek ones in their fanaticism.  I was really hoping to see folks dressed up – I enjoy looking at the elaborate costumes.  I even brought a camera so that I could take pictures and post them on the site.  Oh well.

Sorry, to the subject at hand.  Star Trek is f*cking awesome.  It’s, without a doubt, the most action-packed Star Trek movie you’ve ever seen and will not only please long time fans, but create totally new ones.  It’s fast paced, vibrant, well acted and written.  In fact, non-die hard Trek fans will find nothing wrong with it.  Which is to say that I did – there are some aspects of it I downright hated.  Still, the film is THAT good that you’ll look past your nitpicks and enjoy it for what it is – a reinvigoration to the franchise that actually takes into account what happened before.

Avoiding spoilers?  Well, don’t read after the jump, where I jump into MINOR SPOILER territory.  I’ll let you know right now I gave it a 9 out of 10 – it’s a fantastic film and one that NEEDS to be seen in the theater (if you can catch it in it’s short IMAX run, catch it then – wow).  For the rest of you, let’s see what I say after the jump!

Read the rest of this entry »

Written on May 8th, 2009 , Movies & TV, Star Trek Tags: ,
Star Trek: The Experience Returns! (Kinda)
Star Trek: The Experience

Star Trek: The Experience

I think it speaks to the size of my geekality that my favorite experience in Las Vegas wasn’t the bachelor party I attended, or the friend’s wedding I went to (sorry Nate), the free drinks while playing slots, or visiting the night clubs at the Palms Casino. No, my favorite experience in Vegas was actually getting to visit Star Trek: The Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton. This attraction featured two “rides,” a museum of Trek memorabilia, the best Trek store you’ll ever visit and, perhaps best of all, Quark’s, probably my favorite restaurant in Vegas, based upon the character’s bar in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Sadly, I wasn’t able to get back to the Experience a third time before it closed late last year, but new hope came about when Neonopolis, part of the Fremont Street Experience in Las Vegas, announced that they would be taking Trek: The Experience, and opening it in 2010.

While all reports show Neonopolis as a financial failure (in fact, the Galaxy Neonopolis 11 movie theaters are closing as of today and will reopen once it has been remodeled), I’ve got high hopes that bringing in the Star Trek Experience will hopefully turn that around. Originally it was planned to open in phases, but now it appears as if it’ll open all at once in 2010 (check out more here). Let’s hope Neonopolis stays open long enough for Trek to come in and we can all plan a trip to The Vegas!

Check out more info on Star Trek: The Experience here!

Written on May 7th, 2009 , Star Trek, Theme Parks Tags: , ,
The Not-so-Final Frontier: 10 things you may not have known about The Undiscovered Country!
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

With the new Trek reboot now in theaters and (hopefully) set to reinvigorate the franchise, it’s pretty interesting to note that this idea isn’t exactly a new one.  While the storyline itself is original to this movie, the idea of rebooting the franchise and exploring the early adventures of the Enterprise crew was actually considered for the sixth Trek movie, The Unidiscovered Country.  Ultimately, the film was made with the original crew, and is one of the best movies featuring that crew, but it went through all sorts of craziness before becoming the film we know and love today.

After the jump, check out ten facts you may not have known about Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country, the last film featuring all of the core original cast of Star Trek!

Read the rest of this entry »

Written on May 7th, 2009 , Movies & TV, Star Trek Tags: ,
Your Morning Head: FASA’s Star Trek RPG
trek-rpg

I may be a little bit of a retro-Star Trek gaming freak. Maybe.

Good golly I loves me some Star Trek RPGing.

I’ve been running Trek games since 1982 with the  FASA system.   It is a system that is long out of print.  Since 1989 in fact.  For seven years, FASA put out the best damned Trek RPG that would ever be published.  I love the system and while I have picked up Trek rulebooks by other publishers in the years since FASA, I’ve always returned to these books.  FASA Star Trek has been the foundation of some favorite hours at the game table.

The system is not overly complex.  It’s percentile based, which is to say all values for skills, attributes, checks, etc. are represented by a number from 1-100.  As you’d expect in a Starfleet game, characters start off extraordinarily knowledgable and skilled.  Best, the starship combat system (and supplemented by the Starship Combat Simulator) involves all department heads each controlling resources and systems critical to ship performance.

Read the rest of this entry »

Written on May 7th, 2009 , Columns, Games, Movies & TV, Role Playing Games, Star Wras, Your Morning Head Tags: , , ,
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