Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "star trek"

Star Trek -- The Exhibition

2010-05-31T16:40:28Z

Red shirts beware: Star Trek -- The Exhibition is in town.

For those who don't know, "red shirt" is the loving term given to unfortunate Starfleet members of the famed "Star Trek" television show who are unlucky enough to beam down to planets with Spock and Kirk, and who are usually killed very, very quickly.

The exhibit, a traveling show designed to preserve antique props and sets from the show and its movies, including the 2009 J.J. Abrams film, has come to the McClellan Business Park's Aerospace Museum. It opened Friday and will run through Jan. 5.

The museum, which houses aeronautic paraphernalia, is now full of "Star Trek" sets, costumes, props and many other facets of the successful show's more than 40-year career.

“You feel like you’re in a 'Star Trek,' ” says Roxanne Yonn, executive director of the museum. “You go in there and you’re in a different world.”

It sure looks different. Members of various clubs dedicated to preserving and personifying "Star Trek’s" various cultures are on hand, including some from local Klingon Assault Group (KAG) IKV nom HegH, Klingon for "swift death." KAG members will volunteer throughout the exhibit's seven-month run.

Many people at the exhibit were impressed with the sheer size of the collection, and said seeing it in person was far better than seeing it on a screen.

“I never realized the extent of all the different uniforms and the weapons,” says museum volunteer Larry Mowrey, 68. “When you’re watching it, it’s different. You’re just watching a movie or the show, but when you see this stuff live, it's really, truly amazing. I just love it.”

The intricacy of the individual models also turned heads, including original tricorders and ‘borg’ weapons from the show.

"I didn't expect them to have such serious props," said Ken Hartley, 38, a self-described Trekkie. "Even if it's a replica, it's very accurate."

Fans enter an impressive area about three-quarters of the way through the exhibit, a corridor that details the chronology of the shows' and movies’ universe.

“It told the story, and it showed it, too,” said Matt Lidham, 15. “It wasn’t just a timeline. It was, ‘Here’s a timeline. watch it.’ ”

The exhibit also features multiple placards that depict physicist Albert Einstein discussing the show’s many uses of science and theory in application. The show’s mystique is seen in the story of the inventor of the cell phone getting the idea from "Star Trek’s" communication devices.

“It was all fantasy, but there were some young engineers or students who saw that and said, ‘We need to make that,’ ” said Yonn. “So the students that come through here, what will they be inspired to do?”

The Aerospace Museum of Sacramento is at 3200 Freedom Park Drive in the McClellan Business Park. For more information, visit www.aerospacemuseumofcalifornia.org/star-trek-the-exhibition.html.

1. Model of the U.S.S. Enterprise, courtesy of Maxwell McKee

2. Model of the Borg Sphere, courtesy of Maxwell McKee

3. Mannequins with Kirk and Spock costumes, courtesy of Maxwell McKee

4. Girl playing with bridge controls, courtesy of Maxwell McKee

5. Jean-Luc Picard's Room, courtesy of Kati Garner

6. Hall of the history of Star Trek, courtesy of Kati Garner

Costumed characters promote California Museum's 'Out of this World' exhibit

2009-10-01T03:49:15Z

Halloween came to Sacramento early Wednesday morning as a group of six local science fiction lovers marched downtown dressed in Klingon, Death Star Trooper and Sith Lord costumes. Dozens of children and sci-fi fans flocked to take photographs and speak with the costumed characters.

Others gawked, laughed and one child even cried as they meandered from the California Museum down K Street and past the Capitol to Cesar Chavez Plaza.

The march was organized to promote The California Museum's new sci-fi exhibit "Out of this World: Extraordinary Costumes from Film and Television," which will run from Oct. 3 to Jan. 10. It will feature more than 50 props and costumes from some of Hollywood's most memorable sci-fi films.

Among some of the exhibit's main attractions are the Darth Vader robe and cape from Star Wars, the leather jacket worn by Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and the hat worn by the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz.

Besides viewing these items, visitors will also learn how clothing designers and artists came up with ideas for the costumes and props, according to Ashley Robinson, the California Museum's communications manager.

Mark Lin, normally a business analyst in Elk Grove, was dressed as a death star trooper from Star Wars. He and another costumed storm trooper represent part of a group called the 501st Legion, a group of friends who dress up as villains from the Star Wars movies, Lin said.

Besides comic book and sci-fi conventions, the 501st Legion attends the Rose Parade and even visits children at Shriner's Hospital and the Salvation Army. Lin mentioned that he is looking forward to some of the older sci-fi costumes at the upcoming exhibit, especially the jumpsuit, proton pack and utility belt from Ghostbusters.

Three other costumed sci-fi fans were part of a Sacramento Klingon Assault Group (KAG) called "Ikvnomhegh," which means "swift death," said Chris Mumma, a KAG officer. Mumma wore a Klingon warrior costume from Star Trek complete with a plastic "bat'leth" or "sword of honor."

KAG "Ikvnomhegh" member Julio Alcala was also dressed as a Klingon, but in a plainer costume from the original Star Trek series. He mentioned that sometimes locals must travel as far as Los Angeles, San Diego and Las Vegas to attend sci-fi or comic conventions.

After displaying an uncanny vocal impression of a Wookie from Star Wars, Alcala added that he was looking forward viewing the black leather jacket that Arnold Schwarzenneger wore in The Terminator at the exhibit.

Another KAG members, Von Bean, dressed as a female Sith Lord from Star Wars. Unlike others, she sewed the costume herself, she said.

David Mello, not affiliated with any costume group, dressed up as Fourth Who, which he explained was the fourth incarnation of Dr. Who from the BBC series "Dr. Who." Recently back from San Diego's Comic-Con, Mello blogs about movies under the pen name Impaler General.

Mello said he is excited about the variety at the Out of this World exhibit. "Even if one person is a drawn to a [specific] genre, they will look at others," he said.

"[By] putting sci-fi costumes in the same gallery space as the Lincoln exhibit, the museum will be able to reach people with different interests," Robinson added. Besides being for sci-fi fans, it's also for people who love movies or costume design in general, she said.

California Museum members will get a sneak preview of the exhibit this Thursday at 6 p.m. during a members-only preview reception. In addition to being able to party in the Star Wars cantina and eat from a table based on the monkey brains scene from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, the gatherers will also participate in a costume competition.

Prizes include a round-trip ticket from United Airlines, a resort package from Le Rivage and Scott's Seafood Grill and Bar and four tickets to see "Star Wars: In Concert" which takes place Oct. 9 and 10 at Arco Arena. Non-members can attend the preview by signing up at the door, calling (916)-653-1752 or visiting Californiamuseum.org/membership.

The California Museum is located at 1020 O St.

Review: Terminator Salvation

2009-05-23T06:59:26Z

Terminator Salvation
Directed by McG

By Tony Sheppard
Capitol Weekly

If the recent “Star Trek” was a total system reboot of an aging franchise, then “Terminator Salvation” is more like a welcome software upgrade, complete with flashier graphics and increased memory.

Set in 2018, it follows John Connor (Christian Bale) as he exhibits inspiring leadership in the battle against Skynet and the machines. If all of this seems a bit familiar, with outposts of humans battling overwhelming odds against hard to kill opponents led by a crusty Bale, it may not be the previous “Terminator” movies that you’re thinking of. At times it’s a little reminiscent of “Reign of Fire” only with bullet-spewing robots instead of fire-spewing dragons. And slimmed down bat-bikes.

All of which works pretty well. There’s nothing especially groundbreaking here, but it hums along quite nicely in a manner that ably jump-starts the series. “Terminator Salvation” is directed by McG, a former music video director who helmed the two big screen adaptations of the “Charlie’s Angels” franchise, and who manages here to interrupt the early scenes of this movie with one of the most gratuitous and redundant onscreen director’s credits I can recall.

One of the most interesting aspects of the movie, for industry watchers, is the second half of the sudden rise to ascendancy of Anton Yelchin, as Kyle Reese, John Connor’s time traveling teenaged father. Just a week ago, he was hitting the big screens as Pavel Chekov in the aforementioned “Star Trek.” In other interesting casting notes: Both Helena Bonham Carter and Jane Alexander have small roles that seem undemanding with respect to their talents; much of the movie is carried by Sam Worthington, not Bale; and a secondary but pivotal character is played by Moon Bloodgood, who seems destined to be the best ever use of a single vowel purchase on a future episode of “Wheel of Fortune.”

At some early screenings, there are gimmicky little movie-related gifts. At the end of “Terminator Salvation” I was expecting a network cable or an organ donor card. Instead I had to settle for a modest sense of contentment regarding a series that will be back. Probably starring Anton Yelchin.

Review: Star Trek

2009-05-09T03:03:31Z

Star Trek
Directed by J.J. Abrams

By Tony Sheppard
Capitol Weekly

I’ll open by cutting to the chase and saying that this is a neat movie, firing on all dilithium chambers and achieving everything I had hoped it would achieve, despite a host of hurdles to overcome. So what about those hurdles…

Star Trek has a back story that’s intimidating to say the least. One has to decide whether to stick to the original canon or branch off in a new direction and enrage a generation of fans. Or, in the case of Trekkies, a generation and a next generation of fans.

It’s now 40 years since the first TV series ended, and there have been six series, including an animated version, and 10 movies. Some of those projects have leapt off in different directions (“Star Trek: Voyager”) or gone back in time (“Star Trek: Enterprise”) in order to avoid conflicts with the mythology. So it was an ambitious plan to not only work within the existing setting, but to also with the original characters.

“Star Trek” tells the story of how those original characters came together as the crew of the Starship Enterprise. A lot of publicity has surrounded the choice of a fresh young cast to play the familiar names: James T. Kirk (Chris Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto), Leonard “Bones” McCoy (Karl Urban), Montgomery “Scotty” Scott (Simon Pegg), Uhuru (Zoe Soldana), Hikaru Sulu (John Cho), and Pavel Checkov (Anton Yelchin – whose accent impressed my Russian friend). The whole lineup is well chosen and successful, with each actor given the opportunity to pay homage to their respective predecessor and shine in their own right. It would be a neat pick for a Screen Actors Guild cast award.

This is a movie on the grand scale of summery blockbusters – with great special effects and all the pizzazz one might expect. But what makes it work as well as it does is that it’s a great exercise in writing. Without giving away the plot, the filmmakers have managed to respect the origins of the series, update it and give it a refreshing new lease on life, and also leave the door wide open to more films that still protect that history.

I mildly enjoyed “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” a week ago, but “Star Trek” is like an object lesson in how to tell a back story in a manner that pleases fans, old and new. George Lucas could learn a lesson or two from this one. The rest of us can just have a blast watching it. Set phasers—and opinions—to stun!

Unsustainable Waste Disposal Practices

2009-01-31T01:40:23Z

On January 15th, during a technical workshop that was poorly attended by the public and local media, the Sacramento City Council voted on a proposal that could wind up affecting the citizens of Sacramento for many years to come. The Council voted to table the City’s yearlong effort to replace the costly and environmentally detrimental practice of trucking Sacramento’s non-recyclable municipal solid waste (MSW) over the mountains to a landfill east of Reno, Nevada with a sustainable, less costly and more environmentally friendly waste-to-energy (WTE) approach.

Our Sacramento-based company, U.S. Science & Technology, submitted a proposal that was ultimately selected from among 11 responses to the city’s request for proposals. We were obviously disappointed in the Council’s decision to table any further action on this matter for the time being due to their concerns with the City’s handling of the vetting process. However, we remain committed to helping the City find alternative solutions to trucking and landfilling 400 tons of garbage each day. We also believe this can be done in a way that delivers significant economic benefits to Sacramento in the form of hundreds of jobs, substantial corporate tax revenues and millions of dollars in savings to ratepayers. Not a bad “green” deal in the midst of an economic crisis.

As many readers likely recall, over a year ago the City Council requested alternative proposals to the current unsustainable arrangement of shipping our non-recyclable trash to landfills. Understanding the city’s environmental and economic objectives, USST responded to the request with a proposal to implement a WTE facility using a state-of-the-art high-temperature gasification technology. This environmentally friendly and sustainable approach for disposing of the City’s municipal solid waste was approved time and time again by the City Council.

However, as the process unfolded, it became clear that some were unhappy with the process itself and there were a litany of city political concerns at play behind the scenes. All of this eventually led to the unfortunate tabling of the proposal.

We are engineers and scientists, not politicians, so it’s difficult for us to be certain exactly how and why this effort became so politicized and eventually got derailed. However, as a Sacramento-based company and as private citizens of this great city, we are concerned about what hasn’t been derailed: the trucking of this massive amount of non-recyclable waste to landfills over the mountains. We’ve presented an approach that would end this practice, to the benefit of the City, ratepayers and the environment. A high-temperature gasification WTE facility represents a scalable integration of proven technologies that, taken together, represents a practicable, safe, and efficient solution. The high-temperature gasification technology proposed by USST is proven, offers no financial risk to Sacramento, and is now being touted by many experts around the world as the best available technology for 100% conversion of garbage to commercial products like electricity and transportation fuels.

In fact, in an uncertain economic climate and in the midst of California’s unprecedented budget crisis, the proposed WTE facility would afford many benefits to the City:

A savings of millions of dollars for Sacramento citizens, notably on the trucking costs to Nevada;
The potential generation of substantial amounts of tax revenue for the city;
The creation of hundreds of new jobs throughout the conception, construction, and operation of the facility;
Assistance in helping the City meet its stated “green initiative” objectives; and
Quantifiable reduction of green house gas emissions and waste.

We are a local company of engineers, scientists and business leaders committed to environmental solutions in the waste-to-energy sector. We continue to offer a solution that we sincerely believe would be effective, environmentally and economically beneficial, and would present absolutely no financial risk to the City of Sacramento.

But regardless of the solution, Sacramento and its residents should not and cannot ignore the issue at hand. We hope the City Council puts this issue back at the forefront of the City agenda. In the meantime, we will continue exploring ways to help the city meet its environmental and economic standards while also developing and delivering a feasible solution to the unsustainable practice of landfilling 400 tons of Sacramento’s non-recyclable waste each and every day.