mae@aplvax.UUCP (Mary Anne Espenshade) (02/20/85)
Some other net.startrek readers have mentioned that George Takai was in the Baltimore area for a convention this past weekend. Well, that convention was Clippercon II and I had quite an interesting time there. Star Trek IV movie news, from talks by George Takai and Howie Wienstein: all the regulars have been signed, including Robin Curtis as Saavik, shooting is to start this fall with Nimoy directing again, for a summer 1986 release. Story ideas are being tossed around but there is *no* story or screenwriter yet. It will be something lighter, like the best humorous episodes of the series, and will *not* be about a court martial though it will tie up the loose ends left for STIII. For a few weeks, Harlan Ellison was being considered as the screenwriter, but when Paramount would not meet some of his demands, that did not work out (how they ever expected it to when he is still not on speaking terms with Roddenberry or Shatner after all the fuss over his "City" script for the series, I'll never understand). THE big rumor - a BIG NAME Hollywood star wants to be in STIV, no hints given as to who it might be, not even whether the person is male or female. Obviously, Paramount would love this for money making reasons, but the consensus was that it would take script and screen time away from the regulars, who have little enough to do as it is, and distract from the integrity of the Star Trek universe, by being recognized first as the BIG NAME instead of as the character played. According to Bob Greenberger, the editor of DC's Star Trek comic, the comic will continue filling in between movies, hoping not to contradict anything. Issue 16 ends the Mirror universe story, 17 will feature Sulu and Uhura on a secret mission, 18 will be about Scotty on shore leave, 19 is the Chekov story written by Walter Keonig, 20 will be a solo story for Sulu and 21, though not definite yet, may be related to a series episode, David Gerrold is interested in writing one that would be about the tribble's home world. The annual for '85 will be about Kirk's first day as Captain of the Enterprise, using the characters from both the pilot episodes - now there is a story I will be interested in seeing. The annual for '86 will be a graphic novel of Harlan Ellison's original script for "City on the Edge of Forever". Mary Anne Espenshade ...!seismo!umcp-cs!aplvax!mae