488 - Books, Booker, and Saint Bernards | Priority One: A Roddenberry Star Trek Podcast

Priority One: A Roddenberry Star Trek Podcast

This episode of Priority One is brought to you by Eaglemoss Hero Collector and the brand new Official Star Trek Online Starship Collection. Check out all the exclusive ship models – including the U.S.S. Gagarin and the U.S.S. Chimera – at priorityonepodcast.com/ships and use code PRIORITY10 at checkout to get 10% off your purchase with FREE SHIPPING.

This week on Episode 488 of Priority One, we ‘Trek Out’ Noah Hawley’s thoughts on the future, Tartantino’s beef with Pegg, Dan Curry’s artistry, and MEGA PUBLISHERS. In Star Trek gaming, there’s Klingon Adventures, Star Trek Online’s Winter Wonderland, and Grudge! Later, Dr. Robert Hurt joins us for an Astrometrics Report and joins us for “On Screen” to review Discovery’s Season 3 episode, “Unification III.”

Of course, as always, before we wrap up the show, we’ll open hailing frequencies for your incoming messages.Let us know on social media like Facebook, Twitter, or by visiting our website!

TREK IT OUT

by Jake Morgan

Hawley Trek Hardly Likely

If you were looking forward to “Fargo” creator Noah Hawley’s vision for Star Trek, then we have some bad news. According to the creator, “it doesn’t appear to be in the immediate future."

The 53 year-old Hawley sat down with Deadline this week to talk about the aforementioned “Fargo” series 4 finale, a possible “Aliens” series, and Star Trek. On the latter, Hawley told Deadline that ”It doesn’t appear to be in my immediate future. I think when Emma came in, she took a look at the franchise and wanted to go in a different direction with it. But you know, life is long, we were very close to production but in this business that doesn’t mean much. You got to get out of the gate to be in the race if you know what I mean.”

Nothing definitive, but it doesn’t sound great.

Image linked from FX Networks

Is Tarantino Mad, Bro?

Moving on to another likely-dead Star Trek film, is there a feud between director Quentin Tarantino and star Simon Pegg. Back in July of 2019, Tarantino told Deadline ”I get annoyed at Simon Pegg. He doesn’t know anything about what’s going on and he keeps making all these comments as if he knows about stuff. One of the comments he said, he’s like “Well, look, it’s not going to be Pulp Fiction in space.” Yes, it is! [laughs hard]. If I do it, that’s exactly what it’ll be. It’ll be Pulp Fiction in space. That Pulp Fiction-y aspect, when I read the script, I felt, I have never read a science fiction movie that has this sh*t in it, ever.”

Image linked from Deadline

But was Tarantino mad, bro? According to Simon Pegg, no. In an interview with Radio Times, Pegg said ”I was just saying the opposite of what people were assuming it was going to be. Then I heard this story that Quentin was mad at me! I haven’t read his treatment [of Star Trek], but I’ve heard it’s very ‘Quentin Tarantino does Star Trek’, you know. And it’s everything you would hope from that.Actually, I saw him at a Once Upon a Time in Hollywood thing. I was like ‘You’re not mad at me, are you?’ He was like, ‘No, man, no! The press are blowing it all out of proportion!’ We had a good laugh about it.”

So...good?

Image linked from TrekMovie.com

The Artistry of Star Trek with Dan Curry

Releasing on the day of this recording, December 1st, a new book outlining the visual beauty of Star Trek, titled Star Trek: The Artistry of Dan Curry will hit bookshelves. The creator of the art, Dan Curry, sat down with Space.com to talk about his time with Star Trek.

Image copyright Titan Books, linked from Space.com

Curry reflected on his time with the Peace Corps, and how his travels through Asia affected his designs ”when you see exteriors of Klingon cities or Klingon outposts, most of them were matte paintings by the great Syd Dutton. I'd work with him on evolving a style that was a composite of Thai, Lao, and Nepali architecture. I did some of the matte paintings myself, like the Klingon Lamasery, which is a Tibetan-looking building on a mountaintop inspired by a train trip I took through the Canadian Rockies.”

In regards to his on-set memorabilia, Curry says ”It was frowned upon. Anything I wanted, I'd ask the producers for. I do have Bat'leth #1 and Mek'leth #1 and I have a little hand prop from "Deep Space Nine," a Cardassian device like an alien iPad that has my face on it as a deceased mad scientist. I have some of the shards left over when we'd blow up a model. Sometimes I'd make space debris made out of plastic parts melted over a candle. If we came upon a destroyed spaceship, the random plastic parts would be the debris that would fly by. I did keep a lot of my storyboards and concept sketches.”

To read the article, or for a link to purchase “Star Trek: The Artistry of Dan Curry” - written by Curry and Herocollector’s own Ben Robinson - you can follow the link in our show notes.

Simon & Schuster Sold to Penguin

If you’re a fan of Star trek novels, listen up! ViacomCBS has struck a deal with publisher Penguin Randomhouse to sell its publishing arm - Simon and Schuster. The deal was struck on Wednesday, November 25th for a whopping $2B dollars, which according to the New York Times creates the first “megapublisher."

The deal will certainly shake up the publishing world, giving Penguin Randomhouse access to authors like Stephen King and Doris Kearns Goodwin, as well as the Star Trek catalogue - but what does it mean for the Star Trek novels? Penguin Randomhouse CEO Jonathan Karp said in an interview ”This is a company that respects the creative autonomy of publishers. We’ll all still be competing against each other. Publishing is a business driven by individual passions for books and for writers.”

Best case scenario - the books keep coming, but get more push from the megapublisher. Worst case - the books stop all together. For now, it's a waiting game. Stay tuned, we'll bring you more as we hear it!

ASTROMETRICS REPORT

by Dr. Robert Hurt and Thomas Reynolds

Via con Dios, Arecibo

On December 1st, the Arecibo Observatory's main telescope suffered catastrophic structural failure when its instrument platform fell into the 305 m dish. Footage from the main control tower and an aerial drone captured the collapse, as one of the three support cable sets failed and the falling platform pulled the rest down into the dish.

Image source: Ricardo Arduengo/AFP via Getty Images and Gizmodo

https://gizmodo.com/drone-video-shows-dramatic-moment-of-arecibo-collapse-1845799543

Severely damaged by Hurricane Maria in 2017, and subsequent earthquakes in 2018 and 2019, the telescope was slated for controlled deconstruction mere weeks ago. The Observatory's visitor center, secondary radio telescope, and LIDAR array were fortunately left undamaged and are expected to continue operations.

https://gizmodo.com/gut-wrenching-photos-show-damage-at-arecibo-observatory-1845790190

Mergers & Astrometrics: The Blue Ring Nebula

For the better part of two decades, the enigmatic Blue Ring Nebula has been a picturesque astronomic puzzle. Invisible to the human eye, ultraviolet imaging from the NASA GALEX satellite showed a thick dust ring around the structure's central star (thus the name). For all purposes it looked like a dead star's remains, but with an active star in the center that shouldn't be there. So...what gives?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY8J8hFHhiw

According to simulations by Hoadley et al., it's actually wreckage from a head-on stellar collision from thousands of years ago. Stars crashing into each other is nothing new in our galaxy, but until now we've only had examples that are hundreds of times older. Therefore the Blue Ring isn't just the most recent stellar merger for astronomers to study, it's also one of the most valuable.

Blue Ring Nebula (historical re-enactment). Image via Center for Sacramento History

STAR TREK GAMING NEWS

by Thomas Reynolds

Tokens of Our Aggression

The virtual role-playing tabletop endures, now more than ever, but there’ll always be something satisfying about physical space. And if Klingon warriors understand anything, it’s getting physical. No, not like...well actually, yes like...anyway, Modiphius understands as well, and has the tools of violence to accommodate. Preorders are open for the Star Trek Adventures Klingon Empire Dice Set and Gamemaster Toolkit, with expected release next February. The Dice set includes four Star Trek Adventures-branded d6s and two d20s for $19.96 US. For $46.59 US, the Toolkit combines PDF and printed and GM screens, player reference sheets, and a 20-page one-shot story. The Toolkit also offers double-sided maps of Klingon space and Alpha/Beta Quadrants, but in the original Klingonese. Good thing you have until February to learn the language.

Image linked from Modiphius.net

The Winter of Our Disco-Content

Image linked from Startrekonline.com

Everyone knows what’s the best temperature for serving revenge. But what about holiday cheer? Is it the steamy heat of a mug of mulled bloodwine? The thrilling chill of a full-impulse snowball to the face? The searing torment of Grethor’s flames? Who knows? The omnipotent Q does, and he’s oh so ready to share with you. Hang the gummi fish and prime your snowblowers: Q’s Winter Wonderland approaches.

The 2020 Winter Event runs from December 8th to January 7th on all platforms. This year, all your favorite activities contribute to daily progress towards the new T6 Gok’tad Carrier. We only have a beauty shot of the flaming Fek’Ihri boat to go on for now.

Image linked from startrekonline.com

Until ship stats are released, let’s journey through the catalog of this year’s wonderful new toys:

• The Purple Nanopulse Discovery-Era Bat’Leth finally bridges the so-called Red vs. Blue divide in Star Trek Online. Sort of.

Image linked from startrekonline.com

• Be the pride of the Quadrant with rainbow winter coats and faction-appropriate winter sweaters

Image linked from startrekonline.com

• Judge friends and family this year, with the one chair that outranks the Captain: the consumable Q’s Chair, specifically

Image linked from startrekonline.com

• Sing holiday carols of ice and fire with Grethor-themed training manuals and kit modules

Image linked from startrekonline.com

• Help is always on the way with the Rescue St. Bernard ground pet, which--oh who cares about holiday theming, IT’S A PUPPY

Image linked from startrekonline.com, and also PUPPYYYYYY!!!!!

Tweetwatch: Feline Fine in Star Trek Online

Closing out this week’s news with some light frivolity because, dang it, we’ve earned some. On November 30th, the STO Twitter shared a picture of Grudge, Discovery season 3’s break-out star, in NCC 1031-A’s captain’s chair. Cryptic mused that they’re “Wondering what her VO rate is like,” but it’s undoubtedly worth it. Grudge’s vocal performances are second only to Morn’s, and would only enrich the game further. No word on how Captain Killy (remember her?) might react, should they cross paths in-game. But consider this, captains: Grudge is already a queen. Might she, dare we suggest, be an Emperor as well?

Image linked from Twitter

https://twitter.com/trekonlinegame/status/1333535891063664640?s=20