• Welcome to TREKS IN SCI-FI FORUM.
 

News:

Don't forget to drop a review on iTunes for the podcast sometime or send a donation in for the show.

Main Menu

A Cool Trek Story

Started by Geekyfanboy, March 06, 2008, 10:39:51 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Geekyfanboy

If you are an original TOS fan then you should know the name of Bjo Trimble, she's help save the original Star Trek when it was first canceled.

Well I don't know if I would call her a friend but we belong to a local Star Trek group and I have met her on several occasion. She is a very sweet lady.. she posted a recent visit back to Paramount.. I figure I would share it with you guys.

As David Gerrold reported earlier, a few former crewmembers seen (briefly if at all) on the bridge of the USS Enterprise in ST:TMP
were invited to Paramount for an interview.

Back in 1978, nearly 400 people (nearly half of them fans, the rest were professional Extras) gathered on the Rec Deck where Kirk told us about the giant Klingon-munching magilla beyond the raspberry jello demarcation of our universe.

Of that group, 5 of us were on the Paramount lot last Friday: David Gerrold, Fred Bronson, JoAnn (Christy) Nolan, Chris Doohan, and me. JoAnn was the extremely shy girl cast as a Vulcan that I wrote about in my book, On the Good Ship Enterprise.

My husband, John, drove me to Paramount, but he was not interviewed because he had to work the day we filmed that part of ST:TMP. He wishes he'd just taken the day off! So John hung around in the background, watching. He loves to people-watch and a studio is a good place for that.

I knew everyone there except Chris Doohan. He and his brother were excited teens at the time, just thrilled to be part of the first
Trek movie. He is also in the new movie though he could not tell us anything about it. They are so secretive that if anyone leaves the stage for their dressing rooms in costume, they have to travel in little electric carts completely covered with black cloth or plastic (except where the driver sits, of course).

Oddly, in this atmosphere of utter secrecy, the dressing trailers were in the tank area where the Star Trek IV landing occurred. Of
course they drain the water when it is used as a parking lot. But it is some distance from Stage 18. But here I am, applying logic to
Hollywood!

For the interview, we started in on old memories and were soon talking over each other in our excitement. We were assured that the
interview went well, however.

One last shot, to show us walking into Stage 18 before our Big Scene aboard the Enterprise, should have been simplicity in itself. But... Stage 18 is where they are currently shooting the new Star Trek movie.

Security took a dim view of a bunch of people suddenly gathering at the door. A half-open sliding door was quickly shut (all we could
see was a barrage of lights on stands with cables all over. This was because the rest of the interior seemed to be filled with smoke.

Chris Doohan and the others talked to several people who came out to see what the heck we were doing. One person said something vague about talking to J.J. and went inside. Next thing we knew, 5 thrilled ex-crewpeople were being fitted with the Wrist Band of theDay and signing non-disclosure papers to get on the set!

Leonard Nimoy walked in about that time, recognized David, and stopped to say hello. So David introduced the rest of us. I told
Nimoy that I liked his new observatory. He said it wasn't exactly HIS, but I pointed out that a good portion of it was, and I really
liked it. He went away with a big smile.

Since the nice guy with the paperwork was friendly, and David had just introduced me as the lady who saved Star Trek. I pointed out that the man who was a major part of the Save Star Trek campaign, and therefore the man who made this movie possible, was outside and could we invite him in, too? The answer was yes, so I was thrilled to be able to call John onto Stage 18.

We were taken around that barrage of light stands to a whole lotta alien strange. We were viewing the bridge of what someone described as "the bad guy's" ship - one of the most fantastic pieces of work I've ever seen. And I've been on many snazzy science fiction sets. However, since the non-disclosure paper allows them to drag me out on the desert, cover me with honey and leave me for the ants, all I can say is, production values are simply amazing.

Even more amazing was J.J. Abrams, who came up to us, shook hands with everyone, and thanked us for coming, as if he was a host who was very pleased to have us come to his party. Maybe that was true.

Nimoy came by again, shook hands with everyone again, including John, and went on his way.

We were allowed about 15 minutes, then lead past some incredible winky-blinkies back into the bright SoCal sunlight. This visit to
the set was something I never expected and so very delightful to have this extra surprise and to share it with John.

This much I can tell without fear of disclosing any close-held secret: whatever worries you may have about the upcoming Trek movie, you can all rest assured that it's going to look great!

At one time I would have been impatient of all this cloak-and-dagger secrecy, but no longer. We learned that though the new Indiana Jones film was under tight security, it had props, scripts, and even computers stolen, This will probably mean that many other films will be under tighter security to protect them.

They don't blame the fans for this heist. It seems to have been an inside job.

Rico

That's a great story with lots of nice things to say about those making the new movie.