Photos, clips and interview excerpts are beginning to emerge ahead of next week’s Shatnerpalooza extravaganza, which will air on EPIX and kick off next Thursday with Shatner’s Gonzo Ballet. An exclusive photo is shown here in a thumbnail-sized edition and the full-sized photo can be seen by clicking on that thumbnail.

The Captains features “in-depth interviews and vintage Star Trek footage with actors Patrick Stewart (Captain Jean-Luc Picard), Kate Mulgrew (Captain Kathryn Janeway), Avery Brooks (Captain Benjamin Sisko), Scott Bakula (Captain Jonathan Archer), and Chris Pine (Captain James T. Kirk, Star Trek 2009).” Shot on location in Toronto, London, New York, Princeton and Los Angeles, so that “Shatner could capture his fellow Captains and peers in their home environments, the HD film exposes the Captains in all their “humanity”, stripped down to the barest of earth-bound qualities and heavenly thoughts. [The Captains] offers a rare and candid glimpse into the inner sanctum of each actor. The film is grand in its sincerity and reflective of the passion and compassion each Captain demonstrated over the last forty-give years on both small and large screens. The Captains is all about the working challenges and personal rewards each actor garnered from the groundbreaking role of Starship helmer.”

“My hope is to delve deeply into these actors’ psyches, find out more about them so you can… see what common denominator there is among us as actors that brought [us] to this worldwide renown as part of Star Trek,” sad Shatner.

The Captains was based on hours of interviews with the Star Trek actors. They spoke about why they got involved in acting and Star Trek and what working on Star Trek meant to them. “I remember a play I did in a camp that my mother ran,” said Shatner. “I was in a play about the Holocaust. I played a kid [saying goodbye to his dog], because the Germans were taking me. When the play was over, I looked out there and the audience was crying – and I took my bow and my father came and held me and praised me. I’m convinced that was the moment I thought hey, this is fantastic. This has got me places with my father and the audience that I’d never dreamt of. I’m convinced that’s what started me on my acting thing, this moment in time.”

For some actors, acting took priority over everything, even family. “I remember once sitting around a dinner table with colleagues, actors, directors and hearing one of them say ‘I love my job, but my family always comes first, always,’” said Stewart. “And a voice inside my head said ‘not me.’”

Brooks spoke about being the only black Star Trek Captain, paying homage to those who went before him. “Without Paul Robson, I [wouldn't be] on Star Trek,” he said. “That is to say I wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t be here without Brock Peters. I wouldn’t be here without Muhammad Ali, I wouldn’t be here without Sidney Poitier, I wouldn’t be here without William Warfield. I could go on and on. That’s the fact of the matter and I’m not fooled.”

For Mulgrew, acting came with a price, as she had two very important jobs to do at once and inevitably, as many women find out, in that case, one will suffer. “I think that the great difference is that the female is wired once she has her young to take care of them and to raise them, and I couldn’t do it well,” she said. “You know, there were sixteen to eighteen-hour days on that set for seven years, and I had two little kids. Believe me; they resented it to this day. They never watched it, they disdained it, they had nothing but dripping contempt for it. And I don’t blame them. So the woman cannot have it all. But I’ve watched you guys and you guys can.”

Bakula spoke of aging and his gratitude for his acting career. “The longer I’m here and the more I see, the less I think about [growing older], because so many people don’t get to have what I’ve had as long as I have,” he said. “So many people don’t have as much as I have, and so I think as you get older, you know people talk about perspective, but I think you get more grateful about it every day.”

Pine, the newest Star Trek captain, spoke about his love for theater, a love shared by many actors. “What I love about theater is that there’s an ephemeral quality to it,” he said. “It happens, it comes together, it exists and then it goes away.”

The Captains airs next Friday on EPIX at 8 PM. For those whose cable systems don’t carry EPIX, a free two-week trial (details in a future article as the time gets closer) is being offered which requires no credit card and will enable U.S. visitors to watch The Captains and other Shatnerpalooza events online. For fans outside of the U.S., word is that a DVD of The Captains will be released this autumn.

The couples will receive £25,000 for their big day and all they have to do in return if chosen for the TV series is to “work in harmony together to plan an identical wedding day.”
Sky Living is “currently looking for brides who want a Star Trek-themed wedding. Maybe you want a TOS mini-dress as your wedding dress. Maybe you want Odo to give you away. Maybe you want a Tribble as your ring-bearer. With a budget of £25,000, we’re looking for people who want to be really creative and go all out with it. And don’t just be limited to Star Trek – if you want Cylons or a TARDIS to be involved, we’d love to hear about it.”

To get in on this deal, aspiring couples should email brides@dragonfly.tv  For an application form or more information. Alternatively, the couples can call David at 0203 487 1201 (UK applicants only).

Sky Living in the UK is an independent television company that specializes in thought-provoking and ambitious programs such as One Born Every Minute, The Family, and Kill it Cook it Eat it.

The newest Mondo poster release will be announced at a random time tomorrow via their @MondoNews, their Twitter feed.

The newest poster in the Mondo series is based on the Let That Be Your Battlefield episode of the original series, and the poster has been created by Tom Whalen.

The planet Cheron, on fire, is seen in the middle of the poster.  Bele and Lokai, two representatives of the two warring races of Cheron, are on the left and right side of the poster. At the top of the poster, near the center, the USS Enterprise can be seen.

The Let That Be Your Last Battlefield poster, printed by D&L Screen Printing, is hand-numbered (limited edition of 215) and measures 18″ by 24″. The poster will sell for $40.00.

Click on the thumbnail image to see a larger-sized photo of the poster.

Pine, along with Johnny Depp, Tom Cruise and Keanu Reeves, are all under consideration for the role of Robocop.

Rumor has it that the actor best-known to Star Trek fans as the young Captain Kirk is the top candidate for the role.

Like many actors, Darren wanted to do something that wasn’t too similar to what he was or what he did in real life. “They said I was going to be playing a singer and I said, “No, that’s too much on the nose. I want to pass.’ That’s what I told my agent,” said Darren.

Fortunately, Darren’s agent was persistent. “Then, my agent called me again and I passed again,” said Darren. “I passed three times. Finally, my agent said, ‘Why don’t you at least read the script? If you read the script you may love it.’ Of course, I did read the script and, of course, I did love it. It was just a great role.”

Darren loved his character and didn’t regret accepting the role. “Vic Fontaine was like – what can I say? – it was a dream come true for me,” he said. “It was one of the most enjoyable roles for me to have played.”

Several of his appearances stand out as favorites for Darren. “I loved my first one, His Way,” he said. “Four or five of them, I think, were really very good. The alternate universe episode (The Emperor’s New Cloak) was just a lot of fun. But I’d say that His Way and It’s Only a Paper Moon are my two favorites, for sure. Actually, let me add in the finale (What You Leave Behind) as a favorite, too. That was great, man.”

Playing Fontaine meant more than singing to Darren. “If [Fontaine had] been just a singer, I wouldn’t have enjoyed it one-tenth as much as I did,” said Darren. “Getting involved with the love affair between Kira and Odo was great. Interacting with Nana [Visitor] and Rene [Auberjonois] was wonderful. And it was so funny to see Vic, this holographic civilian, with all these creatures.”

Darren is currently touring in the U.S.