We’d like to wish William Shatner a VERY Happy Birthday, today on his 80th birthday!! Happy Birthday Bill, thanks for all the fun and laughs over the years!

Unless you’ve been in Rura Penthe for the last 100 years you would know that William Shatner has done it all. From actor to director to producer to writer, he has worn just about every hat in Hollywood a person could wear. However, it’s his acting that most of us remember. During his galaxy-sized career he has portrayed such memorable characters as Denny Crane, The Big Giant Head, Bob Wilson, T.J. Hooker and none other than our venerable, lovable, unforgettable…Captain James Tiberius Kirk.

So, okay, maybe we're not sharpest tools in the shed, but we just ran across a fantastic new (to us) podcast called Trek Radio. We say podcast, but it's actually a full-fledged internet radio station syndicating other Trek podcast, plus their own. Well, coming Saturday March 26th, Trek Radio is interviewing none other than Scott Bakula. That's right Enterprise fans, Captain Archer is going to rock out with his Spock out and talk nothing but Trek to the Trek Radio crew. This is something we're NOT going to miss and neither should you. Check out the details below.

Trek Radio is proud to announce a rare interview with Scott Bakula, the individual that took Star Trek from First Contact to the forming of the United Federation of Planets. As Captain of the lead exploration vessel the USS Enterprise, history was formed by the actions of the crew that really did take those first steps into where no one had gone before.

Cryptic studios recently added more player purchasable items to the Star Trek Online C-store. New items include Multi-Vector Advanced Escort (i.e. USS Prometheus form Voyager), a new federation costume pack that gives you an open jacket option (like Picard's captain's variant uniform from TNG), new melee weapons, and finally Vulcan science vessels and support craft. We're especially excited about the melee weapons pack because it includes the Vulcan Lirpa from the TOS episode "Amok Time". Ya know, dah dah daaah daaah daaah daah dah dah dah.... anyway, you get the idea. Now we can only hope that appropriate music plays when wielding the lirpa. Oh, and, that our character's shirt gets slashed at the midriff. Check out the new C-store updates below.

Federation Multi-Vector Advanced Escort
(1200 Atari Tokens)

We, here at Subspace Communique, are huge fans of Nichelle Nichols (you’re thinking…”no duh?”). She’s such a class act, so talented, and so giving that we didn’t think we could admire her any more than we already did…until today.

Today she made an announcement that she would mail (for free, to ANY country) an autographed photo to the first 1,000 people that donate $50 or more to any organization listed on usaid.gov, the U.S Agency for International Development (USAID). 

A couple of months ago we reported on the trailer for the live action web series Mortal Kombat, by director Kevin Tancharoen, starring Jeri Ryan as Sonya Blade. Recently Jeri did her first interview on the set of the new series and talks about her experiences including; the tons of action sequences she shot, boosting her cool factor with her son, and Sonya Blade’s finishing moves.

During part of the video Jeri describes what it was like filming.

“This is fun. This is really fun.” Says Jeri, “It’s fun to do something that’s so different than the other things that I get to do.”
Andy asks, “What are some of the things that have stood out for you? (that we were just talking about…)”
Jeri answers, “A lot of sore muscles. A lot of dirt. A lot of blood. - laughs - …No, it’s just cool, and Kevin (Tancharoen) is amazing. I mean, a very talented guy. He’s got an amazing vision. He’s got an amazing eye.”

For all you slot machine fanatics out there (…and we’ve been to Vegas Khhaaan…we know you exist) a new online slots game set to the theme of Star Trek XI is out on the inter-webs and ready for your love and attention. Kerching, the online casino has just released their newest game in two varieties; free play and cash play modes. Here’s a little bit of what Kerching has to say about the new game;

As soon as you enter the Star Trek online slots game, it's clear that this is the next generation of gaming. The graphics are just astonishing, from realistic animations to real images from the movie. Characters including Kirk, Spock, Scotty and the sultry Uhura adorn the reels and star in their own special bonus rounds.

So, we've talked a lot about "Shatner's Raw Nerve" over the past couple of months. What's not to talk about, right? I mean, Scott Bakula, LeVar Burton, & Walter Koenig have all been guests on the intimate talk show. If you're like us and have missed a few episodes here & there, you can now get caught with the help of Amazon Instant Video.

Thanks to Miles from the Scifi Diner Podcast for giving us the heads-up on this. Tomorrow night (March 14th) Bio Channel's "Shatner's Raw Nerve" is serving up a Star Trek double header, starting off with TNG's LeVar Burton at 10pm / 9pm Central. In the preview clip for the episode, LeVar describes his time on the set of "Roots" and discusses his most difficult scene while filming the mini-series.

"For me 'Roots' is all about... family. It's about who we are, why we are the way we are" Says LeVar. "When I read those first sides for Kunta, I know exactly who this kid was. I had no problem putting myself in all of those situations." LeVar then goes into detail about his most difficult moment on the series.

Check out the LeVar Burton episode preview video here. 

Then if that wasn't enough, Star Trek's Walter Koenig joins The Shat to discuss, among other things, his time after Star Trek's cancelation.

Throughout 2010 I had set out to collect data on Star Trek fans in order to better understand this often misunderstood, misrepresented culture. The purpose behind creating this fairly comprehensive survey was to gather data for the forthcoming book, Anthropology of Star Trek. The book is a text that mirrors my original course of the same name, an introduction to cultural anthropology with a Star Trek theme. The book, like the course, contains a chapter on fandom. In addition to the papers contributed by both fans and professionals, the fandom chapter contains a brief ethnographic analysis of fandom based on the data provided by this survey. Questions included asking fans to rate their level of involvement in fandom, to what extent Trek influenced career or educational decisions or daily lives in general, how fans define the culture of fandom, the ways in which fans perceive of Trek, defining fandom ideology, asking fans why Trek, and about the need for Star Trek in the world today. Basic demographics were also collected. A total of 5,041 individuals participated. Many thanks go out to all who took part both in the survey and in getting the word out about this survey, and to those who have continued to assist me in working on the data.