Here's something we've been anticipating since we launched Subspace Communique. That's right woodchuck chuckers, TNG has officially hit Blu-ray with the first released remastered episodes. After seeing the excellent work that was put into the TOS remasters, we hoped that CBS would go forth and make the Enterprise-D shine in all of it's 1080p glory. Well that day is finally here with the release of Star Trek: The Next Generation - Next Level [Blu-ray]. Now granted, this is a sampler disc with only 3 episodes, but it's our first chance to see what's in-store for the entire series in hi-def. Just like TOS remasterd, Mike & Denise Okuda worked closely with CBS on this project and hopefully by the year's end, we'll see the first full season release of Star Trek: The Next Generation: Remastered.

Well, the 25th anniversary of Star Trek: The Next Generation is swiftly upon us. I can’t believe it’s been so long. I still remember watching the first episode, begrudgingly, because my mom wanted to watch it and we only had one TV in the house. You see I was a purist…it wasn’t the Original Series…so I didn’t want any part of it. Needless to say, at the end of those two hours, I was totally hooked. Now, fast forward seven years to the series ender. We swear we didn’t plan it this way, but “All Good Things…” just happened to be aired during our honeymoon. Being the fans that we were, we ordered in that night. There was no way either of us were going to miss that.

Star Trek: The Next Generation’s LeVar Burton will be honored by Tufts University with this year’s Eliot-Pearson Award for Excellence in Children’s Media for his 26 years of work with Reading Rainbow. If you’re in the Medford, Massachusetts area on February 3rd you can even watch him accept it.

The award is a collaboration between the university's departments of communications and media, and child development, and is given to innovators of diverse, non-violent media.

"LeVar Burton is a natural choice as he is a true children's literary expert," said Julie Dobrow, director of the communications and media studies program, in a statement.

"Through his exceptional career he has helped to promote reading comprehension in elementary- school-age children through the medium of television."

We’re pleased to announce episode 18 of our “Life After Trek” podcast, the "R U R" Special, featuring Chase Masterson & James Kerwin. Chase & James sit down with us to talk about their new film project R.U.R. & the crowd sourced "spin-off" short R.U.R.: Genesis. A play written by Karel Capek in 1919 -- and decades ahead of its time -- R.U.R. is a sharp commentary on progress, politics, and relationships, accurately predicting advances in biotechnology and setting the tone for future science fiction masterpieces like Metropolis and Blade Runner. In this retro-futuristic adaptation of the classic play (co-written & directed by James & starring Chase) R.U.R. depicts a world populated by genetically engineered workers ("artificials") — perfect, made-to-order humans who lack fundamental rights. We've loved Yesterday Was a Lie and are really looking forward to the release of this project.

Well, knock me over with a feather…Scott Bakula was announced today, by Creation Entertainment as their latest guest at the 2012 Star Trek Las Vegas convention!!! (that totally deserved the 3 exclamation points) Do you guys realize if Patrick Stewart agrees to attend…that maybe, just maybe…we may get to see all the captains up on stage TOGETHER!!!! Oh my!

That would be the convention of all conventions to see. I can’t speak for Creation, or Sir Pat, but I can’t recall a Vegas convention (in recent years) that he didn’t attend, so the odds are pretty good. Not to mention that this year is the 25th anniversary of The Next Generation and they already have most of that crew (sans their fearless captain) on the roster already. Yikes! I can hardly stand the suspense! If I were in Vegas now, I’d put money on it.

You can see the full Creation STLV guest list here.

If you're in the Orlando, Florida area on the weekend of February 17th through February 19th, be sure to swing by the Orange County Convention Center for this year's MegaCon. It's shaping up to have a fantastic Trek lineup with Brent Spiner, Tim Russ, & Robert Picardo. We haven't made it down to Orlando for MegaCon, but we've heard good things. It would definitely be a worth while trip to check out. Not only do they have an awesome Trek lineup, but you can also see Stars from Buffy, Stargate, Babylon 5, & much more.

We’re pleased to announce episode 17 of our “Life After Trek” podcast, featuring Armin Shimerman. We've been looking forward to talking to Armin since we launched Life After Trek. He was a fantastic interview and a true class act. In this episode we talk in great detail about Armin's start in Hollywood, the stage, and dive deep into his past, present, and future work. For those of you who haven't heard, Armin is also an author. Penning not only a Deep Space Nine novel about his loveable Ferengi alter ego (The 34th Rule, available in ebook & paperback), but also a science fiction series called "The Merchant Prince" (available here). Armin is also working on a new film called the The Sublime and Beautiful, which we talked about last year, and is set to start filming this month.

Creation Entertainment announced today that Gates McFadden (ST:TNG - Dr. Beverly Crusher) and George Takei (TOS - Mr. Sulu) will be among the celebrity guests at this August’s Vegas Convention. They have a stellar (ya, we meant to do that) line up so far for the upcoming convention. Most of the captains (hopefully more to be added), tons of the series regulars and a whole bunch of episode special guests. Confidentially, we haven’t yet seen Gates in person because she doesn’t seem to attend quite as many conventions as some of the other cast so we’re pretty excited to see her in Vegas this year.

You can check out the current confirmed celebrity guest list here. If you have a favorite, make sure to jot down when they will be appearing, because not all guests will be there for the whole weekend.

We’re excited to announce that some Star Trek goodness is finally happening right in our own backyard, Downtown Austin, Texas. Typically we have to pine over the cool events going on elsewhere, but this time we actually get to attend. A local Austin, TX improv group is running a new show every Saturday at 8pm during this January and February. It’s a Sci-Fi Comedy Double Feature; Twilight Zoned & Start Trekkin’. Improvised parodies of two classic television shows – back to back in the same night!

The shows take place in the Hideout Theatre  at 617 Congress Ave, Austin, TX 78701. Tickets are available online.