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Awesome. Additional words won't help here.

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OK, OK, all the uber-Trek Geeks already know that JJ Abrams new vision of Trek hits DVD and Blu-Ray any moment now, and virtually everybody else knows that there were two pilots of Trek (the first, if not only TV show in history to have two pilots) The first, The Cage, which was rejected by NBC for being “too cerebral” and the second, Where No Man Has Gone Before, which replaced Jeffrey Hunter (who played the captain) with William Shatner.

Well, it has just been learned that there was actually a third pilot with an alternate version that was largely lost and has before never aired. According to reports, a film collector in Germany recently acquired this print and brought it to the attention of CBS/Paramount. CBS is now releasing this version on Blu-ray Dec. 15.

Here are some clips that have been previously circulated from the alternate version....

While I’m not going to go out and buy a Blu-Ray player just to see this full episode, I’m guessing that there are some that just might.

The Perfessor

Let’s say you have a (valid) point to make, and you want to make it in such a way that will get everyone’s attention, but not do so in a destructive way or cause you to — you know — get arrested. Well, the first thing is that you need a viable plan, and then it certainly doesn'’t hurt to have a celebrity spokesperson who shares your viewpoint and is willing to lend a hand, or voice.

To Wit:

A number of Greenpeace activists recently went all “Mission Impossible” and not only scaled the walls of the company’s headquarters in Palo Alto but once they reached the roof of the building, they then painted the words “Hazardous Products” in enormous letters on the roof to draw attention to the company’s backpedaling on its pledge to remove toxic chemicals from its products by the end of the year. The message, is obviously a play on the company’s HP logo, was applied using non-toxic children’s finger paint and covered 11,500 sq ft. of the roof.

Still, that wasn’t the entirety of the prank, Hewlett-Packard employees also received automated calls with a recorded message from William Shatner (Television’s Captain Kirk) which said “You promised me a toxic-free computer by 2009,” he said in the recording. “Now my friends at Greenpeace tell me that I’ll have to wait until 2011. What’s up with that?” Read more

Ultimately:

Police were soon on the scene but Hewlett-Packard chose not to press charges, an apparent effort to avoid prolonged media attention to the case. Mr Harrell also said that because the activists used finger paint, no damage was done to the building.

The Perfessor

UPDATE from Walt
Here's the audio, just in case you're a Shatneraholic:

I just know that the Trekkies who hated the film will go totally around the twist when they see this...

So, so totally wrong, on so many levels, yet so hilariously funny.

Sound required.

The Perfessor

Just a quickie here. So long as we are still discussing Star Trek, I figured that I’d toss up these imagined redesigned models that, well range from the very cool, to the incredibly silly. Still, it is fun to look at them:

The image leads to an interactive page where you can get a 360 view of each ship. Very cool stuff.

The Perfessor

When talking about the final word on the new Trek film, it is good to go to SNL which gave us Shatner's “Get a life” riff in the ‘80s. This SNL clip is That good.

Oh, and if you need a reference for that sketch, go here.

Oh yeah, and if you ever wanted to know where exactly “no man has gone before” that would be the women’s locker room on deck #7.

The Perfessor

The came, they saw, and they conquered. JJ Abram’s Trek reboot kicked some serious Romulan Ass (with a $76.5 million opening weekend — Wolverine not only had an $87 Opening weekend, but still did pretty well with Trek in the Number one spot). And sure, while there were some detractors (a few with actual, legitimate gripes). Needless to say, it was a high-concept re-imagining of the series where there was more action and adventure than folks standing around discussing the Organian Ambassador and the life of the Angorian fruit fly of Tanadorr-7.

Yep, this one was a wicked-good time that thrilled and wowed the audience. the film elicited laughs and excitement from the folks who were in the theater with me when I saw it., Then the five of us stood around outside the theater for another 45 minutes discussing the film. Yep, I liked it quite a bit, and have since come up with a pit of philosophical insight into these type of films (Wolverine, Trek, and anything else that is built upon a decades-old, dearly-loved franchise of an iconic character).

I’m calling it the Sam Clemens view of adaptations: Never let slavish devotion to previously established continuity get in the way of telling a good story. Do I want the Bridge or the Enterprise to be comprised of Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Uhura, Sulu, Chekhov, and Scotty? Sure. Do I care that in some long-forgotten, and once-referenced episode that Scotty stated that he hated Andorian fish, and yet I see him chowing down on that particular delicacy? Absolutely-friggin-not!

Tell the story, keep continuity that works and toss the rest. Here we get to see hey Kirk calls McCoy “Bones”, hear the good Dr. say (repeatedly) “I’m a Dr. not a...”. We hear Scotty utter “I’m givin’ her all I got!”, and see Spock twitch his eyebrow. Do I care that some of the finer points of 22nd Century astro physics don’t quite hang? Not at all. Still, best of all, we get to (finally) see how these beloved characters all came to serve on the same Starfleet Ship. Now seriously, how cool was all that?

Oh, and if you silly “get-a-life’s” still feel betrayed and need actual economic to rub salt into your fanboy wounds then here is your reality check, from an article that ran last week, before the film opened:

If the new movie performs as well opening weekend as the $85.1 million reported by Hollywood.com for Wolverine: X-Men Origins, it will have grossed more in its first few days than the total theatrical tallies of all but two of the previous Star Trek films. According to Hollywood.com, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) grossed altogether $109.7 million domestically and Star Trek: First Contact took in a total of a little more than $92 million.

This is a great film, go see it, even if you weren’t one of the original 198 people who watch it debut on TV back at the dawn of recorded time.

The Perfessor

This is hilarious!

There is an old Groucho Marx line where he says that he would never join any organization that would have him as a member. As someone who works in the field of unrepentant fanboys I come across this type of attitude every day. The following clip (courtesy of The Onion), clearly demonstrates this attitude as it relates to new and or different takes on iconic properties.

Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As 'Fun, Watchable'

This goes double for all thos funnybook fanboys who are decrying Wolverine: X-Men Origins (you know who you are).

The Perfessor

The following requires no introduction:

What could be cooler than this?

The Perfessor