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'Star Trek' fan film loses fair use case, moves to jury trial
It's been a long journey for the makers Axanar, the crowdfunded Star Trek fan film that ran afoul of CBS and Paramont's lawyers. After successfully raising over a million dollars to to create a professional-grade homage to the Star Trek brand, Axanar's producers were hit with a lawsuit, assured that lawsuit would be dropped, and then taken to court. The filmmakers stood their ground and argued a case of fair use, but ultimately lost. Today, U.S. District Court Judged Gary Klausner ruled that Axanar is just too faithful to Star Trek canon to avoid copyright infringement.
'Star Trek: Discovery' casts Michelle Yeoh
Nicholas Meyer has let it slip that Michelle Yeoh has joined the cast of the upcoming CBS show Star Trek: Discovery. The show's consulting producer dropped the bombshell while talking to ComingSoon about the Blu-ray of his classic movie, Time After Time. While Meyer wouldn't confirm what role Yeoh had taken, it's entirely plausible that she's going to be the shows star, the as-yet unnamed "Number One."
'Star Trek: Bridge Crew' finds a new frontier in VR co-op gaming
While you spent your childhood climbing trees, learning to love Mario and making furtive glances at your first crush, I was playing Star Trek games. That doesn't make me a gamer, but I'm well-qualified to talk about how poorly the series translates to any existing game genre. It's a generalization, sure, but most mainstream games are not about the slow, thoughtful collaboration necessary to solve problems. But that's why Star Trek: Bridge Crew is so intriguing: because VR offers us the chance to redefine those tired genres. In anticipation of the game's late-November mid-March launch, four Engadget editors tried out a near-finished demo with Ubisoft in London.
After Math: The final frontier
We saw some significant developments in the field of space exploration this week. Jeff Bezos unveiled his latest heavy lift rocket. The Gaia satellite has mapped its billionth Milky Way star. China launched another piece of its Heavenly Palace into orbit. And Galaxies just can't seem to stop exploding. Numbers, because how else are you going to accurately measure your insignificance against the infinite voids of space?
CBS delays streaming 'Star Trek' debut until May 2017
CBS said its new Star Trek series would debut in January, but since it's September and we still haven't even heard about the cast, that date seemed to be in doubt. Today CBS confirmed a delay, essentially swapping debut windows between Star Trek: Discovery and its upcoming spinoff of The Good Wife, which will both be available exclusively in the US on the streaming CBS All Access service (outside the US and Canada, it will be on Netflix).
Facebook's 'Star Trek' reactions show it doesn't know jack about Spock
Today is Star Trek's 50th anniversary, marking half a century since the show first aired on September 8th 1966. Here at Engadget, we're celebrating with an ancient Trekkie tradition: Nitpicking. Today, Facebook announced that it's temporarily replacing its "Like" buttons with a set of Trek-inspired reactions -- a laughing Captain Kirk, a sad, crying Geordi Laforge and an adorably angry Klingon. They're all perfect ...except for Spock. Facebook chose Star Trek's most emotionless character to represent its most emotive reaction: "Wow."
'Star Trek Online' launches for free on consoles
Star Trek Online arrived on PC in the busy MMORPG scene in February 2010, just as the sun started to set on the genre. But the game followed industry trends to keep its playerbase, relaunching in January 2012 with a free-to-play tier and releasing semi-annual "season" expansions of new content at no cost. Today, it's landing on PS4 and Xbox One, following other FTP titles in the move to consoles.
Star Trek's iconic computer voice may live on in your phone
Whenever we talk about natural language voice assistants, we invariably draw parallels to the computer on Star Trek. Soon, those comparisons may be a bit more direct: Roddenberry Entertainment has revealed that it has a phonetic library for Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, the voice behind the Enterprise's computer. "We're working to get her voice for things such as Siri," The company said in a recent Tweet. "Maybe [the] voice of the computer on [Star Trek Discovery]"
CBS All Access hits Xbox One
If you have been patiently waiting to try CBS All Access on your Xbox One, there's good news. CBS has announced that its streaming service is now available on Microsoft's console. It's perfect timing for Xbox fans, as the anticipated January, 2017 premier of the All Access-exclusive Star Trek series is only months away.
Pop culture's many takes on artificial intelligence
Over the years, artists, writers, filmmakers and game studios have all tackled the concept of artificial intelligence. Often their vision is of machines that are brutally hostile to humans. Philip K. Dick envisioned androids that murder their owners. The iconic HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey ... also murders his human companions. Of course, there's Skynet, which launches an all-out war on mankind. We could go on like this for a long time. But there are also those, like Spike Jonze, who envision us having a more complex relationship with computer-based personalities; one in which they could even be love interests. And in Star Trek: The Next Generation Data is not only a "good" android, but he's often the hero of the show. We've pulled together 13 of our favorite portrayals of AI over the years and put them in the gallery below. It is by no means comprehensive. So please, let us know what we missed in the comments or tweet at us (@engadget) to let us know your favorite AI character from the film, TV or books using the hashtag #EngadgetAIWeek.
'Star Trek: Discovery' is set 10 years before the original
It was Bryan Fuller's turn to take the stage at the Television Critics Association press tour and spill the beans about his vision for Star Trek. The producer has revealed that Star Trek: Discovery will be set roughly a decade before the original Trek and will be set in the prime universe. Fuller has also explained that the sets and uniforms will be closer to 1966's primary-colored hues than the gunmetal grey and denim of Enterprise. In addition, the series will be 13 episodes long and serialized, with each episode a chapter, although each episode will have a satisfying resolution for HBO-phobic fans.
'Star Trek: Discovery' gets its first teaser at Comic-Con
At last, CBS is offering a glimpse of what its streaming-oriented Star Trek series will be like... if only just. The broadcaster used its San Diego Comic-Con panel to reveal that the show will be titled Star Trek: Discovery, and will revolve around the adventures of the crew of its namesake, the USS Discovery (no doubt inspired by the Space Shuttle of the same name). While the teaser trailer below shows only the starship in question, it's enough to confirm that the visual language of Star Trek will remain intact when Discovery premieres in January.
Netflix will air the new 'Star Trek' series outside the US
Netflix has announced that it'll be the exclusive home of the brand-new Star Trek TV series, and will broadcast the show globally next year. When it was announced, CBS revealed that only the first episode would air on TV, with the rest of the episodes exclusive to the network's own streaming service. But since CBS has no digital footprint outside the US, Netflix will bring the show to the rest of the world -- except for Canada. If you live in the great white north, you'll be able to get your Trek fix via Bell Media. It wasn't long ago that Netflix also won the rights to all six existing Star Trek shows, which will be available in 188 countries around the globe. Each episode will arrive on the service within 24 hours of its arrival in the US, mirroring the distribution strategy for other high-profile shows where spoilers are a constant threat.
Become a Starfleet cadet at the Intrepid's new Star Trek exhibit
Star Trek turns 50 this September, and while fans will have to wait until next year for a taste of the new TV show, they can still have their own immersive Trek experience this summer at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York. If you've ever wanted to helm a starship, sit in the captain's chair or try your hand at the infamously impossible Kobayashi Maru exam, the Starfleet Academy Experience will give you that chance. And while you're there, you can also take a little walk through the past half of a century of Star Trek history.
Netflix UK now has every 'Star Trek' TV episode
With Star Trek Beyond less than a month away, there's never been a better time to rewatch some of the franchise's older TV episodes. Every instalment of the original Star Trek TV show has now been added to Netflix in the UK, alongside everything from The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise. Even the animated series from the early 1970s is available. So whether you prefer the classic adventures with William Shatner, or the popular Next Generation stories with Patrick Stewart, the streaming service should have you covered. Perfect if you're a diehard Trekkie, or someone that's just jumping in for the first time.
Original USS Enterprise prop restored to its former glory
There's probably enough material about the tragic afterlives of the USS Enterprise models to fill a small book, at least. Until two years ago, the 1701 prop used for Star Trek (1966) had been left hanging in the Smithsonian's basement gift shop. Now, to celebrate the museum's 40th anniversary, the model has been restored as an exhibit in the Boeing Milestones of Flight hall, which opens Friday. A team, led by the museum's chief conservator Malcolm Collum, collaborated with fans and Industrial Light and Magic to restore the model to its former glories. After all, a 50-year-old prop from a '60s TV show was never designed to last this long.
CBS and Paramount release 'Star Trek' fan film guidelines
While Paramount and CBS's lawsuit against Axanar Productions is still ongoing, the two studios have finally produced a set of guidelines meant to govern fan-made Star Trek productions in the future. While the guidelines might be a good start, and a sign that studios could be warming up to community input, they are still extremely limiting.
CBS names an exec to develop shows for its streaming service
Like it or not, CBS will be creating more series for its year-old streaming service. CEO Les Moonves promised the addition of "three to four original series per year," starting with a new Star Trek show and a spinoff of The Good Wife. To keep things running smoothly, CBS has moved Julie McNamara from drama development at CBS Television -- where she was already overseeing the two original All Access series -- to a newly created position: Executive Vice President, Original Content, CBS All Access.
Paramount and CBS are still suing the 'Star Trek' fan film
Although J.J. Abrams and Star Trek: Beyond director Justin Lin lobbied hard for the movie studio to drop their lawsuit against the crowdfunded Star Trek fan flick Axanar, Paramount is apparently ready to engage their lawyers once again. As the Hollywood Reporter notes, Paramount and CBS have told a California federal judge that their legal action against the makers of Axanar is still pending despite earlier statements indicating the two groups were close to reaching a settlement and guidelines for future fan films.
Everything we saw at Ubisoft's E3 event
Ubisoft's annual bit-too-weird E3 event went as scheduled, with acid-colored dance routines; weird, ironic Ubisoft creatives in comedy skits I didn't quite understand; oh, and a bunch of games. That included closer looks at Watch Dogs 2, Ghost Recon: Wildlands, as well as some virtual Star Trek and a peak behind the scenes of Fassassin's Creed. Let's take a look. Follow all the news from E3 2016 here!
