Unusual evening entertainment aside - Seriously, a Star Trek hypnotist? I'm not the only one who thinks that that's got to be a really niche market, right? - the convention, running August 5th through 10th, offers fans the chance to meet a pretty impressive line-up of stars from each of the series in the long-running franchise, as well as Zachary Quinto from Abrams' upcoming movie. You'd have to have a heart of stone to not be even vaguely tempted by Sunday afternoon's Voyager cast reunion panel, if nothing else.

The full line-up of the convention is available at TrekWeb, including the arcane pricing system of having your photo taken with the actor of your choice (Scott Bakula - $109. Why not just $100? What does that extra nine dollars do, exactly?). Start saving up your dollars for Saturday's Deep Space Nine lunch with Dr. Bashir, Odo, Dax and Quark now.

Galaxy of Star Trek Actors To Appear At Las Vegas Convention [TrekWeb]

Don't think that it's any blogger-come-lately behind this comparison; it's actually the Director of Liberal Arts at The Juilliard School, Mitchell Aboulafia, (who was possibly the first person to draw the McCain/Saul Tigh comparison) who's putting forward the very logical argument for why we should all be looking for Barack's pointed ears:

Consider Spock and Obama: cool, logical, trustworthy, a great deal of presence of mind, etc. Further, Leonard Nimoy, the actor who plays Spock, is Jewish. Obama went to Harvard Law and taught at the University of Chicago Law School, which makes him an honorary Jew. (Being Jewish, I can say this.) And what have we heard about Obama’s blood pressure, 90/60; not that of an ordinary mortal, just like Spock.

Admit it: You're convinced already, aren't you? But wait - It gets better:

Star Trek was a collective experience mediated by a visual medium. It also expressed utopian ideals at a time when young people felt impotent about changing the course of a war and the world. (Star Trek began before the full impact of demonstrations against the war became apparent.) Obama and his people have harnessed the Internet to allow people to feel that they are not mere bystanders but full participants. They have a provided a sense of “ownership” (although I am not crazy about the term). Most importantly, and here the analogy begins to break down, Obama and his team are providing not only a fantasy utopian moment, but the possibility of actually changing things. Live Long and Prosper.

As if that's not enough, he invites you to look at their physical similarities:

Before you complain of political bias on this here blog, however, it's not all bad for Republicans looking for a reason to support their guy; Wanted creator and Marvel Comics' Civil War writer Mark Millar has come out for McCain:

I know, I know. I'm comics biggest liberal, but like Ultimate Cap I like integrity and McCain just has it in spades. I read a hatchet job in yesterday's Observer by Paul Harris and try as he might I still love the guy. for the first time in living memory, America has a choice between two excellent candidates. Whoever wins, America is going to be alright.

Such a decision from "comics' biggest liberal" seems... illogical. Perhaps Mr. Barock should pay Mark a visit soon.

[Obama, Spock and the New Star Trek Nation]

[Getty Images]

Caveman Robot writes that you should only submit a bad Spock drawing if it meets the following criteria:

0. When some else looks at it they should ask you "is that meant to be Spock?!" with an interrobang at the end!?
1. Hackneyed, maybe you were drunk when you drew it
2. Totally Punk Rock, you should actual break your pen when drawing it
3. Ham fisted, as if you had not understanding of form
4. Half Baked, the dumber Spock looks the better
5. Sloppy, as if a chimp with metal hooks for hands dipped them in ink
7. Don't let your ability to draw (or lack there of) get in the way of drawing Bad Spocks!
8. Not Spock with a beard that is Evil Spock from the Dark Mirror Universe!
9. What happen to Number 6?
10. If you don't like Star Trek all the better!
11. YOU SHOULD CREATE IT YOURSELF, IT CAN BE A DIGITAL COLLAGE, AS LONG CREATED BY YOU!

Bad Spock Drawings via Mental Floss.

• Spock: Not only could Spock serve as the poster boy for the entire half-human/half-something else universe, but they also worked his background into several episodes of the show, and the plot of a couple of the films. Plus it gave them the opportunity to write lines like "All right, you mutinous, disloyal, computerized half-breed. We'll see about you deserting my ship." Which Kirk said, and not Bones, who relished in taking digs at Spock's dual heritage. He also helped carve the way for other Stark Trek halfsies, like Deanna Troi (half Human/half Betazoid and Worf's son Alexander, who is 1/4 Human, 3/4 Klingon and 4/4 whiny.
• Doctor Who: Everyone knows that Doctor Who is from Gallifrey, right? Well, not the writers of the 1996 Doctor Who television movie. They had the 8th Doctor be half-human "On my mother's side," which opened up an enormous can of worms in the continuity, amongst the fans, and pretty much throughout space-time. The 10th Doctor later revealed that Time Lords can rewrite their DNA to imitate alien species, which seems like a stopgap effort at fixing that particular problem.
• Ripley: In Alien Resurrection (shudder) Ripley was brought back as a clone with half-human/half-alien DNA, with an alien queen embryo implanted inside her. The military scientists extracted the embryo, but decided to keep Half-Ripley alive. Which, of course, turned out to be a mistake because her human side is imbued with "kickass." Her resulting offspring was also a mix of Alien with Human traits. In fact, the original design for the creature featured very prominent male and female genitalia, which they finally removed in post-production. According to director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, "Even for a Frenchman, it's too much."
• Elizabeth: This half Alien/half human child from V: The Final Battle was the resulting offspring from the climactic ending of episode two of that miniseries. When Robin gave birth to those two babies, one a girl with a forked tongue, and the other a boy who looked like a lizard, it was one of the most shocking moments of the show. It was probably only topped by the fact that the Visitors were reptilian aliens. Elizabeth ended up having strange magical powers that saved the day in the end, plus the bacteria that killed her brother but left her alive was developed into a weapon called "Red Dust" that the humans used against the Visitors. Looks like cross-species sex pays off after all. Just ask the Cylons, and while you're at it find out what the hell is happening with the whole Hera subplot, especially now that we have Nicky and Hera: dual Cylon offspring.
• Robocop: Okay, in all fairness, he wasn't really half human, since most of his body had been replaced by robo-parts, but he still had a human brain and a human face. In fact, I'm not sure why the bad guys didn't just target his lower jaw whenever they were out fighting him in public. Looked fairly vulnerable to me. Still, he did have to power down from time to time (so he could dream and further the human plot points) and he also ate that strange sludge that tasted like baby food, so he had enough human workings going on in there. Thank you for your cooperation.
• Mariner: Kevin Costner's Waterworld flick has been popping up on cable every time you blink lately, and I have to admit that this film isn't as bad as I remember. Sure there are some dorky moments, but Costner's Mariner character as a half Human/half fish combo leads an interesting life. Rather than seeing him battle Dennis Hopper and his cronies, I'd like to see a Discovery Channel-esque special that just followed him around on his trimaran and showed us what his life was like. After all, at the end of the movie he returns to the waters to do... who knows what?
• King of the Land of Half: Did you know there was an entire land dedicated to Halves? Everything in the entire land was split into different halves, and was presided over by a king who wore half kingly robes, and a half suit of armor. His crown was made up of two different halves, and his breakfast bowl was made up of try different types of bowls, perfect to hold his Quaker Halfsies cereal in. This rice/corn combo cereal came and went in the early 1980s, but not before Jay Ward of Rocky and Bullwinkle fame could animate this Half King/Half King wonder. He might not be scifi, but the cereal featured Nutrasweet, which is certainly space-aged and likely to turn us all into mutants. And speaking of mutants...
• Kuato: Technically he might be a mutant, but he sure looked like a half Mutant/half Human to us. After all, he couldn't get around very well without the lug whose belly he was growing out of walking around and feeding him and all that jazz. What was really special was that no matter how fucked-up you thought Kuato looked, he was the real brains of the operation. You sure hope that poor guy never got punched in the stomach, plus it probably made shopping for clothes a real interesting experience. I just want to know where Kuato "went" while he was tucked up inside the guy's guts. Was it like regressing back to the womb? Check out the clip below that shows what he might have been like at parties.

Micro-lensing is a refinement of techniques used to spot objects that would normally be invisible to us. In this case, astronomers at St. Andrews University in Scotland detected the two planets as the light reflected from them was deflected by the gravity of a star. This refraction brightened and magnified the image. Even planets with less mass than Earth can be found by astronomers using this method.

Dr. Martin Dominik of St. Andrews told the BBC:

"It looks like this may have formed in a similar way to our Solar System. And if this is the case, it looks like [our] Solar System cannot be unique in the Universe. There should be other similar systems out there which could host terrestrial planets."

Solar System's 'look-alike' found. [BBC News]

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• Star Trek: The Motion Picture - Okay, it's not false advertising to call it a motion picture, is it? There were indeed pictures in motion in this movie. But, this was part of the trend of calling things "The Movie" or "The Motion Picture." Did marketing people think they needed a title like this so as not to confuse people? Just ask the folks behind Superman: The Movie.The problem with this poster, other than featuring a triumvirate of Kirk, Spock, and the bald chick from the movie is the tagling "The Human Adventure Is Just Beginning." How is that true? Did we think it had come to an end?
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• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - No problems with the title, Khan did have a lot of wrath. No, our problem is with the whole "At the end of the universe lies the beginning of vengeance" line. How were they at the end of the universe? Plus, the poster shows the Enterprise firing on the Regula I space station, what the hell is up with that? "To hell with science, Spock! Blow that research station to pieces!"
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• Star Trek III: The Search For Spock - The tagline for this poster is "Join The Search." Uh, how do we do that? By buying a movie ticket? Actually, our main problem with this movie is the title. When did they go searching for Spock? They put the guy's dead body into a torpedo tube and shot it onto the newly formed Genesis planet, for the love of god. They kind of knew where he was. Granted, they later find the tube empty, but it's not like there was a massive galaxy-wide search for him.
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• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home - Just look at this artwork... is that supposed to be Captain Kirk or Chekov right next to Spock? Plus, did Spock decide to go extra-heavy on the eyeliner that day? Plus, check out the text on the seldom seen Australian version of the poster: "They traveled back where 23rd century man had never gone before, to a more crazy, outrageous time: 1986." Yeah, you know, the Dark Ages had nothing on 1986.
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• Star Trek V: The Final Frontier - Check this out "On June 9, Adventure And Imagination Will Meet At The Final Frontier." Really? How did that end up happening? Unless by "imagination" they meant horrible directing, acting, and writing. Ouch. Now, just when you thought things couldn't get worse for this movie... have you seen the teaser poster? It says "Why Are They Putting Seatbelts In Theaters This Summer?" Yes, because of Star Trek V. It's almost been 20 years, but we still want our money back. Maybe even more so, now.
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• Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country - "The Battle For Peace Has Begun," was it really a battle for peace? You could probably argue that it was. However, we only remember the Bird of Prey firing shots at the Enterprise, not the Battlecruiser. Maybe they needed something to spice it up a bit. We think General Chang's ominous eyepatch was probably enough. Why overdo it?
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• Star Trek Generations - Granted, it's hard to find a problem with this poster. "Boldly Go" ain't a bad tagline, so what are we supposed to say? "Um... the Enterprise never flew through a giant Starfleet symbol!" Although on the alternate poster the "Two Captains. One Destiny" line is a bit odd. What was that shared destiny, exactly?
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• Star Trek: First Contact - It's hard to figure out why the artists on these posters always make it seem like the faces are beaming in. Ever since Star Trek: The Motion Picture, it's like they have to be depicted as teleporting onto the poster itself. Bizarre. Anyhow, this poster features the Enterprise racing away from an army of Borg... and into the teleporting faces. Plus, is the Borg Queen winking at us? We're just not sure what's going on here, although resistance was definitely not futile.
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• Star Trek: Insurrection - The problem with the tagline on this poster ("The Battle For Paradise Has Begun") is that it's a direct ripoff of the one for The Undiscovered Country ("The Battle For Peace Has Begun"), which was only two movies prior. Did they just phone it in that day? Other than that, we actually kind of like Adhar's craggy face staring down at the Enterprise. It's just too bad the movie was a bit of a letdown.
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• Star Trek: Nemesis - Someone please explain to us how "A Generation's Final Journey Begins" works out here. Do they mean the Remans? The crew of the Enterprise who is beginning to go their separate ways? Picard, since he never had a son? Maybe all of the above... or maybe they meant people who would pay to go see more of these, yikes. The marketing people sure loved to have these posters signifying the beginning of something.
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• Star Trek - J.J. Abrams' film has had several teaser posters put out so far, with some of them even claiming "Stardate 12.25.08" at the bottom. However, now that it's been bumped to the Summer of 2009, those have all become a paper trail of false advertisements. It's gotten to the point that we've stopped trusting the posters altogether. What's next? Trailers that lie to us as well? Oh... wait.
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So after watching the second BSG clip, I just have one question: How come this never happened to one of the Sharons, when Boomer/Athena was flying a Viper? Do the Cylon raiders not recognize Sharon as a Cylon? Or do they just not care, because they know she'll resurrect and there are plenty more of her back on the basestar? Or is Anders just a different type of Cylon than Sharon? I really hope they answer these questions at some point!

More spoilers:

• Not sure if this really counts as a spoiler, but Star Trek will be all about the relationship, and conflict, between Kirk and Spock. [Trekweb]
• A new X-men comic, out next week, gives away the ending of Joss Whedon's Giant-Size Astonishing X-Men #1, which is Joss' final X-comic. GSAXM#1 ends with Kitty Pryde "lost," probably dead, and Peter grieving for her. Also, Scott and Emma survive, but Scott has trouble controlling his powers. Joss' X-swansong is delayed until April 9. Oh, and here's our own Graeme McMillan blogging about it. [Whedonesque]
• And here's some new concept art from The Incredible Hulk, which looks much like the concept art we've seen before, except that you can see more of the Hulk freaking out. [SuperheroFlix]

Abrams was doing the chat live, and running back and forth between setups. Just how much free time do these Hollywood directors have? He also had both Spocks, Quinto and Nimoy, standing over him. Nimoy was most likely saying "Get used to this," and Quinto was thinking "Good lord, is this what I signed up for?" Thankfully, everyone seems to have had a sense of humor (which is also has a presence in the film, see below) about the whole thing.

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• On the weight of responsibility from carrying the Trek torch:

  J.J. Abrams: It's funny that you phrased it that way — carrying the torch — because that's exactly what it feels like. Trek means a great deal to many people, and I fully appreciate that responsibility. But I have never been overwhelmed by that burden. Quite the opposite. The fans have been part of the inspiration. This experience has felt, from the beginning, like a truly unbelievable opportunity. We're only half-way through principal photography, but the torch is burning bright and we're running hard!

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• On when a real trailer will be out, as opposed to a fanwank version:

  Bryan Burk: Barring any thievery from our production office, we're working on our first trailer right now, which will hopefully be in theaters early to mid summer.

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• The greatest challenge faced when they first decided to take on the movie
  
  J.J. Abrams: This may not be a fair answer, but there were two greatest challenges: the first was getting a handle on the vision of the future. The fact that most of the tech that we use in our everyday lives seems modeled after — and actually more advanced than — TOS, made it tricky to find a way to make our movie's world far more advanced than where we currently are, and yet also consistent with the original show.

  The other challenge was, obviously, casting. How in the world were we ever going to find actors who can fill the shoes of that remarkable original cast? It was tough in theory and harder in practice. We couldn't — and wouldn't have — gone into production with a cast that simply didn't WORK.

  With the amazing efforts of April Webster and Alyssa Weisberg (our casting directors), we somehow did it. This cast is massively talented and smart as hell and funny and dedicated and completely inhabiting these roles. You will see. Kirk f'n LIVES. Spock is HERE, right now. I can see him. Uhura and Bones and Chekov and Sulu and Scotty are ON THE BRIDGE and they are wonderful.

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• For one of the cast members, what's been your favorite moment on set so far?:
  
  Zachary Quinto: Definitely the first time Leonard and I were both in costume at the same time for the wardrobe test.
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• Do they follow what fans are saying on the internet at all?:
  
  The Entire Crew: Not really. We never take time to find out what fans on the net are thinking. Thanks for asking.
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• Will there be comedy in the new movie?:
  
  J.J. Abrams: I'm afraid to answer this question, because The Haters will think that I'm looking at Trek as a comedy. I am not. But humor is hugely important. Humor and humanity go hand-in-hand — there is such wit in the screenplay (kudos, Kurtzman/Orci), and the actors bring such intelligence and humor, that my job is just to keep the thing REAL. Dramatic as hell, but also LAUGHS. Without comedy (my fave TOS eps had GREAT wit), the audience finds their own places to laugh. And in a world of humans and aliens, that could be disastrous. So the short answer? It's very important.
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• Is Greg Grunberg of Alias and Heroes fame going to be in this movie?:
  
  J.J. Abrams: I am so pissed at Grunberg. The guy was about to be in the movie — had a GREAT PART — but had to bow out because of some LAME OTHER MOVIE HE'S DOING.

  All right, so I'm half-kidding and just disappointed: Grunny WAS gonna be in Trek, and he IS doing another movie, so he can't be in ours — but his movie isn't lame, it's funny, and he's producing and co-writing and long-time collaborator Larry Trilling is writing with him and directing, so I wish them all the best. Even though I hate Greg now. Who knows, maybe he'll be a tribble.

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• Do you have to pinch yourself to help believe this is real?:
  
  Roberto Orci: No kidding. I think I speak for many of us when I say that we pinch oursleves every day, and it still doesn't work. I'd ask Quinto or Nimoy to "pinch" me, but I just think that would make it more surreal...
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• Random script question... what is the 10th word on the 10th page of the ST script?:
  
  Bryan Burk: "...and..."
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• The Trek teaser trailer was very American focused, with all the sound bites from American space program (and none from anywhere else). Star Trek often seemed overly American. How will you make sure that Star Trek is a global film that appeals in Europe, Asia, Latin America, etc?:
  
  Bryan Burk: There were different versions around the world of the teaser trailer around the world to deal with exactly that.
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• How many visual effects shots will there be in the new movie?:
  
  Roger Guyett, Visual Effects Supervisor: We're anticipating about 1000.
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• Has there been a particular moment for any cast member while filming that has caught you off-guard and made you stand back and say "wow" or just made you think "how cool is this"?
  
  Chris Pine, Captain James T. Kirk: For me, I still get the chills every time I sit in "the" chair, and every time I say who I am in the movie.
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• Is there anything I can say to my girlfriend to convince her to go see a movie with me that is titled Star Trek?:
  
  J.J. Abrams: First of all, I'm relieved you have a girlfriend. Secondly, this movie is not being made solely for Trekkers — that is not to say we aren't giving the true believers the fix they want — but we're also making a movie for people (men AND women) who have never seen Trek once in any incarnation.

  What finally pushed me over the edge to direct and not just produce Star Trek was my wife, Katie's, reaction. She loved the characters. She confirmed my deep suspicions that I should direct this movie. The story is dramatic and funny and emotional and romantic and full of adventure. I know I'm biased — but I think people are going to love this experience. For some, perhaps, DESPITE the fact that it's called Star Trek. Who knows? Maybe your girlfriend will see the movie and become a fan of the show.

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• ILM is doing the effects for the film. Will it all be CGI or have they built a physical model of the New Enterprise?:
  
  J.J. Abrams: I was lucky enough to work with ILM on Mission: Impossible III. Roger Guyette and Sherri Hanson are geniuses who are also a true joy to work with. ILM has always been the best — but in recent years they have — remarkably — gotten even better, making the virtual photo-real.

  Having said that, my goal is to make Trek REAL — that is to say, not have it be camp — not have it be phony — not have it look like a scrap of green screen was used anywhere. Of course, this is Star Trek. We're using every trick in the book. But WHEREVER WE CAN, we are shooting on sets — either built on sound stages or expanding upon found locations. This is important. What this means is that the movie won't have that "actors performing in a blue or green void then placed in front of a spaceship set" feeling that makes me insane. One of our really talented designers recently commented online how we shot on a green screen set and what a shame that was, since we could have built something incredible. And she was right — for that one scene, which will last for maybe thirty seconds on screen, we built only pieces and were surrounded by green. But that is the exception. We can't build EVERYTHING, and need to make this film on a budget (partly because that's the $ we have, and partly because I want the studio to see Trek as viable!).

  The Enterprise will be a combo of the physical and the virtual. A photo is forthcoming!

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• Will the doors go swoosh when they open?:
  
  J.J. Abrams: Dude. Will they ever.
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• Michael Gondry's next film after Be Kind, Rewind will be about kids who invent a kind of water that makes you hear music when you drink it. At one point, the kids visit the end of time. Return Of The Ice Kings will be "a scientific story, but totally unrealistic," he not-explains. [MTV Movies]
• There will be not just two, but three Spocks in the Star Trek movie, Leonard Nimoy revealed: Nimoy, Zachary Quinto and one other. We're guessing it's Baby Spock, because of the reports that J.J. Abrams was filming birth scenes set on Vulcan a while back. [TrekWeb]
• But the other Trek spoilers, about Kirk being a bad student at the Academy and the Enterprise being built in Area 51? Are wrong, says screenwriter Roberto Orci. [TrekWeb]
• Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man/Tony Stark will have a quick cameo in The Incredible Hulk where he meets with General "Thunderbolt" Ross — the first step in linking the franchises together for the inevitable Avengers movie. [MovieHole]
• John Connor will be a reluctant savior in The Sarah Connor Chronicles, says producer Josh Friedman. And you should think of the show as "an alternate timeline" from Terminator 3. The show's third episode has Sarah investigating a cell-phone salesman who may play a role in the birth of Skynet, while John tries to settle in at his new school. [SpoilerTV]
• Jamie Hector will play Knox, the crime lord who comes back to New Orleans to make Micah's life difficult, in Heroes Vol. 3. [HeroesTV]
• Not only will Kyle XY's parents protect him from Madacorp, they also take him to the company picnic to confront the corporate overlords. [IESB]
• Here's an early glimpse of time travelers Captain Jack and Captain John (James Marsters) smooching in an upcoming Torchwood, from the Sun newspaper. [Whedonesque]

In fact, the bible itself is often called a work of fantasy, although there sadly isn't much scifi in it. Unless of course you count things like the Ark of the Covenant laying waste to armies as science fiction. After all, who knows what that baby was packing for its punch ... maybe that sucker was nuclear? Although the bible is full of savior figures itself, even if you discount the son of God. For instance, Moses led his people to safety, even parting the Red Sea for them (maybe his rod concealed some sort of a force-field generator?), at times putting his own life in dire jeopardy. So who is really stealing from whom?

At any rate, there are dozens of saviors in science fiction, such as Leeloo from The Fifth Element, ready to sacrifice herself to save the human race and gets saved by love, Roy Batty in Blade Runner, dying after saving Deckard's life (and releasing a lone white dove into the air), and don't forget Ellen Ripley's terrible sacrifice scene in Aliens III, where she gives birth to a queen chestburster while throwing herself into something that resembles the flames of hell. Holy dramatic biblical undertones, Batman.

They don't just stop with the movies, which is evident since some of these films are based on classic works of science fiction. Even novels like Ender's Game and 2001 have savior figures at the heart of their stories, proving that there might be some truth to the fact that all stories can basically be boiled down to three, eight, nine, or 36 plots, pick your poison. It's probably true that at some point a caveman painted a scene on a wall of a victorious hunter bringing home a big kill amidst insurmountable odds, unknowingly creating one of the first savior stories. In fact, it's surprising that Hollywood hasn't optioned that story yet.

Christ Figures in Sci-Fi [Fantasy & Sci-Fi Lovin' Blog]
Christ-Figure in Movies/Books: Grace or Redemption? {The Alien Next Door]
Jesus in Outer Space: Messiahs in Sci-Fi [SciFi Scanner]