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There are fascinating Star Trek: The Original Series characters Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3's guest star, Rhys Darby, could play. Along with releasing a new Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 premiere clip at New York Comic Con, Rhys Darby was announced to join season 3 as a "familiar but different" Star Trek legacy character. Given Strange New Worlds takes place only 6-7 years before Star Trek: The Original Series, there are some intriguing options for Rhys Darby to embody.

The New Zealand-born Rhys Darby is best known for playing Stede Bonnet in HBO's pirate romantic comedy series Our Flag Means Death, which also stars and is executive produced by Taika Waititi. Darby and Waititi worked together on the feature film What We Do In The Shadows which preceded Hulu's half-hour vampire comedy. In Flight of the Conchords, Darby portrayed band manager Murray Hewitt. Rhys has numerous TV...

Star Trek has always been about boldly going, so it’s no surprise the franchise quickly moved beyond television sets. Even before the series jumped to the big screen, Star Trek expanded into the world of paperbacks, first with novelizations of Original Series and Animated Series episodes and then with original stories created for the page.

Starting with 1970’s Spock Must Die! by James Blish, the novels gave fans a chance to check in on the continuing missions of their favorite crews and characters. As of this writing, over 850 novels have made it to print, encompassing not only every series except Lower Decks but also spin-off series about totally new characters, such as Captain Calhoun of the USS Excalibur.

With so many options, the world of Trek books can get overwhelming. But these entries are a great place to start. Here are the best Star Trek novels ever written.

My Enemy,...

Walter Koenig is not impressed with how Star Trek Generations handled Captain James T. Kirk's death. The actor best known for portraying Pavel Chavek in several Star Trek shows and movies slammed the decision to give Captain Kirk an unheroic death in the 1994 sci-fi movie.

Koenig recently appeared on the Star Trek podcast, The 7th Rule (via Screen Rant), to review the Star Trek: The Original Series Season 2 episode, "The Doomsday Machine," with hosts Cirroc Lofton and Ryan T. Husk. During the conversation, Koenig touched on how Commodore Matt Decker (portrayed by guest star William Windom) received a more heroic death than William Shatner's Captain Kirk did in Generations. "It makes me think [of] Star Trek: The Next Generations first movie the way they wrote off Captain Kirk was, I think, just unforgivable," the actor stated. "He should have died trying to save the ship He dies on a bridge or something,...

Walter Koenig criticizes Captain Kirk's death in Star Trek Generations on The 7th Rule podcast. Koenig praises William Windom's performance in Star Trek: The Original Series' "The Doomsday Machine." Koenig believes Captain Kirk should have had a heroic ending.

Walter Koenig calls the way Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) died in Star Trek Generations "unforgivable". Koenig reprised Pavel Chekov in the opening scene of Star Trek Generations, and, like William Shatner, it was the last time Walter canonically portrayed his iconic Star Trek character. Koenig currently joins The 7th Rule podcast for a monthly review of Star Trek: The Original Series episodes with hosts Cirroc Lofton and Ryan T. Husk.

On The 7th Rule podcast's review of Star Trek: The Original Series season 2, episode 6, "The Doomsday Machine", Cirroc Lofton, Ryan T. Husk, and Walter Koenig were impressed with guest star William Windom, who played Commodore Matt Decker.

In the "Star Trek" episode "Metamorphosis", an important dignitary named Commissioner Nancy Hedford (Elinor Donohue) is being transported to the U.S.S. Enterprise to undergo a complex medical procedure that can only be performed on the ship. She is afflicted with a fast-moving condition called Sukaro's Disease which, if not treated, could prove fatal within a few days, even though Commissioner Hedford has no discernible symptoms. Unfortunately for her, Hedford's shuttle is randomly attacked by a shape-shifting blob of energy and pulled down to the surface of a nearby planet. Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) have to find a way to repair the shuttle and get the Commissioner back to the Enterprise before her condition worsens.

They are not alone on the planet. Zefram Cochrane (Glenn Corbett) is living there. This is unusual, as Zefram Cochrane -- the inventor of faster-than-light travel...

Destruction isn't reserved for Death Stars - Star Trek has seen its fair share of planets obliterated. Movie scale allows for larger destruction - JJ Abrams' version famously took out Romulus and Vulcan. Planets lost in the storyline - from Xindus to Ceti Alpha VI, key planets have been lost in battle.

Star Trek may not have a Death Star, but that doesn't mean the franchise hasn't destroyed its fair share of planets over the years. Since its beginning with Star Trek: The Original Series in 1966, Star Trek has depicted an optimistic view of the future where humanity's main goal is exploration. Despite this, the United Federation of Planets has still made enemies who have managed to get their hands on powerful, planet-destroying weapons. A few Star Trek planets have also been accidentally destroyed by weapons or anomalies created for a different purpose altogether.

Many of Star Trek's most...

Strange New Worlds enriches legacy characters, like Uhura & Chapel, without detracting from Tos portrayals. Classic characters like Lt. Scott have made surprising appearances, hinting at more to come in future seasons. Appearances by classic Star Trek characters like Janice Rand & Sybok would expand on their unknown backgrounds.

In its first two seasons, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds debuted updated versions of some of the characters from Star Trek: The Original Series, but several important faces have yet to be introduced. Following the adventures of Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) and the USS Enterprise, Strange New Worlds takes place before Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) takes over command of the iconic starship. Kirk himself has already made his Strange New Worlds debut, portrayed by Paul Wesley as a young lieutenant aboard the USS Farragut. Lt. Spock (Ethan Peck) also features prominently in Strange New Worlds, after having been introduced in...

“Con permiso, Capitan,” the godlike being Q tells Captain Picard. “The hall is rented, the orchestra engaged. It’s now time to see if you can dance.”

Part warning and part explanation, Q’s statement tests Picard’s insistence that the Enterprise does not need his help, that humanity is fully prepared for whatever difficulties they encounter while exploring deep space. Yes, they can deal with Romulans, Klingons, and even that fishhead alien that Mick Fleetwood played in “Manhunt.” But were they prepared for the new enemy that Q sent them to meet? Were they prepared for the Borg?

The excellent season two episode “Q Who?” effectively introduces the Borg as the defining villain of Star Trek: The Next Generation, whose influence continues in later series, especially Voyager and Picard. The conquering hivemind represents everything that Starfleet is not, a demand for sameness and no respect for other cultures or variety.

Warning: Spoilers for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2, Episode 4 - "Among The Lotus Eaters"Star Trek: Strange New Worlds almost introduced a great new Commodore, and it's Starfleet's loss that it didn't happen. Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 4, "Among the Lotus Eaters," sent Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) and the USS Enterprise back to Rigel VII, first seen in Star Trek's original pilot, "The Cage." Pike and the Enterprise crew had to endure massive memory loss to redeem Chris' aborted mission five years earlier, but Pike also set off a personal crisis of his own making by foolishly ending his relationship with Captain Batel (Melanie Scrofano).

Star Trek: The Original Series canon establishes that before Captain Pike's debilitating delta-ray accident in 2265, he gets promoted to Fleet Captain. This is a high honor, but it's less than the rank of Commodore, which is a lower grade of Rear Admiral.

Grandave Intl. has acquired worldwide sales rights for the drama mystery feature “Wild Berries,” starring Shahab Hosseini, best actor award winner at Cannes for “The Salesman,” and Sepideh Moafi, whose credits include “The Killing of Two Lovers” and “The L Word: Generation Q.”

In addition to his Cannes award, Hosseini received the Berlinale acting prize for his role in “A Separation.” Moafi stars in the Golden Globe nominated Apple TV+ series “Black Bird,” and the FX series “Class of 09.”

Grandave Intl. will be introducing “Wild Berries” to buyers at the Cannes Film Market, May 16-27.

The past, present, and future collide in this story of an immigrant Iranian couple’s annual road trip on their wedding anniversary, while a mysterious stranger is following them.

The screenplay, written and directed by Soudabeh Moradian, is adapted from “Language of Wild Berries,” written by the playwright Naghmeh Samini. The movie is being produced by Julie R. Snyder.

This Star Trek: Picard article contains spoilers.

In 1994, the finale of Star Trek: The Next Generation was titled “All Good Things…” and now that ellipsis has been completed, with the inevitable phrase “…must come to an end.” In the series finale of Picard one era of the franchise very clearly comes to an end, while sneakily setting up a very hypothetical next next generation, too. Although the future of Star Trek in the 25th century remains unclear, and the franchise is once again expanding in other directions, it seems that for now, the story of the 1990s era has come to a close.

But the end of an era doesn’t mean the end of excellent callbacks to this golden age of Star Trek shows. Here are the biggest easter eggs, references, and shout-outs in “The Last Generation.”

Star Trek Intro Is Episode-Specific

After launching a boiler-plate Star Trek intro...

Star Trek: The Original Series is not short on great episodes featuring the Vulcan science officer Spock (Leonard Nimoy), one of the most celebrated characters in all of Star Trek. Nimoy originated the role in Star Trek's first failed pilot, "The Cage," where he played a more emotional version of Spock alongside Jeffrey Hunter's originally take on Captain Christopher Pike. Hunter declined to return for the second pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before," replaced by Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) which began one of the most enduring friendships in all of science fiction.

Spock was immediately popular with audiences, his cool, emotionless remove contrasting powerfully with the charismatic, swashbuckling Captain Kirk. The half-human, half-Vulcan officer was a child of two worlds, but found that he didn't really belong on either Earth or Vulcan. He found his home on the bridge of the USS Enterprise, exploring space...

The Shrike, Star Trek: Picard season 3's villain ship, is the latest example of a scary Star Trek ship trend. Star Trek: Picard season 3 reunites Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) with the crew of Star Trek: The Next Generation for one last adventure to save the galaxy together. This time, the threat comes from the mysterious Captain Vadic (Amanda Plummer), who has an unspecified reason to seek vengeance on Picard and the United Federation of Planets.

Although the USS Enterprise-f is slated to appear in Star Trek: Picard season 3, the hero ship of the story is the USS Titan-a. Admiral Picard and Captain William T. Riker (Jonathan Frakes) come aboard the new Neo-Constitution-class Titan, which was Will's former command. However, the Titan-a has a new Captain, Liam Shaw (Todd Stashwick), although his First Officer is thankfully a familiar face, Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan). A major tie to...

Let the Facebook wars begin.

Showtime will tackle the topic of the social media platform after renewing its anthology series Super Pumped for a second season. The premium network is basing the Season 2 of the show from Billions exec producers Brian Koppelman, David Levien and Beth Schacter on Mike Isaac’s upcoming book.

The news comes days after rival HBO closed a deal for Doomsday Machine, a limited series about the embattled tech giant with Claire Foy attached to star as COO Sheryl Sandberg.

Cancellations/Renewals Scorecard: TV Shows Ended Or Continuing In 2021-22 Season

The second season of Super Pumped will focus on the relationship between Sandberg and Mark Zuckerberg, which is at the center of its transition from groundbreaking startup to the power it has become and the world-changing forces unleashed, intentionally and unintentionally, as a result.

Each season of Super Pumped features a new cast of actors...

Network HBO has picked up ‘Doomsday Machine’, the upcoming series starring Claire Foy as Facebook’s chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg. The series is adapted from Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang’s New York Times bestselling book ‘An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook’s Battle for Domination’, reports variety.com. ‘Doomsday Machine’ chronicles the political and social minefields Facebook has […]...

HBO has picked up “Doomsday Machine,” the upcoming series starring Claire Foy as Facebook’s chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg. The series is adapted from Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang’s New York Times bestselling book “An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook’s Battle for Domination.”

“Doomsday Machine” chronicles the political and social minefields Facebook has navigated on its relentless quest for growth. The series examines how Sandberg and Mark Zuckerberg’s work are shaping the way that billions of people around the world communicate and consume information.

The series is created by Ayad Akhtar and hails from Anonymous Content and Wiip. Executive producers include Foy, Akhtar, Wiip’s Paul Lee and Josh Stern, Anonymous’ David Levine and Doug Wald, Adam Berkowitz, Elyse Cheney and Adam Eaglin. Andrew Marantz of the New Yorker is also a consultant on the project.

Foy’s casting was first announced in October 2021. She is best...

HBO has closed a deal for Doomsday Machine, a limited series about Facebook starring Emmy winner Claire Foy as embattled tech giant COO Sheryl Sandberg and executive producing as well. Anonymous Content and wiip (Mare of Easttown, Dickinson), which took the project to the marketplace in October, will co-produce with HBO.

Written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Ayad Akhtar, Doomsday Machine is based on Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang’s bestselling book An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook’s Battle for Domination as well as their New York Times reporting and the reporting of the New Yorker’s Andrew Marantz. Doomsday Machine chronicles the political and social minefields Facebook has navigated on its relentless quest for growth. The series places us in the shoes of Sandberg (Foy) and Mark Zuckerberg, who are shaping the way that billions of people around the world communicate and consume information.

The series is...

A buzzy TV series based on the book “An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook’s Battle for Domination” is currently in the works — but the social media giant is now warning the production company behind the project for “recklessly” proceeding with development of a “false and defamatory” adaptation.

In a legal letter sent on Monday, high-powered attorney Mathew Rosengart, who is repping Facebook, puts Anonymous Content on notice with an email addressed to CEO Dawn Olmstead.

“Facebook obviously recognizes that it is a public figure and has great respect for the First Amendment and the right of journalists and film or television producers to publish stories about it,” the letter, obtained by Variety, reads, in part. “The First Amendment does not protect knowingly false statements or portrayals — or those made with reckless disregard for the truth — even about public figures.”

The letter says that Facebook might consider working with Anonymous Content...

Facebook is a "Doomsday Machine." That's the angle in an upcoming TV series that has just cast Claire Foy as Facebook's chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg. You've seen her don a crown and get caught up in a spider's web; now she's been crowned COO and is coming to the world wide web.

According to Variety, "Doomsday Machine" will "lift the veil on the relationship between Mark Zuckerberg and Sandberg and the obstacles Facebook has faced on its relentless quest for growth." It's an adaptation of the New York Times bestselling book, "An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook's Battle for Domination," by Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang.

The series will...

The post Doomsday Machine Series Casts Claire Foy as Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg appeared first on /Film.

The Queen of England is taking the reins at Facebook: The Crown vet Claire Foy will play the social networking company’s chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg in the drama Doomsday Machine, our sister site Variety reports.

The series — based on Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang’s book An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook’s Battle for Domination — explores the relationship between Sandberg and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, as well as the obstacles the company has faced in its quest for growth. It will begin with the 2016 election and the rise of disinformation, and will include more recent revelations about...

“The Crown” alum Claire Foy will play Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg in a scripted series adaptation based on Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang’s New York Times bestselling book “An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook’s Battle for Domination.”

The drama, entitled “Doomsday Machine,” hails from Anonymous Content and wiip (“Mare of Easttown”), who recently closed a deal with Foy. The show will lift the veil on the relationship between Mark Zuckerberg and Sandberg and the obstacles Facebook has faced on its relentless quest for growth. Several journalists will serve as consultants to ensure the plot’s accuracy.

The series spans from 2016, beginning with the 2016 election and rise of disinformation, followed by recent revelations like Xcheck, a program that shielded important users, including former President Trump, from Facebook’s rules and regulations. The show will also cover how the company was aware of the mental health risks posed by Instagram to younger users,...

Embattled tech giant Facebook is the focus of a scripted drama series titled Doomsday Machine. Claire Foy, coming off her second Emmy win for playing Queen Elizabeth II in The Crown, is set to star as Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg in the project, from Anonymous Content and wiip.

Created by Homeland Elegies author Ayad Akhtar, Doomsday Machine is based on Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang’s bestselling book An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook’s Battle for Domination as well as their New York Times reporting and the reporting of the New Yorker’s Andrew Marantz. The book was published by Harper, an imprint of Harper Collins, in July 2021.

Doomsday Machine chronicles the political and social minefields Facebook has navigated on its relentless quest for growth. It focuses on Sandberg (Foy) and Mark Zuckerberg, who have been shaping the way that billions of people...

The Crown Emmy winner Claire Foy will take on another real-life character for her next TV project: Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg.

Foy is set to play Sandberg in a drama from Anonymous Content and Wiip titled Doomsday Machine. The project, which doesn’t have an outlet attached yet, is based on New York Times reporters Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang’s book An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook’s Battle for Domination (published by Harper in July), as well as their reporting for the Times and that of The New Yorker‘s Andrew Marantz.

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and author Ayad Akhtar (Disgraced, Homeland Elegies) is writing and will executive produce with ...

This Star Trek: Discovery article contains spoilers for the Season 3 finale.

Would you believe that the finale of Star Trek: Discovery Season references everything from Star Trek: Voyager, to the Tos episode “The Doomsday Machine?” Throughout the entire thrilling Disco season, 3 finale — “That Hope Is You Part 2,” the series managed to deliver yet another love-letter to Trekkies everywhere. This episode may not have been as overtly nostalgic as “Unification III,” or any given episode of Lower Decks, but it still managed to deliver on a slew of Easter eggs and callbacks; some obvious, and some obscure.

From Burnham’s Kirk-like boasts, to a weapon used by the Emerald Chain that references Tos, to hearing the word “Voyager” several times, here are all the Easter eggs and references in Star Trek: Discovery Season 3, Episode 13, “That Hope Is You Part 2.”

Gormagander

While exploring the holo-environment, Dr. Culber (Wilson Cruz) sees an image...

This article contains spoilers for Star Trek: Discovery Season 3, Episode 12, “There Is a Tide…”

Remember that time when Admiral James T. Kirk pretended to be a socialist so he didn’t have to pay the bill on a pizza date? In Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Dr. Gillian Taylor (Catherine Hicks) rolls her eyes as Kirk is taken-aback about having to pay for the pizza and one round of Michelob beers. Gillian says, “Don’t tell me that they don’t have money in the 23rd Century.” Kirk replies faux-innocently, “Well, we don’t!”

Even by that point, Trekkies knew that Kirk was playing dumb. This is the same Kirk who successfully staged a hostile takeover of a gangster planet in “A Piece of the Action,” and was more than a little bit familiar with the belly-dancer cafe scene on the planet Argelius II in “Wolf in the Fold.

Spoilers ahead for Star Trek: Lower Decks episodes 1-4.

When it comes to heated fandom discussions about what counts and what doesn’t count, relative to “canon,” the only thing more hotly debated than Star Wars canon, is easily, Star Trek canon. Back in the ‘70s, if you dipped into the letters sections of certain fanzines, you’d find people who argued that the third season of The Original Series wasn’t canon because some of the episodes didn’t make sense or were just outright bad.

The point is, debating specific aspects of Star Trek as non-canon is a pretty old argument. The direct answer to the question “Is Star Trek: Lower Decks canon?” is yes. And that’s because the creator — Mike McMahan — has said its canon, and the show actually bends over backwards to make canonical references.

That said, if you still think Star Trek: Lower Decks can’t be canon,...

Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 satire “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” was released at the height of a nuclear arms race, as paranoia about the apocalypse reached an all-time high. Decades later, as nuclear threats continue to ripple across the globe, the idea of an atomic bomb threatening life in America continues to be seen as a fantasy. That makes Kubrick’s loopy cautionary tale more timely than ever, and a new short documentary exhumes the filmmaker’s assessment of his movie to remind people that there is plenty of cause for concern.

In “Stanley Kubrick Considers the Bomb,” director Matthew Wells explores the movie’s outlook in Kubrick’s own words. “The atomic bomb is as much of an abstraction as you can possibly have,” Kubrick says in an archival interview, which runs alongside images of mushroom bombs similar to the ones that close out his film.

Star Trek is probably the most successful science fiction franchise of all time spanning six decades of science fiction storytelling. In the series, I will be looking at the highlights of all the past episodes from each season of all five TV shows that went before leading up to the new series Star Trek: Discovery that will be airing in the fall of 2017.

Star Trek: The Original Series – Season Two

Development

The ratings for the first season of Star Trek were low which, in previous years, would have seen the series cancelled straight away, but NBC decided to renew the series for a second season – mainly because it appealed to a younger audience. The series was given an episode order of 26 episodes, which in future years became the average number for an episode order of Star Trek.

There were a few changes in the Season 2: like cast member Grace Lee Whitney, who played Yeoman Janice Rand quit the show due to personal reasons; they introduced a new character called Ensign Chekov, who was brought in to appeal to the younger audience and he had a very Beatles like hairpiece in his early episodes – as this season progressed they got rid of the hairpiece and let him have his own hair(!); and also they added DeForest Kelley (McCoy) to the opening credits which made him the third lead character in the series from that point on.

The character of Mr Spock became a breakout character and a sex symbol after the first season had aired, and in this season there were many episodes centred around Spock – such as the seasons opening episode ‘Amok Time’ which was set on his home planet Vulcan and where Kirk and Spock have to fight to death.

Writers

Some of the writers from the first year returned to write scripts for the second year – including as Gene L. Coon and D. C Fontana. They were joined by new writers such as John Merdyth Lucas, Robert Sabaroff and John Kingsbridge who wrote some classic episodes of this season, like ‘Patterns of Force’ which had that common theme in the original series of Star Trek where they beam onto a planet that represents an alien society ;in the context of earth history like in this episode it represents Nazi Germany in the 1930s. There were many episodes like that in this season, another being ‘A Piece of the Action’ which represents an alien society in 1920s gangster culture. Another standout episode in this season was ‘Mirror Mirror’ where members of the Enterprise crew were transported on an alternative Enterprise. This episode famously had a badass Mr Spock with a beard and the crew kill each other to move up in rank.

Top 5 Episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series – Season Two

5) The Gamester of Triskelion

In this episode Captain Kirk and his companion are kidnapped into slavery and trained to become gladiators. It’s a real “starter episode” if you want to get into the original series; and your always wondering how Kirk and crew are going to get out of this one. It’s one of the many cliché episodes where they have a lot of stylized fight scenes and Kirk gets the girl. But overall it’s a little bit of fun.

4) A Private Little War

In this episode the crew of the Enterprise see the interference of a once peaceful planet from the Klingon Empire. It’s another one that tackles a social issue of the time, which is the Vietnam War, which was at it’s height in 1968 when this episode aired. It’s an episode I have always enjoyed – even if it’s flawed somewhat.

3) The Doomsday Machine

The Enterprise has discovered a planet destroying weapon and a Commodore that puts the crew of the Enterprise in danger, in crazy mission of revenge. This is one of most popular episodes of the original series. The highlight of the episode is the performance of William Windom, who played the vengeful Commodore Matt Decker, and his obsession of wanting to destroy the planet destroying weapon The Doomsday Machine.

2) Mirror Mirror

First of many “Mirror Universe” episodes and I think this is still the best – come on who doesn’t like seeing the crew of the enterprise being bad to the bone for one episode? Plus Spock has a beard and is being as bad ass as ever!

1) Amok Time

I’m sure you saw this one coming… could it really be any other episode? What’s not to love about this episode and visiting Spock’s home planet and watching Kirk and Spock fight to the death? And that brilliant ending where you see Spock almost being human.

If you’ve watched “The Big Short” – the 2015 multiple Oscar-nominated dramedy based on the 2010 book “The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine” by Michael Lewis about the financial crisis of 2007–2008 – you’ll remember the epilogue, during which… Continue Reading →...

It’s day four of Star Trek Week! I see Graham and Ryan checking the clock and looking annoyed. Don’t worry guys, it’s almost over!

Star Trek: Voyager (Voy) came around during a period of maximum Star Trek saturation. Voyager premiered only a year after Tng ended and only two years after DS9 premiered. This is most likely the point in which “Star Trek fatigue” took root, but more on that tomorrow. Star Trek: Voyager debuted on January 16, 1995 with the episode “Caretaker” and, like its sister shows, would last seven seasons for a total of 172 episodes before closing with “Endgame” on May 23, 2001.

Hit the jump for my favourite episodes!

1. Eye of the Needle

“A micro-wormhole is discovered that leads to the Alpha Quadrant, and the crew make contact with a Romulan ship on the other side. “

The only flaw of this episode is that you that never really...

I was so young the first time I saw classic Star Trek, that I can’t remember a time I didn’t know about Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock and the rest of the crew of the Starship Enterprise. The show and I are about the same age and I enjoy it now as much as I did when I discovered it back in the early 1970s. Since this week is the 50th Anniversary of the greatest and most influential American science fiction TV show ever made, here is a look back through the eyes of someone who grew up and grew old with Star Trek.

I was too young to watch the original run of Star Trek in the 1960s (no TV in the cradle) but when I was in elementary school in the early 70s, the show went into syndication. In New York it was running week nights at...

The absolute shit that is coming out of Donald Trump’s mouth is just…

I can’t even.

I’m writing this on Thursday, when I should (finally) be packing, because my daughter is picking me up at 1:30 this afternoon for my flight to Denver and the Comic Con. But this column appears on Monday afternoon and I’ll still be in the Mile High City, so I got up early, made myself a cup of tea, and sat down to talk about how I’m looking forward to the convention, my first in years…

… but I put on Morning Joe (on MSNBC) and I’m sitting here with my mouth open and my political side spinning as I watch Joe and Mika and Willie and their panel and their guest report on and talk about the absolute shit that is coming out of the Republican nominee’s mouth.

Criterion's special edition of Stanley Kubrick's doomsday comedy is more powerful than ever in a 4K remaster; and it even comes with a top-secret mission profile package and a partial-contents survival kit. A Kubrick fan can have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff. Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 821 1964 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen / 95 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date June 28, 2016 / 39.95 Starring Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn, Slim Pickens, Peter Bull, James Earl Jones, Tracy Reed Cinematography Gilbert Taylor Production Designer Ken Adam Art Direction Peter Murton Film Editor Anthony Harvey Original Music Laurie Johnson Written by Stanley Kubrick, Terry Southern, Peter George from his book Red Alert Produced by Stanley Kubrick, Leon Minoff Directed by Stanley Kubrick

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

When I heard that Criterion was putting out a Blu-ray of Dr. Strangelove, Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb I thought that there already was a disc out there from The Collection. Nope, Sony released a Blu-ray in 2009, and back around 2000, a DVD. I was thinking of a deluxe laserdisc from Criterion sometime in the early 1990s. I remember being impressed by its extras, which included documentary materials about the Bomb in the Cold War years. Potential new fans of Kubrick's wickedly funny movie are being born every year, which leaves those of us for whom Strangelove was an important part of growing up having to remind ourselves just how good it still is. I remember recording the soundtrack off TV in high school and memorizing all of the dialogue; this has to be the most quotable movie of its decade. I also can remember my father's reaction when we watched it together on network TV, ABC, I think. An Air Force lifer who wouldn't discuss politics (or much of anything), the Old Sarge had little use for 'defeatist' movies like On the Beach. But he thought the premise of Seven Days in May wasn't really farfetched, having worked with Hap Arnold and Curtis LeMay. He shook his head after seeing Dr. Strangelove but I could tell that he found it very funny. It's too bad the two of us couldn't have gotten our senses of humor more in sync -- as soon as I wore my hair long, I think he stopped trusting me. I believe that Dr. Strangelove is one of few movies that 'made a difference' in that it redirected American public opinion about a major life issue. From that point forward only the ignorant and Shoot First fanatics talked about nuclear war as win-able, at least not until the neo-con Millennium. 1963 audiences had little use for suspect 'pacifist' movies that ended in masochistic doom, like On the Beach. The nuclear crisis was such a hot topic that that the low-key English science fiction film The Day the Earth Caught Fire was a surprise hit. Strangelove is more realistic than the straight atom nightmare movies. We're told that when Ronald Reagan was briefed at the start of his first term in office, he asked where the White House elevator to the War Room was. He figured it was there because he saw it in the movie. The decision to opt for broad comedy was Kubrick's inspired stroke. Dr. Strangelove may be the first hit film that was a bona-fide black comedy; I don't recall anybody even using the expression before it came out. It's not a crazy comedy where anything funny is okay. The backbone of the story remains 100% serious, while the jokes relentlessly demolish the death-cult logic of our Nuclear Deterrent. Kubrick and Terry Southern populate Peter George's credible cold-sweat crisis with insane caricatures given ridiculous names. The scary part is that, no matter how stupid they behave, none are really that exaggerated. Peter Sellers serves triple duty in a trio of characterizations, effectively outdoing previous champion film chameleon Alec Guinness. George C. Scott steals the show as an infantile Air Force General who acts like a Looney Tunes cartoon character. And the rest of the inspired cast nails their highly original quasi-comic characters. Every joke is a gallows joke; we're never allowed to forget that we all have an atomic noose around our necks. I almost envy the dead viewers still unfamiliar with Dr. Strangelove, as seeing it for the first time was a mind-opening experience. Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden), the commander of Burpelson Air Force Base, orders a flight of B-52s to attack Russia. He then seals off Burpelson to prevent a recall of the planes. Exchange officer Group Captain Lionel Mandrake (Peter Sellers) tries to talk him into divulging the recall code. Holding court in the War Room, President Merkin Muffley (Peter Sellers) is horrified to discover that such a Snafu is even possible. He orders General Buck Turgidson (George C. Scott) to take Burpelson Air Base by force and recall the planes, and gets on the hotline with the Soviet Premier. Up in the lead B-52, Major 'King' Kong (Slim Pickens) receives Ripper's orders, coded 'Wing Attack Plan R.' He urges his crew to avoid Russian defenses and reach their primary target, while Turgidson tries to talk Muffley into launching an all-out attack. Advising in the War Room is ex-Nazi scientist Dr. Strangelove, a grinning theoretician already fantasizing about the sexual recreation for the ruling elite in the VIP bomb shelters, where America's chosen high officials will be living for the next 93 years. Dr. Strangelove divides its time between three main locations, each with its own deadly serious function and each overlaid with a different comedic tone. In his locked executive office in the Alaskan Air Force Base, the sexually obsessed American General Ripper faces off with a veddy proper English officer in a farcical one-act. Beady-eyed and intense in his anti-Communist convictions, Sterling Hayden contrasts beautifully with Seller's genial Group Captain, who can't fathom the depth of his commanding officer's madness. The action in the B-52 is a throwback to those gung-ho WW2 action films in which a racially and ethnically diverse attack team uses brains and guts to barrel through their suicide mission. Even though their pilot is a cowboy clown (Slim Pickens doing his only characterization, Slim Pickens) they're an admirable bunch, seemingly the only humans capable of doing anything without red tape or Coca-Cola machines getting in their way. The horror is that our heroes' mission is totally against every moral precept ever imagined. The docu feeling in the B-52 is further amplified by the gritty newsreel-like footage of the taking of Burpelson Afb, with American troops fighting American troops. In 1964 these were traumatic, subversive scenes. U.S. troops on film are supposed to fight for freedom and righteousness, not kill each other. Kubrick has the audacity to place in the middle of it all a big sign that reads, 'Peace is our Profession.' The grainy authenticity of these scenes would come back to haunt us when similar footage started being seen nightly on television, fresh from Vietnam. The center of activities is the War Room, a Camelot-like round table of Death located in the basement of the White House. The rational President Merkin Muffley trips over an ideological roadblock in the form of Buck Turgidson, a gum-chewing military nutcase itching to go to war and overjoyed that Jack Ripper has 'exceeded his authority.' The President is hardly in charge of foreign policy, and none of fifty advisors come to his aid with any original thinking. An amateur among experts, Muffley must be shepherded through protocol by an assistant. Here's where Southern and Kubrick make their biggest points, basically asserting that a showdown with the Russkies is inevitable because the American stance is a military one -- Sac just wants the peacenik in the Oval Office to get out of their way. The comedy is all over the place, and it's a miracle that it works. The stand-up humor on the hot line to Moscow is very much like a Bob Newhart routine. At Burpelson, it's the Goon Show all over again. Sellers' Mandrake cannot sway General Ripper, and the moronic Major Bat Guano (Keenan Wynn) suspects the Raf officer of being a 'deviated prevert.' Up in the bomber, Mad Magazine craziness is grafted onto combat realism. Previous looks at the Air Force's flying deterrent were enlistment booster films like Strategic Air Command. Kubrick drove his English craftsmen to fake the entire bomber interior right down to the switches and gauges. The aerial combat is more realistic than that in escapist films, even with inadequate models used for exteriors of the jet bomber in flight. Dr. Strangelove maintains a nervous tension between absurd comedy and morbid unease. Kubrick's main career themes -- sexual madness, treacherous technology and the folly of human planning -- come into strong relief. We're motivated to root for the fliers that are going to destroy the world. Then we fret over the President's pitiful lack of control. Dour, glowering Russian Ambassador De Sadesky (Peter Bull) informs the War Room about his country's solution to the costly Arms Race, the dreaded Doomsday Machine. Security advisor Dr. Strangelove enters the film in the last act to serve as sort of an angel of Death. Based loosely on Rand-corporation experts that calculated eventualities in nuclear war scenarios, Sellers' vision of Strangelove is a throwback to German Expressionism. A Mabuse in a wheelchair, he's black-gloved like the brilliant but mad Rotwang of Metropolis. Strangelove enters like the specter of Death itself; his grin looks like a skull. Contemplating 'megadeaths' gives him sexual pleasure. The detonation of the first bomb seems to liberate Strangelove, and he finds he can walk again. The character is straight from the Siegfried Kracauer playbook. The evil of nuclear war has restored the representative of apocalyptic Nazi vengeance to full power. Twenty years after his death, we all get to join Hitler in his suicide bunker. First-time viewers are usually floored by the audacious Dr. Strangelove. Only the truly uninformed will not recognize baritone James Earl Jones as one of Major Kong's flight crew. Those going back for a repeated peek will derive added enjoyment from Kubrick's deft juggling of his several visual styles and his avoidance of anything that might deflate tension: we hear about the recall code being issued but are spared any view of the responsible military personnel that must have sent it. Some of the best fun is finding details in designer Ken Adam's impressive War Room, such as the pies already laid out in preparation for the aborted pie-fight finale. Even better is watching the War room extras as they strain to maintain straight faces no matter how funny Sellers and Scott get; that contrast is what makes the comedy so brilliant. Watch Peter Bull carefully. In one extended take he starts to smile at Sellers, more than once. He catches himself and then is clearly on the verge of cracking up, forcing Kubrick to cut away. The Criterion Collection's Blu-ray of Dr. Strangelove, Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is the expected sterling transfer of this Kubrick classic, a 4K digital transfer. I put it up against Sony's old Blu-ray and the difference is not so great as to recommend that a trade-up is necessary. However, it looks extremely good. The Kubrick faithful out there will be thinking, 'I must not allow a disc shelf gap.' The HD picture makes quite a bit of difference in understanding Kubrick's photographic strategy. Not only do the hand-held Burpelson combat sequences approximate the look of documentary footage, a more contrasty and grainy film stock has been used. Switching "film looks" later became a fad for directors looking to be viewed as artists. The idea perhaps reached its zenith in Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers. Back in 1964 the effect of imitating a news film look was quite stunning -- audiences reacted to the combat scenes as if they were real. I'm glad that we're finally beyond the frustrating early DVD years, when someone (at Warner Home Video?) claimed that Stanley Kubrick insisted that his films be shown at the old 1:33 aspect ratio for TV and disc. Even if they wangled a note from Kubrick to that effect, I still believe that the aspect ratio games were played because Kubrick was too busy to oversee new masters of his films, and Whv wanted to market them in a hurry at a minimum of cost. That's all old news now, but there was also the interesting aspect ratio question concerning Strangelove. At least one disc iteration -- Criterion's laserdisc, I'm fairly sure -- was released in a completely un-original dual-ratio scan. Kubrick apparently said that he preferred to see the War Room scenes at a full-frame 1:37, and so this one transfer of the film popped back and forth between ratios. I've never heard of anything like this before or after. Criterion's British 1:66 framing for this disc is correct, even though the film was probably screened at 1:85 for many of its American play dates. Criterion's new extras begin with interview featurettes with well-chosen spokespeople, like scholars Mick Broderick and Rodney Hill. Kubrick archivist Richard Daniels' piece is quite good, as is an examination of the film's visuals by two of the original camera crew. The son of author Peter George gives an excellent account of his father's life and the adaptation of his novel Red Alert. George reportedly liked the notion of turning his story into a black comedy, especially when his original narrative was changed very little. The stroke of genius was deciding that the entire subject could best be approached as a sick joke. Other extras are repeated from Sony's DVD disc of 2004. A making-of docu interviews several surviving technicians and actors, and a primer on the Cold War atom standoff goes deep into detail. The featurettes have input from Robert McNamara, Spike Lee and Bob Woodward. Critics Roger Ebert and Alexander Walker are also represented. Docu pieces on Peter Sellers and Kubrick appear to suffer from legal restraints disallowing the use of clips from non-Columbia sources. The Peter Sellers show features several choice film clips from the 'fifties, including Sellers' almost perfect take on a William Conrad-like hired killer. We're shown some stills from the legendary The Goon Show, which is not mentioned by name. A Stanley Kubrick career piece that uses UA, MGM and Universal trailers covers a lot of territory a bit too quickly. It does have some nice interview input from Kubrick's partner James B. Harris. Harris has since given terrific interviews on Criterion discs for Kubrick's The Killing and Paths of Glory. Criterion's Curtis Tsui produced those discs as well as this one. An entertaining extra is a pair of vintage 'split screen' fake interviews with Sellers and Scott intended for publicity use. Each actor projects his chosen PR image. They're charming, especially when Sellers takes us on a lightning tour of regional English accents. I wonder if those distinctions have faded, 52 years later? As a pleasant surprise, Curtis Tsui has overseen the creation of a collectable, highly amusing substitute for a standard disc insert booklet. Inside an authentic-looking 'Wing Attack Plan R' envelope, David Bromwich's insert essay is printed in the form of classified orders on two sheets of loose-leaf paper. Terry Southern's hilariously profane 1994 essay on the movie comes in the form of a Playboy parody, illustrated with photos of Tracy Reed as 'Miss Foreign Affairs.' Finally, the disc credits and details are printed in a genuine miniature Russian Phrase Book and Holy Bible, a little bigger than one-inch square. It indeed offers some phrases that I'll have to try on my multi-lingual daughter, like "Where is the toilet?" But the cover Lies, as there's no Bible in there that I could find. Also, no nine packs of chewing gum and no issue of prophylactics. On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor, Dr. Strangelove Blu-ray rates: Movie: Excellent Video: Excellent Sound: Excellent uncompressed monaural + alternate 5.1 surround soundtrack, presented in DTS-hd Master Audio Supplements: (from Criterion stats): New interviews with Stanley Kubrick scholars Mick Broderick and Rodney Hill; archivist Richard Daniels; cinematographer and camera innovator Joe Dunton; camera operator Kelvin Pike; and David George, son of Peter George, on whose novel Red Alert the film is based. Excerpts from a 1966 audio interview with Kubrick, conducted by physicist and author Jeremy Bernstein; Four short documentaries about the making of the film, the sociopolitical climate of the period, the work of actor Peter Sellers, and the artistry of Kubrick. Promotional interviews from 1963 with Sellers and actor George C. Scott; excerpt from a 1980 interview with Sellers from NBC's Today show; Trailers; insert essay by scholar David Bromwich and a 1994 article by screenwriter Terry Southern on the making of the film. Deaf and Hearing-impaired Friendly? Yes; Subtitles: English Packaging: Keep case Reviewed: June 7, 2016 (5136love)

Visit DVD Savant's Main Column Page Glenn Erickson answers most reader mail: dvdsavant@mindspring.com

Text © Copyright 2016 Glenn Erickson...

★★★☆☆ The closing credit sequence of Adam McKay's The Other Guys inexplicably plays out with infographics on ponzi schemes, the immorality of big bank CEOs and just what a naughty boy Bernie Madoff was. In spite of unquestionable comedic wit - from numerous Will Ferrell offerings - it's hard to see how or why the director was chosen to bring Michael Lewis' straight-laced book The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine to the big screen. Sporadically hilarious, dizzyingly dynamic and at times downright infuriating, The Big Short admirably attempts to distil the rhymes and riddles of complicated banking practice for a lay audience. Films of a similar ilk went for an approach of either less is more - Margin Call - or overtly more is more - The Wolf of Wall Street - but McKay's latest feature is all over the map.

Galaxy Quest is one of those films that I can watch over and over again. I will never get tired of this movie. It’s not just a hilarious Star Trek parody, but it’s also just an awesome movie overall that entertains in every way.

I’m surprised I haven’t done a fun facts list on it yet, but I’ll remedy that now. I would actually love to see a Galaxy Quest sequel. It’s something the original cast would be up for. Instead, we’re getting an Amazon TV series. Hopefully, it will be good!

While we wait for any additional details on that, here are 16 fun facts about Galaxy Quest.

The following information was found on IMDb, but I’ve added my own commentary as well as images and video to show some things off.

Sam Rockwell based the portrayal of his character on Bill Paxton's performance in Aliens.

“It’s sort of like the flood’s about to happen and you’re Noah. You’re on the ark. Yeah, you’re okay. But you are not happy looking out at the flood.

A dramatic retelling of the 2007-8 financial crisis reveals a riveting world of chaos, corruption and misfits

Unlike the slick suits and killer sheen of Oliver Stone’s Wall Street, this is a world of chaos and disorder

One of the strangest elements of Anchorman director Adam McKay’s goofy 2010 comedy The Other Guys was the inclusion of some credit sequence infographics about corporate fraud and capitalist corruption that seemed to have been crowbarred in from another movie. It now transpires that McKay, a Saturday Night Live graduate who is no stranger to political satire, viewed The Other Guys as a slapstick allegory for the recent financial crisis and was working on the movie when he first read Michael Lewis’s nonfiction book The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, an account of the people who predicted (and profited from) the crash of 2007-8.

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A comedy about the financial crash? Not many laughs in that I bet you’re thinking. But in the hands of Anchorman director Adam McKay this adaptation of The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine (by Moneyball writer Michael Lewis) charts the origins of the 2007 money market meltdown and defies storytelling conventions. So, prepare for

The post The Big Short Review appeared first on HeyUGuys.

The USC Libraries have announced the nominees of the 28th annual Scripter Awards honoring each year's best adaptation of the printed word to film. And this year, TV category has been added. Winners will be revealed on February 20th.

Here's the nominees of the 28th annual USC Libraries Scripter Awards:

Film

The Big Short

Screenwriters Adam McKay and Charles Randolph, adapted from Michael Lewis.s nonfiction work .The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine.

Paramount Pictures and W.W. Norton

Brooklyn

Novelist Colm Tóibín and screenwriter Nick Hornby

Fox Searchlight and Viking

The End Of The Tour

Screenwriter Donald Margulies, adapted from David Lipsky.s memoir .Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip with David Foster Wallace.

A24 and Broadway Books

The Martian

Novelist Andy Weir and screenwriter Drew Goddard

Twentieth Century Fox and Crown Publishing Group

Room

Emma Donoghue for the novel and screenplay

A24 and Little,...

The Big Short, cert 15, is in cinemas on 22 January. To celebrate we’re offering you a signed copy of the New York bestseller, The Big Short: The Doomsday Machine and an exclusive The Big Short merchandise bundle. When four outsiders saw what the big banks, media and government refused to, the global collapse of

The post Win an exclusive bundle from The Big Short including a signed book! appeared first on HeyUGuys.

Quite frankly, I was skeptical when I heard that Adam McKay, best known for broad comedies like Anchorman and Step Brothers, was taking writing and directing duties on a movie dealing with the financial collapse of 2008. I should not have worried. McKay has come up with a whip-smart, dark and sobering comedy based on Michael Lewis’ book The Big Short: Inside The Doomsday Machine that not only does its source material proud, it pulls off a miracle in making dense Wall…...

Adapted by Charles Randolph and Adam McKay from The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, Michael Lewis’s behind-the-scenes book about the 2008 housing market crash, McKay’s star-stuffed The Big Short is a brilliant demystification. Two scenes, hilarious in completely opposite ways, take place in the middle of an otherwise enervating securitization session at the American Securities Forum in Las Vegas. Hold on: hilarious and securitization jammed into the same sentence? Most people don’t even know what the latter word means. When a term completely sidesteps consciousness, it is probably unavailable to the unconscious—site of the split-second manufacture of humor. To […]...

Adapted by Charles Randolph and Adam McKay from The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, Michael Lewis’s behind-the-scenes book about the 2008 housing market crash, McKay’s star-stuffed The Big Short is a brilliant demystification. Two scenes, hilarious in completely opposite ways, take place in the middle of an otherwise enervating securitization session at the American Securities Forum in Las Vegas. Hold on: hilarious and securitization jammed into the same sentence? Most people don’t even know what the latter word means. When a term completely sidesteps consciousness, it is probably unavailable to the unconscious—site of the split-second manufacture of humor. To […]...

This December, like so many Decembers before it, will set moviegoers on high alert with a slew of awards contenders releasing thick and fast – not to mention Disney’s elephant in the room, The Force Awakens. It’s little wonder why this pre-Oscar window is referred to as the industry’s purple patch, and one of those new releases eager to place its stamp on 2015’s circuit is Adam McKay’s financial drama, The Big Short.

Marking a significant creative departure for the director, who is best known for helming a string of Will Ferrell comedies including Anchorman, McKay’s latest features a star-studded ensemble: Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Christian Bale, and Brad Pitt. Each sporting slightly distracting hair pieces, it is this core quartet that will headline the feature as four outsiders monitoring the credit bubble during the early 2000s.

In anticipation of the inevitable burst, Carell and Co.

This story first appeared in the Dec. 11 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe. Seventy-seven pages into his 2010 best-seller, The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, author Michael Lewis stops to congratulate readers with a "gold star" for getting this far. After all, the detailed analysis of the financial-industry machinations that led to the collapse of the U.S. housing market and the Great Recession (and, arguably, the election of President Obama in 2008) is a whirlwind of such headache-inducing terms as collateralized debt obligations and triple-

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The prospect of a talented, comedic filmmaker changing things up and tackling something a little weightier, is always an exciting one. It promises a different, refreshing perspective on serious matters, and that can only be productive, in the grand scheme of things. So, when Anchorman director Adam McKay committed to making The Big Short, people paid attention.

The film is an adaptation of the 2010 bestseller The Big Short: Inside The Doomsday Machine, by Michael Lewis, which focuses on high profile financial players involved in the build up to the global economic collapse – specifically those that believed the housing bubble was going to burst. McKay’s movie centres on a group of men who develop an idea that would involve betting against the trend, and ultimately profiting from the crisis.

“When four outsiders saw what the big banks, media and government refused to – the global collapse of the economy – they...

Writer/director Adam McKay is outraged that banks got away with tanking the world economy, and by the end of The Big Short, you will be, too.

An adaptation of Michael Lewis' (Moneyball) nonfiction book "The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine," the film tracks the few men who see the imminent collapse of the economy coming before anyone else. There's Michael Burry (Christian Bale), the heavy-metal loving hedge fund manager with a glass eye and a serious lack of social skills. In 2005, he pores through thousands of bundled loans and comes to the conclusion that the housing market — always thought to be rock solid — is going to start to crumble in 2007. So he bets against the banks for over a billion dollars, scaring his investors and drawing a lot of attention on Wall Street. Deutsche Bank trader Jared Vennett (Ryan Gosling, who breaks the fourth wall and narrates the film) notices,...

Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Christian Bale and Marisa Tomei were among the stars at the premiere of “The Big Short” at the Tcl Chinese Theatre in Hollywood Thursday, to close out AFI Fest. Also walking down the red carpet, Karen Gillan, “American Horror Story’s” Finn Wittrock, Max Greenfield and Melissa Leo. Based on the book “The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine” by Michael Lewis, the drama tells the story of the financial crisis of 2007-2010. Getty Images The Paramount Pictures film sees Pitt, Bale, Carell and Gosling playing four outsiders in the world of high-finance who predicted...

How do you make a movie from a book about bad banks? “That’s what excited me about it. I read the book in one night,” director Adam McKay told Deadline’s Dominic Patten today on why he chose to make a feature adaptation of Michael Lewis’ novel The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine about the guys who made a killing during the 2007-2008 financial crisis. For a director who built his career on tentpole Will Ferrell comedies like Anchorman and The Other Guys, the chance…...

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As a new Star Trek TV show is planned for 2017, we select the show's top 25 episodes from its classic Original and Animated series...

The impact of Star Trek, a television series that altered the world's expectations and put an indelible mark on many cultures around the world, is often underestimated until you realise who it had an impact on and what they went on to achieve.

If you only ever watch 25 episodes or, rather, stories from the original(ish) run of Star Trek, these are they, at least in my opinion. The only rules in place being that this selection is drawn only from the series that just called themselves Star Trek (so that's what we now call Star Trek: The Original Series, or Tos and Star Trek: The Animated Series, or Tas), and two-part episodes count as one story... The more Trek-astute of you may realise...