Star Trek

The Senator theater is offering fans of the "Star Trek" movies a chance to "sit long and prosper" with a marathon screening Saturday of all five movies in the series.The films will be shown in order, beginning at noon but including a 6:30 to 8 p.m. dinner break. The first three, "Star Trek -- The Motion Picture" (1979), "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" (1982) and "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock" (1984), will be shown from noon to 6:30. The final films, "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" (1986)

Captain Kirk himself will beam into Baltimore this summer to appear at the Shore Leave science fiction convention in Hunt Valley, according to the event's website. The 35th annual convention will offer writing workshops, panel discussions, role playing games and a chance to meet authors and stars. Shatner, who has been known to turn down much bigger gigs, is a major score -- particularly for a convention founded by folks brought together by a love of "Star Trek. " He will appear Aug. 3. If fans want his autograph, or to take a picture with Shatner, they'll have to open their wallets.

Devoted viewers of television's "Star Trek" series have become accustomed to such sci-fi marvels as "warp drive," "tachyon scans" and -- wonder of wonders! -- the "holodeck," where weary starship crews repair for R&R in virtual-reality vacation hideaways. But this week, after seven seasons on the air, Paramount finally pulled the plug on "Star Trek: The Next Generation," the hugely popular spin-off of the original 1960s show.The first "Star Trek" was yanked after only a couple of seasons, yet has triumphed in re-runs for some 30 years.

Once again the Republicans are telling stories meant to frighten little children. Adults know better. Del. Ron George from Anne Arundel County states that we need to worry about Sharia law. And how does he think this threat will materialize? Who in the U.S. favors such laws? What politician has even hinted that they favor such a change? Only eight Muslim majority countries out of 40 (Mr. George cites only three) have such a legal structure. And we are hardly a Muslim country. Our Muslim population is sixth-tenths of one percent of the total.

LOS ANGELES -- A 25-year-old Los Angeles resident, described by police as a fan of the popular television "Star Trek" series, has been arrested for possession of costumes allegedly stolen from Paramount Studios in Hollywood.The arrest was the first related to a series "Star Trek" thefts over the past two years, Los Angeles police said.Officers said they found Kevin Buehler with $50,000 worth of costumes and hardware from the original television series and its descendants, "Star Trek: The Next Generation," and various "Star Trek" movies.

Make no mistake. Kate Mulgrew is the captain, a worthy successor in the line of steel-jawed space explorers for the United Federation of Planets. In tonight's premiere of "Star Trek: Voyager," she takes firm and fascinating command of the launch vehicle for the new United Paramount Network.In a movie-length debut episode (8 p.m. on WNUV, Channel 54, and WDCA, Channel 20), Ms. Mulgrew barks orders, strides through exploding bulkheads and frets about her pregnant dog back home. As Capt. Kathryn Janeway, she easily dominates every scene she has and should make Paramount thankful that Genevieve Bujold, originally signed for the role, walked off the set after a few days.

Washington -- Someone should have devised a way to beam them out of there. But William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and the rest of the crew of the USS Enterprise departed a packed press preview of "Star Trek: The Exhibition" yesterday in an ordinary freight elevator flanked by security guards in plain Terran blue uniforms.But that was the only disappointment in a transporting event that may have brought more media to the National Air and Space Museum's newest attraction than covered the Iowa presidential caucuses.

Diane Carey may be "stuck in the 1800s," as she readily concedes, but through the magic of science fiction she can project her favorite period forward a few centuries.That explains how the Pride of Baltimore II, Baltimore's goodwill sailing ambassador designed after an 1800s ship, sails in spirit through "The Great Starship Race," Ms. Carey's latest novel for the ongoing series of "Star Trek" books.Released in November (Pocket Books, $5.50), the novel places Capt. James T. Kirk and crew aboard the starship Enterprise in the middle of a 23rd-century space race celebrating contact with a new civilization.

A few Star Trek fans were shocked by the official revelation that actor George Takei - aka Mr. Sulu - is gay. But many accepted the news with the respect for diversity that devotees say is the hallmark of the sci-fi series. Takei, 68, revealed his homosexuality in the current issue of Frontiers, a biweekly Los Angeles magazine covering the gay and lesbian community. Takei said he and his partner of 18 years, Brad Altman, have been open about their relationship to friends and family for many years.

ON AND OFF THE AIR:* "Trek" alert! While you won't notice it immediately because the series is in repeats, WBFF-Channel 45 tonight makes ,,TC mid-course correction in the scheduling of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," which adds yet one more viewing to the weekly schedule.Now, new episodes of the syndicated series will premiere each week on Wednesday at 9 p.m., with that episode repeating at 6 p.m. Sunday. Previously, Sunday at 6 was the first-run premiere time on Channel 45, with a Saturday at 6 p.m. repeat.

If getting arrested and spending some time in a Klingon jail is your idea of a good time, then don't miss this weekend's Shore Leave 33. It could be the place your dream comes true. "People love it," says Michael Schilling, a spokesman for the three-day science-fiction and fantasy convention opening Friday in Hunt Valley. "People get arrested by Klingons in full costume, they throw you in jail. I think they do things like sing the 'Barney' song to torture you. " Sounds painful.

After working all day in their jobs with the federal government, Ann and John White don't like to come home and watch reality TV. They prefer to get immersed in something they consider more thought-provoking: science fiction. Over the weekend, the Laurel couple went to Timonium to meet with others who feel the same way at Farpoint 2011, a "fan-based" sci-fi convention at the Crowne Plaza Baltimore North hotel. "Fifty years from now, they probably aren't going to have a 'Survivor' convention or a 'Jersey Shore' convention," said Ann White.

In 2002, Christy Wnuk-Fink walked into the Last Chance Saloon in Columbia and saw a flier for Final Score Trivia Night. Intrigued, Wnuk-Fink assembled a group of friends and family, and gave it a shot. It didn't go so well at first. "We showed up and got our teeth completely kicked in by all the other teams," she recalled. Still, Wnuk-Fink kept coming back. Her team, Abacus Nil (it means "you can count on us to score nothing," she said), played for about 4 1/2 years.

In the course of 25 years, actor Jeffrey Combs has gone from reviving corpses to serving as a Ferengi agent to embodying possibly the greatest American literary figure of the 19th century. His fans must get whiplash just trying to keep up with this guy. "I'm just a squirrel trying to keep the engine going here," says Combs, who will be bringing his one-man play "Nevermore" to this weekend's 201st birthday celebration for Edgar Allan Poe. "Running on the wheel, that's all you're doing.

BOOKS 'Going Rogue' by Sarah Palin: She's baaack! The former VP candidate/hockey mom launches her media blitz for her new book this week, sitting down with big names like Oprah and Barbara Walters. (Somehow, Katie Couric was left off the list.) Will the book be a groundbreaking political memoir? Probably not. But will America be strangely transfixed? You betcha. In stores Tuesday. EXHIBIT 'Terra Cotta Warriors': One of the most astonishing archaeological discoveries of the 20th century is coming to Washington this week.

This year's stream of escapist extravaganzas has kept crowds coming to the multiplex. But they haven't always left it happy. Watchmen disappointed Alan Moore fans and novices alike with its slavish, dated devotion to the ultimate dirty-hero graphic novel. Inkheart squandered a potential franchise for all ages about the power of reading, while the slick, empty Angels & Demons proved that Tom Hanks' haircut wasn't the only thing wrong with The Da Vinci Code. Monsters Vs. Aliens was so silly-stupid it made some of us wish we were watching a good version of a grisly film like Aliens Vs. Predators.

NEW YORK -- Two hundred people a day are calling the consumer affairs office of Hallmark Cards Inc. in Kansas City screaming for a $20 replica of the Starship Enterprise from "Star Trek" with blinking red and green lights. It is Hallmark's most successful Christmas ornament since it launched the Hallmark Keepsake Magic Christmas Ornaments line in 1973.At a time when it seems like nothing is selling, there doesn't seem to be a store anywhere where the Starship hasn't sold out."This is the most demand we have ever had for a single ornament," said Betsy Helgager, spokeswoman for Hallmark cards.

NEW YORK -- Set Trekkies on stunned. Boldly going where no auction house has gone before, Christie's announced last week that it will sell more than 4,000 official pieces of Star Trek memorabilia. The Oct. 5-7 auction will take place on the 40th anniversary of the debut of the seminal science fiction television show, which spun off five series and 10 movies. When informed of the auction a month ago by the head auctioneer at Christie's, "I started laughing. I don't know what other reaction makes sense," said Leonard Nimoy, who immortalized the role of Mr. Spock in the original series.

The new Star Trek arouses an instant affection that sometimes rises to ecstasy and never entirely wears out. Without any old-fogy nostalgia and with an impudent, non-obnoxious wit, it will win hordes of new admirers, while reminding the venerable franchise's followers why they became fans in the first place. With crackling fresh actors moving into the wittily revamped roles of James T. Kirk, Spock, Uhura, Bones, Sulu, Chekov and Scotty, the movie recaptures the team spirit that helped make the series memorable as much as its sci-fi inspirations or social-political parables.

No franchise has gone through a more severe stress test than Star Trek does this weekend. Hollywood studios have reinvented many a TV or movie franchise, but never one with a continuous four-decade history and a body of lore as loaded with characters, incidents, parables and interpretations as the Old and New Testaments. At the same time, few movie or TV series with a solid fan base have been in as much need of new blood and rethinking. This Star Trek movie is actually Star Trek XI. Does anyone remember the name of St ar Trek X?