If you haven’t seen Star Trek yet then you probably won’t want to read this because despite the introduction promising otherwise there are plenty of spoilers.  However if you have seen Star Trek then you might find this article interesting.

Philip Plait, an author and astronomer who runs the Bad Astronomy Blog, has compiled a list of scenes from Star Trek and applied his own knowledge of science to discuss whether or not the scene was depicted realistically – or not.

It’s incredibly long, and quite detailed, and honestly we can’t understand why anyone would bother.  But he has so it’s only fair we bother to post about it.  Here’s his introduction, after which you’ll find a link to his detailed assessment.

OK, here’s the deal: I’m a big Trek fan. I watched the original series as a kid and saw the reruns a bazillion times. I loved the movies, and was thrilled when TNG was on the air. And while I lost it for a while with DS9 and Voyager (and with the exception of the finale, the last season of Enterprise was pretty good, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise), I am still a fan.

I was ready to be disappointed with this revision of Trek. But I wasn’t. I loved it. I was very unsure if this would resemble the Star Trek I grew up with, and incredibly, J. J. Abrams, without being a fan, was able to take what made the show Trek — it’s heart, if you will — and bring it up-to-date.

But I am here to review the science of the movie. I won’t worry about warp drive, transporter tech, or time travel; I’ll concentrate on the real stuff. And never fear: I am not going to reveal the overall plot here. I avoided as many spoilers as I could before watching it, and I’m glad I did. It really made the movie more exciting and fun to watch.

But I do have to do what I do, so do it I will. While I won’t reveal the plot, I have to reveal some details to write a review.

Visit Bad Astronomy to read it in full and out of interest, be sure to read all the follow up comments – they are just as ‘insightful’ as the review itself.

A few different figures emerged at the end of the weekend for how well Star Trek did at the box office.  Yesterday we reported that the film nabbed $72.5M in the US and $148M worldwide in an effort that broke quite a few records.  Now it seems the movie brought in a little more than first thought in the US, and a lot less worldwide.

Variety reports that Star Trek earned $79.2M at the US box office from its 3½ day opening and only $35.5M in foreign markets.  The change effectively brings the films total box office revenue to $115M.

The top foreign markets for Star Trek’s debut were the U.K. with $8.8 million, Germany with $4.6 million, Australia with $3.4 million, France with $2.8 million, Russia with $2.3 million, South Korea with $2.2 million and Spain with $1.6 million.

All of the records we previously reported that were broken won’t change, with the exception that the total for the biggest box office ever for a second weekend in May will now rise to $79.2M.

The earnings were devoid of income from the Mexican box office which is typically in the top 3-10 worldwide markets.  Star Trek’s release there (scheduled for last week) was delayed due to the swine flu panic.  Paramount have now announced Star Trek will premiere in Mexico on June 5.

Watch the following funny skit by the stars of Star Trek – Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Leonard Nimoy.

Zoe Saldana as Nyota Uhura in 'Star Trek'

Star Trek entered the history books over the weekend by raking in the biggest box office total ever for a second weekend in May.

Compared to this time last year Star Trek raised the box office by a whopping 18 percent.

J.J. Abrams’ new take on the long running franchise pulled in $72.5M in the US and $75.5M overseas to break $148M in worldwide box office takings, making the new film the biggest Star Trek release of all time.

The film also won the “most-attended start ever” for a movie debuting in the second weekend of May, a record previously held by Twister.

Included in the figures were 138 IMAX venues which drew $8.3 million, breaking the record for the biggest-grossing weekend ever in IMAX history.

From just one weekend Star Trek launched into the top 20 earners of 2009. It now sits at no.19.

It remains to be seen if Star Trek can catch the years leader, Monsters Vs Aliens which currently boasts $329.9M in worldwide takings.  Monsters Vs Aliens is followed by Fast and Furious ($322.7M), Taken ($220.4M), X-Men Origins: Wolverine ($209.3M) and Watchmen ($182.1M).

Source: Box Office Mojo

Leonard Nimoy as 'William Bell' in Fringe

Here’s an excellent interview by Collider with Leonard Nimoy. Nimoy talks about the premiere of Star Trek in Texas, what he had to think about to reprise the role of Spock and about his latest role as William Bell in Fringe.

Catch Leonard Nimoy’s first appearance in Fringe this Tuesday May 12 at (9:01-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX and (FR-120) (TV-14 V).

Star Trek raked in approximately $7M at the US box office on Thursday night and $24M on Friday giving J.J. Abrams’ new masterpiece an official ticket tally of $31M in it’s slightly stretched opening day.

Pundits speculate the strong first day opening will translate to an opening weekend box office haul of in the US of up to $75M, making it the most popular Star Trek movie in history.  The previous film in the franchise (Star Trek: Nemesis) only managed to score $18.5M in its opening weekend and $43.3M in its entire US theatrical run.

Whilst the news was great for Paramount and J.J. Abrams it wasn’t so great for 20th Century Fox’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine which dived 76% from it’s takings a week before.  Fortunately for Wolverine it has already earned $175M worldwide, $25M more than its budget.

Star Trek’s budget is estimated to be the same as Wolverine ($150M) however unlike Wolverine Paramount doesn’t have a big-budget competitor to worry about any time soon.  In fact many pundits are speculating the film’s positive word of mouth will attract viewers over the coming weeks who wouldn’t typically head to the theater to see a Trek movie.

Source: THR

Another TV spot for Star Trek in which the critical acclaim J.J. Abrams’ new film has received is featured.

Whilst we wait eagerly to find out if Gandalf can best Darth Vader in Milo Ventimigilia’s Ultradome, here’s a glimpse at a cool fan-made versus between Star Wars and Star Trek. It’s the age old argument of who would win – the Death Star or the USS Enterprise. It appears creator M Horn humorously has the answer.

If you’ve seen the documentary Trekkies 2 then you’re probably already familiar with Tony Alleyne and his interior design company 24th Century Interior Design.  If not, then you’ll appreciate this article.

The images shown are not from a Star Trek set – they are an actual flat in Hinckley, Leicestershire, England.  The flat is the product of years of love and labor by Tony Alleyne who, after his wife left him, set about turning his bachelor pad into a real life version of the Starfleet ship Voyager.

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Paramount have released a new set of behind the scenes stills of J.J. Abrams at work with the cast on the set of Star Trek.

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