This episode of Priority One is brought to you by Eaglemoss Hero Collector’s annual SUMMER OF TREK Sweepstakes. Score the year’s best deals on the world’s widest range of Star Trek collectibles and enter for a chance to win one of more than 250 incredible prizes – including the Grand Prize of an Ocean View Voyage for 2 aboard the SOLD OUT Star Trek: The Cruise V. For details and to enter, go to www.GetYourTrekOn.com This week on Episode 519 of Priority One: Kurtzman and Trek, Gene Roddenberry’s archive goes into an NFT digital world, and plenty of new Star Trek related products to add to your wishlist. In Gaming: rock out with your targ out when Mary Chieffo goes metal for Star Trek Online, and Modiphius has new goodies to add to your tabletop Star Trek Adventures! TREK IT OUT Edited by Thomas Reynolds Kurtzman’s Next 5-Year Mission By Elio Lleo Since we’ve been gone, quite a lot has happened. Although we’d love to cover it all, we’ll have to narrow it down to the news that we think matters most—starting Alex Kurtzman’s new 5-year/$160 million contract with Paramount+ to develop not only Star Trek, but other projects as well. The New York Times’s Nicole Sperling published an article on August 1, 2021, featuring interviews with Kurtzman and other major players involved. The article explores Kurtzman’s past, present, and future projects for the studio and the hopes he has for the franchise. Something particularly interesting though, was the announcement that a “Starfleet Academy” series is in the works which “will be aimed at a younger audience.” Also, according to Sperling: Mr. Kurtzman, who wants to get much weirder with the franchise… points to a pitch from Graham Wagner (Portlandia, Silicon Valley), centered on the character Worf, that he calls “incredibly funny, poignant and touching. If it were up to me only, I would be pushing the boundaries much further than I think most people would want,” he said. “I think we might get there. Marvel has actually proven that you can. But you have to build a certain foundation in order to get there and we’re still building our foundation.” Becoming Props of Pure Energy By Cat Hough Announced at Las Vegas, Gene Roddenberry’s personal archives are being comprehensively digitized on an unprecedented scale, with plans to do some fancy sci-fi things with the material. The joint effort between the Roddenberry estate, OTOY, and Light Field Lab, hopes to preserve thousands of photos, documents, and physical assets like starship models in extreme digital detail, preserving it for future study and recreation. https://youtu.be/0bDuT-4cFyg The Roddenberry Archives will use OTOY’s blockchain-based computer rendering network to extensively digitize the Roddenberry estate’s collection from the producer’s work on the Star Trek franchise. Long time Trek writers Denise and Michael Okuda, artist Mike “Beeple” Winklemann, and comics legend Alex Ross are also contributing to the project. Beyond the historical importance of maintaining the extensive archives, OTOY intends to leverage the assets for fan experiences. The company will work with display startup Light Field Lab to recreate a 1:1 scale holographic replica of the U.S.S. Enterprise as seen in the original series. It claims to be able to use the original models seen in filming the series to create a projected replica “indistinguishable from reality” for “one of the world’s first fully immersive holographic installation experiences.” What is this, a starship for ants??? Image: OTOY. Rod Roddenberry had this to say: “I cannot think of a more capable and innovative company to trust with these materials. OTOY’s work will allow generations to experience my father’s contribution to humanity with the greatest histori…
