Series Finale.Running Time: 1 hours 32 minutes 33 secondsFor the past three and a half years, Mike, John and Max haveexamined the work of Star Trek creators outside of Star Trek. Fromthe series creator Gene Roddenberry to the director of StarTrek Beyond, Justin Lin, we have covered television shows,films, novels, and more from writers, directors an…

Lin, Part 8: Recap.Running Time: 1 hour 3 minutes 21 secondsThroughout the course of Commentary: Trek Stars, we havecovered thirty eight different people who have helped to createStar Trek. We began with the very first Star Trek creator, GeneRoddenberry, and we end with the current leader of the franchise,Justin Lin.In our penultimate episode, Mike…

Lin, Part 7: Furious 6.Running Time: 1 hour 21 minutes 34 secondsIn 2013, Justin Lin directed his fourth and final installment ofthe Fast & Furious franchise, Furious 6. Thefilm continues the franchise's trend of creating movies that arebigger and better than what has come before. This time around, thecrew needs to stop an international criminal wh…

Lin, Part 6: Fast Five.Running Time: 59 minutes 33 secondsAfter reinvigorating the franchise with Fast &Furious, Star Trek Beyond director JustinLin returned to helm the fifth film in the series, FastFive. This installment acted as a reunion of sorts, as seriesregulars Vin Diesel and Paul Walker were joined by stars of theprevious films, including …

Lin, Part 5: Fast &Furious. Running Time: 1 hour 9 minutes 17seconds In 2009, Justin Lin returned to whatwould become his marquee franchise with Fast &Furious. The fourth film in the series was a return to basics,featuring a reunion of the original cast, including both PaulWalker and Vin Diesel, in an effort to revitalize thefranchise. In this epis…

Lin, Part 4: Finishing theGame. Running Time: 48 minutes 22seconds After two consecutive Hollywoodblockbuster, Justin Lin returned to the world of independentfilmmaking with Finishing the Game. The film isunlike any other in Lin's filmography, a "mockumentary" aboutfinding an actor to replace Bruce Lee in his finalmovie, The Game of Death. In this …

Lin, Part 3: The Fast andthe Furious: Tokyo Drift. Running Time: 1 hour 24seconds Less than five months after therelease of Annapolis, Justin Lin was handed the keysto the Fast and the Furious franchise. His first of fourconsecutive sequels was The Fast and the Furious: TokyoDrift. The film offers and interesting take on the franchise,expanding the…

Lin, Part 2:Annapolis. Running Time: 1 hour 27seconds After the success of BetterLuck Tomorrow, Justin Lin was given the opportunity to work onbig studio productions with substantially larger budgets. The firstof these was Annapolis in 2006. The film, starringJames Franco, Tyrese Gibson and Jordan Brewster, looks at a cadet'sfirst year at the U.S. …

Lin, Part 1: Better LuckTomorrow. Running Time: 1 hour 29 minutes 57seconds Over the course of its history, manyartists have left their mark on the Star Trek franchise. Back in1966, Gene Roddenberry was the first. 50 years later, Star Trek isin the hands of The Fast and the Furious director, JustinLin. In this episode of Commentary:Trek Stars, John…

Abrams II, Part 7:Recap. Running Time: 51 minutes 50seconds J.J. Abrams may not be returning asthe director of Star Trek Beyond, but that should notsuggest that his presence will not be felt as a producer. What dohis past producing efforts suggest about his contribution to theupcoming movie? In this episodeof Commentary: Trek Stars, Mike and John r…

Abrams II, Part 7: Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation. Running Time: 1 hour 19 minutes 54 seconds After the unexpected success of Brad Bird's Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, Bad Robot and J.J. Abrams were asked to return to produce a third installment of the Tom Cruise franchise. This time, Oscar-winning filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie was hi…

Abrams II, Part 6: Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol. Running Time: 1 hour 10 minutes 10 seconds Happy with the results of Mission: Impossible III, Tom Cruise and Paramount chose to continue their collaboration with J.J. Abrams and Bad Robot for the fourth film in the franchise, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol. While Abrams would not direct…

Abrams II, Part 5: Morning Glory. Running Time: 47 minutes 35 seconds After a successful reboot of the Star Trek franchise in 2009, J.J. Abrams put his producer hat back on the following year for Roger Michell's Morning Glory. The film stars Rachel McAdams as the producer of a daily morning news/talk show. In an effort to boost ratings, she hires a…

Abrams II, Part 4: Cloverfield. Running Time: 1 hour 9 minutes 6 seconds After successfully launching his directing career with Mission: Impossible III, J.J. Abrams' name had become a brand. The first movie to be heavily marketed as a "J.J. Abrams Production" was Matt Reeves' Cloverfield. Cloverfield, is a giant monster film in the vein of Godzilla…

Abrams II, Part 3. Running Time: 52 minutes 46 seconds In 2001, the first Bad Robot production was released. Joy Ride tells the story of two brothers on a cross-country road trip who prank the wrong truck driver, with deadly results. The film stars Paul Walker, Steve Zahn and Leelee Sobieski. It was directed by John Dahl and co-written and co-produ…

Abrams II, Part 2: The Suburbans. Running Time: 54 minutes 21 seconds In 1999, J.J. Abrams produced his second feature film, The Suburbans. The movie, directed by Donal Lardner Ward, looks at a one-hit wonder from the 80s which is attempting to stage a comeback in the 90s. The cast features Ward, Abrams favorite Tony Guma (who co-wrote the script w…

Abrams II, Part 1: The Pallbearer. Running Time: 48 minutes 14 seconds As the trailer proudly states, Star Trek Beyond is produced by J.J. Abrams. We all know that Abrams directed the last two Star Trek films, and we all know that he is not directing this one. So what does it mean when we see that Abrams is producing the new movie? We try to answer…

Doug Jung: Confidence. Running Time: 46 minutes 9 seconds Much has been made of Simon Pegg's contribution to the screenplay for Star Trek Beyond. So much so, that people tend to forget that Pegg has a partner on the project, co-writer Doug Jung. In this episode of Commentary: Trek Stars, Mike and John take a look at Jung's first movie, Confidence. …

Abrams, Part 5: Star Wars: Episode VII--The Force Awakens Running Time: 1 hour 27 minutes 5 seconds Many have criticized J.J. Abrams for turning Star Trek into Star Wars with his 2009 film. But what happens when Abrams make a Star Wars movie for real? In this episode of Commentary: Trek Stars, John and Mike add a postscript to their series on J.J. …

Pegg, Part 7: Recap. Running Time: 1 hour 4 minutes 52 seconds Over the course of the last decade, Simon Pegg has come to prove himself not only as a fine, but also as one of the best writers in the movie business. This week on Commentary: Trek Stars, Mike and John take a look at each of the five films which Pegg has co-written, including Shaun of …

Pegg, Part 6: The World's End Running Time: 43 minutes 4 seconds Six years after the release of Hot Fuzz, Simon Pegg finally reteamed with Edgar Wright on the screenplay for the final film in the Cornetto Trilogy, The World's End. In this episode of Commentary: Trek Stars, John and Mike take a look at the film, which is last script to be penned by …

Pegg, Part 5: Paul. Running Time: 47 minutes 13 seconds In 2011, Simon Pegg teamed with his on-screen partner, Nick Frost, to write his fourth screenplay, Paul. The film, directed by Greg Mottola, stars Pegg and Frost as two British sci-fi geeks who take a road trip across America to visit UFO hotspots. Along the way, they meet Paul, an alien playe…

Pegg, Part 4: Run Fatboy Run. Running Time: 56 minutes 33 seconds After the success of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, Simon Pegg became a sought-after commodity for both his acting and writing. David Schwimmer's Run Fatboy Run featured both of those talents. In this episode of Commentary: Trek Stars, John and Mike take a look at Pegg's third scree…

Pegg, Part 3: Hot Fuzz. Running Time: 39 minutes 56 seconds In 2007, Simon Pegg re-teamed with Edgar Wright to create the second film in the Cornetto Trilogy, Hot Fuzz. Much like its predecessor, Shaun of the Dead, is to Zombie movies, Hot Fuzz is an homage to Cop movies, in all their forms. In this episode of Commentary: Trek Stars, Mike and John …

Pegg, Part 2: Shaun of the Dead. Running Time: 52 minutes 25 seconds In 2004, the movie world was formally introduced to Simon Pegg. Not only did star as the title character in Edgar Wright's beloved film, Shaun of the Dead, he also co-wrote the screenplay. In this episode of Commentary: Trek Stars, John and Mike examine the first picture in the Co…

Pegg, Part 1: Trek. Over the past few days, many of us here at Trek.fm have been discussing the news of a new Star Trek TV series, coming in January of 2017. But who is it that's making this show? In the final season premiere of Commentary: Trek Stars, Mike and John discuss the series, specifically looking at executive producer Alex Kurtzman and hi…

Eric A. Stillwell. Every fan has dreamed of working on Star Trek. Few have made that a reality. Eric A. Stillwell is one of those few. In the sixth season finale of Commentary: Trek Stars, John and Mike are joined by Eric to look at his career working in Star Trek. We discuss how he got a job as a production assistant on The Next Generation, the wo…

Bloch & Stefano, Part 4: Psycho Comparison. You never know what might happen while recording a podcast. Your cat might run by and rip setup and rip your external hard drive out of your laptop. You might crack a tooth on a Nutri-Grain Bar. Or you might have to drive across town to purchase Star Wars tickets. If you're lucky, you will capture the une…

Bloch & Stefano, Part 2: Psycho (Film). One year after the release of Robert Bloch's novel, Alfred Hitchcock adapted Psycho for the big screen. To complete this task, he enlisted the help of Joseph Stefano to write the screenplay. The result is one of the best movies ever made. In this episode Commentaty: Trek Stars, John and Mike take a look at St…

Bloch & Stefano, Part 2: Psycho (Novel). Everyone thinks of Psycho as a film by Alfred Hitchcock. But in fact, the story originated as a novel by future Star Trek writer, Robert Bloch. The book tells the story of a man who runs a secluded motel, and his relationship with his very controlling, and sometimes murderous, mother. In this episode of Comm…

Bloch & Stefano, Part 1: Trek. In 1959, Robert Bloch wrote his most famous novel, Psycho. One year later, Joseph Stefano adapted that novel into a screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock. The rest is history. Years later, both Bloch and Stefano would go on to write for Star Trek. In this episode of Commentary: Trek Stars, Mike and John are joined by Grace …

Piller, Part 5: Recap. Michael Piller was a master of many things. But one particular area in which he excelled was as a writer of pilots. In this episode of Commentary: Trek Stars, John and Mike recap their look at Michael Piller's pilots. We discuss the first episodes of all five of his creations, including Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: …

Piller, Part 4: Wildfire. Michael Piller may be known best for his science fiction work, but that by no means was the extent of his talent. His final television series, Wildfire, is about an eighteen year-old girl who is released from juvenile detention to work on a horse ranch. In this episode of Commentary: Trek Stars, Mike and John are joined on…

Piller, Part 3: The Dead Zone. In 2002, Michael Piller created his fourth television series, The Dead Zone. The show, which starred Anthony Michael Hall and Nicole de Boer, was adapted from Stephen King's novel about a man who develops the ability to see events in the future. In this episode of Commentary: Trek Stars, John and Mike are joined by Th…

Piller, Part 2: Legend. A mere three months after creating the show which launched the network, UPN debuted Michael Piller's third television show, Legend. The series featured Richard Dean Anderson as a writer in the Old West whose fictional hero comes to life with the help of an inventor played by John de Lancie. In this episode of Commentary: Tre…

Piller, Part 1: Trek Few people have had a greater impact on the history of Star Trek than Michael Piller. In addition to turning The Next Generation around in Season 3, Piller also created both Deep Space Nine and Voyager. In this episode of Commentary: Trek Stars, John and Mike are joined by Larry Nemecek, author of The Star Trek: The Next Genera…

Goldsmith, Part 2: The Omen. In 1978, Jerry Goldsmith won the only Oscar of his career for composing the score to Richard Donner's The Omen. The film stars Gregory Peck as a man whose secretly adopted son is the child of Satan. Spoilers: They all live happily ever after. In this episode of Commentary: Trek Stars, Mike is joined by Marcelo from The …

Goldsmith, Part 1: Trek. When Star Trek made the jump to the big screen in 1979, it was important to the filmmakers that Star Trek: The Motion Picture was not just a big episode of the television show. It had to be a MOVIE. In order to reinforce this concept, Oscar winner Jerry Goldsmith was hired to compose the film's music. In this episode of Com…

Horner, Part 2: Titanic. In 1997, James Cameron's Titanic was the king of the world. It shattered box office records and won eleven Oscars, including Best Picture. Two of those Oscars went to James Horner for his work on both the score and the song "My Heart Will Go On". In this episode of Commentary: Trek Stars, Mike and John take a look at what i…

Horner, Part 1: Trek. In an attempt to differentiate from Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and perhaps save a little money at the same time, the producers of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan hired a new composer. James Horner was a young talent just starting to make his name in the business. No one knew that he would go on to win two Oscars, leaving h…

Hurley, Part 4: Recap. Very few people have had a chance to talk to Maurice Hurley about his time on Star Trek: The Next Generation. One of them is Ben Robinson, the project manager for Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection. In this episode of Commentary: Trek Stars, Mike and John are joined by Ben to take a closer look at Hurley's work on S…

Hurley, Part 3: Groom Lake. In 2002, Maurice Hurley teamed with director William Shatner to write the alien encounter movie, Groom Lake. The picture is about a dying woman, played by Amy Acker, who travels to an area famous for UFO sightings in an attempt to assure herself that there is more to the universe than life on Earth. In this episode of Co…

Hurley, Part 2: The Proposal. In this episode of Commentary: Trek Stars, Mike and John look at our first Maurice Hurley film, The Proposal. Directed by Richard Gale, the film stars Nick Moran and Jennifer Esposito as two cops who must pose undercover as husband and wife. We discuss the budgetary restrictions, the quality of the other filmmaking ele…

Hurley, Part 1: Trek. Of all the contributors to Star Trek: The Next Generation's creation, none are as overlooked as Maurice Hurley. The writer and co-executive producer served and showrunner for the first two seasons of the series, helping to shape it into the show we know and love. And along the way, he also created the Borg. In this episode of …

Lindelof, Part 7: Tomorrowland. Some movies are based on books. Others, on comics. One or two (or twelve) draw their inspiration from television shows. And every so often, there's a movie adaption of a theme park. In this episode of Commentary: Trek Stars, Mike and John are joined by Darren of Earl Grey to discuss Tomorrowland, the new film co-writ…

Bennett, Part 6: Recap. Harve Bennett's career as a television series creator spanned 30 years, from 1968 to 1998. In this episode of Commentary: Trek Stars, John and Mike recap our look at five of Bennett's shows, including The Mod Squad, The Invisible Man, Time Trax, and Invasion America. We also discuss a George Takei movie we never knew existed…

Bennett, Part 5: Invasion America. Thirty years after the premiere of his first television series, Harve Bennett's last television series was released. Invasion America was a primetime animated series about a high school boy who finds himself in the middle of an intergalactic civil war. In this episode of Commentary: Trek Stars, Mike and John take …

Bennett, Part 4: Time Trax. In the 1980s, Harve Bennett jumped to the big screen to write and produce Star Trek. After his run had ended, Bennett returned to television to create a new science fiction series, Time Trax. The show is about a police officer from the year 2193 who travels back in time to 1993 in an effort to catch future criminals hidi…

Bennett, Part 3: The Invisible Man. In 1975, Harve Bennett teamed with another future television legend, Steven Bochco, to create his second television show, The Invisible Man. Based on the book by H.G. Wells, the series was a modern retelling of the sci-fi classic, about a scientist who accidentally turns himself invisible. In this episode of Comm…

Bennett, Part 2: The Mod Squad. As Star Trek was entering its final season in 1968, another soon-to-be iconic series was just beginning. The Mod Squad, creator Harve Bennett's first television series, told the story of three young undercover police officers who were used to infiltrate criminal activity in an ever-changing world. In this episode of …