Another convention first at the recent Grand Slam Convention (related story) was the appearance onstage of Roberto Orci, co-writer and executive producer of the upcoming “Star Trek” feature film. His writing partner, Alex Kurtzman, had expected to attend but had a last-minute conflict.

Kurtzman and Orci have written together since they were in high school 17 years ago; Bob said with this solo appearance, it was “nice to get a break” from his partner. Departing from the typical convention format, Orci took questions from on-stage host Anthony Pascale about the new movie and other K&O projects.

The initial impetus for the new Trek film came during the production of the K&O-penned “Mission: Impossible III” in the form of a call from a friend, Paramount production executive Marc Evans. He asked the pair if they would be interested in “rethinking what could be.” Their reply: “Yes, of course!”

Their original concept for the new movie centered around the Spock character. Leonard Nimoy had adamantly announced his retirement from acting some years before. Undeterred, and spurred on by their passion for their powerful story idea, the team visited Nimoy to pitch him the idea of the story and his proposed involvement, giving him “the hard sell.” According to Orci, Nimoy said, “I thought I was done, but...” moved by the idea and their passion, he directed them to proceed with the script, “and we’ll see what happens.” Orci speculated, “If he’d said ‘no’ I’m not sure what would have happened.”

Orci reflected on the similarities between last summer’s blockbuster “Transformers” (another K&O script) and next summer’s “Trek”, saying that they are both re-introductions of existing worlds. In both cases, care had to be taken to avoid alienating the existing fans, yet making the story complete so that even if you don’t know anything about the property you can still come into the movie and enjoy it. The goal for the new film is to introduce a new generation of fans to the Star Trek mythology.

If you’d like to hear screenwriting stories and advice from the team of Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, I highly recommend you check out their 90-minute in-depth interview in The Dialogue. You can also hear a two-minute audio excerpt at this iTunes podcast.

For more of my report on Roberto Orci’s appearance at the Grand Slam, check back on Tuesday!

Big Bang Delivers!

In an earlier column I sang the praises of the sitcom The Big Bang Theory and if you haven’t seen it, last week’s episode would be a great place to start. The teaser (the portion of the show before the opening theme plays) is rife with Star Trek references. Watch it here! Then let me know what you think at mwade@roddenberry.com.

Star Trek Remastered

The Star Trek Remastered episode this weekend is "Mudd’s Women" - production number 4, which was the sixth episode aired in the first season on October 13, 1966.

From a story by Gene Roddenberry, the teleplay was by Stephen Kandel. Harvey Hart’s direction features a number of interesting camera angles and severe close-up shots of Spock, Kirk and Mudd.

Kandel’s character of intergalactic scoundrel Harry Mudd was also featured in his teleplay for the “Mudd’s Passion” episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series. Click here for more about that episode, including a video clip.

This early episode features a too-easily smiling Spock, whom Mudd recognizes as a “Vulcanian.”

Enhanced visual effects in this episode include a new version of the pursuit of Mudd’s ship into the asteroid field, and its eventual destruction. For those of you lucky enough to have it, this episode is already available on the Season 1 Remastered DVD set.