Hot Nerd Girl

Tag: rod roddenberry

  • “Ask a Roddenberry” – Interview with Rod Roddenberry

    Every time I see Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry I become a bigger fan of him. He’s genuinely friendly and very easy to talk to.

    This interview was conducted on Saturday at San Diego Comic Con, hence my Thor costume, crazy makeup and obvious lack of sleep. I got back from my Grandma’s funeral a day and a half before SDCC so I only had about 24 hours to prepare for this interview. Despite the notes on my lap, it felt more like a conversation than an interview which I think was welcome to both of us – it was to me! But such is the personality of Rod. I never once felt nervous, though having met him before was most likely the reason for that.

    In the interview we talk about scuba diving, The Roddenberry Foundation, an amazing new media project called White Room: 02B3, the X Prize and devices such as Medical Tricorders and Universal Translators becoming a reality, and, of course, Star Trek. He also reveals a new Star Trek blog called “Mission Log” hosted by John Champion (DVD Geeks) and Ken Ray (Mac OS). I asked many of your questions so thank you for submitting them!

    We ended up using the whole interview, nothing was edited out so the footage is all raw all the time.

    Hope you enjoy it!

    [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7js4WltWHR0]

    –

    For more information on anything and everything Roddenberry, check out Roddenberry.com.

    Some more pics from the interview…

    Thanks to my friends Darcy for filming and Eddy for taking the still shots. And a huge thanks to Rod, Trevor, Chance and everyone in the Roddenberry camp for being so welcoming to me yet again!

  • San Diego Comic Con, Part 1 – The Panels

    Hot Nerd Girl and Geek Outlaw at it again

    I promised detailed blogs about Comic Con and by golly, I aim to keep that promise. There’s just one problem. There’s waaaay too much for just one post. I tried. I’ve gone through approx. 1000 pictures (no joke) and narrowed them down to the best of the best and even then I was left with so many that I had to break it up.  So I’m splitting SDCC into 3 (or 4) blogs.  The first of which is the panels.

    FRIDAY (Community, Legend of Korra, Firefly):

    I’ve been to many conventions but this was my first time at the mothership aka Comic Con and boy, did I learn a lot about what to do/not to do (but that’s a whole ‘nuther post). I thought that because I live in San Diego County I could sleep at home and drive to SDCC each day.

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

    I’m ridiculous.

    Parking is a bitch so what you end up having to do is drive to a trolley station and take the trolley the rest of the way. They helpfully provide CC-specific trolleys to make it easy for you. One problem, the first one gets you to the Convention Center just after 7:00am. Waaaay too late if you want to get in line for one of the big panels *cough cough Firefly cough cough*

    Daniel to the rescue!

    Lucky for me and Geek Outlaw, our mutual fan (and now fave friend) Daniel, had planned to camp out and saved a spot for us in the Ballroom 20 line. I felt guilty about cutting in line for exactly 3 minutes at which point I saw everyone else doing the exact same thing and got over it.

    I’m not gonna lie, I was there for Firefly and Firefly alone. But you have to sit on all of the panels before Firefly in order to have a seat for Firefly (they seriously need to figure out a better system) so I ended up sitting through the panels fro Community and Legend of Korra as well.

    I wasn’t the only one.

    The first panel of the day was Community. I find Community highly entertaining so I was more than happy to sit in on their panel. They did not disappoint. The cast and crew were hilarious and the film clips they put together for Comic Con were chock full of funny shenanigans. Chevy Chase and Donald Glover were noticeably absent. Which is too bad because LeVar Burton was there and they could have had an epic Troy/LeVar moment.

    Cast and Crew of Community

    The second panel of the day was Legend of Korra (I’d like to know who they had to bang to get the lucky spot between Community and Firefly). This panel was like Chinese water torture for my sister-in-law. She looked like she was either going to explode or throw up. Maybe both. Simultaneously. I had an advantage because I’ve seen a bit of Avatar: The Last Airbender. So I actually enjoyed the panel. It was notable in that I recognized two of the voice actors. Bud (David Faustino) from Married with Children and Janet Varney from The Selling (which I reviewed a while back because it’s directed/produced/starring our mutual friends from SFSU). It was also fun because they recorded the audience doing crowd voice work for a future episode. I’ll admit, it got me intrigued about checking out an episode or two of the cartoon. For those who are Korra fans, they did a preview of an upcoming episode by reading the script live while showing concept sketches of the episode. They also showed off future costume and character designs.

    The cast and crew of The Legend of Korra Hey! It’s the chick from Falling Skies!

    Then came the panel we were there for, the 10 year Firefly reunion. It was epic. Truly epic. I felt like I was a part of history. The sheer volume of love being poured forth was incredibly intense. The actors and Joss all cried at some point. Most of the audience cried at some point. My mom cried through 90% of it. It was magical. I took video of parts of it but then I found this full length video and thought you would appreciate it more.

    [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V85olh2aZ34]

    –

    Nathan Fillion was so overwhelmed that he totally missed a question that was directed at him and his costars had to answer for him.  They all said that Firefly was the best job they’d ever had. At one point they all blamed Summer Glau for something (which you’ll find hilarious if you’ve watched the extras on the DVD) and the look on her face was priceless. Gina Torres, Jewel Staite, Morena Baccarin, and Ron Glass were missing and their absence was felt deeply by everyone in the room. The most touching moment in an hour chock full of touching moments was when the last question was asked of Joss Whedon –  “what do the fans mean to you?”

    [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXiS0gV8cic]

    –

    It was the most beautiful “thank you” I’ve ever witnessed and I feel truly honored to have been there for it.

    Tid bit excited!

    SATURDAY (Spotlight on J. Michael Straczynski, Roddenberry Presents):

    Saturday was the day I cosplayed as Thor. Which was awesome but awful at the same time. It was my first time cosplaying at a convention and I underestimated the amount of time it would take to get ready. As a result I got to Comic Con about…ohhhhh….5 hours later than I’d intended and missed a bunch of the morning panels I’d wanted to check out. I’m a little jealous that Geek Outlaw got to sit it on the Powerful Women, Simpsons, Futurama, Once Upon a Time, and Peter Cullen panels but meh, what are you gonna do?

    (Be sure to check out Geek Outlaw’s blog if you want to get the dish on those panels I just mentioned!)

    No matter, I had something uber awesome to look forward to. I was scheduled to interview Rod Roddenberry after his 3:00pm panel.

    As a result I caught the Joe Straczynski panel right beforehand. The best part of that panel? One guy complained that a Joe comic had kept him up on a school night so Joe reached into his wallet and gave the guy a $20 refund.  It was quite hilarious.

    The Roddenberry panel was a whole ‘nuther level of awesomesauce but I’m saving all of the Roddenberry stuff for its own post later this week. So stay tuned for that!

    SUNDAY (Fringe, Supernatural, Doctor Who):

    I was supposed to cosplay on Sunday as well but my experience on Saturday convinced me that it was a terrible idea so I reverted back to an HNG t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. Comfort and timeliness will always, always win out for me. I am nothing if not practical.

    Morgan to the rescue!

    The one panel that I was determined to see was Doctor Who. I lurv me some Doctor. Again, thanks to the trolley schedule, we were pretty much screwed but miraculously, another HNG/GO fan came to our rescue. Morgan camped out and let us join him in line for Hall H. Seriously. Best. Fans. Ever. I’ve promised myself that I will plan this better and do my own camping out next year.

    Immediately upon walking into Hall H we were handed Fringe fedoras a la The Observers  (fun fact, while I was in New York I saw Evita on Broadway starring Michael Cerveris as Peron and he was AH-mazing)

    Fringe was the first panel of the day and after mentioning their brushes with cancellation, there was a very lovely moment when at least half the audience held up pictures of white tulips. I’ll admit that I got a little verklempt.

    Despite the best efforts of the audience (and some teasing from Joshua Jackson), the Fringe cast and crew revealed no secrets about the upcoming final season.

    It was kind of a kick to see the actors smile and laugh. There was one especially funny moment when Anna Torv said she “was coming…” and then paused in her sentence. The audience started laughing.

    Then Joshua Jackson got it and started laughing.

    Then the rest of the cast got it and started laughing.

    Then Anna got it and was completely mortified.

    It then became a running joke throughout the rest of the panel. I feel for you Anna, that is totally something that would happen to me. The mood quickly shifted when the cast were asked what their favorite scene was that they were not in. Cue the waterworks! Anna Torv,  Jasika Nicole, and Lance Reddick all teared up when describing memorable and beautiful scenes from the show.

    And then shifted back again just as quickly when the best audience questioners ever took the floor. I can’t even remember what their question was, I was too busy laughing at their deadpan Observer impression. Seriously, they never broke character once and the girl in the back right had the most amazingly creepy buggy-eyed thing going on..

    It was an all around awesome panel and made me want to run home and catch up on my Fringe episodes on Netflix.

    Next up was Supernatural, a show I’ve never had time to get into. Seriously, I wish that I didn’t have to sleep, I would be more than happy to fill 100% of my time watching every awesomely nerdy show there is. I have some friends that are obsessed with this show and have been trying to get me to watch it for years. They were very jealous that I got to see this panel. The running joke here was that “anything is possible” was used to answer at least half of the questions they were asked.

    I may not know much about the show but I do know about Mark Sheppard and I was SUPER excited to see him. I’m pretty sure that he’s contractually obligated to only appear in TV shows/movies that are nerd-worthy.

    I never really thought that Jared Padalecki was that cute but I must admit, he’s pretty damn good-looking in real life. He and Jensen Ackles win major brownie points for their gag reel antics.

    Then came the panel that I was really there for, Doctor Who. Or should I say “Doctor WHOOO???” Seeing these people in real life is kind of a surreal experience. I usually only get star struck by Star Trek actors but I was totally star struck by these guys. I literally sat on the edge on my seat the entire time. And that’s only partly because the girl in front of me was so tall she most likely plays in the WNBA.

    First of all, let me just say how incredibly gorgeous Karen Gillan is. Seriously. I didn’t think she could get any prettier than she is on TV but she can! I’ve seen it with my own two eyes! Just stunning.

    The moderator of the panel was one of my nerd crushes, Chris Hardwick (not Wil Wheaton as some mistakenly believed) and he was nerding out just as much as the rest of us. He even brought his sonic screwdriver.  There was a bit of good-natured ribbing between him and Matt Smith. Apparently they ran into each other the night before at a party and this happened:

    Oops! Chris blamed it on his pointy face.

    The best audience question came from a little girl dressed up as a Dalek. She wanted to know what button, screen or object on the TARDIS was their favorite. The cast took this question very seriously and even admitted to stealing a few of their favorites (a pair of binoculars for Karen). Matt’s favorite is the main lever he yanks all the time. The little girl walked away but Matt Smith called her back and asked her if she had a favorite button, screen or object on the TARDIS. She looked at him very pointedly, said “NO” and walked away again. The whole room was laughing so hard I think we all peed ourselves a little.

    They were also asked what they find annoying about each other. Matt said that Karen picks her lip, Karen said that Matt shakes his head and they both agreed that Arthur Darvill goes into “dad mode.”

    Having seen the Firefly and Doctor Who panels, I can now die a happy nerd.

    Stay tuned for more posts about Comic Con 2012 including the Roddenberry interview I mentioned and all of the awesome costumes!

  • Trek Nation and the Next Generation of Greatness

    Rod Roddenberry and Trevor Roth of Roddenberry Productions

    About 10 days ago I got an email asking me if I was interested in joining Rod Roddenberry at a private viewing of his documentary Trek Nation being held for his friends and a few fans.

    Uh…does the Enterprise have warp nacelles??

    It was not a difficult decision 😉

    Rod and his peeps were kind enough to let me bring two guests so I grabbed my Mom and my friend Darcy. The screening was at a sports bar, the irony and hilarity of which did not escape us.  But seeing as I’m one of those weirdo chicks that like sci-fi AND sports, it was kind of perfect for me (Go Chargers!) 

    *sigh* …… jocks….

    Rod, his wife and his friends were all incredibly nice.  I had so much fun chatting with them before and after the screening.  I have a copy of The Continuing Mission that I’ve been collecting signatures in for years.  I asked Rod if he would sign it and he said he would be happy to.  He then proceeded to sign it up in the corner explaining that he wanted to leave the main area open for the big signatures of the big stars.  He’s very humble and almost in awe of the role fate has given him.  Instead of exploiting it like so many other children of Hollywood, he has funneled this opportunity into his environment and science-based Roddenberry Foundation.  He’s big on scuba diving and has become passionate about protecting Earth’s oceans.  Just this past October the Roddenberry Center for Stem Cell Biology and Medicine at Gladstone was inaugurated, helping to pave the way for all of those advancements in medicine that make Star Trek such an idealic version of the future.  Y’all know I love it when people help each other.

    Rod picking out his place in the upper left corner

    I’m sure that many of you have seen Trekkies and/or its follow up Trekkies 2. If not, you should.  I am ridiculously good at poking fun at myself and I think that most of the world is far too PC so I can appreciate the comedic portrayal of the more “out there” fanatics of Star Trek.  While that is all well and good and has its place in pop culture, Trekkies is severely lacking representation of the rest of us (i.e. the people who DON’T dress up and sing folk songs as the wife of the dead astronaut in “The Royale.”)  

    Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry set out to change that, to show us Trekkies and Trekkers as the beautiful and highly intelligent individuals that we are.  A group of fans joined together by arguably the greatest science fiction franchise of all time and a man most of us have never met.  Somewhere along the line the focus changed and, while the aspect of “normal” Trekkers was still vital, it also became a documentary about Rod’s journey to discover his father, a man he hardly knew himself.

    [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6NLATn2h2g]

    –

    My Dad was away on Westpacs a lot while I was growing up so I can empathize with what it’s like to feel like you don’t know your Dad but I can’t even begin to fathom what it must be like to lose your father at age 17.  Close or not, losing a parent cannot be easy at such a vulnerable age.

    Rod was very brave in wanting to know everything about his Dad, the good, the bad and the ugly.  I mentioned some of these triumphs and tribulations in my tribute back on October 24th but Trek Nation  goes infinitely deeper.  Over the course of 10 years Rod interviewed dozens of people about Gene Roddenberry, from fans who idolize him to former co-workers who felt very bitter towards him.  The one common thread between them all was that they got it. They understood Gene Roddenberry’s vision and, in many cases, fought for it.  Watching Rod go through this whole process is touching and his humility when faced with his father’s greatness is endearing.  It’s obvious that this was a true labor of therapeutic love, not just for his parents, but for Star Trek and the fans so that we too can understand the imperfect human behind the Great Bird of the Galaxy. 

    At the screening Rod mentioned that they only used about 5% of the footage they shot (10 years worth, remember?) and I’m hoping that the DVD has much of what ended up on the cutting room floor.  I could easily watch 12 more hours of this.  The decades worth of footage and the natural shifts in focus result in a documentray that feels totally organic and never forced.  At one point in the editing process the test audiences felt that there was too much emphasis on Rod and so they shifted it back to Gene.  The sheer volume of material allowed them to tweak it to perfection.  The subject matter isn’t always pretty but it’s always pure.  One of my favorite parts of the documentary is the montages of the costumed Trekkies.  The manner in which they are filmed is simple yet stunning.  Trek Nation is ultimately a love letter to them.  

    Something tells me that Gene Roddenberry would be proud.

    If you haven’t seen Trek Nation yet, it’s airing on the Science Channel Dec 28th and 29th.

  • 7 Nerdy Things From Hot Nerd Girl’s Office

    A while back (maybe September?) I posted on the Hot Nerd Girl facebook page that I was having a hard time figuring out how to organize all of my Star Trek stuff in my office.  The fans

    a) thought it was a really great problem to have

    and

    b) demanded pictures. 

    I promised I would take some once it was all done.  I’m still searching for a few of my smaller posters but it’s done for the most part.  Just in time for Christmas and all of the relatives coming to town 🙂

    So here are the pictures I promised as well as some background on some of the items.  Sadly, about half of my collection is in storage in Idaho (had to put in somewhere when I went to college) so hopefully someday I can run up there and bring it all back down to SoCal.

    This is my whole office area aka my little slice of heaven aka where all the magic happens.  I infiltrated the area above the TV as well.  Because I could.

    Yes, I interrupted my game of God of War III for you.

    1. The Posters

    Regarding the posters: the one on the right you’ve probably seen me gushing about on the facebook page because my picture (and some of yours as well!) is part of the mosaic.  I finally got it framed and hung up which was no easy task since it had to hang over the giant monstrosity that is the entertainment center.  The Spock poster I’ve had since middle school and I literally took it with me everywhere I moved. That’s 13 moves and 13 walls it has hung on.  He’s been one of the few constant companions I’ve had and I find his presence very comforting. 

    No matter what I did I couldn't prevent the reflections on the glass. Sorry.

    2. The lifesize Worf

    I got my lifesize cardboard cut out of Worf from my step-uncle.  He used to keep it in the coat closet. When visitors would come over and hang up their coats they’d get startled by Worf and usually scream at which point my step-uncle would laugh and laugh and laugh.  It was my kind of prank.  When he retired and moved he passed Worf down to me.

    My own personal Chief of Security

    3. The Autographs

    I’ve got quite a few autographs, including several in a Star Trek: The Next Generation book.  Of these four I got three of them in person: Nichelle Nichols, Michael Dorn, and Marina Sirtis.  The Majel Barrett one I got while she was alive but was no longer appearing at conventions.  I heart her so much that I bought it anyways.  I wish I had met her.  I did meet her son, Eugene “Rod” Rodenberry Jr. at a convention in 2002.  He was a nice guy. 

    Super awesomesauce

    I came upon my World Premier of Voyager cast autographs via my cousins best friend.  She worked on the series and knew I was a big fan so she gave me her Voyager cast photo some years back (did I mention that she’s now one of my fave peeps on the planet?)  It’s kind of hidden behind my Tribbles because I have so many damn stuffed animals. 

    If you don’t know their name, just call them “Robert” and chances are you’ll be right

    4. Data and the Holograms

    My Data bust was a High School graduation present.  In the past he sat on my bookshelf with all of my Star Trek books…of which there are way more than I care to admit….but he now has a place of honor on top of the entertainment center.  I have an insane love for this bust and I’m not really sure why.  I guess I was seduced by how ridiculously awesome it is.  The picture on the left is a hologram (see below) and the picture on the right is of me, my brother and my nephew at the Star Trek Exhibition in Riverside (California, not Iowa).

     
    Spinerfems ftw!

    For my birthday a few years ago my friend Hayden took me to Star Trek: The Tour down in Long Beach and bought me a hologram picture of us being “beamed.”  I wish I had access to this technology because I would take SO MANY holographic pictures.

    Hey Scotty? How about throwing in a couple of Romulan Ales when we reach the surface? Cool?

    5. The Mousepad

    This may seem like just a mousepad BUT it actually holds a lot of significance for me.  I got it when I went away to college.  Why is that important?  Well, because I went to school in San Francisco because it’s the future location of Starfleet Academy and I wanted to be as close to Starfleet Academy as possible. And yes, I am completely serious. In addition to my university diploma, I also have a Starfleet Academy diploma and a Kobayashi Maru certificate (signed by William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy no less).  This is a prime example of why I consider myself a Nerd/Geek/Dork combo.

    Yes, I'm THAT big of a nerd.

    6. The Ships

    My Dad is a total perfectionist and I adore him for it even though it meant I couldn’t leave my homework out as a kid.  When he does something, he does it perfectly.  When we were kids he bought 3 Star Trek models and painted them.  The two smaller ones have been lost for years but the largest one, the Enterprise NCC-1701-D is alive and kicking.

    Thank God for invisible thread

     I have another NCC-1701-D that is 2 feet long but it’s one of the items up in storage.

    My Dad also gave me my Star Trek mobile.  It’s a little faded after all these years but it glows in the dark and I love it.

    If I ever have kids this is what they have to look forward to

    7. The Scripts

    I am very lucky in that I’ve been surrounded by amazing people my whole life. I also refuse to put up with a-holes so maybe that has something to do with it too.  One of the areas in which I’ve been very blessed is my parental units.  Through divorce and random circumstances I’ve ended up with six parents.  One of them is Dean Minnerly aka “Popi.” (Literally) one of the most kick ass dudes I’ve ever known.  He works in the technical side of the entertainment industry and, as a side job, was a contributing writer on The Next Generation for the first two seasons.  One of his biggest contributions?  Helping to kill off Tasha Yar.

    What’s that?  You want proof?  Ok.  Go to Netflix and turn on “Skin of Evil” (you know, the episode with the giant tar monster that kills her).  At the very beginning of the episode Tasha and Worf are talking about Yar’s upcoming martial arts competion.  Worf asks who she is competing against.  He dismisses her first competitor, saying that she will defeat him easily.  Then she mentions that she’ll be fighting Lt. Minnerly next and Worf gets worried.  That’s right folks, Dean (who is a martial artist in real life) wrote himself into the episode.

    Epic win.

    Sadly, he did all of this just before he came into my life so I never got to participate in the TNG awesomeness, but he did give me an extremely rare cast jacket, several scripts, and some HI-larious stories.

    Ok, time to go back in the safe.

    Aaaaaaand on that note, I think I’ll stop there.  There’s more I could show you but that would make for a VERY long post.  Don’t worry all you non-Trekkies, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Thor, Transformers, etc. etc. are also represented here albeit in a much smaller capacity. 

    What can I say?  I’m a good little Trekkie 🙂