Star Trek

It is hard to be a fully conscious member of the human race and not have at least superficial knowledge of the following phrases: "Beam us up, Scotty!" "He's dead, Jim. " "If we take another poundin' like that, I canna be responsible for the safety o' the ship!" "All hailing frequencies are open, Captain. " ". . . to boldly go where no man has gone before. " Any of it familiar? All of it? You can blame a television series that lasted three piddling years and left behind 79 episodes.

Turn off the life support, the party's over. As "Star Trek: The Next Generation" prepares for its exit from television after seven seasons, the hype generated by distraught fans and the Paramount publicity factory means that the show isn't going out quietly. And why should it? Consider that "Star Trek: The Next Generation" has: Racked up 178 episodes. Won 16 Emmy awards, more than any syndicated series in television history. Received 46 Emmy nominations, more than any other current dramatic series, including "Murder, She Wrote," "Northern Exposure" and "L.A.

"What was that character's name? Mr. Shock? Dr. Spock?" This was a serious question, asked recently by an otherwise sentient adult, and suggesting the existence of a yawning cultural divide in America. Even after the original series, the years of syndication, the animated series, the six movies and the successful spinoff series, there are people to whom the pointed ears, dry wit and bizarre Vulcan mating rituals of Mr. Spock are still alien. Then there are the rest of us, who will need no coaxing at all to visit "Star Trek: The Exhibition," now attracting hordes of visitors from this planet to the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in Washington.

When word came late last year that a newer, even more futuristic "Star Trek" was in the works, reactions ranged from the edge of dread to the outskirts of anticipation. Mostly there was skepticism coated with hostility from loyalists of the old series. One member of the original cast, upon being told that the show would go so far into the future as to be a different creature entirely, asked rhetorically, "Then why would you call it 'Star Trek'?" Why? Because, we figured, Paramount Pictures Corp.

When word came late last year that a newer, even more futuristic "Star Trek" was in the works, reactions ranged from the edge of dread to the outskirts of anticipation. Mostly there was skepticism coated with hostility from loyalists of the old series. One member of the original cast, upon being told that the show would go so far into the future as to be a different creature entirely, asked rhetorically, "Then why would you call it 'Star Trek'?" Why? Because, we figured, Paramount Pictures Corp.

At best, Hersey Hawkins' chances of becoming an all-star this season were slight, but they became nonexistent yesterday when the NBA announced the reserves for the Feb. 10 game and his name was not listed. Because Detroit guard Isiah Thomas is out with an injury and will not play, three reserves were named at guard from the Eastern Conference. Piston Joe Dumars was selected by a vote of conference coaches, along with Alvin Robertson and Ricky Pierce, both of the Milwaukee Bucks.

Stephen Hawking goes where no world-renowned physicist has gone before when he makes an unprecedented guest appearance in the sixth season finale of "Star Trek: The Next Generation. " In his first dramatic television appearance, Hawking, who is confined to a wheelchair and cannot speak, plays himself, alongside series regular Brent Spiner, who portrays Lt. Cmdr. Data. At the start of the show, the android creates a poker game in the holodeck between himself and computer-generated re-creations of Hawking, Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton.

If Bill Kraft of North Mankato, Minn., gets his way, "Star Trek" will really reach the final frontier - as a postage stamp on millions and millions of envelopes. "It's an idea that's been kicked around," says Kraft, head of a group known as the Enterprise Stamp Committee. "Others have tried to get a stamp commissioned, but in 1985 we said, 'Let's set our phasers on stun and really start blasting at the U.S. Postal Service. "' Volunteers in South Dakota, Chicago, Sacramento, Calif.

Kate Mulgrew, star of UPN's "Star Trek: Voyager," star must have been channeling brainwaves from another network Friday night when she told a group of reporters she wanted to bail out of her series contract. Mulgrew, who stars as Capt. Kathryn Janeway on the troubled network's most successful series, told writers gathered at a Pasadena, Calif., promotional party that she was tired of 80-hour work weeks. She told them she wants to devote more time to her teen children, and to her fiance Tim Hagan, a county commissioner in Cleveland.

Twenty-five years after it first cruised the final frontier on TV, the crew of Star Trek: The Next Generation is docking in the Philadelphia area. Actor Patrick Stewart, Star Trek's Capt. Jean-Luc Picard, is scheduled to join a rotating set of former cast members for a weekend of Q&A, autograph signings, trivia and other events in celebration of the silver anniversary. "The Official Star Trek Convention," produced by Creation Entertainment, will be in Cherry Hill from Friday through Sunday.

THE WAR for Hollywood is over, and the geeks have won. So says Simon Pegg, who parlayed a geeky/funny BBC show into a movie career and a recurring role as Scotty in "Star Trek," ascending to a kind of nerd heaven, where he's found himself surrounded by others like him. Their mission: to respectfully go where Gene Roddenberry has gone before. "You're talking about a TV show that is almost 60 years old, and yet remains beloved," Pegg said. "We wanted people to know we're not in any way being post-modern about it. We're not out to parody it or send it up. We're picking up the baton and taking our turn with it. " Pegg became famous for his British comedy hit "Spaced," a slacker sitcom packed with so many pop-culture references, the DVD comes with a "Homage-a-Meter.

Star Trek Into Darkness ***1/2 (out of four stars) Directed by J.J. Abrams. With Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, and Benedict Cumberbatch. Distributed by Paramount Pictures. Running time: 1 hour, 52 mins. Parent's guide: PG-13 (violence, interspecies sex, adult themes) Playing at: area theaters

MANY a creative type has contributed to the "Star Trek" franchise and then moved on, but Emil Richards is one constant who's seen and heard 'em all. Anointed the "Timekeeper of Tinseltown," this master of percussion instruments has played on all 12 "Star Trek" film scores (including "Star Trek: Into Darkness"), creating sonic cues of eerie exotica, emotional depth and action-adventure heft with some of the hammered, gonged, dunked and rattled treasures from his personal sound museum of 750 globally collected instruments.

It's no walk in the park, this Captain Kirk business. Beaming down from the Enterprise to 23d-century Earth - just think what that does to your molecules. Jet-packing through deepest space, with only a thin metal suit and a helmet protecting you from imploding into the nothingness - try that sometime. But for Chris Pine , who returns as James Tiberius Kirk, the maverick skipper of Star Fleet's storied ship in the sequel to J.J. Abrams' 2009 mega-successful reboot, the toughest task on Star Trek Into Darkness was just running.

On a warm evening in April, a small team of oddly dressed artists stroll into the Trocadero for that Chinatown club's Monday movie screening. On tap is Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan from 1982, a fan fave that draws a packed house with but a few folk dressed in old Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and not-new-Spock (Zachary Quinto) gear. Soon enough, those artists take over the small balcony stage and begin to badger the crowd into having its Trek trivia tested. "What Trek episode has the only scene in which the USS Enterprise is seen orbiting a planet from right to left?"

Jim Mees, 57, an Emmy-winning set decorator who helped bring alien worlds to life in the long-running Star Trek TV series, died Friday, March 29, at his home in Selinsgrove, Pa., said his partner, Michael Smyth. He had pancreatic cancer. Mr. Mees, who worked on more than a dozen TV shows in his 30-year career, spent 14 years on Star Trek sets, from The Next Generation to Star Trek: Enterprise. A five-time nominee, Mr. Mees shared an Emmy with production designer Richard D. James for art direction of a 1990 episode in which he gave viewers the first glimpse of the Klingon home world, decorating the warrior race's High Council chambers and sinister-looking First City.

ALL HAIL the king of the nerds. Filmmaker J.J. Abrams , who is already behind the reboot of "Star Trek," will also be behind the next edition of "Star Wars. " According to the website "The Wrap," Abrams will follow up "Star Trek Into Darkness" with "Episode VII" of the "Star Wars" franchise, scheduled to reach theaters in 2015. Fans already have begun lining up at Comic-Con with their lightsabers. Abrams previously told reporters that he would not be involved with the "Star Wars" franchise, but can you really trust the guy who plotted "Lost"?

Taylor Swift is packin' 'em in everywhere! Tickets to her July 20 show at the Linc evaporated , yo, in five minutes. Seriously! Three hundred seconds . ¡No más! No prob: Tay-Tay is laying on a new show, July 19!! Also at the Linc. Also with guest stars Ed Sheeran and Austin Mahone . Tix for the new show go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday. Buy 'em by visiting www.ticketmaster.com or 800-745-3000. Baba re LiLo Barbara Walters tells In Touch mag she's concerned for her pal Lindsay Lohan . Lilo, says Babs, is "a very vulnerable, very sweet girl.

Comedy great Bill Murray seemed to enjoy a weekend in town with his son Luke even if he watched the Sixers twice beat his beloved Bulls. The Murrays caught Sunday's game from Ed Snider's Wells Fargo Center suite, and Friday they sat two rows back from the court where Murray, a Chicago native, slyly tipped his Arizona University cap to the crowd when introduced. On Saturday afternoon, the former "SNL" player — with too many great movies to list here — and Luke, one of the actor's six sons and an assistant basketball coach at Towson University in Maryland, brunched at Square Peg (10th & Walnut)

Fine Arts Maya 2012: Lords of Time. The origins of intricate Maya timekeeping systems are an integral part of the Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology's exploration of a civilization that flourished, with cities already in existence by 500 B.C., in what is now southern Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, and El Salvador. At 10 a.m. Saturday, Porfirio Lobo Sosa, president of Honduras, will join Penn Museum director Richard Hodges at a ceremony to open the exhibition. — Sally Friedman Exhibition hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Sunday, through Jan. 13 at 3260 South St. Timed tickets, which include admission to the rest of the museum, are $22.50, $18.50 for ages 65 and older and military, and $16.50 for students (full-time with ID)