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In the first pilot for Star Trek: The Original Series, "The Cage," Captain Christopher Pike, played by Jeffrey Hunter, helmed with Enterprise with his Number One played by Majel Barrett-Roddenberry. During Pike's time on Talos IV, he is being forced to choose a mate. His choices are Number One, Yeoman Colt or Vina. During that time, Pike learns that Number One has fantasies about him, and now that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has brought both Captain Pike (Anson Mount) and Number One (Rebecca Romjin) back, Screenrant suggests that there might be a future romance between the two because of what was "teased" in The Original Series.

But one character having fantasies about the other isn't really teasing a romance. It's more like unrequited love or just simply fantasies because the pair worked so closely together. It's not odd for couples that never become couples to have fantasies about one another.

The lore around Star Trek's pilot is fascinating, as the one that everyone saw originally was actually the second one filmed. The original was called The Cage and it featured a vastly different array of characters than the one that made it to air. That one is called "Where No Man Has Gone Before" and it succeeded where the original failed.

A major reason for that was the casting. We've talked before about how William Shatner didn't feature as James Kirk in the original pilot, instead having Jeffrey Hunter play Christopher Pike. A change that made the Star Trek series truly take hold in the modern zeitgeist. Yet, one of the other big additions that often gets overlooked is the casting around Shatner.

Namely, the guest stars. In this case, the performance of Gary Lockwood as Gary Mitchell. Lockwood's turn as Mitchell, a friend of Kirk who starts to...

John D. Kimble, a prominent longtime Hollywood talent agent at agencies including Dhkpr, Triad and William Morris, died Sunday in Dallas. He was 79.

Born in Kingsville, Texas, he was raised in Uvalde, Texas and graduated the University of Texas, El Paso with a theater degree. He started out hoping to act in Westerns, and was offered a contract through Screen Gems. But Kimble pivoted to representing actors rather than performing, and began his agency career working with Joan Scott at Writers and Artists.

Kimble set up his own shingle in 1977, and the next year, merged his company with the agency run by Gene Parseghian to for Kimble/Parseghian in New York. Their roster included William Hurt, Pamela Reed, Kevin Bacon, Griffin Dunne, Martin Short and Andrea Martin.

Kimble moved to California to open the L.A. office of his agency, soon merging with Arnold Rifkin, Nicole David and Jeffrey Hunter to creat Dhkpr.

John Kimble, who had a long career as a Hollywood talent agent at Writers & Artists, Kimble/Parseghian, Dhkpr, Triad Artists and the William Morris Agency, has died. He was 79.

Kimble died Sunday in Dallas, where he retired in 2022 to be close to family, former CBS Entertainment chair Nina Tassler announced. She was his assistant at Triad from 1985-90, and they remained good friends, she said.

Kimble repped Henry Winkler when he was cast as The Fonz on Happy Days in 1974; Jane Curtin when she was hired by Saturday Night Live in 1975; Joan Collins when she joined Dynasty in 1981; George Clooney when he landed on ER in 1994; and Matthew Perry when he signed up for Friends, also in ’94.

Over the years, Kimble’s clients also included Julie Andrews, Ann-Margret, Sara Gilbert, Emilio Estevez, Brooke Shields, Lea Thompson, Cary Elwes, Linda Hamilton, Delta Burke, Victoria Principal, Nell Carter, Rachel Ward and Meredith Baxter.

John D. Kimble, a longtime talent agent who worked for the William Morris Agency and helped launch Triad Artists in the mid-1980s, died November 10 in Dallas, where he retired in 2022 to be close to family. He was 79.

His death was confirmed by former CBS Entertainment chairman Nina Tassler, who worked for Kimble at Triad.

Born in Kingsville, TX, Kimble graduated from the University of Texas in El Paso with dreams of becoming an actor. But he made the critical career decision to represent thespians, instead.

He began working with Joan Scott at Writers and Artists before setting up his own shingle in July 1977. A year later, he and agent Gene Parseghian merged their respective companies to create Kimble/Parseghian in the Fisk Building on 57th Street in New York City. Their early client roster included William Hurt, Pamela Reed, Kevin Bacon, Griffin Dune, Martin Short and Andrea Martin.

The...

In the 1960s, in the first pilot for Star Trek: The Original Series, then known only as Star Trek, Jeffrey Hunter played the role of the Captain Christopher Pike. A product of the current time, Hunter's Pike was unaccumstomed to seeing women on his bridge, was clearly a commander whose authority wasn't questioned, and he didn't seem to take much input from his crew. But that was how he was written and, unfortunately, how things were in the 1960s even though the series was set way in the future.

A recent Screenrant post discusses Pike's biggest change from Star Trek, calling it "his best." And that is his attitude toward women. But Pike's way of leadership and his acceptance in today's society is understandably different than it was in the 1960s because of the time period we're in now. On top of that, Hunter didn't have much time to embody the role of Captain Pike.

The Captain Pike Trekkies see on "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" is a very different Captain Pike they saw in the original 1966 "Star Trek" pilot "The Cage." The latter Pike was played by Jeffrey Hunter as an angry, passionate figure, quick to lose his temper, and only able to solve problems through sheer force of enraged will. The Pike as seen in the 2009 "Star Trek" movie was played by Bruce Greenwood had a scene so "hideously uncomfortable" that we're shocked he agreed to return for the sequel. The newer Pike, as played by Anson Mount, is a lighthearted, gregarious figure, eager to engage in jocular diplomacy and greet any and all members of his staff into his quarters for breakfast. The Hunter Pike seems like he would be an intimidating boss. The Mount Pike is the boss you always wish you'd get whenever you start a new job. 

Indeed, if...

When Star Trek: The Original Series' first pilot, "The Cage," was shot down by NBC, there was no guarantee the series was going to get off the ground even though it was given a second chance to prove itself with a new pilot. Jeffrey Hunter, the actor who played Captain Christopher Pike in the original pilot, elected not to return for another shot at the show so a new captain had to be found, and William Shatner was cast.

And while some actors who worked with Shatner on the set complained about his need to be in front of the cameras as well as other issues dealing with ego, one writer, David Gerrold, who penned the famously popular "The Trouble with Tribbles" came straight out and said that Star Trek: The Original Series and the movies were successful because of Shatner.

In The Fifty-Year Mission The First Twenty-Five Years by...

After publishing a page-turning memoir – Runaway Train: The Story of My Life So Far – actor Eric Roberts is letting skeletons out of closets with stories and reveals related to his lengthy and storied career. Roberts’ book covers a lot of ground. Still, one story about a missed opportunity with Martin Scorsese is making the rounds online. Luckily, our Editor-in-Chief, Chris Bumbray, is quite the bookworm for reading about Hollywood’s inner workings and secret stories and is currently thumbing through Roberts’ memoir.

In the book, Roberts talks about rejecting a primary role in Scorsese’s 1988 drama The Last Temptation of Christ, in which the filmmaker offered him the role of Jesus.

“So when I was asked by Marty Scorsese to audition for the role of Jesus in The Last Temptations of Christ, I thought, Here’s my chance to break out of the straightjacket of typecasting and work with a master,...

Despite being one of the oldest characters in Star Trek history, Captain Christopher Pike wasn't really a compelling character until Anson Mount took the role in Season 2 of Star Trek: Discovery. Even then, it has taken Star Trek: Strange New Worlds for Pike to really come into his own as a likable, inspirational lead character. Part of this is because he's not exactly like previous versions of Pike.

Captain Pike first appeared in the original Star Trek pilot episode, "The Cage." Portrayed by Jeffrey Hunter, this Pike was irritable and brooding. He was not only isolated from his crew but openly adversarial with various members. While "The Cage" is an interesting episode overall, it is reasonable to say that this Captain Pike is not really all that fun to watch.

Of course, various elements of "The Cage" got repurposed into the 2-part Original Series episode "The Menagerie." This offered a...

Star Trek: The Original Series premiered almost six decades ago, changing the face of sci-fi and television as a whole with fans celebrating its premiere date as Star Trek Day. However, before the USS Enterprise took flight on the small screen, creator Gene Roddenberry had to produce two pilot episodes to get the series off the ground.

William Shatner wasn’t in the first pilot of Star Trek: The Original Series (Credit: NBC).

The first and original pilot for the now-iconic sci-fi series did not feature one of its most important characters, Captain Kirk, played by William Shatner. Instead, the USS Enterprise was under the command of a different captain from the original pilot, who was later incorporated into the wider franchise. As we celebrate the 2024 Star Trek Day, here is everything you need to know about the legacy of Enterprise’s original captain.

Star Trek‘s First Pilot Did...

It's widely accepted among Trekkies that no "Star Trek" series starts with its best foot forward. Almost every single series, from the 1960s all the way up to the Paramount+ era, has a rocky first season, presenting clumsy storytelling and strange character conceits that many Trekkies look back on with a wince. Generally speaking, a Trek series doesn't hit its stride until about season three. 

I will hasten to note that even when Trek shows are struggling through their "bad" seasons, they usually still feature strong characters and a dynamic setting, so a curious viewer will not have to endure years of bad TV before it gets good. They'll just have to endure some awkward writing until it gets excellent. If one wants to watch "Star Trek: The Next Generation," one could simply start with season 3, and then ask a Trekkie friend to recommend vital episodes from seasons one and two.

It should be stated right up front that the below list is not meant to be taken as a commentary on the strength of certain characters, the talents of the actors playing them, or the quality of the show from which they hail. Indeed, most of them come from legitimately great TV shows and/or are played by very talented people. Some of them may even be among the greatest characters in "Star Trek," and I do not mean to suggest, even for a moment, that they should be removed from the franchise or altered in any way.

Except for their names. "Star Trek" is full of futuristic aliens and evolved humans that need to be named by modern-day screenwriters, and, well, sometimes those screenwriters come up with some pretty silly ideas. It's natural now to accept Brent Spiner's android character from "Star Trek: The Next Generation," but it...

Before there was William Shatner, there was Jeffrey Hunter. The actor may not be a household name today, but when "Star Trek" was in its infancy, he was a rising star in Hollywood – and an undeniable heartthrob. Hunter famously played the Enterprise's original captain, Christopher Pike, in Gene Roddenberry's first "Star Trek" pilot, but he didn't return when the show was given a second chance to perfect its first impression, leading Roddenberry to come up with the Captain Kirk character instead. The reason for Hunter's exit? Well, it depends on who you ask.

The second "Star Trek" pilot was made nearly 60 years ago at this point, so it's no surprise that some of the details of its creation have been muddled or lost over the years. There's no shortage of information about Hunter's involvement with the show, but accounts of his exit differ wildly. It's common knowledge that when...

Anson Mount is currently making Trekkies swoon in his role as Captain Christopher Pike on "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds." Before him, though, there was Jeffrey Hunter and Bruce Greenwood (who played Pike in the two J.J Abrams-directed "Star Trek" films).

"Star Trek" cleverly canonized "The Cage" by reintroducing Pike as Jim Kirk's (William Shatner) predecessor as captain of the Enterprise. The 2009 "Star Trek" film (an alternate timeline origin story for the original series) took that a step further and featured Pike as Kirk's mentor. His first scene is him pushing Kirk to sign up for Starfleet.

In that role of a fatherly commanding officer, Greenwood was perfectly cast. He's an authoritative and personable screen presence, one who can even make a death merchant like opioid king Roderick Usher on "The Fall of the House of Usher" charming. With his strong but soothing voice, it makes sense that...

In the "Star Trek" episode "The Devil in the Dark", Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and Spock (Leonard Nimoy) visit a remote mining colony on the planet Janus VI to address an uptick in miner deaths. There is a mysterious creature burrowing through the rocks in the tunnels below and attacking people. The creature extrudes a powerful acid, allowing it to tunnel incredibly quickly and making pursuit difficult.

Kirk and Spock locate the creature and find it is a silicon-based living mound of rock. Kirk also discovers that it responds to the threat of his phaser and suspects that the creature's attacks are calculated. Spock then mind-melds with the creature and learns it's called a Horta. Hortas have an unusual lifecycle in that the species goes extinct every 50,000 years, with only one creature surviving to look after millions of eggs. The spheroid nodules that line the cave walls, they learn, are those eggs.

John Ford’s classic Western “The Searchers” is back on the big screen — and this time, in 70mm.

IndieWire can exclusively unveil the full lineup for Museum of the Moving Image and Mubi’s ninth annual “See It Big: 70mm” film festival, with “The Searchers” headlining. The annual summer 70mm series is New York City’s only festival of 70mm films. The festival takes place from July 18 through August 18.

Ford’s “The Searchers” in 70mm will make its East Coast premiere after the print debuted at the American Cinematheque earlier this year. From July 18-21, the 1956 masterpiece will be presented seven times in a new restoration and newly struck 70mm print. The film was scanned from the original 35mm VistaVision camera negative for this print and has been approved by The Film Foundation, which was founded by Martin Scorsese. (He’s credited “The Searchers” for being a direct influence on his Oscar-winning film “Taxi Driver.

The world of Hollywood is an intricate web of opportunities. Moreover, coming into the spotlight and proving one’s acclaim opens up a plethora of options to jump over between franchises and expand a career that seemingly has no bounds. Boasting such a galactic crossover is one Star Trek star whose sole merit spearheaded the future of the franchise.

Rather, such was his acting prowess that the studio refused to greenlight the prequel Star Trek: Strange New Worlds series if he were not a core part of it.

A still from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds | Paramount Pictures

Revolving around the era when Captain Christopher Pike commanded the USS Enterprise, the show followed the events of the character after his appearance in season two of Star Trek: Discovery. Yet there never was an initial plan to expand his role beyond that outing. However, a talent showcase turned the course of...

The first season of "Star Trek: Discovery" closed with the appearance of the U.S.S. Enterprise, the exact same ship Trekkies had seen in the original "Star Trek" series from 1966. More specifically, it was the Enterprise Trekkies had seen in "The Cage," the original "Star Trek" pilot episode starring Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Pike. In the "Star Trek" timeline, this crossover took place after the events of "The Cage," but about seven years before Captain Kirk took command of the Enterprise.

The second season of "Discovery" saw Captain Pike, now played by Anson Mount, taking command of the Discovery for a unique mission. Other familiar characters from "The Cage" were also recast. Spock, previously played by Leonard Nimoy, was now played by Ethan Peck. Number One, previously played by Majel Barrett, was now played by Rebecca Romijn. The "Discovery" regulars were still present, of course, but fans loved the...

The Star Trek franchise has cemented its place among the most influential science fiction universe that began with the original television series in 1966. Created by Gene Roddenberry, the franchise expanded to become what we know it today. While the creator surely put significant efforts into making the successful franchise, his wife, Majel Barrett, also played an integral role in the franchise’s success.

Star Trek: The Next Generation [Credit: Paramount Domestic Television]She is often referred to as the franchise’s First Lady, whose contribution spans across the entire series of the sci-fi saga. What fans might be surprised to know is the fact that the lady’s work in Trek has inspired popular virtual assistants like Alexa that we use nowadays.

Majel Barrett’s Influence on the Star Trek Franchise

Majel Barrett’s role in the Star Trek universe is quite significant as she gained prominence for portraying Lwaxana Troi...

"Star Trek: The Original Series" has three first episodes. Isn't this an irreconcilable contradiction? Let me explain.

There's the first produced "Star Trek" pilot, "The Cage," which starred Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Christopher Pike. When the Enterprise visits planet Talos IV, Pike is abducted by telepathic aliens the Talosians. NBC passed, feeling "The Cage" was a subpar effort, but let creator Gene Roddenberry take a second stab at it.

That resulted in "Where No Man Has Gone Before." When the Enterprise tries and fails to pass an energy field at the edge of the Milky Way galaxy, crewman Gary Mitchell (Gary Lockwood) develops psychic powers and goes mad.

The only thing that carries over between the two pilots is Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock. "Where No Man Has Gone Before" is closer to the finished series (it does star William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk), but there are still noticeable differences.

Elegant Hollywood actor whose prolific career in the 1950s included the sci-fi classic It Came from Outer Space

In the 1950s, the elegant actor Barbara Rush, who has died aged 97, was extremely visible in films (she made 22 during the decade) and in fan magazines, especially during her marriage to the screen heartthrob Jeffrey Hunter. However, although she appeared opposite some of the top male stars of the day, she did not seem to have that extra je ne sais quoi needed to attain top-drawer status herself.

She met and fell in love with Hunter, who had just been put under contract by 20th Century Fox, a short time after her arrival in Hollywood, signed up by the Paramount studio. They were married in December 1950 before either of them had been seen on screen.

Barbara Rush, the classy yet largely unheralded leading lady who sparkled in the 1950s melodramas Magnificent Obsession, Bigger Than Life and The Young Philadelphians, has died. She was 97.

Rush, a regular on the fifth and final season of ABC’s Peyton Place and a favorite of sci-fi fans thanks to her work in When Worlds Collide (1951) and It Came From Outer Space (1953), died Sunday in Westlake Village, her daughter, Fox News senior correspondent Claudia Cowan, announced.

“My wonderful mother passed away peacefully at 5:28 this evening. I was with her this morning and know she was waiting for me to return home safely to transition,” Cowan said. “It’s fitting she chose to leave on Easter as it was one of her favorite holidays and now, of course, Easter will have a deeper significance for me and my family.”

A starlet at Paramount, Universal and Fox whose career blossomed at...

While recently scrolling Twitter, an interesting anecdote came to my attention. In the fabled George Lucas outline for a Star Wars sequel trilogy, a treatment which the filmmaker shared with the Walt Disney Company when he sold Lucasfilm for $4 billion, Lucas apparently had a strange vision for Luke Skywalker: He wanted the older version of Skywalker to be like a character in a movie Lucas almost made before Star Wars. He wanted him to be, in essence, Marlon Brando’s Col. Kurtz from Apocalypse Now, right down to the bald head and rambling gibberish.

This detail is not new. In fact, Pablo Hidalgo first confirmed the information in Star Wars: Fascinating Facts (2020). In that book (via Total Film/GamesRadar+), Hidalgo wrote, “Although Luke Skywalker only barely appears in The Force Awakens, the concept artists had a lot to imagine based on the fragments of the story they were hearing as it developed.

Robert Butler, the Emmy-winning, go-to pilot director who helmed the first episodes of such acclaimed shows as Batman, Star Trek, Hill Street Blues and Moonlighting, died Nov. 3 in Los Angeles, his family announced. He was 95.

Butler also co-created the Pierce Brosnan-starring Remington Steele (and helmed its pilot, of course), directed the first episode of Hogan’s Heroes in 1965, and called the first shots and set the tone for, Glenn Gordon Caron’s Moonlighting, Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Sisters and The Division.

In 1973, he directed the William Holden-starring The Blue Knight — the first four-hour television miniseries — at NBC and then got the CBS series adaptation of the Joseph Wambaugh novel that starred George Kennedy off on the right foot.

Butler also helmed two episodes of The Twilight Zone (the fifth-season installments “Caesar and Me,” starring his old friend, Jackie Cooper, and “The Encounter”) and worked on The Dick Van Dyke Show,...

This article contains spoilers for the latest episode of "Star Trek: Lower Decks."

"Star Trek: Lower Decks" season 4, episode 4, titled "Something Borrowed, Something Green," takes place largely on the Orion homeworld, the place where Lieutenant D'Vana Tendi (Noël Wells) hails from. She is there to attend the wedding of her sister D'Erica but also to face the familial legacy she deliberately left behind when she joined Starfleet. The episode features a lot of lingering sororal resentment and multiple mysterious, violent, sexy figures from Tendi's past.

More important to Trekkies, however, are the numerous details about Orion life. "Something Borrowed" is the first time we've really had a good look at the Orions and what they're like in their element.

Orions, of course, first appeared on "Star Trek" as early as the "Original Series" pilot, "The Cage," when Captain Pike (Jeffrey Hunter) was seduced by a green-skinned woman at a Roman-style orgy.

This article contains spoilers for "Star Trek: Lower Decks" season 4, episode 2.

"Star Trek: Lower Decks" season 4, episode 2 is called "I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee," which is a reference to the 1967 Harlan Ellison short story "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream." The plot, however, is an amusing reference to the original "Star Trek" pilot episode "The Cage." Although footage from "The Cage" was eventually repurposed into a two-part 1966 episode called "The Menagerie," the notable "Star Trek" pilot wasn't aired on TV in its uncut form until 1988.

The plot of "The Cage," for the uninitiated, took the Enterprise to the planet of Talos IV. There, Captain Pike (Jeffrey Hunter) was kidnapped by the large-headed, psychic Talosians. The aliens didn't understand human emotions and projected fantasies into his head to test out feelings of fear, lust, and anger. Pike found that he could resist their psychic attacks by projecting rage into their heads.

In the expansive "Star Trek" universe, some of its brightest stars embarked on unforeseen journeys, abruptly departing the franchise to both the dismay and intrigue of fandom.

Why didn't Kirstie Alley return as the beloved Lt. Saavik? What prompted Jeffrey Hunter to relinquish the role of Captain Pike? Who ejected Gates McFadden's Dr. Crusher from the airlock? How come Diana Muldaur, her replacement, endured only a single season? Why did Wil Wheaton part ways with Wesley Crusher? And why was Grace Lee Whitney, as Yeoman Janice Rand, dropped from the cast even before the original series premiered in 1966?

These departures stemmed from a myriad of forces: financial constraints, contract negotiations, miscasting, yearnings for new horizons or strange new opportunities, life-altering events, creative and personal conflicts, or a blend of these influences. Most were unexpected and frequently controversial. Whether these exits bolstered or hindered the franchise, the judgment is yours,...

In December of 1964, principal photography finished on the pilot of Star Trek, featuring captain Christopher Pike (played by The Searchers’ Jeffrey Hunter) as the commander of the Enterprise. When the show’s first episode finally aired almost two years later, Pike was nowhere to be found. The initial pilot had been scrapped and re-shot, with William Shatner’s James T. Kirk taking the helm and a different crew boldly going where no man had gone before. However, that wasn’t the end of Christopher Pike. The character returned as a Kirk mentor in the J.J. Abrams-directed reboot films. Now, with the Paramount […]

The post “Each Episode is Like Its Own Movie”: Dp Benji Bakshi on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

In December of 1964, principal photography finished on the pilot of Star Trek, featuring captain Christopher Pike (played by The Searchers’ Jeffrey Hunter) as the commander of the Enterprise. When the show’s first episode finally aired almost two years later, Pike was nowhere to be found. The initial pilot had been scrapped and re-shot, with William Shatner’s James T. Kirk taking the helm and a different crew boldly going where no man had gone before. However, that wasn’t the end of Christopher Pike. The character returned as a Kirk mentor in the J.J. Abrams-directed reboot films. Now, with the Paramount […]

The post “Each Episode is Like Its Own Movie”: Dp Benji Bakshi on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Ask most cinephiles about the spaghetti western and Sergio Leone’s name will most likely be invoked. As for those who’ve delved a little deeper into the genre, chances are that they’ll name-drop one or both of the other Sergios: Sergio Corbucci (Django) and Sergio Sollima (The Big Gundown).

Back in 2021, Arrow Video’s Vengeance Trails box set aimed to broaden viewers’ horizons of the spaghetti western by spotlighting works by directors like Lucio Fulci, Massimo Dallamano, and Antonio Margheriti, whose names are more often associated with other genres. Now along comes Blood Money, which unveils several lesser-known yet excellent examples of the genre. The thematic through line this time out concerns the value placed on human life. As the grizzled protagonist of Find a Place to Die puts it: “Madness and greed were in men’s hearts a long time before you came along.”

Romolo Guerrieri’s...

Carmen Sevilla, the Spanish-born actor who starred in the Oscar-nominated 1958 film Vengeance and played Mary Magdalene in Nicholas Ray’s 1961 Biblical epic King of Kings, died Tuesday of Alzheimer’s disease and pneumonia at a hospital in Madrid. She was 92.

Her death was reported by her son to the Europa Press new agency.

Born in Seville, Spain, Sevilla launched her show business career as a dancer in the 1940s but had pivoted to film acting by the end of the decade. During the 1950s she became one of Spanish cinema’s most popular stars.

Her starring role in writer-director Juan Antonio Bardem’s 1958 La Venganza (Vengeance) made her an international star as the film became the first Spanish film nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.

Sevilla became more widely known in the U.S. with King of Kings, in which she played a beautiful Mary Magdalene opposite Jeffrey Hunter’s equally attractive Jesus.

Arrow Video has announced the July 2023 lineup of their subscription-based Arrow platform, available to subscribers in the US, Canada, the UK and Ireland.

Here’s everything you need to know…

July 7 starts the month in sun and fun with the “Permanent Vacation” Collection (UK/Ire/US/CA). In desperate need of a vacay? Well, be careful who you book with, because the flicks trips in Permanent Vacation are dream holidays that you’ll never return from.

Featuring murderous mini-breaks and sun, sea, sand and psychos, these gory getaways feature everything from island paradises full of monsters and mutants to nature breaks from the rat race that will be the death of you. So, pack your sunglasses and flip-flops, but don’t bother buying a return ticket, because you’re going on a Permanent Vacation.

Titles Include: Horrors of Malformed Men, Lake Michigan Monster, The Wind.

Also on July 7, subscribers are...

The second season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds exudes even more of the breezy freshness of a sharply written, back-to-basics TV series than its first season. Increasingly, showrunners Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers are solving the puzzle of how to make the hoary old Star Trek format new again. A welcome shift away from rigidly serialized storytelling has greatly benefited this prequel series, allowing it to cast off the chains of cause and effect that bind together each episode of Discovery and Picard.

As in the halcyon Star Trek days, each episode of Strange New Worlds explores a new, pulpy sci-fi scenario played for thrills, yuks, or, yes, sometimes heavy-handed progressive grandstanding. The writing this season nails the middle ground between the silly-but-sometimes-smart space operatics of the original series and the warm surrogate-family vibe of The Next Generation. Plots that alternate their focal points channel that Next Gen...

The makers of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" must, at times, feel stymied. The series is set on the U.S.S. Enterprise about five years prior to the events of the original 1966 "Star Trek" series, meaning that, by necessity, it can only last five years tops. The series also features Spock (Ethan Peck) and Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding), so nothing terribly dramatic and life-altering can happen to them that would interrupt their transition to a continuity that has been entrenched in Trekkies' minds for 57 years. Indeed, when this version of the Enterprise first appeared on "Star Trek: Discovery," it was equipped with holographic communication technology which it most certainly did not have in the 1966 series. The writers had to cover up the technological gaffe by having Captain Pike (Anson Mount) insist the holograms be uninstalled. He merely didn't like them. 

When it comes to being sticklers for pop culture canon,...

Actor John Wayne was an expert when it came to understanding the hard work that went into movies. He starred in everything from leading roles in major studio feature films to non-speaking parts in B-movies that he despised making. However, some of the most physically demanding parts turned out to be the most rewarding when the pictures fluttered on the silver screen. Here are five of the most physically demanding movies that Wayne starred in.

‘Stagecoach’ (1939) L-r: Claire Trevor as Dallas and John Wayne as Ringo Kid | Getty Images

Stagecoach boosted Wayne to stardom overnight in 1939, creating a whole new world for the actor. He played Ringo Kid in a story that follows a group of unlikely stagecoach passengers whose journey becomes increasingly difficult with the threat of a dangerous man named Geronimo on the loose.

Wayne came from the world of the props department and had a great appreciation for the world of stunts.

Marion Robert Morrison, more commonly known as John Wayne or ‘The Duke,’ left a lasting imprint on American cinema. His career spanned five decades, during which time he starred in 179 films and delivered countless illustrious performances.

He rose to fame with his starring role as Ringo Kid in the 1939 classic ‘Stagecoach,’ and would go on to play characters like Ethan Edwards in Ford’s 1956 ‘The Searchers’ – cementing his place in American film history.

In this blog post, we’ll be taking a look at some of the best John Wayne movies, which capture the actor’s undeniable talent and unforgotten legacy. From westerns like ‘True Grit’ (1969) to war films like ‘The Longest Day’ (1962), Wayne left an indelible mark on our collective culture.

The Highest-Rated John Wayne Films on IMDb ‘The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance’ (1962) – 8.1/10 ‘Rio Bravo’ (1959) – 8/10 ‘The Searchers’ (1956) – 7.9/10 ‘Stagecoach’ (1939) – 7.8/10 ‘Red River’ (1948) – 7.8/10 ‘The Longest Day’ (1962) – 7.7/10 ‘The Quiet Man’ (1952) – 7.7/10 ‘The Shootist...

William Shatner recalled how he managed to land the role of Captain James T. Kirk on the original 1966 Star Trek series.

During the actor’s keynote interview at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, on Thursday, Alamo Drafthouse founder Tim League asked Shatner about how he got his career-changing gig.

“Talent,” Shatner initially deadpanned, to audience applause, but then he told the story.

As all Trek fans know, Jeffrey Hunter was cast in the NBC show’s first attempt at a Star Trek pilot, “The Cage,” as Captain Christopher Pike. “Jeffrey Hunter, good-looking guy, he was quite a name,” Shatner says. “They presented the pilot to NBC and then there’s that moment when the gods — and, in this case, NBC executives — decide to buy or not to buy. To buy, or not to buy, that is the question! They said, ‘No, we’re not going to buy it, because we don’t like it.

Actor John Wayne starred in a wide assortment of movies primarily rooted in the Western and war genres. He had a signature walk and a slow, booming voice that commanded moviegoers’ attention. However, only nine of Wayne’s movies were selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” They select 25 film each year for this high honor. However, the Wayne films that made the cut aren’t all the obvious picks.

‘The Big Trail’ (1930) L-r: John Wayne as Breck Coleman and Marguerite Churchill as Ruth Cameron | Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Raoul Walsh’s The Big Trail follows Breck Coleman (Wayne), as he leads an adventure with hundreds of settlers seeking to travel from the Mississippi River out West for greater opportunities. However, there are many potentially fatal dangers along the way.

The 1930 feature marked the actor’s first leading role,...

Stella Stevens, the screen siren of the 1960s who brought sweet sexiness to such films as The Nutty Professor, Too Late Blues and The Ballad of Cable Hogue, has died. She was 84.

Stevens died Friday in Los Angeles, her son, actor-producer-director Andrew Stevens, told The Hollywood Reporter. “She had been in hospice for quite some time with Stage 7 Alzheimer’s,” he said.

Shining brightest in light comedies, the blond, blue-eyed actress appeared as a shy beauty contestant from Montana in Vincente Minnelli’s The Courtship of Eddie’s Father (1963), portrayed a headstrong nun in Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows! (1968) opposite Rosalind Russell and frolicked with the fun-loving Dean Martin in two films: the Matt Helm spy spoof The Silencers (1966) and How to Save a Marriage and Ruin Your Life (1968).

Stevens also starred opposite Elvis Presley in Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962), a movie she said she detested.

Her signature role, however, came in The Nutty Professor (1963), produced,...

The original "Star Trek" pilot, "The Cage," did a wonderful job of establishing the tone of the series, and the types of strange, psychological crises that the characters on it would regularly encounter. Jeffrey Hunter played the short-tempered and serious Capt. Pike, and Majel Barrett played his first officer, only referred to as Number One. It wouldn't be until "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" in 2022 that Number One's name, Una Chin-Riley, would be mentioned on screen. The original pilot for "Star Trek" was ultimately rejected, and most of the show's original elements were retooled. It wasn't until the second pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before," that the best-known 1966 Trek ensemble would be established. The only things that were carried over were the technology, the Starfleet symbols, the name of the U.S.S. Enterprise, and the character of Spock (Leonard Nimoy).

Spock, a half-human, half-Vulcan science officer, was the most striking,...

John Wayne starred in dozens of Westerns during his lengthy career, but he very rarely played the bad guy. One of his darkest roles came in "The Searchers," his 14th and greatest collaboration with John Ford, the director who helped the Hollywood icon make his name in "Stagecoach." It was a film that inverted Wayne's heroic screen persona by casting him as Ethan Edwards, a bitterly racist former soldier who spends many years on an obsessive quest to track down his niece after she is abducted by Comanches.

For a director-star combo that had often portrayed Native Americans as a faceless marauding horde in many of their earlier pictures, "The Searchers" is a soulful and sometimes awkward attempt to reckon with that past and, in turn, America's legacy of genocide and Manifest Destiny. While its comedic moments seem to belong to another film and its use of Redface is cringe-inducing,...

Long before Harry Styles was being criticized left and right for his work in the new thriller "Don't Worry Darling," he was being compared to every iconic musician in the book — so clearly, he's no stranger to being analogized among his contemporaries and influences alike.

But from a film standpoint, he can be analyzed just as well. In fact, his movie career is starting to take a page or two from the books of the singer-actor hybrids that came before him, namely Elvis Presley, Madonna, Frank Sinatra, Cher, and even Sting. Each of these iconic performers started their acting careers in the same way as Styles did: in a relatively small supporting role. From there, they forged ahead to successful, and sometimes not so successful, movie careers.

Elvis Presley's Humble Film Beginnings

For Elvis Presley, it all started when his manager, Colonel Tom Parker — whom we all now know as...

This weekend, Harry Styles will participate in a long and storied Hollywood tradition that includes Frank Sinatra in “Higher and Higher,” Elvis Presley in “Love Me Tender,” Madonna in “Desperately Seeking Susan,” Cher in “Come Back to the 5 & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean” and Sting in “Quadrophenia.” Each was an established pop-music icon who began a film career with a comparatively humble role.

It’s one context among the many for anticipating this weekend’s performance of “Don’t Worry Darling” (Warner Bros.). Olivia Wilde’s second feature (after her well-received “Booksmart”) is an original R-rated thriller starring Styles and Florence Pugh as a married couple in strange circumstances. Like last week’s “The Woman King” (Sony), it is a mid-budget original story with a female director with the chance to reassert the value of non-franchise films.

Here, Styles was a late replacement for Shia Labeouf and this wasn’t his...

Exclusive: Today at the Star Trek convention The 56-Year Mission: Las Vegas put on by Creation Entertainment, the Gene Roddenberry Estate and and the cloud graphics company Otoy Inc. offered Trekkies a first look at the results of a year of production work on the Roddenberry Archive — unveiling the first interactive, life-sized recreations of the famed spacecraft known as the Starship Enterprise. 1:1 scale Enterprise models and sets have been recreated according to Star Trek canon, to visualize the history of Star Trek in new holographic mediums, so that future generations can experience franchise creator Roddenberry’s legacy with the highest levels of immersion and historical fidelity.

While at Bally’s for the convention, Otoy showcase an immersive “The Cage” experience, enabling viewers to explore the first deck of the Enterprise created by Roddenberry for the initial pilot of Star Trek. The fully immersive, interactive, 360-degree experience allows audiences to...

If you ask who the most important Western directors in history are, there are three obvious names: John Ford, Sergio Leone, and Clint Eastwood. The Western was the dominant genre in Hollywood from the 1930s to the 1960s, and Ford was the preeminent director of the genre at that time. Leone spearheaded the Spaghetti Western movement; color films set in the west, but produced in Europe, and which were more violent/less glamorous than their Hollywood counterparts. According to Leone:

"Ford, because of his European origins — as a good Irishman — has always seen the problem from a Christian point of view... his characters and protagonists always [looked] forward to a rosy, fruitful future. Whereas I see the history of the West as really the reign of violence by violence."

Eastwood began as Leone's star and then followed in his old boss' footsteps by becoming a director himself. And where Eastwood truly...

This post contains spoilers for the season finale of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds."

If one thing remains true about Spock across many decades and several iterations, it's that the trusty half-human, half-Vulcan holds logic in the highest regard. That's why it's so surprising to revisit "The Menagerie," a season 1 episode of "Star Trek: The Original Series" that sees Leonard Nimoy's Spock break rank and hijack the Enterprise to help his former captain, Christopher Pike.

On one level, having Spock court martialed for commandeering the ship is a nifty way to use repurposed footage...

The post Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Just Resolved One of the Original Show's Longest-Running Mysteries appeared first on /Film.

The Capt. Christopher Pike seen on "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds," as portrayed by Anson Mount, is a far cry from the Capt. Pike that actor Jeffrey Hunter portrayed in "The Cage," the original 1966 "Star Trek" pilot. In "The Cage," Pike was a stern authority figure, largely humorless, and suffused with a note of anger. Indeed, Pike's anger was so powerful that he was able to use it to cloud the minds of a species of psychic Talosians who were holding him captive.

The Pike of "Strange New Worlds" — a series set after the events of "The Cage" — is a far warmer,...

The post Anson Mount's Dream Star Trek Role Isn't In Strange New Worlds appeared first on /Film.

When Anson Mount, Ethan Peck and Rebecca Romijn were cast on “Star Trek: Discovery” as Pike, Spock and Number One, respectively, little did casting director Margery Simkin know that it would lead to a spin-off, “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,” that she obviously had to be part of. “They liked those cast members enough to decide to build a show around them so it would’ve been a real bummer if we didn’t get to do it,” Simkin quips to Gold Derby at our Meet the Experts: Casting Directors panel (watch the exclusive video interview above).

Simkin and her partner Orly Sitowitz first saw Mount for the role of Lorca on “Discovery” after the “Hell on Wheels” alum sent in a self-tape from his New York City kitchen apartment. While he ultimately wasn’t right for that role, which went to Jason Isaacs, he was top of mind when...

This post contains spoilers for episode 3 of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds."

"Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" is, even more so than most of the recent "Trek" shows, a legacy program. While "Star Trek: Picard" steers into nostalgia like a raft caught in a current and "Star Trek: Lower Decks" is lousy with references to older "Trek" episodes, it's "Strange New Worlds" that features a cast made up almost entirely of "Trek" characters previously seen. Captain Pike (Anson Mount) was originally played by Jeffrey Hunter. Spock (Ethan Peck) was played by Leonard Nimoy. Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush) was played by Majel Barrett. Dr. M'Benga (Babs Olusanmokun)...

The post Star Trek's Most Mysterious Character Now Has a Backstory appeared first on /Film.