NY Paley Center Celebrates STAR TREK at 50
NEW YORK, NY –The Paley Center is celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the original Star Trek series with ten days of fan-selected screenings, family events, and panel discussions. The celebration kicked off with an exclusive Paley Members-Only preview Thursday, September 15 and continues until Sunday September 25.
“The Paley Center for Media is thrilled to welcome this extraordinary Star Trek fiftieth anniversary art exhibit and present one-of-a-kind programs, providing fans of the beloved series an out-of-this-world experience that they will not find anywhere else in New York,” said Maureen J. Reidy, President and CEO.
Among the experiences offered to fans are opportunities to take photo ops alongside authentic costumes, character cutouts and set re-creations. These include the Enterprise bridge and the Gorn planet from the episode “Arena”.
From September 16 to 25, the Paley Center is hosting Star Trek: 50 Artists. This is an original art exhibition celebrating the franchise with Star Trek–inspired works by fifty artists from ten different countries around the world. Some of the artists, like PJ McQuade and Stanley Chow, were on hand during the first weekend festivities to answer questions and interact with fans. The exhibition, which is curated by CBS Consumer Products, features a variety of mediums, 2-D and 3-D images, illustrations, photographs, paintings and sculptures. Also included are pieces associated with celebrity fan Mayim Bialik (The Big Bang Theory) and the last work of art created by Leonard Nimoy.
The opening weekend kicked off with a “The Way to Eden” celebration on Friday, September 16th. Activities included a Star Trek–themed cocktail party, a Trek Trivia contest with prizes and a bingo game coinciding with a showing of “Spock’s Brain”, which is the episode William Shatner once described at an allegorical slap at the programming decisions of network executives!
Also on the program was a musical improv performance by “Redshirts” – reputed to be the only all-woman Star Trek: The Next Generation-inspired musical comedy team in existence and a live Theremin performance by Master Thereminist Rob Schwimmer.
On Saturday, September 17, kids big and small were invited to join Paley Media Center staff for a Star Trek: The Animated Series screening and the creation of Star Trek–inspired crafts like Enterprise crew member puppet building and alien mask making. Family friendly activities scheduled for that afternoon also included a lesson in Klingon by language expert Elizabeth Lawrence Faber.
A panel of experts was tasked with judging the entries in the Kirk Impersonation Contest. Earlier in the month, interested fans were instructed to video themselves delivering a famous monologue from one of three classic Star Trek episodes: “Return to Tomorrow,” “The Corbonite Maneuver” or “This Side of Paradise”.
The panel was later also responsible for leading a discussion to determine who the greatest Star Trek leader in history might have been, examining the relative pros and cons of Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway and Archer.
The members of the Captains Panel of Experts included the following writers and creators: Wade Bowen (Sisko) Host, The Rules of Acquisition, Sue Kisenwether (Janeway) Host, Women at Warp, Alex McCown-Levy (Picard) Staff Writer, The A.V. Club, Meg Sweeney Lawless (Kirk) Comedy Writer, Dramaturge and Alasdair Wilkins (Archer) Writer, The A.V. Club
The celebration also offers daily screening of episodes from all six series (five live-action, plus the animated show) between September 17 and September 25 (except for 9/19 & 9/20 when the Center is closed). During the weekend of September 24 & 25, six episodes will be shown —three on Saturday and three on Sunday— selected by fans via a special fiftieth anniversary Star Trek poll.
Also in time for the anniversary festivities, a new documentary about Leonard Nimoy will be presented at Symphony Space’s Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theater. For The Love of Spock has been described as an intimate tribute the life and career of both Nimoy and his alter-ego, Mr. Spock, as told by his son, Adam Nimoy. It features interviews and clips looking back at five decades of Star Trek as well as at Nimoy’s career both in front of and behind the camera.
For The Love of Spock will be shown twice daily at 6:15 and 8:30 pm Monday September 12, 2016 thru Friday September 16, 2016. On Saturday and Sunday, September 17 and 18, there will be four showings, at 1:45 4:00, 6:16 and 8:30 pm. Expected run time for the documentary is 105 minutes.
The Paley Center is located at. 25 West 52 Street, New York, NY 10019
Symphony Space is located at 2537 Broadway, New York, NY 10025. The theatre is located on the southwest corner of 95th St and Broadway.
