It’s difficult to follow someone else in a role, but Robin Curtis was called upon to do so in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.

It may have been hard to follow someone in a role, but at least Curtis had an easy audition experience due to Leonard Nimoy. “I remember the process very, very, very clearly,” she said. “I interviewed with the casting people. That really wasn’t an audition, because there was nothing to read. Almost a day to two days later I met Leonard Nimoy one-on-one. That was first time I read any sides, as it were, from the script. I did not audition again until the screen test. So it was the gentlest experience.”

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Character actor Robert Easton, best-known to Star Trek fans for his role as the Klingon judge in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, died last week.

Easton was eighty-one, and died of natural causes at his home in Toluca Lake, California.

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For fans of the music from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, the complete Leonard Rosenman score to the movie has just been released.

The CD is seventy-one minutes long, and includes twenty-four tracks, including bonus tracks.

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Twenty-five years ago, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, with Catherine Hicks as Dr. Gillian Taylor, was released, and today, the actress recalls her memories of auditioning for and appearing in the movie.

Hicks wasn’t familiar with Star Trek or its history before landing the role of Dr. Taylor. “I think it charmed [Leonard Nimoy] that I was like the character,” she said, “utterly naive of the genre and the history of it.”

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There will be four conventions, shows or appearances in November and December that feature actors or authors of interest to Star Trek fans. This listing of conventions and shows features actors from all five of the televised series and from several of the Star Trek movies.

November begins with René Auberjonois taking part in A Smut Sampler, at the Harry Ransom Center (Jessen Auditorium) at the University of Texas at Austin on Thursday, November 3 at 7 PM. The program, A Smut Sampler: A Light-Hearted Reading of Selections from Some Notorious Banned Books, is hosted by Isaiah Sheffler and will feature readings from books that were “banned, burned, seized and censored” in the past.

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Rick Sternbach created starships, weapons, props and more during his years with Star Trek, in a timeframe ranging from Star Trek: The Motion Picture through Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Nemesis.

Sternbach’s interest in Star Trek dates back to 1974, and a meeting with Gene Roddenberry after a showing of The Cage at Yale University. “We spent a couple of hours talking about everything from Star Trek to the real space program to the future of humans in the galaxy,” said Sternbach. A 1977 move to California meant Sternbach was in the right place when it was time for Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

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Eric Bana, Star Trek XI’s Romulan Nero, will take on the role of Elvis Presley in Elvis & Nixon.

Elvis & Nixon is the story of a visit by Presley to the White House in 1970, where he met President Richard M. Nixon.

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Another Mondo Star Trek poster will be released tomorrow, and this will be of interest to fans of the original series.

The latest poster, titled Star Trek: The Motion Picture, is black, blue and white, and features the scene towards the end of the movie where Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Decker and the Ilia probe have left the Enterprise to investigate V’Ger.

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Beginning tomorrow, Epix will be showing the Shatnerpalooza movies, including William Shatner’s Gonzo Ballet (Thursday at 8 PM and on Friday at 12:00 AM and 7:00 PM), and The Captains Documentary (Friday at 8 PM and Saturday at 3:15 AM).

Before and after William Shatner’s Gonzo Ballet and The Captains, there will be a mix of Star Trek movies and the movies and shows in which Shatner appeared that were not Trek-related.

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Fans of Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan remember the scene where James T. Kirk screams out “KHHHHAAAAANNN!” after Khan informs him that he has marooned Kirk in the center of a dead planet and buried him alive.

Now, a fun fan activity tied in with EPIX’s Shatnerpalooza gives fans a chance to upload their own Khan screams.

The viral Shatner celebration is in progress and by heading to The Long Khan, fans can add their own video to the chain and contribute to the “longest Khan in history,” and can see what others have posted.

The Long Khan will run through August.

There will be nine conventions, shows or appearances in July and August that feature actors of interest to Star Trek fans. This listing of conventions and shows features actors from all five of the televised series and several of the Star Trek movies.

July begins with Shore Leave 33, which will be held July 8-10 at the Marriott Hunt Valley Inn in Hunt Valley, Maryland. In addition to the three Trek actors (John de Lancie, Sally Kellerman and Gary Lockwood), astronaut John Grunsfeld will be in attendance.

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Malcolm McDowell didn’t like the way Captain Kirk was killed off and neither did some fans, some of whom expressed their displeasure towards McDowell himself.

Even though plenty of people didn’t like the death of Kirk as it was originally filmed, including both William Shatner and Patrick Stewart, the studio didn’t act on those complaints until a test screening revealed deep dissatisfaction from the audience.

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Malcolm McDowell played Dr. Tolian Soran, the man responsible for the death of James T. Kirk in Star Trek: Generations, but he’s not a fan of how Kirk died.

There was no hesitation on McDowell’s part when it came to accepting the role of Soran though. “I thought, ‘Well, this is a good part.’ I think that’s what I felt immediately,” said McDowell.

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There will be thirteen conventions, shows or appearances in June and July that feature actors of interest to Star Trek fans. This listing of conventions and shows features actors from all five of the televised series and several of the Star Trek movies.

In June, ConCarolinas 2011 will take place at the Charlotte Hilton University Place, in Charlotte, North Carolina, from June 3-5. Star Trek: Enterprise‘s John Billingsley (Dr. Phlox) and Bonita Friedericy will be in attendance at Con Carolinas 2011.

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Although David Carson directed gems such as Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s Yesterday’s Enterprise, he also worked on Star Trek: Generations, where he found the proposed mode of death for James T. Kirk to be unacceptable.

Carson began his Trek career with The Next Generation‘s The Enemy. “I was in England and I didn’t know Star Trek,” he explained. “When I was told that I had an interview for the thing, I said, ‘Oh yes, what’s Star Trek?’ My agents went, ‘You don’t know what Star Trek is? You’d better go down to the video store and get the thing out and have a look at it.”

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