The three shirts are based on characters seen in the original series of Star Trek.

Designed by Arty Perez, the Art Deco-style shirts feature Lt. Uhura, an Orion Slave girl and Yeoman Rand.

Perez spoke about creating the newest Star Trek T-shirts which are done in the Art Deco style of Patrick Nagel. “I have been a fan of both Star Trek and Patrick Nagel since I was very young,” he said. “I remember going to the beauty salon with my aunt to get her hair done, and thinking that those drawings [used in salon window displays, based on Nagel's work] were rad.”

According to Perez, one Star Trek character was an especially good fit for the Nagel style of art. “Uhura,” he said. “She’s a sexy butt-kicking lady. She was the obvious choice.”

The shirts come in different colors. The Orion Slave shirt comes in lemonade, white or purple. The Yeoman Rand shirt is available in sky diver (blue), purple or silver. The Uhura shirt comes in silver, red or gold.

The shirts, which sell for $25.00 each, can be purchased at www.welovefine.com.

Click on the thumbnails for full-sized photos.

With the destruction of Vulcan in Star Trek XI, there will be pressure on Spock to help his race. “I would imagine (this is just speculative),” said Quinto, “his planet’s been destroyed, he feels a real imperative to rebuild his race. But he’s in love with a human. There’s probably some potential conflict in that dynamic, I would not be surprised, and I would be intrigued and excited by that if that were the case.”

Quinto trusts the writers when it comes to Spock and where the character (and his romance) will go in Star Trek 2. “I have such implicit trust in all of those guys: Damon, Bob and Alex, and J.J.,” he said. “I feel like they’re going to take us where we need to go. And we’re going to follow them whole-heartedly.”

But what about the Spock-Uhura romance? Will it survive? “I do think [so],” said Quinto. “I don’t see how they could just drop it. It may be fraught, I don’t know!”

Spock will feel the need to help when it comes to rebuilding the Vulcan race. “He’s not the only Vulcan, I think I said, ‘Of my planet’s nearly six billion inhabitants, approximately ten thousand have survived,’” said Quinto. “He’s not the only one. But the odds aren’t great. He has a bit of a cultural imperative to [help].

“I think he’s going to spend a lot more time doing the logical thing. Which is to help repopulate, help support, and help rebuild the race of people. His father was full Vulcan, and he has a responsibility there, and he loves his father very much.’

Responsible for writing hundreds of songs, including several for The Carpenters, as well as Promise Me You’ll Remember from The Godfather- Part III, Bettis will be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame on June 16.

The Songwriters Hall of Fame was established in 1969 and counts amongst its four hundred plus members well-known songwriters Bob Dylan, James Taylor, Paul Simon, Sir Elton John, Loretta Lynn, Bruce Springsteen, James Brown and Isaac Hayes.

“It’s very overwhelming,” said Bettis. “Alphabetically, my name will go right under Chuck Berry.”

Bettis wrote the lyrics for The Moon’s a Window to Heaven, the song which Uhura sang as she performed a fan dance to lure guards of Paradise City into a trap in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.

The second set of Star Trek-themed Potato Heads will feature Mr. Spock and Lieutenant Uhura. This Potato Head set will be one of the first Potato Head sets to incorporate a new Potato Heads redesign.

All of the pieces used to customize the Potato Heads will be interchangeable, meaning that fans can also use pieces from the Kirk and Kor Potato Heads and from any future Star Trek Potato Heads to make their own unique character if they choose to do so.

The set will sell for approximately $30-$35. Further information, when available, can be seen at PPW Toys, where the first set of Kirk and Kor can still be ordered.

According to Nichols, Star Trek fandom was the first one to put on conventions to meet with others who enjoyed their favorite television show. “First, it was a first,” she said. “Now, there are all kinds of conventions that celebrate their favorites, but this was the first. And so it was very, very different. And it was very honorable, you know? They loved the show. They got it. They got that Gene Roddenberry created something in the future that ‘today’ — 1966…”

At the same time that the show began its run, the United States was going through upheaval as African-Americans had begun to make their voices heard, demanding an end to segregation and racism. “Dr. King was marching,” said Nichols, “every day you’d look on the TV and people are having hoses and dogs [used on them] because they wanted to eat at a fountain — though they wanted more than that. And Dr. King was the person who was guiding that.”

Roddenberry’s show was a message that times would get better and that today’s problems would be solved. “And Gene was the person who was announcing that not only was this going to succeed, but it already has, because when the twenty-third century [arrives], see, there’s Nichelle, there’s Uhura, in the twenty-third century, communication officer, fourth in command. So it didn’t just start in the twenty-third century. It started from what you’re seeing on television every day. Men and women of the future are here now.”

Fans understood what Roddenberry was trying to do. “I’ll just tell you one of the most important things that someone said who was white,” said Nichols. “He said, ‘When discrimination, when racial discrimination was outlawed, black people weren’t the only people who were freed. We were freed, too. We were freed to care, we were freed to think and not be bound by racism, and protocol, and what our parents think.” Because a lot of parents didn’t want their kids looking at Star Trek.”

In Star Trek Magazine #31, as well as interviews with Dawson and Masterson, there will be a “look at the Haynes Enterprise Manual” and an article on Star Trek‘s strong females, featuring Lieutenant Uhura.

Dawson spoke about her days on Star Trek: Voyager, including a discussion with Brannon Braga which led to the episode Extreme Risk. “The episode Extreme Risk actually came out of a conversation I had had with executive producer Brannon Braga,” said Dawson. “He was wondering where B’Elanna would go next, and I began talking about her life and that maybe she was at a point where the conflict between her Klingon and human sides was so great that she began taking risks to know what it was like to feel. B’Elanna wanted to pit one side against the other and see which would win as far as her fears and vulnerabilities went. It was a very private thing that wound up obsessing her.

“I love what they did with that script. It was an emotional and exciting episode to do because it was so psychologically risky. In fact, I’ve spoken with a number of people who have gone through moments like that. They’ve taken undue risks to test the boundaries of life for one reason or another, whether because of something that has happened in their own life, or even due to clinical depression. Sometimes people will do things just to reaffirm to themselves what it means to be alive. So I thought it was a risky as well as wonderful thing that the writers were willing to go there with B’Elanna and really show this sort of psychologically tormented side of her that was crying out for some help, and I was thrilled to perform that.”

In the article about Star Trek‘s strong women, authors Kevin Dilmore and Dayton Ward show how one character, Uhura, set the bar for those who would follow her. Fans of the original series were aware of Uhura’s resourcefulness, from language skills to the ability to repair the systems with which she worked, but a new generation of fans saw a younger Uhura in Star Trek XI, who showed that same skill and resourcefulness as a young Starfleet cadet.

To subscribe to the Star Trek Magazine, head to the link located here. A digital version can be purchased here.

One question that always comes up with original series members concerned getting along now with William Shatner. According to Nichols, “It’s very cordial when we see each other.”

Although Nichols wore a red uniform, she never worried about meeting the fate of many redshirts. “But there’s a funny story,” she said. “The first time you saw me, I wasn’t in a red outfit; the outfit was puke green. The front office had not seen that and had no idea I was on the show. When they saw the dailies, they went, ‘What the hell? Who is she?’ Gene [Roddenberry] said, ‘She’s the communications officer.’ They said, ‘What happened to…?’ Gene said, ‘He got a lead role on Room 222, and Nichelle is absolutely perfect for it. Isn’t she good?’ They said, ‘Yes, she’s good, but… but… but… but, we can’t…’ Gene said, ‘I told you I was going to make a change on the bridge. You knew this.’ They said, ‘All you said was you were going to add a little color. We thought you were talking about the costumes!’ Gene said, ‘You know, you’re right. I don’t like her in that outfit,’ and he had the costumer change it. The next thing I knew I was in a red costume for the duration of the show. They didn’t come up with the idea of the red shirts dying on planets for a little while.”

If Nichols could have lunch with any of the characters (not actors) from the show, with whom would she lunch and why? “Mr. Spock,” said Nichols. “As we talked about, I created my character as relating to Spock. I thought of Spock as Uhura’s mentor, because he was older and more experienced.”

What would Nichols like to see for the character Uhura in the next Star Trek film? “I’d like to see what J.J. Abrams does with it,” said Nichols. “I think with what Zoë [Saldana] did, making the change, going from this young, flirty gal and having fun to being dead serious, I’d like to see where that goes. She’ll be making more choices in the next few years and I have full faith and confidence in Zoë and in J.J. I’d love to see where they take it, and I’d love to come back to it in that out-of-sequence timeframe and meet up with Uhura as her mother or grandmother or whatever, if J.J. wanted to use me. I would love to be a part of it.”

Being young and new to Starfleet meant excitement and romance were part of the game, according to Nichols. “…she was a recruit and this was her first trip out. It was the five-mission where no man or woman had gone before. So J.J. [Abrams] had the right, as the director of the prequel, to show the characters as young people. NASA recruits train for a year, sometimes two, before they go out on their first mission. As young people, they’re excited and they’re new and they’re going to go on this mission, and there’s romance and so forth that’s going to go on.”

Nichols explained why Spock attracted Uhura. “Kirk was hitting on her a couple of times and he was hitting on everybody else because he was cute – and knew it,” said Nichols. “She shined him off, but Spock fascinated her, her serious side. Now, this is me making my story on what happened, but he saw in her his human side and she touched a side of him that they were supposedly discreet about.”

The attraction between the characters was in the original series, says Nichols. “Now, go back to my participation in Star Trek as Uhura and Leonard (Nimoy) as Spock,” she explained. “There was always a connection between Uhura and Spock. It was the early 60′s, so you couldn’t do what you can do now, but if you will remember, Uhura related to Spock. When she saw the captain lost in space out there in her mirror, it was Spock who consoled her when she went screaming out of her room. When Spock needed an expert to help save the ship, you remember that Uhura put something together and related back to him the famous words, ‘I don’t know if I can do this. I’m afraid.’ And Uhura was the only one who could do a spoof on Spock. Remember the song (in Charlie X)? Those were the hints, as far as I’m concerned.”

Nichols claims credit for a change in Zoë Saldana‘s portrayal of Uhura. “She asked me about my background, my parents, and I told her about that,” said Nichols. “I told her I created Uhura’s parents and that they were rather like my parents, that they would have expected the highest from me. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. And Zoë got very serious. She said, “Oh, my God, I wish I’d met you, talked to you before I started shooting.’ I said, ‘I’m sure that you’re bringing something fresh and beautiful.’ She just looked at me and said, ‘Yeah, but I see Uhura in a whole new light.’”

After seeing the movie, “I understood what the young lady was talking about when she said, ‘I wish I had spoken to you before I started,’ because she was playing it light and flirty at the beginning,” said Nichols. “The time I spoke to her was the time they were then going on the ship. Do you remember the scene where she says, ‘No, I’m going! I was promised this, and I’m going,’ and they had to take her on? She was destined to go on. She kissed Spock in a different way and said, ‘I’ll see you on board.’ When she walked on board she was a full-blown Uhura in every manner and way that I had created the character.”

Trek fans were surprised by the romance between the half-Vulcan Spock and human Uhura in Star Trek XI, and now they wonder what will happen now that Vulcans have become an endangered race.
Zoë Saldana (Uhura) also wonders how the romance will be handled in the Abrams sequel, hoping that the romance continues. “There was a huge acceptance and excitement with what J.J. and the writers did with that twist,” she said. “What they did was a huge gamble, and when it worked, it worked really, really well.”

But events of the movie may force a change in that relationship. “It would be interesting to see what they are going to do with it,” said Saldana. “I really hope they keep continuing to explore it, but at the same time too … I could be wrong, but I thought Vulcans only mate every seven years. So now that the planet has been extinguished, it’s kind of interesting. Can Spock mate with a non-Vulcan?”

Saldana thought that given the destruction of most of the Vulcan race, Spock might need to find a Vulcan female instead of Uhura to help perpetuate the species, because any children that Uhura and Spock might have would only be one-quarter Vulcan. “I’m not a Vulcan,” she said. “Now there’s no Vulcan planet.”

As reported by TrekMovie.com, the limited edition ornament, which features Lieutenant Uhura in a gold uniform, should sell out quickly, with only four hundred and fifty of them being offered for sale at this year’s Comic-Con.

The Uhura ornament is a repainted version of the 2007 limited edition Uhura from Keepsake artist Anita Marra Rogers.

Fans can stop by the Hallmark booth, located within the Lucasfilm Pavilion, at Comic-Con from July 23-26 (with a special preview night on July 22nd,) where the ornament will be available until it has sold out.

For those who can’t make it to Comic-con, not to worry. Hallmark will offer another limited edition Star Trek ornament featuring Ilia (Star Trek: The Motion Picture.) The Ilia ornament features the Deltan woman wearing the white costume seen on Ilia after she became the eyes and ears of “V’Ger”.

The Ilia ornament will be available for purchase beginning on October 10th, the first day of the Hallmark Keepsake Ornament Debut Weekend. It is expected to sell briskly.

Other Hallmark ornaments for 2009 include a Klingon Battlecruiser, a scene from The Menagerie (Kirk, Spock and Christopher Pike,) and a Starfleet phaser ornament.

To read more, head to the article located here.