Kapact's Sci Fi Buzz: Klingon Opera and Real Tractor Beams

Star Trek Online’s second season continues to add content that is making the troubled MMO more acceptable to players. The current feature episode involves the Breen, who were a powerful Dominion ally during the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine television series. The Breen have been attacking a neutral species, The Deferi, in search of ancient technology that is found throughout Deferi settlements. It’s up to you and your crew to determine what the Breen are after and how to protect the Deferi people from this new threat. While this episode is available for Federation and Klingon players, the content imbalance in favor of Federation players is still ongoing.

Damon Lindelof, co-writer of the Star Trek sequel is very tight-lipped, but says that the film will be deeper than the original.


Klingon opera has completed its glorious run in the Netherlands. Entitled – u -, which translates roughly to "universe" or "universal", the opera was the first ever Earth-based Klingon production. The orchestra featured "indigenous Klingon instruments", some making their debut on this planet. The opera's website gives potential attendees a breakdown of what the production will sound like: "Klingon opera uses the principle of musical combat. Beauty in Klingon music comes from the impact of two opposing forces. To quote a well known Klingon proverb qa' wIje 'meH masuv or 'we fight to enrich the spirit.'" The project took three years to complete and will be playing at the Zeebelt Theatre in the Hague from September 9th to the 11th. It was directed by the Klingon Terran Research Ensemble

“By Any Other Name: An Evening of Shakespeare in Klingon” featuring George Takei takes place at 8 p.m. on September 25th, 2010, at the Rosslyn Spectrum in Arlington, Virginia. In addition to scenes from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Julius Caesar, and Much Ado About Nothing (with a same sex couple performing as Beatrice and Benedick), the performance includes an introduction by Marc Okrand (creator of the Klingon Language) and a question and answer session with George Takei, Okrand, and Washington Shakespeare Company (WSC)’s artistic director Christopher Henley at the conclusion of the show.

From “TrekToday”, Terra Nova, the Stephen Spielberg prehistoric dinosaur drama, has undergone an executive producer change. David Fury (24, Lost) is leaving the series, due to “creative differences.” According to a source, Fury was “beloved by the producers on the show, but it just didn’t work out.” Fury’s departure leaves Brannon Braga (Star Trek: The Next Enterprise, Voyager, Enterprise) as the sole writing executive producer for the series. Steven Spielberg and Peter Chernin are the show’s other executive producers.

Terra Nova will “follow a family from one hundred years in the future who travel back in time one hundred and fifty million years to prehistoric Earth ruled by dinosaurs.” Jason O’Mara will be playing Jim Shannon, the head of a family who has traveled back in time to these prehistoric times. Stephen Lang (Avatar) is in talks for the role of Frank Taylor, the “charismatic and ruthless leader” of the Terra Nova settlement.

Filming for the Terra Nova pilot will begin in Australia next month. The series is expected to launch in October 2011, with a preview to air in May of the same year. Fox has ordered thirteen episodes of the drama.

Researchers at the Australian National University have created a device that can move small particles multiple feet using only light. The device works by shining a hollow laser beam around tiny glass particles. The air surrounding the particle heats up, while the dark center of the beam stays cool. When the particle starts to drift out of the middle and into the bright laser beam, the force of heated air molecules bouncing around and hitting the particle's surface is enough to nudge it back to the center.