All big movies - and some smaller ones - have a lot of promotional merchandise, but this is one of the more strange ones: they're coming out with a Star Trek cologne.

So...many...jokes.

It's just some of the merchandise for the new Star Trek movie coming later this spring. You can have your dolls and your coffee mugs and your mouse pads and your posters, the real Trekkie man will be wearing either Tiberius (that's Kirk's middle name), Pon Farr (Vulcan horniness), or Red Shirt (they're the guys that always, um, die when they beam down to another planet). No word yet on whether Tiberius will smell more like William Shatner or more like Chris Pine.

Why would Star Trek fans need a cologne? They don't go on dates! (Just kidding.)

What other TV shows deserve their own cologne? What kind of cologne does Frank on 30 Rock wear?

[via Pop Candy]

Just in time to tax refund season -- because you can't use the money for things like gas, food and basic survival -- comes the newest Barbie releases from toy giant Mattel. They're the Star Trek Barbie dolls -- three dolls that represent Kirk, Spock and Uhura. Okay, that's neat. But, there's just one issue...

See, these dolls are not designed after the original Star Trek cast from the 1960s. These dolls are modeled after the stars that will play those iconic characters in the new and highly anticipated Star Trek prequel coming out in May. Each doll comes dressed in the Starfleet outfits that are familiar to fans of the original series and carries a phaser (Type II model) and a communicator.

The cost for the dolls...forty-four friggin bucks a piece! Don't worry, because you have until the end of April to save up before they are released to Wal-mart, walmart.com, and Barbiecollector.com. Get them while they last before someone sells them on eBay for triple the price.

Has anyone been watching William Shatner's talk show Raw Nerve? I swore to myself that I would watch it when it premiered, but it's on The Biography Channel, and sometimes when we're talking about those channels that get up to 105 or 144 or 170 on your cable system, you forget that the show is on. Heck, I'm not even sure I even get The Biography Channel on my cable system since they started taking away and adding channels in my package last year. But if I do have it I'm going to check out tomorrow's episode for sure.

On the January 6 episode, Shatner is going to interview good friend and Star Trek buddy Leonard Nimoy.

...three Zachs for viewing.

Perhaps it's just coincidence, but right now our TV world has a trio of superb young actors in very different programs and they're all named Zach. Coincidence or the fact that the year they were born, Zachary was a really popular name for baby boys? Whatever, the bottom line is that Zach Braff, Zachary Levi, and Zachary Quinto are terrific and Scrubs, Chuck and Heroes, respectively, wouldn't be the same without them.

What's really interesting about these three Zachs, beside the fact that they all share the same first name, is that they could probably all play each other's roles -- even though it's hard to imagine Braff or Levi as evil, they're good enough to do it. And Zachary Quinto has done the nerdy, computer guy when he was on 24.

It's interesting, but if you squint a little and tilt your head, they all could look like they're brothers. However, while the Three Zs may pass as the Three Amigos if you put them in sombreros, they are definitely making the TV world a much happier landscape.

(S02E08) As much as I enjoy this show, I'm always afraid that it's going to start becoming too Sheldon-centric. Sheldon is easily the quirkiest character, so falling into the trap of, "hey, check out this ridiculous thing that guy said," over and over again would be quite easy. So far though, the writers have managed to avoid that; which is why I was happy to have a Wolowitz episode this week.

Of course, Sheldon was still there being his ridiculous self, but he wasn't there to move the plot along; much as his "Rock-Paper-Scissors-Lizard-Spock" game didn't move anything along (everyone always picked Spock).

I knew that the new Star Trek movie was going to be an origins story, but I didn't realize how far back they were going to go.

The first trailer (not counting that lame teaser trailer that debuted months ago and was only aimed towards hardcore fans who get off on Enterprise blueprints) for the movie is now available. It is attached to some copies of Quantum of Solace (though, sadly, not the place where I saw QoS the other night, damn it) and Paramount has also released the official version online so we don't have to sit through YouTube videos that someone shot in a dark theater.

Do not adjust your web browser. You are now entering the Retro Squad, where we are reviewing past episodes of classic TV shows.

Ever since I was allowed to make my own decisions, I have tried to emulate Jim Kirk. Whenever I have a tough choice to make I ask myself WWJTKD? When I became a father, I continued that practice and it's helped out immeasurably.

You Can't Make Everybody Happy
During his career, Captain Kirk has been forced to make unpopular decisions. Even though the decision is always the right one, there are always people (sometimes a lot of people) who end up wanting him court-martialed or worse. As I became responsible for people other than myself, I had to realize that like Kirk, I have to make the decision that I know is right even if it makes my kids hate me.

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Hey, Brigitte here with TV Squad Daily. I'll be covering the TV stories I find interesting each day, Monday through Friday, in this video blog.

Today on TV Squad Daily:

• Do the TV networks secretly want a writers' strike?
  
• You know what hurts the ego? Getting sent home from Dancing with the Stars even though you're really good at the dancing part.
  
• Like music? Maybe you need Spock ears. (Update: Hi, I'm gullible. I guess this thing is a hoax... but still...)
  

The video's embedded below, or you can subscribe to this podcast via our feed. Plus, you can also download the file directly.

Here's some cool news for any Star Trek fans who have been enjoying the new digitally remastered Star Trek episodes currently airing in syndication:

CBS will re-air "new" digitally-cleaned-up episodes of the original Star Trek series starting next month. Forty episodes will be shown in total, starting September 15, 2007 and ending August 2, 2008. You'll have to check your listings to see what time they're airing, though it'll be either on a Saturday or Sunday.

There is a certain amateurish charm to most YouTube fanvids, especially when they have to do with unconventional romances between characters that aren't explicitly stated in the show's canon. Usually the videos consist of poorly chosen clips from various episodes, cut together to kind of, sort of look like knowing glances and to kind of, sort of feel like sexual tension. However, every once in a while, I stumble across a fanvid so outrageously well-done that I am compelled to share with everyone I know, fans and non-fans alike.

When it comes to television, Comic-Con is one enormous marketing machine for early adopting fanboys and girls. Each panel is constructed around dropping one or two spoilerific bon mots to the core fanbase so let's not waste any time and just cut to the chase. I'll follow-up with full panel reports, but in the meantime, here's the big news from Comic-Con this Thursday, July 26th.

(WARNING: Potential spoilers for all things pop culture and most things J.J. Abrams-related ahead.)

Rumors are still abound as to who is playing whom in the upcoming Star Trek prequel from Lost and Alias creator JJ Abrams, but according to the NY Post, at least one man is out: William Shatner. Despite wanting a cameo role in the prequel, Shatner was not offered one. That's kind of a bummer, but what makes it even moreso, if the rumors are true (and it's the Post, so I'm skeptical), is that Leonard "Spock" Nimoy was offered a cameo role, instead.

Ostensibly, it seems unfair to give Nimoy a brief role and shut Shatner out completely, but having no idea the context of Nimoy's supposed cameo, it's tough to have an opinion about it one way or the other. Perhaps the cameo situation is such that it would only work with Nimoy and not Shatner --some kind of clever inside joke-- but I guess we won't know until the movie comes out.

[via Dark Horizons]

Hey, Brigitte here with TV Squad Daily. I'll be covering the TV stories I find interesting each day, Monday through Friday, in this video blog.

Today on TV Squad Daily:

• Dina Lohan is trying for her own reality show, all about her role in pushing the two younger Lohan siblings into entertainment careers.
  
• Leonard Nimoy has a new interest, and he really needs to keep the whole "Spock image" out of it.
  
• Rumors, rumors. Will American Idol judges Randy and Paula be replaced by Britney Spears?
  

The video's embedded below, or you can also subscribe to this podcast via our feed. Plus, now you download the file directly again!

(S05E09) For the first time in a month and a half, we finally have a new Family Guy. I'm not sure I understand the thought process behind the programming at Fox, but the bright side is it means we'll have plenty of new episodes for the second half of the season.

The FG team went back to familiar territory this week, bringing us another "Road to..." episode. If you close your eyes really tight, you can almost see the eventual special edition DVD commercial. Like "Road to Rhode Island" and "Road to Europe" before it, this one was split into two separate stories that had virtually nothing to do with each other. And also like those that came before, I preferred the Stewie and Brian story.

I'm referring to Spock from Star Trek, not Dr. Spock the baby expert. Although, I'd have loved to see a baby book written by the latter while he was on drugs. That would certainly be entertaining. At any rate, my good pal Wild Bill sent me a link to a video consisting of some trippy scenes from the original Star Trek set to Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit." The video mostly features Spock, Bones and Kirk from the episode "Shore Leave," which is one of few Star Trek episodes I actually remember. Sorry, I was a Star Wars nerd and always will be.

I'm not sure if this video should be viewed as pro-drug or anti-drug. Spock certainly seems to have trouble coping with altered perceptions, but Sulu doesn't seem to have a problem with it at all. My conclusion? If you need help with your math homework, call Spock. If you want to party, call Sulu.