William Shatner and Wil Wheaton Explain the Mars Curiosity Rover in NASA Videos

On August 5, NASA’s Curiosity will makes its landing on Mars. The event will mark the end of the journey and the start of the mission of exploration for the Mini Cooper-sized rover. To help explain the descent and landing sequence, the space agency has once again tapped a Star Trek legend—William Shatner. It’s the continuation of a long-time relationship between Shatner and NASA, but this time they’ve also brought in the voice talents of another Trek icon, Wil Wheaton. In separate videos, the generation-spanning William and Wil take us through Curiosity’s “Grand Entrance” and its mission to find out if life ever existed on the Red Planet.

Watch the two videos below and let us know whose narration you like best.

Shatner

Wheaton

Tom Hardy’s Nemesis Screen Test

Nemesis has been much maligned by Star Trek fans as the movie that killed the Next Generation film series. While this is probably not a fair assessment—there were many factors that converged at that time—there were certainly controversial decisions made. Stuart Baird’s direction and (lack of) understanding of Star Trek turned off many fans.

Another often discussed decision was the use of Picard’s clone as the villain and the casting of little-known actor Tom Hardy in the role. Nemesis was just Hardy’s fourth film, and since then he has gone on to become an accomplished screen presence. Currently he plays Bane in The Dark Knight Rises and soon will begin filming the Cicero trilogy as Al Capone.

So what went into that decision to cast the young Hardy as Shinzon? Take a look at this video which offers up footage of his screen test with Patrick Stewart. Let us know what you think about Hardy and his performance as Shinzon.

CBS Releases TNG Season Two Blu-ray Trailer

With less than a week to go before the TNG Remastered Season One Blu-ray set hits store shelves, CBS is already whetting the appetite of fans with a look at Season Two.

In this new trailer, fans get a first glimpse of “The Child,” “Where Silence Has Lease,” “The Measure of a Man,” “Contagion,” “Time Squared,” and “Q Who” in glorious HD. It’s incredible how the restoration process makes these stories feel new again, as viewers notice details they’ve never seen before.

In addition to episode footage, the trailer gives us a glimpse of one of the very special extras that will accompany Season Two—an intimate round-table discussion with the TNG cast, produced especially for the Blu-ray set.

Season Two is set for release sometime in the fourth quarter of 2012, and you’ll find this trailer as an extra on the Season One discs. For even more on the Season Two restoration, and to watch the trailer online, visit StarTrek.com for an extensive interview with special features producer Roger Lay, Jr.

LeVar Burton On The Verge

LeVar Burton is one of our favorite actors from Star Trek, and he recently sat down with Joshua Topolsky on an episode of On The Verge to talk about a range of topics. Up for discussion were his new Reading Rainbow app for iPad, what it’s like to be an Internet Meme, and of course his iconic role as Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge. It’s an excellent interview and highlights both the humor and the intellect of Burton that makes him not only an inspiration for Star Trek fans, but for generations of children as well.

Watch the full interview below, and find more great interviews at http://youtube.com/TheVerge.