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Here's a bit of trivia for the Trekkies out there. If you've seen The Terminal, you may have noticed some interesting things about Zoe Saldana's character, Officer Torres. As Viktor Navorski (played by Tom Hanks) tries to help out his friend Enrique win Officer Torres' affection, he discovers that she's an avid Trekkie who has, on at least one occasion, gone to Star Trek Conventions cosplaying as Yeoman Rand.
The awesomeness continues with her name, which matches up with Chief Engineer B'Elanna Torres' from Star Trek: Voyager. And to top it all off, Zoe Saldana will be donning the uniform of a certain communications officer by the name of Nyota Uhura in J.J. Abrams' film reboot of Star Trek due out in 2009. Here's me wishing I could bend the space-time continuum and make 2009 happen now. Anyone up for a little slingshot around the sun?
I wish I could describe to you what the Wilhelm Scream sounds like. Still, if you've seen an action movie, ever... I'm positive you've heard it already, though you may not have known it for what it was. The Wilhelm Scream is a distinctive yell with a story that goes way back in cinema history. If you need a refresher though, try checking it out here or YouTubing it.
What started out as a stock scream recording was later rediscovered by none other than sound designer Ben Burtt, the man who would become famous for his contributions to the Star Wars movies as the man who gave voice to R2D2. As for Ben's ongoing career, you can see, or rather hear his handiwork in his most recent film Wall-E, as he provided all the adorable chirps and blurps that emanated from the titular character's sound card.
Seriously though, tracing the Wilhelm scream becomes pretty easy if you know what it sounds like. You can hear it in just about every movie ever made that has any tiny bit of action. It's like the greatest recurring joke in cinema. The hard part comes in trying to track every single movie to ever use the Wilhelm Scream... because that list is long. Here's a YouTube video that puts just a small handful of those clips together. I dare you not to laugh when you see how awesomely overused the sound is.
Veronica Mars. Highly underrated show, and prematurely canceled (criminally early, if you ask me). Here's some random trivia for fans of good television.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer alumni Charisma Carpenter and Alyson Hannigan both have minor roles in Veronica Mars. Notably, you can see them acting opposite each other in the episode, "My Mother, the Fiend." If you've seen them in Buffy, it's a little jarring. Charisma plays Kendall Casablancas... well... pretty much the same way she plays Cordelia in Buffy (though, notably, she grows as a character in her reprised role in Angel), but Alyson's Trina Echolls is like the polar opposite of stage fright ridden Willow.
Bonus points to anyone who noticed Joss Whedon making his own cameo as a rental car service manager in the episode "Rat Saw God."
On an even more coincidental note, Michael Cera and Alia Shawkat of Arrested Development fame also guest star in one episode of Veronica Mars. The same episode, "The Rapes of Graff." They play students at the college Veronica Mars is looking to attend. How strange is that? I suppose it's a tribute to their incredibly youthful looks that they both have the flexibility to play both young teens and young adults. But really, Kristen Bell wins the gold at playing younger characters. She was twenty-four when she started her run on the show as a high-schooler. Go figure.
There's no other way to say it. I love House. As far as shows with rock solid dialogue and ever-progressive character development go, it's up there in my top three of all time. After numerous complete viewings of every episode that's aired so far, I realized that one of the many strengths of House, as a show, is its ability to bring in the perfect guest stars to portray patients.
In a true streak of trivial pursuit, I did a little research to see how many actors House has shared with some of my other favorite shows (both new and old). The number of crossover actors blew my mind. Here are the findings:
Actors in both House and Buffy the Vampire SlayerMajor characters: Michelle Trachtenberg (as Dawn Summers), Marc Blucas (Riley Finn), Adam Busch (Warren Meers), Ivana Milicevic (Sam Finn).
Minor characters: Nicole Bilderback (as one of the "Cordettes"), Kal Penn, Azura Skye, Joel Grey, Shonda Farr (April, the robot girlfriend). Update: Felicia Day (as one of the potential slayers) from House Season 5 Episode 2.Actors in both House and 24
Major characters: Leslie Hope (as Teri Bauer), Sarah Clarke (Nina Myers).
Minor characters: Kal Penn (as Ahmed Amar), Harry J. Lennix (Walid Al-Rezani), Leighton Meester, Myndy Crist, Missy Crider, Brent Briscoe, Kurtwood Smith, Tracy Howe.Actors in both House and Heroes
Major characters: Greg Grunberg (as Matt Parkman), Matthew John Armstrong (Ted Sprague), Nicholas D'Agosto (West Rosen), Thomas Dekker (Zach), Adai Tishler (Molly Walker).
Minor characters: Nicole Bilderback (as Ms. Sakamoto), Lyndsy Fonseca (April).
The next three shows have much fewer shared characters, but I felt like I had to mention them anyway... Lost, because the show is awesome, Veronica Mars, because the show is awesome, and Smallville... uhm... because the show is like comfort food? I mean, because it's awesome. Okay maybe it's not always awesome, but I love it anyway, so how 'bout you don't worry about it?
Actors in both House and Lost
Elizabeth Mitchell (as Juliet Burke), Nestor Carbonell (Richard Alpert), Greg Grunberg (Pilot Seth Norris), Eyal Podell.
Actors in both House and Veronica MarsAmanda Seyfried (as Lilly Kane), Jessy Schram (Hannah Griffith), Leighton Meester (Carrie Bishop), Keri Lynn Pratt (Hallie Piatt), Christopher Carley (Travis).
Actors in both House and Smallville Joe Morton (as Dr. Steven Hamilton), Shonda Farr (Sasha Woodman), Azura Skye (Amy Palmer).
Yikes. I do believe this officially puts me over my IMDB hyperlinking limit for the day. But I think it goes to prove that House is one of the hottest shows for actors to guest star in. In fact, more than a few of these actors have appeared on House while simultaneously handling lead roles in their own respective shows. Who can blame them, really, House just is that cool.
This one reaches back in time a bit, and a few other astute observsers have already mentioned this as well, but I noticed it all by my lonesome, so I'm posting about it without guilt. If you've seen The Hunt for Red October (and a double spoiler alert and shame on you, if you haven't), you'll know that Sam Neill's character, Vasily Borodin, dies at the end of the movie. As Vasily was in the process of defecting to the United States when he gets shot, his dying words are, "I would like to have seen Montana."
Now pop in Jurassic Park, and at the beginning of the movie, you'll see an overhead shot of a bunch of people brushing sand off dinosaur bones. The words "Badlands, near Snakewater Montana" will appear... and just who stands up into frame not long after? That's right, good old Sam Neill. Looks like he made it to Montana after all. Although, nearly getting blown up in a submarine and nearly getting eaten by a T-Rex are both pretty bad in my book. Maybe he should have just opted instead to open an ice cream parlor in some sleepy midwestern town.
