Paul Winfield, actor, dies

Paul WinfieldActor Paul Winfield, perhaps best known for his portrayal of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1978 TV miniseries King, dies of a heart attack at the age of 62. In genre circles, Mr. Winfield won praise for his portrayal of Captain Terrell of the Reliant in Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan and as General Richard Franklin in the GROPOs episode of Babylon 5, but perhaps his best genre outing was in a 1991 Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Darmok. He received Emmy nominations for his work in King and Roots: The Next Generation, as well as an Oscar nomination for Sounder; he finally took home an Emmy for a guest role on Picket Fences in 1995.

Europa Clipper

Europa ClipperAfter a long process of gaining sufficient approval to be budgeted for a design phase, NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft gets a name and a preliminary shape, but no completion date or launch window any more specific than “the 2020s”, likely putting it at Jupiter’s intriguing moon Europa in the early 2030s after a series of gravity assists. Europa Clipper is intended to closely survey Europa from orbit, attempting to focus on its icy surface and the saltwater ocean believed to be hidden beneath that surface.

Star Trek: Discovery: If Memory Serves

Star Trek: DiscoveryStreaming service CBS All Access releases the 23rd episode of Star Trek: Discovery. Melissa George (Roar, Alias, Heartbeat), Alan Van Sprang (Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments, The Tudors), and Ethan Peck (10 Things I Hate About You) guest star in an episode which hearkens back heavily to the original Star Trek series pilot, The Cage. Read more