Welcome to this issue of TCM. In this issue we are taking a look at the British side of Star Trek Fan Films, we talk to Nick Cook creator of Star Trek Intrepid about his show and its latest joint venture with Hidden Frontier, we also talk to him about the future of Intrepid. Next we have an update on Star Trek Grissom from its creator Sean Paul Teeling. He talks about the future of Grissom and more. Finally we have an interview with Caitlin Dar about her series Star Trek Armada which has been created completely by using Go Animate!
I hope you enjoy this issue. Live Long and Prosper Richard Miles Editor
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Situation Room Bringing You The Latest Trek News 6 Star Trek Armada Review By Randy Hall
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One of Our Own Review By Gerri Donaldson and Eugenia Stopyra
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Caitlin Dar Interview
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Star Trek Grissom Update By Sean Paul Teeling
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Intrepid Voyages Intrepid Update By Camren T. Burton
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Nick Cook Interview
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Captains Log By Sean Paul Teeling
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Next Issue
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Trekkie Central Magazine Special Thanks: Interviewees: Nick Cook and Caitlin Dar Writers: Camren T Burton; Gerri Donaldson; Richard Miles; Eugenia Stopyra and Sean Paul Teeling Images Supplied by: Caitlin Dar. Additional Images Supplied by: Google Images and Bing Images News from: Trekweb.com; Trekmovie.com; Trektoday.com and Hiddenfrontier.com Staff: Writers: Camren T. Burton; Gerri Donaldson; Michael A Martin; Richard Miles; Eugenia Stopyra; Sean Paul Teeling. Head Writers: Gerri Donaldson and Eugenia Stopyra Creative Consultants: Michael Hudson and Rick Pike Graphic Artists: Richard Miles Assistant Editors: Camren T Burton and Alex Matthews Editor: Richard Miles Publishing Company: RJPCM Publications
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HIDDEN FRONTIER RELEASE NEW EPISODE
Hidden Frontier Productions have released the latest Henglaar MD episode entitled Profit Without Honor. This is the fifth episode of the first season of this audio show and it is available to download from here: http://hiddenfrontier.com/episodes/HMD105.php Doug Drexler posted in his blog what is (presumably) the first image for next year's Star Trek Ships of the Line: Landing Party, calendar from Pocket Book, artwork by artist Max Rem A larger image can be seen here: http://drexfiles.wordpress.com/2010/ 12/25/sotl-2012-is-a-go/
LEVAR BURTON APPEARS IN BIG BANG THEORY LeVar Burton, Geordi LaForge from Next Generation, has appeared in comedy series Big Bang Theory, this past Thursday (24/2/11). Burton appears as himself after Sheldon tweets him, after a trip to the comic book store.
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The Egyptian Theatre in LA is showing all six original Star Trek movies in March, with a different guest Q&A each night. The series starts on March 24th with The Motion Picture and runs through to Sunday March 27th with The Undiscovered Country. Nicholas Meyer, director of Star Trek II and VI, will be participating in a Q&A session on the Sunday evening and you can send in your questions via the following link: http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2011/02/16/startrek-six-to-beam-up-egyptian-will-screen-halfdozen-starfleet-films/ This will take you to the LA Times Hero Complex Blog.
KLINGON KORKSCREW RELEASED Thinkgeek have released a Klingon Korkscrew. This officially licenced product comes in the shape of a Klingon Bird of Prey and retails at a price of $19.99 which is ÂŁ12.38 at time of going to press. It is available to purchase from here: http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/kitchen/cc91/#t tab
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And now for something completely different. Well, not completely different. We’re going to venture into the world of stylized animation through Star Trek: Armada. The nine-part story began with Spock, McCoy, and Chapel returning to the Enterprise in a shuttle. Suddenly, a singularity opened nearby, and a huge starship came out. When they hailed the shuttle, the occupants of the big ship saw the members of the Enterprise crew and declared in horror that the Hydra had followed them all the way from the I’Rosak Galaxy. When the starship refused to accept any further communication, Spock sent them this message: “We are the Hydra. Stand down and prepare to be boarded.” A small aperture opened, and the shuttle landed inside the vessel. Spock later apologized for misleading the aliens, who looked like little green men but had antennae that glowed when they spoke. McCoy then accused Spock of lying, but the Vulcan science officer replied that he’d merely “adjusted the facts” because the unknown vessel wouldn’t respond to his hails. Nevertheless, it wasn’t long before Hydra vessels followed the Falusians into our galaxy but they wound up in Gorn space. Meanwhile, the Enterprise’s communications system suddenly jammed, and three Klingon Battle Cruisers uncloaked and began blasting the Enterprise in a preventive strike over who would control the energy detected when the Felusians arrived in the quadrant.
We finally got a look at the beings aboard the Hydra flagship at the start of Act 5. As you might have guessed, they were humanoids, and their leader was a woman named Adrianna. When Gorn vessels attacked the ships in their territory, the advanced technology of the Hydra vessels easily decimated their fleet. After that victory, the leader of the Hydra sent a message throughout the quadrant. “We are the Hydra,” she said. “We are here to impose peace. Anyone who stands against us will be destroyed.” By this time, the stolen Hydra ship had reached the Enterprise, and Spock stated that the alien vessel had used its advanced weaponry to weaken the Klingon vessels’ firepower and defensive shields to make sure the Enterprise won that fight. To prove their peaceful intentions and promise to share their advanced technology with Starfleet, the aliens transported the Enterprise inside their vessel. Then, using Hydra technology, the Enterprise and everyone else in the ship travelled light years in mere seconds. After that, Kirk was stunned when he learned that Starfleet would not offer the Falusians sanctuary due to the overwhelming menace of the Hydra. Kirk observed: ‘We might have sealed the fate of our universe.” The Falusians then jumped to another galaxy, but they left a “gift” device in engineering that brought all systems on the Enterprise to a halt.
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The first season ended with a twin dilemma. On one side of the quadrant, Starfleet vessels approached the Klingon fleet in a brewing war over the Falusians’ technology. Back on Earth, Adriana threatened to destroy the planet with a “super-weapon” of her own. All the Enterprise could do was use thrusters to put the vessel between the weapon and the Earth below and take the pounding as long as possible. And then we saw the three nastiest words in the cosmos: “To Be Continued.” Time for me to put on my Clint Eastwood hat and get reviewing. The good: I’m always interested when someone tries something in a different way. That’s why I enjoy Star Trek in many forms, and this was a good first Trek adventure from creator and animator Caithlin Ferrara in Great Britain. The story had a grand scope, including the Federation, the Klingons, the Gorn and two new participants: the Falusians, who were trying to escape slavery, and a new baddie, the Hydra. The project also had some other interesting elements. The characters looked a bit cartoonish since everyone had oversized heads, hands and feet, but the story was very serious. It’s an interesting mix, and I liked the style as well as the story. “I have always wanted to write a Star Trek novel,” Ferrara told SciFiPulse. “But I’m not that good at expressing my ideas with words. It wasn’t until I joined GoAnimate.com that I became aware of fan films (other than the New Voyages/Phase II project). “So after I’ve finished my Starmada story, I’m going to take a long break and enjoy watching some live-action fan productions like the Farragut,” she said. The bad: As with any first production, Armada had its bumps and scrapes. Sometimes a person’s mouth moved but no voice came out. And there was the reverse: people talking with no facial expressions to match it. I did have to wonder about Jenny, a character in the Hydra. She seemed to be wearing a stewardess outfit from the 1960s. I’m not a good person to judge fashion, but that stood out a bit too much for me. The background music was part Trek muzak and parts of soundtracks from the Trek movies. And while I wasn’t bothered by the format of nine 5- to 9-minute episodes, I wouldn’t mind seeing a half-hour episode like Starship Farragut is working on. The ugly: Here’s the theme song for each episode, which alternated between men’s and women’s voices: “Star Trekkin’ across the universe, On the Starship Enterprise under Captain Kirk. Star Trekkin’ across the universe, Boldly going forward ‘cause we can’t find reverse.”
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While watching my first episode, I thought the women’s voices in the theme sounded too screechy, as in the “ fingers on a chalkboard” concept. But after seeing the complete season, I’ve grown to like it as a mix of comedic and dramatic elements, which was a basic part of the series.
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If absence makes the heart grow fonder, I must really love the second “season” of the Star Trek: Armada animated series. Let’s get to the new 10-part adventure, which uses actual voices rather than the word balloons most Go!Animation projects do. At the end of the first season, an alien race called the Falusians, who look like little green aliens, arrived in our galaxy while trying to escape from a powerful race called the Hydra, who looked like regular, garden-variety human beings. While fleeing to another part of the galaxy, the Falusians gave the Enterprise an incredibly powerful device. Rumors of that “superweapon” caused the Klingons to go to war with the Federation. And last but not least, a Hydra space ship under its leader, Adriana (who resembles Sarah Palin, of all things) with a servant who looks like a red ninja, threatened to destroy Earth, and the only thing the Enterprise crew could do was position the vessel between the enemy vessel and the planet and hope the starship could take the pounding. Season 2 begins with the alien device left by the Falusians kicking in and boosting the Enterprise’s power level by 1,000 percent, which causes the phaser-like attack to bounce off the starship and strike the Armada ship instead, forcing its crew to retreat. In Sickbay, Doctor McCoy finishes examining Jenny, a member of the Hydra who escaped to the Enterprise in order to give her race a peaceful future. She looks a lot like a stewardess, and her mouth is entirely on the right side of the face. Nevertheless, her desire to help overthrow the Hydra seems genuine. But the Hydra hopes to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat by allowing one of their decimated ships to enter Earth’s atmosphere with the hope that it will explode when it hits a desert in Nevada. Kirk says he doesn’t mind that until he learns that even if the vessel hits an unpopulated area, the resulting explosion will blast a crater 12 miles wide and block out the sun for years. Jenny suggests letting her go so she can take someone with her who’d claim to be one of the Hydra high command, who are reclusive and never seen. Needless to say, McCoy calls her plan “madness,” but Kirk agrees to go to the Hydra ship with her. Meanwhile, on the other side of the quadrant, the Klingons appear to be defeating Starfleet (some nice battle scenes here). The U.S.S. Lexington is crippled, and the U.S.S. Calypso has been destroyed. The Federation calls for a ceasefire, but the Klingons say they will only stop when they receive the new superweapon, which Starfleet doesn’t have.
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Kirk and Jenny prepare to be beamed board the Hydra when an anthropological officer named Lola brings a report for him, and when the beaming begins, she jumps into the transporter beam and is also sent to the other vessel. Adriana accepts Kirk as an “admiral” of the Armada, and tells him their engines are losing power. Kirk, Lola and Jenny offer to fix the problem with them, even though the ship has only two hours of oxygen left. Kirk is distraught until Jenny tells him that Armada ships have warp drive capacity, which the captain uses to send the ship (which is just about to hit Earth) away from the planet with no damage. Spock asks Starfleet High Command for permission to rescue Kirk, but he’s told that defeating the alien intruders is his top priority. Using the extra power the Falusians gave the ship, a trip that would have lasted 17 weeks now takes only minutes. Meanwhile, Ariana demands that Kirk prove he’s really Hydra high command by destroying the planet below them, and the captain pushes the button. But soon after, he tells Lola that he used a warp field to shift the planet to subspace. As soon as the warp field collapses, the planet will return to regular space. At the same time, the Enterprise explores the world they were led to. Sulu, Chekov, Uhura, and two redshirts beam down. Suddenly, the group is attacked by a number of red ninjas and, of course, the two redshirts are killed in the opening volley. Sulu, Chekov and Uhura call for an immediate beamout after two of their phasers set to stun vaporize two of the attackers. Chekov speculates that charged particles in the atmosphere unexpectedly increase the power in the phasers. Back on the Hydra ship, Lola discovers that the humans are the prize in the battle between the two alien races. If either one takes control of the humans, they’ll use that advantage to control the quadrant. In hyperspace, the Falusians and the Hydra are in battle. Kirk’s Hydra ship contacts Spock, Unexpectedly, the captain demands he lower his shields, then orders Jenny to fire. Actually, the Enterprise is transported inside the Hydra Dreadnought, and Spock is transported off the Enterprise bridge.
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Back on the Federation starship, McCoy cites the medical needs of the opposing vessel as a reason for him to be sent over to the enemy vessel, but Scotty forbids it. Of course, trying to keep McCoy from doing something is like waving a red flag in front of a bull. He goes over to the vessel regardless. Kirk, Lola and Spock are beamed back aboard the Enterprise, and they raise shields. Now that the NCC-1701 is inside the huge ship, they can’t fire on the Enterprise. However, Kirk and company blast their way out of the vessel and use the Armada transport machine to return to our universe and destroys the device so no one from that dimension will endanger the Alpha Quadrant for a long time to come.
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The crew’s sense of victory is diminished by one factor: Dr. McCoy is trapped on the other side of the universe, since they just destroyed the only way to rescue him. And in the other side of the quadrant, the news of a new Federation superweapon leads the Tholians and the Romulans to join forces and take the weapon for themselves. Did Clint Eastwood ever play an alien from outer space? If not, I’ll just pretend he did, put on a space helmet and start reviewing. The Good: As with the first season, the 10 episodes of this group go by at a pretty good clip. There are also great designs of the crew and their alien enemies, not to mention their space ships. The format of 10-minute “bites” probably bugs some folks, but if that’s the way Section31 (Caithlin Ferrara in real life) feels most comfortable while telling her story, I’m AOK with it. I found the “secret origin” of the Armada very interesting. This was a twist I didn’t see coming. And it was also interesting to learn that the Falusians, the “good guy aliens,” have a sinister side as well. All that was a “fascinating” surprise. The Bad: While I really like having voices in the product, it’s still a bit awkward when someone talks but his or her mouth doesn’t follow what they say. Still, this was a marked improvement over the first season’s sound. There’s always some room for improvement. The Ugly: This is a no-brainer. I’m sad that there are no plans for a third season because this story left some threads dangling. What will happen to Bones on the other side of reality? What will happen to the “super technology” the Falusians left behind on the Enterprise? I’d be surprised if Starfleet Command didn’t call them in and try to copy the weapons, thus throwing the balance of power in the Alpha Quadrant all out of whack. And what happened in the battle between Starfleet vessels and the Klingon fleet? ~
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Since writing for Trekkie Central which is a few years now I have watched many “Fan Fiction” films some fantastic, and some well, interesting. One that I have enjoyed over the years is the Scottish produced USS Intrepid series. The latest offering from this fan-based production company is “One of Our Own” written, directed (jointly with others), starring and edited by Nick Cook as well as lots of other. This is a joint production with Star Trek: Hidden Frontier’s Rob Caves and his cast and crew and maybe they should consider getting together more often. For an amateur production this is definitely of a high standard with the skills from two sides of the Atlantic offering quality CGI and the actors have honed their talents becoming more comfortable with their roles. With the lack of professional productions I was going to say “true production” for a moment but this episode is a true production you can see that the whole of the production is aimed at giving Star Trek fans something to watch with the current lack of ongoing shows. Nick Cook obviously enjoys making these shows and it comes across in his portrayal of Captain Daniel Hunter. His production skills have also increased significantly with his editing flawless. The CGI is of a very high standard (I would like to have those skills) and the story interesting, although a slightly longer episode to flesh out the story would have enhanced the episode particularly knowing a little more about the rescued officer.
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However, this joint production is very good and as I have said before I hope that they will do regular crossovers as there was chemistry I believe between Danny Hunter (Nick) and Elizabeth Shelby (Risha). This and the ongoing stories of the USS Intrepid and Hidden Frontier fill a void for the diehard fan and if these two companies worked together to fill that void on an ongoing bases I am sure that we would feel the loss of regular TV releases a little less.~
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HERE TREKKIE CENTRAL MAGAZINE TALKS TO STAR TREK DARK ARMADA CREATOR CAITLIN DAR.
TCM: What can you tell us about the reasons why you created Star Trek Armada? CD: I saw GoAnimate on TrekBBS when the star trek theme first appeared. I had a mooch round the site and found the application to be easy to use and very enjoyable. It was a few months before I made ST:Armada. I made a trek series called Berman's Downfall which is a semi serious story about time travel and a chaotic universe caused by the creation of Enterprise TV show. At the time I made this I hated Enterprise. I've since mellowed and can watch it ha! It got good reviews. I liked sharing the work with both trekkers and non fans. When you get good comments and people saying how much they enjoyed watching it becomes addictive. Plus GoAnimate is so easy to use that you can release stuff quite quickly. I discovered it was a great way to tell a story with simple tools. SImple that is for the user, as I learned to use flash I realised how hard it is for the tech team at Go Animate. TCM: You used Go Animates Star Trek applications to create your series and episodes why? CD: Before I found GoAnimate I had no interest in making a fan film. It was just chance I found it and realised if I ever wanted to make one this would be the place to start. It really is so easy to use that I am still using it a year on.
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TCM: Using Go Animate to Create your series you have created a unique series, are you happy with this? CD: Yes I'm very happy with the series. Certainly I'm happy with the story. I had an idea of a sci fi series set on a ship where the hero is onboard a ship of immoral crewmates with the antithesis of Star Trek optimistic future. I had written a large part of it and thought it would work well in a Trek setting. So the Hydra became the immoral crew. And I placed Kirk among them. Maybe the voices aren't so good. I would at some point like to go back and replace the audio. I am always learning and trying to push the quality of my work. It was GoAnimate that inspired me to learn to use flash to create my own animated characters and props. And for the next season it will have a very different look. All the pixelated images I created before will be replaced with vector based images for a smooth finish and a more cartoon look. TCM: What was your favourite part of working on Star Trek Armada? CD: I enjoyed writing the cliff hangers. Every episode, although only a few minutes long has a hook that I hope people come back for. I'd been watching 24 at the time which influenced me. TCM: What can you tell us about the series? CD: It's a 2d animated series following an epic story of an advanced race called the Phallusians who enter our galaxy on the run from Hydra. They are refused asylum by the federation after the Hydra follow them, causing the Gorn, Romulans, Tholians and Klingons to start an intergalactic war. Kirk is kidnapped and forced to pose as a Hydra admiral while working out the mystery of the Hydras origins. I have kept this all in the canon timeline. Despite the goofyness some people perceive of the medium I have used- many people have told me what a great story it is. TCM: You have created other Star Trek episodes can you tell us a bit about them? CD: I mentioned Berman's Downfall. That was more of a test run if you like. After ST:Armada I made a TNG spoof Revenge of the Turds. I got the idea after watching the gay daleks- a spoof from Doctor Who. The gay daleks lived in the turdis which always makes me laugh. I thought the turdis would be a cool concept for a series. I had a ball writing the script with 2 online friends. It's probably the most bizarre Trek idea out there. I watched a Voyager episode where a dead crew woman's body is brought back to life by a parasitic alien. I laughed at the idea. And then I thought what if there was a life form that was created from our waste? "Prepare to meet the fearsome faeces in the galaxy. The Tertiary Unimatrix Rectumplasmic Drones- or T.U.R.D. for short. As they come ass to ass with the crew of the Fartfleet vessel A.S.S. Odouriser. Will anyone be able to stop the T.U.R.D from stinking out the galaxy with their anus, Oops I meant heinous plans?"
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It's a parody of the Best of Bot worlds and First Contact. I created the entire cast of TNG in flash as well as all the sets. I am most proud of this. It was more popular than ST:Armada. Unfortunately a lot of trekkers snub it without giving it a go- because Star Trek and poop just don’t mix hahaha. It does have hilarious moments. I love the spoof of the scene in Generations when Data pushes doctor Crusher off the galleon. And I did a spoof of the Borg Queen's head and shoulders connecting to her cybernetic body 7. TCM: What else can you tell us about your series? CD: Since I made ST:Armada GoAnimate has changed a LOT. Now I can create my own characters with pre-made actions and facial expressions. Well It's been over a year since I made ST:Armada. I am releasing the first episode of the final season in December. Here's a short preview. http://goanimate.com/movie/0KDMfGAM9Iko/1 I have replaced the characters of the Hydra with new ones I made. They all have matching uniforms now! The ugly pixelated props have all been replaced with new flash ones. It's going to be more visually stunning. And lots of fun. ~
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Star Trek Grissom, the flagship of Irish fan trek, continues to go from strength to strength. The show, Dublin based, comes under the Mantle of Hidden Frontier Productions in LA, California. With 2 x hour long episodes already on wide release on the Grissom website, Hidden Frontier Productions website and on iTunes, what next for Grissom? Executive Producer Seรกn Paul Teeling fills us in. TREKKIE CENTRAL 25
"Firstly, thanks to TCM for including us in the 'Brit Trek' issue, although we are based in Ireland! We have a 33 strong cast and crew from Ireland, Scotland, England, Germany, NZ, Sweden, Canada and the USA. We have a tight support team with Rick Pike and Michael Hudson on our website and forums respectively, and Andrew (Federation 1) Foster producing stunning artwork. Last but not least, New Zealands own Scott Fack continues to update our comprehensive wiki. 2011 is going to be a great year for Grissom. We are probably unique in that we have a prose chapter basis for our audio episodes, with the chapters being adapted for audio. For example 'All Rumours of Wrath, Past and to Come', our pilot, was adapted from our first 3 prose episodes. We have over 18,000 thousand readers of our prose, of which we are very proud. Due for release this year, we have, (coming quite soon), a short by Michael (Star Trek: Eagle Star) Slagenweit Coffman, featuring Andorian CMO Vindi S'Raazh. Vindi has proven to be a very popular character with the fans, and this short gives us some more insight into her past. Following Mike's short we will next have collaboration on our next prose Chapter 10 'Per Ardua, Ad Astra (Through Adversity to the Stars)' by Grissom Audio show Maestro and Director, Bodo Hartwig and myself. Meanwhile Adrian (Star Trek: The Interim Years) Howard Jones is powering up a David Marcus centric prose story 'Peccavi' (I have sinned). So plenty to look forward to there.
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In the interim, my fellow Executive Producer, Rob (Star Trek Hidden Frontier, Odyssey, Helena Chronicles) Caves is working with the wonderful Sam (Star Trek New Homelands) Wich on CGI opening titles for Grissom, which will feature the Oberth in all her glory, set to Bodo Hartwig's fabulous main theme. Brad (Star Trek: Hathaway) Hathaway is also helping out with Constellation class renders. These titles will be launching before Easter on YouTube and Vimeo. Finally, this year, we will have two episodes of the audio series released. Episode 3, currently in post production, will be released in the first half of 2010. This episode 'The Stars my Destination' is a creepy story featuring the Tholians, and Commander Stephanie Ottair, played beautifully by Jennifer(Grand Majan) Cole takes the lead. Later this year, Director Bodo Hartwig gives us audio episode 4 'One Moment of Humanity'. This very special episode guest stars the amazing Nick(Star Trek Intrepid ) Cook as the classic Trek legend 'Cyrano Jones'. It's a classic of an episode, and principal recording has completed on this. A series of limited edition Grissom postcards are also being produced, and one will be given out with every purchase of a comic or book in Dublin's Forbidden Planet Stores throughout the entire month of March 2011, to further spread the word on the show. We have 2 episodes released, another 2 hours of Grissom this year, and 4 more hours after that, of action, drama and adventure ahead before Grissom reaches her fateful end at the Genesis Planet. So stay tuned! As you can see, the future for Grissom is very bright! Live Long and Prosper!" http://www.startrekgrissom.com/ http://www.hiddenfrontier.com/ http://stexpanded.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Trek:_Grissom
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For this issue, Trekkie Central was very fortunate to get in a brief word with Nick Cook, Executive Producer and creator of “Star Trek: Intrepid” about some exciting upcoming productions!
Trekkie Central Magazine: Nick, what new releases can we look forward to this year? Tell us a bit about "The Stone Unturned" - a teaser!
Nick Cook: In “The Stone Unturned”, the crew receives a surprise to encounter an off duty Jean Luc Picard, who is chasing an archaeological mystery across the quadrant. When Intrepid is drafted in to assist Picard, Hunter finds himself at odds with his Enterprise counterpart.
Written by Brian S. Matthews, The Stone Unturned was envisaged as an Indiana Jones homage, and is a much more traditional Star Trek tale than we've done so far.
TCM: Are there more episodes being written, or are you focusing on getting the currently awaited episodes released first?
NC: I am working on more Intrepid scripts
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TCM: Do we get to see much of Intrepid in the upcoming "Star Trek: Odyssey" movie?
NC: I probably shouldn't say too much about the Odyssey movie, but I'm probably not giving much away to say that Intrepid's involvement is fairly minimal. I did have the pleasure of seeing the final cut, with a temporary score, when we were in LA in June, and I enjoyed it immensely. I think it's a satisfying and fitting finale to the Hidden Frontier story.
TCM: Nick, thanks for taking the time to speak with us! I'm very much looking forward to seeing the further adventures of Captain Hunter and his ship!
Camren T. Burton Assistant Editor - Trekkie Central Magazine
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a celebration of star treks 45 years
TCM: You have just filmed another special joint episode with Hidden Frontier, what can you tell us about it? NC: I had an idea a while back about Shelby and Hunter carrying out some sort of 'off the books' mission together, but the concept kind of sat on my mental shelf for a while, gathering dust. I didn't give it much thought until we made plans to visit California this past Summer, and then kind of scrabbled around looking for a hook, until I realised it might be a neat way to see how Lefler's death had affected Shelby, which is something Helena Chronicles hadn't really tackled. So I quickly threw a script together and ran it past Rob, who very kindly signed off on it. Entitled One of Our Own, it's essentially a 'lost tale' set between Seasons two and three of Odyssey. At seven minutes running time, it's a very compact dose of classic Star Trek derring do and character exploration. TCM: Do you have a release date for it yet? NC: It went on general release on Tuesday the 30th of November. So hopefully if you're reading this you've already seen it. TCM: Considering that Hidden Frontier are winding up their live action Star Trek (certainly for the foreseeable future) do you think that this is the last adventure for Shelby and Hunter? NC: Obviously there are no guarantees, but I think we'll see them together again. We've certainly discussed it, and Risha's always been willing to step up to the plate when asked. Let's just say it's a possibility.
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TCM: Would you like to do more Intrepid/Hidden Frontier crossovers? NC: Always, I love doing these. They're a wonderful excuse to visit with friends and have a great time. Plus, I love the Shelby/Hunter relationship, so I'd hate to think we'd never revisit that. TCM: You have a few more upcoming episodes, what can you tell us about them? NC: Well I guess the biggest of those is The Stone Unturned, featuring well-known Patrick Stewart impersonator Giles Aston as Jean Luc Picard. The Stone Unturned was written by Brian S. Matthews, and conceived as an 'Indiana Jones in space' story. The story itself is great fun, and seeing Giles as Picard is the icing on the cake. On the downside, it's taken us a lot longer to finish than we envisioned (nothing new there) but we are finally nearing the end of the road. Next up is probably the oft-mentioned vignette, Machinations. Ironically, Machinations was shot before Transitions and Lamentations, partly to test the (at the time) new camera we'd bought. The episode itself has been edited for some time, but has been held up because some of the effects work was more complex than we'd envisioned. That said, Steve Gilson stepped up to the plate and has done a superlative job realising those effects, and I'm looking forward to showing them off in the not-too-distant future. The other delaying factor has been finding someone to create Chiron Station for us in Lightwave. After a lot of begging and borrowing on our part, Dennis Bailey (of Starship Exeter and Polaris) very kindly agreed to help us out, and we're pretty close to being able to realise the remaining effects shots for Machinations. I'm not going to go into a lot of story detail about Machinations, but it follows up on the events of Transitions and Lamentations, and helps set the stage a little for what's ahead. The Conviction of Demons (which is a fairly ambitious feature length instalment) is slowly in production, but has a long road ahead of it. Without going into too much detail, it will wrap up the Surai/Section 31 plot in an explosive and hopefully satisfying way. There are several vignettes also in various stages of production. Breaking Ground, which will reintroduce Governor Finney (now portrayed by Hilary Tasker), will be shot sometime in the next couple of months (weather permitting). Confessions by Firelight, which is a Finney/Merik tale, has already been shot and edited, but will be released alongside Breaking Ground.
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Nemo Me Impune Lacessit, is another vignette, this one focussing on Hunter and Dr Garren. Nemo's a little more complex and action-oriented, but it'll hopefully go into production this year.
A Simpler Morality, is a Cole-centric story, picking up immediately after his resignation from Starfleet in Turning Point. The story runs concurrently with Nemo Me Impune Lacessit. Destruct Sequence is a vignette being written by Steve Hammond, and will focus on the Merchant Service. Dissonant Minds is another full length episode, one of two new stories I'm currently working on. The script is written, albeit at first draft stage, but will hopefully be ready for production this year. It's a pretty classic Star Trek tale; more character-based story than action adventure. I'm hoping to fast track this one, since it's been written in the hope it'll be simpler to produce than some of our earlier efforts. TCM: Do you have release dates for them? NC: Allowing time for scoring, I expect we'll be releasing The Stone Unturned sometime in the Spring. I can't really comment on any of the others yet, but when I do have any news, you can be sure I'll shout it from the rooftops. TCM: You have released four of your own episodes now and two crossover episodes with Hidden Frontier, bearing that in mind are you happy with the way the show is heading? NC: Pretty much. There are things I wish we'd done differently, and I always wish we had a bigger budget, not to mention enough space to build standing sets. But overall, I'm happy enough. I think we're telling interesting stories, with compelling characters, and some pretty talented actors. Yeah, we're obviously not as polished as say, the excellent Phase II, but as a team we continue to grow, improve and push ourselves creatively, and I think that's all anyone can ask. So yes, mostly happy. TCM: You are one of a few productions, if not the only one who films a lot outdoors (out of the studio) what benefits and disadvantages does this give you? NC: The biggest advantage, from my point of view, is it gets us away from the greenscreen, and the limitations of our minimal sets. As a result, we can do rather more ambitious work when we're on location, than when we're stuck in front of a greenscreen. Also, I think it allows us to tell more interesting stories, than if we're on the ship all the time. And, in all honesty, I think it just looks so much more interesting. Who doesn't like to see all that Scottish scenery? The biggest disadvantage is almost certainly the weather. I have a habit of putting location work in the majority of my scripts, and the Scottish weather is far from reliable. When increasing numbers of our cast come from outside Scotland, a change in weather can be an absolute disaster for us (and often is). Logistically, even if you ignore the weather, transporting cast, crew and equipment to an exterior location is a massive undertaking. It drags out the production process quite a bit, since scheduling a location shoot for all the different cast and crew, especially given how far some of them have to travel, really isn't a simple task. TCM: Is there anything else you can update us on? NC: We're still looking to do Bit Patterns as an original SF production, and Steve Hammond is chipping away at a second draft on the script. I'm also working on a script for something contemporary, though that's only in the earliest stages just now. It's likely we'll make some effort to do a sizzle reel for Bit Patterns this year, alongside the usual Intrepid scripts, so watch this space.~
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Britain is synonymous with fantastic science fiction. As somebody who hid behind the sofa in the 70s when Tom Baker fought the universal nasties as Dr.Who, to obsessing with Servalan in Blakes 7, to thrilling to the minimalism of moonbase alpha in Space 1999, I have always loved Brit Sci-Fi. Yes, the sets were creaky, yes it was often corny, but it was entertaining, and the acting was pretty darn good. And now, today, we have British Star Trek, produced by the fans, for the fans. And it's not corny. And the sets are not creaky(they're often CGI), and the acting is top notch. And let's not forget that Brit Sci-fi was always humourous, as for example in an episode of the tomorrow people: Carol: This is a closed world, no aliens are supposed to come here. John: My dad's not supposed to park on a double yellow line but he does! Just to mention 2 Brit shows, you can thrill to the adventures of Captain Hunter and his crew, recorded in Scotland, and appearing visually on your pc but in the 24th Century, and literally be transported. The wonderful Star Trek Intrepid of course. Or you can sit back, throw on your ipod/mp3 player and listen to the last voyage of the U.S.S. Grissom in the 23rd century, in a show produced in Ireland. Both of these shows are predominantly recorded in the British Isles, but have international casts and crews. And that in itself is interesting. Yes, these shows are clearly Brit Trek, but they reach across the ether to bring likeminded Trek fans together. So, in a sense, they illustrate just how 'universal' Star Trek actually is. We are all fans, and we are all members of this' Federation' of Star Trek fan shows. Yes, Brit-Trek is alive, and to quote the vernacular 'it's happening'! Go n-éirí an bóthar leat (may the road rise with you!) Seán Paul Teeling Producer Star Trek Grissom
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COMING MARCH 2011
Romulan Issue
David Reid Interview Michelle Laurent Interview A Look At Fan Film Romulans A Look At Romulans In Starfleet A Romulan Timeline