Looking for Group, Jan '08

A new machinima series is hull-down on the horizon! Star Trek: Challenger is to be made using Elite Force I [?], the co-writers have posted a number of screen-shots on the HF forum, they have a Wiki with the bare bones of the info about the project and a forum where they are taking auditions for Voice Actors.

ST: The Expedition - Jan '08

Star Trek: The Expedition is getting closer to filming. Producer, director and writer Thomas Reynolds already has a cgi teaser, Bloopers and two short films online ...

• 01/01/08 - "Time Flies" (5 mins 11s) stars Nick Cook, listed as co-producer and one of the leading lights of Star Trek: Intrepid, and Tiffeney Wheeller as Executive Officer, Zee Kendral.
• 30/12/07 - "The Choice" (5 mins 21s) introduces David A'll in his acting debut as well as Steven Wood, the Exec. producer, as a Section 31 operative.

Commodore Mackenzie's mission to stop a surge of refugees from swamping the Alpha quadrant goes silent and the USS Discovery is sent to investigate. Allen Merritt, who plays Adrian Jacob's, the Captain the Discovery, is suported by Andrew Foster, a HF alumni, who plays his partner in a gay marriage, Rio Temple as Drea Imperioli, Elizabeth Rizzo as the Cardassian Chief Engineer, James T. Frost as Jeremy Aster and Javier Alba will play Security Chief Ty Mar

Thomas' latest news is that the role of Commodore Mackenzie "has been recast and will be played by broadway star Randal Kieth. Right now, Randal is at the Wynn Casino most recently playing King Arthur in Spamalot. Though he is best known for playing Jean Valjean in Les Misrables on Broadway. He will appear in the directors cut of 'The Choice' and make his film acting debut in The Expedition."

ST: Gatekeeper - Jan '08

Star Trek: Gatekeeper A Norwegian (but English language) movie, made in cooperation with fans in Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Spain and The US. It is 2887 and a stationary Nexus appears just above the Mars Colony. Billions of different species from across the entire Galaxy swarm through the Alpha Quadrant in the hope of eternal life inside the Nexus. In 2892 the Federation is asked to build a space station, the biggest structure in Starfleet history, to keep people away from the Nexus.

So far the producers have invited four sci-fi celebrities to join the cast of Gatekeeper for a cameo. The website is a portal for a future 'web station' as well as the movie and will answer questions about these two projects. The Station is to open the 13th of September at Trekkers Norway Con Warp 2008 and the movie is to start shooting the summer of 2009, during the Oslo Sci-Fi Festival, but the entire production will take up to three years. The first shoot will concentrate on the opening of the movie, as well as the vignette. These sequences will also be the Trailers for the movie, and will most likely be released in January 2010 and in May 2010. For more information, checkout Timo Vuorensola's Iron Sky Blog from way back on July 29.

ST: Origins - Jan '08

Star Trek: Origins began filming its first vignette, "Aftermath" in August, to be completed in the new year. Aftermath will take you back to 2233 - two years before the launch of the USS Yorktown, and just after a vicious attack by the Klingons on Captain April and the USS Tiberius! This will be followed by the five vignettes, which are in varying stages of pre-production.

• "The Legend Project" Written by Kevin R. Pittsinger
• "New Futures". Written & story by Camren Ted Burton
• "Love, Dad" Written by Robert Gonko, Story by Michael Dempsey
• "Coming Together" Written & story by Camren Ted Burton
• "Dedication" Their Pilot Episode.Written by Keven R. Pittsinger & Michael Rasing, Story by Keven R. Pittsinger

ST: Helena Chronicles - Jan '08

Star Trek: The Helena Chronicles is following up on it's successful premiere episode, "Sanctuary Lost", which was released on Jan 4, with filming this month of their second episode, "Obsessions", expected to be released in early March. Directed by veteran Dave Mason, you can download the "Obsessions" preview now from the HF.com download page.

"Obsessions" will have guest appearances by HF veterans Mike Johns (Johns), Joanne Busch (Cmdr. Robin Lefler) and David W. Dial (Knapp). It will also introduce Melodee M. Spevack, who played the Andorian Comm Voice on the Star Trek: Enterprise episode Kir'Shara, in a recurring part. This striking actress, who has an impressive filmography on IMDB, has been cast as an Orion Syndicate boss! For more information see this month's HF.com newsletter.

ST: Operation Beta Shield Jan '08

Star Trek: Operation Beta Shield, the second collaboration between Star Trek: Intrepid and Areakt productions, the home of Hidden Frontier, The Helena Chronicles and Odyssey, has announced the arrangements for shooting the live action scenes in the week prior to the Third Excelsior Ball on the weekend of June 6-8th. Scotland, the home of Intrepid, will be the venue of further filming throughout the first half of 2008 as schedules permit and the feature-length episode will go online in the northern hemisphere Summer. According to the Dec HF.com newsletter, "the film will serve as the prelude to a new Hidden Frontier spinoff that will launch later that year."

Star Trek: Operation Beta Shield is a epic adventure reuniting the legendary crews of U.S.S. Excelsior, under the command of Captain Elizabeth Shelby (Risha Denney), and USS Intrepid, under the command of Captain Daniel Hunter (Nick Cook), as well as Klingon Warrior and hero of the War for the Briar Patch, General Korg (Karl Puder) and many returning characters from the Hidden Frontier universe in a team-up mission of galactic proportions!

ST: Odyssey - Jan '08

Star Trek: Odyssey should be releasing it's third episode, entitled "The Lotus Eaters", this month, directed by David O'Neill and scored by first-time composer and international member, Bodo Hartwig who has worked extensively with Star Trek: Intrepid. According to the latest Hidden Frontier.com newsletter, the website already has a preview on the episodes page and production photos in the gallery.

"The Lotus Eaters" continues Ro's epic journey home through the dangerous Andromeda Galaxy. The Odyssey has detected a Federation distress signal, but is it an Archein trap? New aliens are encountered but will they be friend or foe? Find out, later this month! Episode 4, "Vile Gods", which continues the plotline of "Lotus Eaters", goes into production next month, will be directed by Adam Browne and will guest star Melodee M. Spevack - for more information see this month's HF.com newsletter.

ST: Horizon (Poland) - Jan '08

Star Trek: Horizon, the Polish fan film group has finished principle photography and is doing outside shoots.

ST: Beyond - Jan '08

Featured Production for February

What if I told you that I knew about a Star Trek fan film series, that you probably haven't heard of, based on a relatively successful fanfic series that ran from Aug '06 to May '07? What if I told you that between it's debut on Sep 15 last year and Jan 28 this year it had produced nine episodes that average over 13 minutes each? Filmed live? Against physical sets rather than green screen? Put your hand down everyone who said Star Track.

Doesn't ring a bell?

"Star Trek: Beyond" (ST: B) is a StoneWater Production, directed by D. R. Quintana, and co-produced by Marah Anderton & Delmar Rosa. It was started in 2003 as a graphics company for the competitive freelance graphic comic book and located in New London, CT. David Quintana expanded into video production in 2006 with a successful online "Dungeons & Dragons" fan film which was followed by an amazing body of work. Ranging from music videos, "Terminator 4 - End game", movie shorts, "Ghosties' & "Ghosties II" to a full length movie, "Skeleton Crew". Star Trek: Beyond is one of two online series that Quintana is producing, "Inarah, Queen of Vampires" being the other.


Straight off the top I have to tell you, this is not a fan film in the vein of Star Trek: New Voyages - a massive group effort that is dedicated to producing TV length episodes to as high a standard as possible. Nor is it like Hidden Frontier or Intrepid, which rely heavily on greenscreen technology to create their illusion of the future. It is individual and the production has put a bold face to the fact that they have made a conscious decision to favour quantity of production - getting out a short, regular production - over spending months of work and thousands of dollars on uniforms, props and and sets. "Everything in the series was re-made and constructed with the idealism that we would change a lot of things about 'Trek' to make it easier on our part of the production" said David Quintana.

In response to a question on the website's Q & A page, Quintana said, "The idea of this series was not to out-do any one else's vision currently posted on the Internet. But we did study other Internet fan-films; learning much about what they could have done better and we used what we learned to help produce this series. We feel that have successfully separated our project (from others) with the sole fact that the acting, the uniforms, the studio sets, special effects, and more especially, the story writing are far from anything the other fan-films have produced, or could produce."

It's quick. Even accounting for the fact that the episodes are in fact the length of the vignettes put out by other groups, there are a lot of them and the pace of production must be frenetic! He has kept up a roughly fortnightly episode schedule with a six episode season and currently plans to make a total of 20 episodes and "maybe an hour and a half movie".

It's Star Trek but non-canon. There's no getting around the fact that authentic Star Trek uniforms and props are expensive and creating a real set to film in has been the major job of many production groups - Star Trek; Das Vermachtnis is still building sets after 6 years of production! ST: Beyond's sets are the work of co-producer, DelMar Rosa, who has done an amazing job of creating the illusion of a ships bridge with what look like authentic LCARS panels against a simple black background.

The series format is different. Quintana calls it a "soap opera" approach which I assume means that the plot of each succeeding episode relies on the preceding ones for it's development. Before you switch off at hearing the dreaded words "soap opera" consider the fact that each episode is between 11 - 19 minutes in length. There is just no way that a plot could go through the regular format of character development in that length. Like them or loath them the idea of a series of short, connected productions has worked successfully for Afterworld and Star Wars: Clone Wars
and frankly, isn't that one of the ways that Star trek TOS revolutionised TV, by having a continuing character development from one episode to the next that deepened our understanding of the characters?

Inevitably, there will be those who say that this or that way is the right way to go. The large, supportive, communal projects that stick closely to canon deliver the fans a very high quality product! Is Star Trek: Beyond's approach "right"? This approach definitely seems to fill a niche as we can see from the Blog comments. The House of L'Stok does not deal in absolutes - everything is relative except honour!

What works for one person is an anathema for another! It is you, o' hypothetical viewer, who has to answer the hard questions: Does it entertain you? Does it extend your Star Trek fan experience? If it does then take the Pirate King's advise!

"Always follow the dictates of your own heart, M'boy ... and trounce the concequences!"

Star Trek: Beyond
Season 1
StoneWater Productions
Website - http://stonewaterproductions.googlepages.com/startrekbeyond
Co-produced by D. R. Quintana, Marah Anderton and Delmar Rosa
Directed by D. R. Quintana
Starring Bernice Tremblay, Marah Anderton, and Prof. William Foster.
Musical support by Within Temptation & Zeca Mahoney.
An online Star Trek fan (tribute) series about the crew of the Alliance Space Vessel (ASV) PRECIPICE, which is sent to the furthest sector of the Kilos Quadrant to explore and map an uncharted sector of space. (Notes are from the viewing pages)

15/09/2007 - Episode 1 "The New Frontier" (11 mins 28s)
After two years of mapping the furthest reaches of the Kilos Quadrant, the crew of the ASV Precipice discover an ancient distress beacon.
Introducing the Season 1 cast: Bernice Tremblay as CPT Quest, Prof. William Foster as CDR "Stitch" Brown; Marah Anderton as CDR Ravine, A.J. Lightsey as LT Parker and Jenn Quintana as LT CDR Kirah. Production began in July, after Bernice was added as the new ship's Captain. This episode was shot in New London, over the course of two hours.

29/09/2007 - Episode 2 "Where Darkness Hides A Clue" (11 mins 51s)
In search of the source of a stray emergency beacon, the crew of the ASV PRECIPICE discover a derelict Borg ship in an unexplored area of the Kilos Quadrant.
Introducing Jeremy Chubb as LT Thaddeus. The second half of this episode was filmed in a parking garage in New London. We thought the lighting and back ground was perfect for the mood of the story.

12/10/2007 - Episode 3 "Left there for a reason" (13 mins 49s)
The distress beacon leads the crew of the ASV Precipice to an oceanic planet where a lone inhabitant lives. How does this new find coincide with the derelict Borg ship?
Bernice was bitten by an insect after the shoot; a nasty infection left a scar on her leg. This is the first night shoot for David. Delmar begged to play the part of LCDR Borders; that scene was shot in Westerly, RI.

25/10/2007 - Episode 4 "The Bou-Doon" (11 mins 27s)
A new enemy attacks the ASV PRECIPICE; an act that could lead the Alliance into galactic tour.
Actually shot the first week of July, BEFORE Episode 3 was even completed. David contemplated scrapping this episode if good CGI failed to work on the battle scenes.

8/11/2007 - Episode 5 "Ghosts Within Us" (17 mins 07s)
A dark nebula infects the crew of the PRECIPICE with a virus which could cripple the ships mission.
Actually the last Episode in production for Season 1. Shot out of sequence in almost 6 different scenes, the episode was in post editing up to the posting date.

21/11/2007 - Episode 6 "Land of a Forgiving God" (15 mins 26s)
The crew of the ASV Precipice stumble on a planet where the dead freely rome. Is it a haven for lost souls or a new type of Hell?
The episode was completed in early August, shot on a hot day in New London. Bill had the Chinese Flu returning from a trip to China. Bernice's work earned her an Award for Best Actress in this Episode.

Season 2

15/12/2007 - Episode 2 "A Matter for The Strong" (19 mins 01s)
The Borg enter the edge of the Kilos quadrant - called the "Outer Marker". The crew of the ASV Precipice are ordered home for a refit.
Introducing Seanna Six as LT Syn-Gin. Bernice stepped up and actually did some co-directing. We fixed the lighting and the sound issues from Season 1. We also introduced Syn-Gin after Marah Anderton relocated to Seattle, WA.

14/01/2008 - Episode 8 "Dance With Me" (14 mins 43s)
The calm before the storm. The Captain has to confront her husband, Joshua. LCDR Wallace reports on board. LT Syn-Gin introduces herself to Stitch.
Introducing Mike Valletta (Lcdr Wallace), Amanda Smith (The Student) & returning role by James Silvia (Joshua). Filmed on a cold night at Groton Long Pt., CT. We were lucky the wind calmed down during the shoot. Shooting Syn-Gin's intro to Stitch was a hoot. David feels that the intro to the First Officer was shot well, introducing extras and making the ship look larger. Mike Valletta is a Goth-Rock singer in Mass., and having him in the series is a real treat.

18/01/2008 - Episode 9 "The Little Thing Inside My Gut" (18 mins 36s)
The Borg Queen captures an Alliance captain and begins a deadly interrogation on him; as Captain Quest is briefed on the Borg by General Teris Rodar.
Actually shot on Nov. 7th. It took 2 hours to put makeup on Kat and prep her for the Borg role. We shot 2.5 episodes worth of film in 6.5 hours. In December, it took an hour to prep Matt for the role as Rodar. We were surprised that the lighting worked out so well on film.

Unreleased - Episode 10 "And Where We Go They Follow"
The Crew of the PRECIPICE are ordered on a deadly mission to contact the Bahn in the Gamma Quadrant.

Kirok on Audio Dramas, Jan '08

Playing catch-up with Audio dramas since my last update in September.

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Released

Jan 27 - Act 2 of Episode 3 "Yours, Mines And Ours" (10 mins 45s, 7.4Mb) released by Star Trek Eras. As Deep Space 5's research team tries to investigate the mysterious minefield surrounding Romulan space, Evori remembers a conflict between the Potemkin's engineer and chief of security while their ship's fate hangs in the balance. Whilst you're waiting for Act 3, why not check out some of the extras from previous episodes, including pdf copies of the scripts and downloads of the original music.

Jan 27 - To mark the launch of the website and virtual production studio of their new parent company, Totally Creative Media, the producers of Star Trek: The Continuing Mission have released the first of an exclusive, three part interview between Tim Renshaw and Gene Roddenberry. This is to be followed by another three part interview with Deforest Kelley and a third interview with James Doohan, all conducted during the pre-production and production phase of Star Trek The Motion Picture during the 1970's. Their pilot episode, "Ghost Ship" was released on Dec 25, featuring special guest star Lawrence Montaigne. Lawrence appeared in the original series as the Romulan officer Decius in 'Balance of Terror' and as Spocks rival Stonn in 'Amok Time'. A recording session with Lawrence took place in mid-September.

Jan 25 - ST Excelsior released their third episode, Act III of their "The Excelsior Returns Arc" titled, "Turns of Events" (45 mins). The Excelsior has retreated outside the system and dealt with the intruders. But Captain Cortez's team is still trapped on the planet, suddenly facing a Prime Directive dilemma as welll as Sorid-Gee's impending betrayal! Will the Excelsior's rescue attempt come in time? And what has happened to Special Operations Chief Amara?
Act II, "The Valandrian Expedition" (33 mins) was released on Dec 5 and the latest info is that Act III, "Wildfire" is scheduled for March. ST Excelsior is based on a Role Playing Game, an interesting concept as I pointed out in my earlier post at the release of their first episode in Sep '07 which they are now calling a "pilot episode".

Jan 23 - Circus 13 Productions premiered their new production, Star Trek: The New Frontier, with episode one, "The Beginning" The brainchild of James Leeper who wrote, co-directed with Cpt. John Tadrzak and produced it. ... All is not normal at Deep Space Thirteen, a new worm hole leads to some place else where no man has gone before. As something lurks to capture or even destroy the USS Phoenix, her crew is the last hope for the station's survival!

Jan 14 - Pendant productions released their latest episode of Star Trek: Defiant, "Shepherd Moons, part 1" (39mins 23s). The crew mourns the loss of Commander Ry, even as life marches ever onward. Meanwhile, Mnet has some new friends to help him exact new tortures upon a new race!

• Oct 11 - Ep 17 - With Honor and Courage, part 1 (34min 44s, 8.0Mb). The Defiant and the Shin'Aqi battle as the Task Force fights for their freedom! Senator Dreshek provides some unexpected assistance, and Commander Ry prepares a team for her mission and wants to include... Gul Otek.
• Nov 8 - Ep 18 - With Honor and Courage, part 2 (34min 13s, 7.8Mb). Adam and Rael have planned a surprise for the captain, which involves music, a bear hug and a reunion with an old friend. Ry's team prepares for their assault on Destur Muht, and love finally finds two of the Task Force members.
• Dec 13 - Ep 19 - With Honor and Courage, part 3 (34min 44s, 8.0Mb). New complications arise between Commander Ry and Gul Otek and the Captain gets disconcerting news from Admiral Bahvratti. The infiltration of Destur Muht holds some surprises, Lieutenant Magas makes a tough decision and B'Gruja knows best.
• Eps 18, 19 & 20 have an audio commentary track

Jan 1 - Darker Projects released their latest episode (Ep. 7) of Star Trek: Lost Frontier, "Resistance" (29min 22s, 27.1 MB) We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to sustain our own. Your culture will adapt to nourish us ... Resistance is futile.

• Oct 1 - Ep. 4 Escape from Korsava 4 (27min 54s, 25.7 MB) Trapped on the surface of prison world. The Enterprise away team make a desperate attempt to escape. But just how much can they trust the mysterious Mister Jezek? And just what will it cost them in the end?
• Nov 1 - Ep. 5 The Fallen Empire (24min 35s, 22.7 MB) Starfleet Command sends the Enterprise to investigate what has becomes of the Klingon Empire after the Infection struck. But along the way they make a shocking discovery.
• Dec 1 - Ep. 6 Remnant of the Klingons (23min 40s, 21.9 MB) The Enterprise discover a threat that could annihilate not only the last of the Klingons. But the Federation as well.
• Series 2 of Star Trek The Lost Frontier begins April 1st 2008.

Dec 15 - Star Trek: Unity released their premiere 'audiosode', the audio drama "Disunity" (1hr 15mins, 73Mb). Originally, and presumably still, envisaged as a machinima project, "Star Trek: Unity" have been working steadily towards this release for almost exactly a year now. Features Special Guest Star Kurt Carley, and available in four different formats

• a single MP3 file
• a four-part set of MP3 files (for easier chapter navigation)
• a CD image complete with episode CD label
• a format made especially for dial-up users
  

Check out their website for a poster and desktop wallpaper images available in several sizes. I'll post more on this after I've listened to it, I've been looking forward to it for ages!

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In Production

Star Trek: Archimedes has swung back into full production after a brief holiday over Christmas. Co-producer, Fiona Conn is now cracking-the-whip to get lines in for their second episode. In Fionna's words, "The idea behind Archimedes was that ...Cadets would be assigned to a ship for two years in order to conclude their training ...Ultimately, our goal is to show the Cadets growing up through their experiences on board the Archimedes, becoming adults in their own right, before finally graduating at the end."

"Star Trek: Diplomatic Relations" called for and closed auditions on the Star Trek: Intrepid forum - you've got to be fast! Alex Matthews, has scored the services of two Hidden Frontier alumni for his premiere episode. They are Karl Puder, who will be reprising his character of General Korg from HF and the Section 31 Files, and Heather Ashleigh as Princess Regent Mey'Lii of the Royal Blood. Heather was the last actress to play Silan, Henglaar's niece, in Hidden Frontier.
The script of the second episode was completed and distributed by Nov and Alex has posted on the forum they have had hosted by Star Trek: Intrepid that they are close to releasing their first episode and have just opened their own forum and website to the public.

Starfleet Renegades has a forum now instead of the MySpace account although there doesn't seem to be much apparent movement. Must be like an iceberg: 7/8ths of it you can't see!

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Pre-Production

Nothing new that I've heard of.

ST: New Voyages - Jan '08

Star Trek: New Voyages is the result of a canon purist's dream, it's express purpose to recreate the original series as closely as possible, so it is not surprising that Executive Producer, James Cawley has in the past voiced reservations about the new Trek movie helmed by J.J.Abrams. A chance meeting on the Paramount lot last week, when Mr Cawley was invited to visit the filming by J.J.Abrams, has however given Mr Cawley the opportunity to really see first-hand what is going on. He was able to check out the look they are going for, talk to the actors & evaluate their performances and discuss, producer-to-producer (albeit professional-to-fan!), his vision of Star Trek.

Check out the video interview that James gave TrekMovie's Anthony Pasquale for details, but it is fair to say that he has walked away, if not a convert to the new movie's camp, a firm supporter of what J.J.Abrams is trying to do. This could have something to do with the fact that, to quote New Voyages, "J.J. Abrams ... told Cawley that he would have costumers fit Cawley for a new uniform and that he would include him in the film. Cawley’s casting call was set for 7:00AM, Wednesday, January 23."

Stunt casting? I don't believe so. Although there is no denying the diplomacy of winning across someone with as much fan credibility as James Cawley, neither can there be any doubt of Mr Cawley's acting ability and on-screen charisma. There was a casting call and if he wasn't up to the professional role, I doubt he would have got any part. Personally, I see this as a tip of the hat from J.J.Abrams to New Voyages and the Star Trek fan community to say that he knows what we've done, what we want and he's not going to ride, rough-shod over our dreams! The House of L'Stok supports what could be a bold new look to the Star Trek franchise, adapting the best of the past to keep the Roddenberry message fresh for future generations.

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Stepping through Star Trek: New Voyages past and present episodes, we need to start off in January, 2004 when "Come What May" (CWM), now classified as their "pilot" episode, was released. Although it’s no longer featured on their download page, it still continues to get hits, especially with its new European subtitles and it can still be accessed through various New Voyages Mirror sites, such as: STNV.net, New Voyages Torrent Tracker (including the DVD version), (in Spanish, click on Escargas), The Fan Films Foundation (In Italian, click on Episodi or Sottotitoli) and on the FTP of the Academic Computer Club, Umeå. One interesting side-note that has been finally made public in the latest New Voyages eMagazine 4 is that Max Rem, the credited co-producer of New Voyages and CGI guru is really Doug Drexler! GASP! There is also an interview with John Winston, the veteran actor who played Lt Kyle in the Original series and Captain Matt Jeffries in CWM. The eMags are an amazing resource with beautifully published graphics, interviews and fan contributions! They regularly have interviews with recurring characters and guests, as in eMag 2, which featured Kurt Carley, Cpt Pike from CWM.

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October 2004, saw the release of "In Harm’s Way" (IHW) and again is still popular with subtitles in Spanish , Italian and German . By the way, if you get a "missing Codec error", check this out, and if all the time travel makes your head spin, you can settle details with the official, unofficial IHW timeline. The new eMagazine 4 has excerpts from the original storyboards created for IHW by Doug Drexler

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On March 29, the Cawley Entertainment Company will premiere "To Serve All My Days: A Night in 1969" at the Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills, CA.This will be a gala red carpet evening event to celebrate a special upgraded and enhanced re-release of their popular second episode, "To Serve All My Days", which premiered in November 2006. Featuring updated visual effects by Daren Dochterman and Joël Bellucci, original series music, consistent title sequences, and vintage commercials, making it appear as it might have if aired on a night in 1969. Executive Producer James Cawley promises an added surprise at the end for fans as well ... one wonders if it might have something to do with the controversial ending that seemed to defy canon? Walter Koenig, who stars in this episode, is the only remaining original series cast member not to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and this premiere event is meant to highlight his life and career. "To Serve All My Days: A Night in 1969" will be released as a free download after the premiere at a date to be announced, but a new teaser trailer for it should be forthcoming shortly.

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New Voyages most recently released episode, "World Enough and Time", was made available on August 24 and starred the incomparable George Takei and was written by Michael Reaves and Marc Scott Zicree who also directed. It is probably the impact of this production more than anything else that has fuelled talk of Star Trek: New Voyages, being nominated for a Hugo award - quite on the cards, since it is a fan nominated award. This will go nicely with the TV Guide Online Video Award for 2007 for best Sci-fi Webisode that NV won on Nov 26 last year against some stiff opposition, such as the SciFi Channel's "Battlestar Galactica", the USA Network's "The 4400" and "Afterworld" from MySpace.com.

The Nebula award from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) is a peer award rather than a popularity award, so it was an incredible honour for authors Reaves and Zicree to be announced last week as nominees for a Nebula Award for "Best Script". The other six nominees are:

• Blink by Steven Moffat, a Doctor Who episode
• Children of Men by Cuaron, Sexton, Arata, Fergus and Ostby, a Universal Film
• The Discarded by Harlan Ellison and Josh Olson on Masters of Science Fiction
• Pan's Labyrinth by Guillermo del Toro, a Time/Warner film
• The Prestige by Christopher & Jonathon Nolan, a Newmarket Film
• V for Vendetta by Larry & Andy Wachowski, a Warner Film

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"Blood and Fire" (BAF), the next scheduled episode, written by David Gerrold and featuring Denise Crosby, turned out to be movie length and is now split into a double episode (IV & V) which is in post-production with no official release date posted. TrekMovie quotes James Cawley as saying "Part 1 should be available in April with part 2 likely to come out in May". The last filming of pick-up shots was finished on the first weekend of Dec.

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The New Voyages episodes page shows their next episode (No. VI) as being "Rest and Retaliation", written by Dave Galanter and Greg Brodeur. TrekMovie says that it "begins location shooting at Vasquez Rocks in late March ... and hopes are to have that episode out some time in 2008." The new film "returns the crew of the Enterprise to the 'Shore Leave' planet, but not everything is found as expected."

Bobby Quinn Rice, star of Star Trek: Hidden Frontier and, for one episode, of Star Trek: Odyssey will be reprising his role from BAF as Peter Kirk, becoming in James Cawley's words a series regular

... The addition of Bobby as Peter Kirk, allows me to bring a new dimension to the Captain as he learns to cope with Family.

There are interviews with Bobby and co-star Evan Fowler in the latest eMagazine, and if you want to wet your appetite for this next episode, checkout emag 2 which has interviews with Ben Tolpin, who replaces Jeff Quinn as Spock, and Kim Stinger who replaces Julienne Irons as Uhura. This is in addition to a feature interview with Denise Crosby who headlines this episode.

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Also in pre-production, and looking to be episode VII, is an episode called "Killkenny Cats" to be directed by Jimmy Diggs and adapted from a story written by him for Star Trek Enterprise which feature the Kzinti, the cat-like creatures invented by Larry Niven and previously seen on The Animated Series. A teaser poster has been released and Cawley has told TrekMovie.com that the Kzinti will be fully rendered CGI, however the director/writer says that

we plan to incorporate animatronics, state of the art prosthetic make-up, and the abundant dramatic skills of actor Hawthorne James ("Speed", " Boss'n Up", see IMDB) .

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It was mentioned in Dec that there could be a crew and casting call for First Voyages, the "below decks" spin-off from New Voyages, soon. For the best introduction to this series, read the four page interview with writer, Carlos Pedraza, in eMag 2, whilst eMag 3 has an interview with Joel Bellucci who, besides being the New Voyages SPX supervisor also appears in the cast of First Voyages.

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In September 2005, it was announced that extra footage would be shot during the filming of "To Serve All My days" to make ten minute 'Vignettes'. It was planned that they would be released beginning in late October of that year, and every 4 to 6 weeks after that. They were all directed by Erik "Gooch" Goodrich, at the time the 2nd Unit Director who shot all the Barbara Luna and Malachi Throne scenes for "In Harm’s Way". The first vignette "Center Seat" was intended to be done quickly using stock visual effects from "Come What May" and "In Harm's Way". However when the visual effects producer, Max Rem saw the rough cut of Center Seat, "he insisted we give him the time to create all new effects shots to match the quality of the performances".

"Center Seat", was finally released on March 17, 2006 but all the rest are currently on hold. The second, "Change of Command", written by Erik Korngold, was hinted at in Nov last year to be a changeover between two captains. "Auld Lang " was to be next, followed by "No Win Scenario", which is mentioned by regular John Carrigan as showing "a lot about Kargh's background, and especially why he and Kirk have this ongoing thing between them". Checkout eMag 2 for a photo clip from this vignette.

In September, Erik 'Gooch' Goodrich, the director of the vignettes said,

Yes we are indeed working on two [sic] vignettes that were filmed prior to WEaT and expect to see at least one of them BEFORE a release of Blood and Fire. Farther than that... I cannot see. Always in motion is the future. Most of the Post team is working on BaF but I've managed to gather some of the cream of the crop to continue helping me bring these stores to the fans. These two shorts are near and dear to me and I hope not to work on anything else (NV related) until they are finished and being downloaded, or streamed...or whatever!

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For news, downloads and background information about Star Trek: New Voyages go to their website, www.startreknewvoyages.com, and to discuss their work with the cast, crew and fellow fans on their forum at http://www.startreknewvoyages.com/forum/

The Raven's Writing Desk - Jan '08

The Twelve Trek Days of Christmas project was stunningly tiring but personally empowering! It stretched my conception of what I was capable of. Producing the podBooks and being involved with the Podcasts was fascinating stuff! However, to some extent I was on the outside looking in. I was writing about podcasts and organising other people to do the podbooks and it made me wonder if I had it in me to be a creator, to produce a podcast or perform in a PodBook myself?


Never being one to let an opportunity to go to waste, I will now dip my big, hairy toe into the cold waters of podcasting with the first production from the House of L'Stok, "Acrux 0801". It's not a review or a critique - no, no, no, that's way too easy! I have never in my life given anything but constructive criticism but I can count on one hand the number of people who have been able to accept critique of their work so I gave up giving critique long ago. I now leave that to people with thicker skins and a higher regard for their own opinion.

No, I see myself as a commentator and citizen reporter of Star Trek fan productions - Whether I am a successful one or not is up to you, oh hypothetical reader. Each episode I'll put the spotlight on a different fan production, I've picked New Voyages to get the ball rolling because quite frankly my catch-up research after being away from things for a couple of months has given me so much new info on them that I can fill an episode just with their news! You'll have to excuse my "bare-bones" coverage of other productions but I'll be working on getting a full coverage up next month.
So, what's this about 'adventures in multimedia' anyway? Podcasts have been around for ages! The idea of a PodBook is not new either, PodioBooks - an institution in itself! - have had the facility to subscribe to a feed of a book for years. However PodioBooks is all original content, whereas there is a whole world of fan fiction out there, some of it very good, that deserves to be distributed in an audio format.

Keep your eye on this space for the first of a new PodBook series ...

Kirok on Fan Films - Jan '08

Playing catch-up with Fan Films since my last update in September.

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Featured Production

"Star Trek: Beyond" (ST: B)

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In Production

Star Trek: Horizon (ST-Ho)
Star Trek: Odyssey (ST-O)
Star Trek: Operation Beta Shield (ST-BS)
Star Trek: The Helena Chronicles(ST-HC)

Star Trek: Origins (ST-Or)

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Pre-Production

Star Trek: Gatekeeper (ST-Ga)
Star Trek: The Expedition (ST-Exp)

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Looking for Group ...
A new machinima series is hull-down on the horizon! Star Trek: Challenger is to be made using Elite Force I [?], the co-writers have posted a number of screen-shots on the HF forum, they have a Wiki with the bare bones of the info about the project and a forum where they are taking auditions for Voice Actors.

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What's this? http://www.stfleetofduty.org.uk ? No one knows yet but thanks to JGBR for the heads-up!

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Watch out for ...
The next issue of Trekkie Central, a new fanzine focusing on Star Trek fan films which will be featuring interviews with Starship Farragut cast and crew in it's next issue.

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The third Excelsior Ball which celebrates 7 years of Hidden Frontier, Odyssey, Helena Chronicles and more on June 6-8th at the Radisson Hotel at Los Angeles Airport.