Sunday, January 27, 2008

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:

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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/

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