Star Trek: Phase II in 2008

On February 16, 2008 James Cawley, Executive Producer of Star Trek: New Voyages announced that they were changing the name of the 'nets premiere Star Trek fan film group to Star Trek: Phase II

Star Trek: Phase II 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, 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 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.

00 Come What May

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 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.

01 In Harm’s Way

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

02 To Serve All My Days

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.

July 14 it was released on the Internet minus the 1960's and 1970's era commercials (for copyright reasons) but with the original series soundtrack and the special surprise at the very end.

03 World Enough and Time

Made available on August 24 last year and starring the incomparable George Takei this 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 started talk of Star Trek: New Voyages, being nominated for a Hugo award - always on the cards since it is a fan nominated award. This would 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.

On Aug 10 "World Enough and Time"was nominated for a Hugo in the Best Dramatic Presentation (Short From) category, it finished 3rd on the first cut but 5th on overall voting.

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". Although its eligibility as an entrant on the ballot was hotly challenged by some members of the SFWA, most notably Keith R.A. DeCandido a writer of great Trek fiction himself. After due deliberation it was passed by their Board of Directors as Michael Capobianco the SFWA President explained on the SFWA Live Journal.

"Thrilling Wonder Stories" announced on Nov 11 that an article on "World Enough and Time" would appear in their January edition.

Dec 17 a DVD/ISO file was released with a cover & label art file, trailers, behind the scenes video, Dr. Chandris & Alana Sulu auditions, extended Scenes 1 & 2, interim & deleted scene plus Blood and Fire trailer

04-05 Blood and Fire"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.

Checkout the eMagazine for interviews with Bobby and co-star Evan Fowler plus emag 2 which has interviews with Ben Tolpin, who replaced Jeff Quinn as Spock, and Kim Stinger who replaced Julienne Irons as Uhura. This is in addition to a feature interview with Denise Crosby who headlines this episode.

There was an advance screening at the Shore Leave 30 convention on Jul 7.

Jul 16 Brian Kelley was announced as Star Trek: Phase II Editor even though he had ... on Sep 13 an interview with Kelley was released on the Phase II website.

Aug 28 An opening Teaser was released followed by a new one on Nov 20 by Brian Kelley released on YouTube.

On Nov 18 a release date of December 20 was announced on the forum and on the 30^th David Gerrold showed "Blood and Fire" at LOSCON. (Reviewed on DoorQ.com)

06 Enemy: Starfleet

May 3 BarBara Luna and Kevin Pereira announced as guest cast

Jun 15 Ten days of principle photography starts at Retro Film Studios in upstate New York.

Aug 27 Photos released of Ship cgi (Phase II refit) to be used from "Enemy: Starfleet" onwards

Sep 13 Behind the scenes article of filming released on website

Oct 20 Brandon Stacy (double for Zachary Quinto in new movie) announced as replacement for Ben Tolpin as Spock from "Enemy: Starfleet" onwards

07 The Child

Kirk and crew battle a barrage of inexplicable, deadly attacks after the birth of a strange child. "This episode marks the first production of a script originally penned for the aborted 1970's Paramount Phase II series.” ... The teleplay for "The Child" had been adapted for The Next Generation, but was restored by Jon Povill for production by Phase II... A pickup shoot for one scene is scheduled for December, and the VFX for the episode are slated to be done by the D.A.V.E. school, located in Florida.

Jul 22 Jon Povill announced as director for the upcoming episode "The Child"

Oct 5 Thirteen days of principle photography starts at Retro Film Studios in upstate New York.

Oct 14 First photos released on forum of recent filming of "The Child"

Dec 10 Behind the scenes video of filming released on website

08-09 Kitumba

On Nov 16 The original Paramount Phase II script "Kitumba", written by John Meredyth Lucas, was announced as the eighth and ninth episodes with Kirk and the Enterprise on a secret mission to the Klingon homeworld.

Principle photography for part one is scheduled to take place at Retro Film Studios and nearby locations in upstate New York from June 1-14, 2009. Part two is tentatively scheduled to film in the fall. It will feature the return of John Carrigan as Captain Kargh and JG Hertzler will play the former tutor, K’Sia.

IN PRE PRODUCTION

Our Own Devices

A bottle show written by Carlos Pedraza and featuring no stunt casting. Previously titled "Pomp and Circumstance."

Bandi

An episode written by David Gerrold similar in tone to The Trouble With Tribbles. The story has previously been adapted into Star Trek: The Manga.

Kilkenny Cats

Also in pre-production 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 will feature a cat-like warrior race called the Kytheri, created entirely with CGI. Originally they planned to re-introduce the Kzinti invented by Larry Niven and featured in the animated series but due to copyright conflicts a new race has been introduced.

On Jan 6 a teaser poster by artist Court Jones was released and Cawley has told TrekMovie.com that Jimmy Diggs' work 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).

Phase II eMagazine #5 will feature an article with writer Jimmy Diggs

The Sky Above, The Mudd Below

Meant to feature J. G. Hertzler as Harry Mudd but was put on the backburner when Mr Hertzler's commitments changed. James Cawley recently said, "That episode is extremely complex and is on the radar and We are looking to another character actor to fill Harry's Shoes

Rock-A-Bye Baby -- Or Die!

An alien entity enters and grows up inside the Enterprise’s computer.

Rest and Retaliation

Written by Dave Galanter and Greg Brodeur, from a concept by Howard Weinstein, 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.

It was suggested it might be directed by Kevin Rubio, the director of the Star Wars fan film Troops, but it has been shelved due to issues with the script.

First Voyages

It was mentioned in Dec last year 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.

The Vignettes

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!

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 go to their forum at http://www.startreknewvoyages.com/forum