What Kirok did ... in January

The Twelve Trek Days of Christmas ALL MONTH!

• Day 4: A comprehensive guide to every Star Trek audio drama known as at the posting date. Are they good? That's for you to decide!
• Day 5: Five seminal fan films created between 1969 - 2000 that paved the way for the fan film sub-culture we are enjoying today.
• Day 6: Once the preserve of the big production houses with their teams of talented artists, computer graphics have brought animation within the reach of 'everyman'. What is being made, how and by whom?
• Day 7: Star Trek: Twelfth Night - An appropriation of Shakespeare's classic comedy! Have you ever noticed how in a mirror, everything is turned about?
• Day 8: Last year's survey of Music Videos makes a return as Sebastiaan van Mierlo, the owner of Final Frontier Media, gives us his pick of the top Star Trek music videos of all time!
• Day 9: The new and improved Twelve Trek Days of Christmas "Compendium of Games", a survey of fan-made and commercial games based on Star Trek including quick-start rules for a custom-made RPG system, Fantasy Trek 

Star Trek: The Early Years breaks new ground

I was wondering how long it would take. A new fan film production group has surfaced that aims to create what I believe is the first fan film tied in to the new movie from JJ Abrams, to be called Star Trek: The Early Years.

A thread on the official movie forum first led me to their MySpace page (and its virtually identical twin on Trekspace) where I first saw their teaser trailer, which is in turn housed on Vimeo, and I can honestly say that if this is any indication of the quality of the work we can expect, this is going to be the one to watch next year!

Star Trek: The Early Years - Teaser from Emil Karlsson on Vimeo.

Online for five months, it showcases the USS Kelvin 3D model by Tobias Richter of LightWorks in a short sequence created in Blender, Adobe After Effects, Premiere and Soundbooth. The music is based on "To Boldy Go" from the Star Trek (2009) soundtrack with some add-ins by the film's maker.

The project has been around since at least March, when they announced that CutshawKane Reel Music out of Kings Mountain, NC will be providing additional music for our episodes. So far they have a principal cast and crew plus a guest cast for their first episode which is due to film in North Carolina in 2010

Pretty impressive, in fact you can see a trend here: they are all pro or semi-pro cast and crew, some with substantial backgrounds and demo reels. This is the work of an independent film-maker who is using a Star Trek fan film as a vehicle to practice his art. Its been done quite successfully in other fandoms, most noticeably the DC 'verse, and last year by D. R. Quintana's Star Trek: Beyond.

Ethically there is nothing wrong with it at all as long as they stick to the rules and don't divert any revenue from the copyright owners. This however is an example of how professionals can gain something that cannot be measured in dollars: public and professional visibility. We, the fans, win as does the copyright owner by the free fan prublicity. If they were to prosecute people for doing things for the glory that they might bring then I'd be behind bars right now!

Fan Producer gets go ahead for STO Radio

Kinneas, co-founder with Zach Nicodemous of Hailing Frequencies, the primary source of my intelligence on Star Trek gaming, has achieved a long term goal that will give him the opportunity to play a leading part in the world of Star Trek Online, both In Character and Out Of Character! From the announcement on the Hailing Frequencies website and forum...

'Gaming Radio Network', Creators of EVE Radio... are an amazingly professional group with many years of experience entertaining MMO audiences and were very receptive to my ideas on what I would do if I had a Star Trek Online Radio station.

So they gave me a fully developed station and all the creative control I will need to work with potential Role-Playing (and non- Role Playing ) DJ's who want to be the voices of the United Federation, Klingon Empire and all the realms in-between and beyond. As well as the freedom to work with the Fleets of Star Trek Online to provide them a way to promote themselves or spread empire news.

The first thing I have to say is, CONGRATULATIONS!!! Sport, you've got the talent and drive to do this. The work of all concerned with Hailing Frequencies, both as a podcast, an online fanzine and gaming news site and forum is an example to the fan production community of what can be done with imagination and drive.

Cryptic Studios and Gaming Radio Network are to be congratulated for taking the so far unique stand of giving a fan production group the opportunity to show that they can cut it in the world of MMOG entertainment media!

Dude, I am so jealous! (^V^)

----------------------- ghIj qet jaghmeyjaj ------------------------
----------------- May your enemies run with fear -------------------

What Kirok did ... in December

Getting buckled down to The Twelve Days of Christmas and Radio Liberty but I still can't resist giving people the benefit of my two strips of Latinum. My current bee-in-my-bonnet is how to publicise fan productions to mainstream audiences without it favouring the high profile productions whilst giving a potential audience enough information for them to be tempted to watch/listen/read/play a fan produced item.

• The idea was one I'd pondered before but it was brought to the fore by a valid comment by Professor Moriarty on the Trek BBS.
  
• A comment to an otherwise interesting interview with Clive Young caused me to expand on my thoughts with the aid one of Clive's descriptions.
• Made some suggestions to Barbreader for how she could improve on the functionality of her website, Star Trek Reviewed, that reminded me that I had never mentioned it here. It is an immensely useful resource for finding a vast array of Star Trek fan productions.
• Recently lost my beloved but aging iPaq and my capability for reading eBooks went with it! After looking at other PDA options, and because I am jealous of my son's iPod Touch, I decided to see what possibilities there were in the way of mobile phone aps for a Nokia N5730
• Posted to the Star Trek Paper Modeller's Yahoo Group that gamestockmassena has found a new home for the fan-made constructable card game, "Pirates of the Federation" and in the process updated the gaming material.
• Experimented with Playlists on my YouTube channel.
• Mooted the possibilities of audio dramas tying in to fan film fanchises.
• Looking for group!!! Fleet Captain James Cecil, CO of the USS Commonwealth, a Kentucky based Star Trek fan club, part of Starfleet International, is interested in starting a fan film. Voyages Of The Funakoshi will take place during the TNG era, more precisely right after the events of the movie STAR TREK: Generations and he has open positions right across the board: writers, actors, camera operators, sound recorders, Special Effects and makeup artists. Interested parties can email him at jcecil5@adelphia.net.
• December 19 - Officially started the 2009 Twelve Trek Days of Christmas
• Day 1: A simple to construct game board and playing pieces for Klin Zha, the Klingon equivalent to chess. Just cut, fold, glue and play. (I'm open to suggestions for new playing pieces!)
• Day 2: A hyperlinked guide to fan reporting in 2009 - from UseNet to social networking, from fanzines to podcasts
• Day 3: With the down-turn in the economy, this year I could only afford two wise men as the team from TWERPs podcasted about religion and politics in Star Trek in their third annual Trekcast.

Star Trek: Eras 104 - Tough Decisions

With Star Trek: Eras' latest release, Tough Decisions, Jim, Ken and the production group at TWERP have given us a good adventure drama with considerably more action than their previous episodes. Its a 'bottle show', which helps new listeners, whilst at the same time bringing back characters from previous shows which helps to fill out their back-story. So, if you haven't listened to an episode of Eras before now, this is a good place to start!


However this time around there's an even stronger reason for me to urge you to listen to this episode. It is one of the most striking speculative fiction episodes I've seen to date in a Star Trek fan production and because of that you will either love it or hate it.

I define good speculative fiction as something that makes us think about the world around us by drawing fictional parallels, such as the way that Tolkein was perceived to be commenting on English society in Lord of the Rings.

Trek fan productions rarely deal with the hot topics of our real life world, although there are notable exceptions of which Tough Decisions is one. As a paper-thin portrayal of the Iraqi conflict in a Star Trek context, I applaud Jim and Ken for their courage in putting it on the line for us. The allied involvement in Iraq is controversial because of its origins, its conduct and its outcomes and Jim and Ken have their own take on the moral and sociological aspects of it.

Did they get it right?

Define "right" for me.

They made me think, so - yeah, they got it right for me. Because making you think is what it is all about, not convincing you that their take is the right take.

I think it would be short-sighted to get caught up in arguments about this as a commentary on current affairs though, because the issues are much bigger than that. I can see this episode as opening up avenues of dialogue about a half dozen philosophical and ethical issues, not the least of which is the question of the universality of personal values which is so important to Star Trek.

Haven't you ever wondered about the paradox of how the Roddenberry dream can espouse IDIC - Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations - and yet the quadrant is ruled by a federation that must, for its very survival, have fixed, core values that all the members must respect? Doesn't this say: we love your diversity as long as you are not diverse in ways that we disagree with? What about the right of a member planet to constitutionally recognise canibalism? Ritual suicide? Could the Klingons ever be recognised because of their tradition of hegh'bat?

I urge you to listen to Tough Decisions, enjoy it as entertainment and then think about this... where do your rights end and mine begin? Are there some absolute values in ethics that should be enforced across all cultures? Is this showing strength of convictions or is this a conviction of strength?

Your answer to the questions might tell you a lot about yourself and your own values.

----------------batlHa' vangIu'taHvIS quv chavbe'lu' ---------------
------ One does not achieve honour while acting dishonourably ------
-------------------------- Kirok of L'Stok -------------------------

What Kirok did ... in November

I post a lot over a wide variety of boards and a lot of what I would like to highlight in Acrux gets lost so here are links to discussions I've had this month over the wide world of the web ...

• Part of a great discussion about how fan-made audio dramas could increase their appeal to mainstream listeners on TrekBBS
  
• Started a thread on TrekUnited for Starmada, the GoAnimate animation series
• After Glenn Jupp posted the details of his first business card sized model suitable as a game piece on the StarTrekPaperModels Yahoo Group, I developed on the thread by asking other card designers if they wanted to do something in a similar vein.
• Discovered that the fan-made game mod, "Pirates of the Federation" did not disappear when its Geocities website went down. The creator also has a Yahoo Group called, strangely enough, piratesofthefederation.
• Found out that there was a third, or more correctly another version of the second pilot for The Original Series of Star Trek! My thanks to Igor of Sydney Trek for the heads-up.
• Got all didactic about the difference between an audio book and an audio drama.
• Listened to the new release from ST Eras and its such good speculative fiction that I'm posting about it on Trek United, Audio Drama Talk and the Hidden Frontier and ST Intrepid forums.
  
• LOOKING FOR GROUP! Star Trek: Valkyrie, a new family oriented Trek audio drama is looking for three male Voice Actors. Casting call, Intro post on FH forums & pilot/trailer.
  

Henglaar, MD Premiere

With the end of Star Trek: Hidden Frontier in 2007, various groups actively lobbied to continue aspects of the series as spin-offs besides the sweeping story arcs of Odyssey and The Helena Chronicles. Several of the cast had gathered strong followings and two series were started to cover them: Federation One which features Matt McCabe, and Henglaar MD which continues the story of the medico of the USS Excelsior who was a regular on the show from the first episode in 2000.

Henglaar is devastated after the events that formed the climax of season seven of ST HF and the premiere episode of this series, Recalled To Life, acts as a bridge between the two series, or if you've never seen the fan film an introduction. John Whiting has a distinctive gravelly voice that perfectly characterises his portrayal of the curmudgeonly Dr. Henglaar. He's supported in the opening episode by other ST HF characters including Silan, Henglaar's niece, played since ep. 7.04 by Heather Ashleigh and the star-crossed lovers, Traya Knapp, voiced by Sara Jo Elice and her Cardassian paramour, Pelas, which sees the return of Tim Foutch.

The strength of the production though lies in its new direction rather than its past. Henglaar is looking to quietly bury himself in his work and finds a niche for himself as the mentor of an unlikely trio of medical students, a human, a Vulcan and a Ferrengi played by Tim Fritts, Jeannie Lin and Mark Samarias. John's performance of Henglaar meets its match in a fiery delivery by Melodee M. Spevack as Cpt Dana Russell the master of the ship that the action takes place on. The interplay between these two characters was the highpoint of this production for me and I'll be bitterly disappointed if Melodee isn't a regular!

Henglaar, MD is an interesting show that breaks new ground for Star Trek fan audio dramas. I'm not oblivious to the parallels between this and a certain TV series that features a similarly irascible doctor who uses a cane but I'm afraid if this was what it was trading on its lost on me since I've never watched it. Medical drama revolves around people, it is heavy with tension and dialog, and, refreshingly, does not have to involve militaristic conflict. I'll be interested to see how well this translates into a different media, audio drama, and an unusual setting, the Star Trek universe.

Released on July 29 (Running Time 40:23; 37mb) and featured in the HFP August newsletter, the script for the pilot, by director Eric Weaver, was finished by February as was the recording of the series theme by Mary Kouyoumdjian, another departure from the usual fare. It is available as a direct download from the episode webpage on the HFP website where you can also find a preview and an iTunes feed … but no RSS feed for those of us who have freed our mp3 players from the demon ahToonz!

Altogether a good start to what could be a unique venture.