Rotoscoping, shortcut or cheating?

This is a series of images to show a test case I made for using the technique known as Rotoscoping as a way of quickly creating reasonable graphics from photographed images.

The idea behind rotoscoping is that you use a photographed (or filmed) image as the basis for a hand-drawn image or animation. This is a series of images to show a test I made to create an image of "Admiral Black" for the Dispatches From The Romulan War" when there is only one canon image on the internet of him. Luckily the actor who played Admiral Black in the episode "In a Mirror Darkly", Gregory Itzen, has also starred as President Logan in the hit series, "24" and there are a number of excellent publicity images of him such as this one ...


I made it monochrome and increased the contrast in my graphics editing application (I use Ulead Photoimpact)

I then used the "find edge" tool (it's name might vary in different software packages) to emphasise the edges and used "Invert" to form a negative image

Now, if I had a graphics tablet, I could trace those edges (with experience I might even skip some of the steps) and keep this entirely digital. However I can't afford one so I have to do it the old-fashioned way with a home-made light-box, made out of an old asparagus crate, a desk lamp and some scrap opaque perspex ...


I can now trace the graphic using a pencil to give me an accurate sketch.

Up 'til now there is virtually no skill or talent involved and if, say for example, you just wanted a rough outline for a storyboard this might suffice. However in my case I wanted to see if i had any of the old sketching talent left and turned it into a pen and pencil graphic of Admiral Black by substituting an admiral's uniform for Gregory's presidential suit.

Not bad. I tried different methods of getting different depths of black for the deep blue admirals jacket. By the way I tried to colour one of these and totally stuffed it up! There are some things you just can't take shortcuts with!












What about the ethics and legality of rotoscoping though?

I read an interesting Blog post today that gave me an interesting insight into the artist's viewpoint on this entitled, "Copying, tracing, reference and plagiarism" by xaqBazit who does the cover art for the audio drama Star Trek: Defiant - you can see his covers HERE and HERE.

It adds a new depth to the discussion about copyright. Certainly I am technically in breach of copyright by creating an unauthorised derivative work of Gregory Itzen's publicity photo from 24 but as long as it is used in a fan production and follows all the accepted rules, this is no different from using Star Trek theme music in an audio drama or fan film or Star Trek trademark names in a fan fiction. If the copyright owner asked me to take down my derived work I would - although I would almost certainly not do so quietly since I believe they would be doing themselves a disservice.

But plagiarism? Hmmm. Only if I tried to pass the sketch off as an original work of my own and even then ... what if I labeled the work as "Pen sketch photo-referenced from publicity photograph of Gregory Itzen in '24'"? Surely if I make the point that I'm not laying claim to the composition but merely my pen sketch then ethically I would be in the right.

By the way, I believe that my use of the "24" graphics in this post are covered by the dictates of "fair use" as a technical and artistic example of the technique of Rotoscoping. However, as with all my fan work, no copyright infringement is intended and (yes, you're going to hear it one more time!) it is made available for free, so if you ever see them for sale you are being ripped-off and are encouraged to report the retailer to the copyright owners.

Starfleet Renegades in 2008

The reports of my death have been grossly exaggerated!

I never say that a series is dead or canceled. Some are simply so slow moving as to be indistinguishable from the dead >cough!DeathAndHonour!cough< Starfleet Renegades is a case in point.

On March 6, Starfleet Renegades premiered their first episode, Court Martial. Written, produced and directed by James DeRuvo it was a sequel to Piracy of the Noble, episode 2 in season 4 of the iconic fan film series, Star Trek: Hidden Frontier which he co-wrote and co-directed. On this production he was partnered by R. Scott Bolton as Producer and Story Editor.

Captain Nicolas Roberts, played with just the right amount of confident command by Gregory Crafts, is definitely a “bad-boy with a past” and in the first episode has to pay the price of his crimes ... or does he? His co-star, Chris Hanel makes a good foil for him as Cmdr Jack Cochran and Wendy Gough as Cmdr Kate Marshall was also good although not given enough opportunity to do much with her part.

The incidental music, listed on the website credits as by heavy metal, Trek tribute band WARP 11, was atmospheric and well chosen but at points there was some disconcerting mike noise and the sound levels were variable. I liked it though - it showed great promise. Just about ever VA had an interesting voice but their Ferrengi was outstanding!

The storyline was understandable to me because I had a passing knowledge of the background but I wonder if a new listener would get as much out of it because of the opening scene being a Court Martial of unexplained crimes? Of course this could work to their advantage as a teaser - giving the character "a past" - and the curious listener who wanted to know the captain's background can go watch the Hidden Frontier episode. easily enough.

The only other major nitpick was the firefight – they are hard to visualise in audio at the best of times and the hand-phasers in the bar fight sounded much the same as the ship phasers in orbit.

All-in-all it was a reasonable introduction as "not-your-Daddy's-Star-Trek" and at the time they had a new website with a teaser trailer and the full episode for download as well as a forum. However after this promising start things just seemed to fall apart, nothing more being heard from them for months and their website & forum being down from at least July.

The intimation that “the reports of their death were exaggerated” came in November when the Hidden Frontier.Com newsletter said of their latest spin-off series, Federation One, “The first audio episode will be an exciting crossover with the Starfleet Renegades audio series, also set in the HF universe.”

This was followed by a message from the producer on their resurrected forum on December 9 ...

I know, I know, Renegades has been down for quite a while. Think of it as the Columbia engaging the cloaking device. Well now, we're back. Thanks to the tireless efforts of our tech man, Jonathan Connor Foertch (aka, the new Lt. Simpson), and thanks to the gracious hosting of Wozniak, Renegades lives to fight on.

And just in time, too as we're set to announce pre-production on our second episode, a crossover with Hidden Frontier productions Federation One. Recording is scheduled to begin shortly so stay tuned for more thrilling adventures with the crew of the good ship Columbia.

This crossover is actually going to be episode 2.01 of Federation One but whatever happens, listeners will be the winners as the Hidden Frontier creativity machine lends a helping hand to a fellow fan production group.

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

Acrux 2008 Star Trek Fan Film Review

The public preconception that fan films are all low quality took a severe beating in 2008! The level of production expertise and the quality of scripting and acting has made major advances with certain trends emerging that are working in favour of the production groups. Two groups in particular are garnering a lot of media attention.

Star Trek: Of Gods and Men brought together the best of the amateur, fan production talent and a wealth of professional talent and experience and created a movie that was critically well received. It must surely have opened a few eyes in the entertainment industry for the way that it showed that popular entertainment need not necessarily cost millions of dollars per episode.

James Cawley's, Star Trek: Phase II is another show that has raising eyebrows with it's Nebula and Hugo nominations and it would be easy to say that is due to it's use of professionals who voluntarily want to be involved. They have however remained true to their roots by ensuring a strong contingent of fans in their cast and crew with a regular call for volunteers.

Rob Caves is also branching out into original work with his latest proposal, Frontier Guard, whilst maintaining his commitment to fan film-making by mentoring a number of spin-off series from his recently completed, seven season epic, Star Trek: Hidden Frontier: Star Trek: Odyssey, The Helena Chronicles and Federation One!

A trend that is growing is the concept of joint productions. Star Trek: Intrepid and Areakt Films have proven this with two excellent examples of what can be accomplished by combining their resources of equipment, manpower and talent with the films, Orphans of War and Operation: Beta Shield. Another trend that this Scottish fan production group is perfecting is the vignette, short films that add depth to the plot and characters.

Starship Farragut is following both these by developing on it's strategic partnerships with other fan groups, such as Star Trek: Phase II, and NEO/fx (who are independently creating an animated series based on the Farragut fictional universe) as well as producing vignettes of their own in between the filming of their full sized episodes.

These are just the stars of the Star Trek fan film community, though, they represent the tip of an iceberg that encompasses a vast range of fictional styles and media. For the fifth present in The Twelve Trek Days of Christmas, Acrux fanzine is producing what will become an annual Star Trek fan film review, starting as posts on our Blogsite that will grow into a twenty page fanzine which will be published at the conclusion of the serial posting.

[Those who can read between the lines will guess that I don't have the fanzine finished but I don't want to keep you waiting any longer. This will allow me time to compile a better 'zine whilst giving you, O Hypothetical Reader, your present in installments]

Alt.startrek.Creative - Eighteen years old!

[This is the first of what I hope will be a monthly spotlight on the many and varied venues for sharing Star Trek fan fiction which are currently available to fanfictioneers - K]

alt.startrek.Creative, or ASC, is a newsgroup - news:alt.startrek.creative - is a place for
posting, reading and commenting on creative Star Trek fan fiction, poems, documentation, and other such works. Started in 1990 it's archive, The Trekiverse, which was started in 1991, has two mirrors, here and here. It also contains reference material in the FAQ's that explains how to create posts with the specific formatting that they require.

Over the years, the main newsgroup has spawned various daughter groups ...

• alt.startrek.creative.erotica (ASCE) - Star Trek erotica fiction, was not available in all areas, Defunct.
  
• alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated (ASCEM) - Moderated replacement of ASCE due to spam. Star Trek erotica stories and discussion.
  
• alt.startrek.creative.all-ages (ASCA) - A family friendly, moderated version of ASC. Stories limited to PG-13 and no slash. All stories posted to ASCA are allowed on ASC
  
• alt.startrek.uss-amagosa - TNG-DS9 time frame stories on the USS Amagosa or associated Universe.
  
• alt.fan.q (AFQ) - for discussion and creative stories on Q from either Trek or Bond.

A Yahoo Group, ASCL, was created in June 2000 as "an experimental, stories-only mailing list version of ASC, alt.startrek.creative, to provide an interim solution for people with poor newsfeeds in the absence of an up-to-date ASC archive..." Although it is still open (with 541 members!) it was last posted to in Dec 2006.

Newsgroups are a bit before my time, so I access ASC through it's Google Group, whose home page is at http://groups.google.com/group/alt.startrek.creative, and it's posts are delivered by email. I often wish that I could get my PDA linked up to my personal email account so that I could read the stories on the go but unfortunately my boss is unreasonable enough to expect me to just use it for work! The average story is generally short, what I would call a drabble or flash fiction, and there are links to fiction on other sites and fanzines.

The newsgroup runs an annual competition, the archive page shows the results between 1995 - 2004, and as it stands all stories, poems and filks posted to the newsgroup between Feb 1 and Jan 31 the following year are in the running unless an author specifically opts out. "The ASC awards are feedback-based," according to the organisers, "which means in order to "vote" for a particular story, you write a comment. It can be as simple as 'I really loved this story because it showed Picard in a whole new light' or a lengthy, detailed analysis." In order to comment on a story, you must first register and this year registrations opened on Feb 25 although you can register at any time during the awards season, which ran from Mar 2-23, with the results being announced on Mar 31.

Sadly the reduction in numbers of fan fiction posted on ASC means that the 2007 awards could be the last. The coordinators, Rocky and Stephen, posted, "Serious consideration was given to not having Awards this year. Some series, in fact, barely had enough stories to warrant even one category. If this trend is not reversed, this could be the last year for Awards."

I really like the idea of voting by comments! Although you could say it is forcing comments out of people who would not normally do so, I prefer to think of it as more of an encouragement for people to comment. Feedback is the lifeblood of writing and anything that creates more interaction between writers and readers - or writers and writers - is well worth encouraging!

Note:
- For a snapshot of mailing lists, newsgroups, ftp sites, telnet (MUDS), gopher and websites from 1998 see http://rec.horus.at/trek/star_trek_resources.html

Kirok of L'Stok
Fan Production Curmudgeon

Trekkie Central Apr '08

48pages colour, 9.2Mb pdf,
Issue Five for April '08, of Trekkie Central Magazine is now online and gives a broad, colourful overview of Star Trek fan films and audio dramas. It features articles on Starship Farragut, The Animated Episodes, plus an interview with it's producer, Michael Struck and a review of Borg War, The Movie by Australia's very own Gerri & Eugenia of GE News, plus an interview with it's creator Geoffrey James. There's also an interview with Guy Davis, creator of USS Tamarlane and a review of his Trek manga fan comic by Richard Miles.

Star Trek fan fiction is covered in this issue by an article on Trek by Alex Matthews and an extended feature on Trek Fanfic author, Rigel Kent, including an extract from four of the books in his Star Trek: Endeavour series and another review by Richard Miles.

All this plus interviews with Areakt productions exec. producer, Rob Caves, Trekspace creator, Alec Peters, and a commentary by the ever erudite Mr John Whiting make it well worth browsing.

Looking For Group, May '08

May 5 - Voice Actor auditions for Star Trek: Dimensions
Audio Drama looking for Voice Actors, Auditions close May 5. Details on Voice Acting Alliance

• Three any voicing
• Three Male or Female, late 30s - Late 50s
• Three males age: 26-42.
• Two females age 30-32
• One male Mid 40s, early 50s. A bit of a southern drawl.
• One male age 45, British Accent
• One male age: 25. nerd
• One female age:26, American Accent
• One female Andorian, Age 33.

May 10-11 - Casting Call for Star Trek Osiris
Live action fan film, Detroit, Michigan area. Millada Productions will be holding a general casting call on Saturday May 10th and Sunday the 11th for starring roles in the upcoming Star Trek: Osiris, late Summer to early Fall '08 release . Contact details on website

• Six female parts, ranging from age 25-40+
• Nine male parts, ranging from age 25-50+

No Closing date - Voice Actor auditions for Star Trek: Orion
Audio Drama looking for Voice Actors, no closing date for Auditions. Details on ST Orion Blog
pre-production stage.

• Five males
• One female

No Closing date - Writer for Star Rabbit Tracks
Established Audio Drama comedy/parody of Star Trek/Beatrix Potter looking for writer/s to extend the season. Contact details on Misfits audition page (sorry I missed getting the auditions out for the VA's for this!).