Welcome to this issue of TCM.

In this issue we are taking a look at the British side of Star Trek Fan Films,

we talk to Nick Cook creator of Star Trek Intrepid about his show and its

latest joint venture with Hidden Frontier, we also talk to him about the

future of Intrepid.

Next we have an update on Star Trek Grissom from its creator Sean Paul

Teeling. He talks about the future of Grissom and more.

Finally we have an interview with Caitlin Dar about her series Star Trek Armada

which has been created completely by using Go Animate!

I hope you enjoy this issue.

Live Long and Prosper

Richard Miles

Editor

TREKKIE CENTRAL 3

Situation Room

Bringing You The Latest Trek News 6

Star Trek Armada Review

By Randy Hall 8

One of Our Own Review

By Gerri Donaldson and

Eugenia Stopyra 17

Caitlin Dar Interview 20

Star Trek Grissom Update

By Sean Paul Teeling 24

Intrepid Voyages

Intrepid Update

By Camren T. Burton 28

Nick Cook Interview 33

Captains Log

By Sean Paul Teeling 37

Next Issue 38

TREKKIE CENTRAL 4

Trekkie Central Magazine

Special Thanks:

Interviewees:

Nick Cook and Caitlin Dar

Writers:

Camren T Burton; Gerri Donaldson; Richard Miles;

Eugenia Stopyra and Sean Paul Teeling

Images Supplied by:

Caitlin Dar.

Additional Images Supplied by:

Google Images and Bing Images

News from:

Trekweb.com; Trekmovie.com; Trektoday.com and

Hiddenfrontier.com

Staff:

Writers:

Camren T. Burton; Gerri Donaldson; Michael A

Martin; Richard Miles; Eugenia Stopyra; Sean Paul

Teeling.

Head Writers:

Gerri Donaldson and Eugenia Stopyra

Creative Consultants:

Michael Hudson and Rick Pike

Graphic Artists:

Richard Miles

Assistant Editors:

Camren T Burton and Alex Matthews

Editor:

Richard Miles

Publishing Company:

RJPCM Publications

TREKKIE CENTRAL 5

HIDDEN FRONTIER RELEASE NEW EPISODE

Hidden Frontier Productions have released the latest Henglaar MD episode entitled Profit Without

Honor. This is the fifth episode of the first season of this audio show and it is available to download

from here: http://hiddenfrontier.com/episodes/HMD105.php

Doug Drexler posted in his blog what is

(presumably) the first image for next

year's Star Trek Ships of the Line:

Landing Party, calendar from Pocket

Book, artwork by artist Max Rem

A larger image can be seen here:

http://drexfiles.wordpress.com/2010/

12/25/sotl-2012-is-a-go/

LEVAR BURTON APPEARS IN BIG BANG THEORY LeVar Burton, Geordi LaForge from Next Generation, has

appeared in comedy series Big Bang Theory, this past

Thursday (24/2/11).

Burton appears as himself after Sheldon tweets him, after a

trip to the comic book store.

TREKKIE CENTRAL 6

The Egyptian Theatre in LA is showing all six original

Star Trek movies in March, with a different guest

Q&A each night.

The series starts on March 24th with The Motion

Picture and runs through to Sunday March 27th with

The Undiscovered Country.

Nicholas Meyer, director of Star Trek II and VI, will

be participating in a Q&A session on the Sunday

evening and you can send in your questions via the

following link:

http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2011/02/16/star-

trek-six-to-beam-up-egyptian-will-screen-half-

dozen-starfleet-films/

This will take you to the LA Times Hero Complex

Blog.

KLINGON KORKSCREW RELEASED

Thinkgeek have released a Klingon Korkscrew.

This officially licenced product comes in the shape of a

Klingon Bird of Prey and retails at a price of $19.99 which

is £12.38 at time of going to press.

It is available to purchase from here:

http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/kitchen/cc91/#t

tab

TREKKIE CENTRAL 7

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TREKKIE CENTRAL 9

And now for something

completely different.

Well, not completely different.

We’re going to venture into the world of stylized

animation through Star Trek: Armada.

The nine-part story began with Spock, McCoy, and

Chapel returning to the Enterprise in a shuttle.

Suddenly, a singularity opened nearby, and a huge

starship came out. When they hailed the shuttle,

the occupants of the big ship saw the members

of the Enterprise crew and declared in horror that

the Hydra had followed them all the way from

the I’Rosak Galaxy.

When the starship refused to accept any further

communication, Spock sent them this message: “We

are the Hydra. Stand down and prepare to be

boarded.” A small aperture opened, and the shuttle

landed inside the vessel. Spock later apologized for

misleading the aliens, who looked like little green men but had

antennae that glowed when they spoke. McCoy then accused Spock

of lying, but the Vulcan science officer replied that he’d merely “adjusted

the facts” because the unknown vessel wouldn’t respond to his hails. Nevertheless,

it wasn’t long before Hydra vessels followed the Falusians into our galaxy but they

wound up in Gorn space. Meanwhile, the Enterprise’s communications system

suddenly jammed, and three Klingon Battle Cruisers uncloaked and began blasting the

Enterprise in a preventive strike over who would control the energy

detected when the Felusians arrived in the quadrant.

We finally got a look at the beings aboard the Hydra flagship at the

start of Act 5. As you might have guessed, they were humanoids, and

their leader was a woman named Adrianna. When Gorn vessels attacked

the ships in their territory, the advanced technology of the Hydra vessels

easily decimated their fleet. After that victory, the leader of the Hydra sent

a message throughout the quadrant. “We are the Hydra,” she said. “We are

here to impose peace. Anyone who stands against us will be destroyed.”

By this time, the stolen Hydra ship had reached the Enterprise, and Spock

stated that the alien vessel had used its advanced weaponry to weaken the

Klingon vessels’ firepower and defensive shields to make sure the

Enterprise won that fight. To prove their peaceful intentions and

promise to share their advanced technology with Starfleet, the aliens

transported the Enterprise inside their vessel. Then, using Hydra

technology, the Enterprise and everyone else in the ship travelled light

years in mere seconds.

After that, Kirk was stunned when he learned that Starfleet would

not offer the Falusians sanctuary due to the overwhelming

menace of the Hydra. Kirk observed: ‘We might have sealed

the fate of our universe.” The Falusians then jumped to

another galaxy, but they left a “gift” device in

engineering that brought all systems on the Enterprise

to a halt.

TREKKIE CENTRAL 10

The first season

ended with a twin

dilemma. On one side of the

quadrant, Starfleet vessels approached

the Klingon fleet in a brewing war over the

Falusians’ technology. Back on Earth, Adriana

threatened to destroy the planet with a “super-weapon”

of her own. All the Enterprise could do was use thrusters to

put the vessel between the weapon and the Earth below

and take the pounding as long as possible.

And then we saw the three nastiest words in the cosmos:

“To Be Continued.”

Time for me to put on my Clint Eastwood hat and get

reviewing.

The good: I’m always interested when someone tries

something in a different way. That’s why I enjoy Star Trek in

many forms, and this was a good first Trek adventure from

creator and animator Caithlin Ferrara in Great Britain. The story

had a grand scope, including the Federation, the Klingons, the Gorn

and two new participants: the Falusians, who were trying to escape

slavery, and a new baddie, the Hydra. The project also had some other

interesting elements. The characters looked a bit cartoonish since everyone

had oversized heads, hands and feet, but the story was very serious. It’s an

interesting mix, and I liked the style as well as the story. “I have always wanted to

write a Star Trek novel,” Ferrara told SciFiPulse. “But I’m not that good at

expressing my ideas with words. It wasn’t until I joined GoAnimate.com that I

became aware of fan films (other than the New Voyages/Phase II

project). “So after I’ve finished my Starmada story, I’m going to take

a long break and enjoy watching some live-action fan productions

like the Farragut,” she said.

The bad: As with any first production, Armada had its bumps and

scrapes. Sometimes a person’s mouth moved but no voice came

out. And there was the reverse: people talking with no facial

expressions to match it. I did have to wonder about Jenny, a character in

the Hydra. She seemed to be wearing a stewardess outfit from the

1960s. I’m not a good person to judge fashion, but that stood out a bit

too much for me. The background music was part Trek muzak and

parts of soundtracks from the Trek movies. And while I wasn’t

bothered by the format of nine 5- to 9-minute episodes, I wouldn’t

mind seeing a half-hour episode like Starship Farragut is working on.

The ugly: Here’s the theme song for each episode, which alternated

between men’s and women’s voices:

“Star Trekkin’ across the universe,

On the Starship Enterprise under Captain Kirk.

Star Trekkin’ across the universe,

Boldly going forward ‘cause we can’t find reverse.”

While watching my first episode, I thought the women’s

voices in the theme sounded too screechy, as in the “

fingers on a chalkboard” concept. But after seeing the

c complete season, I’ve grown to like it as a mix of

comedic and dramatic elements, which was a

basic part of the series.

TREKKIE CENTRAL 11

If absence makes

the heart grow fonder, I

must really love the second

“season” of the Star Trek: Armada

animated series.

Let’s get to the new 10-part adventure, which uses

actual voices rather than the word balloons most

Go!Animation projects do. At the end of the first

season, an alien race called the Falusians, who

look like little green aliens, arrived in our galaxy

while trying to escape from a powerful race

called the Hydra, who looked like regular,

garden-variety human beings. While fleeing to

another part of the galaxy, the Falusians gave

the Enterprise an incredibly powerful device.

Rumors of that “superweapon” caused the

Klingons to go to war with the Federation.

And last but not least, a Hydra space ship under its

leader, Adriana (who resembles Sarah Palin, of all things)

with a servant who looks like a red ninja, threatened to

destroy Earth, and the only thing the Enterprise crew could do

was position the vessel between the enemy vessel and the planet

and hope the starship could take the pounding.

Season 2 begins with the alien device left by the Falusians kicking in and boosting the

Enterprise’s power level by 1,000 percent, which causes the phaser-like attack to

bounce off the starship and strike the Armada ship instead, forcing its crew to retreat.

In Sickbay, Doctor McCoy finishes examining Jenny, a member of the Hydra who

escaped to the Enterprise in order to give her race a peaceful future. She looks a lot

like a stewardess, and her mouth is entirely on the right side of the face.

Nevertheless, her desire to help overthrow the Hydra seems genuine.

But the Hydra hopes to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat by allowing one of their

decimated ships to enter Earth’s atmosphere with the hope that it will explode when

it hits a desert in Nevada. Kirk says he doesn’t mind that until he learns that even if

the vessel hits an unpopulated area, the resulting explosion will blast a

crater 12 miles wide and block out the sun for years. Jenny suggests

letting her go so she can take someone with her

who’d claim to be one of the Hydra high

command, who are reclusive and never seen.

Needless to say, McCoy calls her plan “madness,”

but Kirk agrees to go to the Hydra ship with her.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the quadrant, the

Klingons appear to be defeating Starfleet (some nice

battle scenes here). The U.S.S. Lexington is crippled,

and the U.S.S. Calypso has been destroyed. The

Federation calls for a ceasefire, but the Klingons say

they will only stop when they receive the new

superweapon, which Starfleet doesn’t have.

TREKKIE CENTRAL 12

Kirk and Jenny

p prepare to be beamed

a board the Hydra when an

anthropological officer named Lola

brings a report for him, and when the

beaming begins, she jumps into the transporter

beam and is also sent to the other vessel.

Adriana accepts Kirk as an “admiral” of the Armada, and tells

him their engines are losing power. Kirk, Lola and Jenny offer to fix

the problem with them, even though the ship has only two

hours of oxygen left. Kirk is distraught until Jenny tells him

that Armada ships have warp drive capacity, which the

captain uses to send the ship (which is just about to hit Earth)

away from the planet with no damage. Spock asks Starfleet

High Command for permission to rescue Kirk, but he’s told

that defeating the alien intruders is his top priority. Using the

extra power the Falusians gave the ship, a trip that would have

lasted 17 weeks now takes only minutes. Meanwhile, Ariana

demands that Kirk prove he’s really Hydra high command by

destroying the planet below them, and the captain pushes the

button. But soon after, he tells Lola that he used a warp field to shift

the planet to subspace. As soon as the warp field collapses, the planet

will return to regular space. At the same time, the Enterprise explores the

world they were led to. Sulu, Chekov, Uhura, and two redshirts beam down.

Suddenly, the group is attacked by a number of red ninjas and, of course, the two

redshirts are killed in the opening volley. Sulu, Chekov and Uhura call for an immediate

beamout after two of their phasers set to stun vaporize two of the attackers. Chekov

speculates that charged particles in the atmosphere unexpectedly increase the power

in the phasers. Back on the Hydra ship, Lola discovers that the humans are the prize in

the battle between the two alien races. If either one takes control of the humans,

they’ll use that advantage to control the quadrant. In hyperspace, the Falusians and

the Hydra are in battle. Kirk’s Hydra ship contacts Spock, Unexpectedly, the captain

demands he lower his shields, then orders Jenny to fire. Actually, the Enterprise is

transported inside the Hydra Dreadnought, and Spock is transported off the Enterprise

bridge.

Back on the Federation starship, McCoy cites the medical needs of the opposing vessel

as a reason for him to be sent over to the enemy vessel, but Scotty

forbids it. Of course, trying to keep McCoy

from doing something is like waving a red

flag in front of a bull. He goes over to the

vessel regardless.

Kirk, Lola and Spock are beamed back

aboard the Enterprise, and they raise

shields. Now that the NCC-1701 is inside the

huge ship, they can’t fire on the Enterprise.

However, Kirk and company blast their way out of

the vessel and use the Armada transport machine to

return to our universe and destroys the device so no

one from that dimension will endanger the Alpha

Quadrant for a long time to come.

TREKKIE CENTRAL 13

The crew’s sense of victory is

diminished by one factor:

Dr. McCoy is trapped on the other side of

the universe, since they just destroyed the

only way to rescue him. And in the other side of the

quadrant, the news of a new Federation

superweapon leads the Tholians and the Romulans

to join forces and take the weapon for themselves.

Did Clint Eastwood ever play an alien from outer

space? If not, I’ll just pretend he did, put on a

space helmet and start reviewing.

The Good: As with the first season, the 10

episodes of this group go by at a pretty good clip.

There are also great designs of the crew and their

alien enemies, not to mention their space ships.

The format of 10-minute “bites” probably bugs some

folks, but if that’s the way Section31 (Caithlin Ferrara in

real life) feels most comfortable while telling her story, I’m

AOK with it.

I found the “secret origin” of the Armada very interesting. This was a

twist I didn’t see coming. And it was also interesting to learn that the Falusians,

the “good guy aliens,” have a sinister side as well. All that was a “fascinating” surprise.

The Bad: While I really like having voices in the product, it’s still a bit awkward when

someone talks but his or her mouth doesn’t follow what they say. Still, this was a

marked improvement over the first season’s sound. There’s always some room for

improvement.

The Ugly: This is a no-brainer. I’m sad that there are no plans for a third season because

this story left some threads dangling.

What will happen to Bones on the other side of reality?

What will happen to the “super technology” the Falusians left behind on the Enterprise?

I’d be surprised if Starfleet Command didn’t call them in and try to copy the weapons,

thus throwing the balance of power in the Alpha Quadrant all out of

whack. And what happened in the battle between

Starfleet vessels and the Klingon fleet? ~

TREKKIE CENTRAL 14

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TREKKIE CENTRAL 17

Since writing for Trekkie Central which is a few years now I have watched many “Fan

Fiction” films some fantastic, and some well, interesting. One that I have enjoyed

over the years is the Scottish produced USS Intrepid series. The latest offering from

this fan-based production company is “One of Our Own” written, directed (jointly

with others), starring and edited by Nick Cook as well as lots of other. This is a joint

production with Star Trek: Hidden Frontier’s Rob Caves and his cast and crew and

maybe they should consider getting together more often. For an amateur

production this is definitely of a high standard with the skills from two sides of the

Atlantic offering quality CGI and the actors have honed their talents becoming more

comfortable with their roles.

With the lack of professional productions I was going to say “true production” for a

moment but this episode is a true production you can see that the whole of the

production is aimed at giving Star Trek fans something to watch with the current lack

of ongoing shows. Nick Cook obviously enjoys making these shows and it comes

across in his portrayal of Captain Daniel Hunter. His production skills have also

increased significantly with his editing flawless. The CGI is of a very high standard (I

would like to have those skills) and the story interesting, although a slightly longer

episode to flesh out the story would have enhanced the episode particularly

knowing a little more about the rescued officer.

TREKKIE CENTRAL 18

However, this joint production is very good and as I have said before I

hope that they will do regular crossovers as there was chemistry I

believe between Danny Hunter (Nick) and Elizabeth Shelby (Risha).

This and the ongoing stories of the USS Intrepid and Hidden Frontier fill

a void for the diehard fan and if these two companies worked together

to fill that void on an ongoing bases I am sure that we would feel the

loss of regular TV releases a little less.~

TREKKIE CENTRAL 19

TCM: What can you tell us about the reasons why you created Star Trek

Armada?

CD: I saw GoAnimate on TrekBBS when the star trek theme first

appeared. I had a mooch round the site and found the application to be

easy to use and very enjoyable. It was a few months before I made

ST:Armada. I made a trek series called Berman's Downfall which is a

semi serious story about time travel and a chaotic universe caused by

the creation of Enterprise TV show. At the time I made this I hated

Enterprise. I've since mellowed and can watch it ha!

It got good reviews. I liked sharing the work with both trekkers and non

fans. When you get good comments and people saying how much they

enjoyed watching it becomes addictive. Plus GoAnimate is so

easy to use that you can release stuff quite quickly. I discovered

it was a great way to tell a story with simple tools. SImple that is

for the user, as I learned to use flash I realised how hard it is for

the tech team at Go Animate.

TCM: You used Go Animates Star Trek applications to create your

series and episodes why?

CD: Before I found GoAnimate I had no interest

in making a fan film. It was just chance I found it

and realised if I ever wanted to make one this

would be the place to start. It really is so easy to use

that I am still using it a year on.

HERE TREKKIE

CENTRAL MAGAZINE

TALKS TO STAR TREK DARK

ARMADA CREATOR CAITLIN

DAR.

TREKKIE CENTRAL 20

TCM: Using Go Animate to

Create your series you have created

a unique series, are you happy with this?

CD: Yes I'm very happy with the series. Certainly I'm

happy with the story. I had an idea of a sci fi series set on a ship

where the hero is onboard a ship of immoral crewmates with the

antithesis of Star Trek optimistic future. I had written a large part of it and

thought it would work well in a Trek setting. So the Hydra became the

immoral crew. And I placed Kirk among them.

Maybe the voices aren't so good. I would at some point like to go back and

replace the audio. I am always learning and trying to push the quality of my

work. It was GoAnimate that inspired me to learn to use flash to create my own

animated characters and props. And for the next season it will have a very

different look. All the pixelated images I created before will be replaced with

vector based images for a smooth finish and a more cartoon look.

TCM: What was your favourite part of working on Star Trek Armada?

CD: I enjoyed writing the cliff hangers. Every episode, although only a few minutes

long has a hook that I hope people come back for. I'd been watching 24 at the time

which influenced me.

TCM: What can you tell us about the series?

CD: It's a 2d animated series following an epic story of an advanced race called the

Phallusians who enter our galaxy on the run from Hydra. They are refused asylum by the

federation after the Hydra follow them, causing the Gorn, Romulans, Tholians and Klingons

to start an intergalactic war. Kirk is kidnapped and forced to pose as a Hydra admiral while

working out the mystery of the Hydras origins. I have kept this all in the canon timeline.

Despite the goofyness some people perceive of the medium I have used- many people have

told me what a great story it is.

TCM: You have created other Star Trek episodes can you tell us a bit about them?

CD: I mentioned Berman's Downfall. That was more of a test run if you like. After ST:Armada

I made a TNG spoof Revenge of the Turds. I got the idea after watching the gay daleks- a

spoof from Doctor Who. The gay daleks lived in the turdis which always makes me

laugh. I thought the turdis would be a cool concept for a series. I had a ball writing

the script with 2 online friends. It's probably the most bizarre Trek idea out there. I

watched a Voyager episode where a dead crew woman's body is brought back to

life by a parasitic alien. I laughed at the idea. And then I thought what if there

was a life form that was created from our waste?

"Prepare to meet the fearsome faeces in the galaxy. The Tertiary

Unimatrix Rectumplasmic Drones- or T.U.R.D. for short. As they

come ass to ass with the crew of the Fartfleet vessel A.S.S.

Odouriser. Will anyone be able to stop the T.U.R.D from

stinking out the galaxy with their anus, Oops I meant

heinous plans?"

TREKKIE CENTRAL 21

It's a parody of the Best of Bot

worlds and First Contact. I created the entire

cast of TNG in flash as well as all the sets. I am most

proud of this. It was more popular than ST:Armada.

Unfortunately a lot of trekkers snub it without giving it a

go- because Star Trek and poop just don’t mix hahaha. It does have

hilarious moments. I love the spoof of the scene in Generations when

Data pushes doctor Crusher off the galleon. And I did a spoof of the Borg

Queen's head and shoulders connecting to her cybernetic body

7.

TCM: What else can you tell us about your series?

CD: Since I made ST:Armada GoAnimate has changed a LOT. Now I can create

my own characters with pre-made actions and facial expressions. Well It's

been over a year since I made ST:Armada. I am releasing the first episode of

the final season in December. Here's a short preview.

http://goanimate.com/movie/0KDMfGAM9Iko/1

I have replaced the characters of the Hydra with new ones I made. They all have

matching uniforms now! The ugly pixelated props have all been replaced with new

flash ones. It's going to be more visually stunning. And lots of fun. ~

TREKKIE CENTRAL 22

Star Trek Grissom, the flagship of Irish fan

trek, continues to go from strength to

strength. The show, Dublin based, comes

under the Mantle of Hidden Frontier

Productions in LA, California.

With 2 x hour long episodes already on wide

release on the Grissom website, Hidden

Frontier Productions website and on iTunes,

what next for Grissom? Executive Producer

Seán Paul Teeling fills us in.

TREKKIE CENTRAL 25

"Firstly, thanks to TCM for including us in the 'Brit

Trek' issue, although we are based in Ireland! We

have a 33 strong cast and crew from Ireland,

Scotland, England, Germany, NZ, Sweden, Canada

and the USA. We have a tight support team with

Rick Pike and Michael Hudson on our website and

forums respectively, and Andrew (Federation 1)

Foster producing stunning artwork. Last but not

least, New Zealands own Scott Fack continues to

update our comprehensive wiki.

2011 is going to be a great year for Grissom. We

are probably unique in that we have a prose

chapter basis for our audio episodes, with the

chapters being adapted for audio. For example 'All

Rumours of Wrath, Past and to Come', our pilot,

was adapted from our first 3 prose episodes. We

have over 18,000 thousand readers of our prose,

of which we are very proud. Due for release this

year, we have, (coming quite soon), a short by

Michael (Star Trek: Eagle Star) Slagenweit

Coffman, featuring Andorian CMO Vindi S'Raazh.

Vindi has proven to be a very popular character

with the fans, and this short gives us some more

insight into her past.

Following Mike's short we will next have

collaboration on our next prose Chapter 10 'Per

Ardua, Ad Astra (Through Adversity to the Stars)'

by Grissom Audio show Maestro and Director,

Bodo Hartwig and myself. Meanwhile Adrian (Star

Trek: The Interim Years) Howard Jones is powering

up a David Marcus centric prose story 'Peccavi' (I

have sinned). So plenty to look forward to there.

TREKKIE CENTRAL 26

In the interim, my fellow Executive Producer, Rob (Star Trek Hidden Frontier, Odyssey,

Helena Chronicles) Caves is working with the wonderful Sam (Star Trek New Homelands)

Wich on CGI opening titles for Grissom, which will feature the Oberth in all her glory, set

to Bodo Hartwig's fabulous main theme. Brad (Star Trek: Hathaway) Hathaway is also

helping out with Constellation class renders. These titles will be launching before Easter on

YouTube and Vimeo.

Finally, this year, we will have two episodes of the audio series released. Episode 3,

currently in post production, will be released in the first half of 2010. This episode 'The

Stars my Destination' is a creepy story featuring the Tholians, and Commander Stephanie

Ottair, played beautifully by Jennifer(Grand Majan) Cole takes the lead.

Later this year, Director Bodo Hartwig gives us audio episode 4 'One Moment of

Humanity'. This very special episode guest stars the amazing Nick(Star Trek Intrepid ) Cook

as the classic Trek legend 'Cyrano Jones'. It's a classic of an episode, and principal

recording has completed on this.

A series of limited edition Grissom postcards are also being produced, and one will be

given out with every purchase of a comic or book in

Dublin's Forbidden Planet Stores throughout the entire month of March 2011, to further

spread the word on the show.

We have 2 episodes released, another 2 hours of Grissom this year, and 4 more hours

after that, of action, drama and adventure ahead before Grissom reaches her fateful end

at the Genesis Planet. So stay tuned!

As you can see, the future for Grissom is very bright! Live Long and Prosper!"

http://www.startrekgrissom.com/

http://www.hiddenfrontier.com/

http://stexpanded.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Trek:_Grissom

TREKKIE CENTRAL 27

TREKKIE CENTRAL 28

TREKKIE CENTRAL 29

For this issue, Trekkie Central was very fortunate to get

in a brief word with Nick Cook, Executive Producer and

creator of “Star Trek: Intrepid” about some exciting

upcoming productions!

Trekkie Central Magazine: Nick, what new releases can

we look forward to this year? Tell us a bit about "The

Stone Unturned" - a teaser!

Nick Cook: In “The Stone Unturned”, the crew receives

a surprise to encounter an off duty Jean Luc Picard,

who is chasing an archaeological mystery across the

quadrant. When Intrepid is drafted in to assist Picard,

Hunter finds himself at odds with his Enterprise

counterpart.

Written by Brian S. Matthews, The Stone Unturned was

envisaged as an Indiana Jones homage, and is a much

more traditional Star Trek tale than we've done so far.

TCM: Are there more episodes being written, or are

you focusing on getting the currently awaited episodes

released first?

NC: I am working on more Intrepid scripts

TREKKIE CENTRAL 30

TCM: Do we get to see much of Intrepid in the

upcoming "Star Trek: Odyssey" movie?

NC: I probably shouldn't say too much about the

Odyssey movie, but I'm probably not giving much away

to say that Intrepid's involvement is fairly minimal. I

did have the pleasure of seeing the final cut, with a

temporary score, when we were in LA in June, and I

enjoyed it immensely. I think it's a satisfying and fitting

finale to the Hidden Frontier story.

TCM: Nick, thanks for taking the time to speak with us!

I'm very much looking forward to seeing the further

adventures of Captain Hunter and his ship!

Camren T. Burton

Assistant Editor - Trekkie Central Magazine

TREKKIE CENTRAL 31

a celebration

of star treks

45 years

TCM: You have just filmed another special joint

episode with Hidden Frontier, what can you tell us

about it?

NC: I had an idea a while back about Shelby and

Hunter carrying out some sort of 'off the books'

mission together, but the concept kind of sat on my

mental shelf for a while, gathering dust. I didn't give it

much thought until we made plans to visit California

this past Summer, and then kind of scrabbled around

looking for a hook, until I realised it might be a neat

way to see how Lefler's death had affected Shelby,

which is something Helena Chronicles hadn't really

tackled. So I quickly threw a script together and ran it

past Rob, who very kindly signed off on it.

Entitled One of Our Own, it's essentially a 'lost tale' set

between Seasons two and three of Odyssey. At seven

minutes running time, it's a very compact dose of

classic Star Trek derring do and character exploration.

TCM: Do you have a release date for it yet?

NC: It went on general release on Tuesday the 30th of

November. So hopefully if you're reading this you've

already seen it.

TCM: Considering that Hidden Frontier are winding up

their live action Star Trek (certainly for the foreseeable

future) do you think that this is the last adventure for

Shelby and Hunter?

NC: Obviously there are no guarantees, but I think

we'll see them together again. We've certainly

discussed it, and Risha's always been willing to step up

to the plate when asked. Let's just say it's a possibility.

TREKKIE CENTRAL 33

TCM: Would you like to do more Intrepid/Hidden Frontier

crossovers?

NC: Always, I love doing these. They're a wonderful excuse to

visit with friends and have a great time. Plus, I love the

Shelby/Hunter relationship, so I'd hate to think we'd never

revisit that.

TCM: You have a few more upcoming episodes, what can you

tell us about them?

NC: Well I guess the biggest of those is The Stone Unturned,

featuring well-known Patrick Stewart impersonator Giles

Aston as Jean Luc Picard. The Stone Unturned was written by

Brian S. Matthews, and conceived as an 'Indiana Jones in

space' story. The story itself is great fun, and seeing Giles as

Picard is the icing on the cake. On the downside, it's taken us a

lot longer to finish than we envisioned (nothing new there)

but we are finally nearing the end of the road.

Next up is probably the oft-mentioned vignette, Machinations.

Ironically, Machinations was shot before Transitions and

Lamentations, partly to test the (at the time) new camera

we'd bought. The episode itself has been edited for some

time, but has been held up because some of the effects work

was more complex than we'd envisioned. That said, Steve

Gilson stepped up to the plate and has done a superlative job

realising those effects, and I'm looking forward to showing

them off in the not-too-distant future. The other delaying

factor has been finding someone to create Chiron Station for

us in Lightwave. After a lot of begging and borrowing on our

part, Dennis Bailey (of Starship Exeter and Polaris) very kindly

agreed to help us out, and we're pretty close to being able to

realise the remaining effects shots for Machinations.

I'm not going to go into a lot of story detail about

Machinations, but it follows up on the events of Transitions

and Lamentations, and helps set the stage a little for what's

ahead.

The Conviction of Demons (which is a fairly ambitious feature

length instalment) is slowly in production, but has a long road

ahead of it. Without going into too much detail, it will wrap up

the Surai/Section 31 plot in an explosive and hopefully

satisfying way.

There are several vignettes also in various stages of

production. Breaking Ground, which will reintroduce Governor

Finney (now portrayed by Hilary Tasker), will be shot

sometime in the next couple of months (weather permitting).

Confessions by Firelight, which is a Finney/Merik tale, has

already been shot and edited, but will be released alongside

Breaking Ground.

Nemo Me Impune Lacessit, is another vignette, this one

focussing on Hunter and Dr Garren. Nemo's a little more

complex and action-oriented, but it'll hopefully go into

production this year. TREKKIE CENTRAL 34

A Simpler Morality, is a Cole-centric story, picking up immediately after his

resignation from Starfleet in Turning Point. The story runs concurrently with

Nemo Me Impune Lacessit.

Destruct Sequence is a vignette being written by Steve Hammond, and will focus

on the Merchant Service.

Dissonant Minds is another full length episode, one of two new stories I'm

currently working on. The script is written, albeit at first draft stage, but will

hopefully be ready for production this year. It's a pretty classic Star Trek tale;

more character-based story than action adventure. I'm hoping to fast track this

one, since it's been written in the hope it'll be simpler to produce than some of

our earlier efforts.

TCM: Do you have release dates for them?

NC: Allowing time for scoring, I expect we'll be releasing The Stone Unturned

sometime in the Spring. I can't really comment on any of the others yet, but

when I do have any news, you can be sure I'll shout it from the rooftops.

TCM: You have released four of your own episodes now and two crossover

episodes with Hidden Frontier, bearing that in mind are you happy with the way

the show is heading?

NC: Pretty much. There are things I wish we'd done differently, and I always wish

we had a bigger budget, not to mention enough space to build standing sets. But

overall, I'm happy enough. I think we're telling interesting stories, with

compelling characters, and some pretty talented actors. Yeah, we're obviously

not as polished as say, the excellent Phase II, but as a team we continue to grow,

improve and push ourselves creatively, and I think that's all anyone can ask. So

yes, mostly happy.

TCM: You are one of a few productions, if not the only one who films a lot

outdoors (out of the studio) what benefits and disadvantages does this give you?

NC: The biggest advantage, from my point of view, is it gets us away from the

greenscreen, and the limitations of our minimal sets. As a result, we can do

rather more ambitious work when we're on location, than when we're stuck in

front of a greenscreen. Also, I think it allows us to tell more interesting stories,

than if we're on the ship all the time. And, in all honesty, I think it just looks so

much more interesting. Who doesn't like to see all that Scottish scenery?

The biggest disadvantage is almost certainly the weather. I have a habit of

putting location work in the majority of my scripts, and the Scottish weather is

far from reliable. When increasing numbers of our cast come from outside

Scotland, a change in weather can be an absolute disaster for us (and often is).

Logistically, even if you ignore the weather, transporting cast, crew and

equipment to an exterior location is a massive undertaking. It drags out the

production process quite a bit, since scheduling a location shoot for all the

different cast and crew, especially given how far some of them have to travel,

really isn't a simple task.

TCM: Is there anything else you can update us on?

NC: We're still looking to do Bit Patterns as an original SF production, and Steve

Hammond is chipping away at a second draft on the script. I'm also working on a

script for something contemporary, though that's only in the earliest stages just

now. It's likely we'll make some effort to do a sizzle reel for Bit Patterns this year,

alongside the usual Intrepid scripts, so watch this space.~ TREKKIE CENTRAL 35

TREKKIE CENTRAL 38

Britain is synonymous

with fantastic science fiction. As

somebody who hid behind the sofa in the

70s when Tom Baker fought the universal nasties

as Dr.Who, to obsessing with Servalan in Blakes 7, to thrilling

to the minimalism of moonbase alpha in Space 1999, I have always

loved Brit Sci-Fi. Yes, the sets were creaky, yes it was often corny, but it was

entertaining, and the acting was pretty darn good. And now, today, we have

British Star Trek, produced by the fans, for the fans. And it's not corny. And the

sets are not creaky(they're often CGI), and the acting is top notch. And let's not

forget that Brit Sci-fi was always humourous, as for example in an episode of the

tomorrow people:

Carol: This is a closed world, no aliens are supposed to come here.

John: My dad's not supposed to park on a double yellow line but he does!

Just to mention 2 Brit shows, you can thrill to the adventures of Captain Hunter and his crew,

recorded in Scotland, and appearing visually on your pc but in the 24th Century, and literally be

transported. The wonderful Star Trek Intrepid of course. Or you can sit back, throw on your

ipod/mp3 player and listen to the last voyage of the U.S.S. Grissom in the 23rd century, in a show

produced in Ireland. Both of these shows are predominantly recorded in the British Isles, but have

international casts and crews. And that in itself is interesting. Yes, these shows are clearly Brit Trek,

but they reach across the ether to bring likeminded Trek fans together. So, in a sense, they illustrate

just how 'universal' Star Trek actually is. We are all fans, and we are all members of this' Federation' of

Star Trek fan shows. Yes, Brit-Trek is alive, and to quote the vernacular 'it's happening'!

Go n-éirí an bóthar leat (may the road rise with you!)

Seán Paul Teeling

Producer

Star Trek Grissom

COMING MARCH 2011

Romulan Issue

David Reid Interview

Michelle Laurent

Interview

A Look At Fan Film

Romulans

A Look At Romulans In

Starfleet

A Romulan Timeline