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Welcome to the seventh issue of TCM,

and an exciting issue it is as well.


Featured in this issue are no less than six interviews with some of the
people behind some of the biggest and newest shows in the fan flm
world.
The frst of these interviews is with Matt Milne, who is involved with
a number of fan flm productions as composer of the music, this is
followed by two interviews with the people who are working hard on a
unique fan flm Trinity.
We also have an interview with Robin Hiert who is Executive Producer
of Dark Armada from the Netherlands. Following on from this we have
a frst for any fan flm, an interview with Hidden Frontiers Barbara Clif-
ford about the costumes of the various series, and also a bit about the
different colour uniform trim. Then we have Beo Fraser talking about
his exploits in the makeup room of the studio of Hidden Frontier.
We have also got a couple of new areas of the magazine. The frst of
these is a Random Thoughts area, where we have asked questions of
various fan flm stars that we wouldnt normally ask. First in the spot-
light is John Whiting who plays Dr Henglar and General Morrigu from
Hidden Frontier and Odyssey. We also have introduced a Character
Bio page, where we bring you details on all your favourite characters,
frst up is Admiral Ian Knapp fro Hidden Frontier.
Finally we have a 20 page detailed review of the Excelsior Ball Three,
from the day time activities right through to the away mission on the
Monday and Tuesday after the ball.
Trekkie Central Staff
Website Staff
Richard Miles
Thomas Reynolds
Forum Staff
Nick Cook
Richard Miles
Thomas Reynolds
Magazine Creator
Richard Miles
Head Writer
Alex Matthews
Staff Writers
Heather Ashley
Gerri Donaldson
Beo Fraser
Eugenia Stopyra
John Whiting
Fan Fiction
Alma Ames
Creative Consultants
Michael Hudson
Rick Pike
Special Thanks to Interviewees
John-Paul Atley
Barbara Clifford
Beo Fraser
Robin Hiert
Paul Knott
Matt Milne
John Whiting
General Information
John-Paul Atley
Rob Caves
Nick Cook
Beo Fraser
Robin Hiert
Front Cover
Paul Knott
Trekkie Central Magazine is produced
by fans, no proft is being made from
the production of this magazine.
If you see this magazine on sale, it
is a pirate copy and not in any way
endorsed by Trekkie Central
Trekkie Central Staff
Website Staff
Richard Miles
Thomas Reynolds
Forum Staff
Nick Cook
Richard Miles
Thomas Reynolds
Magazine Creator
Richard Miles
Head Writer
Alex Matthews
Staff Writers
Heather Ashley
Gerri Donaldson
Beo Fraser
Eugenia Stopyra
John Whiting
Fan Fiction
Alma Ames
Creative Consultants
Michael Hudson
Rick Pike
Special Thanks to Interviewees
John-Paul Atley
Barbara Clifford
Beo Fraser
Robin Hiert
Paul Knott
Matt Milne
John Whiting
General Information
John-Paul Atley
Rob Caves
Nick Cook
Beo Fraser
Robin Hiert
Front Cover
Paul Knott
Trekkie Central Magazine is produced
by fans, no proft is being made from
the production of this magazine.
If you see this magazine on sale, it
is a pirate copy and not in any way
endorsed by Trekkie Central
WE L COME TO
issue seven contents
Page 4 - Interview Robin Hiert (Dark Armada)
Page 6 - Interview Matt Milne (Hidden Frontier)
Page 7 - The Inquisition (John Whiting)
Page 9 - Trinity
Page 10 - Interview John-Paul Atley (Trinity)
Page 12 - Interview Paul Knott (Trinity)
Page 13 - Interview Barbara Clifford (Hidden Frontier)
Page 14 - Interview Beo Fraser (Hidden Frontier)
Page 17 - Feature Excelsior Ball 3
Page 26 - Captains Log with Rick Pike
Page 27 - Next Issue
LATEST NEWS
LATEST NEWS
Hidden Frontier productions and Intrepid
Productions have recently fnished
flming the feature length Operation
Beta Shield, in a marathon week of
flming, the week before the Excelsior
Ball Three. Operation Beta Shield has
a slated release date of Early to Mid
August but no actual date set yet, one
thing is certain though fans are looking
forward to this a lot. For more informa-
tion you can visit either the Hidden Fron-
tier website at www.hiddenfrontier.com
or Star Trek Intrepids website at www.
starshipintrepid.net
Intrepid Productions have announced
a release date for their next episode
Where Theres a Sea. The release date
for this short is 20th July and we have
an interview with Captain Hunter himself
aka Nick Cook all about Where Theres
a Sea. For more information visit their
site at www.starshipintrepid.net
Hidden Frontier have also released a
trailer for Operation Beta Shield, which
is available to view on You Tube and the
Hidden Frontier website where it also
available to download.
Hidden Frontier Productions have also
started flming on the frst episode of
Federation One entitled Unity. This
is a follow up series from Operation
Beta Shield and stars Wayne Webb in
a staring and reoccurring role of Matt
McCabe. This episode is due for release
after Operation Beta Shield and for
more information visit www.hiddenfron-
tier.com
Hidden Frontier Productions have also
announced their frst original production.
Frontier Guard is set entirely outside the
Star Trek Universe and will begin flming
at some point during 2009. For further
information please visit their website.
Star Trek Of Gods and Men has fnally
been completed, with the third and fnal
part of the episode. To view this visit
their website at www.startrekofgodsand-
men.com
Guy Davis the man behind the manga
comic book series USS Tamerlane has
recently released the second Omake in
the series. The Omake is entitled The
Last Night of The Year and is available
to read at www.usstamerlane.com
Star Trek Defant have released two epi-
sodes recently, the frst of these is called
The Far and Wondrous Distance Part
3 this is the fnal part in this story and is
now available for download.
The second episode that they have
released is One Hundred and Seven
Days this and the previous episode are
both available for download from http://
pendantaudio.com/defant
Star Trek The Experience is set to close.
Recently announced by Paramount
Studios, Star Trek the Experience is due
to close in September.
Hailed by some as a sad day for Trek,
the Experience has had a 10 year run,
and will be sorely missed by many Trek
fans around the world.
Paramount has not ruled out the Ex-
perience returning in some form in the
future, although that remains to be seen
exactly how it will.
For more information please visit the
Star Trek Experience website at www.
startrekexp.com
all the latest happennings
from the fan media world
Were talking with Robin Hiert,
Executive Producer on the Dutch
Production Dark Armada
TCM : When did you frst discover Star
Trek?
RH : I remember my father used to
watch Star Trek The Next Generation
when I was a kid. I didnt really know
what it was all about, but I remember I
liked the intro tune! I think it wasnt until I
was about 12 years old when I started to
watch Star Trek. I guess its safe to say I
never stopped watching and eventually I
began to search for more about it on the
internet.

TCM : How did you become involved
with Dark Armada?
RH : Dark Armada started as a Star Trek
fanfc I was writing (for some reason)
and I posted it on several forums. The
idea of making this into a fan series
never came to mind until I read about
Hidden Frontier. Someone started this
thread about fan series, Hidden Frontier
in particular. This made me think: If
they can do it we should be able to do
the same. It started a discussion about
making our own series and it seemed
there wasnt any such endeavour in The
Netherlands. Some supported our initia-
tive and others thought it would never
work out.
When we started there were so many
issues to work out: where do we get our
costumes, camera, other equipment,
how do we publish it once its fnished,
where do we get the money? And many
more questions that needed to be an-
swered. The Flying Dutch (a Star Trek
fanclub) decided to help us out from the
very start of our project. Thanks to them
we had the chance to reach a large
group of people, ideas, experiences and
equipment. Later on we got some more
help from another fanclub The Federa-
tion, one of the most helpful things they
helped us with was a costume work-
shop that started our very own original
line of uniforms. Were now working
on Dark Armada for 3 years and its
fnally starting to get together. We have
a wonderful group working on the next
episode and we have a lot of equipment,
make up, our own costumes, stunning
3D models and newly designed props.
the Batavia. The pilot episode will be
full of things that will be explained in the
chronologically earlier episodes. This
order of episodes was primarily created
to explain the title Dark Armada in the
pilot.
I have several roles in this production
(Fan Trek Productions), because we
have a limited crew and limited re-
sources. I help organise shoots/events,
handle the application of new volun-
teers, write some of the scripts, design
en make costumes and ofcourse I play
one of the main characters of the show.
Next to that I try to help out where help
is needed to try and keep the production
running, for that last reason Ive even
directed a few times. Our production
can be divided into 3 major parts. Martin
van Buuren is in charge of the technical
part (equipment, crew and everything
related), Jeroen Steenhagen of the
website and fnancial matters, every-
thing else is the creative part and is my
responsibility.
TCM : Can you tell us what Dark Ar-
mada is about?
RH : Dark Armada was the name of the
story I mentioned earlier. The original
idea was that a large group of enemy
ships was approaching Earth and had
to be stopped..how clich. Over the
years this concept has been given more
thought and it turned into something
more complex. In our pilot episode the
audience will get to know the crew of
the Blue Star, the Batavia and a dark
force approaching Federation space.
In later episodes well start at the very
beginning with the commissioning of
We never changed the name of Dark
Armada although we wanted to at some
point. Weve become known with this
title and changing it might not be the
best thing to do at this point in the pro-
duction. If we would have changed the
name of the show it would have most
likely been Star Trek Batavia or Star
Trek Ethernita.
There are 3 important factors in our se-
ries. One of those is of course the main
starship the U.S.S. Batavia. The second
is another ship that is almost always
around, the U.S.S. Blue Star. The last
important factor is the planet Ethernita
for its people and diplomatic involve-
ment. I cant go into any more detail for
spoiler reasons.

TCM : Which Character are you playing
in DA?
RH : I play one of the main characters:
Captain Alexander Richardson.
Page 4
TCM : Can you tell us a bit about that
character?
RH : Well yes I could, but I also dont
want to spoil it too much. Alexander is
a young Captain who likes a challenge
from time to time. Hes always in for
a joke, but hes very serious when on
duty.most of the time. Richardson
seems to have many secrets; he tends
to keep personal things to himself. If
youd like to know more about this or
other characters in Dark Armada, visit
our website for the latest updates. www.
darkarmada.nl TCM : Due to the distances involved
how are you and The Expedition flming
your lines and character?
RH : As I mentioned earlier Thomas
proposed we would shoot the scenes in
The Netherlands using the green screen
technique and send the video fles over
to the States. Once there it can be ed-
ited and placed in the actual episode.
Ofcourse that would mean we need all
equipment, props, make up and cos-
tumes in the Netherlands. Because we
can use most of the equipment/make up
from Dark Armada for it, that wasnt the
problem. I have some experience in de-
signing and making Star Trek costumes,
so I offered to make our own costumes
for Keyvon and a Klingon guy (played by
Nielco van den Bosch). At the time Im
writing this were getting ready to shoot,
making the storyboards and Nielcos
costume.
I believe the big difference between
a professional production and a Star
Trek production is the motivation of
the people involved in it. They are so
passionate when theyre making Trek,
something they all like! This is THE
opportunity to help produce a Star Trek
series without having to be a profes-
sional.
TCM : How did you become involved
with The Expedition?
RH : I believe I contacted Thomas,
one of the producers of the new show,
after he posted a message on the Hid-
den Frontier board searching for voice
actors. I always try to support other
productions as much as I can, so I sent
him a message that I was interested in a
small audio role. He might have hoped
I would contact him about it and he
knew exactly who he wanted me to play.
Instead of an audio part he proposed
that I could record several green screen
scenes here in the Netherlands and
send those over to the US, but of course
we had a lot of details to work out to
make that happen.
TCM : What character are you playing in
The Expedition?
RH : The character I play in The Expe-
dition is called Keyvon and he is half
Kazon and half Cardassian. He is one
of the bad guys of this show. I believe
thats all I can reveal about him at this
time. If you want to know more I sug-
gest you watch The Expedition at www.
theexpedition.org


TCM : Dark Armada is quite big in your
home country, what is that like and have
you ever been recognised in the street?
RH : Oh, haha I wish! It is true that sev-
eral articles about Dark Armada have
been published in several local newspa-
pers and even a piece on Dutch televi-
sion in a news program called Editie
NL. BUT its not really that big in our
country and Star Trek is not as popular
as in other countries, like for example
the US or the UK. Perhaps it will get
some more attention after the release of
our upcoming episode titled Nightfall.
On the other hand our production is well
known in the Dutch Star Trek commu-
nity. We travel around visiting sci-f and
fantasy conventions to promote Dark
Armada and other fan flms. By showing
teasers, trailers, pieces of flms and epi-
sodes, props, costumes and many other
things we try to interest the visitors in
watching fan flms and sometimes to get
involved in those productions. Several
times Ive even been asked to perform
a line from our test episode, the Oh my
God! line. The readers whove seen the
test episode will know exactly why! So I
guess were quite big within that com-
munity As long as we can reach the
fans, Im happy. After all a fan series is
produced by the fans, for the fans.
Robin Hiert, thank you
very much for taking the time to
talk to us today.
TCM : What is it like working on a Star
Trek Fan Production?
RH : Now thats a very interesting ques-
tion, because Ive been involved in vari-
ous aspects of the production. I hope I
can motivate people to get involved in
these kinds of productions!
Being the creator and producer of Dark
Armada feels a bit like a fulltime job. I
organise meetings and shootings and
people can come to me when they
have something to say, suggest or ask.
But when were working together, on a
shooting for example, thats when you
see that its all worth it. The atmosphere
is so amazingly wonderful and its like
weve known each other for ages.
Page 5
Were speaking with Matt Milne,
composer extraordinaire.
TCM : What star trek fan flms are you
involved with?
MM : Several; Star Trek Hathaway, Star
Trek the Expedition, Star Trek Protector
and Star Trek Phoenix.
of course i would love to be involved
with canon productions, including st11.
And new voyages of course is of great
interest.
i try not to infringe on other composers
territory, unless specifcally requested,
loyalty between artists is very important.

TCM : How have you become involved
with so many fan flms?
MM : Several reasons, but the most im-
portant of those i think is that art knows
art. As im sure you all know from life
experience, if you are interested in
something, it is fairly easy to fnd that
enthusiasm and interest in others who
have it. In this case, several of these
fan productions are made by industry
professionals, both tv and flm, I am an
artist and i think (and hope) that they
recognise that and engage with it. The
second reason is that i actively seek
energetic people to collaborate with
and great productions to be a part of.
And the third reason, is that it takes me
3 days to score a standard 45 minute
show to a top level, so ive got a lot of
opportunity to work hard. Whereas
most people have only enough energy
to score 6 features a year, i am per-
fectly willing to sacrifce everything to be
involved in upwards of 50 features (of
course nobody will give me that many
to work on, alas) so i have plenty of
composing slots available to dedicate to
worthwhile, interesting, incredibly enthu-
siastic and driven groups of dedicated
flmmakers.
TCM : How did you frst get into writing
music?
MM : When i was 5, i can remember a
piano in our sitting room. i took to impro-
vising and it went from there. my mom
put me into music lessons, but i abso-
lutely hated that and soon understood
that my abilities lay in compositon. As
for actual writing, i was about 12, and on
my computer was a program for chang-
ing the instruments and volumes in midi
fles. So i started to play around with
that, then about 3 or 4 months later i no-
ticed a grid for inputing notes. The frst
few weeks, nothing much happened, but
suddenly as if by magic an idea played
through my mind, and from then on in,
i could put the notes into the program
and have it play it back to me. In other
words i could write music on a compu-
ter, or sequence, as its called.
TCM : Do you have a favourite piece of
music for a star trek fan flm?
MM : No not really, however my favour-
ite star trek score has to be the genius
of james horner in the wrath of khan.
the wonderful array of instruments,
and the highly creative and emotional
scoring following every twist and turn
of the flm, cant be beat even today.
My second favourite being McCarthy s
wonderfully imaginatively synthesised
score to Generations, closely followed
by Goldsmiths score to First Contact
and Insurrection. My least favourite
score being star trek 4, 5 and 6.

TCM : Have you got a favourite fan flm
piece of music?
MM : Again no, but my favourite flm
score has to be jurrasic park 1, harry
potter 1, lord of the rings 1 and 3, star
trek 2, and the work of Alan Menken
from 1989 to 1996, again all the work
of great genius, sadly no longer able to
give us the beneft of their brilliance, ow-
ing to the industrys continued ignorance
and creative ineptitude.

TCM : Are there any future projects that
you can tell us about?
MM : Being a creative and enthusiastic
person i do my best to get as much work
as possible especially with regards to
feature work, unfortunately owing to my
reluctance to take orders from the lower
orders of the business, and unwilling-
ness to keep my mouth shut if i feel the
flm is damaging to the industry and
completely fradulent, work only comes
through from great directors, producers
and actors who hear of me and my abili-
ties through those i have the pleasure of
knowing and collaborating with.
I love being part of a creative team, i
love supporting and collaborating with
great artists. I hate being pushed about
the factory-obsessed, money-posessed,
greedy fame and fortune seeking no-
bodys that seem to occupy the bulk of
the industry. To me it seems that the
business consists of a few great artists,
sat on islands of talent, surrounded by
a sea of screaming, fame obsessed
morons who are trying and will stop at
nothing to drag you into their sea of
dispair and frenzy whenever you try to
cross from one island to the next, or
be heard over their shouts. There are
too few good, honest, talented writers
and few dedicated producers to make
anything half decent, this is why the flm
industry is in the mess that its in, and
why every flm feels the same, thats
because they are. And the industrys
too narrow minded and paper obsessed
to seek and fnd any serious and gifted
TCM : What was the frst piece you
wrote?
MM : Dating back to sometime in the
early nineties, i have a small sheet of
paper, with a few note names scribbled
down. im guessing it was something
i wrote for a primary school music
class. the frst offcial piece in my music
catalogue is my 5th piano concerto that i
composed for a highschool music exam.
there have been 7 others since then,
along with several symphonies, 6 violin
concertos, several feature scores and
around 100 short flm scores.
TCM : How do you produce the music?
MM : The same way that John Williams,
Howard Shore or James Horner does.
i load up the flm into my sequencer
program, i input the notes into a grid in
the sequencer (i could put it in from a
keyboard, but i dont work like that), then
pick the instruments and the computer
then plays that back as i write it. I can
record it and then send it to anyone
anywhere in the world using the internet.
A very simple, cheap, high quality, and
highly effcient way of writing music. I
have the good fortune of not needing to
plan, organise or otherwise structure my
music, it simply fows from my subcon-
cious interpretation of the flm, into my
conscious memory, and from there,
through my arms and into the computer.
Page 6
Where we really make people think about what theyre saying
........yknow, sort of.
people, to reverse the situation. It
wouldnt surprise you to know that i think
a lot of the tv industry works entierly
closed shop and that it owns more than
a few of the flm companies, and it has
been that way since the 70s. Not since
the days of lucas and episode 4, has the
industry been driven by serious, gifted
artists seeking to create a masterpiece,
and now everyone with those skills are
subject to the whims of every self-serv-
ing moron the universities, flm schools
and conservitoires have to throw at us.
Because i think they recieve preferen-
cial tratment from hiring practices while
those with genuine gifts and drive, are
left stacking shelves. But then thats
just this artists impression, i may of
course be completely wrong and an
utter jerk for saying all of that. Always
trust your instincts, but be prepared to
admit if theyre wrong, thats the wise
thing to do. Anywho, the reason i said
all that is that i feel its necessary for
you to know that not is all that it seems
or is written about, and for you to know
why i would turn down a project, or why
people wont hire me.
That rant, and the aformentioned dif-
fculties aside, there are several projects
on the go, details of which i cant really
go into but you can google some of
these; Andrews Raiders, The ghost
of hangmans bridge, Phoenix falling,
Revelations, Zen, the star trek fan pro-
ductions mentioned above, a metal gear
fan project, retribution, lost hope, the
forger, these dreams, todays world, The
sketchbook, The farm, heroes( a 1 hour
short flm), Mount Soledad love story,
The mighty Kuch, Serial Monogamy,
Ethan Allen, The Swan, Degas, West-
ern Sky, My garden, Revenge is sweet,
Game Over, crash, Zombie smash, the
frst episode of Star Trek: the helena
chronicles, Dylans tree, over fanders
felds mod, the last half of darkness, and
of course all of my own compositional
work including a few new concertos and
some trailer tracks.
Not to mention any rescores. My hobby
is to pick up a flm and write an entierly
new score, to add depth, power and
emotion, to flms i feel were unfairly de-
graded by the low quality scoring offered
by the poorly trained graduates compris-
ing the bizs new blood. that and its
also a good way to keep talents going
during leaner work times.

Matt Milne, thank you
very much for your time.
Page 7
1. What is your name?
John A. Whiting, at least for today.

2. What was the last book
you read?
Small Favor by Jim Butcher.

3. Is the glass half full or half
empty?
Depends on which direction youre
headed in: if youre flling the glass,
its half-full. If youre drinking from the
glass, its half-empty.

4. What is your favourite
colour?
Tie: red and blue

5. Scif or Chick Flicks?
Most SF, but theres a few good chick
ficks as well.

6. Picard or Kirk and why?
Kirk. He usually didnt go around brag-
ging about his moral superiority, unlike
Picard. Kirk thought that we were still
striving to better ourselves. Picard
thought that wed arrived.

7. What question have you
always wanted to be asked?
If I let you collect the interest, would
you keep this $10 million for me until I
return?

8. When was the last time
you were star struck?
Gaylaxicon. Twice. I was on two sepa-
rate panels with people I admire greatly.

The
Inquisition
Where we really make people think about what theyre saying
........yknow, sort of.
9. Who was it that made you
star struck?
Joe Haldeman and Lois McMaster
Bujold.

10. What is the natural col-
our of water?
Water is not tinted, therefore, it has no
color.

11. Family Guy or The
Simpsons?
[shudder] Neither, thank you. I try
never to watch shows about people I
would never allow into my home if they
were real.

12. Quark or Odo?
Odo.

13. The original Enterprise
or The Enterprise D?
The original Enterprise, NCC1701.

14. Football or Baseball?
Neither. How about broadsword?

15. Who would you most like
to meet and why?
The list is long. Most, I admire for their
intellect and achievements. A few, I
would just want a straight answer to the
question Why did you do that?.
John Whiting. Thank you .
Page 9
Star Trek : The Orginal Series,
season 3. Episode 3, The Paradise
Syndrome. This is the starting point for
an upcoming Trilogy of movies dealing
with the themes of fate and destiny and
which asks the question, what would
you do if you found out that your whole
life had been prophesised centuries
before you were even born? Would you
accept that your destiny was already
decided or would you try and be the
master of your own fate?
Established Trek lore plays a large part
in the concept and story, with elements
drawing from The Orginal Series, The
Next Generation and various Trek
novels.
The driving force behind the movies is
an ancient alliance of three Trek races,
the Preservers, the Progenitors and the
Bajoran Prophets known as The Trinity.
A major part of the story is the
introduction of a signifant protaganist
for the crew of the USS Meridian to
deal with. There is a little difference
in the approach to this new enemy.
Instead of creating a new alien race, the
creators have created something more
akin to an organisation, sworn to protect
the secrets of the Trinity called The
Karrindan Guard who have access to
the advanced technologies developed
by the races of The Trinity making them
a far more dangerous adversary than
we have seen before.
Page 10
TCM : When did you frst discover
Star Trek?
JPA : I never really discovered Star
Trek, it was something I grew up
with and have followed since I can
remember. I have vivid memories of
watching TNG on Saturday nights,
and thats really what got me into the
franchise. It wasnt until I got into my
teens that I re-connected with Star
Trek - and Voyager was the frst series
I really remember following. Deep
Space Nine wasnt something I liked,
but somewhere after Voyagers ffth
season I found myself catching up with
it through reruns, and it became my
favourite series.
Ive always had outside opinions on Star
Trek, though. Enterprise is my favourite
series, followed by DS9 Voyager then
TNG. TOS is a great classic, but until
recently it didnt have as much exposure
on British television so I couldnt really
make a connection except for the
movies.
I also think Nemesis was fantastic, and
didnt deserve the abuse it got.
TCM : How did you become involved
with Trinity?
JPA : I became involved in Trinity after
searching the internet for new fan flms,
feeling starved with no new releases. I
stumbled upon Trinity and was intrigued
by its initial premise, so offered my
services on the forum.
From there, I began talking with Paul
Knott, the Executive Producer, and I
was signed up to direct the second
webisode of Prelude. That evolved into
directing the frst feature.
Just recently weve been looking at
Trinitys schedule and its future past
flming Prelude (our webisodes) and
the frst feature (Revelation), and I was
signed up to direct all three features and
the three series of webisodes.
TCM : Can you tell us a bit about the
series?
JPA : What struck me about Trinity
is that it wasnt being developed
as a series like other fan flms. It was
an actual feature flm trilogy, so it has a
fnite existence.
Im hesitant to make the comparison,
but the way Trinity is set out is akin to
The Lord of the Rings trilogy, in that the
three flms are one story - a beginning,
middle and an end.
There are also three series of
webisodes spread between the release
of the flms. These allow us to set up
story elements and get the backstories
out of the way, allowing us to jump
straight into the story in the flms.
The three flms are going to be 90
minutes in length, with the webisodes
being between 5 and 10 minutes in
length each.
something barron and a little alien. Its
also a blank slate allowing you to add
little touches which can make it seem
that little more alien.
For American readers, the quarry is akin
to the forests you see in Stargate every
other week. I love that were using a
quarry. It comes with a great heritage,
and the site weve found is superb. It
has a great casm and fantastic scenery,
so well really be getting the full use out
of it.
As for whats its being used for, I really
cant say too much other than its the
location of the fnal climax and holds a
great lot of mystery within the frst flm.
Revelation really is like a mystery flm, it
presents lots of questions and the crew
tries to discover just what is going on.
Its great fun. I would really love to flm
scenes for the other two features in the
quarry, but in story terms, at the end of
the flm, it no longer exists. Take from
that what you want.

TCM : Can you tell us a bit about the
characters in your series?
JPA : The characters are the pinnacle
of any flm or series, and we have some
great characters in Trinity. I really have
fallen in love with the characters, and
I already have my favourites. Theres
something for each character to do
as well, they all have their own little
moments to shine. And theres a truly
heartbreaking scene where a character
I totally love does something really bad.
But Im not going to tell you who or what
it is. Itd be like letting you know Bruce
Williss character in Sixth Sense is dead
- before youve seen the flm!
TCM : You have a quarry that is going
to be used in the series, can you tell
us how that came about and what it
is going to be used for?
JPA : For British readers, the quarry will
be a familiar element to science fction
theyve likely seen. The most famous
use for quarries of course coming from
Doctor Who.
It creates a ready environment,
Page 11
TCM : What ship is going to be used
in the series?
JPA : The ship is, for me, one of the
best things about Trinity. Its called the
Meridian and is a Steamrunner class,
which were seen very briefy in First
Contact during the initial battle with
the Borg. The design of the ship is so
TCM : Is there anything else that you
can tell us about the series?
JPA : For a flm set post-Nemesis (by
about 10 years) it really does a great job
at drawing together nearly every Trek
series to date. The biggest infuences
come from TOS of course. Weve
really embraced their philosophy of
unique, and its really small. Its a bit
like the Defant, small but mighty. Thats
another thing that attracted me to Trinity,
that this wasnt the Federations fagship
having this great adventure, it was just a
regular service vessel. Nothing special
about it or its crew, yet theyre the ones
that make this amazing discovery.
The model is superb as well, and it
looks even better post-battle.
TCM : And can you tell us a bit about
the ship. (ie what class, max speed
etc)?
JPA : The canon on the Steamrunners
is hazy at best. They were designed
for First Contact, but the models were
lost after production wrapped on the
flm. So, to date, thats their only canon
appearance.
But that gives us a lot of freedom
as to what we want to do with the
Steamrunner.
The trick for us was to make this ship
powerful, but not too powerful. It cant
be too powerful because there would
be no drama when this vessel is put in
harms way. We needed the audience
to feel this ship could be destroyed in
combat, and I feel that really comes
across. Weve struck a perfect balance.
Its a little smaller than the Intrepid
class, with about half the frepower of
the Defant.
questioning who we are, what makes us
human, why are we out here?
The jumping-off point for the series
is the TOS episode The Paradise
Syndrome. We investigate what the
Obelisk is, and by this time a lot more
have been discovered. We also take
elements of William Shatners Preserver
series of books.
If youre observant enough, youll spot
the references to the past shows and
flms, and if youre really observant youll
spot references to other fan series.
That was another of our mandates, to
not violate the fan canon that has been
established. So far, weve done a pretty
good job. I personally am taking a lot of
care to honour the legacy of Star Trek
and its fans, to deliver them a flm they
will really enjoy. Its something I want to
enjoy as well, because Im a fan too.
John-Paul Atley, thank you
very much for your time.
close to where I live, and the scenery
is gorgeous, and while we were there
taking a look at it for use in Trinity,
we found that a stone circle has been
built in one of the main parts and we
all agreed that it was really cool and
ftted with a sequence in the frst movie
perfectly.
to use it, and make use of that. I
wanted a canon starship that we knew
existed, but hadnt seen much of, so the
Steamrunner seemed like an obvious
choice. Upon looking for a suitable 3D
model, I only found really low detailed
ones which were quite old and wouldnt
hold up very well on screen, so at
this point the production timeline had
been amended so I began the task
of building a new mesh, which was
detailed and would look really good on
a big screen. Due to a complete lack of
reference images and a lot of conficting
information, the mesh that I built isnt
a true Steamrunner as some of the
details have been altered slightly, but as
it stands its the most detailed 3D mesh
of the ship around. The mesh hasnt
been released as yet, but Im sure it will
be in the future.
TCM : And can you tell us a bit about
the ship. (ie what class, max speed etc)
PK : As I said before, its a Steamrunner
class ship, as for specs, there isnt any
at the moment, simply for two reasons,
1/ conficting information in and around
the net make it diffcult, and 2/ it isnt
really that important to the story, a lot
of people (myself included I will admit)
seem to be more interested in the
technology of Star Trek as opposed to
the story and characters. A spec sheet
will be written up prior to release of the
frst Movie as a reference guide, but at
the moment, its not really needed.
TCM : Is there anything else that you
can tell us about the series.
PK : Only the basics, Trinity is a series
of 3 full length feature movies (90-120
minutes each) interspersed with small
webisodes that bridge the gap between
the movies. Once the movies are
complete there is potential for several
spinoffs (were having new ideas for
these every day).





TCM : When did you frst discover Star
Trek?
PK : Way back in 1985-6 BBC2 here
in the UK was showing re-runs of the
orginal series, so I suppose it was then
I started watching them, and then TNG
was released and the BBC started to
show it in the same time slot, so it was
just natural to carry on watching, and
from that point I was hooked.
TCM : How did you become involved
with Trinity?
PK : Short version.....I created it. Long
version......Ive always been a sucker
for Epic stories with a long running arc
(Blakes 7, Babylon 5 etc.) and I was
wanting to restart a Play by Email RPG
that I used to run so I started to jot
down ideas and develop a backstory
which would lend itself well to the
game, in doing so I came up with a
prophecy idea that would be the guide
to the overall story. After developing
the story it became clear that it was a
little too complicated and big for a role
play game, so I started to develop it as
an online Virtual Series where a new
episode script is released about once
a week, and follows the same pattern
of an actual TV show. As the story
developed it became a ten part mini-
series, and then eventually became the
Trilogy of movies that we have today.
The overall theme of the movies is that
of Fate and Destiny, basically whether
our own decisions are actually our own
or are we fulflling the wants and needs
of a greater power, this is where the
prophecy (which survived through all of
the projects incarnations) comes in, and
once knowing that your life has been
prophecised, can you change what is to
come and be a true master of your own
destiny.
TCM : You have a quarry that is going
to be used in the series, can you tell
us how that came about and what it is
going to be used for?
PK : When looking for locations, it was
the one place that instantly sprung
to mind, it is an old quarry that has
been transformed into a country park
Page 12
TCM : Can you tell us a bit about the
characters in your series?
PK : We have several characters
involved with the frst movie, but as
a frst movie we wanted to keep the
cast list as small as possible, simply
so that we could get it right without
having to worry about a large cast.
We have our Captain (James Brunel,
Human), a Romulan First Offcer (Sub-
Commander Tevek, who is aboard as
part of an offcer exchange program,
and really doesnt want to be there), A
Trill Chief Engineer (Lt. Commander
Nadya Denna, who has a very close
relationship with the Captain), Dr.
Willard Lynch (An old friend of Brunels,
along as a Special Advisor), Lt.
Commander Morgan Teller (A grizzled
old soldier on his last tour before
retirement) and a number of supporting
roles. Without giving too much away I
cant really say anything more on the
subject of characters, but as things
progress little things will be mentioned
about each one.
TCM : What ship is going to be used in
the series?
PK : The ship we are using is the USS
Meridian, a Steamrunner class vessel.
The initial idea was, because I was
still learning 3D modelling, and the
original time frame of Production, to
fnd a mesh online, secure permission
Paul Knott, thank you
very much for your time.
Page 13
Were speaking with Barbara Clif-
ford, Head of Costume for Hidden
Frontier Productions.
TCM : How did you become involved
with the costuming department of Hid-
den Frontier?
BC : Rob cast me as Myra Elbrey. I
didnt realize that the show was actu-
ally a series so I just wore the costumes
provided (even though my was very
large & John Whiting & I had to share
it). Since Ive been involved in a lot of
Community Theater productions, I was
use to pitching in. So when we started
our second season, I decided that the
women needed costumes that ft instead
of the large provided. So I just made a
jacket trying to match what we were us-
ing. I took pattern pieces from different
patterns I already had & made a jacket.
Rob really liked the idea and next think I
knew I was Head of Costumes ;-)

TCM : What things do you have to keep
in mind when creating a costume for
one of the characters be it alien or hu-
man?
BC : That when the series frst started
all costumes had to be one size fts all.
So we got robes in brown, black, and
grey and a few jumpsuits (ex-large) and
that was the standard dress for all al-
iens. I then started making removeable
trim (cuffs, collars, belts) so that things
could be added, reversed, or even put
on upside down. When the script called
for the Tom Corbett scene, we or-
dered a variety of sizes in the dark blue
jumpsuits so that small & large sizes
would have something that ft. Eventu-
ally, Adam & JT took over costumeing
the aliens and did a fabulous job. Now
Rob has a new costume designer that
designed the costumes for the Archein.

TCM : Do you create all the costumes
yourself or do you have any help?
BC : I cant say that I actually created
any of the costumes but I did make most
of the jackets myself. In season 6 & 7,
fans made & donated the Admiral and
dress uniforms. But I made or con-
verted a majority of the jackets. Some
TCM : Have you ever brought material
that has matched the colour of the star-
feet uniform (the red, blue and gold),
and then once it is in front of the camera
it has turned out a different colur when
seen on screen?
BC : Yes, the red is very diffcult to
match. One red actually came across
as orange. The blue & gold not as
much trouble on camera but fnding it
was pretty hard.
of Robs original jackets had light grey
tops, when I realized that they should
be dark grey I changed out the tops to
match everything else.
TCM : The trim on the top of the star-
feet uniforms was changed, who de-
cided that and do you think that it looks
better then the previous style?
BC : Well, I actually changed that and
it was a surprise to Rob. As I men-
tioned, I was originally working from the
costumes Rob already had then I was
working from a picture. When I really
examined the pictures, I realized that
between the grey and black there was
a grey trim. Since I was working full
time and was the only person making
jackets, I decided to save some time &
buy some available trim instead of mak-
ing the trim myself. Personally, I like
the fact that HF trim is lighter. It sets
us apart from all the other shows, Ive
heard that the explanation for the lighter
trim is because our characters have
been to The Patch, I like that.
The Costumes of Hidden Frontier Productions
The Costumes of Hidden Frontier Productions
TCM : Have you encounted any prob-
lems with either the designing of a
costume or getting the correct colours
for any of the costumes?
BC : Finding the correct colors is really
hard. And since the costumes have to
be durable and machine washable they
are made of polyester, not the coolest
fabric to be wrapped in. I fnd it very dif-
fcult to make the jackets.
TCM : What was your favourite cos-
tume to do, and why?
BC : Once I had more time to concen-
trate on the costumes, I actually enjoyed
fnding stuff for Myra. Plus it was easy
to ft her since I didnt have to schedule
anyone else. I think Dancing in the
Dark I have a different costume for
every scene.

TCM : How long does it take to make a
starfeet uniform?(on average)
BC : It takes about 40 hours from pin-
ning patterns to material, cutting out the
material, quilting, sewing, and ftting.

TCM : Are there any other costumes
that you would like to tell us about,
(what were ones that were easily put
together, etc)?
BC : The only costumes that I actually
sewed together were the jackets and
some jerseys. The other costumes
were bought and altered.
Barbara Clifford, thank you very
much for taking the time to talk
with us.
This time we are speaking with
Beo Fraser, Head of Make up for
Hidden Frontier Productions.
TCM : When did you frst discover Star
Trek?
BF : I was exposed to Star Trek at an
incredibly early age. My mother has a
large collection of The Original Series
on tape, so I used to sit around on
weekends as a boy just watching them
over, and over again. I remember when
I frst saw Generations (Star Trek VII)
I had no idea who this bald man was!
I thought to myself why on Earth are
they on a sail boat? But things became
clear, and after that I was exposed to
The Next Generation and the subse-
quent spin offs. The rest, as they say, is
history.
came a forum moderator. Being a forum
moderator was at the time probably one
of the hardest jobs in the production,
and you end up making a lot of people
upset! But it was very fulflling, and Ill
admit to enjoying laying the law down in
Current Events on occasion. Then one
day I took a visit to California after my
frst year of University. What was origi-
nally to be a two week trip turnedinto
three weeks, a month, then 3 months!
After that, I moved out here permanently
and, amongst other things, became a
full time member of the Hidden Frontier
crew!
learning properly from John Whiting who
was at the time the head of makeup,
and became a full time member of the
team! John Whiting retired from full time
makeup duties at the start of Odyssey,
as he needed a well deserved break.
For some reason they asked me to take
over as the head of Makeup, and so I
did! Since then weve had some major
changes, from a complete remodel of
the makeup room into a working make-
up studio, to the expansion of the team.
Page 14
The Make-up of Hidden Frontier Productions
The Make-up of Hidden Frontier Productions
TCM : How did you become involved
with Hidden Frontier?
BF : My involvement with Hidden Fron-
tier came totally by accident one night
when a friend of mine sent me a link to
a fan-made Star Trek show, and I was of
course intrigued. I remember download-
ing every single episode and watch-
ing them in the space of a few nights;
I didnt sleep very much while I was
catching up! From there I got involved
with Hidden Frontier as a member of the
forums, posting and interacting with the
fan community. After a while I struck up
a conversation with Rob Caves (Hidden
Frontiers Executive Producer) and be-
TCM : How did you end up involved
with the makeup?
BF : That was sort of a progression.
Rob and I were heading to Halloween
in Hollywood in 2006 and I remember
saying to him Well, we have a whole
makeup department here. Lets fgure
out how some of it works! So we went
that year as bloodied Bajorans. Subse-
quent to that, on one shoot none of the
normal makeup team managed to make
it and I was the only person around. But
Id never actually touched any sort of
makeup except for that one time for Hal-
loween, and it wasnt the best job. Either
way I gave it a go; wasnt exactly won-
derful, but muddled through. I started
TCM : Could you tell us a bit about what
is involved with the make up ib HF, Ody
and Helena
BF : Every actors frst stop is the
makeup room, so Im often the frst
person that they see during the day!
Even the humans get some makeup,
so we start by taking every one through
into the makeup room and getting them
prepared with a bit of moisturizer or
skin cleanser. We talk with the director
of the episode to determine what they
want, and then we begin the process!
Whether its just painted faces or full on
prosthetics; we go through the process
of putting them on, and then camera
test, which means we take the actor into
the studio and put them in front of the
camera. Usually the director has some
comments, which means we take them
back into the makeup studio and keep
working. After a couple of camera tests
to ensure the makeup is perfect, were
done! That is until we have to take it all
off again at the end of the day.

TCM : Have you got any favourite aliens
that you have done, and If so what ones
were they?
BF : Oh absolutely!
There are a couple that I have a soft
spot for. The Romulan was the frst
makeup job that I had any actual crea-
tive input on, when we decided to use
three pieces for the forehead ridges
compared to the original fat forehead
piece we used to use. I also have to
say that doing a Cardassian is always
fun. Its the frst makeup that I remem-
ber from watching Hidden Frontier
that changed from using a really awful
facemask which didnt even move when
the actor talk to being an actual Cardas-
sian! That was some cool makeup that
HF started doing, and I was thrilled to
learn how its really done. It is still one of
the best makeups in the Hidden Fron-
tier universe in my opinion. And fnally,
I think my absolutely favourite has to
be the one off Bolian we did for Odys-
seys pilot episode Iliad. That was a
collaborative effort between myself and
John Whiting, with some kindly provided
guidelines from a friend of the produc-
tion, and took an entire three hours to
complete to any degree of satisfaction
- it had bald caps, full head colouring,
prosthetics running across the entire
face - it was the best makeup weve
done, and if we have the time in the
future Id love to do it again.
the actors skin which can lead to vary-
ing results of appliance. The stuff that
we use to blend the edges also has the
same problems of drying out too quickly,
not working in the right place sometimes
- so it can be very hit and miss. Im quite
proud to say that lately weve been more
hit than miss. If you look at Ro Nevins
nose, and TLorras forehead, in Odys-
seys fourth episode Vile Gods you will
notice that you barely notice the pieces.
And Im hoping that the quality of pros-
thetic appliance continues to increase in
this fashion.

In the manner that its much harder to
replicate prosthetic application from one
episode to another I prefer the simple
paint and go approach, like we do with
the Archein. However, do prefer the
end result of using prosthetics - it takes
away the humanness of the actor and
leaves in its place the Cardassian, or
the Bolian, or the Klingon - characters
that look so alien it really makes our
Trek universe more expanded. So I
hope we use more prosthetics going for-
ward - I just hope I get better at learning
to apply them!
Page 15
TCM : If so what alien was it?
BF : I think the closest we came to us
being stumped is Dais, who is a Bolian/
Nausicaan hybrid. I really wanted to
include a lot more Nausicaan features
into her facial structure, but frankly I
had absolutely no time to fgure out how
wed do it, and even where to begin! So
we went with a more Bolian approach,
which I think works when you take into
account the darker skin tone. But the
writers havent come up with anything
thats absolutely and totally stumped us.
Yet!
TCM : You also work a lot with facial
pieces, what is that like and do you
prefer working with them to just painting
a human face a different colour?
BF : Working with facial pieces is
incredibly diffcult, as you can see from
episode to episode, theyre never per-
fect. In one episode you can barely see
the edges and in another episode its
pretty obvious weve just stuck this thing
on someones face and tried to make it
work. Part of that is because different
circumstances, such as room tempera-
ture, humidity, etc., effect the pieces and
Between all of this though one of the
things I really enjoy doing is wound
makeup - what colour is the Archein
blood? What happens if you cut a
Vrijheidian across the face? How can
we make this person look as beaten up
as possible? This involves a mixture of
prosthetic and face-painting. Tybiss in
Vile Gods is the best example of this,
where his remaining good eye is pretty
much in tatters after his fnal encounter
with TLorra, and was some of the most
fun Ive had in the makeup studio.

TCM : Have there ever been any aliens
written into a script that you just couldnt
create in make up?
BF : Honestly, I really dont think so.
Sometimes weve changed an Ando-
rian into a Bajoran, or a Romulan into a
Vulcan, because of time constraints, but
I dont think weve had something yet we
really couldnt do.


TCM : What sort of make ups do you
use and how do you apply them?
BF : We use a plethora. Water based
pigments generally make up the colours
that we apply to the face and body, and
is water soluble so a nice washcloth or
shower takes care of it easily. Bond-oh!
is our blending tool of choice, which we
use as a fller (in the same way you use
fller on cracks in the wall) to remove a
lot of the blended edges, and recently
weve gone back to using liquid latex to
creating an even fnish over the Bond-
oh!. The prosthetics are either adhe-
sed with something called prosthetic
adhesive (what an original name!) or
medical adhesive, which isnt as scary
as it sounds! Removal involves copious
amounts of sponges and Bond-off!, the
technical name for the substance that
removes Bond-oh! Bond-oh!, Bond-off!.

TCM : Are there any particular aliens
that you would like having a go at creat-
ing in the future?
BF : Borg. Oh, my god, I want to do a
Borg. I have absolutely no idea how
wed manage it though, and itd probably
give me a heart attack just trying to get
it done. If not a Borg, perhaps a Gorn.
Yeah, Im not overreaching!
Beo Fraser, thank you very much
for taking the time to talk with us.
Excelsior Ball Three: Ex-
tremely Bonkers Through-
out!
Part One: Casa Caves
If you tell a perfect stranger, that youre
about to board a plane for an eight to
ten hour fight, just to spend the week-
end with people you met feetingly the
same time last year, you are probably
going to get the odd look or two. Believe
me, when I told my work colleagues that
I was planning on attending this years
Excelsior Ball, thats exactly what hap-
pened.
But when it comes to Star Trek fans, we
are a breed above the rest, willing to
cross hell or high water in order to meet
our heroes, and for many of our Internet
brethren, the people who write, direct,
produce and star in Star Trek: Hidden
Frontier, and her sisters shows, Odys-
sey and Helena Chronicles, are that to a
tee - a hero.
Luckily, I wasnt that alone in my en-
deavour, as on the same plane was
Richard Miles, the esteemed editor and
creator of Trekkie Central, accompanied
by his brother, taking their frst ever
fight, whereas for me, this was my 3rd
trip to the States in the last decade. I
also knew that I would be seeing some
other long-haul travelers, Nick and Lucy
Cook, from bonnie Scotland, as well as
Bodo Hartwig, coming from Germany.
Nick and Lucy of course represent Star
Trek: Intrepid, the only released fan-flm
from the UK, while Bodo is the com-
poser of various pieces for both Odys-
sey and the audio series, Star Trek:
Diplomatic Relations. He also plays the
Vulcan offcer, Lt. Solek, for Intrepid,
who will be premiering in the follow-up
to Heavy Lies the Crown, titled Transi-
tions and Lamentations.
The Internet has had quite a few uses
over the years since its inception, most
importantly allowing people from differ-
ing continents to become good friends.
It was thanks to this that allowed me to
become pretty good friends with John
Whiting, known to most people as either
Dr. Henglaar of Hidden Frontier, or
General Morrigu of Odyssey. John
was gracious enough to put me up for
the frst few nights of my stay, which
allowed me to participate in the fnal 3
days of shooting for the joint Intrepid/
Hidden Frontier feature-length project,
Operation: Beta Shield. It was this that
allowed me to fnally see if Jim Davies,
the man behind the character of Siroc
was as nasty as his character, and he
was anything but, as both he and John
opened up their home to me, swapped
jokes and tales, compared tattoos and
generally enjoyed each others company.
Here, I got to fulfll a desire I have
had since I got into Trek: to actually
be made up into an alien. Although I
technically do play an alien in my role
on Intrepid, as Lt. Keran Azhan, Azhan
is an El-Aurian, which means he looks
just like a human. Because of my role
in Beta Shield, I got to be made up into
a full-fedged Romulan - I even got to
wear Michelle Laurents ears pieces,
when she is made up as TLorra! How is
that for a honour? I got to act alongside
Karl Puder in his role as General Korg,
and play out a scene with him, which
was both funny and hard work. It was
funny because I couldnt see that well,
not being able to wear my glasses, and
having to guess at eye lines, and it was
hard work because working with certain
props was a lot more complicated then it
should have been!
When not flming, I participated in help-
ing out whenever I could, be it being
made up as an extra for a scene from
Federation Ones premiere, Unity,
running the tape or manning the slate,
running through lines with various cast
members, and doing whatever I could to
be involved in a Hidden Frontier produc-
tion. Last year, I got to meet so many
new people and this year, I was able
to reacquaint myself with them, as well
as see them in their natural environ-
ment, doing what they love and do best.
Watching Becky Wood transform herself
from her human guise into the villain-
ous Vindenpawl was a sight to behold,
because it was less about make up and
costume then it was about facial expres-
sions and posture. Seeing the fun-loving
and wise-cracking Risha Denney trans-
form into Elizabeth Shelby simply by
donning her uniform was almost eerie,
even more so given how easily she
would switch between the two persona
when something comedic happened.
Likewise, watching Jennifer Cole and
David ONeill work together seamlessly
as a team in order to direct the episode
and coordinate both the actors and the
necessary set pieces was like witness-
ing a carefully choreographed dance,
with only the occasional glitch (they are
human after all, and mistakes happen).
But what got me the most about visiting
Casa Caves, is the welcoming arms that
embraced not just me and the Intrepid
crew, but everyone who visited. We
were all welcomed and treated like part
of the family, a very large, eccentric
and happy, extended family, because in
a sense, that what the shows forums
have made us. We all sat together out-
side, eating delicious takeout, swapping
stories, and sharing hopes and dreams
regarding the upcoming Ball and the
planned Away Missions. No day was
the same, each bringing new people for
a visit, new scenes to run through and
new friends and experiences to remem-
ber forever. Even the teasing I received
over a particularly ill-suited wig I wore
during flming my Romulan scenes will
remain a cherished memory from my
visit to a place where Trek lives on in its
purest form.
Just dont call me Hailey to my face...
okay?
Yes, that means YOU too, Andrew Fos-
ter... :p
Page 17
Part Two: Welcome to the
Radisson Hotel
With the flming over, it was time for the
real festivities to begin, as the Radisson
Hotel became to grounds of a rather
large assembling of Hidden Frontier cast
and crew, and fans from across Ameri-
ca, as well as us lucky few from Europe.
Beginning on the Friday afternoon, the
EB3 started slowly with a Getting to
Know You session for everyone who
had arrived early.
The Laguna Room served as the main
base of operations, while a selection of
people, including myself, Wendy Smith,
Rick Pike and Ryan Crisman, sat at the
arrivals desk and handed people their
specially printed ID badges to those who
had registered their intent to travel to the
convention. Each badge was labelled
with the persons name, screen name
and their affliation, be they cast and
crew, another fan production, a member
of the EB committee or a simple fan in
attendance.
The Emcee for the weekend, Andrew
Foster, head of the EB Committee
worked tireless to keep people amused
and help the friendly atmosphere per-
manently engaged, as fan videos and
early Areakt Studios works were shown
on the giant screen in the room. Others
enjoyed what was on offer at the bar,
which became a hub of activity as more
people arrived over the course of the
weekend.
First and foremost though, this was
a gathering of friends, in some cases
friends who only knew each other via
the Internet, but that did not matter to
any of us, because we all had a shared
interest in common. Our gathering also
attracted a lot of attention from innocent
bystanders, who would pop their head in
to see what all the laughing was about,
when bloopers were aired, or cheers
during particular moments of screened
episdoes. When Dale Darr, HFs resi-
dent Klingon extra arrived, and donned
full costume and make-up, even more
people came to see just why a Klingon
Warrior was wandering the corridors of
the hotel, mekleth and all.
Over the course of the weekend, various
discussion panels were held, as cast
and crew answered questions from the
audience and the forums, and discussed
their own ideas and feelings towards
characters and arcs, story concep-
tion and creation, make-up techniques
and general background of the various
shows. These same people also sat
willingly through autograph sessions
and photo calls, happy to give their fans
something back for the effort in making
the trip in the frst place.
I myself had he dubious privilege of sit-
ting on both a panel and an autograph
session, talking about my work for both
Star Trek: Intrepid, as well as the ideas
and format of my own audio series that
had premiered several months ago,
Star Trek: Diplomatic Relations, which
was both a strange experience, and an
honour. The idea that people wanted my
autograph was a little hard to swallow,
but seeing the disbelief in both Nick and
Lucys faces made me realise that is
probably what people like Risha, John,
Wayne Webb, Brandon McConnell and
Sharon Savene think when they are do-
ing a signing.
But it wasnt just about the cast and
crew, as the fans were allowed their
own chances to shine, during the acting
contest, judged by Risha and Brandon,
as hopefuls acted out scenes from
Star Trek: Odyssey episodes. There
was also a trivia contest, which Rob,
Jonathan Conner and Jenn judged as
Andrew asked questions to the willing
volunteers (myself included), questions
that were pretty hard in some times, and
suprisingly simple at others (if you had
watched the entire run of HF recently,
that is). For the last contest, arranged
by Jenn Cole, audience members were
asked to play a game devised by Jenn
herself, called What Were You Think-
ing? were when a question was asked,
participants were told to write not the
right answer, but the answer they be-
lieved everyone else would write down.
My favourite memory of the Ball has to
be when my latest tribute videos were
played in the presence of the actors
who feature in them, namely when
my TLorra video showed, as Michelle
Laurent watched. Afterwards, she gave
me the biggest hug and thanked me
personally for it, saying she was very
touched. It brought home to me that Ball
is all about making connections, and it
shows that the people who help Rob
Caves make his vision come to life are
still human, still everyday people doing
a job, not realising the effect they have
on others. But events like the Ball al-
low them to realise just how much they
mean to their fans, as well as interact
not only with their fans, but their fellow
actors, some of whom, they may have
never meet, due to the complexities of
the green screen work and scheduling.
When the Ball rounded up, Rob Caves
and Andrew Foster fnished up by
delivering emotional speeches for every-
one concerned, both of them summing
up the fact that a great weekend had
been had by all, thanking everyone for
coming no matter how far they travelled.
Jonathan unveiled both the newly cre-
ated model of the Galaxy-class Mark
4 version of the USS Excelsior, with
sensor pod replacing the 3rd nacelle, as
well as presenting both Rob and Nick
Cook with a dedication plaque for the
newest ship of the Hidden Frontier feet,
the Diplomat-class starship, Federa-
tion-One, which will be the ship of the
newest HF spin-off of the same name.
Emotions were very high as people said
their goodbyes to friends new and old,
some staying for the Away Missions,
others heading home on the next plane.
But even as we all left, talk of the EB4
was already under-way.
May God watch out for whichever hotel
hosts it...
Page 18
Part 3: The Celebrity Dinner
and Beyond...
After the experiences of last years
attempt at a group dinner, the EB
organisers decided to make sure that
any group dinner this year was planned
to the last detail. This year, the venue
was Cozymels Mexican Restaurant,
so everyone, fans cast and crew alike,
would be able to have a proper sit down
meal together on the Saturday night.
After spending most of the day together,
as it was, the bonds had already started
to form, so the evening promised to be a
relaxing, enjoyable night.
No one left disappointed...
The food was excellent, the conversa-
tion fun, and the activities gut-splitting.
Cozymels has a product called a
Margarita Taster, which has 5 small
glasses flled with a different Margaritas-
style drink, which became very popular
with a few of the patrons that night. So
intrigued by it were others that soon, a
drinking game game into being! First
up, Team Intrepid went up against
Team Odyssey, and unfortuantely, the
(mostly) Scottish pride took a beating,
as Team Odyssey whooped their asses,
as poor Lucy Cook struggled to suck her
partially frozen drink through a straw,
whereas all Odyssey crewmembers
downed theirs in one or two swallows!
Despite cries for a rematch, Odyssey
then moved on to take Team Helena for
a go, this one more closely played but
still with Team Odyssey emerging victo-
rious, while Team Helena members JT
Tepnapa and Adam Browne ended up
suffering from Brain Freeze. Afterwards,
Helena captain Sharon Savene, who
had abstained from the contest, offered
her loosing crew some belated advice:
Remember to open your throat when
you swallow... Kinda late with that, my
dear Captain...
After the dinner wrapped up, everyone
still laughing at the results of the contest
and various frivolities of the night, most
of us headed back to the hotel, which in
its lobby, boasted a piano. The previous
night, this had been the focus of a small
group of EB attendees, but that night,
almost the entire group swarmed the
piano, where either Andrew, Beo Fraser
or Bodo tinkled the ivories, and Becky or
attendee Don Polansky regaled the rest
of us in song, occasionally joined in by
other attendees and cast, depending on
the song. It was a magical and memo-
rable experience, hearing these people,
who could be called strangers, singing
side by side, as the night stretched into
the early morning.
When not singing, Don invented a new
drink, the X-rated Foreplay, which
helped keep the festivities continu-
ing most of the night, as various hotel
guests, arriving or leaving shot odd
glances at this large group of people
assembled around the piano, belting out
songs to their hearts content. Personal-
ly, I wish I had taken part in that evening
a little bit more then I did, but I was tired
out from the emotions the day and night
had brought up, so I left everyone to
their singing.
Next year, I am guessing a piano will be
a staple requirement of which ever hotel
we stay at...
Excelsior Ball 3 Report by
Richard Miles
Day One
What to say about the third annual
Excelsior Ball. I was looking extremely
forward to my frst Excelsior Ball (also
my frst ever convention) and although I
didnt know what to expect, would I have
fun, would I get along with anyone, what
would happen and many other thoughts
were running through my mind. How-
ever when I got there I was immediately
met by Jennifer Cole, aka Admiral Cole
and The Grand Majan, who welcomed
me with open arms. (Thanks Jenn) At
1.30pm the proceedings were started
with the Welcome videos, which are
currently featured on the Excelsior Ball
website at www.excelsiorball.com, fol-
lowed by some tribute videos by Alex
Matthews available to view on You Tube
and Star Trek Excelsior, a look at a very
early voyage of Captain Shelby we
were told to remember the line Shields.
Whilst these videos were being shown
there was also a chance to mingle in the
crowd and get to know other people that
attended, and identify them with their
names from the Hidden Frontier forums,
there was also a chance to meet some
of the cast and crew from the shows
including Rob Caves; Beo Fraser;
Barbara Clifford; John Whiting; Andrew
Foster; David ONeill and Karl Puder as
well as some people from other fan flms
including Nick and Lucy Cook from Star
Trek Intrepid, Bodo Hartwig from Star
Trek Intrepid and Michael Hudson and
Alex Matthews from the audio series
Star Trek Diplomatic Relations.
Then at around 4.30pm fans were treat-
ed to a one off viewing of the prequel
series to Hidden Frontier the Voyages
of the USS Angeles movie The Price of
Duty, and it was very good, consider-
ing it was made around ten years ago,
and was thoroughly enjoyed by the peo-
ple watching. This was followed by Star
Trek Odysseys pilot episode Iliad at
the same time this was showing the frst
of six autograph sessions took place,
giving the fans and some of the crew a
chance to obtain autographs from the
stars of the various Hidden Frontier
shows. On the frst autograph panel
were Barbara Clifford, aka Myra Elbrey;
John Whiting, aka Dr Henglaar and
General Morrigu; Karl Puder, aka Korg;
Jennifer Cole, aka Admiral Cole and
the Grand Majan and Sharon Savene,
aka Captain Faisal and Majan Seram,
special thanks to Sharon for fying back
from the UK and then going straight to
the Radisson Hotel to join us that day. At
6:00pm there was a dinner break, where
upon around 20 people went to the local
Page 19
Subway, where we had a semi healthy
dinner and got a chance to get to know
other people a lot better. After the dinner
we all headed back to the hotel for that
evenings events to proceed.
That evening we all enjoyed a trivia
quiz, a Weakest Link based quiz, where
two fans were invited up to the front
to answer questions based on Hid-
den Frontier productions, this was a
very entertaining but very diffcult quiz
and well done to Alex Matthews and
Camren for getting so many right. This
was followed by the second and third
episodes of Star Trek Odyssey; The
Wine Dark Sea and The Lotus Eat-
ers respectively. Which were enjoyed
again by the fans that were present.
Following this was game that was set
up by Jennifer Cole called What Were
You Thinking? the rules basically were
Jennifer would say a subject based on
Hidden Frontier and the fans were to
right down their answers, the difference
was we were to write down answers
that we thought other people would be
writing down, quite a diffcult task I can
tell you. This concluded the evenings
events and people headed back either
to their hotels, houses or rooms at the
Radisson, although those that stayed at
the Radisson were able to have a knees
up in the reception area of the hotel, that
apparently went on well in to the early
hours of the morning.
Day Two
Arriving around 9am on the Saturday
morning we all entered the room and
were again welcomed by Andrew Foster
and were able to rewatch a few of the
messages from the day before as well
as a special message from the people
behind Star Trek Dark Armada. Fol-
lowing on from that Star Trek Hidden
Frontiers fnale Its Hour Come Round
At Last was shown and at the same
time there was another chance to get
autographs of the cast and crew of Hid-
den Frontier. Then around 11am the frst
panel discussion of the weekend took
place. The panel entitled From Concept
To Chronicles: Story Development and
was a talk with the writers and story de-
velopers, who let use in on some of the
background of the worlds of Star Trek
Odyssey and Star Trek Helena Chroni-
cles, which was an extremely fascinat-
ing and educational talk.
After lunch we went back to watch The
Helena Chronicles pilot episode Sanc-
tuary Lost followed on by a chance to
meet the cast of Helena Chronicles in
the second panel talk entitled Back To
The Patch: Meet The Helena Chronicles
Cast during which fans were able to ask
the cast questions and the cast an-
swered them to the best of their abilities.
We then were able to watch Helenas
second episode Obsessions followed
by Odysseys fourth episode Vile Gods
and again at the same time the oppor-
tunity to get autographs this time from
the cast of The Helena Chronicles. Then
around 4.00pm the third panel started,
this one entitled Andromedan Odyssey:
Meet the Odyssey Cast, although this
one was a smaller group the talk was
no less animated and interesting. This
was followed by a screening of the frst
episode of the Voyages of The USS An-
geles Return To Duty and the chance
to get autographs from the cast of Odys-
sey. Then at around 5.30pm both fans
and crew were treated to a glimpse of
what was to come from Hidden Frontier
Productions, frst off we saw the trailer
for Operation Beta Shield, this was fol-
lowed by a preview of a few minutes of
Operation Beta Shield itself. Then just
when we didnt think that there would be
anymore Rob announced that Hidden
Frontier Productions have been work-
ing on their frst original project, entitled
Frontier Guard we then were treated to
the two trailers that are now available on
the Hidden Frontier website at www.hid-
denfrontier.com. That evening most of
the people attending went out for a meal
at a local restaurant a report of which is
in Alex Matthews report.
Day Three
The third day of the Excelsior Ball
started a little differently from the previ-
ous days. When I arrived at the hotel it
wasnt quite ready for the days pro-
ceedings, so a small group of us went
to the local subway for breakfast, when
we got back to the hotel the ball had
already begun with The Best of The
Bloopers which were absolutely hilari-
ous these were followed the fourth panel
The New Bad Guys on The Block:
Meet The Archein a talk with a rather
bedraggled group of actors (morning
after the night before), this however
did not dampen the fun that was had in
this talk as both fans and crew took it in
turns to grill the Archein over their Alpha
Quadrant conquest plans. After this the
fans had the chance to get autographs
from the Archein themselves, whilst this
was taking place the brilliant Orphans
of War was shown. Panel fve started
at 11am and was called Creating The
Look: Makeup. This panel frstly talked
about how they did certain makeups
and then two of the panel Beo Fraser
and Heather Ashleigh showed us how
the makeup is actually done, and after
seeing it in real life I was even more
impressed.
Following lunch Star Trek Intrepids
Heavy Lies The Crown was shown
followed by a special preview of their
upcoming short Where Theres A Sea
due for release on the 20th July. Then
we swiftly moved into the sixth panel
discussion of the weekend Fun with
Fanflms: HF-Verse Fanflms and Joint
Projects a look at the Hidden Frontier,
Intrepid, Diplomatic Relations and The
Expedition. Fans were then treated to
another Voyages Of The USS Angeles
episode Last of The Iconians as well as
the fnal autograph session of the week-
end. The fnal panel was Tell Us What
You Really Think: Fan Feedback a
chance for us fans to tell the producers
what we really thought. Then a couple
of presentations the frst one going to
Rob and Risha Denney, an actual model
Page 20
of the recently reft USS Excelsior, and
this was followed on with the presenta-
tion of two plaques the frst two Rob with
the ship name Federation One on it,
this was followed by the presentation of
an identical plaque to Nick Cook of Star
Trek Intrepid. Then at the end of the
afternoon Rob did a closing speech.
Round Up
Would I go again? Yes. Would I recom-
mend it to you? Yes, everyone was
extremely welcoming even Rob after
my moment when I was star struck at
actually seeing him in the fesh (sorry
Rob). The weekend itself was extremely
fun and entertaining and the talks were
well thought out and informative. Thank
you to everyone who works extremely
hard on any or all of the Hidden Frontier
versions of Star Trek and long may it
continue.
Page 21
Page 22
Page 23
Page 24
Page 25
Page 26
A Fans Perspective on Star
Trek Fanflms: Is it Really
Star Trek? And Why Do They
Do It?
[Richard Miles and I met up recently
at the Star Trek: Hidden Frontier Ex-
celsior Ball after chatting previously
via the large and active Hidden Fron-
tier forums. He asked me to write a
little about what the Hidden Frontier
and the fanflm industry seemed to
be about, from my perspective.]
As someone who is a relative new-
comer to the Star Trek fanflm world
Ive only been recently active in this
internet phenomenon for about 3 years
-- Ive casually followed the develop-
ment of this new media form beginning
with fanzines and fan fction stories to
crude home-made productions, to more
professional looking productions. I was
active years ago with the J. Michael
Straczynskis Babylon 5 feedback group
on CompuServe (where JMS would do
similar to what Rob Caves does on his
weekly Hidden Frontier chat toss out
ideas, solicit raw feedback, and gener-
ally discuss how the show was created,
how it develops, and where it might be
going). After Babylon 5 ended, I kind
of dropped out of the science fction fan
world. It has been only in the past 4
years that I rediscovered fanflms in their
current form, and frankly, I was stunned.
What I saw bowled me over. These
shows were inventive, interesting, and
demonstrated something that had been
killed by the commercialization of giant
Star Trek cons the genuine love of
the Star Trek universe, its characters,
and the ideals of the Federation promot-
ed frst by Gene Roddenberry and those
writers who followed him. And most of
all, these fanflms looked excellent!
I started watching anew frst with New
Voyages (Phase 2) and enjoyed that
show and its remarkable sets and atten-
tion to detail mimicking the original Star
Trek series. While there, on the New
Voyages forums, I learned about other
productions such as Farragut, Intrepid,
and Hidden Frontier. But for me, it
was mostly Hidden Frontier that held
my attention. First, there were 50 epi-
sodes, over 7 years to download. And
I did what most people do: watch a few,
get hooked, and then go on marathon
downloading/watching binges. I was
hooked. I was amazed at the charac-
ters. I saw how they creatively used the
green screen in the early episodes, and
how they attempted to use makeup to
recreate some of the aliens. In the frst
season or two, its clear they were learn-
ing but wow, they were having a good
time, and even more amazing, they
were telling really interesting stories!
This was Trek, I knew it.
As the seasons progressed, the stories
on Hidden Frontier had added depth
and character development. The CGI
work approached and, in my mind,
sometimes exceeded that seen on
television. And the writing continually
got better and better for me. The writ-
ers, from year to year, seemed to really
understand these characters, and to
understand the true vision of Star Trek.
I was getting a steady dose of Star Trek,
and getting to explore new worlds and
new civilizations (albeit by green screen
technology). And boy was I happy.
Even Hidden Frontiers relatively con-
troversial addition of a gay crewman in
a lead role ft in with what I have come
to believe is an extrapolation of the
vision of Star Trek, because THIS was
the Trek that I remembered this was
Gene Roddenberrys Trek. Compelling
stories about outer space, new civiliza-
tions, new adventures, but ultimately,
stories about our own human condi-
tion here, and now. I liked how the gay
plotline was integrated into the normal
activities of the crew and how the
characters development was treated as
just another storyline. Just as Star Trek
of the 1960s touched upon what were
extremely sensitive issues (race, gov-
ernment control, ethics and morality) so
was this Hidden Frontier exploring the
same types of controversies and social
issues here in the mid-2000s. I loved it.
I also liked the fact that just as Rodden-
berry put a mixed racial crew on prime
time TV in the mid-1960s (unheard of!),
Caves had put a gay crewman and
his relationships into a TV show with-
out making it the focal element. Even
though some Trek fans didnt like it.. I
thought it was true to the spirit of Star
Trek. And still do.
Since rediscovering fanflms, the various
fanflm forums, and the various fanflm
productions and some of the emerging
new productions, I have had the op-
portunity to get to know other fans, as
well as many of the producers, cast, and
crew of several different fanflms ( most
notably, Hidden Frontier and Starship
Intrepid.
As I have become more and more
involved as a fan with Hidden Frontier, I
was amazed at their dedication, creativ-
ity, and sheer determination to make
these flms. They do it using money out
of their own pockets, on their own time,
and in addition to all their other respon-
sibilities to family, work, school, and
other commitments. I was intrigued at
why they did it. What motivated them to
do it? That lead me to becoming more
active in the Hidden Frontier produc-
tions, helping out as I could, helping to
get donations for needed equipment
and supplies to allow them to continue
to make their shows. I helped out and
attended their conference last year
(Excelsior Ball 2) and was able to assist
in the production of an episode. Since
then, I have had the chance to work as
crew on the set, and meet this talented
group of people.
Making these fanflms is hard work. It
takes an incredible amount of time. And
takes a huge amount of these peoples
personal lives (and money!) to make it
happen. Some do it to learn the craft
of science fction story writing, acting,
directing, CGI graphics, or flm produc-
tion. Other support these fanflms to
help keep the Star Trek shows alive in
uncertain times. But most importantly,
I have come to believe, these people,
fans, cast and crew alike truly believe
in the positive values and ideals of the
Star Trek universe, the lofty goals of the
Federation, and a hope for a better fu-
ture for all us. Sounds like some pretty
good reasons for me... and Im happy to
be a very small part of this exciting new
form of entertainment.
Rick Pike is a science fction fan frst
and foremost. In addition to that, he is a
member of the Hidden Frontier Pro-
ductions staff for Public Relations and
as Fan Donations Coordinator. He is
amazed and thankful for all of the vari-
ous Star Trek fanflms, and their casts
and crews. Rick lives in Maryland and
his best friend seems to be an otter. He
can be reached on the Hidden Frontier
forums as rick20625 or by e-mail at
rick20625@hiddenfrontier.com
The Captains Log
with
Rick Pike
NEXT ISSUE :
HIDDEN FRONTIER and INTREPID PRODUCTIONS
PRESENT
operation beta shield
issue eight available late august
NEXT ISSUE :
HIDDEN FRONTIER and INTREPID PRODUCTIONS
PRESENT
operation beta shield
issue eight available late august

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