TCM Issue 4 by Richard Miles

Welcome to Issue 4. Firstly I would like to take the opportunity to thank you the readers for your support, because without you reading the magazine there would be no point in producing it, I would also like to thank the cast and crew of Intrepid, who have been fantastic in answering all the questions put to them, to help make, and I hope you agree, is a fantastic issue delving deep into Star Trek Intrepid, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s opening episode, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s special episode that they released with Hidden Frontier Productions and also a glimpse at the episodes that are currently in production. As usual we have interview with the cast and crew of the show, including; Nick Cook; David Reid; Lucy Cook; Steve Hammond and many more. Also in this issue very have been very lucky in getting a sneek peek at future characters and as such have got short interviews with Michael Hudson; Alex Matthews and Bodo Hartwig. I hope you enjoy this issue of TCM. Live Long and Prosper Richard

FUTURE EPISODES A LOOK AT FUTURE EPISODES BY NICK COOK

NEWS BRING YOU UP TO DATE WITH ALL THE LATEST NEWS FROM THE FAN FILM WORLD

INTREPID AN OVERVIEW OF STAR TREK INTREPID WRITTEN BY ALEX MATTHEWS

CROSSOVER AN IN DEPTH LOOK AT HOW THE WORLDS OF INTREPID AND HIDDEN FRONTIER INTERACT

PROMOTION BY ASSASSINATION AN INTERVIEW WITH THE SHOWS CREATOR NICK COOK

HEAVY LIES THE CROWN A REVIEW OF THE SERIES FIRST EPISODE

LIVING ON THE FRONTIER AN INTERVIEW WITH STEVE HAMMOND

MUSICAL MAESTRO AN INTERVIEW WITH DAVID BEUKES

ABOUT THE SHIPS FACTS, FIGURES AND OTHER THINGS YOU WANTED TO KNOW

DAVID LEES AND ALEX MATTHEWS THE FIRST OF OUR SHORT INTERVIEWS

ROMULAN IN STARFLEET AN INTERVIEW WITH DAVID REID

LUCY COOK AND BODO HARTWIG THE SECOND OF OUR SHORT INTERVIEWS

GORDON DICKSON AND MIKE CUGLEY THE THIRD SET OF SHORT INTERVIEWS

ORPHANS OF WAR A REVIEW OF THIS SPECIAL EPISODE

A MAN AT WORK AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH JEFF HAYES

ALAIN DE MOL AND NICK BECKWITH THE FOURTH SET OF SHORT INTERVIEWS

SPECIAL INTELLIGENCE AN INTERVIEW WITH ALAN CHRISTISON

DYLAN FEENEY THE OTHER MUSICIAL MAESTRO

MICHAEL HUDSON THE FIFTH SHORT INTERVIEW

ALAN SCORE AND LEE ANDREW THE LAST OF OUR SHORT INTERVIEWS

CAPTAINS LOG WITH NICK COOK

NEXT ISSUE

On this page we are lucky enough to have a sneak peek at some information about future episodes. PLEASE NOTE IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO KNOW DO NOT READ THIS PAGE.

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

We currently have three instalments in production; Where There's a Sea, Transitions and Lamentations, and Machinations, which will be approximately 10 minutes, 30 minutes and five minutes in running time, in that order. Where There's a Sea (which is actually set after the other two, but will be released first) is essentially a vignette, which will show Prentice in a rather different light than we've previously seen him, and highlight the friction between Starfleet and the Merchant Service a little more. We'll also see more Cole, Ariadne in battle, and Orions. Transitions and Lamentations takes place about a week after the events of Heavy Lies the Crown. I don't want to give too much away about this one, but I can tell you it'll feature more Surai, more location work, more action, a lot more Navar, Navar's father Zobrin, Keran Azhan, a Klingon, the science vessel Pandora, Hunter's search for an XO, a (very wet) cave, and a seedy alien bar. Machinations is essentially a coda to Transitions and Lamentations, set a few months later and will feature Navar, Azhan, information about the Surai, and an interesting little twist... Nick Cook, Producer

After releasing three short episodes that have introduced the audience to the main characters Fan Film series The Expedition has just begun filming on its pilot episode. For more information visit www.theexpedition.org

The latest episode from Areakt Pictures Star Trek Odyssey has been released. The episode entitled ‘The Lotus Eaters’ introduces us to the Kelvans, a race that have been persecuted by the Archeins. This episode also gives us a more in depth look at most of the characters both main cast and secondary cast a like. To download this episode visit www.hiddenfrontier.org and click on the links to go to the download page.

STAR TREK AND FAN FILM TIMELINE RELEASED An unofficial timeline has been released. It contains all the official Star Trek series as well as most of the major fan series players including Hidden Frontier; Intrepid and Phase 2, to view it please go to www.geocities.com/sabarwolf/ time-line

Helena Chronicles latest episode “Obsessions” was released on 22nd March. The episode gives us some insight into one of Helena's new crew members, Lt Dias. It also gives us a bit more about Corey Aster who is still struggling to come to terms with the loss of his husband Ro Nevin. For more information please visit www.hiddenfrontier.org

A new audio series has recently released their first audiosode. The audiosode entitled ‘Court Martial’ is available to download from here http://www.starfleetrenegades.com/forums/ index.php/topic,22.0.html

Upcoming fan film Star Trek Origins has recently released the theme music for the series, to listen to it please visit www.startrekorigins.com

What is the series about, well here is the description from the front page of their website; ‘WELCOME TO STARFLEET RENEGADES. The Continuing Saga of the Starship Columbia. When we last left our Renegade crew, the Columbia had been presumed destroyed in a confrontation between Cardassian forces and the Federation starship Excelsior. Not wanting to embroil Starfleet in another interstellar war for which they are ill prepared, Captain Nicolas Roberts - a fugitive from Starfleet for stealing the Columbia to rescue his crew - engaged the Cardassians in a battle he couldn’t win. When it was all over, the Columbia disappeared in a fiery explosion. But was she destroyed or was it a ruse thanks to her stolen cloaking device? This audio dramatic series has the answer!’

Star Trek New Voyages has changed its name to Star Trek Phase 2, this has already come into effect and will be the name on the next episode they release, ‘Blood and Fire’. Other noticeable changes after the name change will be the new actors, Blood and Fire will introduce the new Spock (Ben Tolpin) and the new Uhura (Kim Stringer), and Blood and Fire will introduce us to a new character, Peter Kirk, played by Bobby Rice, of Hidden Frontier fame having played Ro Nevin for three years. Future episodes also will see the introduction of new characters firstly, the new Chekov (Jonathon Zungre) and also Sulu has been recast with JT Tepnapa taking on the role, people will recognise JT as he has played Corey Aster in Hidden Frontier, and it’s spin off series The Helena Chronicles, where he will continue to star, for several years now. For more information visit the Phase 2 website at www.startrekphase2.com Pictures: Far left; JT Tepnapa as Sulu Near Left; Bobby Rice as Peter Kirk.

Star Trek Of Gods and Men have released the second instalment of their tribute to forty years of Star Trek. Available to watch from www.startrekofgodsandmen.com the episode has been a lot better received by the fans who have been saying on forums that the CGI is a lot better and the acting is superb. Although the series is not perfect they are pretty close and it is a very fitting tribute to a saga that has spanned four decades. Lets hope that in another forty years Star Trek is still going strong and more fans will be releasing their tributes to Star Trek that are as good as this one.

Manga based series USS Tamerlane has released it first major Issue. Following on from it’s first Omake the first Issue sets the scene for whats to come from the rest of the series. The first issue will be reviewed in the next issue of TCM. To download USS Tamerlane comics visit their site at www.usstamerlane.com

The audio series Star Trek Defiant have recently released their latest episode. To download visit their website at pendantaudio.com/defiant A new series that is currently in pre-production is looking for cast and crew. If you are interested visit their website at www.startreksfi.org

Star Trek Phase 2’s James Cawley has been given a walk on role in the upcoming Star Trek movie. For more information visit Phase 2’s website www.startrekphase2.com

Star Trek Aurora have announced that the third part of this animated series will be released sometime during Spring 2008.

The people over at Starship Farragut have begun filming their fourth Vignette ‘A Rock and a Hard Place’. For more information go on over to www.starshipfarragut.com

Since Voyager ended, the 24

century has gone by largely unviewed, except in the purview of fanfilms. “Star Trek: Hidden Frontier” was one of the first fan-based series that returned to that era and helped re-identify that period of stellar history and made it's own definitive mark. Another series that has attempted this is “Star Trek: Intrepid” The brainchild of Nick Cook and Steve Hammond, the fan-series deals with the adventures of the crew of the USS Intrepid, the first of the Intrepid-class, which the infamous USS Voyager belonged too. Their premiere feature-length episode, “Heavy Lies The Crown” sets the series up nicely, showing that the ship has been assigned to what should have been a standard milk-run, escorting colonists to a far flung system in a lonely sector of space near to the upper edge of the galactic rim. But since this IS Star Trek, things start to get out of hand when an new alien presence reveals themselves, resulting in the ship being assigned as the main Starfleet presence to help defend the fledgling colony. Based in Dundee, Scotland, Intrepid Productions took a lot of inspiration from Hidden Frontier, using the idea of green-screen to help project the image of 24th century life to 20th century viewers, but also expanded on some ideas from other productions, notably “Star Trek: Exeter” and “Star Trek: Phase II” (formerly New Voyages). This lead them to create several of what could be called 'standing sets', although not on the scale of the former efforts. Whereas they have built various sets, such as Sickbay and the Bridge, Intrepid uses a combination of physical sets, such as wall units, consoles and displays, alongside the green-screen, to allow more dynamic camera shots. Whereas early HF efforts were mostly bust shots so not to see the lack of a console, this combination allowed the Intrepid film crew to make usage of limited space while still projecting an illusion of size and dimensions that only exist on a computer screen. Also, since their premiere episode deals with a threat to an entire planet,

they took advantage of the lush greenery local to Dundee to give a sense of realism to their efforts, moving beyond the small green-screen set built into the small kitchen of Nick Cook's own flat. The Intrepid film crew took this one step further in the filming of one of their latest efforts, “Transitions and Lamentations”, using an actual theatre stage to film a bar scene, complete with physical on-set aliens. In an extra twist, Intrepid also attempts to show that the workings of the Merchant Marine Service, an organisation only ever really hinted at in the official Trek series. It demonstrates the animosity between the 2 services that both work with the Federation, but are completely different. Whereas Starfleet is the spit-and-polish miltaryesque 'exploration and defense' arm, the officers and crew of the Merchant Marines are more rough and tumble, dealing with older, more run-down starships, and their jobs involving trade missions and colony supply. This difference in charters is a major plot point of their premiere episode, and is explored more in subsequent shorts and episodes. The cast and crew is a large varied group for their first episode, and more characters are planned on being introduced in further episodes, but for “Heavy Lies The Crown”, the main players are: Captain Daniel Hunter: Formerly the XO, he is promoted to the rank of Captain after his predecessor is killed in a shuttle accident during their mission. (Portrayed by Nick Cook) Lt. Yanis Caed: The Trill Operations Officer, and second host to the Caed symbiont. She is a close friend of Hunter's. (Portrayed by Lucie Cook) Lt. S'Ceris: The half-Romulan, half-human Chief of Security, who differs with Hunter on many regards, but has a grudging respect for the man. (Portrayed by David Reid)

Lt. Matthew Cole: A former member of the Maquis arrested before they were massacred by the Dominion, he was granted reprieve during the Dominion War, and serves as Mission Operations Officer on Intrepid. (Portrayed by Steve Pasqua) Commodore Aaron Prentice: Flag officer in charge of the entire fleet sent to establish the colony, and later placed in command of the Sector. (Portrayed by Alan Score) Lt. Commander Jacen Navar: A Torothan (seen in ENT), who serves as Intelligence Adviser to Commodore Prentice, but knows more then he is letting on. (Portrayed by Alan Christison) Lt. Commander Joseph Garren: Security Adviser to Commodore Prentice, who should have been Tactical Officer on board Intrepid, if not for S'Ceris' appointment.(Portrayed by Gordon Dickson) Governor Karyn Finney: The civilian leader of the Chiron IV colony, who must balance working alongside Starfleet and the Merchant Marines, while looking out for the best interests of her fellow colonists. (Portrayed by Lyn McGarrity) Captain Jago Merrick: Commanding Officer of the SS Ariadne, the lead Merchant Marine vessel assigned to the colony convoy, he is not Starfleet's biggest fan, but understands the need for their presence now that they are under threat of attack. (Portrayed by Steve Hammond) Dr. Richard Garren: Science Officer under Captain Merrick, and adopted brother to Joseph Garren, he has a fierce dislike and distrust of Starfleet, and has not forgiven his brother for joining up. (Portrayed by Mike Cugley)~

Star Trek has been going on in one form or another for 40 + years, with each film or series somehow being related to each other, to show that a continuity exists between them. Sometimes, this takes the form of crossovers, such as the appearance of Dr. McCoy in TNG's premiere, Picard in DS9's, and Quark in Voyager's. It was in this kind of spirit that in “Heavy Lie The Crown”, the premiere episode of “Star Trek: Intrepid”, we have a brief appearance from Captain Elizabeth Shelby, during a subspace call between Excelsior's commanding officer and Intrepid's XO, Daniel Hunter. The call not only establishes that the two are old friends, but that the two series run parallel to each other in the same interpretation of the expanded Star Trek universe. An earlier crossover had occurred, in the HF Season 5 finale, “The Battle Is Joined” when Commander Tolian Naros, then-Executive Officer of Excelsior, runs into an old family aquaintence, Keran Azhan, on DS12's docking area. Azhan mentions his assignment as ship's counselor on board Intrepid, much to Naros' disbelief. At this point, “Intrepid” was still in late post-production, so this crossover constitutes more of a tip-of-thehat reference, such as a reference to Camus II, the early setting of the 79th and final episode of TOS, mentioned in the 80th episode of TNG. To say the two shows work together, would be an exaggeration. They are two independent productions, and are not deliberately weaved together in any shape or form, but they do have common points, which also link them to the general universe of

Star Trek. They both stick to the canon of the televised shows, and also try to adhere to what has been established in each other. This is much easier for HF, since “Intrepid” has only aired the one episode thus far, but the Scottish production does try to stick to whatever points have been made by “Hidden Frontier”. So far, since “Intrepid” is set around the six season HF, they have very little interaction with HF's sister shows, Odyssey and Helena Chronicles, at least in episodes produced by Intrepid Productions. Areakt Studios, though, in league with Intrepid Productions, has already made one small crossover episode dealing with the fallout of the Archein invasion, one of the main points in Odyssey's premiere episode. This stand-alone episode does reference the previous appearance of Captain Shelby in “HLtC”, and furthers the relationship glimpsed at, a relationship many of the fans of both series were glad to see expanded on. There are also plans in the works to make a longer follow-up to this piece, which will expand on its storyline and introduce more plots which will be continued in another new Areakt made HF spin-off. But these episodes occur in Intrepid's 'future', at a point their own efforts have not brought them to yet. So, if a season spans a year, there is still at least 2 years of stories from “Intrepid” to explore before they catch up with these other efforts. So thats good news for the “Intrepid” fans out there, although the people involved might feel a little pressured to deliver now :p.~

Daniel Hunter, captain of the Starship Intrepid, got there by killing his commanding officer in order to protect the colony on the planet below. Here the man behind him talks to Trekkie Central; TC: When did you first discover Star Trek? NC: As a kid in the seventies I grew up watching sci fi; Star Trek, Space: 1999, the Incredible Hulk, that sort of thing. I don't remember when I first encountered it, but I do remember watching the Animated Series,and playing Captain Kirk at a birthday party back in '75 or '76. I don't really remember a time before Star Trek to be honest, it's just always been there. TC: How did you become involved with Intrepid? NC: I used to run the local Trek club, and had seen both Hidden Frontier and Starship Exeter. I'd thought we could do an audio novel, but Dylan Feeney, who wrote our theme, suggested we take it a step further and make a fanfilm instead. It all kind of snowballed from there. I guess you could say I was there at the right time. TC: If you could create your own official Star Trek series, what would it be? NC: I'm a huge fan of the TNG crew, so I'd probably bring back Jonathan Frakes, Marina Sirtis and Wil Wheaton for a Titan series. TC: Why did you decide to start your own fan series? NC: Well it seemed like a good idea at the time. Seriously though, we'd seen Hidden Frontier, and Exeter, and thought it would be fun. I'd always had an interest in writing, and had dabbled in acting when I was younger, so combining those interests with Star Trek just seemed a like a natural choice. The idea of creating our own little corner of the Star Trek universe was simply too much temptation. Of course, back then we didn't have a clue how much work it'd be, so it was basically a baptism by fire. Having a circle of close friends who shared the same interest was a huge help though, and I doubt we'd have ever gotten past the concept stage without them. And of

course, those friendships were also a large part of why we decided to make Intrepid, since the club was winding down, and we were all looking for something new to do as a group. TC: And how long did it take to develop? NC: Much longer than we expected. The groundwork had already been laid to an extent, since we'd decided to base some of the characters on those we'd used for our role playing game, so that much was easy. I'd say our pre-production phase was probably about two years, then we spent roughly another two and a half years on principal photography and postproduction. We had a number of setbacks along the way, but we hung in regardless, and I'm glad we did. A great deal changed in the development process, and while the main thrust of the script remained the same, the details changed often. Sometimes, even as we were filming. For example, Talath's death played out completely differently as well, instead of shooting her down to save the settlement, Hunter had abandoned her to die aboard an exploding transport. We also hadn't originally planned to do exterior shots, the entire story played out aboard ship. The decision to do location work was, I think, a wise one, since it got us away from the greenscreen, was much more visually interesting, and frankly told a better story. That said, it also added at least a year to our production time, so it has its drawbacks too. All things told, it was roughly four and a half years from concept to finished episode. It's worth noting that, in the beginning, we thought it'd take us "about a year" to produce a finished episode, which should give you some idea how naive we were back then. TC: How do you deal with the fandom that surrounds Intrepid? NC: I'll be honest, having people tell you they like your work isn't the hardest thing in the world to cope with. Once upon a time, Steve and I both said we thought we had a good story, but we really didn't know whether anyone would take the time

to watch, or indeed if they'd enjoy it. That people actually have watched, and most seem to have enjoyed it is a source of great pride to me. I'm very grateful that most people who watched it have been kind, and most of the criticism has been constructive. Sure, there's been the occasional harsh word directed at us, and the odd bit of nitpicking, but with very few exceptions it's been a pleasure. TC: And were you surprised by it? NC: I was amazed by it. I still am. If someone had turned 'round to me five years ago and even suggested some of the places this would take me I'd have simply laughed it off. I've made some wonderful friends, and travelled to places I never expected. If it hadn't been for Intrepid, I'd have never set foot on the New Voyages bridge, shared screen time with the wonderful Risha Denney, met Rob Caves, or James Cawley, or chatted to Dennis Bailey (who wrote one of my favourite Star Trek episodes, Tin Man, and who produced some of our effects) or any of the other folks I've been priviliged enough to cross paths with. I'm continually amazed by some of the people we hear from, or the places we've been seen. A colleague of mine came up to me last year, who'd been holidaying in Egypt, and mentioned she'd been watching CNN in her hotel, when suddenly my face appeared on screen. Then there's all the folks who contact us offering to help with subtitling. Surprised is probably an understatement, and I'm incredibly grateful for it all, and to all those people who have taken the time to watch, share their thoughts, and offer their help and support. TC: Also are you surprised by how popular the character of Daniel Hunter has become? NC: I think "gobsmacked" is the word. I swear, "We're Starfleet you idiot" is going to be carved on my gravestone. I'm very fond of him myself, though I guess I'm biased. To be fair though, not everyone likes him.

Regardless, I'm just happy there are people who do like him. TC: During the first episode we saw Hunter nervous about making decisions due to the fact he 'killed' his captain, will we see more of that in future episodes or has he put old ghosts to bed? (so to speak) NC: We'll definitely revisit that. Brian Matthews, the staff writer for Helena Chronicles, who also wrote Orphans of War, is working on a script for us called The Stone Unturned, which will touch on this, though it's not the main thrust of the story. I personally believe that human beings have a tendency to second guess themselves and agonise over the choices they make. Very few people, in my experience, can honestly make a life-changing decision and just move on. While I don't think you'll see Hunter constantly haunted, that decision will always be with him, and I think that's as it should be. TC: Do you think that the 'Orphans of War' special with Hidden Frontier helped develop your character more?

NC: Insofar as we developed the Hunter/ Shelby dynamic a little more, I'd say yes, but I don't think we really got to know him any better than we did in Heavy Lies the Crown. Orphans didn't give us a lot of time to really get under the skin of any of those characters, and that was unavoidable given the time constraints. Again, I'm probably biased, but the Hunter/Shelby dynamic is what made Orphans so much fun for me. TC: The first episode also featured Section 31, will that storyline develop over coming episodes? NC: Definitely. Transitions and Lamentations, which is being shot at the moment, deals with that in some detail. Suffice to say, you'll find out a lot more about both Commander Navar, and Section 31's plans. I'd always intended to involve Section 31 in the plot in some way, and at some point I thought it'd be cool to somehow involve Eric Busby's Section 31 Files characters somehow. I can't honestly recall what order it all happened in, but Eric had approached me about appearing in Section 31 Files as Lieutenant Cain, and I think it was sometime after that that I approached him and the other Darker Projects cast about appearing in Intrepid. I'd quite like to try and bring them back in at some point, but whether it'll happen, or how, is anyone's guess at this point. It's worth noting, though, that both, Korg and Hunter will appear in Operation Beta Shield, so I guess anything is possible. TC: What other aspects of the show do you do, apart from the acting and being the creator? NC: In addition to being one of the writers (I wrote Heavy Lies the Crown, Transitions and Lamentations, Machinations, and Where There's a Sea) I'm also responsible for costuming and props. Most of the props you see on Intrepid, and pretty much all the costumes were my work. The props were largely built up from kits, so I don't think I can take much credit for them, but the costumes were made from scratch, except for one which is screen-used, and those I'm pretty proud of. I constantly have several costumes under construction at any given moment, and finding time to work on them isn't always easy. The writing is probably my favourite aspect though, with acting a close second. TC: Are you looking forward to filming Operation Beta Shield? NC: Very much so. We've got a wonderful script, by Brian Matthews, which is based on an outline by Rob Caves, and the folks

over at Areakt are such a genuinely nice, welcoming group that you can't help but want to hang out with them. They've also got a very creative, efficient atmosphere over there and while I can't speak for anyone else, I think Orphans was by far my best performance to date, and I owe that to Jennifer Cole's direction. So yeah, I can't wait. These folks are my friends, so it's always a pleasure to see them. The fact that we get to make Star Trek together as well, is just icing on the cake.~

It was thanks to watching Hidden Frontier, and seeing various posts from a person called â&#x20AC;&#x153;Daniel Hunterâ&#x20AC;? that lead me to the website for the USS Intrepid and her crew. I pretty much fell in love with the show after watching their collection of bloopers, and eagerly waited another few months for the finished episode to come out. I was also one of the first people to see it in any form, after I joined the Intrepid production team, designing the pilot episodes opening credits, and also being cast as one of the recurring characters. As part of the 2nd Excelsior Ball, I took a preliminary version still lacking some of the CGI to be aired, and enjoyed allowing other people the chance to get a sneak peek as well. The episode did not disappoint, and although there were rough spots in certain places, all in all, it was a great first effort, and speaks highly of those that participated. 4 or more years in the making, the time, attention and care these people took is evident in every chosen shot, the CGI effects used, and the original musical score that was developed. As a premiere, it is designed to introduce us to the characters and make us develop some kind of feeling towards them, be it to care for them, or despise them. Given the eclectic range of characters and personnel, the episode delivers very well in that respect, as well as giving us a story that intrigues and interests the viewing audience, and sets the floor for further stories. In the far away Charybdis sector, near the upper portion of the galactic edge, the USS Intrepid is baby-sitting a group of settlers as they establish their preliminary colony, with help from a detachment from the Merchant Service. This immediately differs it from other canon and fanon efforts, which have barely ever mentioned the Merchant Marines before, the other side of the Federation's space services, with far less spit and polish then Starfleet. We soon meet the crews of both services, and see the tension that exists between then two of them, as well as amongst the crew of the Intrepid itself. Of course, this tension is given a slightly scary dimension, when the first officer (the afore mentioned Daniel Hunter) is forced to destroy a shuttle carrying his captain, in order to stop it from crashing into the colony. But all the various forms of tension are forced to the side when a strange energy field activates, which cuts the planet off from the Intrepid, as well as knocking out power on the multitude of convoy ships in orbit. Intrepid, having been conducting a survey of the system's asteroids, avoided the same fate, and soon heads into the rescue, sending an away team down, prepared for combat after an unknown alien vessel had attacked them earlier without seeming provocation. A link between the two events is theorised, which is proven when one group from the away team is pinned down by automated attack probes. Hunter and his security chief, a halfRomulan named S'Ceris, team up with the two senior Merchant Marine personnel and manage to render aid to their trapped comrades, as well as pinpoint what is creating the energy field. Meanwhile, Intrepid leaves orbit in order to intercept and delay n attack

force of aliens identified as the Surai. Again, tension between members of the crew comes into play when the convoy commander, a Starfleet Commodore, discovers that his Intelligence Officer is not only keeping information from him, but acting under the orders of another. Despite this, they manage to work together in order to achieve their mission, before returning to orbit, and using the away team's findings to destroy the energy field and return the planet and the orbiting ships to normal. The episode ends with the realisation that the peaceful life the colonists hoped for might not exist now, as well as Hunter struggling with the decision of whether to take command of Intrepid, something he does as the episode fades out. The fact that this first effort took so long to make is evident in various facets. The CGI is top-notch for the most part, only with the occasional wobble, such as the very beginning opening montage, where some of the CGI just looks a little rough. But all in all, it helps create the setting of the show, mixed with physical sets and actual location footage. Both Nick Cook and Steve Hammond, the co-creators and producers, have said how they wanted to differ from Hidden Frontier by using real sets and locations, as opposed to constantly using green-screen. The combination of both gives an extra dimension to the production, making it seem more 'real', especially with the location shoots, giving an extra dynamic and feel to the action. When full CGI is used, it could very nearly meet Hollywood-level production style, especially when the Surai ships are first glimpsed at, and when Intrepid fires torpedoes while laying a trap. The various artists Intrepid Productions put to work took their time with their pieces, not wanting things to look rushed, and for the most part, they succeeded. Although it is amateur, it's VERY high level amateur. The compositing of effects onto real environments is near flawless, with barely no green outlines apparent, expect for one scene in the transporter room, due to the Commodore (being in an old style Admiral uniform, in science blue) being fully against the green screen. The costumes are incredibly accurate, when we Starfleet uniforms, and the fact that Nick Cook made many (of not all) of them is evident, as none of them look like the cheap ones

that Hidden Frontier initially used. The casual uniform jackets of the Merchant Marine are different enough from Starfleet wear that it immediately sets them apart, but still gives them a look of their own without looking too informal. The usage of props also differentiates the two, as the Starfleeters use up to date VOY-era phasers and tricorders, while the Mariners use older style props, like ENT-style phase pistols or the early bulky TNG phasers and tricorders. One bone of contention regarding costume was that the hairstyle of two of the female characters: Ensign Styles should have her long hair up in a regulation ponytail or some such style, but in order to hide the bagginess of her uniform, she wore it loose, while Lt. Caed changed hairstyles between almost every scene she was in, this being due to the various stoppages in filming between her scenes. Whereas many different early fanon shows may borrow from official sources for their soundtrack, Intrepid kept its high bar by having original music composed, both for their theme tune, and their soundtrack. The work of Dylan Feeney and David Beukes are both easy on the ears, and add that extra layer of depth and moodiness to the finished product. And although there are times when the soundtrack can over power the scene, that is a matter of the mixing, not the work itself. That happens several times throughout the episode, with the sound, where background noise can drown out the dialogue, such as the river scene between Garren and Merrick, and later, when Caed is reporting her group being under attack to Hunter. But this odd occurences do not spoil the general flow of the episode, at least not too much as to disrupt the enjoyment of viewing. The fact that this project took so long to complete is also evidenced in the acting style - these people not only enjoy playing their characters, but enjoy working with

each other. The bloopers that are available on their website show this for all to behold, and this humour and bond helped them continue throughout the several years they took to make the final aired product. I can also personally attest to the fact that they do have that good a time when filming, and yes, there can be moments when the stress and such can get to you, we are all there to have a good time, while maintaining a professional outlook on the work as well. Intrepid is now in the process of postproduction on at least 3 further projects, as well as preparing for “Operation: Beta Shield”, the follow up to their previous HF crossover, “Orphans of War”, so they have a lot of work to do. But they promise that this time, it wont be another 4 years of waiting patiently...

Here Trekkie Central talks exclusively to Steve Hammond on what life is like in the Charybdis Sector. TC: When did you first discover Star Trek? SH: It's just been a constant background presence, really. Only when TNG came along did I become what you'd call a fan (small 'f') and it wasn't until much later than it became any sizeable part of my life. My first memories are of watching TOS on a 4â&#x20AC;? black and white TV at my Gran's house though I'm now sure I saw the cartoon first, which would have been the early 70s. TC: How did you become involved with Intrepid? SH: Technically, I became involved with Star Trek: Pioneer before we changed the name to Intrepid! It was an offshoot of the club which I turned up to once in a while, and as luck would have it I had recently bought a digital video camera shortly before discussion about the possibility of making a movie. Then I started waving my arms around for a year or so, making anguished squeaking noises. TC: If you could create your own official Star Trek series, what would it be? SH: I don't think it would be a million miles from what we're doing at the moment. If someone, somehow, gave me the funding to create any series I felt like, I don't think I'd want to do more Star Trek. At the moment, we have a platform in which we can tell a wide variety of stories and Trek is an incredibly adaptable universe. But a new series in that universe... I honestly don't know, though I think it would be interesting to do something set pre-federation. I seem to be one of the few people who genuinely appreciated Star Trek: Enterprise, at least where it didn't tread the usual timeworn themes. TC: What is it like being part of a Star Trek series, and how do you deal with the fandom that surrounds Intrepid? HS: It feels normal, surprisingly enough. Whether it's because it's been so long that I've been involved or it's just because I'm such a

hardcore Geek, I really don't think of it as being out of the ordinary. Most of my friends are SF fans in one way or the other and at times I tend to see this whole Intrepid things as merely a natural consequence of all this perfectly ordinary technology we have lying around. I have creative friends, I have a video camera, we all enjoy Star Trek, why on earth wouldn't we dress up and film ourselves?! Dealing with the fandom has never really been an issue, since I've only ever been recognised in the street twice. One was a relative of a friend of mine and the other was a girl in the newsagent on the day that my photo was in the paper, so it's not really representative. Generally the only contact I have is posts on the forum where I was surprised to find that I could handle criticism better than I thought I would. Most of the time! TC: What sort of storylines would you like to see your character featured in? SH: The sort of storylines where I have a reasonable chance of making them actually happen, so I best not reveal anything here! Having said that, I've suggested a plot to Nick concerning Merik which would make the audience jump out of their collective seats. It couldn't happen for a few years though. TC: All three of your characters are non-starfleet and two seem to hate starfleet how do you play characters like that and does that make them more interesting to play because they aren't Starfleet officers? SH: I can't really say how different it would be, since this is the first role of any kind that I've played. Originally I agreed to be a character, despite having no evidence of any acting ability, because at the beginning of HltC we were really, really, short or help. Bit of trivia, when we started I had long hair (rock star hair, not hippy hair!) and so Nick toyed with the idea of writing me in as a Klingon! For Merik, I think hate is too strong a word and I've consistently been described as 'grumpy' in my portrayal, so I'd guess that the merchants are grumpier than starfleet. They have all the shiniest toys!

TC: Steve, you directed the first episode, what sort of things do you have to keep in mind when filming and how long did it take to film? SH: From the original idea to actually getting something released was something like four and a half years, but not all of that time was actual shooting. We ran around in circles for a couple of years before really trying to get through all the scenes. A large part of it was that we had no idea how to go about making a movie and had to figure it out for ourselves. It's hard to say how much time the actual shooting took, but you can get an idea from the fact that at the end of it I had over thirty hours worth of footage. And of course all that material had to be filtered and edited. In the beginning, all I was trying to keep in mind was getting enough coverage for whatever scene we were filming. Over the course of a few scenes I gradually dropped the idea of having a list of specifics shots and instead tried to get a series of 'standard' shots, the wide angle, the close ups and so on. Plenty of stuff went wrong in the early days and the idea was that after a certain point there was enough filmed to make a scene. With only a master shot I had a very basic scene, but a scene nevertheless, assuming it was in a single take. A close up of a character would then be enough material to cut between the two shots. Any additional footage would then make the resultant scene more visually interesting. And

an absolute ton of footage would be enough to cut it together without worry. So what I had in mind was piecing together the footage in my head as I filmed it up to the point where we had a minimum scene. Then enough to make a better scene. Then enough to make a good scene. Then enough to make the scene that I wanted. The bar has been gradually raised, so that it hasn't been uncommon for me to shoot a dozen takes. The record so far was the bridge scene right before the credits, which had twenty four takes from half a dozen angles! That was a long day... I think I do it more economically now, though Nick may disagree. Shooting against greenscreen had the additional difficulty that I knew I was going to be doing the compositing afterwards and so I had to keep in mind that getting to right upfront would save me pain later, though it was very liberating to be able to have all kinds of junk in the frame, knowing that I could easily remove it in the computer. Now I have to think not only how a scene is going to look, but the mood of the scene, the pacing of the scene and how it all fits together, the motivation of the characters and their backstory. On the most recent shoot, one of the actors made a suggestion about how he should play the scene and in a case like that it's important to know if it contradicts anything that's already been established. So really, it's evolving all the time!~

David Beukes wrote the score for Intrepids first episode, Heavy Lies the Crown, and he did a fantastic job helping to set the scene within the episode. Here he talks to Trekkie Central about that experience and also if he would like to do future episodes. TC: When did you discover Star Trek? DB: Season 1 of TNG - it finally made it over here when I was in junior high. Tasha Yar's death ruined me, I was only 14. No one dies on TV, what's going on? TC: How did you become involved with Intrepid? DB: I asked nicely. TC: If you could create your own Official Series what would it be? DB: I enjoyed Enterprise, but I think that prequels are generally a bad idea, so my own Official Series would be postVoyager. The stories would have more of the sciency-what-ifishness of TOS and TNG - one of the things that's always appealed to me about Trek is the exploration and the possibilites. And somehow it would have Bob Picardo in it. TC: Where did you get the feel of the music from? (did you watch the show first or did the inspiration come from somewhere else) DB: It grew organically. I read the script first - and loved it - and began sketching ideas that Nick would give me feedback on, and later he began sending me scenes as the editing proceeded. I guess the feel comes from what I imagine a space opera should sound like. If I had to name some of my influences, I'd say Klaus Badelt, Michael Kamen, and James Newton Howard. And one to watch is a guy called Ilan Eshkeri, who I've just discovered. He's amazing. TC: You seem to have enjoyed doing the music, would you come back and do an-

other episode again? DB: I absolutely loved it. And unless something has changed (Nick? Am I fired?), I'm going to keep on doing them. Being part of a fanfilm is being part of the fantasy, and getting to contribute is awesome. Pathetically nerdy as it sounds, the time I spent with Nick, Lucy and the gang playing spaceships remains one of the major highlights of my time in the UK. Why would I give it up? TC: What do you think of the fandom that surrounds Intrepid? DB: We had endless fun (ok, and stress too, but mostly fun) making the first episode, and it's exciting to know that people out there enjoyed our adventure too. I'm surprised, humbled, and enormously pleased that people have responded to it as well as they have, and I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of our fans, especially those that took the time to come and hang out with us on the forums and give us feedback - it's immensely gratifying and it really makes it worthwhile for us. You guys rock. TC: How did you create the music, I am assuming that you did not have a live orchestra? DB: What makes you say that? of COURSE I have a live orchestra, I keep them chained in the basement and feed them breadcrusts ok I'm clearly lying. I use a sampler called Kontakt, and I sunk most of the money I saved working in London into an orchestral library from East West called Symphonic Orchestra. It's great because the sounds are really well designed, and most importantly, they respond to controls that let you express emotively. You're not just playing notes, you can add swells and feeling, which goes a long way towards selling the idea that the orchestra is live. I had to live on mysterious unpronounceable foodlike products from stores I'd rather not mention (LIDL (UK foodstore)) for weeks to pay for it, but I regret nothing. TC: How long did it take to create the music?

DB: Much longer than it should have. It developed over about a year, but probably only a few weeks if you stuck it all together. None of us do this fulltime, we have day (and night) jobs to bring the loot in. I now work at a production facility here in Johannesburg where I write music for a living, but at the time I was slaving away at a desk in a finance department in London. TC: And was more created than was needed for the show? DB: Yes. I sketched several themes that didn't make it into the show, mostly because I started writing long before I saw any footage. My favourite of these is The Intrepid Overture, which I'm meaning to finish some day - it would work fantastically as an opening to a full length Intrepid motion picture (Nick? How about it?). But that's the nice thing about my job, nothing is wasted. Whenever I get an idea I try to sketch it - you never know when you'll come across a project it will work for. I carry a dictaphone with me for this very reason - you can be out in a supermarket weighing vegetables when you suddenly get an idea, and you whip out the dictaphone and hum the tune so you don't forget it. People look at you like you're a mentalist, but it's indispensable. TC: Is there any of the music that you would change if you were given a second chance? DB: Yes and no. I think with any project like this you can hear things you'd like to change, but I find that true of all of my music. I try not to go back and revise unless it's really necessary because I've found that if you're constantly editing and tweaking, you often destroy what was good about it to begin with. So I rather walk away and start something new.~

The Federation Starship U.S.S. Intrepid, Starfleet Registry NCC-74600, is an Intrepid Class Starship. The first of her class, she was launched from Utopia Planitia Shipyards on November 12th, 2370 (stardate 47864.1), and continued to serve as a testbed for new technologies, including the Emergency Medical Hologram, until 2371, shortly before the outbreak of hostilities with the Klingons. In 2382, under the command of Captain Talath, the Intrepid was assigned to the Chiron Colonial Convoy. (Star Trek Intrepid,Heavy Lies The Crown).

Dimensions • Length: 344.42 metres • Beam: 133.42 metres • Height: 66.35 metres • Decks: 15 Mass: 700,000 metric tones

Performance • Crew Complement - 152 • Maximum Evacuation Limit: 2000 persons • Maximum M/AMRA power output: 4000 Teradynes per second • Maximum Sustainable Velocity: Warp 9.984 for 12 hours • Absolute Maximum Velocity: Warp 9.992 for 20 minutes • Maximum Exploration Endurance: Warp 6 for 3 years • Recommended Yard Overhaul: 24 years • Standard 6 Person Transporters: 2 • Emergency 22 Person Transporters: 3 Cargo Transporters: 3

Tactical Systems • Shield Output: 9.3 x 10~5 kw • Directed Energy Weapons: Thirteen [13] Type X phaser arrays • Maximum Phaser Power Output: 5.1 megawatts • Maximum Phaser Range: 300,000 kilometres • Four [4] Mk 95 Quantum/Photon Torpedo Launchers - 2 fore 2 aft • Torpedo Explosive Yield: 52.3 isotonnes • Torpedo Spread: 4 per launcher • Maximum Torpedo Range: 4.05 million kilometres • Torpedo Load Status: 100 Type II quantum torpedo warheads Regenerative, multiphasic shielding systems are designed to exceed 9.3 x 10~5 kw primary energy dissipation rate, and incorporate full metaphasic capability on demand. All tactical shielding has full redundacy, and auxiliary systems can provide 75% of primary rating. Type XII phaser array elements have a power output of 7.2 megawatts. Each quantum torpedo launcher has a maximum spread of four. Usual storage complement is 100 quantum torpedo warheads. One hundred and fifty standard torpedo casings are stored aboard, and these may also be utilised as probe casings. Additional casings may be fabricated as required, assuming the necessary raw materials are available.

Auxiliary Vessels • Type 9 Shuttlecraft: Reyga [NCC-74600/1], Nazca [NCC-74600/2] • Type 11 Shuttlecraft: Dathon [NCC-74600/3] • Type 16 Shuttlepods: Ballard [NCC-74600/4], Forrest [NCC-74600/5] • Aeroshuttle: Gabriel Bell [NCC-74600/6] • Workbees: 4 (Unamed) 6 person ASRVs: 42~

USS Pandora (NCC-11327) An Oberth-class starship, one of the later models commissioned, currently assigned to the Chiron Colonial Convoy as a surveyor. The small vessel takes the lead in planetary science matters, but also used the long voyage to the remote Charybdis sector in order to study many of the stellar phenomena that they encountered during the journey. She is currently under the command of Lt. Commander Xara Tagen, who serves as post-Captain with a small crew of specialists, both Starfleet and civilian, under her authority. When he was removed from his position as Counselor aboard the USS Intrepid, Lieutenant, junior grade, Keran Azhan was transferred to a position aboard the Pandora. Here, he serves double duty, firstly as Ship's Counselor for the much-smaller crew, but also as a linguistics specialist.

The USS Pandora and some of her crew appear in Transitions and Lamentations which is currently in production alongside Machinations and Where There's a Sea. It's not a new ship to Intrepid, it can be seen in the convoy in "Heavy Lies the Crown" but was crippled by the Surai along with the rest of the convoy near Chiron IV. This time round however, it should be possible to actually read it's registry and she may even get involved in some action.~

Here is a short chat with David Lees who plays SCPO Alexander Quint. TC: When did you first discover Star Trek? DL: Can't remember when ST first appeared on BBC, but if it was pre-1969, then that's where I discovered it. If it was after 1969, then it was in issue no. 1 of "Joe 90" comic. TC: How did you become involved with Intrepid? DL: A long time after most of the main cast and crew - I'd been informed about Intrepid when Nick Cook started it, but was too busy with other things to give it much of my time initially. Once I started to have a look at the website, and see some of the work produced (about a year and a half ago?), I realised that this was something special, and I think it was around that time that I started to pester Nick about becoming part of it - despite me having turned down an offer of the same from Nick previously, because I had been too tied up with other activities. Eventually Nick took leave of his senses and offered my the chance to play SCPO Alexander Quint. He may already have started to regret that, but hasn't yet said as much. TC: If you could create your own official Star Trek series, what would it be? DL: Maybe a ship-based series a la TNG, but set earlier, around the time of the Enterprise-C? (i.e., TNG with less advanced technology - but more space battles!)~

Here we chat with our very own Alex Matthews who plays Keran Azhan; TC: When did you first discover Star Trek? AM: When I was about 10, around the time my parents were getting divorced, when season one of TNG was showing on Sky One. It was escapism, and triggered an life-long interest not just in Trek, but all sci-fi stuff. TC: How did you become involved with Intrepid? AM: After finding out about fanfilms, i followed a link to Intrepid's website, and after watching all their bloopers and trailers, joined the forum. I got friendly with Nick via email, because as a aspiring author, I wanted to bandy some ideas on stories with him. When the part of Azhan was officially announced as being recast, I hounded him, since I had loved the cameo Chris Clarkson had done on Hidden Frontier, did several auditions with limited resources, and eventually got the part! TC: If you could create your own official Star Trek series, what would it be? AM: To keep Trek interesting, it needs to be something different, with a completely different take. Each series had something that set them apart from each other. To be honest, the fanfilms and audio shows that are around do a great job of coming up with new ideas, and they can take it directions 'official' channels probably could not. TC: What is it like being part of a Star Trek series, and how do you deal with the fandom that surrounds Intrepid? AM: I love every chance I get to travel up to Scotland and dress up or take part, and wish I could do it more often. I haven't had to worry about the fandom, since my scenes haven't aired, but there is a kind of mutual appreciation thing - when I travel over for a amateur Trek convention, I was warmly welcomed as an official 'Intrepid Ambassador', and that was enjoyable, and a great ice-breaker as well. TC: What can you tell us about your character? (to introduce them to us) AM: Keran Azhan is a member of a long-lived humanoid race, called El-Aurians (like Guinan in TNG), who has a past history with the crew of the Intrepid, which means he is not very popular with them. He was the ship's counsellor, but circumstances forced his reassignment for a lower (in his eyes) position, so he holds a grudge. He would see himself as an knowledgeable and experienced man, whose years of experience (being over 100 human years - NC Ed - He's 82 when we meet him) as a reason to be superior to 'younger' humans, but in all, he is quite arrogant and sarcastic, which is a great bit of fun to bring to life. TC: What sort of storylines would you like to see your character have? AM: So far, I've had the chance to see he has a mysterious side that may or may not be beneficial to the crew, but I would also like to see some humility and humanity brought to him, without compromising the character. I would also like to get on the bridge some day too!~

David Reid has the distinct honour of playing the first onscreen Romulan in Starfleet, here he talks directly to Trekkie Central Magazine. TC: When did you first discover Star Trek? DR: I first discovered star trek when I was 17 years old; I had just joined the Royal Navy and was at my first posting when TNG was first shown in the UK. From that time on I was hooked, I read all the books that I could find as well as tapping the episode to re-watch later. TC: How did you become involved with Intrepid? DR: While on leave from the Navy my mother told me about a Star Trek group that was mentioned in the local paper so I went along to it. It eventually folded and Nick cook started it up again. While going to the club I became good friends with Nick and his girlfriend (now his wife) and eventually became one of the committee members. During one of the club meetings there was a discussion about doing an audio Star Trek show which eventually became Star Trek Intrepid. TC: If you could create your own official Star Trek series, what would it be? DR: Not sure, but it would have to be along the line of TNG. (you can tell I’m a big TNG fan) It was a great family show with believable characters. TC: Your character is Romulan and as established in 'Orphans of War' he doesn't like to

go into Romulan Space, do you think that this could well appear in future episodes and affect how the crew interacts with him? DR: There is going to be a sequel to OoW (now known as Operation Beta Shield) and I don’t want to give too much away, but some of your points will be answered in future episodes. TC: What storylines would you like to see your character involved in? DR: I would like to see more of S’Ceris’s past being shown, maybe in flash backs or merely being recounted by him. He has a very interesting past. TC: How much of your time does the show take up? DR: It doesn’t take up that much of my time, several weekends here and there for location shooting and a few more for studio shoots. I also spend sometime designing and building the sets and some of the larger set pieces. I have also made some of the alien artefacts for one of the upcoming short episodes. TC: What is it like being part of a Star Trek series and how do you deal with the fandom that now surrounds Intrepid? DR: It was a bit overwhelming last year when we got all the media exposure, but that has all died down now. The other week I got stopped in the street by a complete

stranger saying ‘aren’t you the guy from star trek programme on the web’. To get recognised was unbelievable and brought home to me the fact that lots of other people are able to see the film. TC: Your character is a defector, do you think that this storyline will appear in future episodes? DR: I’m not sure, when the character was created there was an extensive back story written, so who knows maybe you will find out a little bit more about it. TC: Your character seems to show affection for Lucy Cook’s character, do you think that this friendship might be put under pressure in future episodes? DR: I hope not, Caed has a lot of experience (through her other host) and goes out of her way to be friends with all the other crew members, although I think the fact that myself and Lucy are such good friends that it just comes out in our acting.~

Here Trekkie Central talks to everyone’s favourite Trill Yanis Caed, aka Lucy Cook; TC: Your character has become a fan favourite were you surprised by this? LC: Yes it has been a surprise. Caed is just like all the others aboard Intrepid, there is nothing special about them, they are every day people and I think a lot of people can identify with that. TC: Did you enjoy filming Orphans of War and what was the best bit that came out of it? LC: Filming Orphans of War was amazing, it was great to see how the 'other side of the pond' does it, friendships were formed and every moment was a learning experience.

TC: Your character, during the first episode, seemed to have a close friendship with David Reid's character is this something that you would like to see continue in coming episodes? LC: This is something I would like to see develop, it's friendships like these that sees both character growing.

TC: What sort of storylines would you like to see your character have? LC: It would be great to see story lines based around Caed's previous hosts or episodes that see Caed save the ship, the federation or the galaxy single handed (joking!). TC: How do you deal with the fandom that surrounds Intrepid? LC: I see Intrepid as just another aspect to my life and deal with it as normally as anyone could.~

Bodo Hartwig is also new to Intrepid in the form of the Vulcan Solek, here we chat to him about his experiences. TC: When did you first discover Star Trek? BH: I discovered Star Trek back in the 70s as a little boy when TOS aired for the first time in Germany. My whole family used to watch it and I can say I grew up with it. TC: How did you become involved with Intrepid? BH: After reading about Trek fanfilms on the internet in 2006, I googled and found the “Hidden Frontier” fan series which I immediately fell in love with. It was actually Nick Cook’s signature banner on their forums that I clicked on and started to read the Intrepid forums as well. I sent an audition video in response to a casting call but did not get the role. Later, Nick asked if I would like to play a Vulcan. TC: If you could create your own official Star Trek series, what would it be? BH: It would be set a decade after the Dominion war. Starfleet would discover a kind of energy, device or plant able to alter both the human body and brain and could speed up human evolution if incorrectly used. It would weaken the Federation from inside and set it on a horrendous path to war caused by it’s own mistakes. The humans would ultimately declare themselves the Galaxy’s ruling race and billions would suffer. These terrible events would turn out to have been designed and initiated by some evil race/force in the first place (not the founders!) and humans would have to prove once more that they can do better.. TC: What is it like being part of a Star Trek series, and how do you deal with the fandom that surrounds Intrepid? BH: My character hasn’t shown up on screen yet and I’m quite a part of this fandom myself. The people at Intrepid are very friendly and easy going and the good atmosphere amongst the fans reflects that very much. TC: What can you tell us about your character? (to introduce them to us) BH: I’m playing the Vulcan Lieutenant Solek, who is an expert in programming sensors and scanning devices. He has never seen the Academy from inside though. Joining Starfleet during the Dominion war was a strange and deliberate decision of his. Although he has lived almost a third of his life amongst humans in Starfleet, he is still trying to find his place. TC: What sort of storylines would you like to see your character have? BH: The show itself is really not about Solek, but to answer the question, I would very much like to play a human villain sent by Starfleet Intelligence to knock Mr. Solek out and take his place for a while. He’d be getting Intrepid and the whole sector into grave danger until someone finds out he’s not the real Solek and no Vulcan at all. ~

Here is a short interview with Gordon Dickson, who plays Joseph Garren of the Starship Intrepid. TC: When did you first discover Star Trek? GD: I discovered Star Trek in the early late 70's via BBC2 in the UK showing reruns of the Original series. TC: How did you become involved with Intrepid? GD: I met most of the main cast back in the mid - late eighties when we used to go to Dundee's Star Trek fan club called Discovery. I've been involved in Intrepid right from the start. Note from Nick - It was actually '93 that the club started TC: If you could create your own official Star Trek series, what would it be? GD: Star Trek - Distant Shores. Follows the adventures of the USS Discovery. Set in the Beta quadrant where the federation is investigating distant ruins of one of the galaxy's oldest races. ~

Mike Cugley plays Richard Garren, the brother of Joseph Garren, however they are not on speaking terms due to Joseph joining Starfleet, here Trekkie Central talks to Mike in a short interview about his character. TC: When did you first discover Star Trek? MC: I don't recall much before Star Trek: TNG. I'm pretty sure I'd seen a few TOS episodes, and definitely Star Trek: The Motion Picture and The Wrath of Khan, but I don't think I really got Star Trek until I found The Next Generation when I was at University. At that point, I joined in a University Science Fiction club, where we got to see the new episodes from the States, and watched every new episode I could. TC: How did you become involved with Intrepid? MC: It was when I was at University. Back in those days, Star Trek episodes weren't really available easily. Satellite and Cable channels were rare and expensive, and there wasn't the ease of access to American shows that there is now. So, pretty much the only way to see Star Trek was to get into a club where someone's got hold of an episode and we all watch it. And in those days, in Dundee, that was USS Intrepid. And that's when I first met Nick, Lucy and the rest of the gang. We all got together for a love of Trek, and the fun of being fans together. TC: If you could create your own official Star Trek series, what would it be? MC: Star Trek: Galaxy 2 A wormhole intermittently opens up into a point far away - in fact, another galaxy. A team of scientists from the Federation, the Klingon Empire, and the Romulan Empire must work together to discover the mysteries of this new unexplored frontier, where nothing is familiar, and everything is strange. This would be the famed "no humanoid" aliens show - most of the drama would come from the disparate people thrown together into a tense situation, and the wonder and strangeness of this far galaxy. TC: What is it like being part of a Star Trek series, and how do you deal with the fandom that surrounds Intrepid? MC: It's great fun - but apart from my family and friends, I've not exactly been mobbed by fans Seeing myself, and the effects I did, on the news, was very cool. TC: What sort of storylines would you like to see your character featured in? MC: I'd like the differences between Starfleet and civilian life to be brought out. Star Trek has always shown things from the point of view of Starfleet, and there's a lot more to life in the Federation to be explored. I'd like to throw Richard Garren and Daniel Hunter into some horrible situation, where they have to work together to survive, and Solve The Problem. Traditional, but so long as they don't like each other too much by the end, and there is a chance to really explore their differences, I think it could be interesting. TC: Mike, your character has an ongoing dispute with his brother, would you like to see this continue or would you like to see them resolve their differences? MC: Pretty much both. I would like the differences between them to be explored - why did one Garren pick Starfleet, while the other the opposite? What does that tell us about their respective characters? Is Joseph really as Starfleet as he seems, and is Richard as anti-Starfleet? TC: All three of your characters are non-starfleet and two seem to hate starfleet how do you play characters like that and does that make them more interesting to play because they aren't Starfleet officers? MC: It's fun, because you get to go against the grain somewhat. Everyone grew up with Star Trek, which loves Starfleet. So playing someone who actually doesn't like Starfleet is quite interesting. You get to say things that might get people to think about things that they might not otherwise do. And you get people to see this very different viewpoint.~

Spurned out of two separate series, ‘Orphans of War’ is the first major cross over for the fan film universe of Star Trek. Yes we have had James Cawley and co appearing in the pilot episode of Starship Farragut and Risha Denny appeared in the pilot episode of Star Trek Intrepid, but never have two separate casts from two different continents come together in one place to film one episode. Orphans features cast and crew from Intrepid and LA based series Hidden Frontier. Starring Nick Cook and Risha Denney ‘Orphans’ explorers the set of events that happened in the Alpha Quadrant after the events in the pilot episode of Star Trek Odyssey. The story starts with a recap of what happened in Iliad , showing the Archein invasion forces fight with Romulan, Federation and Klingon forces. Once the USS Odyssey destroys the artificial wormhole, the Archein abandon their plans to invade the Alpha Quadrant, but do however leave behind a star base and weapons platforms around a planet within Romulan space. The Romulan commander in charge of that region of space asks S’Ceris, who owes him a favour, to come with his Captain and crew to try and sort out the problem and destroy the platforms. Captain Hunter involves Captain Shelby and the crew of the Excelsior, and together they launch a plan to destroy the last of the Archein technology left in the Alpha Quadrant. As the episode progresses we see four of the crewmembers abducted by the Archein space station, however the reason for their abduction was a little weak, they had been drinking Romulan Ale the night before and the Stations automated systems read them as Romulans.

After finding themselves trapped, Hunter; Caed; Lefler and new character Nistrom have to find away to escape the cell they are in and shut the station down before both Intrepid and Excelsior are destroyed by the weapons platforms that are orbiting the planet and station. To escape the cell they rig a com badge to short out the force field, by using Leflers wedding ring as a conductor. As they leave the cell however they are attacked by an automated weapon that begins firing at them, diving for safety of the cell they again rig up a com badge, but this time to explode, there is a nice little reference in this scene to the cultural differences between British and American cultures when Lefler says to Hunter “Hope you are better at baseball then you are at chess” to which Hunter replies “Never heard of it, is it anything like Cricket”, that line just brings Orphans more into today’s world and personifies the fact that this is being made by two different crews from two different countries. Once they have escaped the team manage to shut down the station by again rigging a com badge, and then are narrowly beamed out in time before a Romulan attack force destroys the station and everything on it. Overall the episode is very good, the CGI is as always brilliant and is up to the quality you would expect from Hidden Frontier and Intrepid. The acting also is very good and considering the two casts have never acted together before they interact beautifully, which is also a testament to the writing skills of Brian Matthews and the directing skills of Jennifer Cole. The two things that did bug me a bit were firstly the over use of the com badge, adapting it to do so many different things. And secondly the fact that a space station

could mistake someone for Romulan just because they had drunk Romulan Ale the night before. That said the episode is well worth a watch and I would recommend that anyone who has watched and enjoyed Hidden Frontier, Odyssey and Intrepid download it and watch it.~

Although Jeff Hayes isn’t a major cast member of Intrepid, he does do a lot of their art work, here Trekkie Central takes an in depth look at what it is he exactly does. TC: How do you find the time to be involved with so many fan films? (Intrepid,NV,Hidden Frontier) JH: I began working with Star Trek: Hidden Frontier during their fifth season on episode 5.04 "Security Council." I was amazed at what Rob and company had accomplished. Although I love the original series, I can find something to like about each of its subsequent incarnations. Hidden Frontier was an opportunity to work on Star Trek related graphics, which I have done for almost 30 years as a hobby–since I was a 10-year old kid and traced my first pictures of the Enterprise out of the "Making of Star Trek." Doing entertainment or promotional related illustrations for Hidden Frontier combined my love of filmmaking and Star Trek–what more could I ask for? Shortly after I began doing work for Hidden Frontier , I began meeting people through the forum and chat rooms who were involved in other Star Trek fan productions. I met Nick Cook and sent him an e-mail asking if Star Trek: Intrepid needed any illustration work. Long story short, we became "internet" friends and worked hard on all sorts of promotional materials for their production. As a result, he gave me a small part in their initial episode, "Heavy Lies the Crown." I played Admiral T'yla, the Bolian who appears and gives Commodore Prentice a short cryptic message. That was a real blast, but a heck of a lot of work, fun work, but a lot of work. My involvement with Star Trek: New Voyages happened as a result of my work on the Hidden Frontier episode, "Vigil." That episode was written by Carlos Pedraza, who origi-

nally got me involved in Hidden Frontier, and guest starred New Voyages' James Cawley as Captain Mackenzie Calhoune. James saw my work and asked me if I'd be interested in doing work for the Star Trek: New Voyages episode "World Enough and Time." I wasn't prepared for what I was getting involved in, as things went crazy over the summer of 2006, when I was juggling work for Hidden Frontier, Intrepid, and New Voyages. As Hidden Frontier came to a close, Intrepid premiered, and New Voyages rolled on, I was as busy as I have ever been. I have also had the opportunity to work on other productions such as Star Trek: Hathaway, Starship Farragut, and a few other independent film productions. TC: What is it like being involved with so many fan films? JH: Well, it is like juggling kittens. Sorry, that was an old Steve Martin joke. It has been difficult, as I have a full-time job as a police Captain, and I'm going back to school on a parttime bases. With all this extracurricular activity, I have to acknowledge my lovely and very indulgent wife, Stephanie. I love each of these productions, but currently I have to budget my time and I have had to begin limiting my involvement in some of the productions. It's a matter of practicality I assure you–I would work on all of them if I had the spare time. It was fun developing a style and look that was unique to each show. I have started developing a style that is more consistently my style and started utilizing it in the illustrations I've done for the various different productions. I have had to urn down projects I really wanted to work on because of time. Jack Treveno and Sky Conway asked if I would be interested in doing work for "Of Gods and Men" and it killed me to have to decline. Both were very complimentary and kind, but I just didn't have the extra time. Man, it kills me even as I write this. I love doing this

stuff. I need to win the lottery. TC: You develop Starships and the like for different series (CGI) could you talk us through the process? JH: I have done a little pre-production design work, but have only designed one ship and that is the original series era science ship Copernicus for the upcoming Star Trek: New Voyages "Blood and Fire." It was a collaborative effort, but New Voyages Visual Effects Supervisor Joël Bellucci crafted the final gorgeous model that will be seen in the episode. Now, what I have done is CGI set design for Hidden Frontier and Intrepid. I dabble, and I do mean dabble in 3D graphics. There are true 3D artists out there that I couldn't come close to touching the hem of their 3D sorcerer robes–I am in awe at their skills. I have put together some basic sets with stone knives and clubs, but nothing really spectacular. One of my favorite works is the bridge of the Intrepid–we had a lot of fun in trying to get it as close to the Voyager bridge as we could. One thing I love doing is LCARS work for post-production compositing. It is fun to see a piece of a script that calls for a LCARS display to further the story or spice up the look of a

particular scene. Rob Caves used a number of my LCARS displays in very creative ways. I loved how he would integrate the images in a 3D scene, on a kiosk, or in a holographic projected display. That extra work he put in to the details of Hidden Frontier is what made it fun to be involved. Rob had a way, and still does this with Odyssey and The Helena Chronicles, of making the most out of what he has to work with. That is what drew me to Hidden Frontier and Intrepid in the first place, making full-blown productions with limited resources. I admire that kind of creativity and resourcefulness. TC: And how difficult is it? JH: It is difficult because I don't fully understand all the aspects of 3D modeling. It is something I want to learn, and will learn more about in school, but right now it is a "time" thing. I don't have time to learn because I'm just too busy trying to get projects, doing schoolwork, and trying to get other real life stuff done. I use Photoshop, Illustrator, and Cinema 4D, but I don't know Cinema 4D enough to be dangerous with it. I am contemplating switching to Lightwave 3D, as I have had the opportunity to learn a few things in that program and find it very interesting. We shall see. TC: Could you tell us about the character that you play on Intrepid? JH: Well, I guess the artwork I did for Intrepid must have made Nick and the crew feel guilty enough to throw me a bone, so they gave me a small but fun part in their initial episode, "Heavy Lies the Crown." I played Admiral T'yla, the Bolian who appears on the desktop screen and gives Commodore Prentice a short cryptic message. That was a real blast, but a heck of a lot of work, fun work, but a lot of work. I learned so much about make-up and simple prosthetics. Hidden Frontier's John Whiting gave me his make-up notebook and I learned so much from it. My son, who is

also a graphic artist, helped airbrush the "watermelon" stripes on the top of my Bolian bald head. Nick has told me a bit about the back-story on T'yla and I have imagined a bit more myself, but it was really probably only a one-time gig, unless I can get over to Scotland during a filming weekend. The funniest thing that happened as a result of that small on camera appearance was when a coworker saw my photo in the Scotsman newspaper when they did a story on Intrepid. Who in hell would have though a coworker would see an article in a Scottish newspaper? It turns out he subscribes to it on-line and decided to share the photo to many others. I've been "outed," so to speak– everyone at work knows I'm a Bolian now. I hope I'm not treated different just because I'm blue. TC: Also could you tell us a bit about the work you do on New Voyages? JH: OK, my time to confess. I love the original Star Trek so much, that when I first saw New Voyages, I said, "Nope–not my Kirk, Spock and McCoy… not my Enterprise… no, no, no." As I got involved and got to know how dedicated to the original series James Cawely was, I got hooked. I spend the lion's share of my time on New Voyages these days. I get to play Star Trek with my favorite crew and characters. I have made some really good friends at New Voyages and have become integrally involved in many facets of the production. I do all sorts of artwork for promotion and production–so much so, that I have been given the title of Scenic Art Supervisor for the series. I am also the editor of the Star Trek: New Voyages eMagazine, which we kicked-off about a year ago. The eMagazine is extremely time consuming, but I am slowly building a team of regular contributors that helps make it much easier and keeps it interesting. I have made friends with people I never dreamed I would even meet. Working with George Takei, Denise Crosby and David Gerrold was unbelievable, and there are a couple of guest stars coming up that I really want to

meet. New Voyages is trying to push its productions schedule a bit harder than before and it keeps us all busy, as we work on preproduction for one or two episodes, production on another, and post-production on yet another. I'm not complaining mind you, I'd do this full time if I could make a living at it. It will be hard to make every shoot, but we are developing teams of people to make things happen faster. It seems to be working, but I'll have to let you know once I've had some sleep and can think clearly. I have to say in closing that I appreciate every opportunity that each of the productions has given me. Everyone involved in these productions are dedicated fans and immensely creative people that deserve to succeed. I hope they best for all the productions and for those involved. I hope that each person will get what they want form their involvement. Whether it is a big break into the industry or a lifetime of memories, I wish everyone great success. I want to thank every production that has allowed me to participate and I hope we can have some more fun in the future. Keep on Trekkin'!~

ick Beckwith stars as Lt Michael Simmons in Intrepid, here Trekkie Central talks to him about how he got involved with Intrepid. TC: When did you first discover Star Trek? NB: While I was aware of the Original Series re-runs on BBC2 when I was a young child, the first experience of Star Trek that stuck with me was watching ST:III at the cinema. However, I did not become a real fan until The Next Generation - to date it's always been my favourite series. TC: How did you become involved with Intrepid? NB: It's all my mum's fault, actually - she knew I was a fan after joining an online role-playing game, so when the item with Lorraine Kelly came on GMTV she encouraged me to watch it. I found the website from the article and got in touch with Nick Cook, offering my services should he want any help - Like most Star Trek fans I guess I had always dreamed of donning a uniform and performing in front of a camera. Fortunately, my luck was in and that dream finally came true in January 2007 when I was asked to come and take on an "extra" role. During that visit Nick offered me the role of Ship's Counsellor - I was only too happy to take him up on it. TC: If you could create your own official Star Trek series, what would it be? NB: Something I've always wondered about when watching most sci-fi programmes; who cleans up all the mess? I think it would be interesting to see how that is dealt with, and I had envisaged a sort-of Starfleet "salvage" operation, with a ship crew and a proper salvage crew - given all the wars Starfleet seem to get into, there'll be plenty to do!~

Here Trekkie Central talks to Alain De Mol about what it is like playing a Klingon. TC: When did you first discover Star Trek? AM: Thanks to my father. Back in Belgium, Star Trek was broadcast on TV on Wednesday evenings. We still had a B/W TV, our neighbours had a colour and they also watched TOS. I often went there just to watch it. There were no subtitles, as it was on the BBC, and that was something new for me (and helped with my English(winks) ). TC: How did you become involved with Intrepid? AM: I noticed 5 Year Mission (now : New Voyages) as they were making a Charity for the children for the deceased astronauts of the spaceshuttle a few years ago. That made me google around for some more Fan-based stuff. This is how I noticed that almost next door there was a Fan Series being made. Decided to make contact with Nick, he replied... and he was looking for a Klingon (smiles) Now THAT was something up my street. TC: If you could create your own official Star Trek series, what would it be? AM: Actually, since I grew up with TOS, it would be something in the TOS era... can't help it. (winks) But if it would be an official series, it would be more concentrated around... yes you guessed it : Klingons. I would love to follow Klingons and do some good episodes. Eventually a lot with flashbacks... or telling the history of Kronos. TC: What is it like being part of a Star Trek series, and how do you deal with the fandom that surrounds Intrepid? AM: First of all, it's an honour to be part of this. It's a great crew I'm working next to. Also it's a dream come true, double dream actually. Always dreamed to be an actor... and being in Star Trek (smiles). Second... Nah... am not famous at all. It's nice to be recognised for something you do, but the main thing is : making sure people LIKE what you do. My aim is to develop (together with Nick) my character Chief D'Gor into a more complex character. TC: What can you tell us about your character? (to introduce them to us) AM: Chief D'Gor, well, although he's a starfleet officer, he is still a Klingon at heart. Having to work with another officer who is (half) Romulan... well that he doesn't like at all (watch this space (winks)). although he can be grumpy, (that's how I see him, but then again, which Klingon isn't ?), he's a hard worker, loyal... again... true to his Klingon nature. TC: What sort of storylines would you like to see your character have? AM: With a starfleet officer who's Romulan, what do you think ? hehe no really there is definitely lot's of stuff to be told there. I would like Chief D'Gor to grow more, to evolve, get more depth. I'll see what else Nick has in store for Chief D'Gor. TC: Your character is posted on another ship in the same sector can you tell us how it features into the Intrepid universe? AM: I guess Nick's in a better position to answer that question for you. But let's say that our ship is currently in the sector and has some tasks to fulfil . can't say too much without having to kill you afterwards hahahah. Anyways... I have to thank Nick for letting me onboard and the whole international crew (oh yeah, we are truly an international crew... Scottish, English... German, Belgian... ) who accepted me.~

Navar is the mysterious crewmember of the USS Intrepid, here Trekkie Central speaks to the man behind the mask Alan Christison. TC: When did you first discover Star Trek? AC: Always been keen on sci fi (particularly Doctor Who) watched the classic series on one of its many repeats on the BBC in the late seventies and early eighties. I've not really followed the later series but have a fondness for the films. TC: How did you become involved with Intrepid? AC: Stephen Pasqua who plays Cole is a friend of mine and was already involved. I've been doing amateur stage work all my life and when a role came up, I screen tested and won the part. TC: If you could create your own official Star Trek series, what would it be? AC: My own official Star Trek series would involve a time traveller with a police box and a nice line in female companions..... hmm that might have been done before though!!! TC: During the first episode your character constantly goes against Hunter and the other starfleet personnel in the sector causing friction, do you think that this could reappear in future episodes? AC: I think we'll find out more about Navar's agenda as each story progresses. He's certainly got issues but that makes the part all the more interesting to play.

TC: How much time does the show take up? AC: I've been involved in several shoots now, all indoors and each seems to take up the best part of a weekend. There's the learning of the script that takes up the time as well and adapting to the process of filming as my previous experience has mainly been as a stage actor. TC: What is it like being part of a Star Trek series, and how do you deal with the fandom that now surrounds Intrepid? AC: For me, regardless of the fact that it's Star Trek but more playing a continuing role that grows and we learn more about him is the most engaging factor in it for me. As far as dealing with fandom, all the peripheral things have been a lot of fun and quite surreal (meeting Lorraine Kelly and taking my top off on German TV!!!). No one has asked for my autograph but one review pleased me when the reviewer hated my character. I took that as a compliment. TC: Section 31 featured in the first episode do you think that they will appear in future episodes? AC: They might! TC: Could you tell us a bit about your character? AC: I could be letting you into a secret that I don't know much about my character until each script arrives but I am playing him as someone who is somewhat aloof. I think he has a problem with authority figures but when push comes to shove you'd rather be on his side than against him.~

TC: Do you think that the reason for the friction could be that your character is actually working for another Federation organisation (ie Section 31)? AC: Maybe, maybe not!!!!

The theme for the first episode was composed by Dylan Feeney, here Trekkie Central talks to the man who brought alive, (with music), Heavy Lies The Crown. TC: When did you discover Star Trek? DF: I used to love watching the Original Series - loving all 'space' stuff when I was a kid but was nothing more than a casual viewer - until I saw Star Trek II on terrestrial TV when I was a little older and was hooked. Discovered The Next Generation at a local video store and later on the tv and have watched all incarnations religiously since then. TC: How did you become involved with Intrepid? DF: I've known Nick for about 16 years now from a local Star Trek club - and we've stayed in touch off and on since that time. Nick was speaking at some point about doing some audio adventures. Having seen the stuff produced by the guys over at 'Hidden Frontier' - I thought it possible to create something similar and pitched the idea to Nick. He ran with the idea and produced a fantastic script and characters that eventually evolved into what you see today. TC: If you could create your own Official Series what would it be? DF: I'm really excited about the new movie - and would love to see the return of Kirk & Co to the small screen - so probably that" TC: Where did you get the feel of the music from? (did you watch the show first or did the inspiration come from somewhere else) DF:I adore Dennis McCarthy's DS9 score and Jerry Goldsmith's Voyager theme so the structure of the Intrepid theme definitely has its roots in there and just evolved naturally - eventually including the com-

plex time signature. TC: You seem to have enjoyed doing the music, would you come back and do another episode again? DF: I would love to a complete episode at some point - but work tends to get in the way quite a bit. I think David Beukes did a wonderful job scoring the first episode and the Hidden Frontier short. Hopefully in the future. TC: What do you think of the fandom that surrounds Intrepid? DF: Everyone is very positive and encouraging and they all seem to be a good bunch. TC: How did you create the music, I am assuming that you did not have a live orchestra? DF: The melody came really quickly but the arrangement took weeks due to work commitments. The intrepid theme was produced over 3 years ago if memory serves and I didn't have any decent orchestral samples back then - most of my work revolving around trance at that time. The instruments you here on the Intrepid theme are all default sounds on the Korg Triton and trying to make the most of them. TC: And was more created than was needed for the show? DF: A couple of little motifs I was playing with ... but haven't expanded on any of them.

TC: Is there any of the music that you would change if you were given a second chance? DF: I have a new array of orchestral samples now and am trying to put together a new arrangement of the theme. But I wouldn't change any of the melody for Intrepid, no.~

Here we talk to Michael Hudson, the man behind the upcoming character Lt Ellis Gibbs, about life within the Intrepid universe. TC: When did you first discover Star Trek? MH: I've been a fan of Star Trek my whole life. I used to watch TOS as my mum liked it but of course there were no video recorders at the time and only 3 channels so it was "appointment" TV. The Motion Picture re-ignited Star Trek for me, it was a "neck hair" moment when we first saw the Enterprise on screen again! Out of all the series, my favourite is DS9 and I didn't dislike Enterprise or Voyager. TC: How did you become involved with Intrepid? MH: I'm fairly new to fan films and came across Hidden Frontier about 2 years ago. From there I found Darker Projects and then Intrepid. The more I saw, the more I was intrigued by the process and the amount of work and talent involved in the productions and wanted to help out in some way. To say I have little artistic talent is an understatement and shortly before their first release I started to update the Web Site in preparation. I am now responsible for the web site and managing the download mirrors. Since then, I've attended a very wet location shoot and it was great to meet everyone and take part in the production. TC: If you could create your own official Star Trek series, what would it be? MH: Not sure, there are so many about covering most areas I'm note sure there's much "new" to bring. I prefer the TNG/DS9 era so it would be based in that time period much like HF and Intrepid. One thing I am interested to see is the back story and history to the existing characters. TC: What is it like being part of a Star Trek series, and how do you deal with the fandom that surrounds Intrepid? MH: I only have a few lines in an unfinished episode so don't have any "fandom" to deal with and I'm not really expecting any. In fact I wasn't planning on appearing in front of the camera but wanted to attend a shoot to meet the cast and crew and for the experience. One thing that has annoyed me when reading the forums is the amount of impatience there seems to be about productions being available.able. Give them some space! TC: What can you tell us about your character? (to introduce them to us) MH: I play Lieutenant Ellis Gibbs of the USS Pandora. I'm usually a bridge officer but when the Intrepid crew need assistance on Chiron IV, I'm included as one of the landing party and assist with protection of the survey/scientific members of the party. TC: What sort of storylines would you like to see your character have? MH: I'd never done any acting before this and am not very good at remembering lines so I'd like to see storylines with very little dialogue for Gibbs :) Maybe he's the quiet, heroic type.~

Here Trekkie Central talks to Commodore Prentice aka Alan Score about life in the sector. TC: Your character is the highest ranking officer in the sector, what traits do you have to keep in mind when playing a character like that? AS: At first I did not keep anything in mind! For that reason I think I portrayed Prentice as being far too casual in Heavy Lies the Crown. A person in his position has an enormous amount of responsibility and he must be able to take command of any situation. In future, I hope to portray Prentice as being comfortable with his duties but realising that command really is lonely. TC: How much of your time does the show take up? AS: Not very much time at all. I tend to have short scenes so chauffeuring people around various locations and baking cakes take up most of my time. TC: What is it like being part of a Star Trek series, and how do you deal with the fandom that now surrounds Intrepid? AS: I have been watching Star Trek for most of my life, starting with the original series. I have always dreamt of being on starship bridge and being on Intrepid goes a little way to realising that dream. As for the fandom, well I am more than happy to stay in the background. As long as I can contribute to Intrepid (whether from my attempts at acting or my cakes) I will be more than happy. TC: Your character has a long friendship with Hunter, do you think that, that might affect how your character deals with Hunter? AS: I suppose, at least to begin with, this may make Prentice more open to Hunters’ suggestions. But that does not mean Prentice will not take the views of other people into account. TC: And do you think that, that friendship might cause friction in coming episodes? AS: That is possible, as Prentice now has to balance suggestions from a wider range of people, some of which may conflict with Hunters’ views but be more appropriate to the situation. TC: What storylines would you like to see your character featured in? AS: I would like Prentice to have to make some difficult decisions. For example, where the alternatives are as bad as each other but a decision has to be made and then justified. At the same time I am acutely aware that my acting skills are not very high so I would only want to play those storylines if I could make Prentices’ actions/reactions believable.~

Lee Andrew is part of the Visual Effects team on Intrepid, here Trekkie Central speaks to him about some general Star Trek things. TC: When did you first discover Star Trek? LA: 1990 When I was 10 years old. TC: How did you become involved with Intrepid? LA: I started my own Star Trek Film, which in the end didn't work out due to member problems. After shutting down the project, I got invited to join ST INTREPID by Nick Cook. Having seen my skills in CGI animation, I was asked to help out in the CGI section of the cast and crew. TC: If you could create your own official Star Trek series what would it be? LA: It would probably be a series set after Star Trek Nemesis or even a century after that. I have always liked the more modern Star Trek. ~

I've been a fan of Star Trek pretty much as long as I can remember. In all that time, I've never quite been able to put my finger on the how or the why, but the simple fact is there's a certain something about Gene Roddenberry's universe that fires my imagination. There's no denying that Star Trek means a great many things to a great many people, and while that meaning almost certainly varies from person to person, ultimately what matters is that it does indeed mean something to so many. For me, Star Trek at its best is about good stories. Sometimes it moves us, sometimes it makes us want to throw a brick at the screen. And that's as it should be; good stories make us think, make us feel, and no one can deny that in the past forty years, Star Trek has done both. I don't know what the next forty years will bring, but one thing's certain. No matter what happens, in one form or another, Star Trek will always be there. And it'll mean something. Here's to the next forty years, and beyond. Nick Cook

Thanks to Interviewees; Lee Andrew; Nick Beckwith; David Beukes; Alan Christison; Lucy Cook; Nick Cook; Mike Cugley; Gordon Dickinson; Dylan Feeney; Steve Hammond; Bodo Hartwig; Jeff Hayes; Michael Hudson; David Lees; Alex Matthews; Alain de Mol; Alan Score and David Reid.

The Star Trek name is property of CBS/Paramount, no infringement is intended. Star Trek Intrepid remains the property of Intrepid Productions, no infringement is intended. All images in the news page are property of their respective shows, no infringement is intended. This magazine has been made for fans for their enjoyment. This magazine has been distributed free of charge and no money has been made from itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s distribution.

Writers; Alex Matthews and Richard Miles. Special Thanks to; Michael Hudson and Nick Cook for the help with extra information on the show, posters and pictures, many thanks.

If the creator of this magazine and the creators of this fan series cannot make any money than neither should you. If you find a copy of this magazine on sale anywhere it is illegal, please do not buy it and benefit those that are ripping off fans and committing an offence. Copyright Trekkie-Central.piczo.com March 2008.