Vol2 No3, Dec. 2010
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The Raven's Writing Desk
By The Editor
Why do fan productions have such a negative stigma attached to them in the mainstream world?
Hailing Frequencies Open Vol.2 No3 December 24, 2010
In This Issue
Its not just the self-evident gulf between the quality of professional and fan productions – whether they be fan films, fiction or art – although this is the primary target. I find comments that are based solely on that to be elitist and to be taking fan productions out of the cultural context within which they should be considered.
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Fan productions are originally made for one reason – for fun. They are made by creative fans who want to recreate a resonance of the original fan experience that attracted them to the show in the first place. They want to face-off alien threats from the bridge of the NCC-1701 as part of Kirks crew. They want to share a holodeck adventure with Data, explore the ice caverns of Andoria with Shran or stand back-to-back with Korg as you battle insurmountable odds!
10 Enterprise S5 : part 1
They want what the studio cannot or will not give them, so to get what they want, they have resorted to making it themselves. In its base form fan production is immune to the critic's barbs because it is done for personal reasons, for the enjoyment of its creator/s and not for anyone else, so frankly it doesn't matter a damn what you think about it! Most fan producers find though that, in the process of creating something they like, they have made something that other Star Trek fans will often enjoy as well. Some post their work for others to view and still don't worry about what others think but many, I would say most, appreciate the admiration of their fellow fans and it is once they reach this level that they seek feedback, critique and will try to improve their work. It is on this level that fan producers need the involvement of professionals and the advise of those who truly know the media that they are working in. It is at this level that we need critique. Not the “Har! Har! That sucks!” kind of knee-jerk reaction, but constructive criticism that will point out specific ways in which they can improve. There are some things that can't be worked on: a fan film with zero cash resources can't buy better costumes, better cameras or employ prettier actors. However they can make better costumes and props, they can learn to use their cameras better - and perhaps just as importantly improve lighting, sound and post-production techniques - as well as working on their acting. So, if you are watching a fan produced video, listening to a fan audio drama or reading a fanmade web comic or novel, don't compare it to professional work, compare it to itself! What was good and what was bad? How could its worst sins be exorcised? What about it should the makers be congratulated on and work on developing in the future? If it is part of a series, is the quality improving? There is nothing more rewarding than to see an amateur develop their skills, to watch them experiment with new plots, techniques and media. To all the self-appointed (and professional) critics out there, I challenge you to examine your own motives in your work. Are you writing to send a clear message to the creator of the work to tell them how you believe their work can be improved? Are you pointing these things out to your readers / listeners / viewers so that they can make a more reasoned judgment of their own? Or are you poking fun at an amateur's work because it is an easy target? Are you trying to show your own knowledge, wit and worldliness at their expense? Are you working to deepen the gulf between professional and amateur? Do you use them as a negative example so that you can bolster the professional's position? Can you, the critic, not see one redeeming factor in their work? This is the telling point for me – when a work is tossed aside without showing one thing that the creator has done well. I have read some absolutely execrable work in my time but I have never found anything that did not have something that was rewarding about it if I looked closely enough. It could be a matter of technique or content but if I made the effort I could always find something that the creator had done that was of interest. I challenge the critics to critique their own work. What could you do better?
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The Masthead Star Trek Pre-Enterprise Freedom Fiction by Kirok of L'Stok
Photonovel by Lee, Mac & Moore
12 To Boldy Go... Audio Productions 12 Trek Audio Drama in 2010 14 Dispatches From The Romulan War : part 1 Virtual Series by Hair & Edwards
15 The Parables of Star Trek Commentary by Kirok of L'Stok
16 Star Trek on deviantART
Fan art from the pre-Enterprise era by various artists. Hailing Frequencies Open is the official fanzine of TrekUnited Publisher: Bill Schieb Editor: Kirok of L’Stok Kirok@trekunited.com Contributors to this issue: Ensign Edwards; Captain Hair; Alyson Lee; Pauline Mac; Richard Merk; Thomas Moore; Special thanks to the Star Trek artists of deviantART; The countless professionals who have created Star Trek canon and licensed material over the years and Gene Roddenberry, The Great Bird of The Galaxy, without whom none of this would have happened. SUBMISSIONS Calls for submissions and openings for editorial staff & graphic artists are posted on the TrekUnited forum on an irregular basis, simply register for free on TrekUnited and introduce yourself on the fan productions subforum. All information is as correct as possible as at the date of writing. Corrections or additions can be sent to the editor. Unless otherwise stated, all lists are alphabetically sorted. The opinions expressed in the articles in this publication represent those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of TrekUnited. Uncredited content is the responsibility of the editor.
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Vol2 No3, Dec. 2010
Star Trek Pre-Enterprise Pre – 2151 This year, the Twelve Trek Days of Christmas are going to be organised to focus on the different “eras” of Star Trek. Since it was first aired on TV in the sixties, Star Trek has gone through many changes to follow the times. In real life, we were 'thrown in at the deep end' with The Original Series (TOS) which followed the adventures of Captain James Tiberius Kirk and his crew on the Starship Enterprise NCC 1701. Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek's creator, “The Great Bird of The Galaxy” as he was affectionately known to his fans, kept the details of how his future technological paradise had come about vague on purpose. Over the course of that first series he only gave out tantalising hints about how mankind had beaten war, poverty and disease.
•2012: The Millennium Gate is built. •2024: The Bell Riots forces the USA to focus on social problems. •2053: World War III ends with a nuclear holocaust resulting in the deaths of some six hundred million Humans. Earth begins its long journey towards recovery. (Star Trek: First Contact) •2063: Zefram Cochrane builds a warp drive on Earth, and tries it in his experimental ship, the Phoenix. After his flight, first contact occurs between Humans and Vulcans. (Star Trek: First Contact;) •Earth's ozone layer deteriorates and the surface of the planet is flooded with ultraviolet radiation. (TNG: "When The Bough Breaks") •A new age of medicine is heralded on Earth after Pyong Ko discovers the genetic sequence for inhibiting the growth of cancer cells. (VOY: "Fury") •Colonists from Earth colonized a planet, which they later name Terra 10, in the Cepheus system. (TAS: "The Terratin Incident")
...in fifty years, mankind progressed to a United Earth where "poverty, disease, war" has disappeared
The series that followed, Star Trek The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager, leaked out further details, but it was only with the release of the eighth movie, “First Contact”, that we really gained a clear look into how mankind had gone from the world as we know it to a United Federation of Planets that spanned our quadrant of the This pretty much encapsulates the canon adventures that occur galaxy. during this era: the movie, First Contact, the two part DS9 episode The fans of course wanted more and if there were holes in what Past Tense being the only major ones. This is an immense pity I Paramount dribbled out to them, they filled in themselves! believe, because I would love to see a rationale of how in fifty years, mankind could progress from the survivalist culture we see This was where the distinction between “canon” and “non-canon” in First Contact to a United Earth where "poverty, disease, war" has comes in. Star Trek was one of the first media “franchises” to try to disappeared, as Deanna Troi tells us in that movie. create a comprehensive and cohesive back-story – The Canon. The copyright owners, CBS / Paramount, carefully control what is The closely guarded set of works defined as Star Trek canon is deemed to be “real” in their fictional universe and their guiding defined as anything created by Paramount that has been seen on principle is that it encompasses anything that has been seen in the the big screen (movies) or Desilu / CBS on small screen (TV). As I TV series or in the movies. said earlier, this does not include Star Trek: The Animated Series which was a licensed work although some of its more popular This means that certain licensed works are not actually considered inventions have been accepted by fans as canonical. to be canon. Star Trek: The Animated Series, which aired on TV in 1973, was never accepted as canon, nor have any of the books As with Star Trek canon, fans have created a wikipedia-style published by Simon & Schuster, their licensed publisher. Star Trek database for licensed works, “including novels, comic books, RPG Online, the MMOG that opened its doors to the public last year, is sourcebooks, video games and any other licensed works”, called not considered canon either. Memory Beta but it shows very few references from the 21st century For definitive information about Star Trek canon, you have two sources, Startrek.com, the official website which received a new lease of life with the success of the last movie, and Memory Alpha, the fan-made encyclopedia and resource on anything related to Star Trek. According to their homepage, “the English-language Memory Alpha started in November 2003, and currently consists of 32,502 articles.” Because it is a “wiki” this means that it is 'peer reviewed' by its contributors, Star Trek fans, rather than professionals but it would be a close-run thing to say who knows more about Star Trek!
There have been a number of licensed works from Simon & Schuster that have addressed this era, our cover features one of the major characters from the era, Khan Noonian Singh, one of a small group of augments who were the cause of the Eugenics war, a conflict that, according to the Star Trek canon chronology, raged between 1993 - 1996. Greg Cox's two-part novel, The Eugenics Wars: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh shows how it This is nowhere more evident than in any study of what must have might have happened in the late 19 th happened in the canon Star Trek universe before the start of the century... and we didn't even notice! 2001 TV series, Star Trek: Enterprise (2151 - 2161). The contributors to Memory Alpha have painstakingly combed all the series and Whilst licensed works, such as Star movies to collect and collate every reference which can be Trek: Online, the MMOG that has taken referenced via their overview of the 21st century according to which off this year, have officially recognised the major events that shaped the world were... versions of Star Trek canon of their own, fans have no such official sanction. They are, quite frankly, illegal infringements of copyright
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that are not sanctioned but allowed to exist at the indulgence of the copyright owners. For more on the aesthetics and legality of fan fiction check out pages 3-4 of Acrux fanzine for 2008. This has never stopped the fans though and, to their credit, CBS / Paramount have taken it as it has been meant - as fan homage for their work rather than a commercial attack on their product. The fans have created a third Star Trek wiki for fan produced works, ranging from RPGs and fan fiction to fan-made audio dramas and fan films, called the Star Trek Expanded Universe. Surprisingly, Khan is not a popular figure in Trek fan productions, other than his appearance in the USS Baldwin fanfic, but there are more on the Eugenics war in general, including a couple of imaginative fan trailers on the Eugenics war by jc32810 on YouTube. Gary Seven is another great character from The original Series who lived in the pre-Enterprise era. The episode he featured in, Assignment: Earth, was meant to be a spin-off from the Star Trek series that didn't make it. Besides playing a major part in Cox's books and various other smaller works, he has recently been the subject of a five part comic book series and trade paperback published by IDW and created by comic legend, John Byrne.
Jeffries, see Winchell's other gallery here. It is interesting to note that the original was updated for the 2006 remastering of Star Trek. Unfortunately, there are no fans or audio dramas from this period and likewise there are very few card models ... Nomad probe (Right) •Steve Marshall Homespun Magixx
Venture Star X-33 RLV Stunningly, although they have an •Donald Edgecomb LHVCC eGiftShop interesting listing for the 20th and 21st century, ST: Expanded Universe has no references to Gary Seven, SS Botany Bay DY-100 class although three fans of the concept, the Patterson brothers, have •Ulrich Prahn (1:600) Oliver Götz' webpage created a fan site to create the music for the TV series that could •Ulrich Prahn (1:600) The Wolfe Den have been. •Robert Merkstallinger (1:250) LHVCC eGiftShop Fans of Gary Seven and Assignment: Earth are in luck though because Madison D. Bruffy has created an online comic that T'Plana Hath (Vulcan survey ship, Star features two of the characters from this episode in his latest issue, Trek: First Contact) Assignment: Yesterday. Strictly speaking a non-canon story, it is •James Gemperline (1:600) Paragon Cardmodels none the less a great read that uses the medium to bring these great characters to life once more. Assignment: Yesterday has been Phoenix (Below) •Andrew 'Skip' Skupinsk The Zealots Forum released on Issuu as part of the Twelve Trek Days of Christmas. The space ship shown on our cover that Khan is discovered on in the Original Series episode, “Space Seed”, is a DY100 series ship called the “Botany Bay”, a popular subject for fans who are interested in amateur graphics. The German site, “The Neutral Zone” (checkout their Archiv for other goodies) has a definitive listing of preFederation craft with an extensive page of information and links to graphics of the DY-100. There is also a resin kit by Captain Cardboard at Atomic City (see vid's here) as well as a number of cgi models of the DY-100 have been made (see videos here and here on YouTube). There is an amazing gallery of CGI artwork created by Winchell Chung in Blender of Paul Davies' reinterpretation of the Botany Bay as it might have been if it had been actually built by NASA in 1996 (above). For more graphics including original sketches by Matt
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•Andrew 'Skip' Skupinsk LHVCC eGiftShop
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Vol2 No3, Dec. 2010
Freedom
By Kirok of L'Stok Adjur staggered, panting, against the wall of her sleeping chamber. The flickering candles cast a pale light over the hulking shape of Kr'vash her husband, her lord, where he lay sprawled on the floor beside her bed, unseeing eyes staring at the ceiling. "What have you done?!" she gasped. "I've done what you should have done years ago, you spineless slug." K'lvia looked down at the Jambiya she held, the blood dripping from its point. "He's beaten you for the last time."
Sometimes the strongest chains are those we make ourselves.
Part of her howled in delight, in sheer relief, that the years of cruelty were now over. The degradation, the insults, the beatings and finally… this. In the five years since she had been pledged to him as a child-bride, their marriage had disintegrated as it became apparent that she was not able to give Kr'vash the one thing he needed from her: a son, an heir to whom he could pass on the vast lands he had accumulated by guile, deceit and conquest. Realising the enormity of what had happened, her eyes widened and she dropped to her knees. "They'll string me up for this! What should I do?"
Adjur felt rather than saw K'lvia’s eyes flash with anger and disdain. "Get a grip on yourself! Must you go through life a pawn, a victim? This is your chance to be free! Get out of here now!" Adjur looked uncertainly at the body. "He was my husband." K'lvia lashed her with the whip of her disdain. "He was an animal, worse than an animal! You know this as well as I." Tears of shame and frustration coursed down her cheeks as she thought of the scars, old and new, that covered her body, of the things he had done, had made her do. She rocked, half-growling, half-weeping—caught between the horror of her past and the horror before her. As a princess in her own right her blood could not be spilled by commoners. They would take her to the court of the dead amongst the corpses of the newly dead, stake her down and... leave her! The only hope she had would be that thirst would take her before the vultures. The bile in K'lvia’s voice rose to a loathing as she hissed, "Be quiet, you whimpering fool! Do you want them to come and lock you away? To string you up for the vultures to pick your bones? You must act! Now!" Adjur stopped rocking and looked around. "How? Where?" she stammered. "Dress in your hunting gear. Steal a horse. Ride for the hunting lodge in the mountains. You could hide up there for years without being found!" Doubt crept into Adjur’s voice again as she muttered, "Perhaps I deserve to be punished … he was my husband …" K'lvia nearly broke into a scream. "He raped you! He was going to kill you! But for a lucky twist of the blade, you would be the one lying there on the floor!" That was the point that turned the tide for Adjur. Kr'vash had never shared Adjur’s devotion to their marital vows and he had never tried to hide the succession of mistresses and concubines he had shared his bed with. Tonight he had staggered into her bed chamber boasting that his latest mistress, J'ven, had just presented him with a healthy son and that he had no more need for her. If K'lvia had not come to her rescue in the battle for his blade he would have rid himself of her forever. There had been no choice, just as there was no choice now. She dragged herself to her feet and started dressing and throwing a few clothes, weapons and a riding cloak in a satchel. Now that the decision had been made, she
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moved eagerly, her strength returning. As she was about to slide stealthily out of the door, she paused and spoke over her shoulder. "Will you be there for me if I need you?" From the depths of the shadows, K'lvia’s whispered reply echoed in the wild storm that raged in her mind. "I will never be far away." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Adjur dragged herself the last few yards up the sheer cliff onto the mountain ledge. Crawling to the back of the ledge, she placed her satchel on the ground and leaned her back against the rock face to catch her breath. The view that spread before her was awe-inspiring even for the usually taciturn mountain folk, who cared little for beauty. She had been pushing herself constantly for two days now and was deep in the mountains over a hundred miles away from Kr'vash’s stronghold, yet still she felt the breath of pursuit hot on her neck. She had set the horse free that morning at the foot of the mountain when she had struck out on foot to completely lose herself in the wilderness. She had succeeded, for she was now hopelessly lost. Twenty feet along the ledge the bushes were disturbed and a bird shot out with a surprised, shrill cry. Not good, she thought. How could they be here already?! Drawing her Jambiya she rose silently to her feet and padded soundlessly along the narrow pathway that ran along the ledge until she came close to the bushes that had been disturbed. Slowly, carefully she crept up on them and when she was level with them pounced, slashing the thick foliage. Nothing. Her shoulders sagged as she realised that she was jumping at shadows. Damn! She wished she had paid more attention to her lessons with her father’s grizzled old master-at-arms. A sound behind her made her spin around and this time she knew that she wasn't imagining it. Her satchel was missing! "Come out, you nameless cur! Let's see if you have enough backbone to face me instead of stealing from me when my back is turned!" A deep melodious laugh came from the scrub higher up the mountainside. "Why don't you come and get it? Don't worry, I'm used to beautiful women chasing me!" Rage gave her a new lease of energy that she used to attack the cliff face, angling off to the left towards the direction that the voice had come from. Occasionally she would hear the same deep booming laugh come from above her, sometimes accompanied by taunting banter, but as the afternoon wore on, the laughter seemed to come from further and further away until eventually she could hear her tormentor no more. Still she bore on, climbing higher and higher, the scrubby bush that dragged at her riding garb giving way to bare rock and scree slopes. As the sun dipped towards the horizon far away she halted for a moment to sniff the wind: smoke! More cautiously now she inched higher, the smell of wood smoke becoming fresher and finally, after she had turned an outcropping, she caught sight of a wisp of smoke coming from a small plateau nestled into a gully above her and to her right. By now her anger had worn off and she realised how foolhardy she had been. At any time during the climb she could have been picked off from a distance. Even now she knew that whoever was on the plateau above her had a clear view of her approach - if he wanted to kill her he could do it at any time. Ambush was obviously not on his mind, though, for her tormentor was squatting before the small campfire he had lit, in plain sight of her as she approached. When he saw that she was within twenty yards of him, he rose and walked to the back of the clearing, gesturing for her to come closer.
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He wasn't tall as men go but massively built, with a dark tangled mane of hair above flashing eyes and a luxuriant mustache. Physically he looked to be kin to the bandits that struck north from the Punjab, but his dress was a strange mixture of styles. He wore a bulky vest of furs over a strange one piece garment that combined a jacket and leggings which was tucked into fur-lined boots. Unlike the local tribesmen he appeared to be carrying everything he owned on his person with several pouches fixed to his belt and a large pack on his back. The heavy revolver on his right hip and the large, wicked Khyber knife, an ancient Choora strapped to his left made it obvious that he was no wandering hunter. He saw the direction of her glance. "The knife? A Kyrgyz acquaintance of mine just upped and died in my arms and left it to me in his will. Who was I to refuse? You meet so many untrustworthy people in these hills." He casually unbuckled his belt and pack and laid them against a rock. Adjur hesitated, chewing her lip, undecided whether she should move up to the fire or… or what? Realising she had little choice, she threw caution to the wind and traversed those last few yards onto the sheltered pocket of greenery. "Your pack is over there. You travel lightly, lady; would you like to share my meal?" He uncrossed his arms to gesture towards the fire where for the first time she noticed that he had two clay parcels sat amongst the rocks of the fire. The words were fair and respectful but she could see from the set of his grin and the hungry look in his eyes that this might not be a safe man to be around. "Of what is it to you how I travel, thief? Who are you and what are you doing here?" She tried to put some steel into her voice, to show that she too was not to be trifled with. He grinned and nodded appreciatively. "Question for question, normally a fair exchange but here in the high mountain wilderness you will learn never to ask someone their name lightly because it is a powerful thing!" As she stood catching her breath after the arduous climb she began to notice that there was a delicious smell coming from the fire making her realise that she hadn't eaten in two days. "What do you have cooking anyway… rocks?" Actually whilst it was nothing much to look at, it smelled marvelous and with each second, the temptation grew to dive into the fire and grab it. Her would-be host threw his head back and laughed. "It does remind you of clay pigeon droppings, doesn't it! Well, I'll not inflict my cooking on you if it's unwelcome. It can stay on there and burn for all I care." He grinned as he moved up to the fire. "I'll just eat mine then." Picking up a stick, he knocked one of the baked clay parcels out of the fire. Adjur stood her ground but watched him suspiciously as he took out a hunting knife he carried strapped under his left armpit, and started to knock off the outer coating of clay to reveal a fist-sized ball of cooked flesh which he started to strip the meat from. Looking up he knocked the other ball of clay out of the fire towards her without speaking. To say more would be to lose face in front of this irritating stranger, so she simply dropped to her haunches and bashed the clay apart with a rock. The succulent meat was steaming hot from the captured juices but she quickly stripped it from the small skeleton it covered. Not sure if she should ask, curiosity got the better of her… "What is this?" "Hedgehog," he said, grinning evilly. "the spines and skin peel off … they steam in their own juices. My Romani Mami taught me how to cook it." "This is excellent!" She glanced across as she tore the last of the meat from the bone. "You would make someone a wonderful wife." She was surprised at her own temerity, throwing insults about like that. Adjur had always been a timid creature, by the standards of her people, but after everything that she had been through…. Later that night she lay awake staring up into the stars.
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"I don't trust him," came the voice of K'lvia from the darkness. "You don't have to … I need someone who knows these mountains if I'm going to survive here for any length of time." "He's too friendly. He laughs too much." "He's been in these mountains for months; he wants me. You just don't remember what that feels like.” "If he touches you he dies." "Yes…" Adjur rolled over to hide her face in the crook of her arm. "…as they all do." Her dreams that night were her usual nightmare. She was a teenager again and her father had discovered B'Shen her lover… The days turned to weeks and then to months. They hunted, traveling to the lower mountain valleys as winter approached. They argued. They fought on many occasions. K'Neer, for that was his name, loved battle and was maddening to fight, with his constant taunts and laughter. She lost. She always lost … and every time he said the same thing, his mouth beside her ear, his voice an earthy growl, laden with lust. "Ask me. You know I'll not steal from you. You have to ask me." But every time she turned away, chest heaving, fighting the flames that roared in her also. The winter snows raged and sometimes K'Neer would share a story from his past. Of men from far-off planets, of his country where they were trying to rebuild the glory of old by brotherhood and prosperity instead of bloodshed and treachery. How he and his friends had come to these hills under a flag of truce to invite us to join this paradise only to be betrayed by the petty warlords they had broken bread with. A tale of death, dishonour and betrayal. Adjur never spoke on nights like these. She kept her past a secret and sometimes he would growl softly, "Tell me." His eyes bored into hers, knowing far more than she had ever told him. "Let the past go. Send your demons back to Hell!" But on those nights she would turn away to bundle herself in her sleeping furs, holding onto the ghosts of her past as if they were a fortress in which she hid away from the world. Spring came and the herds of yaks came up to the mountain valleys to graze. One day K'Neer laughingly boasted that he would sleep tonight on a new fur—a sleeping fur big enough for two. Adjur slapped him hard, only making him laugh so much so that she turned and walked away, leaving him to hunt alone. When he failed to return that night she went in search of him and found his battered and bleeding body propped against a tree beside the carcass of a bull yak. Cradling his head in her chest, she stooped to hear the mumbled words that he was trying to force between gout's of coughed up blood. "Ask me." Placing his head between her hands she kissed him with a violence and passion that mirrored her soul. "Love me," she whispered to him. His eyes closed slowly in a moment of ecstasy. When they opened she could tell the end was near, that his world was darkening. Even the racking coughs were weaker as he tried to speak. "Tell me." Slowly at first but then with less hesitation, she told her story—the pampered child… the betrayed teenager… the brutalized wife.
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"…and then I found love. I found you." Looking down she saw that he was smiling. He knew. He had known all the time… and had died happy. Throwing back her head she screamed. It was the sound of her heart being ripped from her body as it yearned to follow her dead lover—the only man who had loved her enough to care if she loved him. It was the howl of a wild animal for her dead mate. It was the death scream of Adjur. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Days later, attracted by the column of smoke coming from the other end of the valley, an elderly hunter and his son came across a tall, hollow-eyed huntress standing, staring at a funeral pyre. At the base of the pyre was a massive wild yak, at its apex was the body of a foreign warrior. "Who was he?" said the old hunter. "A great hunter. A mighty warrior. An honest lover. An honourable man." Dipping her hand into her satchel, she drew out two gold coins. "These are yours if you will build a rock cairn over this fire."
“Who are you and what was he to you that you would honour him so?"
The old man looked at the coins and shook his head. "Keep your money. A monument means nothing if it is bought. I will build the cairn and keep the memory." The old man looked back to the funeral pyre. The woman picked up her satchel to leave. "Who are you and what was he to you that you would honour him so? Was he your lover?" She paused and looked sharply at him but he stood his ground. He had a right to know. Do not ask for a name, K'Neer had said, because it is a powerful thing ... and he had died not knowing her's. Who truly knows who they are? Adjur? The frightened little mouse, for whom love had only ever brought shame, hatred and fear? The victim, the pawn, the possession? She was gone, banished to Hell as K'Neer had wished. Her grief over his death had burned a clarity into her mind that had lifted the protecting veil of madness from her. For the first time in years she knew who and what she was. Not a daughter to be traded for power nor a wife to be used and abused on a whim, but a woman, free to follow her destiny. A destiny he had shown her. "I am K'lvia, of the house of B'renth." She gazed one last time at the funeral pyre of the man she would love until they were reunited in death. "He set me free." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Major Connor McPherson, UEMC. b. 2062 Des Moines, Iowa, USA. d. 2090 Turkmenistan, on active duty.
Colonel K'lvia B'Renth, MACO b. 2068 Turkmenistan. d. 2125 Andorian System, on active duty
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To Boldy Go... New Frontiers in Audio Productions by Kirok of L'Stok In some respects, Star Trek fan productions are lagging behind other fandoms. Doctor Who fans for example were producing audio dramas long before Star Trek fans, and Star Wars fans would have you believe that they invented fan films! This year Star Trek fans finally got their own MMOG – Massive Multiplayer Online Game – Star Trek Online (STO), and it would do well for us to learn from the experiences of others who have gone before us' of whom World of Warcraft (WoW) has got to be the 'Big Daddy' of them all just by its sheer size and financial success if not by originality. Luckily the House of L'Stok happens to have an expert on WoW – my eighteen year-old son, The Heir To The Family Curse! He virtually lived and breathed WoW over the last summer holidays, but he sensibly gave it up when he started Year 12, his 'graduation' year. I'm proud of his responsible attitude! Looking back over the drama of his adventures in Black Rock (his home server) we're pretty much agreed that his time on WoW could be split into three parts: as a gaming experience, a social environment and as a Role Playing Game. Leaving aside the sociological aspects of World of Warcraft they'd fill a book! - WoW gamers seem to have developed some aspects of creativity whilst pretty much crippling others. WoW machinimas, for example, can be great! Certainly most of the funniest I've seen have been based on WoW and comics are another media that have prospered under Blizzard's enlightened fan production rules and one, Looking For Group, has even made it into commercial sale. Where they seem to fall down is with the role-playing element. The Heir To The Family Curse tried valiantly to interact with other gamers on their RPG server but found that they were focused mainly on telling everyone about how awesome their character was rather than trying to create a wider plot arc by interacting with others. How does all this apply to Star Trek Online? Well, the primary difference between WoW and STO is that STO is building on an existing fanbase, both from a gaming standpoint and the fictional universe it is set in. To see how this makes a difference let's divide fan productions into things that can be done on an individual level and those that are best done by groups. Star Trek fans have a strong tradition of being creative on an individual basis. It would be a rare Trek fan indeed who hadn't written a fan fiction, drawn some fan art or engaged in some form of role-play, whether it was dressing up for a convention, being a character in a 'play by email' RPG or just joining a fan club! The Star Trek fan community is particularly supportive of role-playing and I'll wager that a large proportion of the people who are attracted to STO are long-standing fans who are simply curious about it as a new fan experience and will bring with them a relatively laid back attitude towards fan productions and role
playing. This same attitude applies to group endeavours which have ranged from multi-season fan films to the massive back-catalogue of machinima done on a number of different gaming engines but most especially Star Trek: Elite Force and Star Trek: Bridge Commander. If the advance videos are anything to go by, the quality of graphics that users are going to be able to play with, from space and planetary backgrounds to ships and characters, are nothing short of amazing and when I get the spare time to join, I will probably be walking around STO gawping like a tourist for the first week! Star Trek Online already has rudimentary machinima tools and there are rumblings that there will be more. I can't find an official announcement from Cryptic on their stance with regards to machinima, but considering their policy on City of Heroes and City of Villains, their previous games, they know the added value that fan productions can bring to a game. One thing that has been quick to make an appearance on STO has been in-game radio. After an announcement on the gaming podcast site Hailing Frequency which he helped to bring to prominence, Zach Nichodemus, announced that he would be jumping into this niche along with regulars such as Kinneas (Tony Tuthill). Now named Trek Radio, they have extended their regular programming of music and gaming news with interviews and audio drama and the reaction from the listeners has been enthusiastic. <fanboy>Chase Masterson answered one of my questions!</fanboy> From an audio drama stand-point, this could be a milestone in the media because one of the limiting factors in getting fans to try them out has been finding them in a situation where they have time to kill and access to the episodes. In-game radio gives us a captive audience who are in a Star Trek environment listening to audio – what more could you ask for? What are needed though are audio dramas that are sited in the STO canon, that reflect new content add-ons – storylines that might even be based on actual game play campaigns. This type of thing has a precedent.. Star Trek: Excaliber, for example, is an audio drama based on a role playing group and many of the characters of Star Trek Intrepid originated in in their RPG. As I've pointed out, the idea of in-game, internet radio didn't spring from nowhere and likewise they are not on their own in broadcasting audio drama on the web - Icebox radio has had a regular programming of various fan and independent audio drama for quite a while I can't help thinking that Internet radio, in the form of Trek Radio, could be the next stepping stone for Trek audio drama.
Star Trek Audio Drama in 2010 This year's directory of Star Trek audio drama is an update of the complete listing done last time. There have been new entrants onto the scene and old favourites have made a return but unfortunately
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some haven't been able to produce anything this year, others have gone into hiatus and many have undoubtedly gone onto the 'Big Sleep'.
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Vol2 No3, Dec. 2010
Be aware that episodes prior to January 2010 are not listed here but can be traced via last year's listing. Although all care has been taken, if anyone has any corrections that they would like me to make feel free to contact me on Kirok@trekunited.com Are they good? That's for you to decide! Enjoy!
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Henglaar, M.D. http://www.hiddenfrontier.com/episodes/hmds1.php
Hidden Frontier Productions Following on from their successful premiere episode, Recalled To Life, the cast and crew at Henglaar, M.D. are putting out a quality audio drama at a respectable rate of knots! Fan favourite John Whiting has successfully reprised the character he made so popular on the longrunning fan film series, Star Trek: Hidden Frontier: Henglaar, the grumpy Tellarite Starfleet doctor with a well-hidden heart of gold. •1.02 - Best Served Cold, March 15, 2010 •1.03 - Risk Factors, August 2, 2010 •1.04 - Good With Words, September 13, 2010 In production... •1.05 - Profit Without Honor •1.06 - Vector of Infection •1.07 - Final Exam
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Star Rabbit Tracks http://www.misfitsaudio.com/serialstarrabbit.php
Misfitsaudio Star Rabbit Tracks, a finalist in the 2009 Parsec awards, Anime category has returned for a second season with new announcers, Bernadette Groves and Roy Cunningham, plus a new writer, N.J. Rainford. The new season follows in the footsteps of that magnificent finale to the last season with more pastiches on TV & movie classics starting with "Jackalope And Hutch", released Oct 5 and guest starring Joe Stofko as "The Hutch", which was followed ten days later with "In All the Shuttlecrafts, In All the Parsecs", which introduces Bernadette Marie Groves as "Jessica". Writing for juveniles is immensely hard, you need to make it accessible to their level of experience without talking down to them, and to be able to make the same productions interesting to their parents at the same time - for there is nothing more rewarding than listening to these audio dramas with your children - is doubly so! I think Star Rabbit Tracks achieves this with a warmth and charm that makes this family entertainment stand out from its peers. •2.01 Jackalope And Hutch October 5, 2010 •2.02 In All the Shuttlecrafts, In All the Parsecs, October 15, 2010
Star Trek: Defiant http://www.pendantaudio.com/defiant.php
Pendant Productions Over the course of the year the crew of the Defiant have weathered many challenges. They have gambled on the fate of Romulus as an assassin poisoned the peace process. They have undertaken sacred journeys, rescue missions and had their vacation crashed by intruders! As with most Star Trek, it is a very personal journey as members of the crew come to terms with dangerous secrets and the demons of their past! It encompasses conspiracy, treason and camaraderie as the Defiant is sent to Vulcan and the crew are caught up in a series of assassinations! Their fiftieth episode sees the Defiant summoned to Earth for her final fate! Is it the end? Of course not! Defiant which celebrated its 50 th Issue with a special Anniversary Reel, has in many respects defined the genre! The episodes for this year which can all be downloaded for free, along with cover art and audio commentary tracks, from their Pendant Productions web page, are... •41 - Gambles, December 3, 2009 •42 - Oaths, January 6, 2010 •43 - Family, February 3, 2010 •44 - Haunted, March 10, 2010 •45 - Confessions, April 7, 2010 •46 - Caged, May 5, 2010 •47 - Listening, June 9, 2010 •48 - Passing, part one, July 7, 2010 •49 - Passing, part two, August 4, 2010 •50 - Returning, September 8, 2010 •51 - History, December 1, 2010
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Star Trek: Eras http://www.twerponline.net/eras
Time Well Electronic Recording Productions The Star Trek fan production from TWERPs, Star Trek: Eras, has a common format for all their episodes – three acts, sometimes released separately, that together cover a self-contained story within a larger story arc. Their latest offering, Martini, develops on this.. For one thing, they are experimenting with humour, “In the spirit of classic Star Trek episodes like ,The Trouble with Tribbles,, we are happy to examine the lighter side of our little corner of the universe. When Admiral Evori's pet gets sick, he calls upon his two medical experts, sharing with them the results doctors of the past have discovered about the unusual creature.” It works as a bottle episode and, more importantly, as character development for the major players. I particularly recommend the original soundtrack for this episode, which can be downloaded separately, written and performed by Matt Hallaron. A CD version, script and out-takes is also available. •5 – Martini, August 31, 2010
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BREAKING NEWS Salem One Station lost Charles Carmen - Earth News Network 28 November, 2156 Right now the information on what exactly has happened is scarce, but reports from Starfleet Command and the Vulcan Space Ministry have confirmed the rumors we heard earlier this morning: Salem One Station has been attacked and is presumed destroyed. At a press conference convened by Starfleet Commander Admiral Garrett Black we learned that Salem One reported being under attack at 3:07 AM station time (3:07 AM GMT), and that contact was lost with the station less than ten minutes later. Repeated hails from Starfleet Command and the Vulcan Space Ministry yeilded silence, and the Deep Space Communications Network reported loss of carrier signal at 3:19 AM. "We are not certain who is responsible for this attack," said Black, "As of this time we believe that Salem One was a complete loss." When pressed for more details, Black admitted that he had none, "We don't know who would even have reason to attack. Right now we're pursuing every possible lead and have teams on the way to investigate." The admiral went on to assure the public that Starfleet does not believe there is any immediate threat to Earth. The Vulcan Space Ministry reported that in addition to their loss of contact with Salem One that they lost contact with the light cruiser Sompek, which was one of the Coalition vessels rotating through stationing at Salem One. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, ENN has been told by an officer in Starfleet Command that the Enterprise and Columbia have been scrambled to investigate the loss of contact. With the Sompek presumed destroyed, the two vessels are the closest. Both were previously exploring a nearby stellar nursery. Salem One was constructed to serve as a command center for joint space missions conducted by the CoP. It was built in orbit of the uninhabited Menshara-Class planet Beta Virginis II (orbiting the Beta Virginis star, better known on Earth as Zavijava), a planet claimed by the Andorians but never colonized. Beta Virginis is 35.6 light years from Earth, a 50 day trek form Earth for a NX-class Starship. The location was agreed upon by all members of the CoP and construction of Salem One began in October of last year, with the first habitable modules being completed by the beginning of the year. The station was completed and assumed operational status less than a month ago. The Salem One commander, Andorian General Jormek Sathra, had expressed concern that the five phase canons installed on the station would not be enough to easily fend off an armed assault, though it was not believed that the station was at risk for attack. As such, the rotation of escort vessels was instituted, with begining with the Sompek. As of last report, there were 198 personnel serving aboard Salem One Station - 71 Humans, 36 Andorians, 38 Vulcans, 26 Tellarites, 14 Coridanites, and 13 Denobulans. The Sompek had a crew of 76, all Vulcan. This Dispatches from the Romulan War report was contributed by Ensign Edwards and Captain Hair.
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Vol2 No3, Dec. 2010
The Parables of Star Trek By Kirok of L'Stok As any parent will tell you, raising children is one of the greatest challenges anyone can take on in their life!
They were negative examples as well. Sometimes logic was not the appropriate answer to a problem, sometimes you needed to listen to your heart. The Vulcan values of Logic and cool detachment come Its not just the physical care and feeding of the little blighters, into play more for strategic, long-term decisions however in your although just keeping them clean can be a battle in itself! No, I was day-to-day life you could do far worse than to consider the moral thinking in terms of the challenge of turning these small, pinky values of honour, respect and duty, old-fashioned terms and yet still purple, crying machines into mature, responsible adults who can so vital to society. fend for themselves and turn the world into a better place. The ideal of the honourable Klingon has taken on a life of its own, Easy, you say, I'll just imprint them with the values that I have! Ah! such that Klingon sayings, whilst thought of as clichéd by the Therein lies the challenge! What exactly are your values? bourgeoisie, can still be good advice none-the-less... I don't know about you, but until I had a child ask me one of the hard questions of life, like why people were so mean to their black, yellow or Muslim friend, I had never really put my own thoughts into any real order let alone formulated any real educational programme for my kids.
•meQtaHbogh qachDaq Suv qoH neH - Only fools fight in a burning building
You end up having to think on your feet, to be able to put something together at the drop of a hat and in the strangest places: in the car, the shopping centre, walking home from school. I found myself falling back, time and again, to Star Trek for examples that I could use to explain things in a way whereby we could discuss things on a level that we both understood.
Most of these come from Marc Okrand's book, The Klingon Way, which contains many that were obviously unacceptable to modern society...
Of course this only worked because they were both Voyager kids. They've made me proud of them many times but up there as one of the best was when my daughter, eighteen at the time, stood up at a workshop on women in SciFi at Conflux 3 and defended her hero Janeway - and then stood up at a Star Wars workshop to tell them what they were doing wrong! Yes! The House of L'Stok gained great honour that day! They never stood a chance! Star Trek is such fertile ground for examples of concepts. Some were the big and complex issues of political correctness - The Next Generation was the last word on that! That model of diplomacy, Picard, was the ultimate example of command and control whilst maintaining strength in negotiation. When we've been faced with what seems to be an insoluble black-or-white problem I've often used the Picard line, “Options! Give me options.” Interestingly, Spock used the concept first though in The Galileo Seven, when he said, “there are always alternatives.” When something we saw on the news needed explaining, out would trot some of the Trekie standards. Like IDIC, Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations: what better way to start the ball rolling on a conversation about multiculturalism? They were conversations too, I like to think that I learned as much from my children as they learned from me! Sometimes I would realise that I was just passing on to them the ways of my parent's generation. Not always a bad thing, I hasten to add, but in many ways no longer appropriate in the changed world that my children would have to face.
•batlHa' vangIu'taHvIS quv chavbe'lu' - One does not achieve honour while acting dishonourably.
•batlh pothl law` yIn pothl puS - Honour is more important than life •bortaS bIr jablu'DI' reH QaQqu' nay' - Revenge is a dish best served cold Few of them are truly original - they are all traditional sayings that have been 'translated' into Klingon. Perhaps more likely to be original are the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition, since they were written for Deep Space Nine by Ira Steven Behr and Robert Hewitt Wolfe. The Rules of Acquisition however are definitely not politically correct on face value... •Once you have their money ... never give it back. •Greed is eternal. •There is no honour in poverty. They are still useful as negative examples, and the occasional rule has a basis in common sense, but by-and-large they are really just for laughs. Star Trek became such a cultural icon because it was more than just 'Space Opera' and it used known science fiction writers. It was written to make you think. It was made to stimulate discourse and even at times controversy, as it did with the first interracial kiss.
It was made to make you question the world around us through the lens of a show that was quite frankly fantasy! Barb Reader has pointed out that one of the great values of science fiction is that it allows us to debate the “big questions” precisely because it is divorced from reality. Everyone can use the Maquis as a metaphor for discussing the concepts of terrorism, political resistance and Star Trek contained races that were clever embodiments of different 'fighting for freedom', whereas using real life examples such as the philosophical or cultural extremes. The logical and pacifist Vulcans IRA or UDF will cause people to take sides. were balanced by the Klingons who were ruled by honour and the life of a warrior. They are icons of the dichotomy of the human Science fiction and particularly Star Trek is so much more than just spirit: Yin vs Yang. These were often brought up to illustrate the simplistic morality tales and action adventure, it is – or should be – necessity for logic or control in a situation or for drive, power and a fertile breeding ground for inquiring minds. emotion.
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Above: I'm Trying to Read... by thundercrap Left: KHAN by choffman36 Below: Assignment: Earth by thundercrap
Right: Gary Seven Star Trek TOS by donpedicinijr
Below: Gary Seven by ChocolateHoneybee
Right: Gary Seven and Isis by 1hope For credits and links to the artists and more of their work, see the Twelve Trek Days of Christmas deviantART gallery at... http://kirok-of-lstok.deviantart.com/art/HFO-2-03-Pre-ENT-BackCover-192461176
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