Star Trek: Hidden Frontier – 104 – Two Hours

2001Official Website

Star Trek fan series have multiplied around the web like rabbits on Viagra. The pioneering series that showed fan films can have story arcs, recurring characters, and good computer graphics was Hidden Frontier. A spin-off of a private series known as Voyages of the USS Angeles, which you can only see if you know someone who worked on it or at a lucky screening, Hidden Frontier became an epic series on its own, and helped inspire many other fan productions. The production lasted seven seasons, and spawned several other Trek series and even an original science fiction series. Like all projects, there is improvement over time, one that mirrors the actual Star Trek series as well. Early episodes of The Next Generation are laughable, and Enterprise was almost unwatchable until season three. As TarsTarkas.NET will be covering the entire run of Hidden Frontier episodes, we have to start at the beginning. A beginning that will look pretty bad once we get to later productions. But a beginning never the less. There is no shame in these being not technologically sound. Judging the earlier episodes, we will keep in mind the technology of the time. The important thing is if the show is entertaining, not if the makeup is professional. That is the main criterion in which we will be making our judgments. Superb CGI effects cannot save a terrible script.

Episodes of Hidden Frontier are available online at HiddenFrontier.com. You can also see their other series and participate in their forums.

Things to know:
USS Excelsior – The USS Excelsior is a Galaxy-class dreadnought that looks suspiciously like the Future Enterprise from the episode All Good Things…. It is the flagship for Captain Knapp as he spreads his anger across the Briar Patch and gets into fights with Blue Space Jawas.
Deep Space 12 – Deep Space 12 is the new starbase built to deal with the Ba’ku stuff from Star Trek: Insurrection. Captain Knapp is in charge, and we don’t see much inside the station this season.
Briar Patch – The Briar Patch is a region in Sector 441 made of supernovae remains, false vacuum fluctuations, metaphasic radiation and planets including the Ba’ku planet. It was was seen in Star Trek: Insurrection. Most of the action takes place in this area, because fans demanded more information about the Ba’ku.

Captain Ian Quincy Knapp (David W. Dial) – Angry! His brother was killed by the Dominion, and left Captain Knapp angry! Had a mysterious encounter during the Dominion War (The Dominion who killed his brother) with mystery aliens that made him angry, and now that he commands Deep Space 12 and the USS Excelsior he can take out his anger over his brother’s death with flaming kill-lasers. Did I mention his brother was killed? Cmd. Joseph Johns (Mike Johns) – Commander who does high-level stuff on Deep Space 12, I guess. I am not really sure where he is in the command hierarchy. We will get a whole episode dedicated to one of his goofy hobbies soon. Counselor Myra Elbrey (Barbara Clifford) – Betazoid, used to teach at the Academy. Survivor of the Grey attack on the USS Rutledge. Has a dog named Mr. Scott. Despite her being interesting and played by a decent actress, not much is done with Elbrey in the first season. Ensign Andrew Barrett (Tyler Bosserman) – Communications officer and starting second grade next week. If this kid was any younger, they’d have to install diaper changing stations on the bridge! Lt. William Martinez (Anthony Diaz) – Chief of Security who looks like a Chief of Security. Thus he is the Chief of Security. I know he does so on the USS Excelsior, but I don’t know if he does so on Deep Space 12 as well. Doesn’t get enough character development this season.

Guest Cast:

Lightoller (John Whiting) – The first officer of the Titanic is actually a crazed man from the future! Who would have thunk it? Captain Ziminski (Renee Huberstock) – Another ineffective captain of a Federation Timeship from the 29th Century. Why do these captains suck so much? They always need 24th Century help. Starfleet must be a complete mess in the future. Captain of the Causality.

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Star Trek: Hidden Frontier – 103 – Enemy Unknown Part 3

2001Official Website

Star Trek fan series have multiplied around the web like rabbits on Viagra. The pioneering series that showed fan films can have story arcs, recurring characters, and good computer graphics was Hidden Frontier. A spin-off of a private series known as Voyages of the USS Angeles, which you can only see if you know someone who worked on it or at a lucky screening, Hidden Frontier became an epic series on its own, and helped inspire many other fan productions. The production lasted seven seasons, and spawned several other Trek series and even an original science fiction series. Like all projects, there is improvement over time, one that mirrors the actual Star Trek series as well. Early episodes of The Next Generation are laughable, and Enterprise was almost unwatchable until season three. As TarsTarkas.NET will be covering the entire run of Hidden Frontier episodes, we have to start at the beginning. A beginning that will look pretty bad once we get to later productions. But a beginning never the less. There is no shame in these being not technologically sound. Judging the earlier episodes, we will keep in mind the technology of the time. The important thing is if the show is entertaining, not if the makeup is professional. That is the main criterion in which we will be making our judgments. Superb CGI effects cannot save a terrible script.

Episodes of Hidden Frontier are available online at HiddenFrontier.com. You can also view their other series and participate in their forums.

Things to know:
USS Excelsior – The USS Excelsior is a Galaxy-class dreadnought that looks suspiciously like the Future Enterprise from the episode All Good Things…. It is the flagship for Captain Knapp as he spreads his anger across the Briar Patch and gets into fights with Blue Space Jawas.
Deep Space 12 – Deep Space 12 is the new starbase built to deal with the Ba’ku stuff from Star Trek: Insurrection. Captain Knapp is in charge, and we don’t see much inside the station this season.
Briar Patch – The Briar Patch is a region in Sector 441 made of supernovae remains, false vacuum fluctuations, metaphasic radiation and planets including the Ba’ku planet. It was was seen in Star Trek: Insurrection. Most of the action takes place in this area, because fans demanded more information about the Ba’ku.

Continue reading →

Star Trek: Hidden Frontier – 102 – Enemy Unknown Part 2

2001Official Website

Star Trek fan series have multiplied around the web like rabbits on Viagra. The pioneering series that showed fan films can have story arcs, recurring characters, and good computer graphics was Hidden Frontier. A spin-off of a private series known as Voyages of the USS Angeles, which you can only see if you know someone who worked on it or at a lucky screening, Hidden Frontier became an epic series on its own, and helped inspire many other fan productions. The production lasted seven seasons, and spawned several other Trek series and even an original science fiction series. Like all projects, there is improvement over time, one that mirrors the actual Star Trek series as well. Early episodes of The Next Generation are laughable, and Enterprise was almost unwatchable until season three. As TarsTarkas.NET will be covering the entire run of Hidden Frontier episodes, we have to start at the beginning. A beginning that will look pretty bad once we get to later productions. But a beginning never the less. There is no shame in these being not technologically sound. Judging the earlier episodes, we will keep in mind the technology of the time. The important thing is if the show is entertaining, not if the makeup is professional. That is the main criterion in which we will be making our judgments. Superb CGI effects cannot save a terrible script. But if things are fun, we have nothing to fear.

Episodes of Hidden Frontier are available online at HiddenFrontier.com. You can also see their other series and participate in their forums. All of this stuff is free, so you got to give them props for having so much free entertainment.

Things to know:
USS Excelsior – The USS Excelsior is a Galaxy-class III dreadnought that looks suspiciously like the Future Enterprise from the episode All Good Things…. It is the flagship for Captain Knapp as he spreads his anger across the Briar Patch and gets into fights with Blue Space Jawas.
Deep Space 12 – Deep Space 12 is the new starbase built to deal with the Ba’ku stuff from Star Trek: Insurrection. Captain Knapp is in charge, and we don’t see much inside the station this season.
Briar Patch – The Briar Patch is a region in Sector 441 made of supernovae remains, false vacuum fluctuations, metaphasic radiation and planets including the Ba’ku planet. It was was seen in Star Trek: Insurrection. Most of the action takes place in this area, because fans demanded more information about the Ba’ku. By fans I mean they just built off the last movie (at the time) because Voyager was too terrible to use at all.

Anything else we will cover as we go along, or you can just spend time browsing the Memory Alpha website if you aren’t a super Star Trek nerd and don’t get the in-jokes.

Second star to the right! Episode 102 – Enemy Unknown Part 2

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Star Trek: Hidden Frontier – 101 – Enemy Unknown Part 1

2001Official Website

Star Trek fan series have multiplied around the web like rabbits on Viagra. The pioneering series that showed fan films can have story arcs, recurring characters, and good computer graphics was Hidden Frontier. A spin-off of a private series known as Voyages of the USS Angeles, which you can only see if you know someone who worked on it or at a lucky screening, Hidden Frontier became an epic series on its own, and helped inspire many other fan productions. The production lasted seven seasons, and spawned several other Trek series and even an original science fiction series. Like all projects, there is improvement over time, one that mirrors the actual Star Trek series as well. Early episodes of The Next Generation are laughable, and Enterprise was almost unwatchable until season three. As TarsTarkas.NET will be covering the entire run of Hidden Frontier episodes, we have to start at the beginning. A beginning that will look pretty bad once we get to later productions. But a beginning never the less. There is no shame in these being not technologically sound. Judging the earlier episodes, we will keep in mind the technology of the time. The important thing is if the show is entertaining, not if the makeup is professional. That is the main criterion in which we will be making our judgments. Superb CGI effects cannot save a terrible script. But if things are fun, we have nothing to fear.

Episodes of Hidden Frontier are available online at HiddenFrontier.com. You can also see their other series and participate in their forums. All of this stuff is free, so you got to give them props for having so much free entertainment.

Things to know:
USS Excelsior – The USS Excelsior is a Galaxy-class III dreadnought that looks suspiciously like the Future Enterprise from the episode All Good Things…. It is the flagship for Captain Knapp as he spreads his anger across the Briar Patch and gets into fights with Blue Space Jawas.
Deep Space 12 – Deep Space 12 is the new starbase built to deal with the Ba’ku stuff from Star Trek: Insurrection. Captain Knapp is in charge, and we don’t see much inside the station this season.
Briar Patch – The Briar Patch is a region in Sector 441 made of supernovae remains, false vacuum fluctuations, metaphasic radiation and planets including the Ba’ku planet. It was was seen in Star Trek: Insurrection. Most of the action takes place in this area, because fans demanded more information about the Ba’ku. By fans I mean they just built off the last movie (at the time) because Voyager was too terrible to use at all.

Anything else we will cover as we go along, or you can just spend time browsing the Memory Alpha website if you aren’t a super Star Trek nerd and don’t get the in-jokes.

Let’s get boldy going! Episode 101 – Enemy Unknown Part 1

We are writing these episodes as we go, with no future knowledge of events episodes down the line. That also means we might get annoyed at something plot-wise that is explained in the very next episode. That won’t stop us from getting annoyed! We will only be going with what information is available on screen. That being said, this is the introduction episode that takes place a year prior to the setting of the rest of the season, and introduces the threat of the Grey as well as a few cast members. As an opening introduction, will it serve its purpose? Read on and find out!

Captain Ian Quincy Knapp (David W. Dial) – Angry! Captain Angry gets enraged about all sorts of stuff. His brother’s death. Dogs. Children. The Grey. Aliens. Vowels. Protons. Diplomacy. Anger. Non-anger. Have I mentioned he is angry? The captain of the USS Devonshire. Dr. Henglaar (John Whiting) – Chief Medical Officer of the USS Devonshire. A Tellarite, gruff and surly. John Whiting is the best actor the show has this season, and Dr. Henglaar is the best character. We need a Dr. Henglaar, MD spin-off. It can be like House or Quincy. Oinking fantastic! Counselor Myra Elbrey (Barbara Clifford) – Betazoid survivor of the USS Rutledge. Used to teach at the academy. Also a pretty good actress. Lt. Toby Witczak (Matt Kruer) – Assistant engineer on the Devonshire. Unlucky with the ladies. Manages to not get killed by the Grey, so we will see him next week!

Guest Cast:

Commander Rodriguez (Jeanne Garrington) – First officer of the USS Devonshire. Leads the away mission to the derelict USS Rutledge. Captured by the Grey. Jeanne Garrington is a pretty good actress, it is a shame she just has a bit part. Lt. Paul Brickey (Philip Brickey) – This dude gets captured by the Grey. He has a lot of lines considering he gets Grey-napped. Another USS Devonshire crewman to be added to the Butcher’s Bill. Ensign Abney (Rob Caves) – Caves is executive producer, but here he is just a cameo! When you are executive producer you can do stuff like that. Grey (John Wallis) – This Grey is actually blue. Which means the Grey are liars! Or Smurfs. Or Jawas. Smurf Jawas who lie. Now we are talking! Don’t get Grey-napped! We don’t know much about them here, so I ain’t giving you any more information!

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