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

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 12Deep 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!

Star Wreck

Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning (Review)

Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning


2005
Directed by Timo Vuorensola
Written by Samuli Torssonen, Rudi Airisto, and Jarmo Puskala

Official site: StarWreck.com

From the icy depths of Finland comes a surprise, and I’m not talking about the country’s defined border after the Treaty of Tartu. This is something that’s actually interesting, and fulfills one of the long held dreams of Star Trek nerds everywhere. No, not the dream involving Counselor Troi, Jadzia Dax, and a pool filled with lime jello. The one where Star Trek and Babylon 5 fight to the death!

How do we get this dream? Thanks to the free fan film Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning, available at StarWreck.com.

Similar to the previously reviewed Star Wars Revelations, except it’s a full-length movie, and is by far the best fan film ever made, bar none. Does that mean it’s perfect? Of course not! Minor limitations include the fact it’s direct out of Finland, which means it is in Finnish, so it requires subtitles for people like me who have Finnish around number 37 on their list of languages to be learned. Therefore, several jokes fly right over my head, and most non-Finnish people’s heads. Though that would probably explain a few random things, overall, the quality of the film more than makes up for the language barrier.

Most of the effects were done on some home computers, with actors filmed in front of a makeshift blue screen and sets drawn around them. There are also outdoor shots and a few real sets, this also allows lots of extras to be seen during some of the outdoor shots. The entire process is really amazing, taking seven years to complete (and even revolving reshooting scenes as the actors and effects got better and better.) The result is one of the best looking fan films, and one that really catapulted fan films to a bigger audience. Sure, there were a few groups already making their own series, but other fan productions gained new publicity when people searched for similar work. We’ll visit some of those other fan productions in due time.

When I first wrote this review, the only available film was Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning, the numerous older films made by the crew were mentioned in passing but not available. Boy how things have changed! You can now order a DVD with all of the other films! Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning is the sixth film in the series. The others are Star Wreck I, Star Wreck II – The Old Shit, Star Wreck III – Wrath of the Romuclans, Star Wreck IV – The Kilpailu, and Star Wreck V: Lost Contact. Star Wreck V was the first film to use live action actors, the other films were done with cartoon characters. Check them out!

In addition, there are now two versions of Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning. We’re reviewing the version released on the internet for free in 2005, but there is a special edition (the Imperial Edition) done for a DVD release where all the visual effects are redone. The most noticeable difference is that all the starships are redesigned into a more “Russian” look. At the end of the review I’ve added in the wallpapers of the new ships so you can see what they look like

Scotty, beam me into this recap!

Article about the monster in Star Trek XI: Reboot Frontier

Wired has an article up about the many-eyed monster in the new Star Trek movie, in part of the “Please come see our reboot!” press coverage. I am still not going to head out to see it in theaters, but I don’t mind reading about effects work.

Star Trek’s Beast Master Reveals How to Create a Monster
By Steve Daly
The blink of an ominous eye. The flash of a feral fang. The flapping of a grotesque limb. Creature guru Neville Page knows we’re scared. Every peek at monster flesh is part of the deliberate ploy to pull audiences into a film and set them up for a terrific payoff—the satisfaction of finally seeing the beast in its full-screen glory. How does Page keep us captivated from peekaboo shots to the big reveal?

Neville Page also did work on Cloverfield and the upcoming Avatar and Piranha 3D
stmonstertotal

Star Trek XI has a secret world premier last night

In what was billed as a free Star Trek 2 showing, the premier of Star Trek XI took people by surprise and even had Leonard Nimoy show up. The problem is, it is hard to get a good analysis of the film from the reviews online. Most of the reviews are generally positive, but few give specific details and some are nigh-unreadable (Harry Knowles…) The best review up is probably CHUD’s. I did hear on spoiler and if it is true than you can probably forget about history resetting back to normal…

This Ain't Star Trek XXX

Huslter magazine has announced they are making a Star Trek Porn parody to coincide with the release of the Star Trek reboot. I have the odd feeling this will be better than the actual mainstream film!

Check out the cast photo:
crew1_edited-1
Does Kirk look familiar? That’s because he is Evan Stone, porn star and also star of many Fred Olen Ray bikini films like Super Ninja Doll and Tarzeena.
And check out Sulu being an actual Asian guy! In porn! Bryant Tsuji is his name

Spock – Tony DeSergio
McCoy – Cheyne Collins
Scotty – Anthony Rosano
Uhura – Jada Fire
Nurse Chapel – Codi Carmichael
Khan (yes, that Khan!) – Nick Manning
and a few made up characters so they pack in more girls, who are Jenna Haze, Sasha Grey, and Aurora Snow

Trailer that is surprisingly safe for work:

Source: NSFW link: http://fleshbot.com/5192439/star-trek-vs-this-aint-star-trek-xxx-a-comparison

This is not the first Trek porn, nor will it be the last, nor is it the first with an Asian Sulu:
Naked Movie made “Star Trix” with an Asian Sulu (who also starred as Kumar in their Harold and Kumar porn parody!)
startrix

Could Sulu be the gateway for Asian males in porn? Do either of these Sulus actually get a sex scene, or are the Asian males given the shaft again (no pun intended)