Star Trek: Odyssey - The Wine Dark Sea

Star Trek TNG+ Era, Odyssey - reviewed on February 25, 2008 by Earl Green

Star Trek: Odyssey - The Wine Dark SeaStardate 61251.3: Faced with a critical shortage of antimatter to power the ship, Lt. Commander Ro orders the Odyssey to double back to a planet that has an apparently unmanned outpost with stores of antimatter there for the taking. But when Ro leads an away team - including the feuding Lt. Stadi and Subcommander T’Lorra - to the planet, the first casualty happens all too quickly and no antimatter is obtained. By the time Ro and his team are beamed back to the Odyssey, the Archein are in orbit. The Starfleet ship escapes the trap, but is still short on supplies. Ro begins to come up with a daring new plan to resupply the ship, but before he can commit to it, he must deal with the fact that no two members of his crew seem to be able to agree on how best to execute his plan.

Watch Itwritten by Beo Fraser
directed by Beo Fraser
music by Daniel Chan

Cast: Brandon McConnell (Lt. Commander Ro Nevin), Michelle Laurent (Subcommander T’Lorra), Matthew Montgomery (Dr. Owen Vaughan), Julia Morizawa (Lt. Maya Stadi), Tim Foutch (Ensign John Gillen), Sharon Savene (Seram Archein), John Whiting (General Morrigu), Adam Browne (Caecus), David O’Neill (Vito), Jacob Hibbits (Jenaan), Sam Basca (Lt. Alex Wozniak), Ben Euphrat (Lt. J.G. Teles Shanaar), Ross King (Medical Nurse)

Notes: Ensign Gillin reveals that he hails from Thunder Bay, Ontario. T’Lorra apparently has Tal Shiar ties, and Dr. Vaughan once served on Starbase 395, where he got to know other Romulan officers. The Archein auto-defense satellites were first encountered by the crews of the Excalibur and the Intrepid in the crossover fan film Orphans Of War.

Review: In this second installment of Odyssey, Brandon McConnell takes over the role of Ro Nevin from the departing Bobby Rice, who had made the role his own on the fan series Star Trek: Hidden Frontier. I can’t tell if it’s the performance or the script, but the “new” Ro comes across as almost noncommittal as his crew bickers all around him. The story is standard “new captain has to visibly take charge” fare, but the problem is: McConnell as Ro never does take charge. In one early scene he asks, “Do I need to be here for this?” as two of his senior officers argue. Intentionally or not, that line points up pefectly the episode’s buggest structural weakness. (click here for the rest of the review…)

Star Trek: Orphans Of War

Star Trek TNG+ Era, Hidden Frontier, Intrepid - reviewed on January 28, 2008 by Earl Green

Star Trek: Orphans Of WarStardate not given: Following the Archein’s attempt to conquer and colonize Romulan space (see Star Trek: Odyssey’s Iliad episode), the U.S.S. Excelsior and U.S.S. Intrepid land the unenviable task of trying to remove robotic Archein weapons platforms which are trained to instantly fire on any Romulan ships they detect. The Federation ships slip through those detectors - at first - but then they’re fired upon, and key crew members are beamed off of both ships and into the automated control vessel for the weapons platforms. Captain Hunter and Lt. Caed from the Intrepid find themselves stranded alongside two of Excelsior’s crew, watching an “indoctrination” message recorded by one of the Archein’s leaders. Hunter decides that no one in Starfleet uniform will be indoctrinated today, but putting up a fight - even against a completely unmanned automated station - may be more difficult than either crew imagines.

Watch Itstory by Brian Matthews, Rob Caves and Nick Cook
teleplay by Brian Matthews
directed by Jennifer Cole
music by David Beukes

Cast: Risha Denney (Captain Elizabeth Shelby), Nick Cook (Captain Daniel Hunter), Joanne Busch (Commander Robin Lefler), Lucy Faria-Cook (Lt. Commander Yanis Caed), Rick Corbett (Commander Ben Nostrom), Wayne Webb (Lt. Commander Matt McCabe), David Reid (Lt. C’Seris), John Whiting (General Morrigu), Nick Beckwith (Lt. Simmons), Tyler Bosserman (Lt. Commander Andrew Barrett)

Review: This clever little vignette, weighing in at around the 15-minute mark, brings together the crew of Hidden Frontier’s Excelsior and the crew of the U.S.S. Intrepid, a 24th century Trek fan series made in Scotland (see our review of Intrepid’s first episode, Heavy Lies The Crown). As much as I gripe about an entire story being shot against a chromakey background so CGI “sets” can be inserted later, Orphans Of War points up what may be one of the few advantages of shooting that way: an international cast can be in the same production without a budget big enough to cause an international incident. (click here for the rest of the review…)

Star Trek: Odyssey - Iliad

Star Trek TNG+ Era, Odyssey - reviewed on January 14, 2008 by Earl Green

Star Trek: Odyssey - IliadStardate 61125.8: A massive Archein assault force creates a wormhole from their staging ground in the Andromeda Galaxy to Romulan space. The Romulans are beaten back and their worlds are earmarked for Archein colonization. Now on friendly terms with the Klingons and Federation following the Tholian War, the Romulans turn to their allies for assistance, and Starfleet launches its unmanned Iliad probe through the wormhole into Archein space, discovering a weakness in the enemy’s enormous wormhole-generating gateway. Fitted with a new version of the experimental slipstream drive, the Odyssey and an allied Klingon ship are sent to destroy the gateway and return home. Lt. Commander Ro Nevin is assigned to the Odyssey, while his spouse, Lt. Commander Corey Aster, oversees the slipstream drive on the Klingons’ ship. But their battle plan doesn’t survive contact with the enemy, and Odyssey’s captain and XO are killed during the attack. As the Klingons race back to Federation space using the Archein wormhole, Ro assumes command of Odyssey and uses the volatile slipstream drive core to destroy the gateway. Out of touch with the Federation and Starfleet, out of spare parts, and almost out of places to hide, Odyssey is left under the command of one of its junior officers - and a formidable enemy who will stop at nothing to take revenge.

Watch Itstory by Rob Caves
teleplay by Rob Caves
directed by J.T. Tepnapa
music by Dex Craig

Cast: Bobby Rice (Lt. Commander Ro Nevin), Michelle Laurent (Subcommander T’Lorra), Matthew Montgomery (Dr. Owen Vaughan), Julia Morizawa (Lt. Maya Stadi), Tim Foutch (Ensign John Gillen), J.T. Tepnapa (Lt. Commander Corey Aster), Sharon Savene (Seram Archein), John Whiting (General Morrigu), David W. Dial (Admiral Ian Knapp), Joni Bovill (Proconsul Yeshva), Karl Puder (General Korg), Sterling Greene (Captain T’Lek), Jennifer Cole (Grand Majan Archein), Adam Browne (Caecus), Jacob Hibbits (Jenaan), Hugh Gehrke (Centurion), Jacob Reitz (Klingon Tactical), David O’Neill (Vito), Mark Ashton Lund (Commander Conner), Andrew Foster (Chief Hars Bixx), Sam Basca (Lt. Alex Wozniak), Joanne Busch (Commander Robin Lefler)

Notes: Odyssey is a spinoff from the long-running post-Voyager fan series Star Trek: Hidden Frontier; the characters of Ro Nevin and Corey Aster are carryovers from that series. The character of Maya Stadi is intended to be a cousin of the deceased Lt. Stadi who ferried Tom Paris to Voyager in the pilot epiosde of Star Trek: Voyager.

Review: I’ll admit that I have seen only clips of the fan series Hidden Frontier, Odyssey’s progenitor, and barely have a working knowledge of its plotline, so there are a few things here which seem to be references to Hidden Frontier plot points that baffled me a bit. With this being the launch of a new series, albeit a Hidden Frontier spinoff, I wanted to stumble into the fray with no preconceived notions. Odyssey is a mightily impressive series from a standpoint of production values - almost all of the signature Trek alien makeups are outstanding (especially the Bolian, who looked so authentic that I’d swear Michael Westmore himself made the actor up), the costumes are more than credible, and the exterior space CGI scenes are up there with almost anything that Paramount itself put on the screen under the Star Trek banner. The actors are ready for prime time, and they have some sparkling dialogue to work with. (click here for the rest of the review…)

Star Trek: Intrepid - Heavy Lies The Crown

Star Trek TNG+ Era, Intrepid - reviewed on June 25, 2007 by Earl Green

Star Trek: Intrepid - Heavy Lies The CrownStardate 59422.9: Assigned to a routine colony patrol in the Charybdis Sector, the U.S.S. Intrepid’s chain of command is disrupted when Captain Talath, making a shuttle supply run to carry power equipment to the surface of Chiron IV, encounters inexplicable interference on her final approach. Faced with a choice between killing his own captain when transporters and tractor beams can’t lock onto the shuttle, or letting it crash near a Federation colony and cause widespread destruction, Intrepid’s first officer, Commander Hunter, orders the destruction of the shuttle - and his captain. Though Starfleet praises him for quick and selfless action, Hunter is riddled by guilt and reluctant to accept a promotion to captain of the Intrepid. An unknown enemy strikes, leaving several ships near the colony without power - and without power for life support, over a thousand aboard those ships will die. Hunter gambles that since Chiron IV is the site of these disruptions, the source must be on its surface, and takes several of his senior officers on an away mission to find the cause before time runs out. But once he beams down, Hunter finds that the colonists are so terrified by the attacks that they’re ready to lash out against anyone they don’t know - including an unfamiliar Starfleet crew.

Watch Itwritten by Nick Cook
directed by Steve Hammond
music by David Beukes / Intrepid theme by Dylan Feeney

Cast: Nick Cook (Commander Hunter), Risha Denney (Captain Shelby), Mike Cugley (Rick Garran, PhD), Steven Pasqua (Lt. Cole), Lorraine Kelly (Watch Officer), Lucie Cook (Lt. Caed), Jen Graham (Ensign Stiles), Ferdos Ahmed (Ms. Raman), Shire Smith (Captain Talath), Alan Score (Commodore Prentice), Lyn McGarity (Governor Finney), Steve Hammond (Captain Merik), Lee Andrews (P.O. Kreiger), Gordon Dickson (Lt. Commander Garran), David Reid (Lt. S’Ceris), Alan Christison (Lt. Commander Navar), Jeff Hayes (Admiral T’Yla), Brandy Seymour (Computer Voice), Roy MacPhail (Chief Gaines), David Beukes (P.O. Zondag), Martin Lejeune (Ensign Faldor), Kara Dennison (Captain Dalonna), Elie Hirschman (Tom Backus), Eric Busby (Bishop), Judah Friese (Judah), Sean Koury (Freman)

Review: The flagship production of a group of dedicated fans based in Scotland, Intrepid is the first Star Trek fan film I’ve watched to skip past the Kirk era and go beyond the end of Voyager and Star Trek: Nemesis. Depending on who you ask, that’s the direction in which future Star Trek tales should be headed, rather than revisiting the past. I’m not sure I entirely agree with that school of thought, but there’s something about returning to the 24th century that’s just reassuring - it takes me back to fond memories of my teens and twenties. (click here for the rest of the review…)

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