From the Ashes

It's no secret that Frontiers has had some release issues in the past. In fact we may be close to surpassing the record held by our forefather show, Renaissance. But there's another thing about Frontiers that isn't a secret: our readers are the best. They're about as patient as it gets, and when we do put new material out they never fail to share their thoughts for better or worse.

Ever since Ascent came out in November, we've had a number of false starts and hiatus projects that have kind of tanked.

So I'm extremely happy to announce that you can expect Frontiers to return sometime next month. Yes, next month. As in, May. My current target date is for late May, and since I'm writing 3 of the first 6 episodes (I know, I know...) I am saying late May. A specific date will be forthcoming soon.

All of those cool features we had lined up will still be released throughout the course of the season, as we continue to keep things organized and moving. In the meantime, we'll be making blogs and trying to stir interest back up.

I have faith those efforts will succeed as well, since as I said, our readers are the best on the web. And they deserve the best fan fic on the web.

Next month, they'll get it.

Three Months!? Seriously?

I can't believe it's already been three months since our last... well, anything. New release, blog posting, you name it.

Never fear, loyal Frontiers fans. Whilst I've heard it mentioned, in public and private, that our current hiatus brings back unfortunate memories of when our proud forefather and virtual series pioneer Star Trek: Renaissance left and never came back, I want to assure you that we WILL be back.

Our staff drought has come to an end with the addition of two new staff writers: Phil Wilson and Christopher Hare. We were all impressed with the samples these gentlemen sent in and I believe they will make a fine addition to our little family. With Adam Murray Briggs also now occupying the First Officer's chair, we're well prepared for the third season and the Restoration project.

So what are our goals moving forward into the much anticipated third season? Well, we've said a lot about that in the forums already. I have two main goals for the staff this season, so forget everything else you've heard: 1.) Produce high quality Star Trek scripts 2.) Produce # 1 on time, everytime

Sounds simple, right? I don't think the first part of that has ever been a problem. The second, however, has been a recurring issue. All of our first season, and the last few episodes of our second, were released sporadically. So our goal is to put an end to that.

Within the next week or two, we will announce the official launch date of Season 3. This date will be decided upon only after we're sure it will be possible to meet both that date and all subsequent dates. So stay tuned for that and more!

Where ARE You Guys?!

It's been almost two weeks since the launch of Star Trek: Ascent. I recently received the download numbers for the film, and I must say I'm happy and dismayed at the same time. For the first twelve days, Ascent has received 225 downloads; that's pretty amazing and is almost definitely a record for the series. My thanks to our loyal readers and our new readers alike for making that happen. With that level of interest, it's a sure bet Frontiers will be around for awhile.

Now you know why I'm happy. So here's why I'm dismayed. In our thread devoted to Ascent discussion, we've had maybe three comments from individual users, and that's it. These are our loyalists, folks who I can count on to share their thoughts about every episode. The download activity shows one thing: people are coming but they aren't talking.

I'd like to see more action on our message boards. So if you're a regular reader but not a regular forum visitor, I'd love to hear from you on why you don't share your thoughts too often. Send me an e-mail, a PM at the forums, or even just comment on this blog. I'm interested in knowing what we can do to improve our readers' experience at the message boards and get more folks posting. I would love to have more visitors posting their thoughts on Frontiers (and all of our VST shows) so please, let me know what it is you're looking for in an online community and we shall try to accomodate!

So now that Ascent is behind us, you can expect some serious special features as we prepare for season three. First on the agenda, "Ships of the Wagon Train". This is going to be a unique analysis of ships that our more Treknology inclined fans will drool over. It will feature a look at our "wagon train to the stars". The premiere "episode" if you will, is on 11/29 and will feature a mission overview detailing the scope of this unprecedented adventure, as well as a detailed look at the Enterprise-H and her role in the mission.

Accompanying the mission overview and Enterprise summary, you'll also get our official tech specs on the ship (hopefully full of details for you guys to debate over) and a look at the profiles of her command crew.

From there, each week we will release a new summary with new ships that will be part of the journey. Each will cover one "department" of the mission: explorers, cruisers, destroyers, frigates, fighters, and support vessels. Each department has its own function on this mission and its own number of ships. Not all of the ships are Starfleet either, so keep that in mind as well. You'll get an interesting look at some alien technology and how it stacks up compared to the Federation.

We're also planning a V-DVD release of Ascent, which will include plenty of special features. Stay tuned for news on that as well.

That's all for now. Don't forget to share your thoughts on what we can do to make the boards a more enjoyable and inviting place for all of you to come!

OMFG! The BORG!

That was exactly the reaction I was hoping for when we dropped the very big bombshell that the Borg are going to make an appearance on Frontiers, and that's pretty much what we got.

So what happened? So far as everyone always knew, I was very much against doing the Borg on Frontiers. That's pretty much true. They were such great villains initially, but their frequent appearance on Voyager, as well as Seven of Nine's constant reference to various Borg-related things, really emasculated them. The addition of the Queen in First Contact, and then again in Dark Frontier and the remaining Voyager Borg episodes, turned them into cookie cutter sci-fi villains instead of the compelling, scary monsters we had come to know on TNG.

One of my rules from the beginning for Frontiers was that we wouldn't touch the Borg. Eventually that gave way to a willingness to explore them if the story was unique and exciting. If it brought the Borg we loved back and yet still evolved them somehow. For the first two seasons of the show, we got a lot of pitches. That scene from "All the World's a Stage" where the Borg are suggested every staff meeting was inspired directly from reality. Jay shared some of our pitches for them in the forums some time ago. If inspiration strikes me sometime I might go back and get all of the pitches verbatim and post them publically.

Jay was always an advocate of bringing the Borg back, especially given the nature of the Frontiers Project. Clearly, if we were going to span the galaxy and beyond with transwarp hubs, the probability of running into the Borg again should be pretty high. And it was Jay's pitch that I ultimately greenlit.

I'm not going to reveal any of that pitch. It looks very different from what the movie ultimately became, but there are still a great many spoilers. Eventually we'll probably post the original pitch, but for now let's just say that the film does achieve what I wanted to do with a Borg story. It brings them back the way they probably should have been all along, in the days of "The Best of Both Worlds" and even "First Contact". But it doesn't let them stagnate either.

So here we are, just a few days away from Ascent's release. There's a lot of buzz around the movie, and I look forward to seeing the reaction to where we took things. Not just with the Borg but with the Frontiers project as a whole. I happen to agree with Joss Whedon's notion that a television episode shows the day-to-day but movies are event moments in characters' lives. This proves VERY true in many ways. Ascent is most definitely an event movie, for some of our characters, for the Borg, and for the galaxy at large.

I'd also like to announce another VST first. What's a big movie release without some previews at the beginning? Don't worry, we aren't going to subject you to thirty minutes of previews for movies no one wants to see, or commercials for cars or trivia quiz games. But we WILL be featuring a special preview of the forthcoming Star Trek: Knight's Haven. That's right, for two weeks only, every download of Ascent will feature a three page preview of Kyle West's upcoming VST series, Knight's Haven.

So when you add all this together, why wouldn't you want to check out Ascent this Friday? Come on, you know you want to. Resistance is... useless.

Gotcha.

It's all about to begin...

Things are falling into place. The script is done and being polished up. The trailer is about to be released. We've even got a "real" movie poster.

Yessir, things are about to get rolling. Once the trailer hits it's pretty much non-stop stuff until Season 3 premieres in January. We've got a load of features discussed in the previous post and more.

So what's the point of this brief blog?

To stir up some hype, of course. ;-)

Watch this space. The trailer for Ascent should be online VERY soon. (As in hours, not days.)

Countdown to the Trailer!

It's going to be an exciting few months for fans of Star Trek: Frontiers.

The trailer for our first feature, "Ascent", is done. It's an early cut. The edit is sound right now, all that needs to be done are the sound effects. Those will be added by audio master Henrik. Unfortunately, Henrik is away for a few days, so he won't be able to get to it until he returns. That said, we should have the trailer out by mid-October, two to three weeks before the film is released.

So what can you expect to see in this trailer? Quite a bit, actually. There's a story element that we were originally going to hide until the film was released. But after some discussion, we decided it would probably generate some interest (and spirited debate, I hope) if we released the trailer (which contains spoilers for this element, though not big ones) a few weeks before the film.

So after the trailer, expect to see some more of Paul Weaver's gorgeous artwork in the weeks running up to the film.

The film releases on November 3rd, which is a Friday and one of our previouly scheduled release slots from when S3 was supposed to be out by now. (Ha ha - remember that? Good times.)

But we're not done there. No, no. Things aren't going to slow down in the two months between the feature and the S3 premiere. In the weeks following the movie, we will be hosting a number of special features. Those include:

- Ships of the Wagon Train: A look at the starships that will be comprising the incredible journey to the Great Attractor. We'll have multiple views of the vessel, those tech specs fans eat up, and a brief crew compliment highlighting the major players on each vessel.

- Frontiers and The Great Attractor: A look at the very real Great Attractor (yes, it's a real anomaly and it's really out there).

- To Boldly Go: Highlights from STAR TREK: FRONTIERS. While the specifics of this one are being worked out, "To Boldly Go" will be a Frontiers-exclusive podcast that will feature a look at our first two seasons and, tentatively, real-time commentary from most of our staffers. It will be quite an event, and will be released a week or two before the Season 3 premiere.

I'm genuinely excited - I haven't been this excited about Frontiers in a long time. With the return of Randi and the addition of Adam, plus outstanding stories from our returning writers, and more great teasers and animations from Paul Weaver, Frontiers' third season promises to be very exciting.

And we're just a few weeks away from kicking it all off. I, for one, can't wait. I'm so excited I made this blog entirely about Frontiers. How crazy is THAT?

White & Nerdy

God, I am so white and nerdy.

I just realized this... Well, I guess I always knew a little, but when you hear a song saying as much, it really starts to sink in. I'm talking about the newest single from Weird Al' - "White & Nerdy". It's a parody of rapper Chamillionaire's "Ridin' Dirty" and it's filled with references to Star Trek - many of them - comic books, and a career in web design.

So either he's been spying on me, or i am the stereotypical white nerd.

I swear, it's like I'm becoming more and more of a nerd all the time. You see, back in high school it was all about wrestling. Then, i got into Trek, and recently I've added the title of "comic geek" to my resume. Oh well, who cares? I suppose there are many things you can be that are worse than a nerd. Still, the song is worth a listen - hopefully I'm not the only one who doesn't feel like it was written about them.

It's available free at Weird Al's MySpace page - http://www.myspace.com/weirdal

Well, the 2006 football season started Sunday for my Panthers, and it didn't start well. They lost 20-6 to division rival Atlanta. I'm not concerned for the season, but it seems like they always lose their first game. This is the 3rd straight year they've lost the season opener, the 2nd they've lost to a division opponent. Well, at least i didn't have to drive seven hours and spend $80 on a ticket to see them lose this year's opener. Last year I made the trip to Charlotte with some friends, and they lost 20-17 to the Saints.

It was announced recently that Ultimate Spider-Man artist Mark Bagley - who has been with the book from day-one - will be leaving after issue #110. This really sucks. His work is outstanding - he really is THE Spider-Man artist. I hope whoever they find to replace him doesn't change the look of the book too much. The good news is that he and writer Brian Michael Bendis will break the record for the longest collaboration between a writer and an artist with issue #103.

Okay... Maybe some Frontiers now? Yeah.

The movie teaser video is VERY near completion. Expect it out sooner rather than later. This one, like every one we release, is the best one yet. I really expect people to be blown away by this, for more than one reason.

Season 3 is shaping up nicely. The first few episodes are really starting to take shape from a story standpoint. We always knew the basics of what was going to happen, but now that we have some details, it's looking great. Expect more than one character from Trek's past to make a guest appearance, and I'm not talking minor characters either. These are MAJOR players - pretty much as big as it gets in Trek, and before you ask, yes, they do serve a purpose story-wise.

A big one in fact.

Speaking of which, one character - this one a recurring character from a canon series - will be joining the Enterprise crew. I've said this before, but now that it's getting closer, i figured it was worth mentioning again. I don't want to give too much away, but this is a character from one of the 24th century shows.

Like that's really a clue ;)