Charmed... and Dangerous

Okay, I admit it. For no reason I can come up with, I am hopelssly addicted to Charmed.

Yes, Charmed. The long-running WB supernatural drama.

I started watching reruns on TNT a few years ago; the post-Doherty stuff that focused mostly on Cole. And I was pretty darn impressed. Enough so that I bought the first season on DVD (cheaply, I might add). I was inexplicably hooked. It's not the fact that the show features three uberhot leading ladies (although they're certainly far from being eyesores). It's not that it says something deeply profound or breaks any kind of ground whatsoever. It's not that it's overly thought-provoking or laden with deep spiritual or cultural observations. And I don't particularly believe in magic as it's portrayed on the show (which is kind of a generic mythos anyway) so it's not that.

The only explanation I can come up with is, I find it entertaining. Sometimes in a funny way, sometimes in a heartfelt way. For whatever reason, I'm drawn to the Halliwell sisters and their various plights and problems.

I'm approaching the end of season three on DVD and I just bought season four... as anyone who has seen the show knows, this is a pivotal moment in the series as it sees the departure of Doherty's "Prue" and the arrival of Rose McGowan's "Paige". I've only got five episodes left to watch with Prue in them, and I have to say I'm approaching this milestone with some trepidation. Regardless of whatever really went down on the show that prompted Doherty to leave, I'm very fond of Prue and of the three sisters as portrayed in the first three seasons. I like a lot of the early Paige episodes too, especially leading up to the 100th episode (the stuff I saw on TNT) but I can already tell it's going to be tough to see Prue leave. At the risk of sounding absurdly, patently, terribly cheesey, there was a real magic to how Prue, Piper, and Phoebe interacted. So I'm both looking forward to and dreading the end of season three.

So go ahead and laugh. I don't mind. I don't have a good explanation for being addicted to this show, except that it entertains me. It mixes a bit of supernatural thriller, a bit of melodrama, and a bit of humor and the result is a show I've found to be consistently good in its formative years. I've heard terrible rumors about the more recent stuff, but I'll reserve judgment until I get those on DVD. And I may just have to resist watching the series finale in May. (Charmed and 7th Heaven have both been axed by the new supernetwork, "The CW"... the bastard love child of the WB and UPN.)

Okay, so witches aside, let's talk my other great syndicated love: Star Trek. Or better still, let's talk about a script-based adaptation of that syndicated love.

Progress on the Frontiers movie was made this week. How much? Well, lots. And with lots more still to come. This movie is definintely shaping up to be one of my most enjoyable and challenging writing experiences since Frontiers launched. It's our first film, and VST's first film. And it's an event picture - a LOT of stuff happens that will fundamentally change the universe in which Frontiers is set. And there's a certain risk to that. When you take a formula you know works well and change it, you risk losing some fans. Not unlike, say, replacing one uberhot leading lady with another uberhot leading lady, and shaking up the basic mythos of your series. No, Salea's not going to be replaced by another uberhot alien babe... but the core of what Frontiers is about will shift.

And everyone in the cosmos is going to feel it.

It's Been A While...

... since I could hold my head up high, and it's been a while...

Okay, enough Staind lyrics.

For now, anyway. Our S3 teaser trailer is nearing completion, and I have to say it's the best one yet. Paul has really outdone himself this time. It's not only the best quality animation we've seen in a Frontiers teaser video yet, but it's by far the longest at well over 2:00 in length, and the most revealing in terms of the events to come.

Oh yeah, and back to those Staind lyrics. If you're not familiar with the band, then you will be soon. The teaser trailer's audio track (mixed by yours truly) contains a big piece of one of their songs. I won't say which one - but if you'd like, take a guess in the forums. It'll be interesting to see what some of you think.

A hint: it doesn't contain the lyrics from above.

Jay's Random Advice Column:
The Movie: V for Vendetta - SEE IT
The Music: Fort Minor, Rising Tide - BUY IT
The Show: Doctor Who - WATCH IT

That is all.

In my previous entry, I mentioned that the SciFi Channel's current Friday night lineup was not exactly my favorite thing to watch. After doing so, I noticed an ad for the BSG season finale, and realized that their finale night was upcoming. Now, I had given these three shows a bashing in the past, but I figured, why not give them a second chance? What harm could it do?

So, I prepped the good ole' Dish DVR to record the shows, and having watched them all, here are my thoughts:

I was right about BSG all along. The characters are detestable to the end, and the overall feel of the show is downright depressing. I will say though, that if I actually cared for these characters, the final scene of the Cylons marching into the city would have probably driven me nuts.

As it stands, though - I'm rooting for the Cylons.

Stargate SG: 1 needs to die. The episode itself wasn't that bad, but I just get the feeling every time I see these characters that it's time for them to hang it up. The addition of Ben Browder is the only thing that makes the series worth watching anymore. The only way I can see it continuing is if they start off with a whole new cast around Browder, and do something to shake up the series, because when you're main storyline is searching for an ancient artifact in, of all places, Camelot, you know it's time to call it a series.

Stargate Atlantis delivered the best finale of the night, and having seen only a handful of episodes up until now, I was still able to understand the situation and actually care what happens. I love the character of Doctor McKay, and Major Sheppard is great, too. The final scene when the Wraith reveal their destination as Earth was the perfect cliffhanger, but also the perfect example of why SG1 & Atlantis can't ever co-exist successfully. If SG1 ever bites the dust, Atlantis might just have a chance to do some special things, but until then, it will always be limited in what it can do.

I did enjoy the first two episodes of Doctor Who, though. Pretty original stuff, at least for me, as it was the first time I had ever watched the show.

Back to the land of Frontiers - That is what this blog is about... right?

A recent post in the REN forum regarding who should be cast as the characters gave me the idea for this next topic. By now, I'm sure everyone is familiar with our choices for the Frontiers main cast, but you may not be as familiar with some of our choices for many of our recurring characters. So, here's a brief rundown of some of our choices for recurring characters, past & present:

Jason Isaacs (The Patriot) as Aidan Rahl


Christopher Gorham (Jake 2.0) as B'Lin Tevis


John Glover (Smallville) as Majenka Sito


Lou Gossett Jr. (An Officer and a Gentleman) as Admiral Jim Farrels


Peter Greene (Pulp Fiction) as Grant


Alan Scarfe (7 Days) as Admiral Miller


That'll do it for now. Be on the lookout for more news on the movie, and the release of the teaser video mentioned here. It'll be well worth the wait...

Movie Update and More...

What's up, Frontierland? I had a bit of free time on my hands, so I thought I'd throw in my second post here.

For those of you who don't know, I do part-time videography. Mostly weddings. My beast of a PC has been giving me so many problems... one of the fans quit working, the motherboard went bad, it was plagued with performance problems, and it constantly froze up on me. Imagine doing forty minutes or more worth of editing and rendering only to have the machine freeze seconds before you hit the save key.

I thought about buying a new motherboard, but there were other problems with the machine. It was a thrown-togther unit, not really built terribly well. I decided it was time for a new machine, and my research led me to a place I never thought I'd go; Apple.

Growing up a Microsoft brat, I was indocrtinated with ideas about Apple computers. Even though the first computer I ever turned on was an Apple IIe. I still remember playing Oregon Trail back in sixth grade on one of those clunkers. But for a Microsoft Certified Professional as myself, we were taught to look down upon Apple; they were lesser machines, of lesser quality, not even worthy to be called computers. You couldn't rip them open and play with them like you could a PC. They didn't support Windows. They were to be avoided.

But now that I'm not in that field anymore, my opinion of Apple has changed; specifically, the all-in-one wonder that I'm entering this blog from... the iMac G5. I bought this machine specifically for video editing. I don't care about being able to open it up and play, or reinstall the OS five hundred times. This machine serves one purpose: to edit video. And from what I can tell so far, it does a damn fine job. It doesn't bother me in the slightest that my high-end, dual layer DVD burner is built into the back of the machine. I don't care that my 20" flat panel monitor is integrated into the unit. And the fact that everything is altogether like that saves me a great deal of desktop space, which I can use for my camera, tape decks, and all the other gadgets I need to do my job.

That, perhaps, best sums up the contribution of the iMac to the creative individual - it stays out of the way. Physically, and technologically. I've experienced no system crashes or malfunctions. It hasn't locked up, froze, or hung. It doesn't demand a great deal of technical knowledge to run it. It just sits there and lets me do what I need to do.

There are of course some problems, that segue nicely into my Frontiers topic of the day. For some reason, I can't read most of the video clips Paul has rendered up for the season three premiere video. I suspect it's a codec issue, but I'm still working it out. This won't affect my professional use of the machine in the slightest, so if I need to do our fairly small, modestly sized Frontiers video on my XP laptop it's not a big deal. But, it would be nice to do it on the iMac.

Speaking of the video - I've gotta tell you guys, it's really amazing. This is by far Paul's best work. I hope my editing is up to the task. Our latest staff writer - who is helping us out with several things, actually - Henrik - is scraping together some sound effects for the teaser as well. I really think Paul has raised the bar with this video. Everyone involved - from Jay Everington laying out the scenes to Paul's animation - has worked hard to get this thing looking great. I can't wait to release it.

As to the movie, I had hoped to be started on it by now but we've changed the fundamental concept a bit, so I'm still adapting the rest of the storyline. It was going to deal with three or four plotthreads, but the fact is that's just too much. I wanted to tighten the focus and explore Sito. This is Frontiers' first movie (and VST's for that matter) so it needs to have a strong focus on the captain and a tight storyline. As I told Henrik in the forthcoming premiere of the VirtualStarTrek Podcast, things happen in this film that begin setting up the rest of the series - threads begin here that will be easily traced all the way to our final episode.

And then season three will start with a bang. We've got a huge two parter planned for season three's opening, and it just keeps going from there. It's going to be an exciting time for fans and staff members alike. And for those of you who have passed over Frontiers, there couldn't be a better time to join us. The feature film will get you caught up on Frontiers lore so that you can jump into season three all caught up.

So, be sure to watch for the premiere VirtualStarTrek Podcast, coming later this month to VirtualStarTrek.com. Aside from an interview with yours truly, we'll be hearing about Knight's Haven (one of VST's forthcoming shows), a nod to our blog and the one from Star's End, some information on the upcoming Virtual Trek Awards, and more.

Keep checking back!

Reality Bites! Unless...

Is it just me, or does all of TV seem like one big reality show? I'm not just talking about American Idol, and Survivor, and such; even the modern-day tv drama seems to be reality-based. Shows like 24, Prison Break, Bones, and Grey's Anatomy are all very reality-based.

The one exception seems to be Lost, but the few times I’ve actually watched the show, it just struck me as being annoying. I'd rather watch Idol than most of this crap. In my opinion, there are currently three quality sci-fi fantasy drama's airing on television. Please note that I don't consider the Sci-Fi Channel's not-so-quality Friday night lineup of the original Stargate (time to call a series, folks!), Stargate: Atlantis (its not so original spin-off), and Battlestar Galactica (a couple smiles every few episodes never hurt anyone!)

That being said, my three series are:

Smallville:
I've just recently began following this series, and I highly recommend it to anyone reading this blog.

The Dead Zone:
Rumor has it, this summer's 5th season will be the show's last. Figures.

The 4400:
Finally, something interesting with aliens... actually... well, I don't want to spoil anything for anyone.

Anyway, back to my rant of reality tv. Watching one of MTV's current reality series got me thinking. If you're going to do reality TV, and if Star Trek is going to sit on the shelf for a few years, why not merge the two.

I can see it now...

Cue fantasy cloud:

SURVIVOR: VST
The staff of Virtual Star Trek get together in three groups (REN, SE, & Frontiers) and are given the resources to shoot their series respective pilot episode. We're talking live-action, great SFX - the works. Each week, the audience gets an inside look at how each staff works, and at any potential last-minute alterations to the existing scripts.

Join the production staff as they choose a cast, and who they want doing their SFX. Finally, each group airs their final product, and Trek fans around the world vote on which series they'd like to see continue production. The winning team is rewarded with contracts, and a new Star Trek series to run.

End Fantasy cloud...

Okay... so maybe I’m a bit ahead of myself. It would be interesting, though.

RANDOM NON-VST TOPIC OF THE DAY: NFL LABOR DISPUTE
I get the gut feeling that nobody reading this is a big fan of football (that's American football, the NFL.) Because of that, I’ll try and keep this brief, but I just need to rant about it for a minute.

In 1993, the NFL and its players (the NFLPA or NFL Players Association, aka the Player's Union) signed a collective bargaining agreement (CBA). Prior to the agreement, there existed no salary cap in the league, which meant teams could pretty much spend as much money of players as they had to spend. This provided an unfair advantage to team's with rich owners (rich being a relative term here, more like the difference between millionaires and billionaires). The NFL was dominated by 3-4 teams during that time.

In '93, when the CBA was signed, it placed a limit on how much each team could spend, making the NFL a much more fair league. Since then, the NFL has had loads of success, and made more money than... well, lots of money. Now, the CBA is on the verge of expiring if the two sides can't come to an agreement on a new one. Without an extension, the salary cap will become a thing of the past, along with a fair NFL.

It's said that the main dispute is between the millionaire owners, and billionaire owners on a revenue sharing agreement. Basically, the richer owners would have to share their cash with the less-rich owners, and don't want to. Greed seems to be the name of the game. It's not like these guys don't have the cash.

Besides, after the first $300 million, why bother keeping count?

BACK TO BUSINESS: EPISODES TO WRITE
I've agreed to write two episodes for our 3rd season. Hopefully, this time I can stick to them. I would like to have a couple of episodes under my belt by the time this thing's all said & done. 2.09 was written by me, but Joe & Craig helped out as well, so technically I’m a co-writer.

Anyway, both episodes are from pitches I made, and both deal with pretty important subject matter. S3's shaping up nicely, as is the movie. I hope you guys are prepared, because nothing we've done previously will prepare you for what is to come.

Cue evil laugh.

About Time:

I guess it's about time I actually start using this thing, I actually forgot it was here for a while.

Anyway, with season 2 now behind us, and a truly epic season 3 on the horizon, I thought I'd reflect a bit on some of the things we did during our 2nd season. Originally, the season was scheduled to be much longer than it eventually turned out to be. I think we had 26 episodes planned (actually, I believe at one point it was 28!) But, as happens frequently in the world of virtual tv series, delays came, episodes were pushed back, and moved around, until finally we decided to go with 16 as our new standard season length, which fits with our 1st season, so yeah... it made sense.

There were many great concepts that were dropped due to the change. I won't get into any details about them, because many of them may still see release later in the series, but I will say there were a couple of two-parters in there that I think could have been great, and I have a feeling we'll be using them after all. In fact, I just re-pitched one of the concepts as a standalone episodes for season 3 a few weeks ago, with a few slight changes.

You can't reflect on season 2 without first reflecting on the final episode of season 1. "To The End of Reckoning" launched the most important arc the series had ever seen. To this day, that arc is in my opinion, the best Frontiers has ever gotten as a series. Maybe you disagree, but it took me re-reading the episodes a few months after the arc was over to really realize it myself. The way each character plays into the story in their own way really helped the pace of the arc, because we were able to take a break from Lighthart & Rikilis in M106, and go to Sito on Spirus, and then to Salea & Kaol on Orion with Section 31, and then to Koth & Celeste on Earth. Nothing ever got "old" or dragged out longer than it needed to, because there was literally so much story to be told, from so many different angles, that it was impossible for any one aspect of the story to be overdone.

The arc also brought back, and introduced several key recurring characters to the series. Aidan Rahl had not been seen since the pilot, and was thought to have been killed, yet he has become our most important recurring character without a doubt. Zach Bradford was really just a one-off character in the pilot, but even he became a key contributor. Captain Johnson and the Avalon were introduced, and have been used several times since, and lets not forget the introduction of the new Enterprise-H.

As good as that particular arc was, if I had to name our best episode of the season, I'd go with 2.12:
"All The World's a Stage". So much of Frontiers is, and has been arc-based that it's very hard to name any one of the arc episodes "best of the season", or "best of the series" because each episode is so dependent on the others surrounding it. I'd put the story from the arc I just mentioned above any single episode, or other arc we've ever done, but I don't think any individual episode from the arc can be considered "the best" (although, 2.04 was one of the series' best, IMO as well.)

Looking ahead to season 3, I think I can say, without giving too much away, that it's going to be the most epic, important arc not only in the history of Frontiers, but if it were being done on a live-action, canon Trek series, of the entire franchise. No series, virtual or otherwise, has embarked on a mission quite like we're about to. Sure, DS9 had its war arc, and Voyager had 75,000 light years to travel, and yes, Enterprise had their expanse mission, but I think I can safely say none of them have ever attempted anything like what we're about to do.

To be honest, I'm not sure that you readers even realize the scope of what we're planning. The movie will help that, but I will tell you now that it won't be Voyager version 2.0, or the expanse mission, part 2. Also, if I were you, I'd be on the lookout for some pretty epic (there's that word again) twists & turns throughout the upcoming Frontiers movie, and in the early episodes of season 3.

That's all I've got right now. Hopefully I didn't spoil anything, and I'm hoping even more that I didn't overhype this thing, but I seriously doubt that. Just you wait & see...