Star Ship Polaris

[JES]

How many centuries from now is Star Ship Polaris set in, BTW?

Depending on how distant in the future we're talking about here, shields might not be as unrealistic as you might think. Last I've heard, NASA and the Air Force has been into research to make energy shields a real thing.

Though to be honest, for the next few centuries, we'll probably only have shields capable of deflecting interstellar debris, radiation, and maybe light forms of directed energy (which are just more forms of radiation). Deflecting dedicated weapons systems will be much harder to develop, and I'd imagine that ships might depend on polarized hull plating to augment their defenses, and that is if they use anything else in combat at all.

[Vektor]

I think that, as much as anything else, not having shields in this universe is a way to avoid endlessly tedious recitations of shield strength as dwindling percentages in lieu of, I dunno, actual drama.

[Maurice]

I happen to LIKE that this is different. I don't see the need to ape Star Trek and have all the tech they do. If this film had been too close to that, I doubt I'd have gotten involved.

[Admiral Buzzkill]

JES wrote:

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How many centuries from now is Star Ship Polaris set in, BTW?

A number of centuries.

JES wrote:

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Depending on how distant in the future we're talking about here, shields might not be as unrealistic as you might think.

Since we're talking about FTL spaceships it's not even a matter of what's "realistic," but what's interesting. The more magic you give people, the less peril they face, the less work they have to do, the more boring I find it.

Vektor wrote:

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I think that, as much as anything else, not having shields in this universe is a way to avoid endlessly tedious recitations of shield strength as dwindling percentages in lieu of, I dunno, actual drama.

Pretty much, yeah. It's been a long time since "Captain, the shields are down" has been anything but rote. Roger Ebert, bless the man, had my favorite comment about this in his review of Star Trek: Nemesis:

I've also had it with the force shield that protects the Enterprise. The power on this thing is always going down. In movie after movie after movie I have to sit through sequences during which the captain is tersely informed that the front shield is down to 60 percent, or the back shield is down to 10 percent, or the side shield is leaking energy, and the captain tersely orders that power be shifted from the back to the sides or all put in the front, or whatever, and I'm thinking, life is too short to sit through 10 movies in which the power is shifted around on these shields.

[Potemkin_Prod]

Dennis, how did the convention go? Was the audience receptive? And will the rest of us get a chance to see this 7 minute preview?

[Admiral Buzzkill]

About thirty people attended the showing and most of them were pretty engaged - got asked several times when the movie would be finished, and there were a lot of specific questions about points of dialogue. I think everyone involved with the movie - and there were eight or nine of us there - was very pleased with the crowd reaction.

We won't put this preview on the Internet in its current form. Maurice has cut together a trailer that I'd like to see completed and released in the next couple of months. That should be concomitant with working on the scenes of the movie from which the trailer material is drawn.

The preview we showed is one complete scene from early in the movie - we don't introduce the antagonist here, for example, or move off of one or two of our major sets. The trailer, on the other hand, ranges over the course of the film and various locations and characters in a really good way.

[CorporalCaptain]

Sorry I couldn't make it. My dog ate my homework. Err, the gas light came on on my dashboard.

[Potemkin_Prod]

Thanks for the info, Dennis. Wish we could've been there ourselves.

[sojourner]

I have it on good faith that the identity of Cumberbatch's character is never revealed in that seven minute clip. And Dennis has denied that the character is named "Bill the Cat". ack.

[Maurice]

Go to THIS POST <link> if you want to see a 22 second clip of POLARIS.

[sojourner]

That was great!, but LOL that last line!

Just awesome.

[Admiral Buzzkill]

We don't plan to release the Farpoint preview online, but I want everyone to have a chance to appreciate a few moments of the great work that's been and is being done on the movie by our incredible cast and crew - and particularly in the last several months by the post production artists who are pivotal in the ongoing effort to make this movie a reality:

Maurice Molyneaux - our film editor as well a producer who also served as 1st AD, set decorator, artist, background player and a great deal more. He's become the axis on which this project turn.

Michael Struck of NEO f/x - responsible for all the CG effects you see in the clip. Talented, patient, endlessly inventive and responsive on very short notice;
Ralph Miller - our Sound Designer, whose great contributions are very much in evidence here;

Hetoreyn - his work as a composer is unfortunately not presented in this short clip, but he did incredible work on very short turnaround for our convention presentation.

To all of them as well as to our actors and crew for their hard work over several years and ongoing encouragement and support - and to the folks who came out to see us on February 16th at Farpoint - I offer my sincerest thanks and gratitude.

This clip features Paul R. Sieber as Sam Fredericks, Nick J Cook as Duncan, Susan Cirrincione as "Howie" Howard, and Eric Ebersole as Frank Hudson.




Other actors who appear in the clip include Romel Punsal, Lucita Faria, Case Aiken, Gina Hernandez and Erik Braa.

[Psion]

Huh.

That's pretty good. The captain's reaction to the casualty report was perfect. The hologaphic display worked reasonably well and almost seemed incidental. The sound effects were a little too Trekkie to me, but that's just my opinion.

[JES]

[QUOTE=My Name Is Legion;7693051]

JES wrote:

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How many centuries from now is Star Ship Polaris set in, BTW?

My Name Is Legion wrote:

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A number of centuries.

Yes, I know it is a number of centuries, but how many centuries? 200 years, 300 years, or 4 or 5 centuries? Or has it not been decided yet which century Polaris will take place in?

My Name Is Legion wrote:

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Since we're talking about FTL spaceships it's not even a matter of what's "realistic," but what's interesting. The more magic you give people, the less peril they face, the less work they have to do, the more boring I find it.

Pretty much, yeah. It's been a long time since "Captain, the shields are down" has been anything but rote. Roger Ebert, bless the man, had my favorite comment about this in his review of Star Trek: Nemesis:

I have to concede you do have a point there.

[USS Intrepid]

JES wrote:

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Yes, I know it is a number of centuries, but how many centuries? 200 years, 300 years, or 4 or 5 centuries? Or has it not been decided yet which century Polaris will take place in?

I believe its intentionally vague, much like the early seasons of the original Star Trek. It takes place sometime in the future, could be a hundred years, could be a thousand.

Dennis may come in and say otherwise though. But that was my impression.