STAR TREK: PHASE II "Kitumba" Sneak Peek

Discussion in 'Fan Productions' started by Ryan Thomas Riddle, Feb 27, 2012.

  1. GSchnitzer

    GSchnitzer Co-Executive Producer In Memoriam

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  2. Ian Keldon

    Ian Keldon Fleet Captain

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    Too cool for words!
     
  3. USS Excelsior

    USS Excelsior Commodore Commodore

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    Any indication of when we'll get to see it, and that flashback academy episode? Was always more interested in those episodes than that Child one that we've already seen in another incarnation.
     
  4. Danlav05

    Danlav05 Commodore Commodore

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    Origins/The Protracted Man sounds good too, filling that gap in the canon.

    The thing is, Phase II is almost the unmade series brought to life. Sometimes when one reads about an unmade project you think 'Aah damn, that would have been great!' What James and co are doing is killing birds with stones - doing season 4 & 5 of TOS, and Phase II, just set BEFORE The Motion Picture as opposed to after.

    Also unmade TNG stories, a short story adnd TOS oncepts are being used, with completely newly written episodes from the Trek professionals.

    James has been teasing the later uniforms though - the TMP and TWOK styles, so I wonder if they want to make it 7 seasons to match the 24th Century shows? It would be great! The only thing is they'll have to redo the sets completely.

    Either way, I ALWAYS ALWAYS looks forward to what comes out of Port Henry NY. Alreadly with Kitumba, The Protracted Man, Mind-Sifter etc. there is a lot to look forward to!
     
  5. Barbreader

    Barbreader Fleet Captain In Memoriam

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    Danlav05, I'll be delighted if Phase II makes 22-26 episodes, that is, ONE season. The only real way I can see more happening would be if CBS decides this would be a better thing to run on Saturday or Friday nights than reruns or game shows. (I refuse to dignify reality shows with being 'better' than Phase II on ANY level).
     
  6. Ryan Thomas Riddle

    Ryan Thomas Riddle Vice Admiral Admiral

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    While it's good to see that this episode doesn't open with yet another space battle as the hook, there's not enough dramatic tension to reel the audience in. Which isn't just a flaw with this teaser but also a huge flaw in John Meredyth Lucas' writer's work draft (not the same as a story draft) of the Part One script.

    Lucas' script suffers from a prolonged dialogue exchange in the transporter room that lasts nearly 15 pages! Mostly, the scene is one extended exposition drop. In fact, Lucas' script doesn't open with the standard teaser open and just jumps right into act one.

    So I can see where the PHASE II folks had a difficult time trying to truncate the material into a hook that would snare the audience's attention. I have to applaud them their effort. That being said, they missed an opportunity to create a much more dynamic and exciting teaser that would leave the audience guessing all the way to the reveal of Ksia.

    A friend and I, both of us having read Lucas' Part One script, were taking about what would've made it much more dynamic. We came up keeping the ruse of a medical emergency that was in Lucas' script. Rather than dissecting both the original script opening and PHASE II's teaser, I thought I would post what we came up with as an example of creating a more tense, dramatic opening that doesn't need a captain's log or a transporter room filled with too many characters.

    18 words of script description came from Lucas. The rest is mostly based on the set up that Lucas had in his script, which I thought was a wonderful opportunity to create an opening that moved and kept the audience guessing with not one but two reveals at the end. A mysterious "doctor" and a Klingon that would have the audience guessing, "who are they?" and "why are they on the ENTERPRISE?"

    Also, having the McCoy and Kirk rushing through the corridor gives movement to the teaser, keeps things in motion. It also matches the ships racing to meet each other then keeping pace with one another.

    While I know that PHASE II has a limited corridor set, they've done some good camera work to make it seem like they have endless corridors, such as in "Blood and Fire" and WEaT. So I think they'd be up for the challenge of shooting a scene with characters rushing through the corridors.

    Act one would then open with a brief Captain's Log explaining the Enterprise speeding near the Klingon Boarder, start as we left off in the teaser with the "doctor" being introduced as Admiral Li (from Lucas' original). Keep the scene limited to Kirk, Li, Ksia and McCoy at the top of act one. I'd probably trim the dialogue as well to keep the pace, but still give the viewer enough information that war is imminent, and that the ship has to take a risky mission deep to Qo'noS (or the Sacred Planet as in the original script).

    This way everything is more cloak and dagger than the PHASE II teaser where Kirk, Spock and McCoy discuss the "urgent, cryptic orders have mysterious diverted the ENTERPRISE" in the corridor, then walk into an exposition scene in the transporter room before the reveal of Ksia beaming aboard.


    I know that the audio in the teaser is a temp, but there is a redundancy quirk in the dialogue that can be easily fixed in another edit. Before the triumvirate walks into the transporter room, Kirk says, "Gentleman, let's get some answers." Then before he order Scotty to beam the Admiral and his party aboard, he says, "Let's get some answers, gentleman."
     
    Last edited: Mar 24, 2012
  7. Danlav05

    Danlav05 Commodore Commodore

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    I believe that's the plan - the final episode with Kirk and crew arriving at spacedock to see their new uniforms - and not liking them!

    To me this is canon, I banged on earlier about the 'fill the gap' stuff, and possibly my favourite series - yes we have to wait one maybe two years for each episode, but when we get it it is absolutely brilliant!
     
  8. PattyW

    PattyW Commander Red Shirt

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  9. USS Excelsior

    USS Excelsior Commodore Commodore

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    What's with the earlier stardate in this episode?
     
  10. GSchnitzer

    GSchnitzer Co-Executive Producer In Memoriam

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    Last edited: Mar 25, 2012
  11. GSchnitzer

    GSchnitzer Co-Executive Producer In Memoriam

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    It's sort of like the animated Star Trek episode--"The Magicks of Megas-Tu"--which took place on Stardate 1254.4. Stardates jump around--depending upon where you are in the galaxy.
     
  12. PattyW

    PattyW Commander Red Shirt

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  13. fleetcaptain

    fleetcaptain Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    What Connie was orbiting the station? I was curious and never got a response on the fb page.
     
  14. GSchnitzer

    GSchnitzer Co-Executive Producer In Memoriam

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    It's not scripted and it's below the level of resolution on screen. So there's no way to know; it's anyone's conjecture.
     
  15. PattyW

    PattyW Commander Red Shirt

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    I wonder if the VFX guys would know?
     
  16. tobiasrichter

    tobiasrichter Lieutenant Red Shirt

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    Sure - we did a lot of shots of the three ships circling K7, some where you can very clearly see those ships - but not all will probably end up in the final cut, nevertheless it was just fun to set them up.

    The other connie is the NCC-1700 Constitution and the destrover is the NCC-500 Saladin.