I thought that might be too much of a spoiler, Dennis That's why I snapped my pic a few seconds before that discovery. The scream was excellent, wasn't it? An excellent scene, for sure!
I thought about that, yeah. The teaser has been online since 2005. Although our, uh, "extended release schedule" means that the whole episode is not yet available, it strikes me as kind of ridiculous to try to hide "spoilers" for a segment that's been in distribution for four years.
I never had that specific discussion with Jimm, but I was thinking the same thing when overhauling "The Atlantis Invaders". I made a mental list of things, visual and plot-wise that I always wanted to see on TOS and never did. There was a space battle in the script, but I think I was successful in giving it a twist that made it pretty unlike any aired Trek episode in how it played out.
You have me curious, DS9Sega... do you think we'll ever see "The Atlantis Invaders"? Are you saying you helped write it? Was any filming ever done on it? Are they any future plans with Jimm? So curious....
It was written with the original intent of the shipboard scenes being shot concurrently with The Tressaurian Intersection, but the scenes were not shot as they had to focus on getting TTI wrapped. As to writing, I wrote it. Not the original version that used to be on the ExeterStudio site, but a complete rewrite. The script was in what I like to call a draft 2.5 state. The shipboard scenes were final, but the planteside scenes were going to get a thorough revision. I don't feel comfortable speculating on what others might do. I will say that "Atlantis" was a bigger episode than TTI in terms of numbers of sets and costumes and characters, and likely even VFX (and this is after I scaled it back from the original concept), and I think perhaps overly ambitious for a fan film, but there was some neat stuff in it, and what I hoped would be a romance for the Captain that would be adult and not cringe-worthy. As for me, it's been too many years and I've gone onto other projects and done some short films on my own and probably wouldn't do any more work on it even if they wanted to shoot it. I'd just hand over all my notes and say "good luck!"
As exciting as "Atlantis Invaders" sounds, at this point, I think it's best to be eager to see the finale of "The Tressaurian Intersection." Then when fans everywhere recognize what an incredible, amazing episode of Trek that TSI really is, then we'll be able to talk about sequels.... Right, Dennis?
Sure. I'm getting out of the Star Trek "business" for now, though. I think I lean a little in the "reach for the impossible" direction - it was impossible to make "The Tressaurian Intersection" under the circumstances that we did. Therefore it will have taken us a little over five years to complete it.
I do have a honest question though (seriously): When TTI was first released, the plan was to release one part per week over four weeks. Now, I can certainly understand the odd delay, but I would love to know what changed so drastically in post production in that the producers originally thought it was that close to completion, when in fact it wasn't?
I can't begin to cover that for a variety of reasons, but among other things the very optimistic - okay, naive - post-production schedule didn't allow for any major delay. For example, a single visual element that required a change in artists necessitated starting from ground zero on a shot that we thought was fairly well along. That pushed back release of Act One some months - at which point, additions to the families of a couple of the producers required their curtailing the time they were investing in the project for a while. The whole plan - again, naive - was lined up like dominoes and when the first couple fell...well, you know dominoes. No, that doesn't begin to explain the length of time this has taken. There's a lot more having to do with unanticipated needs for reshoots, and a really strong drive on the part of several of the principals to raise the bar on what they deliver with each new segment. And then a whole bunch of other stuff. But it's the best sort-of-little-bit-of-an-answer I can give you right now.
Dennis, I sure do appreciate you getting in these forums and representing Starship Exeter so well. You have helped keep this project alive for many fans who would've given up on it had it not been for your posts. Do you think there's any chance of the final act being released on or before July 20th, 2009, to commemorate the first moon landing in 1969? That would be special, wouldn't it? You can let Jimm know I suggested it. It's gotta be close now, right?
Sadly, no chance that it will be this month. Probably not next month either, but I can't say that with certainty. We are massively closer than we were, though, before David and Scott and Michael and others put on the full-court press to get the effects finished a few months ago.
Whoa... glad you advised on this, Dennis. I was really starting to think that it was coming VERY soon. Sounds like you're guessing Sep/Oct? It's going to be hard to believe when it happens! Thanks...
Thank you for the update. I have to say Starship: Exeter is a pleasure to watch, as much as I wish I could watch MORE of it. I've included it in my review blog, http://startrekreviewed.blogspot.com/. HF is the only group that has more than one Blog number... and HF has NINE, three of which are just empty and waiting for other series. But I haven't really started reviewing HF because it's sheer volume is intimidating, and I think it's relatively easy to locate. I've watched the first four years of HF, though. I am hoping to help the less determined Trek fan find fan films without reading 100 BB entries, or hunting through 16 games, 12 audio sites, and 6 film websites with no real films on them.
Nice review site...I hope that the Farragut animated episodes get reviewed on your site. Act 1 goes live Monday, and the full episode will be done by next month.