Yes, I abbreviated "The Way to Eden" as "WtE." "The Way to Eden" started its life as the story "Joanna" by D.C. Fontana. It morphed into "The Way to Eden." D.C. Fontana wasn't really happy with all the changes foisted upon her, and she used her pseudonym ("Michael Richards") for crediting. (It was co-written by Arthur Heinemann.)
I know that better than most. Things like repeated announcements of "We have enough scripts for several years in development so, no, we absolutely will not be taking any submissions of treatments or scripts until at least the end of the decade"....which is followed now by "James got a treatment he is excited about and we are developing"
^^^This raises an interesting question which I'm going to address in the topic about shelved episodes (link).
Thanks I was just wondering because it had been a while for an update when I was looking the other day. I knew Mind-Sifter was coming out and it's very good btw. Just wanted to have an update on the other potential releases.
Because I have that great photo of you and James, I can see (read) the tea leaves here... A blessing on you both.
We are currently looking and hoping for an late January/ early February but the official release date has not been decided yet
New "Next Voyage" trailer for "The Holiest Thing": [YT]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unJtORGwYok[/YT]
As I've said elsewhere, I'm quite excited and looking forward to this episode, particularly because it's Brian Gross' first showcase as Kirk as we know the character (i.e. not being brainwashed and tortured or trapped in the past with amnesia.) That said, I've got a few comments. (I know, I know, "The hell you say!") --The dialogue audio is all over the place. Echo-y, tinny, loud, and just plain inconsistent throughout. I don't know if this was something ignored in favor of getting the trailer out sooner but I also feel like I've seen a cut of this trailer before (perhaps the one release last year? I seem to recall Kirk's line being "You're way out of line!" to Carol, whereas here it's "You're way over the top!") so I don't know why the audio couldn't have been improved, if that's the case. --I'm a little confused about continuity in Phase II now. Takei's voiceover at the beginning announces "Next time, on Star Trek: New Voyages!" (likely because he recorded for P2 when it was still called "New Voyages") and Xon is wearing blue again, but we also see a vfx shot of the Enterprise in mid-refit, and it looks like Admiral Withrow is still around but in a different uniform (which I concede could just be because he's not an admiral yet or that the uniform hasn't changed)... but the problem becomes, "when" in the timeline is this episode taking place? "Mind-Sifter" was set during the original series' run, so that's fine. But here we have seen Xon in several episodes of Phase II (going as far back as "Blood and Fire," I think?) featuring Xon wearing gold. Yet in "Mind-Sifter," (set nearly two years before all the previous Phase II outings) he's wearing blue... as he is again, in this trailer. It's inconsistent. It's not out of the realm of possibility certainly; all I'm saying is that it caught my eye here, and it just makes me wonder when "The Holiest Thing" is supposed to take place but also wonder if this isn't just another problem stemming from Phase II's inability to decide what it wants to be. Finally, as beautiful a trailer as it is, I'm afraid I still have absolutely no idea what the film is going to be about other than Kirk hooking up with Carol Marcus and how somehow that's viewed as a bad idea ("That would be wrong and inappropriate...for a captain", Kirk says) by some of the crew, and given my previous thoughts on "Mind-Sifter" and how closely it hewed to the themes of friendship with Kirk and Spock in Star Trek Into Darkness, how much of this fan film was conceived as a reaction to Star Trek Into Darkness also utilizing the Carol Marcus character. Personally, I kind of liked the idea that "that little blonde lab technician" Gary Mitchell "aimed" at Kirk during their academy days was Carol, but if Phase II has come up with a compelling story here, I'll gladly eat my words.
The uneven sound was one of the reasons we pulled this episode from release at the 11th hour. Expect the sound to be better in the episode than it is for this trailer. (This trailer isn't new , of course; it was attached to the end of "Kitumba.") James Cawley has recently corrected me: "Mind-Sifter" doesn't take place back during the TOS era. It takes place immediately following it, but before other episodes we've done--with no obligation to be consistent with our previous episodes. This is, in effect, "New New Voyages."
Thanks for that, Greg. So... "Mind-Sifter" takes place after "Turnabout Intruder" but before all the episodes you've produced ("Come What May," "In Harm's Way," et al) ? Where would this place "The Holiest Thing" then? Did Xon start out in sciences and transfer to command and back, or is "The Holiest Thing" also a 'blast from the past' show as well?
Please do not try to fit Mindsifter or anything that comes after it with the episodes in which I played Kirk. The old episodes with me are in fact a separate entity. They will not play into anything going forward.
I'm even more confused now. Is "Mind-Sifter," then, to be a reboot of the Phase II series? Please don't misunderstand me, James. I loved "Mind-Sifter" and I appreciate your taking the time to comment. I'm just not sure I understand how it's all supposed to fit together, going forward.
As I understand it, yes. We have become disinterested in having it all "fit together." There have been enough cast and crew changes that James says he thinks of us as a "whole new show." So we have no allegiance to earlier episodes we have released.
Wow. That's amazing. I had no idea that was what was going on, but it also does clear some issues up as well. Thanks for elaborating Greg. EDIT: Have you guys reverted back to calling the series Star Trek: New Voyages or will "The Holiest Thing" be released under the Star Trek: Phase II banner?
I'm not sure. James has been keeping his own counsel o the issue. As I understand it (but even I have misunderstood before), the VFX have been completed with a refit Enterprise. Because it's a refit Enterprise, I think we are releasing "The Holiest Thing" under our P2 moniker. For any future episodes, I can't see what script/plot events would dictate in which time frame we should set our future episodes. We would seem to be permitted to set them in either a NV era or a P2 era. We'll see how it all plays out.
Yep, confusion. I still agree with myself, even if everyone else here thinks I'm nuts. I agree this didn't belong in the Axanar thread, though. I added to the confusion, which was NOT helpful. FYI, I have been getting upset and confused e-mails from folks who still consider themselves part of Phase II. The seem to think they have been cut out of a system which I don't think has been reformulated, let alone trimmed. I have been urging patience. It takes any organization a while to figure out what to do when the ground shifts massively. Why these folk write to me is beyond my ability to understand. I've never even been to a shoot, (ANY SHOOT OF ANY FAN FILM... ) let alone being James' bud with inside info.
It's worth noting also that while this trailer is not entirely new, it's also not the same exact trailer, either. This newly released trailer is somewhat updated and different from the trailer at the end of "Kitumba", as the Takei voiceover, improved visual effects shots, and lack of the old "'60s blurred TV" filter can attest.