Oh God, don't ask me to revisit The Atlantis Invaders script again. Oh wait, that'll never happen...if they thought Tressaurian was tough to pull off, Atlantis would kill 'em! Albeit, there are some bits in that script I would have loved to have seen filmed...especially the phaser fight with Cutty and the "invaders", and the coffee scenes.
My understanding is that it's been rewritten as a musical. They brought in some guy - Josh Wheedle or something? I'm sorry, but there are too many given names beginning with "J" involved with this show. That's why it's taking so long...the rest of us are never sure who we're talking to.
Personally, I'd love to see that come to fruition. What I heard of that particular plot always appealed to me. And before I forget, thank you Randy and Herbert.
Well, it WAS written, as originally the shipboard scenes were supposed to be filmed concurrent with "Tressaurian". I was going to do another draft of the planetary scenes afterwards, notably to address some plotting problems I never felt I'd quite nailed. The script I did was radically different than the original draft that had been posted on the Exeter website, as I streamlined the cast of characters and tightened the plot down a lot. I was proud of a few key scenes in particular: notably a phaser battle action scene that would've showed what a crack shot Cutty was (no misses), a romantic scene played mostly as montage which would have shown how two characters connected in a really un-obvious way, and a really nice dialogue scene where two former friends talk around a subject, but it's clear what the subject is. My favorite "bit" was taking a throwaway line about how you set a phaser to overload and turning that into a running bit of business which paid off twice in the plot, and illustrated that the romantic interest was as smart as the hero...if not smarter. I actually have about 30 pages of another "spec" Exeter script I started, but I like the story so much I might un-Trek it and make it something else.
“Tressaurian” had been a tough shoot, and it was a “bottle” show (shot almost entirely on the newly built ship sets). "Atlantis" had scenes on the ship with the crew, interior and exterior sets for the mining colony, numerous miners and aliens, which means more costumes and makeup. It was big. And this AFTER I’d pared back the scale of the script considerably from what had preceded my attempts. Here's a snippet of non-spoiler dialog from Act One. [LEFT]CALLAHAN (CONT'D) (genuine) I was sorry to hear that he... GARROVICK (quickly) Me too. (introductions) Commander Cutty, my chief of Security. CUTTY (knowing smile) I’ve heard a lot about you, Mr. Callahan. They shake hands. CALLAHAN All lies! Except the parts that sounded fun. (wink) And call me Brian. GARROVICK And Commander Harris, my first officer. CALLAHAN They sure make ‘em prettier than when I was in the service! Callahan tries to kiss Harris’ hand, but she twists it to a handshake then withdraws. HARRIS (deadly) A pleasure. [/LEFT]
Now that's decidedly TOS in tone. I like it, thanks for the peek. I'd still like to see it come to fruition, but I guess you can't have everything.
My favorite Exeter characters to write were Cutty and Harris, especially when I stuck them together and they had to bump heads.
I love Cutty. And the guy who plays him is great. I've always wondered if he's involved in local theater or something, because is acting is so natural.
I gotta say, I think the Exeter films were the best of all of the ST fan films, but it has been very dispiriting waiting forever for the next installment. I know they have day jobs, and it takes a ton of work to get these done, but I really have given up on seeing anything else from the Exeter folks anytime soon. More than anyone else, they captured the feeling of TOS.
Actually I tried very hard to get some animated Exeter episodes going, but they decided to go with someone else. I loved doing the Exeter comicbooks http://startrekanimated.com/exetercomic.html http://startrekanimated.com/tas_comic_si_main.html, and REALLY wanted to work with them again on an animated project.
Not as excited as I will be. Free at last, free at last, good God Almighty I'm free at last... Not that I haven't completely and thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of working on "Starship Exeter..." but even too many orgasms in one day makes my ears bleed, and this has been going on for four years.
Precious bodily fluids, eh? By the way ... you're finished your part, right? All the posting you do all over TrekBBS isn't proof that you're goofing off, right?