I will say, my first post was a little off setting and I apologize for being in a bad mood, but I'm just wondering if he thinks he's the best guy to play Captain is all. It's not a slight, just an observation as noone can see everything all the time which is only natural and the work that he has done thus far is exemplary so I was just wondering what his mindset on that was. I'm just lucky he didn't jump down my thoat as he had every right to do. Proves he's a nice guy as well.
Maurice, I wanted to try to write a main theme for Polaris, as I have CDs of the incredible amounts of sci-fi music that I write a la TOS, but fell short myself of even coming up with something satisfactorily, so there you are. Though if I may say without getting killed, that if he uses the same guy who did The Exeter music, that was pretty enjoyable though his main theme wasn't all that good either as it was a paraphrase of a TOS phrase. It's really hard to write a good sci-fi theme anywhere near as good as J Williams Star Wars and J Goldsmith's TMP. I was just noticing BTW how similar the Wars theme is to Brahms second piano concerto - almost interchangable and the end of Mahler's first symphony as well as other things especially the Holst 'Planets' rythmic chords that he uses in the extended version, so in a way it's very derivative of a lot of things and almost a pastiche like the movie itself was. How ironic. OTOH, the Goldsmith tune is very declamatory in an almost Beethoven fifth symphony kind of way - the same symphony Nasa launched into space aboard the voyager probe. Though that three eight notes and a quarter mean one thing in the first movement - fate knocking on the door - and another thing in the last movent - sort of like 'Where is the rent? You got to get out' verses 'Here is the rent. You f'n B'' Oh well.. We're sending that off to deep space to meet God - and maybe his landlady too. Who knows. They could be one and the same.
I said elsewhere that it will be listening and reading material for the aliens when they attack a la 'Independance Day'. It probably told them where and how to find us too and what we look like, etc, but not how we taste, though.
Let me back up here as not everyone has the time on there hands to sift through the website and absorb my intent.
It all started here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lfub2v8LcBc
I spent a year building this from zero under the guidance of my old friend Doug Drexler. I had the help of Gary Kerr and his plans. I always wanted a large scale model of the best ship ever. 47 videos later it was decided to put her in space and do a short movie where I was ion the drivers seat for fun. I mean what true Star Trek Fan wouldn't?
The reason Rosie is involved and on the bridge is that she was with me everywhere I would go in the videos from picking up supplies to being under my feet in the shop where the model was born. The fans of my video loved her and she got more comments than I did.
But the short little film started to take on a life of its own and it led to the series.
I worked on TMP. As most of you know I did Spock's ears and other aliens. But I was also supposed to be in uniform and in the wreck room scene. I was terribly sick that day with the flu. I never got over it.
Then later when working on The Undiscovered Country I was going to play a Klingon bit part. But that didn’t happen either. I was stuck in the lab making Klingon forehead pieces.
Then was TNG. Yep I worked on the Farpoint . My shop made tentacles large enough to rap around the actors when they went inside the ship that later turned out to be a living creature. We shot with Frakes, Sirtis, Crosby, and Spiner. A very pleasant experience as they were all so nice. I had a security pass from Gene that allowed me full access to the sets and I remember talking my wife Gilly through all the sets. Our last stop was the bridge and as we stood there Mike Okuda was just install the commission plague. These were great times. We felt so lucky.
The night Farpoint aired for we were disappointed to see our shots were not used. I called production and it was explained to me that the footage was cut because they felt it was too early in the show to reveal the ship was a living creature.
This is my last chance as I turn 60 to be in Star Trek. Or so it feels. But after working in visual effects and as a filmmaker CGI artist it occurred to me I could do this on my own. Ad my wife is a very good writer and as much a fan as any of us. To this day we watch Star Trek every night before bed. TNG and Voyager mostly.
As for acting, yes I have been an actor of sorts. I first appeared in Laser Blast as the Alien at the beginning killed by the stop motion creatures. Later I played an alien in the Christopher Lee picture, “End of the World.” Then I played an alien in a Miller light commercial. Was a gorilla suit guy in my own suit in numerous TV shows, movies and commercials. The most notable was the King Kong Transamerica spot for the 84 Olympics.
I was the master puppeteer in the Terror dog in Ghost Busters. I was even in the inside the Terror Dog a few times. I was the hand grabbing Miss Weaver in the face that came out her chair. I designed and made the hands themselves.
I created and puppeteered the MacDonald’s singing moon character Mac Tonight for many years. This is just some of the stuff I did there’s so much more but I’ll stop there.
So yes I know my way around a camera and feel at home in front of it.
My wife and I have been going through some bad times the last few years with her illness and my declining career. I for one won’t stop and will work until I drop dead face first into my Captain’s chair.
I love my work and always have. Every day I get up excited to build models, make movies and keep it all alive just as I did when I first did Spock’s ears. It never gets old. Always get better and this project has brought a joy to both us and a hope for the future. To be blunt and ask the question isn’t that what Star Trek is all about?
Sorry to be so long winded. I’m often not. But I hope this answers some of the questions here and I do so much appreciate your comments and kind words.
As to answer the question about the bridge. Yea it is an all CGI model I built from scratch with the help of my friend Will Smith who did all the accurate screen graphic animations. Some of the shots in the trailer are not final renders if they look a bit CG in close up. An yes he chair is real built it myself with the help from fans. Bruce Boyd was a huge help with the arm parts and com.
Well I think that about covers it. I’ll be back to work on the show this weekend with more updates to the site and here.
Steve
But worth it!
