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Star Trek: Hidden Frontier

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Star Trek: Hidden Frontier
File:Hf wallpaper v8.jpg
The USS Excelsior traverses the subspace currents in the Briar Patch. (Full size image: 160K).
Created byRob Caves
Developed byRob Caves
StarringDavid Dial
Risha Denney
Larry LaVerne
John Whiting
Joanne Busch
Wayne Webb
Barbara Clifford
Bobby Rice
J.T. Tepnapa
Adam Browne
Country of originUSA
No. of episodes45
Production
Running time35-40 minutes approx.
Original release
Networknone
Release2000 –
2007 ?

Star Trek: Hidden Frontier is arguably the longest-running of the fan film projects that have become an increasingly common fixture of the internet video scene. Although fan films have been produced for almost as long as there have been film fans, they were generally few and far between before the advent of home video. It is only with the two pronged revolution of digital video production/editing and the advent of internet distribution that they have become something more than a curiosity to be shared by a few intimates.

Produced on digital video, the shows sets are almost 100% virtual, using a green-screen chroma keyed process to place performers into virtual settings.

As is the norm for a fan film Hidden Frontier is set within the continuity of a narrative that its creators were fans: in this case the era of the Next Generation series. Episodes revolve around the starship USS Excelsior (a sister ship to the famous Galaxy class USS Enterprise), and its home base, Deep Space 12, in the "Briar Patch", a wild region of space introduced in the film Star Trek: Insurrection.

However, what makes Hidden Frontier unique is the sheer volume of episodes (over 42 at the time of this entry), and its focus on character relationships. It is also notable for incorperating gay and lesbian characters and sub-plots, something the various professionally made Star Trek series and movies have skirted for decades. 1.

Produced by Rob Caves, Hidden Frontier is in it's "7th season" and is produced by volunteers in Southern California.

Plot

Based in the Briar Patch (Tikrit Expanse) introduced in Star Trek: Insurrection, on Deep Space 12, a space station in orbit of the planet Ba'ku. It follows the daily life of several officers serving onboard the station and a few of the ships stationed there. Early in the series, a Class III species, The Grey are introduced and become the primary villain, with a story arc that spans the entire series. Later, secondary villains are introduced including an Andorian trader and later the Tholians along with a man named Siroc.

The crew interacts with many established species from Star Trek, including Andorians, Ba'ku, Klingons, Romulans, Son'a, and Tzenkethi.

Background Information

Star Trek: Hidden Frontier premiered in 2000, an offshoot of the fan series Voyages of the USS Angeles, produced by the Star Trek fan club of that starship name in Southern California, and for legal reasons only circulated among the cast and crew; no copies of the earlier series are available to the public and no reference to the show is even made on the club's web site. Hidden Frontier inherited the setting, Deep Space 12, and several of the characters from the Angeles series, but quickly went on to establish its own identity. Two later HF episodes made use of footage originally shot for Angeles episodes that were never produced.

Because of the expense involved in building and storing the sets required for all the locations used in the series, the series is filmed on a green screen in the garage of one of the producers. As a result, there is a slight green glow around the actors. Some have criticized this as making the series unwatchable; however, this is due mainly to the volunteer nature of the production work, and the limitation of the software being used. The CGI used to create the external visuals, on the other hand, have been lauded for being excellent, and draw upon a large number of volunteers to create the shots.

By season 7, this glow problem has largely been reduced. The 5,6 and 7th seasons show just how far the show has come in terms of design work. While the show is still a long way behind The New Voyages in terms of effects and design it shows how far fan film has come in that it is an amateur web based series, with an arc plot and which manages to produce a season of shows a year. In most cases fan films are either one offs as with most Star Wars ones or appear at a much slower rate. This is the case of the New Voyages which produces (at most) one episode a year. The New Voyages does however work with far more advanced equipment, has the aid of professional effects people and has the ability to build large sets all of which take a great deal of time.

Episode Listing

For a key to the abbreviations and additional notes, shown thus <1>, see the end of this section. The ratings for "Best of season" come from a series of polls done on the Hidden Frontier forum in January 2006.

  • SEASON 01
    • 101, __/__/00 "Enemy Unknown, Part 1"
    • 102, __/__/00 "Enemy Unknown, Part 2"
    • 103, __/__/00 "Enemy Unknown, Part 3"
    • 104, __/__/00 "Two Hours" Blp
    • 105, __/__/00 "Perihelion" Blp - Voted best of season
    • 106, 29/04/01 "Echoes" Blp
  • SEASON 02
    • 201, __/__/01 "Refugees" Blp
    • 202, __/__/01 "Yesterday's Excelsior" Blp - Voted best of season <1>
    • 203, __/__/01 "Old Wound" Blp
    • 204, __/__/01 "Great Starship Robbery" Blp
    • 205, __/__/01 "Encke" Blp
    • 206, __/__/01 "To the Stars" Blp
    • 207, __/__/01 "Fire in the Heart" Blp
    • 208, __/__/01 "Coward's Death" Blp
    • 209, __/__/01 "Worst Fears, Part 1" Blp
  • SEASON 03
    • 301, __/__/02 "Worst Fears, Part 2" Blp
    • 302, __/__/02 "Worst Fears, Part 3" Blp
    • 303, __/__/02 "Heroes" Blp
    • 304, __/__/02 "In Memory Of" Blp
    • 305, __/__/02 "Modus Operandi" Blp
    • 306, __/__/02 "Santa Q" Blp
    • 307, __/__/03 "Ashes" Blp
    • 308, __/__/03 "Voyage of the Defiant" Blp - Voted best of season
    • 309, __/__/03 "Hell's Gate, Part 1" Blp
  • SEASON 04
    • 401, __/__/03 "Hell's Gate, Part 2" Blp,Prw
    • 402, __/__/03 "Piracy of the Noble" Blp,Prw - Voted best of season
    • 403, 11/09/03 "Addictions" Blp,Prw
    • 404, 28/10/03 "Grave Matters" Blp,Prw
    • 405, 03/12/03 "Crossroads" Blp,Prw
    • 406, 26/03/04 "Entanglement, Part 1" Blp,Prw
  • SEASON 05
    • 501, 02/05/04 "Entanglement, Part 2" Blp
    • 502, 13/06/04 "Imminent Danger" Blp
    • 503, 07/07/04 "Darkest Night" Blp,Prw
    • 504, 04/08/04 "Security Counsel" Blp,Prw - Voted best of season
    • 505, 24/10/04 "Epitaph" Blp,Prw
    • 506, 01/12/04 "The Battle is Joined" Blp,Prw
  • SEASON 06
    • 601, 27/02/05 "Countermeasures" LoRes,HiRes,Blp,Prw - Voted best overall episode
    • 602, 12/04/05 "Dancing in the Dark" Blp,Prw,iPod
    • 603, __/06/05 "Homeport" Blp,Prw,Prv,iPod
    • 604, 12/08/05 "Beachhead" Blp,Prw,Prv,iPod
    • 605, 28/09/05 "Vigil" Blp,Prw,Prv,iPod - Voted best of season <2>
    • 606, 24/11/05 "Her Battle Lanterns Lit" LoRes,HiRes,Blp,Prw,Prv,iPod
  • SEASON 07
    • 701, 17/03/06 "Heavy Losses" Blp,Prw,LoRes,HiRes
    • 702, 29/04/06 "Bound" Blp,Prw,LoRes
    • 703, 23/06/06 "Past Sins" Blp,Prw,LoRes
    • 704, __/08/06 "Hearts And Minds"
    • 705, __/__/06 ""
    • 706, __/__/06 ""
    • 707, __/__/07 ""
    • 708, __/__/07 ""

key;
LoRes - Low Resolution format available
HiRes - High Resolution format available
Blp - Blooper reel available
Prw - Preview trailer available
Prv - "Previously ..." trailer available
iPod - iPod video format available

Notes

Trivia

  • The character of Lefler was originally played by Kelly Jamison, but because of work obligations, she had to pass the role on to Joanne Busch.
  • The character of Ro was originally played by Arthur Bosserman, but he decided to leave the cast after five seasons to pursue professional interests in music. The role is now played by Bobby Rice.
  • Most episodes are released in low resolution, to lessen the risk that the episodes are burnt to DVD and sold, endangering the legal position of the show's producers.Later episodes were put in high resolution when it was aggreed that nobody would buy this crap. At this point only three episodes -- a special edition of season 1's fourth episode, "Two Hours," season 6's premiere and finale, "Countermeasures" and "Her Battle Lanterns Lit," and season 7's premiere, "Heavy Losses" -- have been released in high quality.
  • For Seasons 2 and 3, nine episodes were produced each season. The later seasons were reduced to six, as nine episodes seemed too much work for the cast and crew. Nonetheless, Season 7 will consist of at least eight episodes.
  • Hidden Frontier's theme music is taken from the film Galaxy Quest.
  • The show's incidental music is generally taken from other Paramount productions (both Star Trek and non), if only to minimize the number of copyright holders that might take offense and issue a cease and desist order.

See also

Media

Official websites

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