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STO Tops the U.K. Charts
Last week, Star Trek Online was the best-selling PC game in the U.K.! Thanks to all our fans across the Atlantic for your continued support.
Link to the forum post
Previews Of NX-01 ‘Refit’ from 2011 Ships Of The Line Calendar
Orci & Kurtzman Update: Trek Talk at Film Fest + Ink Fox TV Deal + Cast Lost/Trek Actor For Hawaii 5-0 + more
Okudas React to NASA Proposed Budget Cuts
Recently, the proposed budget for NASA was announced and to the disappointment of many, Project Constellation, a six-year, nine billion dollar project which would have led men back to the moon, was not a part of future plans.
Star Trek designers Mike and Denise Okuda disagree with the new direction in the space program and have sent a letter to fans, encouraging them to write to President Obama and to their elected representatives in hopes of getting Project Constellation restored.
The letter is as follows:
Dear Friends,
As long-time supporters of real-life space exploration, Denise and I were disappointed to learn that the proposed NASA budget for 2011 would cancel Project Constellation and the planned return to the Moon. Constellation, as you may know, began in 2004, after the tragic loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia and its crew. NASA was determined to make spaceflight safer for its astronauts, and it knew that it had to give those astronauts a worthwhile mission: Exploring the final frontier.
Constellation is tasked with developing boosters, spacecraft, and other systems to provide a safer replacement for the Space Shuttle, one that would enable a return to the Moon for the specific purpose of developing the ability for humans to live on another world. Unlike Apollo, Constellation is designed to run on a comparatively constrained budget. Constellation’s Ares boosters are based on Space Shuttle technology, reducing their development costs and improving safety and reliability.
Since 2004, NASA has made a lot of progress with Constellation. New rocket engines have been designed and tested. A new launch pad has been built at the Kennedy Space Center, and a massive new launch tower has just been completed. Prototype Orion capsules are being tested, even as prototype moon rovers are trekking through the desert. Design work on Altair lunar landers and next-generation space suits is well underway. And last October, NASA conducted the successful first launch of Project Constellation, the Ares I-X Development Test Flight. We’re finally on our way back to the Moon, and heading out to Mars.
Now, the administration has proposed to cancel Constellation in favor of a “flexible path” of technology development and the use of commercial launch services for astronauts to get into orbit. While technology development is a very good idea, it’s not a substitute for an actual mission with a real goal. Without a goal and a specific plan, we believe that NASA, however well-intentioned, will simply end up spending a lot of money without actually going anywhere. It’s happened before. We don’t want it to happen again. And while we believe that commercial spaceflight will be a reality in the relatively near future, the fact is that no such capability exists yet. Spaceflight is a difficult, dangerous enterprise, and it would be foolish to gamble the future of our nation’s space program by abandoning systems that are already well into development. With so much progress already made, we believe that canceling Constellation would be a serious mistake.
The good news is that the proposed budget is just that: A proposal. Over the next few weeks the Congress will review the proposal and will make whatever changes it deems necessary. Constellation can be saved if members of Congress, and the President, see that their constituents want it. That’s why we’re asking you to support Constellation by writing to the President and to your elected representatives.
Here’s a website that we’ve put together with more information on Constellation, plus resources on how to reach your elected officials.
Space exploration is vital source of technology and innovation for our society. The space program is one of the most effective means to stimulate economic growth, both in the short term and the long run. And exploration inspires our young people, even as it helps us comprehend the wonders of the final frontier, now and in the future. Please join us in making that future a reality by writing letters and by spreading the word to your friends. We very much need your help, and we need it today.
Sincerely,
Mike and Denise Okuda
Star Trek Magazine: Star Trek Online
The Star Trek Online team describes the parameters of the new MMORPG, released last week, for Star Trek Magazine readers.
The key to Star Trek: Online was figuring out what had happened to everyone’s favorite races, then deciding where to go from there.
According to Star Trek: Online’s Christine Thompson, there was a “metastory to the game.” “We needed to figure out what happened with the Romulans, the Klingons, the Cardassians, etc.,” she said. “And once we had all those pieces in place, we needed to figure out where they move from there. There are things you go through in the game tutorial that are relevant later on, when you’ve ranked up to admiral. There are things we’ve set up that run all the way through the game, and beyond.”
“Beyond” means planning for the game’s future, which will be evolving and changing. “Because this is an MMO, the cool thing is, we’re never done developing it,” explained Thompson. “We’re always going to be adding new stuff and new story to it. So I’m already thinking six months out, twelve months out, ‘Okay, what are we going to do next? How will the story move forward? When the players find out, for example, what was really behind the destruction of Romulus, how will that affect everything else?”
“The first three major areas of the game each have fourteen episodes,” said Thompson. “Those episodes each constitute about forty-five minutes to an hour and a half of play, and they’re strung together to tell a larger coherent story. In addition, we have all the patrol content and exploration content, and those are little one-act tasks players can perform, but they’ve given me opportunities to drop in a little more story for the overall game.”
If the Star Trek: Online structure seems like a new season of Star Trek, that’s not accidental, according to Star Trek: Online Executive Producer Craig Zinkievich. “All of the content in Star Trek Online, the vision of the content in the game, is to make it feel as though you’re in an episode or a movie,” he said. “And like those, you’re never in one place for any period of time. You’re in space, you receive a distress call, you beam down to a planet and rescue some scientists, beam up to a space station, collect vital data, get back to your ship in time for a climactic space battle. That is really what we want the content to feel like, players constantly moving back and forth between environments. You’re constantly moving, constantly exploring.”
Star Trek Magazine issue 24 arrives at newsstands on February 9.
Star Trek Magazine: The Klingons Strike Back
Klingon fans will enjoy the latest issue of the Star Trek Magazine, which features the warrior race.
In addition to the Klingons, Star Trek Magazine issue 24 will give readers “exclusive access” to the Star Trek DVD launch party with comments from some of the stars of the movie, and “Tribble Tweets,” a new way at looking at The Trouble with Tribbles.
J.G. Hertzler shared his memories of playing General Martok in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, admitting that he didn’t know much about the Klingons when he first began. “Well, first of all, I didn’t have any depth of knowledge about Klingon culture or behavior, so whether or not I could ‘be’ a Klingon and fill those boots was a question for me,” he said. “However, I’m a former college football linebacker, so I figured I had a shot at it. I don’t know how much you know about football, but you have to play it in a state of controlled frenzy, which is not unlike being a Klingon.”
Part of being a Klingon was intimidating the non-Klingons so that Martok could do what he needed to do in a scene where the regulars were being tested to make sure that they were not shapeshifters. Hertzler explained how he went about doing that. “As a recurring actor or guest-star coming onto the show, to try to intimidate the likes of Avery Brooks on anything is impossible, but I took a whack at it. I had to risk making these people hate me in order to be effective in the scene, and I think I succeeded.”
“I have to admit that I underestimated their ability to separate actor from character,” said Hertzler. “Nana Visitor [Major Kira] was one of the first people to say how enjoyable it was to have me play Martok. She was extremely supportive and made me feel good about being there. It’s hard to walk into the middle of a well-oiled machine like Deep Space Nine and fit in. It takes a little machete and stiletto action, or should I say Klingon bat’leth wielding, to carve out a comfortable niche for yourself. It was hairy for a few minutes, but it turned out okay.”
Martok was there to stay and Hertzler had plenty of time to figure out his character. “I had almost four years to work on my character and develop various aspects of Martok,” he said. “And as the writers got to know me, they began adding new character traits with regard to my own life, gestures and outlook on things.”
Star Trek Magazine issue 24 arrives at newsstands on February 9.
Orci and Kurtzman Nominated for Razzie Awardandnbsp;"Worst Screenplay" for Transformers 2
Klingons and Star Trek Online in the Preview of New Issue of Star Trek Magazine
First Look at Doug Drexler's Enterprise NX-01 Refit fromandnbsp;2011 Ships of the Line Calendar
Editorial: Going Boldly, or Barely Going?
Michael and Denise Okudaandnbsp;on Project Constellation and the Future of Space Exploration
Sci-Fi TV Sunday: Lost, FlashForward, V, Smallville, Doctor Who, Heroes, Caprica + more
Flashback: Super Bowl 2009 Brings Star Trek to the masses
Zachary Quinto Talks Star Trek Online
Editorial: President Proposes Bold New Approach to Exploring the Final Frontier
STO Update: Gameplay Video of Guardian of Forever & Doomsday Machine + STO Galaxy Map + more
Friday Article Roundup
Happy Friday! Our first live week has been great. Read on for some end-of-week STO articles.
Retro Review: Schisms
Members of the crew experience bizarre symptoms and have flashbacks of alien abductions.
Plot Summary: While mapping a globular cluster using a modified deflector grid, several crewmembers experience strange afflictions. Riker has trouble staying awake, LaForge’s VISOR fails, Data’s chronometer falls out of sync with the ship’s, Worf believes the ship’s barber is trying to attack him, and an explosion appears to damage a cargo bay though minutes later there is no sign that anything occurred. Since the symptoms seem to affect people who worked in the cargo bay, LaForge investigates and discovers a bulkhead in molecular flux from a subspace field that has somehow penetrated the ship. Troi tells Riker that she has talked to several crewmembers experiencing extreme anxiety and suggests getting them together to talk. When they meet, they realize that they all had identical experiences of being cold and trapped. On the holodeck, they work together to recreate an operating table upon which they all believe they were experimented. Crusher examines them and finds that they have inexplicable injuries – particularly Riker, whose arm appears to have been cut off and reattached. Moreover, Data’s self-diagnostic indicates that he was off the ship for more than an hour. Picard learns that two more crewmembers are missing; when one is returned a short time later, he dies in agony before he can speak. Because Riker has apparently been taken several times, Picard agrees to let him use stimulants to stay conscious and wear a homing device so they can try to track him when it happens again. That night Riker is removed from his room and taken to a dark laboratory. Aliens try to sedate him, but he remains aware of his surroundings, spotting the sedated missing ensign. The aliens try to widen the subspace rift in the cargo bay, but the Enterprise crew is able to close it just after Riker gets himself and the ensign through the rift. Data wonders whether the aliens were explorers like themselves, but Riker recalls the dead crewman and Picard worries that the abductions could happen again.
Analysis: I think of “Schisms” as The X-Files episode of Next Gen, though of course the theme of alien abduction in science fiction is much, much older. Humans get abducted and experimented upon by malevolent aliens! They wake at home, unable to articulate exactly what has happened to them, and people think they’re crazy! Since this is Star Trek and we know these characters, they don’t actually turn out to be crazy, which takes away some of the fun — when it was Fox Mulder, we were never completely sure, even when we were seeing what he was seeing. And being Starfleet officers, none of these characters are given to fury or panic for more than a few seconds at a time. They go looking for answers. At least we really see why Troi is invaluable – while Crusher doesn’t guess that all these random complaints might be related, and while LaForge can’t guess how an engineering anomaly could be affecting people from all over the ship, Troi decides that it would be helpful for everyone having similar experiences to talk to one another and see if they can recreate what’s been troubling them. No sooner does she get them all on the holodeck than one person’s memories and mental images begin to trigger the next. The scene where the crewmembers together design and modify the table upon which they’ve been tortured, in a dark room with grid lines but no other distractions, is as creepy as anything this series ever pulled off.
Sadly, the rest of the episode doesn’t have the same level of intensity, and by the time we actually get to see the evil clicky aliens, there’s almost a comic element to their menace. This is largely because the intense situation is muddled with far too much technobabble. What I think happens, and correct me if I’m wrong, is that the aliens create a subspace field using tetryons, and since LaForge says that shouldn’t even be able to exist in the Enterprise’s space-time continuum, no one notices them using it to abduct crewmembers. So the Enterprise shoots its gravitons, which may or may not be what LaForge is channeling through the deflectors to speed up mapping the globular cluster and thus bringing the ship to the attention of the aliens – this point is really never made clear, since Riker is falling asleep on the job before LaForge implements it. Somehow the gravitons open a rift right where Riker needs one, then close it before the aliens can retaliate further and destroy the Enterprise. It’s hard to take any threat to the ship seriously, since we know that even if it blows up, some temporal reversal will bring it back. It’s also a pretty good bet that Riker, LaForge, Worf, and Data will all survive.
This means that the biggest threat would appear to be to the woman working with the others to recreate the alien torture chamber; everything about her screams red-shirt, even though she’s wearing blue. But after getting us all involved with what happened to her while she’s working with the command team, she’s not even among the missing when the computer finally does a head count. (You mean to tell me the computer doesn’t notice every time a comm badge goes completely AWOL? Not the best security system, Starfleet.) Sure, it’s sad that a crewmember we don’t know has convulsions and dies, and that another crewmember we don’t know looks practically dead when Riker finds her in the alien lab, but since those people aren’t even involved in building the operating table with Worf and LaForge, we have no connection to them, and we aren’t given a reason to care about them as individuals – no one exclaims about how wonderful the missing ensign is at her job. I know the original series comes under criticism for killing off so many ensigns, but at least they usually get a few lines first – we have a reason to like them. These aren’t even characters we’re seeing, they’re just names in uniforms.
There are some wonderful major character moments in the early minutes when Data holds a poetry reading that nearly bores the entire crew – not just the afflicted Riker – to sleep, ending with a delightful nerdy ode in honor of his cat Spot. (”O Spot, the complex levels of behavior you display/connote a fairly well-developed cognitive array.”) It would make sense for some glitch relating to that event to connect to the threat – for the problem with Data’s chronometer to be directly related to the clumsiness of his poetry, for LaForge to mention Data’s stickler-for-detail personality when they disagree about how long he was gone. There’s not really a B storyline, just vignettes, so the dialogue has to be sharp. In the scenes where it is, like Worf complaining to the barber about his last haircut and getting lectured about using hair conditioner, it’s a terrific show…but in the scenes that get bogged down with tetryons and gravitons, it’s hard to work up much concern even for Riker when he’s strapped to the torture table. Plus the special effect that carries him off the ship is cheesy beyond belief. Evil aliens are a risky prospect at best, so on a show that can’t do horror-movie gruesome or kill off a regular, it’s important to make the audience care about the victims and keep the storyline focused. I wish my reaction at the end was more of a shudder at Picard’s concern that the aliens could return for more, rather than an instinctive desire not to have to sit through any more of the same technobabble.
