Those that got the newsletter last night got a sneek peek at what is coming in 2008! 



Operation: Beta Shield started off as a sequel to the joint HF/Intrepid film Orphans of War.  However it quickly turned into a feture-length epic adventure that would re-unite faces from all across the fan-film world and seven seasons of Hidden Frontier. 

The film will also serve as a launch pad for a third spin off production to Hidden Frontier.  Operation Beta Shield will be a prelude to the new show and contribute to the tapestry of the Hidden Frontier/Odyssey/Helena and Intrepid universes. 

SUMMARY

Operation: Beta Shield (OBS) picks up halfway through Odyssey and Helena Chronicles season 1.  The refitted starship Excelsior is being assigned to the Beta Quadrant under the command of Elizabeth Shelby (Risha Denney) on a critical mission.  The Archein's may be planning another wormhole invasion of Romulan space and the Beta Quadrant is vulnerable! 

Meanwhile Klingon General Korg (Karl Puder) is on a top secret mission on Romulus when an attempt is made on his life!  Something must be done to shore up allied defenses against the Archein threat.  Shelby leads an allied fleet to the Kovalis System where signs of wormhole formation have been detected. 

Captain Hunter (Nick Cook) and the USS Interpid must ferry Romulan Procounsel Yeshva (Joni Bovill) to Romulus playing a delicate game of political Chess, and uncover the assassination attempt on Korg's life before it is too late!  When the trail leads them to Vrijheid, planetary President Vindenpawl (Rebecca Wood) must decide where her loyalties stand.

This summary is only the tip of the iceberg of the plots, characters, and galactic scale the story will take in the film and beyond!

CAST

Confirmed Cast includes:

RISHA DENNEY - Elizabeth Shelby
NICK COOK - Captain Daniel Hunter
KARL PUDER - General Korg
REBECCA WOOD - Vrijheid President Vindenpawl
WAYNE WEBB - Lt. Cmdr. Matt McCabe
JIM DAVIS - Federation President Se'Fron
LUCY FARIA-COOK - Lt. Cmdr. Yanis Caed
JOHN WHITING - Dr. Henglaar
JONI BOVILL - Procounsel Yeshva
JULIA MORIZAWA - Lt. Cmdr. S'Tal
DAVID REID - Lt. S'Ceris
NICK BECKWITH - Lt. Simmons

Story by Rob Caves and Teleplay by Brian S. Matthews.  The new show will be a collaboration between the ODY/HC writing staff and others.

More cast will be announced as their participation is confirmed!  Nick may also have some names to add to this list though until the script is final, it is hard to say exactly who will have significant lines.

FILMING AND EXCELSIOR BALL

Operation Beta Shield will be filmed extensively around Excelsior Ball III, June 6-8th 2008.  It will not be filmed at the ball, but the week prior and perhaps the week after.  Filming on the new show will likely take place during that same two week time period to accommodate out of town participants.  Once a schedule is made, we will decide how many guests from the ball may be allowed to participate in the shoot. 

PRE-PRODUCTION

Pre-production has begun on the new show and for both projects, a new starship has been designed by USS Titan creator, Sean Tourangeau.  The ship is being modeled by staff modeler, Phillip Hogg.  Philip has begun interior sets along with Matt Boardman. 

A theme for the new show (also to be used in OBS) has been scored by Daniel Chan (The Wine Dark Sea) and performed by a live orchestra!

I hope you enjoy the fan productions we'll be releasing in 2008 as much as we enjoy making them!

Best,

Rob

:clap:

I'm glad we can finally talk about this. :)

Roll on June!

Now Siroc's the Federation President, eh? :)

Perhaps I'll come down early, offer what help I can. :)

Great news, but oh-boy you lot like to keep yourselves busy. Hope everything goes well with the production and I look forward to seeing the end result

Wow, the return of Jim and Becca, nice one.  Also, the theme recorded by a live orchestra - Very cool.

John - Push really hard, you only have 7 months to grow the beard back ;)

OH WOW!!!!!!

Um, wow!

[jaw hitting floor!]  WOOHOO!  ;D

So, what are we talking about when saying 'feature-length'?
Believe it or not, Rob, your Trek record still stands with the Angeles movie at around 74 minutes (I timed it at EB2)! HF-708 was only about 62 minutes.  But this story sounds like it would need a full 2 hours or so.

Very exciting.  Best to keep Matt McCabe and Miss Vinderpawl on opposite sides of the room at all times!

Of course I am excited and happy.  Rob's parents, however, are going to faint when he tells them.  And the neighbors thought they had finally gotten used to seeing the blue people out in the back yard.... oh no!  Just wait till they hear some of the accents coming across the fence!  :)

Fun!

-- Rick

P.S.  So glad we could narrow down the actual location of that darn Beta Quadrant.  Otherwise the name of the show would be kinda goofy.  LOL

(And I have a really nasty speculation already... but I shall bite my tongue until later...)

While it might benefit from a full two hours, I don't think we'll need quite that long to tell the story. 

Feature films usually start at 90 minutes, however for fan films, I consider anything over 60 minutes to be "feature length" since there are no commercials, etc.  I don't know exactly how long this will be, but similar to the final HF episode, and the Odyssey pilot, I consider both of those to be "feature length" even though they are both around 60 minutes long.

Best,

Rob

Save it for the speculation thread down in the HF forums, Rick!  At least down there you can use spoiler tags.  ;-)

Rob

Done already, sir!

YES!!!!  More Shelby!  More Henglaar!  More Excelsior crew!  More teaming up with the Intrepid crew!  A whole NEW series being set up!  I CAN'T WAIT!
(Of course, I can't wait for 103 of ODYSSEY and the premiere of HELENA CHRONICLES either.  I'm very impatient that way.)
    Hey, wait a minute.  I didn't see Lefler mentioned!  Is this the old "She's on her honeymoon" ploy?

Holy cwap! You guys have a TON of energy! I am very impressed by your ambitions and accomplishments. I want to squeeze some of that energy out of you and bottle it into a carbonated beverage.  :-)

Wow...this is great with Orphans I though the ship and crew would never be seen again. Glad that I was mistaken!

Wonder if anyone will notice a Henglar without his Beard.

Thanks For Reading

Live Long And Prosper. . .

andy, picture this .. I will be waiting with a fried otter sandwich, an a bottle of new Cave soda hows that for a tie-in .
for OBS

This will be awsome, I can not wait.

I am already in line to download it. ;D It is good to see Jim Davis back on screen. I am also looking forward to the return of Dr. Henglaar.