Star Trek: Intrepid

Star Trek: Intrepid is a series of live action fan films produced in Dundee, Scotland. The first video, Heavy Lies the Crown, was released on 26 May 2007. A trailer, various outtakes, cast and character information and a forum are available on their website.^[1] As the title would suggest, the production is based on the voyages of the USS Intrepid, the prototype for the Intrepid-class, the same type of vessel as the USS Voyager. Footage from Intrepid has appeared on GMTV^[2] CNN,^[3] ZDF ^[4] and in Channel 4 news features, and articles about the film have appeared in many newspapers, such as The Guardian ^[5] The Scotsman^[6] and The Daily Record.^[7] GMTV presenter Lorraine Kelly also has a brief appearance in Heavy Lies the Crown. Intrepid was also featured on the UK Sci Fi Channel's Sci Fi 360 video podcast.^[8]

Films

Heavy Lies The Crown

Stardate: 59422.9

Poster for "The Stone Unturned".

Heavy Lies the Crown is set a few years after Nemesis, and features the Federation Starfleet and the Merchant Service attempting to colonise the Charybdis Sector, a region far from the Federation's core.

Whilst surveying the planet, Merchant Service officers Dr. Garren and Captain Merik attempt to contact the Ariadne. Finding that both of their combadges are not functioning, they head back to the settlement.

An unknown, organic ship approaches Intrepid from the colony. When challenged, the vessel opens fire upon the Intrepid. Easily disabled by a single phaser strike, the alien vessel self-destructs to avoid capture.

The crew determines that an energy dampening field has disabled the colonial convoy, leaving them without life support. Despite their best efforts, the crew can only pin the location of the field generator down to a two kilometre radius somewhere on the planet. Against Navar's advice, Captain Hunter leads an away team to pinpoint the generator.

In space, a number of Surai ships drop out of warp, heading towards the planet. A fifteen-minute deadline is set for the away team.

Meanwhile, having found the generator, Caed's team frantically tries to fend off drone attacks as Intrepid tries to hold off the Surai vessels.

S'Ceris, Hunter, Garren and Merik arrive, holding off the drones. As Prentice prepares to obliterate the target area, and every living thing in it, a quick-thinking S'Ceris uses his combadge to provide a precise target lock for Intrepid's phasers. The generator is destroyed, shutting off the field, and disabling the drones. The Surai vessels retreat, and Prentice opts not to pursue them.

Heavy Lies the Crown was released on 26 May 2007. It features both actual sets and use of green screen. The exterior sequences of ships, including the titular USS Intrepid were rendered using LightWave.

The Conviction of Demons

The description of The Conviction of Demons on the Intrepid Encyclopedia makes it appear as more of a direct sequel to Heavy Lies the Crown. It is 60 minutes in length, longer than Heavy Lies the Crown was.

"While the Merchant Service prepares to make a final stand to defend the colony, Intrepid desperately hunts the one man who may hold the key to averting disaster."

Other Films

• Where There's A Sea...: This 11-minute short revolves around the Ariadne escorting a supply colony when it comes under attack from Orions. It was released on 25 July 2008.
• Transitions and Lamentations: The discovery of an older colony on Chiron IV leads an away team into danger. Meanwhile, Navar must decide where his loyalty truly lies. Released 29 April 2009.
• Machinations: Commander Navar tries to find out more about the mysterious Surai.
• The Stone Unturned: An unexpected visit from Jean-Luc Picard thrusts Intrepid into the middle of an archaeological mystery and a race against time.
• Orphans of War: A collaboration between Executive Producers Nick Cook and Rob Caves, the creator of Hidden Frontier and Odyssey. Cook (Captain Hunter), his wife Lucy (Lieutenant Caed) and David Reid (Lieutenant S'Ceris) traveled to Rob Caves' studio in California to film this ten-minute film set shortly after Iliad, the first episode of Star Trek: Odyssey. The Intrepid joins forces with the Excelsior to investigate an Archein weapons system left behind from their abortive invasion of Romulan space. Released 13 November 2007.
• Operation Beta Shield: Released in October 2008. It reunited the casts of Hidden Frontier and Intrepid in a full-length film involving rumors of a second Archien Wormhole, and the possibility of a new invasion.
• One of Our Own: Possibly released in Winter 2010. It reunites the characters of Shelby and Hunter, as they search for a friend believed dead.

Cast and crew

USS Intrepid Main Personnel

Supporting Cast

Film Crew

• Lee Andrew - Visual Effects Artist, Sound Design
• Jon Carling - Visual Effects Artist
• Nick Cook - Executive producer, Editor, Writer
• Gordon Dickson - Set construction
• Lucie Faria-Cook - Makeup artist
• Bodo Hartwig - Music and Dialogue processing
• David Reid - Makeup artist and set construction
• David Beukes - Main score composer
• Dylan Feeney - Main theme composer
• Steve Hammond - Director of Photography, Editor, and visual effects artist
• Mike Cugley - Visual effects artist
• Jeff Hayes - Graphics and banners on the website
• Steve Pasqua - Camera, Assistant Director

Ships

Star Trek: Intrepid features two vessels, Starfleet's Intrepid, and the Merchant Service's Ariadne.

USS Intrepid (NCC-74600)

Intrepid was the prototype of the Intrepid-class. The Intrepid was launched from Utopia Planitia Shipyards on 12 November 2370. It can sustain Warp 9.984 for 12 hours, or Warp 9.992 for twenty minutes. It has a number of shuttlecraft, including Reyga and Nazca (Type 9 shuttles), Dathon (Type 11 shuttle), Ballard and Forest (Type 16 shuttlepods) and the Aeroshuttle Gabriel Bell. The Intrepid's dedication plaque has a quote from Arthur C. Clarke, "The only way to discover the limits of the possible, is to go beyond them into the impossible."

SS Ariadne (NAR-11402)

The second ship that Star Trek: Intrepid follows is the SS Ariadne, which (unlike the canon Intrepid-class Intrepid) is an original design from Ships of the Starfleet (volume 2). The Ariadne is a retired Starfleet ship of the Akyazi-class, now operated by the Merchant Service. She is commanded by Captain Merik, and in 2382 was assigned to the Chiron Colonial Convoy in a joint effort between Starfleet and the Merchant Service to colonise Chiron IV. The science officer is Dr. Richard Garren, the helmsman Rafael Batista and the engineer Gita Nagaraj. Ariadne is armed with phasers. Ariadne had a very minor role in the first film, appearing in the opening montage and a brief scene in orbit only, although its crew had a larger role. It became more central in the following episodes.

The Chiron Colonial Convoy

A number of ships make up the Chiron IV Colonial Convoy. Most of the vessels are quite old; many are pre-Star Trek: The Original Series, and with spherical hulls bear resemblance to the Daedalus class of this era. Also in the convoy is an old Oberth-class science ship from the TOS era. Ariadne and Intrepid were assigned to this convoy. As its name might suggest, the goal of the Chiron Colonial Convoy was to successfully colonise the planet of Chiron IV, on the fringes of Federation space. However, the convoy ran into a few problems in the form of the alien race known as the Surai in the attempt.

The Surai

The Surai are a nonhumanoid species native to the Charybdis sector. They use organic-based technology, including bioships. The Surai scoutships appear to be smaller than an Intrepid class starship, placing them around the 100-metre to 200-metre mark. The scoutships use weaponry based on blue pulses of energy, similar in appearance to the pulse phasers used by the Defiant. Although the majority of Intrepid's crew do not appear to know who the Surai are, Lieutenant-Commander Navar apparently has access to a secret briefing on the mysterious species.

The Charybdis Sector

The Charybdis sector is located away from the main disc of the galaxy in the vertical plane, resulting in a fairly sparse stellar population. The sector has been surveyed, but not in great detail.

The planet Chiron IV, an earthlike planet, exists in this sector. It is reportedly ruled by the obscenely rich Kaibaman.

References

• Intrepid Website and Forums
• Heavy Lies the Crown film.

External links

• Film's Homepage
• Film's Wiki-based Encyclopedia
• Star Trek Intrepid: Transitions and Lamentations at the Internet Movie Database
• Star Trek: Operation Beta Shield at the Internet Movie Database