Coming Over the Horizon

When I first heard of Star Trek: Horizon I approached it with some trepidation. Fan projects are great, they keep the dream alive but the only decent ones are set in The Original Series because of cost, right?

Not strictly true. Since I started Some Kind of Star Trek in 2012 I've had to hit a fast learning curve to catch up on the multitude of fan films and series that are scattered across the plains of the internet. Some are great, some are OK and there are others which I can never unsee. It could  be said that the stronger offerings are those from the original show's era; Phase II, Continues, Starship Exeter and Farragut immediately spring to mind. The trouble is that there are a lot of others which tread outside of that "inexpensive" territory. A good deal of those shows which attempt to sit in the later eras of Picard, Sisko and Janeway rely on a vast amount of green-screen and CGI wizardry to fill in the backgrounds (sometimes the plot) and save a lot of money on producing hi-tech sets. This leads to varying levels of quality which can adversely affect the result whether or not the script and the acting are any good.

When I got asked to take a look over Horizon I already knew of its existence (see April's Blagger's Guide) but very little else.

At present the team have a Kickstarter fund which has now been fulfilled to help them complete the movie. Targeted for $10,000, Horizon has doubled that amount thanks to 366 backers.  But there's more to this project than just looking for money to get the job done. I sat down to watch the trailer and opening teaser scene and was shocked. Utterly shocked. 

I had visions of 1980's Atari graphics, poor acting and a certain "cheap" feel to the show as well as lasting about 20 seconds into the trailer before turning it off. What I can say is that I made it all the way through that trailer and the opening scene with ease. I wanted to see more. 

If this is a teaser of what's to come then this could be a great movie. Oh - and did I mention that it's set in the Archer era?!

Yep, I'll just direct you to read that line again; the time just after Enterprise. That has to be one of Horizon's unique selling points since very few projects will ever choose to use the least popular time period from Star Trek as their setting. I was never a super-fan of Enterprise but for once I wanted to see more. 

Taking us into the heart of the Romulan War and aboard the NX Class Discovery, this movie will allow us to see the fledgling Coalition of Planets seeking out any way they can to gain the upper hand in the conflict.

The accompanying website gives a decent level of background to the cast and crew who will be working on Horizon. Covering background crew and cast as well as links to a rather impressive range of video blogs documenting the project's progress as well as the teaser trailer. They haven't been idle either in coming forward as there are a large number of articles where project commander Tommy Kraft has been actively promoting this new episode in the Star Trek universe. All well and good but is this just all show? Is there any substance behind this great display of energy and enthusiasm? We know the money is there at least so what are fans getting?

Said Tommy Kraft shortly before the completion of the Kickstarter funding:

"We're in the final hours of our Kickstarter campaign and I couldn't be more excited about everything that's been happening with the project. We're approximately 60% of the way through principal photography and our Kickstarter campaign has garnered nearly 200% of our original $10,000 goal. Big things are in store for Horizon and I can't wait to share some of the latest work we've been doing."

Let's first turn our attention to the trailer. Running at just over one minute it won't remove a lot of time from your day and it'll certainly give you a taste of the bigger vision. Taking dialogue from the opening scene, the sequence has us in the melancholy of remembrance for comrades lost in the Romulan War while also treating us to damage and destruction on board the Discovery. It's short and aside from glimpsing the key characters, some fleeting shots of environments and a gorgeous flypast of the ship there's still much to be answered. The music framing the trailer is very reflective of Battlestar Galactica and I suspect that that show may have had a fair share of influence on the feel of the end result.

But the story doesn't stop there. The Horizon team have also provided us with the titillating opening scene.

These six minutes don't feature anything to do with Starfleet and instead sets up the plot, talks about exactly what Horizon is and also puts a face to the never-before-seen Iconians mentioned previously in Contagion and To the Death. It's a wonderful scene which evokes a sense of Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome through the graphics (yep, seriously seeing an influence here). The two actors involved here give no suggestion that this is all a computer simulation in their interactions and it has to be one of the smoothest combinations yet. I just hope that this is maintained for the upcoming feature production. Nothing really gets given away in these six minutes - but you'll probably work out the main plot point at least!

I did get a bit of a sense of Stargate through the physical form of the Horizon but then it all goes planet-killing which wasn't quite what I expected. My earlier note on the feel of Battlestar Galactica definitely stands here - this is a much more gritty entry into the franchise universe than Enterprise ever was (although it could have been for year five). These guys are producing some top level animation with pretty good quality acting which is rare within the fan production community. OK, so we've only been privvy to a fairly explosive trailer and a few minutes of footage that doesn't show any of the cast who are featured on the website so I'm more than ready to play this cautiously. The test of the tape will come when we start to see complete scenes from later in the story and how the ensemble handle the material.

With funding complete, work can continue in earnest to finish this project. I'm staying on the fence for a while here because so far we've not seen a lot of meat. There's lots of tempting morsels but nothing substantial to dig in to and critique. What we do have seems solid and at least on a par with some of the bigger budget and more well-known films and series that exist. I hope that Horizon in the very least does ignite some more passion for the Archer era of Star Trek. Enterprise was definitively cut short but here we have a group of fans who are trying to expand on that clipped story, to tell an aspect of the narrative that we could have seen if there had ever been a fifth season.

We will be keeping in touch with our new friends over at Horizon to get the latest info on their work and will be reviewing the finished product as soon as it's released.

You can find out more on Star Trek: Horizon by going to their website HERE

All images courtesy of Star Trek: Horizon

What do you think to this new chapter in the Star Trek fan universe? Let us know below!

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The Sound of Thunder: Into Battle with the Akira Class

Now this is a model I have been waiting to come out for personal reasons more than any other. 

The USS Thunderchild NCC-63549 is a special ship to myself as I, for more years than I care to remember, have gone by and used the handle or tag of Thunderchild on radio as my call sign, and messenger services etc. So this is my starship!

Again Eaglemoss have done a good job on the model as it feels solid and heavy. However SKoST member +Mark Thwaite  noticed that on the United Federation of Planets decal the word "Federation" is missing the "t" poor attention to details is letting Eaglemoss down. (NB: This is actually correct on the original filming model - Clive)

I love the design of the Akira Class much in line with the early NX Class (which it in fact inspired) no secondary engineering hull, but the Thunderchild is nevertheless one mean lean fighting machine! 

Effectively Eaglemoss confirm that the class are aircraft carriers with a fly-through hanger on deck 12 and space to fit 40 fighters as well as a number of shuttles.  That design makes it ideal for operating in some of the more inaccessible regions of space such as the notorious Badlands featured as the base of the Maquis. Did you also know that the Akira Class is fitted with enhanced weapons most notably a weapons pod on the aft dorsal sail housing a number of torpedo launchers? Thought not - and that's the big selling point if you were considering purchasing this new installment in the Collection.

Let's talk a bit more about the specs of the Thunderchild - the usual crew complement is 500 with a top speed of Warp 9.8 which makes her no slouch and equal in speed to some of the more noted ships in Starfleet. Indeed, that saucer is about the same size as a Galaxy Class primary hull! 

One difference is that with this model the name is not shown on the hull, only the registration number. I am gutted at this as I would, from a personal view, have liked to see USS Thunderchild somewhere on her.

The Thunderchild first appeared in First Contact and the battle for Sector 001 against the Borg which was soon followed by appearances in the Deep Space Nine novel The Fall of Terok Nor and a lot of blink-and-gone moments which you might have missed. Fortunately the accompanying magazine does offer some satisfying memory joggers.

In fact this magazine is a bit of a first. Up to this point each ship has in some way "headlined" or at least been a big feature in Star Trek - Borg Sphere, Defiant, the Bird-of-Prey - but this is the first "support ship" if you will. Never truly in the spotlight but glimpsed in the background as part of a fleet maneuver or being engulfed in a ball of Borg energy fire. How much can there be to write about a "lesser" starship? Enough for Issue 12 that's for sure. It's not necessarily about a special feature here either (as with Voyager's Aeroshuttle or saucer separation) but more about the creation and evolution of a ship which seems to be the backbone of the fleet to some extent. Eaglemoss have done a great job in unfolding the story of the class and have shown just the right amount of depth behind the design.

There are some sublime sketches and probably rarely seen images and CGI scattered liberally throughout the pages of the magazine which truly ensure this is the most informative piece about Thunderchild and it's siblings since we first saw her taking on that cube in First Contact.

What becomes apparent is that it's not just about slapping together an image in a computer and dropping it into a battle scene. The Akira Class was originally one of 12 concepts for First Contact and one of only four that were picked. The magazine takes us through not only the design and construction process but also exactly what the point of the class is as we've already noted above. Until this production we at SKoST didn't really have a great understanding of the ship but now it's battling to be among our all time favourites just because of its purpose.

She may not be the prettiest ship in the fleet but was designed as a true warship to face the threat of the Borg where Starfleet needed smaller, faster, heavily armed ships. Perhaps she's not as popular as an Enterprise or Voyager but definitely one I've proudly added to my fleet. It also means I've managed to make an important decision. For personal reasons and if I was going into battle I sure would want the Thunderchild at my side.

While we're at it let's also look ahead and for this I'll just pass over to +Clive Burrell ....

The next four issues are an interesting range covering The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager. The Jem'Hadar cruiser is a gem of a model which we are looking forward to seeing that one. It looks prepped for war if ever I saw a ship more ready - and it's pictured the right way up too (!) 

The arrival of issue 14's Galor Class means that you can recreate some of the Dominion War if you call on your Bird-of-Prey, USS Defiant, Romulan Warbird and cruiser from issue 13.  As a Deep Space Nine fan it's one to ensure is in the collection but she's not the big draw in the next few installments. That's left for issue 15.

For various reasons the one that we're REALLY looking forward to is the USS Equinox. First suggested way back in The Next Generation Technical Manual it's a classic and, with certain other things happening out in the real world, it seems like the perfect time for this vessel to arrive on the scene. The styling on the Equinox is perfection in my opinion - small, tight lines which make it look a bit like a compact Sovereign Class to some degree. As Voyager goes that show definitely got some of the best looking starships didn't it - Dauntless and Prometheus being the immediate ones that spring to mind and they'll be along soon enough.

Following on from that we have the Ferengi Marauder. Not especially a favourite and not that often seen but still, it's coming and I am intrigued to see whether the markout for the shuttle in the bottom of the hull will make it onto the model given recent variations in quality with the range. Indeed, those errors are a concern when it comes to the ones you wait for such as the Constitution refit back at issue 2 which had a shoddy mirror transfer on one side (and was one of the weakest models to date actually). 

Anyway, we'll hopefully keep you updated with anything new we discover. The next big question is will the USS Vengeance be the third special following the announcement that the JJ USS Enterprise is going to be Special Two...

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