I'm looking for voice cast right now, actually. I've held off thus far because there are some parts of the script that I'm still tweaking, and I don't want to bring in voice talent until I'm sure I won't want to do more revisions. It probably won't get too much farther though 'cuz I think I'm pretty close to having the final pieces nailed down.
Regardless of Reyf's possible personal/professional embarrassment that a past "love triangle/rivalry" may or may not be Garr's motive for causing the Federation itself this much of a diplomatic/military toothache, I'd be scared that this mission might attract undue attention from a curious Cardassian Gul or Romulan D'Shara-Class warbird.
Then again, you may be able to explain who dropped the ball in each of these areas in the next few Youtube installments (with english subtitles, please.)
No fair guessing! You make some valid points about the diplomatic situation with neighboring empies. Stay tuned... 8-)
I'm looking for voice cast right now, actually. I've held off thus far because there are some parts of the script that I'm still tweaking, and I don't want to bring in voice talent until I'm sure I won't want to do more revisions. It probably won't get too much farther though 'cuz I think I'm pretty close to having the final pieces nailed down.
I'd love to find a microphone & try to self-record some ".MP3" tidbits of dialogue for upcoming episodes & figure out how to attach/e-mail them to you.
I'm looking for voice cast right now, actually. I've held off thus far because there are some parts of the script that I'm still tweaking, and I don't want to bring in voice talent until I'm sure I won't want to do more revisions. It probably won't get too much farther though 'cuz I think I'm pretty close to having the final pieces nailed down.
You volunteering???
lol! Gods no, my voice sucks! I just have no regional accent due to moving around the Uk alot when i was a kid.
Some trivia about this scene:
-this is the first half of the "shuttle mission" scene (the second half is very complex and might take a while to make, so I figured I'd bring you this half now and the second half when it's done)
-the shot of the shuttle flying over the Fitzgerald's saucer section mirrors a similar shot from the TNG TV series, when a Type-6 shuttlecraft would make a low pass over the Enterprise-D's saucer in much the same way. The shot was seen for the final time in "Genesis."
-the design of the shuttlecraft mirrors the design of the shuttle seen in Star Trek Insurrection; this is a correct use of the Type-XI shuttlecraft, identified as the "modern" standard for the year 2375 by the film Star Trek Insurrection, which takes place in the same year as the "present day" portions of "Specter"
-the moon seen orbiting Beta Reticuli is a simple re-use of an inverted photo of Earth's moon
-the cockpit of Prentice and Garrett's shuttlecraft is a re-dress of the same set seen in the prologue as the cockpit of Braiyon Garr's runabout. For its appearance as the Class-Xi shuttlecraft, the transporter platform was removed and the color scheme and lighting altered, both to favor designs inspired by Star Trek: Voyager.
-Despite the fact that the set is now depicting a shuttlecraft and not a runabout, the segmented forward windows remain, and there are no side-mounted viewports.
-In the runabout cockpit, the chairs Garrett and Prentice sit in are VOY-style chairs (specifically, pilot chairs from the Class-2 shuttlecraft first seen in "Threshold"). Also, the blue LCARs circuitry diagnostic bears an Insurrection-style color scheme, also a correct reference to the film because of the time frame.
-Like many scenes in turbolifts board starships, the true purpose of this scene is to isolate Prentice and Garrett, allowing for more intimate conversation. In this case, it allows the audience to see that Reyf's crew has doubts about him (echoing similar doubts expressed by the crew of the Enterprise-D in the anti-time 2364 from "All Good Things..."), acting as a surrogate for the audience. Prentice's attempts to assauge those concerns is meant to assure the audiences that Reyf is trustworthy as a leader
-this scene is a direct result of the crew briefing sequence seen earlier, in which Reyf deliberately avoided sharing his 15-year friendship with Garr with the crew--even, it seems, with his first officer
-even after Prentice spots the mysterious object through the shuttle's forward viewports, the audience doesn't get a glimpse of what he sees until Prentice orders the shuttle's landing lights activated. This was done deliberately so as to preserve suspense and keep the audience guessing for a few more seconds
-The closeup shot of the shuttlecraft exterior as Garrett turns on the searchlight has a blooper: through the windows can be seen a cockpit of a clearly different configuration. Sharp-eyed observers will note the large, square object against the rear wall: this is a mainframe computer identical to the one seen in the prologue sequence, giving away the fact that this shuttlecraft was originally dressed to be used in the prologue sequence in place of the runabout. When this sequence was written, it was decided to make the first appearance a Danube-class runabout rather than this Class-XI shuttle, to prevent the same "guest ship" from appearing twice.
-the final exchange in this clip is a nod to "Stargate SG-1," in which a very similar exchange took place between Daniel Jackson, Sam Carter, and Cam Mitchell as they observed the Ori assembling their first Supergate.
If you read the text commentary in Part 3 you'll realize why the two of them look so similar. Advance to 1:16 in that segment. No twins...no clones.
EDIT: Just for shiggles, I'll go ahead and post the explanation and just make life simple for everybody.
Deductive viewers will probably guess that Chief of Operations Lt. Garrett is named for actor Garrett Wang, who played the Operations Chief (Harry Kim) on Star Trek Voyager. Initially, Lt. Garrett was to have been shown with more Asian-esque features as a nod to the Harry Kim character, however suitable character morphs couldn't be found in time for production so the decision was made to proceed without them, and thus the same basic character appears as both Commander Bradley Prentice and Lieutenant Maxwell Garrett.
Most of the scenes involving both characters feature additional cast members and wider shots, and so audiences wouldn't notice quite as readily that the two have such similar appearances. One notable exception is the brief scene on the bridge of the Fitzgerald just after Reyf and his away team transport down, in which Prentice and Garrett talk about the transporter lock. In that scene, creative blocking and shot framing helped conceal the fact by keeping shots very tight and never seeing both characters' faces on screen at the same time.
SPOILER ALERT. You have been warned!...read on at your own risk.
That approach was impossible in the scene aboard the shuttlecraft. Regardless of how this scene was shot, the two characters' similarities would have been obvious; however it was deemed an acceptable risk since the shuttle mission would be Garrett's final scene until the very end of the film.
I just couldn't stand it...this isn't the full seventh segment, just the first little bit so you can see what they found. The only thing I'll say about this scene is that the script described it as "what it would be like if we found the Titanic in space." (And I'll also spoil that this sequence has a unique look inside the mess hall--I'd really like to know if you guys like that)
SWEET. Beautifully done! You built the tension perfectly. I'm wondering what the Away Team's X.O. is furroughing his brow at.... what does he see via the search lamp?
I still don't want to give away what Prentice and Garrett see for those who haven't watched the clip so all references to it will appear as black text (highlight if you want to be spoiled; I tried matching it to the exact gray of the site's wallpaper, but it's not one of the options) but I can offer some more trivia about the way this scene was done:
-unlike most similar scenes in Star Trek, both the shuttlecraft and the ISS Voyager both appear in the scene as physical objects, rather than having one of the two added later
-for its appearance in this scene, the hull of the ISS Voyager was specially prepared so that its blue hue would be concealed by the white glare of the shuttle's landing lights (the blue metal was given a more gray shine to it, so that under the glare of the shuttle's lights it would look silver). Any hints of the blue color are explainable by the nebular clouds that appear behind the drifting ship
-by positioning the ISS Voyager behind the moon, out of a direct line of sight with the system's sun, the producers forced the away team to use a spotlight to examine the find one detail at a time; this serves an important purpose for the away team as a surrogate for the audience, as all of us learn together just what it is we have--and more importantly have not--found; the visuals will be reinforced shortly by a brief dialogue of sensor analysis between Prentice and Garrett, however nothing can beat the in-your-face quality of looking over their shoulders (literally, through the shuttle's viewports at several places) and seeing exactly what they see
-the camera is banked sharply for the first several shots, an attempt to let the audience share in the feeling of shock the characters are experiencing over what they've found
-the shot of the interior of the mess hall serves four purposes: one, it underscores the confusion of the characters by showing that the ship they've discovered appears to duplicate the USS Voyager in every detail; two, it underscores that the ISS Voyager is indeed in Grey Mode and that there's no power online anywhere aboard; three, it says without the need for dialogue that there's no life present; and four, by focusing on the coffee mug, shows that someone had been there, likely quite recently.
-by the way, hope you're enjoying this scene with Garrett; this scene will be his last until the very end of the film
Part 7 is up in its entirety! (Well, missing two 5-second exterior shots of our mystery find, but you can probably guess what they're of based on what comes immediately before and after).
More trivia:
-this scene features motion LCARs graphics, generously provided by Adge's LCARs Databank
-the background music for this scene is compiled from several pieces from the various TV series and films:
-at the start, "Unacceptable Shortcut" from Star Trek: Enterprise
-during "V'Ger Flyover" (a nod to TMP), an edited synth remix of the title theme from "Star Trek: Voyager"
-as Prentice and Garrett discuss the sensor readings, "Ship on the Horizon," also from ENT
-as Garrett identifies the warp signature of the ISS Voyager as Borg in origin, a brief cut of "Watch Your Caboose, Dix"
-the final moments of the scene, "Postponed" from "Regenration," another ENT piece
-note that the moment the shot cuts to the closeup of the ISS Voyager's registry, the sound of a cymbal and a gong were added to the soundtrack to enhance the importance of the moment
-this scene reveals Garr's motivation for stealing the blueprints from McKinley Station in the prologue; it may be inferred he stole multiple sets of plans to conceal which of them he intended to construct. Though it is never discussed in dialogue, the script identifies the other five as: Galaxy, Sovereign, Prometheus, Akira, and Nebula.
-despite the upbeat tone of the background music during the "V'Ger Flyover" sequence, Prentice and Garrett are both increasingly uncomfortable and "freaked out" as the sequence progresses, culminating with their exchange of disbelieving glances when they see "NCC-74656" for the second time on the underside of the ship's saucer section
-due to a graphics error, the nebula clouds in the background shift during the first several shots of the ISS Voyager; this was corrected by the third shot
-another graphics error resulted in the ship's hull registry clearly saying "USS Voyager" instead of "ISS Voyager;" this was one of several tiny mistakes which were not caught by the producers in time to correct
-the dark blue color of the ISS Voyager's hull made lighting this scene a particular challenge. Because the hull was very shiny, bright directional light was picked up well; but softer ambient light from the nebula clouds made almost no difference at all. Still, the director didn't want the drifting ship to be in total darkness, and so care had to be taken to light the hull of the starship without also overexposing the shuttlecraft (which you'll notice catches the blue light much better than the armored ISS Voyager)
-notice during the shot of the Voyager mess hall that the room features its proper number of dining tables, as well as the counter that's part of Neelix's kitchen. The former will change to a single table when the mess hall is seen again in the "Garr's Nightmare" sequence; the latter is explainable as Garr having obtained schematics from the real Voyager's logs, which by the time of 2375 would have been sent back to Starfleet via the Hirogen sensor network.
-the coffee mug on one of the mess hall tables is implied to have similar meaning to Benjamin Sisko's baseball, in the DS9 episode "Call to Arms," though in this case that implication is directed solely toward the audience, as there would be no way for the shuttle crew to see it from their vantage point
-when describing the hull composition of the ISS Voyager, Prentice refers to "neutronium," a material reference to the "Preserver" trilogy of novels by William Shatner, detailing James Kirk's continuing adventures in the 24th century; in the third novel, a Preserver base is discovered that is lined with neutronium, described as making the asteroid impenetrable by transporter; though not stated explicitly in dialogue, the implication is that Voyager's neutronium armor protects it from unauthorized transports
-also on the subject of the Voyager's hull armor, Garrett indicates that it appears to him to be some form of "quantum armor" which could protect the ship from exposure to the inside of a sun; this is a nod to the Jedi Academy trilogy of books which feature a tiny vessel called the Sun Crusher, which was said to be lined with quantum armor said to be impervious even to the forces of a supernova
-immediately after Garrett identifies Voyager's warp signature as Borg, Prentice raises the shuttlecraft's shields, and also apparently at the same time initiates red alert; like the Daystrom before it and as will be seen later on the Fitzgerald and the ISS Voyager, the shuttlecraft's lighting scheme changes when red alert is initiated. The sound is identical to that heard aboard the USS Defiant in Star Trek Deep Space Nine
-the writers were very specific about Voyager's firepower, in particular the type of torpedoes the ship carries. Quantum torpedoes had been in use since the third season of Star Trek Deep Space Nine and had been established as the standard armament for Federation starships in Star Trek First Contact (and yet, inexplicably, in the next two films, the Enterprise-E was again carrying older photon torpeodes). This was done because the producers felt that Garr would have only chosen to outfit his vessel with the latest and greatest weapons and technology available.
-the final shot of the ISS Voyager through the shuttle's viewports is an inverted image of the ship as seen in the film's promotional poster; notice the lighting is slightly different than it had been in the rest of the scene and the nebulae are missing from the background
I'm going to have to basically redo the entire V'Ger Flyover sequence, I'm just not happy with the shots (seems like they move too fast compared to the music and that's never good!). That'll come later though.
In the meantime I'm carrying forward with the next scene, things are just about to get VERY interesting! I'm going to post another "mini update" later tonight.
I don't want to spoil anything about this part, but I will say that Star Trek Online (the new game) provided a particular monitor image (only seen briefly), and this quick clip also gives us a better view of the lab main room, and you can really tell here that it's a redress of the Genomex set from Mutant X. Most of all, there's a cutaway in an extremely dark room that's a re-use of an even older (and more unexpected) set, which will be seen only once more in the film later on. When part 8 goes up in its entirety I'll disclose what that set is (but if you listen to the ambient noise and pay careful attention to the floor, you can probably guess it).
Hellsgate: I'm playing the villain in my own film, remember? Expect an act of pure evil now and then 8-) And I can think of no greater evil than...DA DUM...the dreaded cliffhanger!!! mwahahaha
Alright so this scene is taking a little longer to produce than I expected (who knew that blocking shots in a small, dark, narrow room would be this difficult?). But I wanted to at least post this updated clip to show you guys what the away team has discovered.
Garr goes to all sorts of bizarre lengths to go rogue with a juiced-up shuttlecraft/runabout, slaps a Superior Officer & then beams away,...refits an Intrepid-Class starship with stolen gear, leaves it in Grey Mode with a coffee cup that suggests he was just there, while building a Soong-type (female) android in a HEAVILY fortified secret base with Borg-like armour plating technology where he abandons ~that~, too.
Hmmmmm..this is getting weirder by the second. Activate the android. Let's see if Garr had time to leave a message in its' Operating System.
This is one screwed-up scientist. If I didn't know better, he's purposely leaving breadcrumbs in the forest for Hans & Gretel (the Away Team,) to follow.
Plus, there might be an accomplice on the away team....Dum dum dum......
I'm thinking of Dr. Ira Graves, the TNG scientist developing pseudo-immortality by transferring his mind to an android shell. Any chance of Garr trying to bait Reyf with something similar?
I'm thinking of Dr. Ira Graves, the TNG scientist developing pseudo-immortality by transferring his mind to an android shell. Any chance of Garr trying to bait Reyf with something similar?
Hmmm...Ira Graves, ah yes...the man who perfected the process of engrammatic scanning to preserve his personality and intellect inside an artificial structure...that could be an important clue...could be very important indeed. ;-) But in a VERY different way from what you're expecting.
Stay tuned loyal viewers...lots more fun and excitement coming right up :-)
Posts
And the plot thickens!
And how many episodes of Star Trek have the Captain and First Officer off the ship? Quite a few if i remember lol
Its all good work so far.
How much more will you complete before you start looking for possible voice actors to fill in the other parts?
You volunteering???
I could DEFINITELY use your help. Hold off for now though, still working on a few things :-)
No fair guessing! You make some valid points about the diplomatic situation with neighboring empies. Stay tuned... 8-)
I will help you if you want;)
lol! Gods no, my voice sucks! I just have no regional accent due to moving around the Uk alot when i was a kid.
But good luck though
YouTube - Specter v9 Pt 6 Hi Res
Some trivia about this scene:
-this is the first half of the "shuttle mission" scene (the second half is very complex and might take a while to make, so I figured I'd bring you this half now and the second half when it's done)
-the shot of the shuttle flying over the Fitzgerald's saucer section mirrors a similar shot from the TNG TV series, when a Type-6 shuttlecraft would make a low pass over the Enterprise-D's saucer in much the same way. The shot was seen for the final time in "Genesis."
-the design of the shuttlecraft mirrors the design of the shuttle seen in Star Trek Insurrection; this is a correct use of the Type-XI shuttlecraft, identified as the "modern" standard for the year 2375 by the film Star Trek Insurrection, which takes place in the same year as the "present day" portions of "Specter"
-the moon seen orbiting Beta Reticuli is a simple re-use of an inverted photo of Earth's moon
-the cockpit of Prentice and Garrett's shuttlecraft is a re-dress of the same set seen in the prologue as the cockpit of Braiyon Garr's runabout. For its appearance as the Class-Xi shuttlecraft, the transporter platform was removed and the color scheme and lighting altered, both to favor designs inspired by Star Trek: Voyager.
-Despite the fact that the set is now depicting a shuttlecraft and not a runabout, the segmented forward windows remain, and there are no side-mounted viewports.
-In the runabout cockpit, the chairs Garrett and Prentice sit in are VOY-style chairs (specifically, pilot chairs from the Class-2 shuttlecraft first seen in "Threshold"). Also, the blue LCARs circuitry diagnostic bears an Insurrection-style color scheme, also a correct reference to the film because of the time frame.
-Like many scenes in turbolifts board starships, the true purpose of this scene is to isolate Prentice and Garrett, allowing for more intimate conversation. In this case, it allows the audience to see that Reyf's crew has doubts about him (echoing similar doubts expressed by the crew of the Enterprise-D in the anti-time 2364 from "All Good Things..."), acting as a surrogate for the audience. Prentice's attempts to assauge those concerns is meant to assure the audiences that Reyf is trustworthy as a leader
-this scene is a direct result of the crew briefing sequence seen earlier, in which Reyf deliberately avoided sharing his 15-year friendship with Garr with the crew--even, it seems, with his first officer
-even after Prentice spots the mysterious object through the shuttle's forward viewports, the audience doesn't get a glimpse of what he sees until Prentice orders the shuttle's landing lights activated. This was done deliberately so as to preserve suspense and keep the audience guessing for a few more seconds
-The closeup shot of the shuttlecraft exterior as Garrett turns on the searchlight has a blooper: through the windows can be seen a cockpit of a clearly different configuration. Sharp-eyed observers will note the large, square object against the rear wall: this is a mainframe computer identical to the one seen in the prologue sequence, giving away the fact that this shuttlecraft was originally dressed to be used in the prologue sequence in place of the runabout. When this sequence was written, it was decided to make the first appearance a Danube-class runabout rather than this Class-XI shuttle, to prevent the same "guest ship" from appearing twice.
-the final exchange in this clip is a nod to "Stargate SG-1," in which a very similar exchange took place between Daniel Jackson, Sam Carter, and Cam Mitchell as they observed the Ori assembling their first Supergate.
Or in other words: THEY'RE CLONES!
They look exactly the same apart from the color of their collar. There should really be differences in their appearance.
Unless they're actually twins, in which case the dialog needs to be much less formal.
If you read the text commentary in Part 3 you'll realize why the two of them look so similar. Advance to 1:16 in that segment. No twins...no clones.
EDIT: Just for shiggles, I'll go ahead and post the explanation and just make life simple for everybody.
Deductive viewers will probably guess that Chief of Operations Lt. Garrett is named for actor Garrett Wang, who played the Operations Chief (Harry Kim) on Star Trek Voyager. Initially, Lt. Garrett was to have been shown with more Asian-esque features as a nod to the Harry Kim character, however suitable character morphs couldn't be found in time for production so the decision was made to proceed without them, and thus the same basic character appears as both Commander Bradley Prentice and Lieutenant Maxwell Garrett.
Most of the scenes involving both characters feature additional cast members and wider shots, and so audiences wouldn't notice quite as readily that the two have such similar appearances. One notable exception is the brief scene on the bridge of the Fitzgerald just after Reyf and his away team transport down, in which Prentice and Garrett talk about the transporter lock. In that scene, creative blocking and shot framing helped conceal the fact by keeping shots very tight and never seeing both characters' faces on screen at the same time.
SPOILER ALERT. You have been warned!...read on at your own risk.
That approach was impossible in the scene aboard the shuttlecraft. Regardless of how this scene was shot, the two characters' similarities would have been obvious; however it was deemed an acceptable risk since the shuttle mission would be Garrett's final scene until the very end of the film.
I just couldn't stand it...this isn't the full seventh segment, just the first little bit so you can see what they found. The only thing I'll say about this scene is that the script described it as "what it would be like if we found the Titanic in space." (And I'll also spoil that this sequence has a unique look inside the mess hall--I'd really like to know if you guys like that)
Enjoy
-unlike most similar scenes in Star Trek, both the shuttlecraft and the ISS Voyager both appear in the scene as physical objects, rather than having one of the two added later
-for its appearance in this scene, the hull of the ISS Voyager was specially prepared so that its blue hue would be concealed by the white glare of the shuttle's landing lights (the blue metal was given a more gray shine to it, so that under the glare of the shuttle's lights it would look silver). Any hints of the blue color are explainable by the nebular clouds that appear behind the drifting ship
-by positioning the ISS Voyager behind the moon, out of a direct line of sight with the system's sun, the producers forced the away team to use a spotlight to examine the find one detail at a time; this serves an important purpose for the away team as a surrogate for the audience, as all of us learn together just what it is we have--and more importantly have not--found; the visuals will be reinforced shortly by a brief dialogue of sensor analysis between Prentice and Garrett, however nothing can beat the in-your-face quality of looking over their shoulders (literally, through the shuttle's viewports at several places) and seeing exactly what they see
-the camera is banked sharply for the first several shots, an attempt to let the audience share in the feeling of shock the characters are experiencing over what they've found
-the shot of the interior of the mess hall serves four purposes: one, it underscores the confusion of the characters by showing that the ship they've discovered appears to duplicate the USS Voyager in every detail; two, it underscores that the ISS Voyager is indeed in Grey Mode and that there's no power online anywhere aboard; three, it says without the need for dialogue that there's no life present; and four, by focusing on the coffee mug, shows that someone had been there, likely quite recently.
-by the way, hope you're enjoying this scene with Garrett; this scene will be his last until the very end of the film
Part 7 is up in its entirety! (Well, missing two 5-second exterior shots of our mystery find, but you can probably guess what they're of based on what comes immediately before and after).
More trivia:
-this scene features motion LCARs graphics, generously provided by Adge's LCARs Databank
-the background music for this scene is compiled from several pieces from the various TV series and films:
-at the start, "Unacceptable Shortcut" from Star Trek: Enterprise
-during "V'Ger Flyover" (a nod to TMP), an edited synth remix of the title theme from "Star Trek: Voyager"
-as Prentice and Garrett discuss the sensor readings, "Ship on the Horizon," also from ENT
-as Garrett identifies the warp signature of the ISS Voyager as Borg in origin, a brief cut of "Watch Your Caboose, Dix"
-the final moments of the scene, "Postponed" from "Regenration," another ENT piece
-note that the moment the shot cuts to the closeup of the ISS Voyager's registry, the sound of a cymbal and a gong were added to the soundtrack to enhance the importance of the moment
-this scene reveals Garr's motivation for stealing the blueprints from McKinley Station in the prologue; it may be inferred he stole multiple sets of plans to conceal which of them he intended to construct. Though it is never discussed in dialogue, the script identifies the other five as: Galaxy, Sovereign, Prometheus, Akira, and Nebula.
-despite the upbeat tone of the background music during the "V'Ger Flyover" sequence, Prentice and Garrett are both increasingly uncomfortable and "freaked out" as the sequence progresses, culminating with their exchange of disbelieving glances when they see "NCC-74656" for the second time on the underside of the ship's saucer section
-due to a graphics error, the nebula clouds in the background shift during the first several shots of the ISS Voyager; this was corrected by the third shot
-another graphics error resulted in the ship's hull registry clearly saying "USS Voyager" instead of "ISS Voyager;" this was one of several tiny mistakes which were not caught by the producers in time to correct
-the dark blue color of the ISS Voyager's hull made lighting this scene a particular challenge. Because the hull was very shiny, bright directional light was picked up well; but softer ambient light from the nebula clouds made almost no difference at all. Still, the director didn't want the drifting ship to be in total darkness, and so care had to be taken to light the hull of the starship without also overexposing the shuttlecraft (which you'll notice catches the blue light much better than the armored ISS Voyager)
-notice during the shot of the Voyager mess hall that the room features its proper number of dining tables, as well as the counter that's part of Neelix's kitchen. The former will change to a single table when the mess hall is seen again in the "Garr's Nightmare" sequence; the latter is explainable as Garr having obtained schematics from the real Voyager's logs, which by the time of 2375 would have been sent back to Starfleet via the Hirogen sensor network.
-the coffee mug on one of the mess hall tables is implied to have similar meaning to Benjamin Sisko's baseball, in the DS9 episode "Call to Arms," though in this case that implication is directed solely toward the audience, as there would be no way for the shuttle crew to see it from their vantage point
-when describing the hull composition of the ISS Voyager, Prentice refers to "neutronium," a material reference to the "Preserver" trilogy of novels by William Shatner, detailing James Kirk's continuing adventures in the 24th century; in the third novel, a Preserver base is discovered that is lined with neutronium, described as making the asteroid impenetrable by transporter; though not stated explicitly in dialogue, the implication is that Voyager's neutronium armor protects it from unauthorized transports
-also on the subject of the Voyager's hull armor, Garrett indicates that it appears to him to be some form of "quantum armor" which could protect the ship from exposure to the inside of a sun; this is a nod to the Jedi Academy trilogy of books which feature a tiny vessel called the Sun Crusher, which was said to be lined with quantum armor said to be impervious even to the forces of a supernova
-immediately after Garrett identifies Voyager's warp signature as Borg, Prentice raises the shuttlecraft's shields, and also apparently at the same time initiates red alert; like the Daystrom before it and as will be seen later on the Fitzgerald and the ISS Voyager, the shuttlecraft's lighting scheme changes when red alert is initiated. The sound is identical to that heard aboard the USS Defiant in Star Trek Deep Space Nine
-the writers were very specific about Voyager's firepower, in particular the type of torpedoes the ship carries. Quantum torpedoes had been in use since the third season of Star Trek Deep Space Nine and had been established as the standard armament for Federation starships in Star Trek First Contact (and yet, inexplicably, in the next two films, the Enterprise-E was again carrying older photon torpeodes). This was done because the producers felt that Garr would have only chosen to outfit his vessel with the latest and greatest weapons and technology available.
-the final shot of the ISS Voyager through the shuttle's viewports is an inverted image of the ship as seen in the film's promotional poster; notice the lighting is slightly different than it had been in the rest of the scene and the nebulae are missing from the background
In the meantime I'm carrying forward with the next scene, things are just about to get VERY interesting! I'm going to post another "mini update" later tonight.
YouTube - Specter v9 Pt 8 Preview
I don't want to spoil anything about this part, but I will say that Star Trek Online (the new game) provided a particular monitor image (only seen briefly), and this quick clip also gives us a better view of the lab main room, and you can really tell here that it's a redress of the Genomex set from Mutant X. Most of all, there's a cutaway in an extremely dark room that's a re-use of an even older (and more unexpected) set, which will be seen only once more in the film later on. When part 8 goes up in its entirety I'll disclose what that set is (but if you listen to the ambient noise and pay careful attention to the floor, you can probably guess it).
Enjoy!
More coming VERY soon, promise!
Alright so this scene is taking a little longer to produce than I expected (who knew that blocking shots in a small, dark, narrow room would be this difficult?). But I wanted to at least post this updated clip to show you guys what the away team has discovered.
View and comment as always
Hmmmmm..this is getting weirder by the second. Activate the android. Let's see if Garr had time to leave a message in its' Operating System.
This is one screwed-up scientist. If I didn't know better, he's purposely leaving breadcrumbs in the forest for Hans & Gretel (the Away Team,) to follow.
Plus, there might be an accomplice on the away team....Dum dum dum......
Now now, who said it was Soong-type? Hmmmmm...
Hmmm...Ira Graves, ah yes...the man who perfected the process of engrammatic scanning to preserve his personality and intellect inside an artificial structure...that could be an important clue...could be very important indeed. ;-) But in a VERY different way from what you're expecting.
Stay tuned loyal viewers...lots more fun and excitement coming right up :-)