Fan film producers for Hidden Frontier and Starship Intrepid have teamed up for a second co-production: Operation: Beta Shield. What started out as a sequel to their original crossover feature “The Orphans of War” has ballooned into a feature-length epic that will also serve as the launching pad for a third Hidden Frontier production.
Operation: Beta Shield will pick up halfway through Odyssey and Helena Chronicles season one. The refitted Starship Excelsior (not to be confused with the audio drama of the same name), has been assigned to the Beta Quadrant under the command of Elizabeth Shelby (Risha Denney) on a critical mission to investigae a possible second incursion by the Archeins into Romulan space. Meanwhile, Klingon General Korg (Karl Puder) on a top secret mission to Romulus has an attempt made on his life that threatens to destabilize the alliance and its defenses in advance of the Archein invasion. Shelby leads an allied fleet into the Kovalis System where signs of wormhole formation have been detected.
Captain Hunter (Nick Cook) and the U.S.S. Intrepid must ferry Romulan Procounsel Yeshva (Joni Bovill) to Romulus, all the while playing a delicate game of political chess to 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.
Operation: Beta Shield was written by Rob Caves, the teleplay by Brian S. Matthews.
The production will be filmed extensively around Excelsior Ball III, taking place June 6-8, 2008, in Los Angeles. Beta Shield 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 has begun on the new show and for both projects, a new starship has been designed by U.S.S. 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 Operation: Beta Shield) has been scored by Daniel Chan (The Wine Dark Sea) and performed by a live orchestra!
Written by: Derek Kessler (Trek United News Director)
