I’m sure you’ve heard us talking about “Center Seat”, or seen some of the “Eye Candy” posts attributed to it here on the blog. “Center Seat” is a New Voyages short that we did for the sheer fun of it. I think it’s really cute, engaging, exciting, has great characters, and is authentic old school Star Trek. The one thing I really wanted, and never got! A sleekened retro Star Trek for mainstream would be fun and artistically gorgeous. My hopes are still high that we will get that chance.
Later I’ll tell the story of how I thought I was going to be fired by Paramount for my involvement with NV. Turns out the studio does have a heart, and I left a meeting with Paramount lawyers and “Enterprise” producers with a handshake instead of a pink slip…
More Background (From my response in the comment section) -
There is a wink at the audience during the BSG snap zoom, as I asked our composer Patrick Phillip to underscore it with Galactica style drums.
I did all the ship shots with the exception of Enterprise heading into the sun, which were done for me by my good buddy Koji Kuramura. Other pros I tapped for the show included Aurore DeBlois, Jose Perez, Alain Rivard, and the amazing Ron B Moore who supervised many TV Trek episodes. I was heavily involved with James as a consultant on the bridge, and I personally created every backlit graphic on it. It was edited by Jack Marshall and myself. There were times when Jack wanted to kill me.
Easy going Erik Goodrich did a fine job directing the boys,. I’m a big fan of Ron Boyd’s, who has a great comic sense, and John Lim was outstanding as well. They had a nice chemistry. Ron does some awesome panel dancing.
What happens in the jump to warp, which turned out to be very popular, is that the camera is basically stationary until it hitches a ride with the ship. Simple but effective. I was looking for something non-Star Wars inspired, and had always felt that the colorful jumps in the past were too much like SW. I always loved the TOS first season shows where we would watch a planet on the main viewer shrink like a bead of water on a hot grill. That was the inspiration.
If you plan on checking out NV (Now called Phase II), I suggest passing by the very first one (”Come What May”, really a wobbly experiment) and starting with their first production episode “In Harm’s Way”. Jim Vanover and I came up with the story cutting up in the DS9 art department. It all hung on the imagination grabbing idea that Matt Decker was not dead, and how many iconic things we could squeeze into 50 minutes. I did a few things with the ship in “In Harms Way” I never should have done (barrel rolls and stuff like that), which many folks (including DC Fontana) beat me mercilessly for. Frankly, I only thought a very small group of us would ever see it in a million years, and figured I’d have a few experimental shots where the ship moves like you’ve never seen it. Turns out a few million people watched it. Ow! I still have bruises! Never again! Ultimately the ship only misbehaved in a small handful of shots, and I we had around 130 of them (all done by one guy I might add, and in his spare time). Jack and I edited the show together, and I thought it moved along smartly. It must have worked, because “Firefly” creator Joss Whedon said he was on the edge of his seat thru that entire episode, and Manny Coto is a self proclaimed avid fan as well, so in spite of the starship gymnastics, it was a good picture, and a good time.
Loved this short… and you did a great job on the effects (which I hadn’t known was you until recently). It is productions like these that reenforce my belief that TOS is truly timeless.
Thanks!
I really enjoyed this also. Like Shaw, I only recently discovered that you were Max Rem. I look forward to hearing the story of that identity.
Great stuff!
Nothin’ but “Pure Trek” 100%!
Finally got to download this today. Worth the wait.
You’re a producer, Doug? Didn’t know that. I’m seeing a hint of BSG camera action, I believe. And that shot of leaving Earth orbit and going in to warp is too darn cool! Very nice.
Ah, I’m all smiles
Nice work!
This is the single fan film project I’m the most proud of having been allowed to crew. With the possible tiny exception of a missing insert closeup at 1:09 of DeSalle & Sulu’s rank braids (just to drive home Desalle’s humiliation), this short achieves everything it sets out to do with elegance and professionalism. It’s a great piece of Star Trek that delivers.
I remember that night. Director Gooch hit the ground running and cranked out shots for this thing at an amazing pace. It was a pleasure to watch him work, even though I felt a bit like the Maytag repair guy, waiting to be of PA help to someone who pretty much had everything in hand. Gooch is a frakking dynamo.
And it was pure joy to see so-called secondary characters given an opportunity to tell a story, and live up to that opportunity so well.
Not too long ago, people gave me links to Center Seat, and I really did love it! The CGI really had that classic TOS touch with modern twists (like the aforementioned BSG camera zoom).
I love the shot when the Enterprise breaks orbit and the camera locks on as it flies past, really showing the speed of these ships. That’s something I would have loved to see on regular trek
So glorious. I made many people watch this back in `07.
Doug, did you direct the ship shots, or did you just take care of the modelling, etc? Either way, CC’s one of my favorite videos.
I’d never watched a New Yoyages episode or short before – wow, didn’t realise what I was missing!
Now I see what you meant in an earlier reply abour TOS redux and continuing to make it – I didn’t realise you were involved with production.
I’ll set some time aside to watch the full episodes – looks like I’m in for a real treat – great stuff.
Oops, that’s ‘New Voyages’ not ‘Yoyages’ of course – early morning typo…
I thought those stills you’ve been posting looked like they were from New Voyages/Phase II. I love that show, I have all of the episodes and Center Seat either on DVD or on my PC. Center Seat was a fun little short with some great effects and a great way to introduce Lt. Cmdr. Sulu to the series, since he wasn’t in the first 2 episodes.
One of my favorite parts in Center Seat is where the Enterprise warps away from the planet, I love how you guys did those warp effects in the first few episodes, another is when it almost crashed into the star. I’d love to be able to do animation and effects like that.
This was a fun short and the VFX are fantastic! Love the BSG inspired camera work.
I like the interactions between Sulu and DeSalle! Very nicely done! 
Great fun!
There is a wink at the audience during the BSG snap zoom, as I asked our composer to underscore it with Galactica style drums.
I did all the ship shots with the exception of Enterprise heading into the sun, which were done for me by my good buddy Koji Kuramura. Other pros I tapped for the show included Aurore DeBlois, Jose Perez, Alain Rivard, and the amazing Ron B Moore who supervised many TV Trek episodes. I was heavily involved with James as a consultant on the bridge, and I personally created every backlit graphic on it. It was edited by Jack Marshall and myself. There were times when Jack wanted to kill me.
Easy going Erik Goodrich did a fine job directing the boys,. I’m a big fan of Ron Boyd’s, who has a great comic sense, and John Lim was outstanding as well. They had a nice chemistry. Ron does some awesome panel dancing.
What happens in the jump to warp, which turned out to be very popular, is that the camera is basically stationary until it hitches a ride with the ship. Simple but effective. I was looking for something non-Star Wars inspired, and had always felt that the colorful jumps in the past were too much like SW. I always loved the TOS first season shows where we would watch a planet on the main viewer shrink like a bead of water on a hot grill. That was the inspiration.
If you plan on checking out NV (Now called Phase II), I suggest passing by the very first one (”Come What May”, really a wobbly experiment) and starting with their first production episode “In Harm’s Way”. I did a few things with the ship in “In Harms Way” I never should have done (barrel rolls and stuff like that), which many folks (including DC Fontana) beat me mercilessly for. Frankly, I only thought a very small group of us would ever see it in a million years, and figured I’d have a few experimental shots where the ship moves like you’ve never seen it. Turns out a few million people watched it. Ow! I still have bruises! Never again! Bottom line though, “Firefly” creator Joss Whedon said he was on the edge of his seat thru that entire episode, and Manny Coto is a self proclaimed avid fan as well, so in spite of the starship gymnastics, it was a good picture, and a good time.
Later I’ll tell the story of how I thought I was going to be fired by Paramount for my involvement with NV. Turns out the studio does have a heart, and I left a meeting with Paramount lawyers and “Enterprise” producers with a handshake instead of a pink slip…
I, for one, never had a problem with the “barrel roll” effects. If you can build a spaceship and make it go faster than the speed of light, why should it be unbelieveable that it can handle better than a freight train?
Either way, I enjoy the NV stuff.
Hi Doug,
That is the first time I have seen this vignette. Tight, clean, great story, effects (hey, done only by the best
) Ron and John superb. In other words, I loved it.
Count me among those, foolish or not, who didn’t have a problem with the barrel rolls. Granted, they’re likely more apropos to fightercraft than capital ships, but it was fun to see the 1701-classic pushed to what could well be its limits. I simply imagined nacelle stress tolerance warnings flashing on the main viewer per Diane Duane’s Wounded Sky “dogfight” with the Klingons looking to snag K’t'lk’s prototype de Sitter space-based drive.
Doug sez: “Later I’ll tell the story of how I thought I was going to be fired by Paramount for my involvement with NV. Turns out the studio does have a heart, and I left a meeting with Paramount lawyers and “Enterprise” producers with a handshake instead of a pink slip…”
I like a brave man …
Hello, Doug!
As an experiment and an exception, I enjoyed your unusual ship movements on “In Harm’s Way”. I know that so many people was shocked with this, but I think that this was a great addition to the space battle scenes.
And, of course… what a lot of FX work with this episode!
Greetings from Spain, and thanks for your frienship!
Fernando
Star Trek New Voyages/PhaseII spanish coordinator
Doug,
Still proud of that episode! The first one I worked on, and shot. Thats where I met all of you crazy “real” Star Trek guys. I’m a better, richer person for it too:)
Needlsee to say…by far my favorite New Voyages moments are all contained here. Imagine being a lowly commercial director by day, and at night, getting to work with and get to know amazing professionals who do this everyday at the highest level. I was never more thrilled to hear how enthused Mr D was to put VFX to our live action. And the gates he opened up flooded the room with talent. This set the standard for my concept of what NV could do, and has gone on to do. And inspired me to get out of commercial production…lol
Shooting with John and Ron was also the sweetest of treats. These two had the Desalle vs. Sulu chemistry that made the short work so well. And i think it helped John prepare for being Sulu on the series. Which for him went as far as playing opposite George Takei in an episode. Ron really has given Desalle a new life and one that is more interesting than any of the secondary crew featured before.
So to have such a good shoot be coupled with VFX from the top of the industry rocked my world. It is the only NV webisode that has been fully dubbed in spanish and i believe subtitled in like 10 languages…the most universal of all NV webisodes. We should send one to the ISS! After all..it starts in the orbit of Earth. heh
It also won a Spanish Sci-Fi award. and placed in award contests in England and Italy. It is the work I am most proud of and a memory to cherish for many a year.
It couldn’t be what it is without the VFX talent you rounded up. Thank You Mr Drexler!!!
Please forgive the misspellings…I get fired up sometimes…lol
I gotta admit, though I like “Come What May” well enough, it was kinda wobbly because it was mostly a proof-of-concept episode. I got lucky, though, because my uncle who recorded the disks I was watching mislabeled them and I actually watched “In Harm’s Way” first. If I’d seen “Come What May” first, I might not have watched the others but “In Harm’s Way” is such a great episode (it’s my favorite) that I had to watch the others. So, I gotta agree with Doug, skip the pilot “Come What May” at first, you can always go back to it after you watch the others.
BTW, Doug, I absolutely love the barrel rolls and other stuff you guys did that wasn’t typical of Trek effects. I love seeing the classic Enterprise (still the best one out there) doing cool tricks that we never saw it do before.
Doug, look forward to your story.
As for the Barrel Rolls and such with the effects, yeah it was a bit too much. If you slowed it down and gave it a majestic roll and turn, it would’ve seemed more like Trek. After all, even the Defiant was a bit slow with similar manuvers.
Scott, So I’m told… and told… and told… and told… and told. ; ) I sound like Rock Hudson… Why did I do it? WHY DID I DO IT?
On the other hand, there are a solid core of people who saw what I had in mind, and like it!
Ah, that was a fun little short. I liked the snarky, back-and-forth dialogue; but would I have gotten it more if I had seen any “New Voyages” films before this one?
The VFX were top-notch, of course. I loved how busy the area around spacedock looked.
What’s wrong with Sulu these days, though? He forgets to carry the one and sends the ship into a star, he leaves the parking brake on… step it up a notch, man!
Hi Carl, I don’t think so, as this is Sulu’s first appearance on New Voyages.
Yeah I especially loved that departure scene… Was that a Federation Dreadnought I saw flying in the background as the Enterprise left spacedock? I believe that there was a book written by Diane Carey about a ship of this class being taken over by terrorists.
http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Dreadnought!
I always thought that something like this would be a dream for a special effects guy to get his teeth into, with the Enterprise going up against a fellow federation ship that completely outguns her. Awesome! *catches dripping saliva*
Gotta admit I was not a fan of the way the ship moved in In Harm’s Way. There’s one scene with the planet killer and the Daedalus and the 1701 and the moon that I thought was awesome, though. Can’t go into details without spoiling things.
Wow. The response to this short from the fans always leaves me humbled… but the love of this from Mr. Drexler, a man I have admired for years… an inspiration… leaves me weak in the knees.
This was certainly a highlight for me, not just on NY, but for my entire acting career. It was great working out the dynamics of the relationships with John… it was a pleasure to de directed by Gooch… an honour to be shot by Moody… and to have the whole thing smothered with the whipped-cream-and-cherry-on-top love of Mr. Drexler… giving us the FINEST ship in the fleet… well… it don’t get much better than that kids.
Indeed… an honour!!!
-r.
Center Seat was excellent, I really enjoyed it. DeSalle is played differently here than he was in the ’60s, and I like him a lot.
As for “In Harm’s Way”, Star Trek has always been more about characters and story than FX sequences. The obvious affection for the Original Series on the part of everyone involved and the everything-and-the-kitchen-sink story renders any FX shortcomings irrelevant, in my opinion.
I liked the high-speed, hair-pin maneuvers in the initial NV offering. If a starship can accelerate to relativistic speeds in a short span, or jump to warp speed or drop to impulse speed with minimal acceleration time, what’s wrong with a ship being able to do a hairpin turn? It might not be “Trek-like,” but it seems just feasible as many “cannnnon” feats of starship dynamics which are Trek-like.
New Voyages/Phase II has put a smile on my face from the first time I saw it, despite the wobbly aspects that were rpesent at the beginning. It looked amazing, it sounded amazing, it had imagination and passion, and best of all, it harkened back to the early days of Star Trek fandom, when the fans carried the enterprise on their enthusiastic shoulders. No new Star Trek? Write your own, draw your own, publish your own fanzine, form your own club, put on your own convention. Nothing was impossible. And New Voyages was the ultimate expression of that, providing a beautiful scratch for a long unfulfilled itch. Making your own Star Trek episodes with such style and panache … what a ridiculous and outrageous notion – they did it! I have nothing but love and respect for those guys. Those are my people.
@ Si, Yes that was a Dreadnaught. But sorry, it wasn’t invented by Diane Carry. It was forst introduced by Franz Jospesh in his Star Trek Technical Manual.
@Doug, to each their own, right?
But I’ll be honest, the old Connies doing barrel rolls and such wasn’t as bad as the Planet Eater wagging it’s tail like a lost puppy. :p
Scott – That’s right, just like that poor shark in jaws! Wagging it’s tail like a lost puppy as it ate poor old Quint! Scott! Don’t be cranky!
“Farewell and adieu all ye fair Spanish ladies…”
Sorry, I couldn’t resist! Any time someone mentions poor Quint, that song always pops into my head!
Yeah, I enjoyed this lil’ vignette, Nice Trek spirit, I love the alt-shift peek, eh.
LLP,
deg
Bruce the Shark. He bit ol’ Quinty in.
That be his name, eh.
Now take a looky-see at this here scar…
PLL,
deg
This is a beautiful short. I think what really shines here is not just the stunning visuals (and they really are very good) but the excellent sound work as well. I especially loved the departure sequence – the music and the sound effects (especially the radio chatter!) were great! Probably my favorite touch though was hearing the Enterprise’s engines revving down while she came down to full stop.
Doug,
I love these NV/ Phase II films and yeah, the barrel rolls were over the top, but hey, the rest was so good, I paid it no mind. Really, if I were to make a complaint at all about the series, it would be about James Cawley (who I like by the way..) and his tendency to snarl/ nose wrinkle a bit to much.
And you are correct, Ron Boyd is outstanding. I literally almost fell out of my chair watching his bloopers. He seems like such a cool fellow, the kind of guy you would like to grill a steak and down a few brews with, and his acting chops are up there too. I never liked DeSalle overly much back in the day, but Ron has made him likable.
Thanks again for a great job
Peace and Light
Jeff
Scott, I didn’t say that the dreadnought was invented by Diane Carey, I just noted that she wrote a book that featured it. Don’t worry, Scotty. We all make mistakes, as Spock is fond of reminding us, we’re only human! LOL!
Okay, let me say first that I do not usually like digital over practical models. I also am not often interested in fan fiction, especially that which re-casts other actors role. I cam into this with two strong bias’ against.
That being said…Wow! I had to watch it twice. The opening sequence has enough life and energy to smoothly transit the viewer into the world. The performances were great, the DeSalle actor even handling the controls with conviction during the close up. During the sun fly-by, the affects demonstrated how powerful TOS designs could still be with updated graphics. And the story of a reasonable flaw being confronted was Roddenberry-esqu, without being over the top. Despite my reservations, I have to say one of the best love letters to the TOS I’ve witnessed!
Can we send a copy to JJ? He could take notes…
@SI: Sorry
@Doug: I’m not cranky, I’m just odd.
Im pretty sure JJ has seen it
I know he has seen World Enough and Time
Dear Mr. Drexler,
I have read your above account and I am ashamed at your attempts to undo all the hard work of Mr. Max Rem. Yes he drinks a little too much and swears at you if you don’t do this or that fast enough, but Max is a great artist and great man. I am ashamed that you are just trying to push him aside with a few paragraphs of story-telling that fail to mention his great talent and contributions to New Voyages. I find your failure to give Max Rem the credit he deserves suspicious and I vow to bring this conspiracy out into the open if its the last thing I do. Mr. Drexler, I served with Max Rem; I knew Max Rem; Max Rem was a friend of mine. Mr. Drexler, you’re no Max Rem.;)
However, I would love you to keep posting all the wonderful images of Max’s work. He deserves the recognition and his work is quite beautiful and should be shared with the world. And remember Mr. Drexler, I’m watching you, well at least reading your blog, hopefully you will have the courage to tell the world that Max Rem is the true talent and that you, although extremely talented in your own right, just do not quite live up to his legendary skills.
Jeff Hayes
Publicist to Mr. Rem
Ahhh yes, Mr. Rem.
Miss him dearly.
Doug, I don’t know if you remember or not but I am the guy on the NV boards who kept asking you to have the Enterprise do a victory roll
I loved seeing it too!
LordBat! YOU! How I have paid for that barrel roll! ; )
It’s been a while since I’ve seen you! Welcome, and I hope you are well!
Huge fan of STNV now P:2.
Believe it or not Center Seat was the first episode that I downloaded. Once I got a gander at that little jewel I immediately downloaded all that was available.
That was less than a year ago.
Now I can’t sing you guys’ praises enough.
Keep up the good work and I look forward to seeing James & gang at Dragon*Con this year as well as seeing The Child for the first time.
take care!!!