Dispatches from the Romulan War - Animated

Since its premiere more than a year ago, Dispatches from the Romulan War has innovated with its unique style of flash fiction from the perspective of the news agencies of the Star Trek: Enterprise universe. Last Christmas, it pushed into a new medium with its series of full cast audio podbooks. Now, DRW is boldly going into new territory again with Dispatches from the Romulan War: The Animated Series.

With the aid of TrekUnited, the team of the newly founded Perseus Productions has begun work on a series of short videos that will bring DRW into the visual realm. The original podbooks series will provide the audio, and the visuals will consist of a series of still images blended together to illustrate the stories featured in the articles.

Aric Hutfles, the talented comic book artist who created the covers for the two DRW podbooks, has generously agreed to draw
the various images that will make up each episode. TU's own JohnBart_HUN, known for his work with the Enterprise: Temporal Cold War mod and the creator of several Trek and BSG music videos, has signed on to direct and edit each episode/article. The series is being produced by Tyler Edwards (AKA yours truly, ensign edwards), the chief editor of DRW. Kirok of L'Stok, TU's media director, is also aiding various aspects of the project.

The original podbooks featured a number of talented voice actors including David Ault, whom you may remember from his roles in Star Trek: Defiant, Star Trek: Lost Frontier, Star Trek: The Section 31 Files, and The Byron Chronicles; and well-known Trek writer Larry Nemecek. Cathy Rinella, AKA Merodi of Merodi Media, contributed her immense talents in sound engineering to the original audio articles and now, by extension, to DRWA.

The seven articles of the podbooks can be heard in TrekUnited's Audio Center or downloaded from the Twelve Trek Days website.

DRWA is intended to increase awareness of Dispatches from the Romulan War and Enterprise, but it is also meant to be a gift to all those fans who have supported DRW up until now. For the first time, they will be able to actually see Salem One orbiting Beta Virginis II, and all the other iconic images of DRW, with their eyes, instead of simply in their minds.

We are currently aiming to release the first episode sometime in early 2009. The precise length of the first season hasn't yet been determined, but four videos are currently in the works, and if all goes well, the season may be significantly longer.

Work on DRWA is still underway, and there's a lot yet to be done, so keep an eye out for further updates.

For now, you can whet your appetite with this image from the first episode.

Enterprise and Columbia rush to investigate the loss of Salem One.
Posted Image

(Note to mods: please pin this thread.)

I regret to inform you all that DRWA is shutting down production. From the very beginning, we've suffered delays, but in recent months, progress has come to a complete halt. I can no longer see any way for us to continue forward.

I wish to extend apologies to all the fans who were looking forward to it, and I thank them for their support.

I wanted to post the few images we did complete, but I think the Google Group where we stored them may have been shut down. I can't find it anywhere. So, yeah. Sorry again.

DRW itself will continue on. The Romulan War has only just started, and there are still plenty of stories to tell. Remember that you can submit your own stories and help steer the course of the war yourself. I'm always open to new submissions.