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Written by Kirok of L'Stok on
Friday, 04 May 2007
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 Last weekend, starting on Friday, April 27, was the second Excelsior Ball hosted by Star Trek: Hidden Frontier. Alas for those of us who live too far away, we have had to wait patiently for the people who were there to post their experiences on the Hidden Frontier forum. It is an especially poignant celebration for all concerned - cast, crew and fans - because it marks the end of an era, the last season of Star Trek: Hidden Frontier, and the start of a new one, "Star Trek: Odyssey".
In February last year their first Excelsior Ball was a resounding success, appreciated by the cast and fans alike. Next year it will be held at the same time of the year, in April, however they will have to find a new name for it for, with the demise of Star Trek: Hidden Frontier, the Excelsior - the ship that is at the centre of the series - will be a part of history. Not, you might note, the end of Areakt Productions who have announced plans to move onwards.
After starting with a "meet-and-greet" at the hotel on Friday, the weekend's events really started at 6am Saturday with the regular HF cast and crew, augmented by various volunteers and helping hands, setting up at an outdoors shoot at the beautiful arboretum of the University of California, Irvine. Basically anyone who had previously registered and turned up in an appropriate costume was allowed to be an extra in the scene - who could pass up a chance like that! The completed scene will be included in the final episode, which airs on Monday, May 21. This has been a moving experience for the many fans who took advantage of the possibility to really be a part of the fan production they have supported for so long. Don't expect any spoilers though, everyone on the set was sworn to secrecy!
The filming finished and the site was cleaned up by 12:30pm, an amazing two hours early. After their midday break, events resumed in the afternoon to the hotel from 3pm until the 6pm dinner break when the massive crowd descended on an unsuspecting and totally unprepared restaurant for what has become known as the IHOP incident. Suffice to say that one waiter, one cook, no working register and forty guests (including at least one representative of the press) equals no food and the surprisingly good natured mob dispersed to scavenge the suburb for pickings.
Pride of place was taken during the day by a bigscreen showing of episode 707, "The Center Cannot Hold" (now available for download) and episode 708, "Its Hour Come Round At Last" and a stunning preview of Areakt Production's new venture Star Trek: Odyssey . According to attendee, Rick Pike, there were "Several panel discussions, dinner, more panels and previews, some touching speeches, a lot of weepy eyes as the emotions of this adventure were recounted, and then a great informal party hosted by JT [Tepnapa] and Adam to celebrate the kickoff of some of JT's Blue Seraph projects , with a shift in locale from their hotel room to our meeting room that turned out to be even better than planned."
A full day of events ran at the hotel on Sunday, centring around interaction between the cast, crew, and fans with autograph sessions, panels and video showings. The panels were on a range of subjects from Hidden Frontier's Origins, to Heroes, Gays in Hidden Frontier, Makeup & Costuming, Tech Talk and an Episode 708 Review.
Sunday had more fan productions to watch! There was an advance copy of the upcoming premiere from Star Trek: Intrepid , "Heavy Lies The Crown" and a look back into the past with "Price Of Duty" by the USS Angeles. Carlos Pedraza, ex-writer and constant supporter of Hidden Frontier, was even seen showing off an advance copy of "World Enough and Time" , the next episode from Star Trek: New Voyages , to his colleagues.
The event was an amazing production in itself! Even down to the smallest details, the tributes shared, bloopers, fan tribute videos and photo montages shown and fan awards given to the early morning party, the host's Rodney Dangerfield jokes and the companionship of old and new friends! In fact for many, the most lasting memory will be the people, the personalities and the times shared. Rick put it into words thus, "it took going to California, and hanging out with this talented, quirky, wonderful, somewhat dysfunctional group of people to realize it is a family... and that those who share the vision are part of the family too."
My thanks to Rick Pike, David "The Doctor" O'Neill , Dan Crout and everyone who has contributed their experiences on the Star Trek: Hidden Frontier forum
Discuss: TrekUnited Forum
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