Share/Bookmark

Share/Bookmark

Here is Chapter 1!

Chapter Credits:
Narrator: Abe Lebovic
Admiral Roth: Trevor Tunnell
Ensign: Rosie Moss

Music from: Star Trek Generations

Share/Bookmark

Stay tuned!
Hugo

Chapter Credits:
Narrator: Abe Lebovic
Commander Stevens: Doug Rossi
Lt. Ray: Matu Threatt
Transporter operator: Nicholas Tong
Original Music by: Christoffer Sandberg

Share/Bookmark

So I thought I’d take a moment to give credit to all of those that helped make this audiobook possible. I had the distinct pleasure of working with some really great people; without them, this project would have died in its infancy (it almost did). Special thanks to Abe Lebovic who pushed me early on to get this project going at a time when it just didn’t seem feasible, and Lee Weinberg from Feet 1st Studios for helping me with essentially every technical aspect of the project. I have to thank ALL of my actors who were dedicated enough to put up with me and my chaotic scheduling, and the incredible heat we had to endure in the studio last summer (fun times!). Lastly, special thanks to Christoffer Sandberg who really did a fantastic job composing an original score for specific chapters.

So why did I make an audiobook? Well, for one, it was a cost-effective way of adding more dimension to my characters besides actually trying to make a movie. Believe it or not, I rarely listen to audiobooks, so I had a poor concept on how I would actually approach this project. From what I understand (now), audiobooks are usually made with a single actor/actress who narrates and portrays all of the characters. I decided early on that I wanted distinct voices for each of my characters, and there should be supporting music and sound effects. In other words, what I had in mind was almost an audio-movie.

I’ve posted pics of the actors who portrayed my Starfleet crew. I couldn’t have been more impressed with their skills and abilities, and I worked very hard to select actors who I felt were appropriate for their respective characters. Believe it or not, a lot of them almost look like how I imagined my characters!

I only recorded Part I of the book, and that was to ensure that the project was feasible to complete within a reasonable timeframe. But I think it is enough to get a feel for how I hear all of my characters, and you might even read the rest of the book differently with different voices in mind! You also might notice that I had to use ’24th century’ sound effects. If I had my own sound studio where I could create my own effects, I would have certainly made new sounds to fit ’25th-century’ Star Trek! So I hope everyone forgives that aspect of it, but at least they give the whole audiobook a sense of familiarity.

Finally, thanks to all of you who actually come visit my site. I hope everyone enjoys! See you Monday, May 7!

Best,
Hugo

CAST
Captain Seth – Johnson Cooley

Narrator/Jean LeCroy – Abe Lebovic

Counselor Jenovia/Ensign Ester – Rosie Moss

Dr. Edward Min/Yavin/Science Officer/Admiral Kim – Nicholas Tong

Lieutenant Commander Thorn/Disclaimer/Lieutenant Ray- Matu Threatt

Commander Ariele – Anna Finkhman

Admiral Roth – Trevor Tunnell

Captain Santiago – Harsha Rao

CREW

Writer/Director – Hugo Calvin

Sound Editor/Producer – Lee Weinberg (Feet 1st Studios)

Music Composer (for all original music) – Christoffer Sandberg

CREDITS
Music Clips From: Star Trek: Generations by Dennis McCarthy and Star Trek: Nemesis by Jerry Goldsmith
(Note: I do not own the music from these soundtracks and they belong to Paramount/CBS studios)

Sound Effects From:
TrekCore
Star Trek Dimension
Pond5.com

Share/Bookmark

More next week,
Hugo

Share/Bookmark

Race/sex: Breen male

Rank: Lieutenant Commander

Physical attributes:
- 6’5, athletic build
- Arms from the elbow down are artificial
- Wears a refrigeration suit that resembles a Starfleet uniform, including a helmet and mask

Age: Unknown

Languages: Breen (native)

Handedness: Ambidextrous

Place of Birth: Breen homeworld (assumed)

Bio: Lieutenant Commander Thorn is the Dragonfly’s Chief of Security and a former member of the Breen Confederacy. He is very skilled in numerous martial arts, including those from human, Klingon, and Vulcan cultures, in addition to those learned while on the Breen homeworld. Thorn is an officer who is always prepared; he carries a lot of tools and weapons which serve the need of the occasion.

Thorn wears a silver colored helmet, and also has a bright, green laser emanating from his mask. No one has ever seen what he looks like underneath his helmet. Like all Breen, Thorn wears a refrigeration suit, but still reflects a standard uniform. Thorn’s arms from the elbow down are artificial. It is not known exactly why Thorn has synthetic limbs.

Like all Breen, Lieutenant Commander Thorn’s history is shrouded in mystery. It is not known why he chose to join Starfleet or what happened to his arms. But he is loyal to his captain, very skilled, and serves him well as his Chief of Security.

Author’s comments: I always felt that a Starfleet crew could benefit from a ‘Batman’-like character: dark, mysterious, powerful, intelligent, and resourceful. In my opinion, a Chief of Security should really give off the ‘Don’t-%$#%-with-me”-vibe. Quite frankly, the only characters on Star Trek that pulled that off were Lt. Commander Worf and, to a certain extent, Odo (sorry Tuvok, you never scared me).

I also found it incredibly fun to shroud this character in complete mystery, and making him a Breen was very suitable. Why did a Breen soldier join Starfleet? Why does he have synthetic arms? What the hell does he look like underneath his mask, and why does he always talk like a robot? Even I don’t have good answers for any of those questions, but that was part of the fun of designing the character. Like a ninja, I think Thorn would choose to maintain the mystery even among his peers as a way of instilling fear.

The only Breen names that we as an audience had any experience with were Gor and Pran from DS9, both of which were monosyllabic names that sounded ‘made-up-on-the-spot.’ So I came up with something similar, and the fact that the word ‘thorn’ conjured up an image of something sharp and dangerous I think made it appropriate for the character.

Share/Bookmark

Illustration by: Robert Vigo

Notes on Illustration: Lt. Comm. Thorn is the first of the Reemergence characters to be drawn by Robert Vigo. Very cool and very sleek (at least, to me), which was exactly what I was going after for Thorn. The detail is just absolutely incredible (yes, each line you see is one pen stroke!). Although I had an early draft from Anthony that I thought was pretty cool, Rob really took it upon himself to re-design the look of the character, and I’m glad that he did. The ‘mesh’ that you see in various parts of his uniform were completely his idea as a way of making his suit more flexible when in combat. You can also see the basic layout of my Starfleet uniforms, but Thorn’s was specially adapted to serve his needs (including the fact that all Breen wear refrigeration suits). Speaking of which, anyone here who is a Star Trek fan can probably tell that I completely re-designed the Breen look. Hope everyone enjoys!

By the way, Rob prefers to wait until all of the characters are drawn before coloring, so check back soon for the full colored versions!

Share/Bookmark

Race/sex: Villenes/female

Rank: Commander

Physical attributes:
- 5’10, thin, feminine build
- Green skin, with dark, long, green hair, and bright, frosted yellow eyes

Age: 32 (in human years)

Languages: English, Villene (native)

Handedness: Right-handed

Place of birth: Sabach, Villenes

Bio: Jenovia serves as ship’s counselor aboard the U.S.S. Dragonfly. She is a member of species that is a distant cousin of the Orions, known as the Villenes. So her species is similarly green in color, but the resemblance ends there. Although she has no supernatural abilities, her species are quite sharp and able notice subtle changes in people’s physiology. As such, she appears to have near mind-reading abilities, but in reality, she is just extremely observant. She can therefore detect lies, feelings of infatuation or love, etc. Jenovia is a student of psychology and emotion, and extremely in touch with her own feelings as well as those of others, even if people don’t welcome her observations or opinions. She is also extremely compassionate; she spent two years on a humanitarian mission on New Romulus in her youth to help then rebuild their civilization.

Author’s Notes: OK, I admit it: Jenovia is a personal fantasy of mine. For whatever reason, I wanted a beautiful, green, savy and intelligent woman by Seth’s side to guide him on his missions. The immediate instinct was to make her an Orion, but a species that emits pheromones all over the ship would be too distracting (as we’ve seen in the shows). My solution was to make her only a distant cousin of the Orions, and I could design Jenovia however I wanted. I held back from giving her ‘magical’ telepathic powers like Counselor Troi, and I instead gave her abilities that I thought were more interesting. Making her a poker shark accomplished two things for me: 1) it gave her a fun activity that allowed her to hone her skills in a way that made sense, and 2) it gave me an excuse to bring the game back into the world of Star Trek (which I think they should do).

Share/Bookmark

Illustration by: Anthony Pugh
Coloring by: Adam Pedrone

Notes on Illustration: This one also didn’t take long for Anthony to get. This iteration was only Anthony’s second try. After all, there wasn’t much to describe: she’s a beautiful, green woman. The hardest part was perhaps conveying a sense of empathy about her, but at the very least, she looks powerful and commanding in this drawing. The way her hair flows is absolutely fantastic, and Adam Pedrone did a great job on the coloring. My only regret is that we can’t see her frosted yellow eyes, which I emphasized in the story as one of her special features.

Share/Bookmark