By GustavoLeao / 08:32, 30 March 2008 / General Star Trek

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Fan film productions 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.

TrekWeb talks to Starship Intrepid actor/producer Nick Cook about his fan production series, the Orphans of War and Operation Beta Shield movies and his future projects.

1- Nick, tell us about the genesis of the Intrepid fan series.

I'd seen the early episodes of Hidden Frontier when they were first released, and while I was impressed by what they'd accomplished, it didn't really occur to me that this was something within my capabilities. About a year or so passed, and I happened across Starship Exeter: The Savage Empire and The Making of Savage Empire, and began to think about the possibility of producing an audio novel. I mentioned this to a group of friends at our local Star Trek club, and one of them, Dylan Feeney who eventually composed our theme, suggested doing a fanfilm instead. Shortly thereafter Steve Hammond mentioned he had a camcorder, so we figured 'what the heck'. Of course, in our blissful naivete, we really didn't have a clue what we were getting ourselves into.

2- Like James Cawley in Phase II, you are both the producer and star of Starship Intrepid. How difficult is to take those two jobs at the same time ?

Well I've seen James at work, and honestly, the man's a dynamo, I have no idea where he gets the energy. By contrast, I'm a dried up duracell, so as you can imagine I don't pull it off with even a fraction of James' panache. It doesn't help that I'm a bit of a dilatant in that I also write, and make the costumes, so I often find myself pulled in about forty different directions at once. It's a constant learning curve, and I'd be lying if I said I hadn't dropped the ball more than a few times, but I guess that's part of any learning experience, so it's all good.

I'm sure most people think I'm insane, and I'd be hard-pressed to disagree, but the simple fact is I love every minute of it. Even when I'm stressing about the lousy weather on location, or any of the other gazzilion things that can (and do) go wrong. I'm a theatre nurse by profession, and work long hours in less than ideal conditions, so I figure I should take my fun wherever I can get it. Besides, it's this or strip clubs, and my wife tends to object to the latter.

3- Please describe your character of Captain Daniel Hunter.

Hunter's an ordinary man in an extraordinary situation. He's not cut from the usual heroic Starfleet captain mold; he's a little less confident, and a lot less reverential. Whereas the Picards and the Kirks graduated at the top of their class, Hunter just barely scraped through. He's a man who liked the idea of the captaincy, but never really strived to achieve it, because he never really believed he was good enough. Now that he's been unceremoniously thrust into that position, he's constantly haunted by all that nagging self-doubt, but pushes on regardless because he has no other choice. He's acutely aware that people are now looking to him for leadership, and for answers, and he's determined not to let them down. 

To put it simply (and to use a timeworn Star Trek cliche) he's just human, with all the baggage that entails.

4- Why you choose to feature a ship of the same class of the U.S.S. Voyager in Intrepid ?

Almost purely aesthetic reasons; I've always loved Rick Sternbach's design, and to me, it has a certain original series vibe about it. It's smaller, sleeker and more intimate than bigger ships like the Enterprise-D, and I like that. Also, the local Trek club I used to run was the USS Intrepid, so really it was a pretty easy choice.

5- You and your cast and crew are producing the first british Star Trek fan film series. Any comments on that ?

We were aware of it when we started out, though it wasn't a big deal initially. As time went on, and we began getting noticed, it became a matter of some pride for us. We very much wanted to do the UK proud. Whether we actually did is probably debateable, though we certainly received more than our fair share of media exposure. Over here, you can't get much better than Lorraine Kelly and the front page of The Guardian. So it really was an honour for us, and I think we all feel a bit of a responsibility to keep flying the flag for the UK.

6- Lets talk about your first croosover with Hidden Frontier fan series - the Orphans of War fan film. Did you enjoy the experience ?

We had a great time. It was a real rollercoaster though; we were in LA for just two days, and only one of those days for the shoot, so it really went by in a blur. The Hidden Frontier folks are simply the nicest, most welcoming, down to Earth people you'll ever meet, and if I have one regret, it's that we didn't have more time with them.

Working with Rob, Beo, Risha, Jenn, Joanne and everyone else was fantastic, but we were also fortunate enough to have Rod Roddenberry visit the shoot, which added a whole new dimension. It was a uniquely special experience, and one I'm honoured to have shared in.

7- Your next project in association with Hidden Frontier is the feature length fan film Operation Beta Shield. What can you tell us about this ambitious project ?

There's a couple of segments we're shooting in Scotland, in about a month or so, that involve Intrepid cast who can't make it to LA for the main shoot. One of those is our resident Starfleet Romulan, S'Ceris played by David Reid, the other is Hunter's First Officer, who is a new addition to the cast. After that, my wife and I will be in LA in the first week of June for the main shoot. We'll be shooting sixty odd pages over three days, so I'm not anticipating much sleep.

Unlike Orphans, Beta Shield spends rather more time getting under the skin of some of these characters. You'll certainly come away feeling you got to know them a little better, and you'll get some additional insight into the friendship between Shelby and Hunter.

Beyond that, I'm not sure what I can tell you that won't get me a two by four upside the head from Rob, or Brian, or both, so I should probably just shut up now.

8- What are you opinion about sci-fi novelist Brian S. Matthews and Rob Caves script for Beta Shield ?

I'm probably not giving much away when I say they're telling quite an epic, timely story. There's some really snappy dialogue, some nice character development, and one scene in particular between Hunter and Shelby that I think people will really enjoy. Brian seems to share my taste for dry wit, which is probably why I love his dialogue so much. I'm clearly biased though, so maybe that's not much of a recommendation. Which reminds me, Brian, is that cheque in the post yet?

9- What are your future projects ?

In addition to two new installments of Intrepid, Where There's a Sea and Transitions and Lamentations in post-production, I recently just gave our Director, Steve Hammond, a coronary by scheduling a three day shoot for May. We're producing a 34 page script by Brian Matthews entitled The Stone Unturned, which I'm really excited about. We have a very interesting guest star onboard for that one, and we'll be announcing more about that in a month or so. We're also batting around ideas for a Doctor Who production, but that's really early days just now.