Timo:

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A scene from Wolf 359 could with full justification be reproduced by giving us a fuzzy screencap from a videotape, and then slapping graphics over it that would specify this as a "gun camera shot", or something taken by a recording drone amidst the battle's heavy EM interference and subspace shockwaves and whatnot.

Similarly, a key live-action event could be presented as a snapshot taken by an away team's tricorder-wielding Ensign Expendable, just when he was hit by that disruptor beam. Or then he had to take it covertly through some vegetation, from a distance. Surely the reduced quality of the image could be forgiven.

Here's a possibility that should not be overlooked when making use of all that accumulated wealth of Trek visual records.

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Shik:

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:::nods in agreement::: That's absolutely right, Timo. In fact, a lot of times these items come from the strangest sources. Imagine if you will a shot of a scorched, somewhat shredded, & ice-crystalized section of photo of Ben & Jennifer Sisko at Gilgo Beach; the caption in true NG style reads: "'Some times the hardest part of doing this,' says salvage worker Thon Lorit, 'is finding the small things. It affects everyone in ways you just can't describe.' A full Betazoid, Thon says that he sometimes is overwhelmed by the raw emotions of the rest of the work crew when they find a fragment of a person's life floating among the wreckage. Here, at left, a happy moment captured forever shows the scars of horror."

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Mojo: I was planning to email this to you before posting it here in an effort to promote
the idea first, but...yeah. No matter.

You've discussed your plans an concepts for "Unseen Frontier" here many times.
Throughout it all, you've kept mentioning a variant or the same phrase: "The events we
know as seen through something like National Geographic." This line is what has really
stuck with me.

Like most of the people here I'm sure, I've grown up reading NG all my life. I don't really
look at it that often nowadays due to fiduciary concerns, but when I do, the images are
always what grab me, even if they concern an article I'm not particularly interested in.
I've had the good fortune to meet and talk lengthily with many NG photographers, both
staff and freelance, and so the stories they have to tell are stuck in my mind as well.

One of the reasons NG is held in such high regard is because it excels at its primary goal:
to bring understanding of the world around us home to the average person. Whether it be
through funding expeditions to the Weddell Sea and the Kalahari or simply sending a field
reporter to live in Brussels or Ville De Qu�bec for three months, the experiences and
stories of other places are brought to us in a short, hardhitting and striking form. Many
of us on this forum are naval history fans; who among us can forget the late 1985 issue
of NG in which Bob Ballard published his first mosaic images of Titanic? I was ten years
old and they still take my breath away. I remember leafing through old issues with
articles about the circumnavigation and later polar voyage of the Nautilus. I remember
seeing the shots of Robert Falcon Scott's final fateful encampment in Antarctica. I've
seen underwater shots of black smokers and aerial images of a barren glacier with three
small dots on it--a Norwegian scaling team.

These are the same things that should be captured in "Unseen Frontier," the same
breathtaking feel. Some of this can come from ships, yes, but let the word "unseen" by
the guide. We've seen Wolf 359; what about the aftermath, the cleanup effort? Was
there one, or is it now like the Arizona memorial? The comings and goings of a busy
spaceport; all DS9 has shown us is a few floating vessels--nothing like a real harbor. Are
there festivities for Federation Day like Independence Day? Did they have something like
OpSail on the Federation's 200th birthday in 2361?

But the Trek galaxy--like the real world--is more than just starships. There's people.
Legends. Heroes. Cultures. So many unknowns. Celebrations after the end of a war,
whether it be the Dominion War, Cardassian Wars, Romulan Wars. The memorial service
for James T. Kirk in late 2293. Someone suggested the signing of the First Khitomer
Accords. There's interstellar phenomena, natural wonders of black holes and pulsars and
nebulae. These are all things that the average Federation citizen wouldn't know about.
Even other worlds in and out of the Federation: Betazed, Andor, Tellar. Trill's oceans
were said to be purple in a DS9 episode; who knows from purple water?

"Omnipotent observation" is fine for calendars; there it's not expected. For "Unseen
Frontier," as a reader, I'd like it to be more first-person. I'd like to feel that there was a
person there who saw this perfect image and captured it so that others may share and
revel in its power, its beauty, its sense of amazement. That sense of humanity is what
would set this project apart from all others. (Indeed, an idea has just hit me on a way to
help accomplish that feel. Often in NG itself and most definitely in its compilation tomes,
there are comments from photographers and staff on the power of the imagery--what
they felt when they saw the sight, how they decided to choose that particular one, how
that perfect combination just happened to come together at the right moment.
Comments like that--not just from humans, but others--would definitely help with the
touch.)

I encourage you to take all of the above to heart. Following this train of thought, this
overall feeling and setting will almost guarantee that the book will reach beyond the
hardcore audience that the more recent offerings have pandered to. I know for a fact
that this is something many friends would be overawed at and by, not so much because
it's Trek, but because of what it could BE. They are not the kind of people to purcashe
technical manuals and don't care if a bird-of-prey has been rescaled or not. They are the
"casual fans," the one who enjoy the stories and imagery, the ones who've been left in
the lurch. This is a chance to reconcile the two ends of the markets in a most spectacular
way.

I, like others here have in the past, formally offer my help, advice, and knowledge on
this project, and I would consider it a great honor to take part in such an endeavor from
such an early stage. But let us lay the groundwork for reason and rationality here, at the
beginning, so that later on we can progress smoothly.

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[ November 09, 2001: Message edited by: AndrewR ]

And now that I think about it, how about setting it during the Movie-era, with Constitutions and Mirandas and Oberths and Excelsiors?

[ November 09, 2001: Message edited by: The359 ]

It would make a good tie in to TMP, where we see an orbital office complex for the yard, nearing completion. You could say that the entire facility was upgraded in the 2270s, and that the big mushroom spacedock was the first of its kind.

It would also be interesting to see the moon as it is in the 23 or 24th century as described in ST:FC

[ November 09, 2001: Message edited by: Reverend ]

I always imagined a scene with a 5-ish year old child watching from his home in one of the orbital habitats as the Breens attacked Earth, with a Defiant swooping gracefully close past his field of view to engage the attackers. The reflection of the little boy's face on the window would be "I'm gonna join Starfleet when I grow up".

Hell of a Starfleet Academy recruiting poster.

Something involving Starfleet infantry would be nice, too. Maybe something Vietnam or Iwo Jima like, with Marines disembarking from a combat hopper. Of course, that would require CG people.

[ November 09, 2001: Message edited by: David Templar ]

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with Marines disembarking from a combat hopper. Of course, that would require CG people

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On a more constructive note:

Mojo, how about solving the mystery of how the Phoenix returned to Earth after Cochrane's flight?

Or, on a similar note, a shot of the Smithsonian in the 24th century (with the Phoenix and perhaps some other space goodies) in it, or alternately the mentioned-but-unseen "Fleet Museum"?

[ November 09, 2001: Message edited by: The_Tom ]

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B]Or, on a similar note, a shot of the Smithsonian in the 24th century (with the Phoenix and perhaps some other space goodies) in it, or alternately the mentioned-but-unseen "Fleet Museum"?[/B]

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Now that is an excelent idea, perhaps the fleet museum is the orbital wing of smithsonian, showing exibits that are too large to be displayed on the surface.
Aside from that, a vacume is a great perserver.