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The award-winning internet
series Star Trek New Voyages: Phase II filmed a portion of their
latest episode, “Kitumba”, on location at historic Fort Ticonderoga
in June of 2009. Klingons began showing up at Fort Ticonderoga during
the day on June 6th and June 7th in search of
their rumored homeworld, confusing both visitors and aliens alike. The
truth about the Fort’s alternate-future-reality didn’t become
apparent, however, until the visitors left and hundreds of thousands
of watts of light were thrown at the Fort’s stone walls and nearby
grounds. Earthers that braved the grounds found themselves facing aliens
at every turn, strange buildings from the future, and breathtaking
panoramas of alien landscapes that stretched into the night. “I’ve
been to the Fort a dozen times,” said one stunned person. “And I
never dreamed what was out there in the darkness.”
Based in nearby Port Henry,
New York, the Cawley Entertainment Company/Retro Film Studios production
films new episodes of the classic Star Trek
series from the 1960's and offers them for free on the internet. With
new actors taking on the roles and using museum-quality duplicates of
the original sets, after 30 million downloads the Star Trek New Voyages:
Phase II series has been named “the most successful internet production”
and James Cawley, its Senior Executive Producer, one of “the 10 most
important Star Trek fans in history”.
The “Kitumba” story was
originally a draft for two episodes of an aborted Paramount “Phase
II” series written in 1977 by John Meredyth Lucas. The episodes
would have been the first in-depth look at the culture and civilization
of the Klingon Empire and have long been on Star Trek
fans’ “most wished for to be produced” list. Written by Patty
Wright into one Star Trek: Phase II
episode and updated to reconcile with Star Trek
filmed since Lucas first wrote his drafts, the story was thought too
monumental an undertaking for any “fan film”, as independent productions
by fans are called.
The ambitious project called
for location shooting on the Klingon homeworld, “Qo’nos” and a
cast of 36, with 59 extras sporting both classic Klingon makeup and
the ridges later seen in the Star Trek
feature films. When the script described Qo’nos, as “comprised of
rough-hewn stone buildings as if untouched by time immemorial”, James
Cawley had no doubts where on 21st century Earth the production
would find a “double” for the 23rd century location.
“We have to use Fort Ti,” said life-long area resident Cawley,
“or we’re not doing the episode.”
The declaration caused an immediate
panic among senior production staff. The probability of getting permission
to use a National Historic Site - whose very ground is so important
to both local and national history - seemed unlikely at best. After
all, this wasn’t a re-enactment of a Revolutionary War battle: it
was a small, local science fiction show that was filming scenes that
would take place on another planet two centuries in the future. Could
those charged with protecting our nation’s history envision aliens
walking about a sacred palace where an American fort once stood? Yes,
it turns out, they could: and with great enthusiasm. Marci Hall, Fort
Ticonderoga’s Public Relations and Marketing Director, embraced the
project the moment she heard about it. “We’re looking for new, creative
ways to use the Fort: and this project was a perfect example of the
possibilities.” The only limitations given to Star Trek: New Voyages
Phase II were standard rules in place to respect the history of
the property.
The producers, however, remained
dubious that the location shoot could be pulled off with a production
crew that’s made up of 150 volunteers from around the world who descend
on the area for two weeks each June. Although many of the production
crew are film professionals, the roadblocks to shooting the episode
seemed insurmountable. In addition to the logistical nightmare of trying
to makeup and costume so many extras at a “primitive” location,
in order to use Fort Ticonderoga during the height of tourist season
the filming needed to take place at night - after the Fort closed to
visitors. This seemed to limit the amount of time available to shoot
each day, and a night shoot would automatically require an imposing
amount of studio lights to create daytime scenes, and thus require a
monumental supply of electrical power.
In a first effort to tackle
the problem, Cawley and Wright sat down with the script and pared down
the required location shoot to the bare minimum: less than two minutes
of film time which included a scene in Fort Ticonderoga’s parade ground
and a shot on top of one of the Fort’s walls. Hall’s energy
dissuaded the production’s cautious plans in Cawley’s first meeting
with her. “Marci was really excited to have us there and brought us
to several locations that were just incredible,” said Cawley. “She
had a real eye for what we were looking for and had great ideas on how
to work with us.”
The concerns of staging the
shoot in a “primitive” location were quickly way-laid by the ultra-modern
Mars Center, which could be used as both wardrobe/makeup and a green
room/craft services area. The availability of a nearby 24-hour Wal-Mart
and the agreement of a local restaurant to stay open and keep the production
members fed eliminated nearly all the obstacles for filming several
key pages of the “Kitumba” script at Fort Ticonderoga.
With an expanded shooting plan
however, the electrical issues loomed heavily on the horizon. Generators
for film work are not only expensive, but heavy: and transporting them
requires the type of trucks that would risk damage to the property of
Fort Ticonderoga. Lyle St. Jean, Supervisor of Fort Ticonderoga’s
property, began working closely with Co-Executive Producer and Lead
Electrician Gary Evans and Lighting Designer (Gaffer) Robert Mauro.
They found that recent updates to the electrical system at the Fort
that had been done by a PBS crew were above and beyond what Evans could
have hoped for. With some additional upgrades contracted by CEC/RFS,
the issue of electrical power for any film production was nearly eliminated.
“If we had enough cable,” said Mauro, “we could have lit the entire
Fort without a generator.” Without enough cable, a small generator
provided the boost of power needed for the extra locations at the Fort
without risking damage to the property.
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Hall’s support of the new,
ambitious shooting plan found her greeting the truckloads of Star
Trek: Phase II’s cast, crew and equipment as they arrived at 6
pm on both June 6th and 7th: and she stayed for
an exhilarating 10 hours of shooting each night - tirelessly aiding
the producers to quickly overcome any unexpected obstacles that cropped
up. While the crew magically turned night into day and transformed the
stone buildings and nearby paths into parts of the “Sacred City”
on Qo’nos, the makeup and wardrobe department used the ground level
classroom in the Mars Center to turn every passing body into an alien
- including a surprised Hall. With Hall’s support, unparalleled teamwork
on the part of the production crew - and several dozen pizzas - the
two nights of filming went off without a hitch and the “impossible”
location shoot became a brilliant reality. “The footage from Fort
Ticonderoga looks absolutely amazing,” declared Cawley. “Using that
location is going to make this our best episode yet.”
Principle photography on “Kitumba”
wrapped in the early morning hours of June 15th and the episode
is now in post-production, with an expected release date in early 2010
at www.startreknewvoyages.com
James Cawley and Patty Wright also both work as makeup and costumers and support staff for Fort Ticonderoga’s
annual “Haunted Fort” in October.
06-22-2009
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