This is an episode of a fan-made series whose storyline may be invalidated by later official studio productions.
Stardate 59823.4: Captain Hunter and the Intrepid are roped into a “special mission” by Admiral Prentice. The objective – though not the direct order – is to sit idly by and allow one of the local merchant ships to fall victim to an Orion boarding party which is unwittingly delivering a prize into Starfleet’s midst. At the end of the day, very few will be happy with the mission’s outcome.
written by Nick Cook
directed by Steve Hammond
music by David Beukes / Intrepid theme by Dylan FeeneyCast: Nick Cook (Captain Hunter), Steven Pasqua (Lt. Cole), Lucie Cook (Lt. Caed / Orion), Steve Hammond (Captain Merik), Alain DeMol (Erik De Meyer / CPO D’Gor), Marco Piva (Rafael Batista), David Robertson (PO Josh Taylor), Dave Lees (CPO Alex Quint), Alan Score (Admiral Prentice), Gordon Dickson (Kashid-Zar), Jay Clark (PO Jaden Antos), Gary Paterson (Duffy), Alison Dickson (Kendrick), Nick Beckwith (Orion), Ann Dixon (Orion)
Review: An interesting short subject set in the Intrepid‘s “universe”, Where There’s A Sea… advances the complicated political situation introduced in the first episode and delivers a hell of a shoot ’em up in the space of about 11 minutes.
It’s interesting to note that there’s a bare minimum of virtual set work in this short; almost everything is shot practical on real sets. There are still a few telltale signs that the Intrepid crew is working out some lighting quirks, and despite valiant attempts to redress and disguise it, it’s hard to hide that many of the “sets” seem to be either the same room or the same set of partition walls; planted-on paraphenalia such as Starfleet signage and “screens” help matters a bit. I appreciate the effort to shoot things “real”, however, so I won’t complain much – it certainly speeds up post-production not having to composite every single background in. I’m not expecting a perfect replica of the Voyager bridge to spring up in Scotland somewhere – the virtual sets are a necessary evil. But where they do show up here, it’s also very easy to tell that the Intrepid team is getting better at it.
Another area that could stand improvement is a holdover from Heavy Lies The Crown: sound recording. I had to watch Where There’s A Sea… a couple of times, and a few specific scenes several times, to hear everything that was being said. Not everyone has a boom mic at their disposal, but even if it comes down to hiding a microphone in the setpieces, the sound mix needs improvement. The music is outstanding, and the CG effects are very good, though many of the merchant ship exteriors present a slightly video gamey look.
Overall, a nice effort, crisply edited, well written and acted – I just want to hear all that well-delivered dialogue a bit better.
