Two independent movie projects involving the Star Trek community have recently completed principal photography and have entered post-production.

Earlier this year we reported that Chase Masterson ("Leeta") was cast in a principal role in a noir-style mystery/sci-fi film called "Yesterday Was a Lie." As the project advanced she also took on duties as producer. "Yesterday" also stars Kipleigh Brown, who was "Jane Taylor," a dead crew member who appears in a dream in Enterprise's "The Forgotten." The cast and crew finished shooting in late September, and celebrated with a wrap party at a Hollywood bar that served as one of the film's locations and where many Trek fans showed up to be extras (see picture at left). Writer/director James Kerwin is editing the film himself, and expects it to be done by March. We'll keep you posted; you can also visit YesterdayWasALie.com for updates.

"Star Trek: Of Gods and Men," an independently produced feature-length "webisode" featuring a great deal of talent from the studio-produced Trek shows, held its last few days of shooting this past weekend at locations around the Los Angeles area, with Tim Russ directing. On Friday scenes were shot at Vasquez Rocks, a very popular setting for Trek episodes ("Arena," "Initiations," etc.). On Saturday, filming took place at a beautifully landscaped home in an area known as Lakeview Terrace, during which the set was open to the press (see photo gallery at left). That was one of the production's most extensive shooting days, involving a host of Trek stars including Nichelle Nichols, Cirroc Lofton, Walter Koenig, Alan Ruck, Grace Lee Whitney, Arlene Martel, Lawrence Montaigne, Celeste Yarnell, Jack Donner, and several others including Russ himself playing "Tuvok." Most of those actors reprised the roles they're most famous for, with a few exceptions — Lofton, for instance, did not play "Jake Sisko" but rather a Vulcan character. On Sunday the cast and crew shot on a local soundstage — and then on Monday, we were told, they went to Disneyland! Post-production work now will involve extensive visual effects. "Of Gods and Men" will be a free Internet download rolled out in three parts, with the first targeted for this Christmas. Watch for updates at StarTrekOfGodsandMen.com — and be sure to view the trailer.

Meaney on U.K. Stage

Colm Meaney ("Miles O'Brien") is currently performing at the Old Vic Theatre in London, co-starring with Kevin Spacey and Eve Best in Eugene O'Neill's "A Moon for the Misbegotten." Meaney plays "Phil Hogan," a conniving old Connecticut farmer of Irish heritage (go figure!) who has buried his wife and driven off his three sons by his hard ways. Best plays his daughter, who sticks around because she's more ornery than her father, and Spacey (who is artistic director at the Old Vic) plays their alcoholic landlord, whom they try to blackmail.

A review in The Hollywood Reporter says, "Meaney commands the stage as Hogan, finding the humor in the man's bluffness and the sadness in his jokes."

The play runs through December 23. For ticketing and other information, visit www.oldvictheatre.com.

Russell Watson Recovering from Brain Surgery

The British tenor who sang Diane Warren's "Where My Heart Will Take Me" for the title sequence of Star Trek: Enterprise is recovering after surgery to remove a benign brain tumor. Russell Watson, 39, suffered from headaches and impaired vision while recording recently in Los Angeles, according to the Associated Press. Following tests, Watson returned to Britain and had the operation at St. George's Hospital in London. He was discharged last Thursday. We wish Mr. Watson a speedy return to complete health.

Moore Cites Trek as Moral "Lodestar"

Battlestar Galactica producer Ronald D. Moore — who previously produced and wrote for Next Generation and Deep Space Nine — has given Trek fandom a big shot of respectability in the mainstream press. He contributed an Op-Ed piece called "Mr. Universe" to The New York Times in which he tells why — at the risk of being mocked and pitied — Star Trek has changed his life.

"Star Trek painted a noble, heroic vision of the future, and that vision became my lodestar," he writes. "As I grew into adolescence, the show provided a handy reference against which to judge the questions that my young mind began to ask: What is the obligation of a free society toward the less fortunate? Does an 'advanced' culture have the right to spread its ideas among more 'primitive' ones? What does it mean to be human, and at what point do we lose our humanity to our technology?

"And as I grew into an adult, and my political views took shape, I treasured Star Trek as a dream of what my country could one day become — a liberal and tolerant society, unafraid to live by its ideals in a dangerous universe, and secure in the knowledge that its greatness derived from the strength of its ideas rather than the power of its phasers."

Read the full editorial as this NYTimes.com link. Alternatively (should the first link try to charge you), the article is reprinted, slightly edited, at this link.

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