NASA OSIRIS-Rex Mission on the Cover: Captain Kim Smith Discusses Her Experience Participating in the 2020 Trek the Vote Virtual Event

NASA OSIRIS-Rex Mission on the Cover: Captain Kim Smith Discusses Her Experience Participating in the 2020 Trek the Vote Virtual Event

TREK THE VOTE | DISCOVERY SEASON 3 | EMANATIONS | NASA OSIRIS-REX MISSION ON THE COVER: Captain Kim Smith discusses her experience participating in the 2020 Trek The Vote virtual event. Story on Page 8. OUR 46TH YEAR | ISSUE 2 | NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2020 CAPTAIN Kim Smith EDITOR/DESIGNER David Matteson We aim to highlight the interests FIRST OFFICER Annette Sexton-Ruiz UFP CONTACT Dave Williams of our diverse membership. Help RECords OFFICER Walt Bartlow EMAIL [email protected] us by contributing your story to COMM OFFICER Victor Bugg WEBSITE www.u-f-p.org Subspace Chatter. Email us today! THEI UN TED FEDERATION OF PHOENIX inH T IS ISSUE The United Federation of Phoenix (UFP) is the Southwest’s oldest Star 02 Subspace Chatter Contents & Credits Trek and science fiction fan organization, continuously operating since 03 Captain’s Log by Dr. Kimberly Smith 1975. The club meets bi-weekly at various locations around the Phoenix 04 Emanations by VFX Artist David Stipes metropolitan area. As a group we have picnics, go hiking, watch movies, 06 Discovery Premiere by Bree Boehlke play games, take trips, and are active in the volunteer community. 07 Discovery Season 3 by David Williams You are about to read Subspace Chatter, our official publication, which 08 Trek the Vote by Kim Smith highlights science fiction and fandom events, spotlights our members, 09 Osiris-REx by Dr. David A. Williams and provides a resource for all things UFP. If you are in the area and 10 Incoming Transmissions would like to attend one of our meetings, email us at [email protected] 11 Official UFP club briefing 2 | SubSpace chatter captain'S log INFINITE DIVERSITY BY KIM SMITH, UFP CLUB CAPTAIN Captain’s Log, stardate 202011.8. differences and not fear them. We In the mean time, our diverse club It has been eight months since the need policies and laws to protect keeps hope alive by safely holding oppression of COVID-19 arrived. all of us as together. We are greater Zoom meetings and occasional Our people are increasingly divided than the sum of our parts, and small social gatherings. This past on how to handle this foe, and this the key to humanity’s future is to weekend we did both, with a mystery month they have many important embrace our multicultural world and white wine tasting at Annette’s decisions to make. The population all the peoples therein. followed by a larger group Zoom is increasingly fearful, divided and, call. The UFP will continue forward at times, hostile. “Until humans learn to tolerate -- as smart and safely as possible and no, that’s not enough; to positively overcome this together. I find myself wishing more people value each other -- until we can knew of the Vulcan philosophy of value the diversity here on Earth, IDIC: Infinite Diversity in Infinite then we don’t deserve to go into Combinations. Our people need outer space and encounter the to unify and embrace diversity infinite diversity out there.” in others. We need to welcome - Gene Roddenberry. Dr. Kimberly Smith - UFP Captain SubSpace chatter | 3 emanations VFX crew dedication makes a world For star trek By David Stipes | Star Trek VFX Artist & UFP Member to a couple of shots if I could do it with the money available. I spoke with John Gross, owner of It is not often that the Star Trek audience gets to see Amblin Imaging. He and his team were excited and and know about some of the extraordinary efforts volunteered four shots for the cost of two. and dedication by the visual effects crews that make these shows possible. This was possible because we had constructed a computer-generated (CG) Voyager for the pilot so we would not need costly motion control model elements. John and the animation supervisor, Grant Bouchet, got the whole crew creating asteroids, textures, atmosphere elements, and lighting. Artist David Jones worked with Adobe Photoshop incorporating satellite photos of Nevada and paintings to form the planet. He also painted texture maps for the asteroids. John Gross programmed the Voyager animation moves and finessed the lighting of the shots. The programming, lighting, and compositing were Star Trek: Voyager episode #109, “Emanations” accomplished in LightWave 3D software. had an interesting premise of a world surrounded by a ring of asteroids where people of this culture deposited their dead. This was a fascinating concept but could be expensive to produce. Star Trek: Voyager was on the UPN Channel and had tight budgets. Initially, the producers thought that the asteroid ring was unfilmable financially. They only wanted to show the asteroid ring as “Okuda-grams,” the on-set graphics by Michael Okuda, that are shown on display screens. To me we were cheating the audience out of even a minimal visual set up of the concept. I also felt that the show’s opening title sequences held out a visual promise to the audience. The mood of the title At that time, coming from many years of working sequence was part of the inspiration for the visuals I with real-world cameras and lights, I still experienced wanted to do for this episode. moments of confusion by the world of computer- generated imagery. I remember talking with John I created some storyboards and presented them Gross about the placement of asteroids around the to the executive producer, Jeri Taylor. Jeri was Voyager spaceship. I wanted to have certain asteroids determined to stick to a tight budget but did agree in front of the Voyager but my solution was rooted 64 | SubSpace chatter in my 2D film compositing approach. John reminded me that as far as the computer was concerned, the Voyager, planet, and the asteroids all existed and moved in real three- dimensional space. My particular asteroids could not be visually in front of the spaceship without costly reworking. So I agreed with John that the asteroids were just fine as he had them. John Gross and the Amblin imaging crew contributed work above and beyond what they were paid for and what would’ve been expected for the show. Although there were only five shots (four new and one used twice) added to the episode they contributed to the audience’s understanding of what was going on and honored the promise of the imaginative Star Trek universe that was in the opening titles. David Stipes is a visual effects consultant, artist and compositor. In 1992 David joined the Star Trek: The Next Generation team, and two years later received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Visual Effects. Embracing the change from physical models to computer effects, David championed the use of CGI in several Star Trek series over the years. Recently David has lent his talents to productions filmed right here in Arizona. As a member of the United Federation of Phoenix, David offers his unique insights from his professional life to fellow fans through his contributions to this publication. Learn more at davidstipes.com. This is an in informative publication only, and is not for profit, for sale, or for commercial use. All “Star Trek” titles, associated names, and imagery are the sole property of Paramount Pictures. Star Trek is a registered trademark of CBS Corporation. SubSpace chatter | 5 I ATTENDED THE STAR TREK DISCOVERY VIRTUAL SEASON 3 PREMIERE EVENT By Bree Boehlke, UFP Member. CBS All Access went virtual for their Season three kick-off event for Star Trek Discovery on October 14, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I was thrilled to win a ticket to the online event by entering a photo of my Janeway “Time & Again” cosplay I did in 2015. The first two episodes for the new season were shown, along with interactive features such as a chat room where fans where able to talk with producers, actors and past Star Trek stars. The “breakout rooms” between episodes allowed for interviews, including one with the fluffy Maine Coon named Lumet, who plays Grudge, Booker’s very large domestic cat. The other breakout rooms included topics of cosplay, bartending and entertainment. It was a fun event and I applaud CBS All Access for thinking outside the space sector on this event. The virtual format allowed for more fans to attend and have access to something that typically would only be for those involved in the production. 6 | SubSpace chatter SEASON BEGINS a review of the newest episodes of star trek discovery By Dr. David A. Williams, UFP Member find a secure but somewhat xenophobic world where the Federation left a hundred years earlier. Michael, The hit CBS All-Access streaming show Star Trek the crew, and Book help settle a dispute between Discovery finally returned to TV on October 15th, Earth and apparently alien dilithium raiders who in fact resolving the cliffhanger from Season 2 back in 2019. are desperate colonists from Titan, demonstrating Commander Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) the Federation ideals of listening, compassion and successfully led the U.S.S. Discovery 930 years into the understanding. Adira (Blu de Bario), a 16-year old future. Arriving first and by herself, Burnham’s time- human United Earth Defense Force investigator joins travel suit delivered her to the year 3188 on an unknown the crew’s search for the Federation and the cause of planet (that looks a lot like Iceland, where the first two The Burn – turns out she contains a Trill symbiont episodes were shot). In the premiere episode “That of a Starfleet admiral! Onward to Trillius Prime Hope is You”, she soon meets up with Cleveland Booker in episode 4! “Book” (David Ajala), a Han Solo-like courier apparently working for a pair of Orion and Andorian mobsters, but who in fact was rescuing an endangered species, trance worms, to a sanctuary.

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