This month, I look to the future.
The idea of charting a ten-year chapter in Federation history from Accobar's perspective was once but an hopeless optimistic view. Now it grows to be an ever-likely outcome - and a potentially very satisfying conclusion - for Asteroid Field. It would mean fulfilling the seven-season prophecy, though the upcoming Dark Star arc does allow for the SRP to break from what has been the traditional one season = one year format. There can be much more slowing and accelerating of the timeline at will. Though steady progress towards 2393 is the ultimate goal.
In placing Accobar in the Star Trek universe, we have forged our own path through the lore, while keeping one eye on Star Trek Online's vision of the future - as kickstarted by 2009's Star Trek. Dark Star does and will alter this drastically, though I still look ahead at what events could lie ahead. Something of note is the standing down of the sitting President - Nanietta Bacco - a role of which Olivia Taylor has been inhabiting (as fictitiously played by Cherry Jones (http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii307/EvilGrizz/TaylorAB1.jpg)).
There is nothing stopping me from ignoring this and keeping Taylor in power from now until the series' end. Despite featuring (quite rightfully) very little since the second season, I think that Taylor and Hampton are so entrenched in the origins of the series that her decision to run or not to run for a third term - especially after events to come - is something I would find hard to swerve around. Especially given her public endorsement and support of Pioneer, through thick and thin. So I'll certainly be planning very carefully where Taylor, Watkins, Hampton & co end up by 2393. I would imagine that this is also going to intertwine with some depressing developments on the Klingon-Romulan border, perhaps highlighting the ultimate futility of the Taylor Peace Agreement - if Taval and Ka'teths betrayals hadn't done so already.
Back to Pioneer and it's hard to explain where we go next. If unfortunate events hadn't intervened, I would have been typing up words about what Season Six had in store and the immediate consequences of the finale and the Dark Star revelations. But, it is not to be. I've probably done all the hyping up of the final episodes that I can, so I won't bore you with more of it. But as a part of those impending consequences, there will be something of a format change. If you think your characters have had it hard, then you're wrong. You've all had rather cushy jobs, when you haven't been shot through atmospheres and sometimes killed. That can change rather quickly. So it probably will.
Speaking of news, I did promise to share some details of a conceptualized miniseries. I have some material in the final stages of development so that I can share it with you, properly. But it's an idea of a spin-off, set away from Accobar, some years before Starfleet came to inhabit the Tyrella Sector by force. I have joked about it previously, but it since led me to flesh it out in to something I consider to be quite exciting. It's only a concept - though if approved, I would preferably look to see a few episodes of it run during Asteroid Field's mid-season breaks / end of season hiatus.
Having run practically the same SRP with similarly formatted stories for a number of years, it would be good to do something quite different - so that's what this is - and there would certainly be no Starfleet characters on the roster. More news on this will be coming very soon.
There's plenty of exciting material left to cover, and most of it I can't talk about for another two / three weeks - but I hope that you're still interested in making this journey with me. We have been through a lot together, not just as characters but as members and friends. A few of you have been with me for weeks, some for months and others for years. But no matter the length - I see most of you almost every week and that practically makes you family - which I see as being rather fittingly in the nature of Star Trek.
I look forward to seeing many of you again this week as Season Five restarts and soars towards it's game-changing conclusion!
Grizz
Here here ;)
As always, I'm looking forward to future plans and development. See you all on saturday!
Me too! :)