USS Silver Fox - Starfleet Command

April Issue
USS Silver Fox – April issue © copyright 2012 by Jeff Wilcox E-mail: [email protected] . USS
Silver Fox is the New York state chapter for the Starfleet Command, a Star Trek and science fiction
fan organization ( www.sfc.org). Copies of this newsletter can be had for the asking, or the “usual”
(letter of comment, art, news, fanzine/newsletter exchange, etc.).
From the Bridge
Happy April Fools Day, Happy Easter, and Happy Dingus Day. Hope you are all having a great
Springtime!
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Happy 10th Anniversary to the USS Niagara
The USS Niagara is a Star Trek International chapter up around the Buffalo, NY area. I
have been in contact with this group for a couple years now, and the group’s Second Officer Jeff
Triz is good enough to send me email copies of their newsletter, The Peacekeeper. And here is
the latest story from them:
The USS Niagara celebrated its 10th anniversary as a Starfleet chapter with a special anniversary
dinner held March 24. Twenty‐two people attended this special event, including Commander,
Starfleet FADM Dave Blaser; FCPT Debbie Blaser, Commanding Officer, USS Hadfield; and
special emissaries from the Klingon Empire Ryu and Xyaniss. – Peacekeeper, Vol. 11, issue 4
Blaser, Commander, STARFLEET (right) looking on
As the story’s told, the USS Niagara grew out of just five Star Trek fans, all of them
correction officers (which is why the chapter newsletter is titled the Peacekeeper), into a well
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formed fan group of 28 members. The chapter is named after the U.S. Navy ship, the USS
Niagara, a brig ship that help fight the good fight during the war of 1812.
When looking back over the last 10 years, Admiral Diebold said that “it’s very hard to believe
that it has really been 10 years. Rarely (at least for me) do you find a group of people who are
drawn together the way we have been. I believe one of our primary guides over these past 10
years has been that all are welcome, as long as they treat people the way they themselves
want to be treated. We don’t seek out anybody special — we open our arms to all who wish to
be a friend. – Peacekeeper, sic: Page3
And besides the regular fan activities that keep this group together, the Crew of the USS
Niagara is heavy into charity work. This is especially true of the donations to Our Lady of Victory
Home of Charity (formally called Father Bakers Orphanage.
The dinner also included an awards ceremony that included:
Military Service Awards: LCDR Jeffrey Triz
WO Jason Metz
ENS Thomas Tracy
Command Appointment Medal: LCDR Jeffrey Triz
Letter of Commendation: CMDR Joanne Schoenthalter
LCDR Ruth Diebold
LCDR Jeffrey Triz
Certificate of Appreciation: LCDR Alec Frazier
CPO Christian Cuccia
Promotions: Andrew Topp to Ensign
Thomas Tracy to Ensign
Jason Metz to Warrant Officer
Bridgette Pawelczak to Warrant Officer
Chris Cuccia to Chief Petty Officer
Congratualtions to all the above!
And from the sound of the rest of the article on the ship’s event, it sounded like everyone
had a good time.
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Now I’ve Heard Everything
In exploring the other SF/F active groups in the New York state area, the following website
has come across this desk – http://newyorkjedi.com New York Jedi is a martial arts
studio/organization that teaches the use of the Star Wars light saber, for practical martial arts use (
read: self defense) and stage combat. Really! As a matter of fact, the videos that are shown as part
of the website are from 2007 and 2008; this group has been around for at least five years and
better.
On the other hand, I guess the above shouldn’t be too surprising. Also, after checking out
the above website and noticing that their tutorial videos were featured on youtube.com, I did a little
checking – youtube has 55,300 videos listed as lightsaber, and 6940 videos listed as lightsaber
tutorial. Freaking far out!
The Crew Roster
Ltjg. Jeffrey L. Wilcox
Position: Starship Commander (Starbase 2 sector)
History: long time fan of both general & media SF/F (Star Trek, Star
Wars, Doctor Who, Isaac Asimov, J.R.R. Tolkien, Larry Niven, J. K.
Rowlings, George R. R. Martin, H. P. Lovecraft, etc.), movies, art,
anime, comics (doing amateur artwork, and collecting these days from
the Internet), health issues (thanks to my wife Brenda – “let’s go
Primal!!!”), martial arts (I have played around with kung fu in my
younger years; these days I’m more interested in the European styles of
Bartitsu, Irish stick fighting and Savate), and anything involving chocolate. 
Fandom Activity: member of National Fantasy Fan Federation (1980s to early 1990s – all
genre fandoms), Comic Book Collector Club (1980s), Full Circle Comix ( early 1980s - amateur
comics art, mostly Insect Hunter character), Starfleet Command (late 1980s to early 1990s – C.O.
of Outpost Danex/USS Einstein), Romulan Star Empire (early to mid 1990s),Starfleet
International (1990s), Pirate Armada (1990s - space opera fan club with a pirate slant), and
Starfleet Command (last couple years - C.O. of USS Silver Fox).
Latest Projects: this newsletter, 30 Characters Challenge ( Internet artist challenge to create
30 original fictional characters in the 30 day period of November; finished with 30 + characters –
bragging rights!!!), getting back into shape at Jamestown Coomunity College gym & European
martial arts, and watching movies off the Internet.
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Movies and Books: John Carter (the movie version – wow, what eye candy! – and half way
through the novel version), novel “Game of Thrones” by George R. R. Martin (just picked up the
second novel “Clash of Kings”), the movie Fat Head (documentary film that is the answer to the
film Super Size Me, with information that last film tried not let the viewer know what was going
on), and the Hallmark TV movie “The Five People You’ll Meet In Heaven”.
Character: nice, relaxed guy who is married to Brenda, my life’s co-pilot and navigator
(especially while driving through the streets of Buffalo, NY). I have three step-daughters (Jennifer,
Wendy, and Vicky) and six grandkids (Devon, Veronica, and Rebecca out in the state of Missouri,
plus Ethan, Erich, and Kim in Amherst, NY). There are also two cats living with us – Felix, our
explorer and climber, and Zena the warrior kitty (she’s friendlier than Felix is). And all of this is
packed into a little yellow house in Jamestown, New York.
Finally
Star Trek: The First Adventure (“Academy Days”) -- For us older fans, we remember the
earlier Star Trek theatrical films and the uproar that was created when then Trek producer Harve
Bennett proposed the ST: Academy Days movie. The film was setup to be filmed in the mid1980s and it was stopped short of actually being filmed by a combination a change in the studio
heads, plus the backlash response of the fans (George Takai/Sulu went to a lot of the conventions
of the time and leaked the nature of the film to the fans – and the fans were not pleased). To
recap, the film was an earlier version of the new Star Trek we’ve seen in 2009. That is, that the
Academy Days film featured younger versions of the popular Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Scotty as
they met for the first time at Starfleet Academy. And, of course, this meant that younger actors
were to be used as replacements to the original cast (Shatner, Nimoy, and so on). In the 2009 film
version this was a good idea as the original cast was getting too old, and in some cases dead, to play
the main cast. But, the 1980s Academy Days film was a different story. Back then, the fans wanted
only the original cast to play in the Star Trek theatrical films. And they raged against the idea that
their beloved actors were going to be replaced.
And what’s the upshot of bringing up this old business? Two things: 1) I’m of the opinion
that this earlier idea for the Star Trek: Academy Days could have worked back then; and 2) I have
run into some new information that helps flesh out what happened behind the scenes of this
project.
Could the Academy Days film work back in the 1980s? I think it could’ve if it was
presented differently than the way it was. The film was slated as Star Trek 5 and to be filmed two
or three years after ST4: the Way Home (right, the one with time travel and the whales). Since
there was such a time gap between the fourth and fifth films, the fans would’ve noticed any big
changes in the series’ concepts and ideas. Throwing new actors into the fifth film with such a large
time gap would’ve freaked the fans out about the project. But, how about this, what if Star Trek 5:
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Academy Days had come out at the theaters just three months after Star Trek 4? If that happened
then the fans wouldn’t have thought of the project as a replacement for the original Star Trek film
series. The project would have been seen as an addition to the regular series. And I think both the
fans and Paramount studio would have been happy with the results. Plus, both would’ve been
happy with the idea of having Star Trek’s first spinoff series (these days, we take it for granted that
the original ST series has so many offshoots; but in the 1980s, it was a new idea, and something
that might not always be accepted by the fans) (some fans today would be surprised to hear that the
fans of the 1980s thought it questionable if the then new series Star Trek, the Next Generation was
going to be any good).
As for new information of the Academy Days film, I picked up on that from the Memory
Alpha website – http://en.memory-alpha.org The material can be found by going to the Portals
section, clicking on Alt Realty, and then Star Trek. The top of the page features information on the
2009 Star Trek movie; for the Academy Days film, go to the bottom of the webpage till you see the
subject – Also See: Star Trek: the First Adventure. In the feature, producers Bennett and Ralph
Winters and script writer David Loughery loved the idea of the film, so too did some of the exects
at Paramount. But according to the website, the trouble started when creator Roddenberry and the
actors didn’t like the idea. Roddenberry saw Bennett as playing around with his series concept, and
the actors noticed they wouldn’t be in the new film (with the special effects taking so much time,
three years between Trek films was the usual interval, it would have meant that the original cast
wouldn’t have been used for six years after ST4). Also, Paramount was changing some of their
executive heads at the time and some of those people didn’t think messing with Roddenberry’s
original concept was such a great idea. And the fans got ahold of the film’s information. So the film
was never made, till the recent version.
More information on the subject can be gotten from the rest of the website ( like actor
Ethan Hawkes was being considered to play the young James Kirk and John Cusack was being
considered for the Spock character).
Also, fandom invades the mundane world -- My folks recently had their 61st wedding
anniversary. And to celebrate, my family all took off to one of our favorite family restaurants (there
fourteen of us in all). Along with my brother Terry and sister-in-law Pam my nephew Jarrod also
came. Jarrod shares some of the same interests in SF/F I do, so it wasn’t a big surprise to see him
wearing a t-shirt with the printed message – “Talk nerdy to me”. Then, during the anniversary
meal, Jarrod mentions that his girlfriend gave him a “pre-engagement ring” (that’s what he said).
Jarrod then passed the ring around the table so others could get a good look at it. And when it
came to me, I checked out the inside rime of the ring as if looking for an inscription, and said …”
And one ring to bind them all!”
“Oops!”, and hurriedly passed the ring back.
“See, I can talk nerdy,” I said. Jarrod smiled, but I doubt most of the rest of the people
around the table got the reference.
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