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Welcome to the info page. If you have any questions about this website, feel free to send me email. If you've never been to this site before but recognize some of the people in photos on this page, your eyes are not playing tricks on you. Star Trek Phase II (formerly known as Star Trek New Voyages) has been blessed by the willingness of former actors from the Star Trek world to star in its fan films. And, the project has been doubly blessed because all of these actors volunteered their efforts without any compensation. In short, to them, it was a labor of love. In fact, Star Trek Phase II is a labor of love for everyone involved in the project. But make no mistake. This is not a "hobby" project for amateurs. Many of the people who act in episodes and/or work behind the scenes are entertainment industry professionals. And, they put these episodes together not just because they are fans of the "original series" ... but because they recognize the professionalism in those they work with, all determined to produce a quality product. This recognition goes further. Last year, Star Trek Phase II won the TV Guide Online Video Award in the "Best Science Fiction Webisodes" category. And this year, final ballots for the Hugo Award and Nebula Award list our third episode ("World Enough and Time") as a nominee. Star Trek Phase II is also under consideration for a Peabody Award. Maybe we'll win. Maybe we won't. But either way, these are recognition feathers in our cap that cannot be ignored. Perhaps the best way to get up to speed on the origins of Star Trek Phase II is to watch the G4 TV interview with James Cawley (Kirk) and Jeff Quinn (Spock). The interview is downloadable in MP4 format by right-clicking your mouse here and choosing either "Save File" or "Save Target" from the dropdown menu that opens. To watch it, you'll need MP4 video player software (like the latest version of QuickTime) installed. If you'd rather skip the video and just want a short explanation of origins, here it is. James Cawley and a group of other original series enthusiasts had always dismayed NBC's decision to cancel the series after three seasons ... especially since Kirk's voice at the beginning of every episode said it was meant to be a "five-year mission." So, they spent a considerable amount of their own money and a considerable amount of time to recreate the sets, props, and costumes of the original series. And when they were ready, they filmed their pilot episode, "Come What May." Their goal? To finish the five-year mission. OK ... let's get down to the nitty-gritty ... the files available on this site. The NTSC format DVD ISO files for episodes "Come What May" (pilot episode) and "In Harm's Way" (episode one) ... and the NTSC format DVD ISO file for the vignette, "Center Seat," are official DVD ISO files. They contain the programming along with menus and extras. All other DVD ISO files are unofficial transcodes cobbled together by (ahem) me and contain no menus or extras. However, starting with "World Enough and Time" (episode three), the project has decided to stop releasing official DVD ISO files. Further, they've chosen to take down all DVD cover art from their homepage. Why? In a word, piracy. Even though episodes are free to the public via download and/or streaming, nefarious persons have been "marketing" DVDs of these episodes for profit ... something that would raise significant eyebrows at Viacom, Paramount Studio's parent corporation. This project exists solely on their good graces. And if Viacom saw our project turning into a money machine for anyone but Viacom, they could "pull the plug" on this project very quickly, without so much as a by-your-leave. So, what to do if you STILL want DVDs? I am hoping that future episode releases will, as with "World Enough and Time," include a high-resolution MP4 file. It takes some work and a lot of time and patience. But, you can convert a high-resolution MP4 file into a DVD-ready MPEG2 file. I won't give specific "instructions" ... but I will point you in the direction where you can start looking for software tools to accomplish this. Click here. And, if you need further assistance, join the forums at VideoHelp.com and ask the appropriate questions. Joining is free and they won't spam you. Experts who have "been there" and "done that" should steer you in the right direction. Every episode/vignette is downloadable in multiple formats. And each one is also streamable in broadband-friendly and modem-friendly RealVideo format. All downloadable files have been compressed into RAR archives. I used WinRar 3.7. Be sure you have a version of unRAR capable of unpacking these files. There are a number of them out there from various software publishers for Windows, Mac, and Linux users. However, the best place to start looking for one is probably at the source ... RARlabs.com. Some of these unRAR utilities cost money. Others are free. So it pays to shop around. Why RAR? Two reasons. First, a compressed RAR file takes less time for me to upload and less time for visitors to download. This may not seem important to folks in the USA who have been spoiled by flat-fee Internet services. But this website attracts fans worldwide ... some of whom must pay for their online time as well as their bandwidth. Minimizing both keeps money in their pockets. Secondly, RAR is the only compression utility I know of that allows you to shrink a file but ALSO allows you to add a "recovery record" to it ... allowing files that might be corrupted on download to be "repaired" by the unRAR utility. And repairing a large downloaded file is a heckuva lot better than downloading it twice (or more). Speaking of large files, I've made one more revision to this site. All files greater than 1 GB in size will be split into 2 or more file-parts so that no single file is greater than 1 GB. To split these large files, I used a multi-platform freeware utility called HJsplit. If you don't already have this utility, download it. Each file part will be shrunk with RAR before upload. For example, let's say you downloaded:
...and... STP2_401_DVD_NTSC_pt2.rar When you unRAR the files, they'd become:
...and... STP2_401_IN_HARMS_WAY_NTSC.ISO.002 Then using HJsplit in "join mode," HJsplit would combine them ... producing a single file:
HJsplit has an incredibly user-friendly interface. And re-joining the split files is a fast "offline" process that costs no money. One other suggestion to minimize download time is to use a download manager. Not everyone likes such things. So, it's up to you whether you use one or not. Personally, I use one ALL the time ... version 1.87 of NetTransport. This is the last shareware version before they added "nag screens" (grin). Starting with "World Enough and Time," I also give "offsite" links to download or stream high-resolution versions of the episode in either MP4 (download) or FLV (streaming) formats. To get your hands on the high-res MP4 download, you'll need a "torrent" downloader utility like this one. Once you install it, you never see it on your desktop (grin). But, if you click on a torrent download link and choose "open" (don't choose "save"), the utility will appear and start downloading the file. To visit the streaming site, you'll need Adobe's Flash Player installed. You can download it by visiting the Adobe.com page and clicking on the button that says "Get Adobe Flash Player." OK ... ready to get started? Click here to go back to the home page and enjoy what Star Trek Phase II has to offer. I'm sure you'll agree with me that these episodes are a great adjunct to the original series.
Sincerely,  |
                 
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