Im so glad you decided to accept our... ...offer.

Not that you had much of a choice

anyway. Your career with Starfleet in tatters, your closest friends turning their back on
you - and every security officer within the quadrant looking to put a rather large hole in
your favorite shirt (as well as the rest of your torso). Yes, yes, we know youre innocent -
of course you are. But your services to us are too valuable for us to let you continue
ignoring our calls, and it required special attention to get you to change your mind.

To start, youll learn more about the secret agency for you when you dont know you
need one, outlining just what we do and how we do it.

Next, youll find out about some of our more creative efforts to distribute misinformation
about 31 and how its made our little organization more popular than ever in the
intelligence community - and how its continued our mission more than we couldve
possibly imagined. Some of the best operations involving this information campaign is
actually telling people the truth - youd be surprised about how often that works when
you want to conceal what youre doing....

Once youre done absorbing those nuggets of info, youll find a series of briefings about
some of our more infamous operatives - Commander Mak (Mark Kalita), Captain Laura
Dalonna (Laura Post), and Lieutenant Tom Backus (Elie Hircshman) - including some of
their personal commentary. Weve also included some data about Lieutenant Cole, an
operative aboard USS Intrepid.

Read up quickly - your first assignment starts very soon. And dont forget... ...31 watches
over all of the Federations citizens. ALL of them.

Best Regards,

Director - Section 31





























Section 31

Steve Pasqua Interview 6

Elie Hirschman Interview 9

Section 31: A History
By Alex Matthews 13

Section 31: A History
The Secret Agency you have when you dont have
a secret agency, by Gerri and Eugenia 28

Section 31: A History
Star Trek Fan Fiction on Section 31 by Gerri and Eugenia 29

Laura Post Interview 32

Mark Kalita Interview 36

Secret Mission Briefing 45



























Publisher: TC Productions
Production Company: TC Magazines

Editor: Richard Miles
Assistant Editors: Heather Ashleigh, Alex Matthews.
Head Writers: Gerri Donaldson, Alex Matthews, Richard Miles, Eugenia Stopyra.
Writers This Issue: Jonathon Connor, Gerri Donaldson, Elie Hirschman, Eugenia Stopyra, John Whiting.

Special Thanks To:
Interviewees: Elie Hirschman, Mark Kalita, Steve Pasqua and Laura Post.

Production Companies:
Darker Projects, Hidden Frontier Productions and Intrepid Productions.
The Doctors

Briefing Room 17

Henglaar by John Whiting 18

McCoy Biography 20

Crusher Biography 21

Bashir Biography 22

The Doctor Biography 23

Phlox Biography 24

Pulaski Biography 25

Henglaar Biography 26

Regulars

Coming Soon 44

TCM Staff 46






















































TCM: Can you give us some background on your
character?

SP: Cole is the Strategic Operations Officer,
although most of the time hes just
muddling along doing whatever needs done. His
speciality is acquisition. If you need something,
hes your man. Or he at least knows someone
that can help.

TCM: How does your character fit in to the
Section 31 world?

SP: So far Cole hasnt had any direct dealings
with Section 31, at least not to his (or for that
matter my)knowledge. But who knows where
future storylines may take Cole. I dont, theyre
still in the writers head!!!

TCM: In the last episode, your character resigned
his commission what do you think will happen to
your character now?

SP: Shhhh Spoilers!?!? I think a spin off series is
in order(note hint of sarcasm). Ive an idea what
Nick plans to do with Cole, but Im revealing
nothing. Lets just say weve not heard the last of
him. Whether you like it or not.

TCM: Section 31 is featuring heavily in a lot of
Star Trek Fan Films recently, do you think that
this is a good or a bad thing, and why?

SP: I think its a good thing to have an element
that the fan films can take up as their own little
pocket creation. Gives all the various
productions a certain chumminess (if thats the
word).

TCM: Section 31 is the darker side of the
Federation, its underbelly if you will, what is it
like being able to play a character associated
with that organisation, that has all those
mysteries and secrets?

SP: As I said, Cole hasnt had a direct association
with Section 31. However having faced his dark
side in the past and having to suppress it to a
degree in the present. I think he could possibly
empathise or even support the way that they
work. Cole has one or two mysteries and secrets
of his own, Im sure.

He seemed to have found a grounding once
again on the Intrepid. However the events of
TCM: What would you like to see your character doing in the
future?

SP: Health, security and a chance to put his feet up. Or is that
me? He seemed to have found a grounding once again on the
Intrepid. However the events of Turning Point have thrown him
a bit of a curveball. How he deals with that will determine
where his future lies. Personally I cant wait to see what the
writers come up with. Just dont kill me off just yet.~



















































































TCM: How do you see Tom Backus as a person?

EH: I think of Tom the way Eric Busby described him to
me when he first sought me out for the part: He's a hard-
core engineer, willing and able to cobble together unique
solutions with what he has at hand.
Follows in the fine tradition of Scotty and O'Brien, always
being asked to break the laws of physics and squeeze
more power out of the engines when it seems impossible.
I played Tom as straight as I could off the bat - honest,
innocent, and as it turned out, easily shocked at the way
his world get flipped upside down when he was brought
into Section 31.

TCM: How much involvement did you have over your
character's evolution?

EH: Eric defined the initial parameters, but after that, he
let me take the character where I wanted. I generally
stuck to basics, but the chance to expand Tom a little
came when we did a "flash-forward" in one of our
episodes. We get a glimpse of Tom in the future, where
world after world has been decimated by the "Great
Destroyer." Tom is a more grim, sarcastic fellow in the
future, no doubt jaded by his experiences. After that, I
started to introduce a little sarcasm, a little bit of cynicism
into the role, but he's still essentially an earnest, hard-
working guy with a mostly optimistic outlook on life.

TCM: How do you try to individualise your various
characters?

EH: When I first started out in voice acting, I used to
spend time coming up with unique aspects and
backstories for my characters, but these days, I find the
time it takes is not really worth the results it yields. Now I
basically read though the lines, take note of any speech
patterns, slang, or distinctive phrases, and try to fit that
into an overall greater picture of the character. If the
character is hesitant in speech, I may introduce a small
stutter, pause or stumble on one of the lines, to make it
even more tentative. And of course, accents and voice
tones are the most fun part of all.

TCM: What would you do to prepare for a Section 31 scene?

EH: For a scene with Tom in it, I would converse with myself in
his accent - and after a while, it was like slipping on an old
comfy shoe. Doing Tom's voice takes me right into the
mindset I need. If it's a scene where I'm playing a Ferengi, I'll
usually contort my face into something hideous to make sure
it sounds like I have the proper amount of teeth. In any case,
starting out with a bunch of technobabble gets the mouth
ready

TCM: Do you focus just on the series you work on, or do you
keep updated with the other shows on the site?

EH: I am a big Darker Projects fan. I've listened to all the
episodes of Byron, Night Terrors, and now Lost Frontier as
well. I'm not into Doctor Who but I do enjoy David Ault (our
current doctor), so I'll listen to some of the new episodes.
Plus, I'm in them as well, so there's added incentive for me to
listen.

TCM: What is it that drew you to the character you have
portrayed?

EH: Really, Tom was once of my earliest roles, so I just took
what was handed to me. Now that I've gotten many roles
under my belt and have had a chance to reprise the role of
Tom in Lost Frontier, it's a very comfortable experience to go
back and play Tom again. I guess Tom has an accent that's not
hard for me to do or maintain, and his voice has kind of a high
lilt to it, which is easy on the throat. Tom is also a crucial
member of the Nosferatu crew, so I guess it was good to feel
needed.




























TCM: How did you get involved in voice acting in
general?

EH: I took a local neighborhood night course on
How To Make Money in Voiceovers, given by John
Gallogly of Creative Voice Development Group
(http://www.voicecoaches.com), followed by a full
voiceover training course and marketing seminar,
during which it was mentioned that we should all
be networking with other voice talent as much as
possible. Yahoo Groups were mentioned as a way
to network, and when I looked into it, I found both
voiceover and voice acting groups. I did a little
acting as a kid (school and camp plays only) and
decided it would be fun, and a great way to keep in
practice. The first ones I joined were Dream Realm
Enterprises (http://www.dre-gold.net) and Darker
Projects. I've found voice acting is a great way to
stay comfortable behind the microphone and be
ready for when the paid voiceover jobs come my
way (which they have, intermittently).

TCM: What is your own experience with 'canon' Star Trek?

EH: My parents are Trekkies, so I was initiated early into the
fold. But I always found the original series to be overly hokey,
loud and boring (LET THE LYNCHING BEGIN!). When The Next
Generation came around, I jumped in with both feet - I loved
the effects, the characters, and especially the sounds and music
of this series. I followed along to Deep Space Nine when it
came out, but I find Avery Brooks to be an annoying overactor,
and the whole thing was too dark, and again, boring for me.
Voyager was OK; I think I watched one episode of Enterprise,
wasn't wild about it. So I guess, with my track
record(dislike/like/dislike/like/dislike), if another TV series
comes out, odds are I'll like it. Oh, and I did watch the
Animated Series when it was on Nickelodeon when I was
younger. I've read a bunch of the books in the Next Generation
series. Some of them are quite good, especially those by Peter
David, but some of them are just like reading stereo
instructions.

TCM: How did you get involved with Darker Projects?

EH: I can't sort out in my head which came first: my
involvement in a bit part for Darker Projects' "Dr. Who: Turf
War" or the email from Eric asking if I wanted to be his chief
engineer, but both events took place when we were both
among the earliest members of Dream Realm Enterprises. After
a while of working with Eric on The Section 31 Files, I started
offering to edit scripts, then I got the writing bug and wrote a
few scripts. After a while, Eric invited me to join the "Dark
Council", and be a part of the decision-making process. From
there, I've served as new member welcomer, script archiver,
submission reviewer, and I even tried my hand at producing.
Recently, though it all became too time-consuming for me, so
I've gone back to being just an actor and lurking fanboy. I do
still boast the highest post count at the Darker Projects forum.

TCM: What other projects do you have on the go at the
moment?

EH: I still work with Darker Projects - I play several bots on their
series Robotz of the Company, as well as Watson in The
Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes. That one's hella fun. I also
am the announcer for BrokenSea audio's "Jake Sampson"
series, and "Console" in their "Feedback" series,
(http://www.brokensea.com), Sergeant Staccato in The Zombie
Astronaut's Frequency of Fear
(http://www.frequencyoffear.com) and I've done a few short
instructional pieces for Voices.com as well. David Ault and I are
also in the midst of a super-secret project together, but I can
tell you this: it involves bad scripts, mockery and lots of
giggling. In the narration side of things, I have read stories for
Pseudopod, Escape Pod, PodCastle and Cimmplicity. I also
thankfully still get the occasional paying voiceover gig.~


















































































Early Beginnings

Starfleet and the Federation has always prided
itself on the why it has maintained itself
throughout its several hundred year history, even
from the early days of Earth Starfleet and their
operations under the auspices of the United
Earth Government. They have always been about
peaceful exploration and coexistence with the
other races of the galaxy, which has occasionally
had them labelled as too pacifistic by the other
powerful races in the Quadrant, such as the
Romulans and Cardassians.
But not everyone in the Federation shared such
an innocent world view that was espoused by the
original founders of the United Earth
government. Part of the original Starfleet
Charter, article 14, section 31, was written which
allowed certain rules of conduct for Starfleet
officers and crew to be "bent" during times of
what could be perceived as an extraordinary
threat.This one part was the catalyst for the
creation of an extremely covert and incredibly
autonomous division of Starfleet Intelligence,
who would work towards protecting Earth at all
costs. Although they were based on the Starfleet
Charter, they recruited agents from all walks of
life, not limiting their staff to the one
organisation, bringing in the people necessary for
their overriding mission. Due to their
autonomous nature, they have no central HQ,
but rather seemed to operate largely as
individuals, only occasionally coming together to
work in teams.
This organisation first came to light in the early
days of Starfleet, during the original mission of
the NX-01 Enterprise, under Captain Jonathan
Archer. Using an officer onboard the Enterprise,
they actively sabotaged the attempts of the
vessel to locate their missing CMO, who had been
abducted by Rigellians, working for the Klingon
government. When the officer's disloyalty was
discovered, he was briefly incarcerated, during
which time he explained some of the motives of
the organisation, although he himself was
unaware that the Klingons had made a deal with
the covert group. Later, during the Terra Prime
incident, the Enterprise crew was able to make
use of their officer's former allegiance to the
group, and get needed intel on the xenophobic
terrorists, since the group were not opposed to
the cementing of relations with aliens
governments, seeing it a necessary step to
helping protect Earth more thoroughly.

When the Coalition of Planets eventually evolved into the United
Federation of Planets, and Starfleet was changed to become their
exploration and defense organisation, the original Starfleet charter
was modified, in effect allowing the group to now act as the
unofficial guardian of the entire Federation. During the next 2
centuries, there were several incidents that seemed to fit into the
purview of the group's involvement, but no proof of their
complicity was ever discovered. These incidents include:

22
nd
Century
being involved in the disastrous test of the Omega molecule in the
Lantaru sector [mentioned in VOY: Omega]
having the USS Enterprise NCC-1701 to illegally enter Romulan
space and steal a cloaking device. [TOS: The Enterprise Incident]

23
rd
Century
the illegal creation and testing of a Federation interphasic cloaking
device, and subsequent cover-up operation. [TNG: Pegasus]
complicity in the Son'a/Ba'ku affair. [TNG: Insurrection]

Evolution




























It was not until the Dominion War that this organisation was
again close to being exposed, when they attempted to
recruit the Chief Medical Officer of Deep Space Nine, a
genetically-altered human, Julian Bashir, into the
organisation. Their operative, Luthor Sloan, again stated that
they were an autonomous agency dating back to the original
Starfleet Charter, something Bashir was shocked to discover
operating within the Federation. Refusing their offer, he
immediately reported the existence of the organisation to
his superiors, at which point, the group was given its
unofficial name: Section 31, after the part of the Starfleet
Charter that had led to their existence. They were likened to
a secret police, similar to the Cardassians Obsidian Order, or
the Romulan Tal Shiar, given the degree of impunity they
seemed to operative with, and their motives to protect the
Federation at all costs. In the course of this motivation,
Section 31 has been shown to form alliances with known
enemies in order to make sure their goals are satisfied, such
as recruited Chairman Koval of the Tal Shiar to work for
them in order to secure a seat for himself on the Romulan
Continuing Committee. Even as the war raged, Section 31
was already planning for the next possible conflict that could
follow, feeling that the Romulans would present the biggest
threat to the Federation. By working with Koval, they
assured this would no longer happen. During the final phase
of the Dominion War, it came to light that it was Section 31
who had created the morphogenic virus that had infected
the Founders of the Dominion, hoping that the death of their
gods would cause the Dominion to collapse in on itself,
ending their threat once and for all. Thankfully a cure was
found, and this act of genocide was prevented. However,
despite all that they tried to do, Section 31's existence is still
swept under the rug by the Federation Council, once they
were informed of these developments, suggesting that not
everyone is so shocked by the idea the organisation exists.


The Dominion War
Given the last decade having been filled with conflicts, such
as the Borg attacks, the brief war with the Klingons, and the
long hard-fought Dominion War, Section 31, now using that
term as a way to describe themselves, realised that
although Starfleet had tried its hardest to defend the
Federation, they were not always prepared to do what was
needed. With the growing conflict in the Briar Patch,
Section 31 underwent a fundamental change of its own,
and instead of operating as just singular agents in the field,
they started building and manning a fleet of their own. With
various starbases, fought to be simple frontier outposts,
actually under 31 control, they already had the resources
available to support this new approach. Their flagship, the
first of the Kindred-class, was designated the USS
Nosferatu, and placed under the command of one of their
best agents, Karen Dalonna. There primary mission, like all
Section 31 operatives, is the protection of the Federation,
whatever it takes, meaning the crew was not bound by the
Prime Directive, and they were assisted by the inclusion of a
cloaking device onboard the Nosferatu. Due to the covert
nature of their missions, any regular Starfleet officers who
came into contact with the Nosferatu and her mission
would find themselves drafted forcibly into Section 31.
Occasionally, this caused problems for the Nosferatu crew,
since the inclusion of officers not particularly fond of the
mindset of 31's policies could cause distractions. This
allowed Starfleet to gain much more of an insight into the
workings of the organisation.
[Please see Darker Projects, and The Section 31 Files for
more information]

Mobilisation
Later Developments
With the growing threat of the Archein, Section 31 has again changed it's goals, and begun research into the feasibility of
Omega research, and so have take a great interest in the goings-on aboard the rogue USS Helena. There is also a growing
concern among higher ranking Starfleet officers that Section 31 were in some way involved in the assassination of
President Se'Fron, due to Se'Fron's own worries over the organisation and his efforts to put an end to it. These matters
are still ongoing, and should be explored in more detail when time is available.

In conclusion, Section 31 and its agents see themselves as the last line of defense of the Federation, willing to do
whatever it takes to make sure that it perseveres and continues in an growing age of uncertainty. But those outside the
organisation see them as dangerous rogues who do not care who gets hurt or dies in the pursuit of their own agendas.
The reason those outside of the agency have such strong objections to its existsence may by the simple fact it reminds
them that humans and those other races in the Federation are no different then the other races that openly have such as
ruthless branch of Intelligence Operations. But in this time of growing concerns from invasion from extra-galactic forces,
perhaps the Federation does need something or someone who is willing to go that extra length that the regular officers of
Starfleet cannot, to make sure we all live to see another day.

[When Gene Roddenberry created Star Trek, he wanted to show a world that lived in harmony with itselfs, and showed
humanity at its peak, in contrast to other such races like the Klingons and Romulans, who were more vicious and violent.
But denying the darkness in oneself does not make it go away, and I believe Star Trek lore is enriched by the presence of a
organisation like Section 31, because it shows us that not everyone is perfect...]























































This part of the Winter Special of TCM is dedicated to the Doctors of Star Trek.

Gerri and Eugenia have written biographies of seven doctors from Phlox through
to Henglaar from various angles, like the Voyagers Doctor and the women in his
life.

Also we have an article written by Doctor Henglaar himself. John Whiting has put
pen to paper for this issue and has taken an in depth look at the character that he
has played for around 10 years.


We hope you like this addition to the magazine.

Live Long and Prosper

Richard

Editor TCM



























One of the great surprises to me is that the almost stereotypically
grouchy Henglaar, Tellarite Chief Medical Officer at Deep Space 12,
is something of a fan favorite. Opinionated, obstinate and loud, I
don't have to play Henglaar, I can just play myself without any
acting required.

Now, if you haven't watched any of the Hidden Frontier episodes,
this article is rife with spoilers. One of the more popular questions I
receive is "Where do you think Dr. Henglaar is now?", and to
properly answer that, it helps to start with where he has been.

When I was asked to submit a character sketch of Dr. Henglaar, I
wanted to make him less one of the legends of Star Fleet than most
Trek characters are represented. So, he was a loner, merely
competent as a doctor instead of brilliant, he'd been divorced
several times, he drank too much and started bar fights he couldn't
win. He had few (if any) friends, but if you wanted a clear look at
the realities of the universe, you'd come to him. He'd give you the
unvarnished truth, at least, as he saw it. And he never claimed to
be unbiased, but you at least knew what his biases were, as did he.




























The writers of Hidden Frontier took this hasty pencil sketch
and turned it into an oil color portrait. He was friends with
Captain Knapp, primarily because they were two old hands
surrounded by children who Just Didn't Get It. Later, he was
on the ill-fated team that rescued Counselor Elbrey, and this
helped form a link between the two sole survivors.

Elbrey, a Betazoid, had no difficulty in reading Henglaar and
helped keep him even more honest with himself, cheerfully
dismissing some of his self-delusions with a joke or two.
Henglaar, in turn, appreciated that she could be as honest as
he was without being nearly so abrasive, and gradually let
down some of his barriers with her.

She was, for example, the only one he'd ever invited to his
holographic garden, one of the few hobbies he permitted
himself. Far from making fun of his hobby, she was enchanted,
and he unwound a little more.

But war with the Greys and later, with Siroc, intervened and
we rarely saw the two together, and then usually in a
professional capacity. Still their bond deepened, and while
Henglaar never told Elbrey he loved her, she could hear it
anyway, one of the few genuine advantages of dating a
telepath.

Things literally came to a head when a rogue Betazoid, Milo
Surgant, nearly destroyed Elbrey's mind in a sneak attack. The
near-loss of Myra allowed Henglaar to finally admit to himself
that he loved her, and he stopped fighting himself, but also
became more vulnerable.

Surgant effectively destroyed Henglaar's world when Surgant
killed Elbrey in the Hidden Frontier series finale. Henglaar, in
turn, killed Surgant, but returned to the station a broken man.,
barely able to attend the wedding of Corey Aster and Ro Nevin
six months later..

For Henglaar, the show, and the writers, it ended there. Not
so for the fans, who wanted to know that eternal question,
What Happens Next.

Now this is my personal speculation, and it could easily be
wiped out by the very next script that involves Dr. Henglaar,
but they've done a good job with him so far. I think the writers
are probably thinking along similar lines, at least, when they
think of Henglaar at all.

Henglaar's previous divorces did nothing to teach him to love
deeply and to trust, and it had been only with the greatest
effort that he had lowered those barriers for Myra. Doubtless
the fact she was a telepath was the only reason he could,
because she already knew what he was thinking and feeling,
despite his pretenses. So Myra's death would have shattered
him and caused him to retreat into himself once more,
perhaps further than ever before.
On the other hoof, he is now saddled with his troubled
niece, Silan, and he cannot retreat utterly, much as he
would like to. He feels a responsibility towards her
despite their mutual clashes, and he is not a being who
readily shirks his responsibilities. So Silan is probably
one of his last few touchstones with the world of people
who care about each other. If anything can save him, it
will be their mutual if grudging respect and reluctant
affection for each other.

I think there was a time when Henglaar once again took
to the bars and started fights, although still losing them
most of the time. He probably hasn't activated his
garden hologram since Elbrey died. Undoubtedly, he
has become more aloof and less social with his friends,
and his patients probably can't pry a word out of him
that doesn't have to do with business. Patients he was
previously familiar with have probably been rotated out
to other doctors so he can deal with strangers instead.

This is the man that I believe we encounter for the
proposed audio series, Henglaar, M.D., a show
unabashedly based upon the tv show, House. Henglaar
doesn't want to be bothered with anything or anyone,
and is certain that life itself is conspiring to ruin those
plans. Silan continues to get into trouble, and now he
has three bright doctors to teach about the realities of
field work, not to mention the fact that he no longer
gets merely routine cases to deal with.

These constant intrusions on his solitude will probably
force Henglaar to gradually re-engage with life, much
like poking a badger with a stick will eventually force it
to engage with you, and probably just as much fun for
both sides.

Will there ever be love again for Dr. Henglaar? I don't
know. I think possibly, if he can meet someone else who
can peel his defenses away as Elbrey did. I think he will
gradually come to realize that as much as it annoys him
to have his solitude breached, the solitude itself isn't all
that comforting either.

It's hard to tell, because a performance is a collaboration
between writer, actor, and director, and we've only
heard from one third of the collaborators so far. I do
hope that they don't return to the old Star Trek cliche' of
having him fall in love only to have his love snatched
away again each episode. I think the old bastard
deserves better.




























Damn it Jim, Im a Doctor not a........

Leonard McCoys time on the USS Enterprise
was a life changing experience. His friendship
with James T. Kirk and the green blooded,
logical, exasperating Vulcan Spock was beyond
measure. He would not be the man he was
without them.

Born in the Old South region of North America
on Earth he attended the University of
Mississippi, got married, had a child called
Joanna, divorced, his wife stripping him of all his
assets. Eventually he joined Starfleet and Chief
Medical Officer under the command of James
Kirk on the Enterprise. An accomplished
surgeon,
physician,
psychologist,
and
exobiologist,
and considered
expert in space
psychology.






Subtlety was not a virtue that McCoy processed but his
passionate and sometimes cantankerous manner often led
to arguments with Kirk and Spock but these arguments
seemed to strengthen their friendship not strain it. McCoy
always took great pride in making quips about Spocks
logical mind but when push came to shove McCoy would
give up his life for his friend. When Spock received a fatal
dose of radiation he passed on his katra which was his
knowledge and experience to McCoy. That green-
blooded son-of-a-bitch. Its his revenge for all those
arguments he lost. says McCoy but deep down he
treasured that he could save his friends life.

Kirk classed Bones as a friend, confidante and counsellor
not to mention an excellent bartender, McCoy always
having a good stash of saurian brandy and Kentucky
bourbon on hand. Kirk would come to McCoy using him as
a sounding board and voice of conscience. Technically,
only a lieutenant commander but McCoy was still the only
person on the Enterprise who could talk back to the
Captain and get away with it.

McCoy considered himself a doctor first and an officer
second and despite his sardonic wit, and gruff manner, he
was a compassionate man, caring deeply about all
living things steming back to the loss of his father
who suffered a painful and incurable disease,
pleading to be released from pain. Although
McCoy was sure he could find a cure he
eventually took his father off life support but
soon after a cure was found and for many
years he felt that he had caused the
unnecessary death of his father. When the
Enterprise was hijacked by Spocks half brother
Sybok, McCoy finally came to terms with his
loss and accepted the fact the Kirk and Spock
were to remain his enduring family.

At the age of 137 McCoy was still part of Starfleet
serving as an Admiral. When Commander Data
took him on a tour of the Enterprise D, McCoy
recalled many adventures he had on a ship with a
similar name. You treat her like a lady he said
to Data. and shell always bring you home.~




























A Woman of Substance.

Intelligent, passionate, strong willed, strong sense of justice, a
woman who has had to cope with great losses in her life..
These are only a few of the words that describe Beverly Crusher
Chief Medical Officer of the Starship Enterprise D and E.

Beverly was born in Copernicus City on Earths moon and when
she was still a young girl she was to experience the first of her
many emotional turmoils when both of her parents were killed.
She went on to live with her grandmother, Felisa Howard who
used herbs and roots for medicinal purposes. It was her Nana
who inspired her to pursue a career in medicine.

Through hardwork and persistence Beverly was admitted to
Starfleet Medical Academy. It was here that she met the love
of her life Jack Crusher. The two were married after Jack
proposed to her through a gag gift, a book entitled How to
Advance Your Career Through Marriage. Jack went on to serve
on the USS Stargazer under the command of Jean-Luc Picard.
The couple became very good friends with Picard.

It was not long after that Beverly and Jack had a baby boy that
they called Wesley, but sadly Wesley was not to grow up
knowing his father. Jack was killed during an away mission and
once again Beverly was to experience grieving, when Picard
brought Jacks body home to them. She never fully recovered
from her husbands death.

At the same time that Picard was appointed captain of the
Enterprise, Beverly was also appointed as Chief Medical Officer.
With Wesley by her side she started her term of duty when
they were picked up at Farpoint Station. Picard initially had
reservations about her being part of the Enterprise crew, but
she assured him that the past would have no effect on her
duties and she had no problem serving under his command.

On board the starship Beverly made many medical
breakthroughs. She pioneered surgical techniques, was the
first non-Trill to study their anatomy and transplant a symbiont
into a new host. She was the first to study a macroscopic
coalescent organism found on Relay Station 47. Her main
interest was in cybernetics and ethnobotany and she wrote
many papers on the subjects. These achievements led to her
being offered a position as head of Starfleet Medical, a position
that she took up for a year until she returned to the place that
she felt very much a part of, Enterprise.

Not only was Beverly a medical officer, she was also a fully-
certified bridge officer. She often commanded night watch
shifts to stay on top of starship operations. On a number of
occasions she proved her command abilities by escaping a few
dicey situations while the ship was under her command.

Beverly was also an accomplished thespian and
playwright. She formed a theatre troupe aboard
the Enterprise and produced several classic and
original plays. Even though she was a fantastic
dancer this was not something she shared with
others. As Data found out she did not want to be
called the Dancing Doctor as she was in her
Academy days.

To the crew she was always compassionate and
thoughtful. She was a regular participant in the
Enterprise D poker games with Riker, La Forge,
Worf and Data. A good friend to Deanna Troi and
Nurse Alyssa Ogawa. Beverly usually shared her
morning meal with Jean-Luc Picard whom she
classed close friends and would give each other
advice when dealing with difficult decisions. She
was the only senior officer who customarily
addressed the rest of the bridge crew by their first
names.

Once again Beverly suffered great loss when
Wesley decided to go with The Traveller. She knew
it was the right thing for Wesley to do but that did
not stop the hurt she felt of her only son leaving to
go who knows where.

The Enterprise crew
gained a lot by care of
this woman. Beverly
Crusher one of the
futures great doctors.~




























More than just a self made man!
Julian Subatoi Bashir, Jules to his mother and
father was not always the brilliant, athletic, cool in a
medical crisis doctor that we see in the Chief
Medical Officer of Deep Space Nine. In fact when he
started school he was evaluated as having learning
difficulties. While the other students were learning
how to read and write and use the computer, Julian
was still trying to tell a dog from a cat and a tree
from a house.

At age seven his parents took him to Adigeon Prime.
It was here that he started a series of treatments
called accelerated critical neural pathway
formation. This treatment re-sequenced his DNA
which in turn increased his mental and physical
abilities. Over a two week period his IQ increased by
five points a day. The new genius Julian was
created.

When the Bashirs returned to Earth they moved to a
different city, where Julian was enrolled in a new school
using falsified records as human genetic engineering is
illegal in the United Federation of Planets.

Julian decided to become a doctor, after an incident with
his father that remained with him for life. During an ion
storm he and his father found shelter in a cave with a girl
who had become very ill. The girl died but she could have
been saved by herbs that were growing near by. This lack
of knowledge led him to choose medicine as his
profession, though he did consider being a professional
tennis player for a little while. His parents were much
happier that he chose to become a doctor.

After his graduation Julian was offered the choice of any
job in Starfleet. He was also offered a position at a
prestigious medical complex in Paris by Dr Delon who was
the father of Julians then girlfriend, Palis. He eventually
chose to stay in Starfleet and decided he wanted to be
where he would be needed most, to practice frontier
medicine. So he took up a post at Deep Space Nine as its
Chief Medical Officer.

Although medically brilliant Julian still had a bit to learn
about social interaction. His cockiness, overly
enthusiastic, self-important nature put Kira Nerys and
Miles OBrien offside when he first arrived. Eventually
though he became good friends with Miles OBrien and
won the respect of the others at the station.

To relax, Miles and Julian would play very competitive
games of racquetball and darts. They would also use the
holosuite to immerse themselves in the recreation of
historical events like the Battle of Britain and The Alamo.
Together they even built a scale model of the Battle of
the Alamo.

When it eventually came out that Julian was genetically
engineered he thought his Starfleet career was over.
However Starfleet realised that they would lose more
than they would gain by court martialling him. Julians
skill as a medical practitioner, tactical officer, phaser
marksman and pilot was to save the lives of many of the
personnel and aliens that he encountered. He retained
his commission on Deep Space Nine to continue what he
had set out to do, that is to help those in need.~




























The Women Who Changed His Life

The EMH onboard Voyager was an Emergency
Medical Holographic Program AK-1 Diagnostic and
Surgical Subroutine Omega 323. The EMH was
developed by a team of engineers led by Dr Louis
Zimmerman as an emergency supplement to the
medical team on a starship. Never did they dream
that the EMH program that was only meant to run
for a maximum of 1500 hours had the capacity to
develop and become a valued member of a crew.

The Doctor activated when Voyager was pulled into
the Delta Quadrant and the medical crew were
killed, was treated just like any other computer
program. Little did they know that this EMH would
become more than just digital data and holographic
programming.

Kes a new crewmember on Voyager was the first to
discover The Doctors personality. Her then
boyfriend a Talaxian called Neelix had tricked the
Voyager crew into rescuing her from the Kazon.
When Kes assigned her self to medical she began to
work with The Doctor on developing his bedside
manner and was the first to consider The Doctor as
a person and encouraged him to think of himself as
another member of the crew and taught him social
skills. She even persuaded Janeway that The Doctor
had a right to be treated as an equally as any crew
member.

As The Doctor discovered more about what he
could do apart from medical procedures he was
encouraged by Kes to find a name for himself.

His first thought was Schweitzer. On an away
mission on the holodeck to investigate the
disappearance of Chakotay, Tuvok and Harry Kim a
holographic character by the name of Freya became
attracted to him. This attraction became mutual
but during the holodeck mission she was stabbed
protecting him and died with his name on her lips.
From then on he could not use the name Schweitzer
again.

When Vidiian Doctor Denara Pel was beamed
aboard Voyager and near death, The Doctor
transmitted her synaptic pathways into a hologram
of her body without the disease Phage. For the
short time that they were together The Doctor
developed romantic feelings for her. He even
added a dancing subroutine to his program so that
he could experience that with her. Denara
eventually went back to her people and took with
her very fond memories of her
holographic doctor.

A holograph that helped the Doctor to feel more human was his
holographic wife Charlene and his holographic daughter Belle.
The Doctor decided that creating a holographic family would help
him to interact better with the crew. His version of the family
was a little too perfect for BElanna Torres. She suggested adding
randomness and realism. Consequently the Doctor ended up
having arguments with his wife and son. It was not till the death
of Belle that he realised that he must work through the death to
be more in touch with the feelings of great grief.

By the time Seven of Nine became part of Voyager, The Doctor
was well respected and a loved member of the crew and not only
did he tend to Sevens medical needs he decided that he would
teach Seven social behaviour just as Kes had three years earlier.
The Doctor encouraged Seven to explore romantic relationships
and coached her in the basics of dating and grooming. It was
during this time that he found himself falling in love with Seven
but he never admitted it to her. It did not take too
long and to his disappointment realise that she did not
reciprocate his feelings.

During the seven years that Voyager travelled
through the Delta Quadrant The Doctor
found himself becoming good friends with
Kathryn Janeway, the captain of the ship.
Initially he disliked her but as time went on
they developed almost a mother/son
relationship, with The Doctor often coming
to Janeway when he needed personal advice
or information about how his program was
developing. Janeway owes her
life to The Doctor who has saved
her on many occasions.

It is only in an alternate timeline
that we catch a glimpse of how
The Doctor continues to develop
his humanity when he leaves
Voyager. At a reunion party
that commemorated the return
of Voyager after 23 years in
the Delta Quadrant Tom Paris
is introduced to his wife Lana
and he has finally given
himself the name Joe, after
Lanas grandfather.

Without the women that he
has met since he was activated
in the Badlands, the Doctor would
only continue to be an Emergency
Medial Holographic Program stating
What is the nature of the medical
emergency!!~



























The Weird and Wonderful World of Dr Phlox

Phlox introduced to the crew of Enterprise NX-01 an
experience of a race and culture that had not been
experienced by many before. During the years they
spent together they slowly began to find out how
different Phlox was and how dedicated he was to the
health and well being of the crew.

Phlox was born on Denobula, in the Denobula Triaxa
system. After many years of working as a doctor on his
home planer he decided to join the Interspecies Medical
Exchange Program serving at Starfleet Medical on Earth.
He had come to the conclusion at a very early age that
he did not want to view the cultures of others with
hatred and suspicion like his family had done but
wanted to embrace the cultures of others. This being
part of the reason why he no longer talked to his two
younger sons who were against learning from other
cultures even though Phlox had tried to instill in them
that different customs and cultures should be
respected.

Denobulan culture has the tradition of group marriage
and Phlox had three wives, who in turn had three husbands
each. This resulted in 720 relationships, there were 31
children in his extended family, and he had five children of
his own: three sons and two daughters.

Many of his species needs are very different to both human
and Vulcan and one of these was that Phlox only required
six days of sleep per year and if interrupted he became
disoriented and very very grumpy! Some other
distinguishing features were his ability to control his facial
muscles, being able to open his mouth wider than humans,
as demonstrated by his seemingly impossibly large grin he
occasionally sported and also inflating his head like a
blowfish to scare off attackers. His other odd practices was
the cleaning his extra-long tongue and using his toenail
clippings as food for his creatures.

Phlox was no dummy, he achieved many degrees in
interspecies medicine, six in interspecies veterinary
medicine and others in hematology, organic chemistry,
botanical pharmacology, exobiology and psychiatry.
However, at times his method of treating crew members
seemed at touch unorthodox when he used animals in
various ways to assist in healing a patient with some of his
menagerie includeing Altarian marsupials, immunocytic gel
worms, osmotic eels, Regulan bloodworms, tribbles, and the
Pyrithian bat that he occasionally would be found talking to!

Though Denobulans do not like to be touched, Phlox did his
best to overcome his cultural inhibitions and was able to
socialise with the Enterprise crew, striking up friendships
with many of them. In fact he got more mail than anyone
else on Enterprise! There was no doubt that the Enterprise
NX-01 was a healthier place due to the care and dedication
of this doctor from Denobula.~




























I Am What I Am!!

Stubborn, acerbic, cantankerous replacement
who I firmly believed was sent specifically to drive
me mad said Jean-Luc Picard, Captain of the USS
Enterprise. This is how he described one Dr
Katherine Pulaski who he would have back serving
on his ship in a flash.

It took the crew and Jean-Luc some time to get
used to the new doctor who had taken over from
Beverly Crusher. She was much more in your
face and louder than her predecessor often
chiming in with humorous or even sarcastic
remarks. Nurses found some of her methods
archaic as she preferred more traditional methods
of doctoring which included occasionally
prescribing PCS also known as Pulaskis Chicken
Soup.

Surprisingly even though she used medical
technology daily her discomfort with other forms
of technology meant she not only loathed using
the transporter preferring to travel by shuttle. It
also meant that she found it hard to relate to Data
as she saw him as no more than a machine. She
would sometimes speak about him in the third
person while he was present, and would refer to
him as it. When Data stayed with Pulaski to
support her after she had become infected from
the children at the Darwin Station her opinion of
Data changed.

Her brusque manner and caustic tongue probably
contributed to her three failed marriages, though
she did remain friends with each of them. Her
admiration of Jean-Lucs commanding ability did
not stop her from coming to logger heads with him
on a number of occasions and even though he
found her blunt approach to issues annoying he
admired her courage and dedication.

She revelled in a game of poker and the Klingon
culture held a certain fascination for her and when
Worf was diagnosed with the Klingon equivalent of
measles, Pulaski made sure no one knew. Worf
considered her a friend and to thank her he invited
her to partake in the Klingon tea ceremony which
she readily accepted but made sure she took the
antidote for the substance in the tea that was
lethal to Humans.

In the Medical world Pulaski is well respected. Her book,
Linear Models of Viral Propagation is still used as a
standard text. She developed techniques and completed
two successful operations involving the ocular implants
and pioneered a technique used to selectively wipe
memory engrams from humanoid species and of course
is also a heart surgeon saving Picards life by performing
his cardiac replacement surgery.

What do they say that time is relative? It may only
have been a year that Katherine Pulaski served on the
Enterprise but she is forever a part of the history of the
USS Enterprise.




























Dont mess with a Tellarite

Henglaar, the Chief Medical Officer of the USS Excelsior where he first served with Captain Ian Quincy Knapp. They
had become friends when they served together on the USS Devonshire during the Dominion War. His friendship
with Knapp was that of two soldiers who had survived a war in the same foxhole together. When Knapp was
promoted to Commodore, First Officer Elizabeth Shelby was promoted as the Excelsiors captain. Even though
Henglaars main role is Chief Medical Officer on the USS Excelsior he still retains a lab and offices aboard Deep
Space 12.

Dr Henglaar is from Tellar Prime, a class M planet that is one of the founding planets of the Federation. Tellarites
known to be impatient and stubborn enjoy a good argument, which is even considered a sport on Tellar. Henglaar
displays a typical Tellarite personality with his patient which means the crew try to remain healthy only going to
Sickbay if they are very very sick as they would rather avoid Henglaars bedside or rather lack of bedside manner.
He has been married and divorced several times.

Henglaar is a mean poker player in the sense that when he loses, which is frequent, he gets very mean.
Consequently he is banned from most of the gambling facilities and all of the bars on Deep Space 12.

Apart from medicine his other skills include being a skilled pilot despite the fact it has been twenty five years since
his flight training and he is also very a good shot with a phaser.

Despite his gruff manner Henglaar has been an asset to Starfleet. He assisted Toby Witzcak in the development of
a neural jammer as a defence against the Grey. He earned a commendation for going undercover to break up a
drug ring on Bovina IV and he developed a partially effective treatment for clinical depression in Andorians. He
also has the distinction of being one of a few people who have flown a starship kamikaze style into a Grey warship
and survived.

For relaxation Henglaar loves to potter in a holographic re-creation of a 20
th
Century urban
garden, a program that so far he has only shared with Counsellor Myra Elbrey. He first met
Elbrey on an away mission where they rescued her from the USS Rutledge. The two of them
have become good friends and this friendship is now blossoming into a romance. Will Elbreys
devilish sense of humour eventually tame the tough Tellerite? Only time will tell.
























































This very low profile, intelligence
organisation took its name from Article
14, Section 31 of the Starfleet charter,
which allowed certain rules of conduct to
be bent during time of treat. It origins
are somewhere in the 22
nd
Century. Its
main work is to search out and identify
potential threats to the Federation and to
quietly get rid of them.

Starfleet Command doesnt acknowledge
its existence but it doesnt deny it either.
Section 31 is a totally autonomous group
who do not submit reports or ask
approval for certain operations. They
work on their own without specific orders
and are accountable to nobody but
themselves. They function as judge, jury
and executioner. In order to protect the
Federation they will defile Federation
principles. It was Odo who likened
Section 31 to the Federations equivalent
of the Cardassian Unions Obsidian Order
or the Romulan Star Empires Tal Shair.

Bashir when he was stationed on Deep
Space 9 was recruited by Luther Sloan
one of Section 31s top agents. Sloan had
well honed interrogation skills. To test
Bashir and his loyalty to Starfleet, Sloan
did a number of things. This showed just
how ruthless Section 31 was.

Bashir was beamed out of his quarters
after only an hour of sleep. (Subjects are
more mineable when they havent had a
lot of sleep). The replicators are taken
off line, so that weapons cannot be
replicated. Transmissions are also
monitored. An implant is put near the
back of Bashirs neck to check his neuro
synaptic relay. Bashir is interrogated to
heighten his stress level so better
readings can be taken. Other methods
Section 31 has used include
brainwashing, torture, and genocide.



Sloan is very clever. There is no record of him in Starfleet. He has learnt to
cover his tracks. He just appears in peoples bedrooms and is not afraid to
bend the rules if the situation warrants it. When necessary Sloan takes on an
alias and has broken all ties with his family and friends. He is an extremely
dangerous and ruthless individual. So great was his loyalty to Section 31 that
he gave up his life when he triggered a lethal implant in his brain, committing
suicide to prevent Bashir from finding the cure to the morphogenic virus.

Officially Starfleet Command says they are appalled that an organisation like
Section 31 exists. Yet unofficially Starfleet would send in Section 31 to carry
out the dirty work the Federation did not want to be seen doing or
condoning. The implications of Section 31 have been described as troubling
and its goals and methods deeply questionable.

To quote Sloan someone has to protect men like you (Bashir) from a universe
that doesnt share your sense of right and wrong.~




























After the Dominion War, the Federation and its
citizens are trying to return to a somewhat normal
existence. One aspect of normalcy is looking outwards
and making decisions about how you will live your life.
One group has decided that they will make a new life
for themselves in the Charydbis Sector. Starfleet a
little mistrustful after a long and costly war is unwilling
to let civilians travel the galaxy without protection and
so the USS Intrepid is assigned to follow and protect.
The colonists are very independent and dont believe
they need Starfleet

Obviously, after a war with a particularly elusive type
of enemy such as shapeshifters, Starfleet could be said
to be on the paranoid side of the coin and Starfleet
Intelligence is now no longer just in the background it
has come out of the closet!

Starfleet Intelligences representative in the Charydbis
Sector is Jacen Navar, who has been assigned to
Commodore Prentices (CO of this assignment) staff as
an Intelligence Specialist. Prentice finds out that Navar
is under sealed orders and even after directly asking
him about them, the Lieutenant Commander was able
to say to a Commodore. go away and Im not telling
you anything! A moment later we see him access the
computer and asking to open files on the Surii! The
computer states that the files do not exist! He then
gives his authorisation Navar Capa 732 and lo and
behold we find out that he has Level Red
authorisation. So there is more than meets the end
with this. To give Navar his due prior to this he did ask
his unknown superior if he could explain the
situation but he did not gain approval to do this! Is
Level Red authorisation for Section 31 operatives, is
Navar and operative?

Navar offers his experience later on the bridge as
alien ships appear, he has no hesitation questioning
the orders that he receives, even to the point of
insubordination. Is this confidence because he knows
that he has the backing of Section 31?

How about Matthew Cole, he seems to think that he also
is able to give orders to captains as well, and he is only a
Lieutenant? During a prisoner interrogation Navar comes
to take the prisoner away and during an argument he
seems to imply that he and Cole are the same!

Section 31 seems to have its hand in lots of pies! Over on
Federation One we find Presidential Security Officer
Lieutenant Commander Matt McCabe who can get
Section 31 Generals to give him information!

It seems that Sec 31 agents can be in every part of the
Federation. On Deep Space 12, Lieutenant Asters
councillor also seems to be a Section 31 plant!

Is Section 31 expanding its universe, has the Dominion
War allowed this most secret of secret sections within
Starfleet to spread its paranoia within the higher echelons
of Starfleet Command? Is the Federation culture
emulating some of the characteristics of the Romulan
Empire?

Will Federation principles or Federation paranoia win!













































































































TCM: You took over the role of Dalonna in The Section 31 Files. How
did you prepare for that?

LP: Well, when I was asked to take over the immense responsibility of
Dalonna, I of course accepted, and the first thing I did was go back and
listen to every espisode of S31, repeatedly, because at that point I had
only listened to some of the more recent episodes, and I wanted to be
sure I had a full understanding of how she had grown as a character,
and how her relationships with the rest of the cast had changed, etc. I
then tried to get a handle of how Kara had sounded while performing
the role, her vowel sounds, the placement of her voice, etc. Im
personally not very good at voice matching, but I felt it was still
important to try and have as much consistency as possible. Then, after
all that, I had to think about my own personal views of Dalonna, and
how she spoke to me, because if I just tried to Mimic Karas amazing
performance, it would be just that, a pale mimicry. I was so nervous
when it was time for everyone to listen. I was prepared for the worst to
be honest, but I think the fans were pretty accepting.

TCM: How do you try to individualise your various characters?

LP: Well, I have heard the criticism in the past that some of my
characters sound the same/use the same voice, and I have to agree. Of
course, people dont realize that sometimes as an actor, you just
become a go to for a certain type of part. Its fairly common among
voice actors actually. Still, I think that all of my characters are very
different on a personal level, and personally I know very well when Im
playing Lauren (From Falcon Banner), for example, as opposed to
playing Kate (from Lost Frontier), even though they sound similar.

In a non DP case, I had a fun time playing two teenage girls playing
opposite each other for a TV show to play in the background of a short
live action film. To differentiate them, they each had drastically
different speech patterns, so the first girl was very perky with a bright
clear voice and she talked a little faster, whereas the other girl was a
little more laid back, with some texture to her voice, and she had this
habit of ending almost every sentence in a question mark. They ended
up having some great chemistry, and the director made a short series of
animated shorts based off of those two characters.

TCM: How do you see Catherine Niles as a
person?

LP: I love Kate, shes just amazing. Shes often
feeling emotionally torn, because she does feel a
certain sense of entitlement to the position of
Captain of the Enterprise and frustration at the
choice of Trask, but she also has a strong sense
of duty and honor that prevents her from
sometimes acting out what she would truly like
to do. Shes also starting to warm up to Captain
Trask the longer they work together, which I
personally think is hilarious, because she wants
to hate him so much, but she cant help but start
to admire and respect him. Personally, I feel that
she used to be a much more idealistic person,
but that a variety of circumstances caused her to
be the more cynical, jaded person she is now.

TCM: How would you like to see her evolve?

LP: Wow. Well, personally, I would love for her
to find what shes looking for. Its a shame she
isnt really sure what that is yet. As a fan I would
also really like to see her get back together
with Q. Because Q is my favorite Star Trek
character ever.

TCM: What do you do to prepare for a Lost
Frontier scene?

LP: Well, by this point I have a pretty good grip
on Kate and how she sounds/behaves/feels, so I
dont need to do too much preparation. I go
through the script to see if there are any Star
Trek references (I am a fan, but some of the
more obscure references I need to double check)
that I need to understand in order to record, or
need to check on the pronunciation for, and
then I record the lines pretty much.

TCM: Do you focus just on the series you work
on, or do you keep updated with the other
shows on the site?

LP: I try to keep updated on all of the shows on
Darker Projects, as there are some really great
series. Albeit my favorite series are ones I am
involved in, (Byron, No Mans Land, Falcon
Banner). But even though I am no longer playing
Chris, I still have to hear about what happens
next in the adventures of the Pale Man of
Portland. I also really love any and all episodes of
Night Terrors. I do sometimes fall a bit behind
though, as sometimes Im just very busy! (My
iPod has helped with that though.)



























TCM: Do you enjoy playing one character over the
other?

LP: It would be nice of me to say that I love all of
my characters equally, like children, or something
like that. But there are definitely characters I enjoy
playing more than others. Chris from Byron
Chronicles was always one of my favorites, as well
as Lauren in Falcon Banner, and I do love Kate a
great deal too, shes just so much fun! I cant say
what it is really that makes playing any one
character more enjoyable than any other, as there
are so many factors involved, but Im sure every
actors has their own set of favorites.

TCM: What is it that drew you to the various
characters you have portrayed?

LP: To be honest, I just love voice acting. As I was
saying to a friend, If the role of Rock was
available, and its line was I am a rock. And its
backstory was that it had been a rock its entire
existenceI would STILL want to play that rock. It
might sound silly, but I think every character and
every project has the potential to be one of those
amazing projects I wont forget. For example, when
I was first performing the role of Kate, all I really
knew about her, and about the show, was that the
universe had been torn about, and that Kate was
the Captain of a ship, and that she was angry she
wouldnt be captain of the Enterprise. That was
pretty much it, but in the end, she became one of
my favorite characters to play.

TCM: How did you get involved in voice acting in
general?

LP: Well, when I was six, I saw Disneys The Little
Mermaid (yes I know, I know) and I really really
realized I wanted to do the voice of cartoons. I
wasnt very much into acting in general, I
suppose, but I knew I wanted to be the voices of
cartoon characters. Unfortunately (or more
appropriately fortunately) my mother was not
much a stage mother, and like many childhood
dreams, the thoughts of voice acting fell by the
wayside for a good ten years or so. I did some stage
acting in my teenage years, but there is something
about the stage I dont love nearly as much as
being behind a microphone. In 2002 I went to an
Anime Convention (Acen, for those familiar with
the convention scene), and I saw in the program a
few panels about Voice Acting and I thought to
myself, You mean, doing cartoon voices? Like my
childhood dream? So I went to the panels, got
some resources, and just started up from there.
Sort of a boring story I suppose, but its the truth!

TCM: What is your own experience with 'canon' Star Trek?

LP: My mom and I used to watch Star Trek: The Next Generation a
lot. I love that show. Im moderately familiar with Voyager as well,
but outside of those two shows I dont know much, to be perfectly
honest. I think my Mom might be a bigger Trekkie than I (shes
familiar with Deep Space Nine and Enterprise and other stuff, though
neither of us know much about The Original Series oddly enough.)
Personally, I always tend to like the computer type characters Data,
The Doctor from Voyager, Seven of Nine, and well as I mentioned
earlier, I love Q (even though hes not a computer.)

TCM: How did you get involved with Darker Projects?

LP: I auditioned for a project (although I dont remember what now)
that required a Russian Accent. They had all ready filled that part,
but they directed me to another group, Dream Realm Enterprises,
that needed a female with a Russian Accent. Right around that time,
Darker Projects was looking for a (surprise!) female with a Russian
Accent for their Doctor Who three parter coming out, and Dream
Realm Enterprises mentioned my work to them, so they asked if I
could play Ivanava in Doctor Who. After that I was on the mailing list
and just kept auditioning really. The best part about this story? I
dont really like my Russian Accent very much!

TCM: What projects do you have on the go at the moment?

LP: Well, an anime series I played a supporting role in, Magical Girl
Lyrical Nanoha As, just came out a few weeks ago or so, so it was
fun to watch that! Im still working on a few Darker Projects
Productions as well, mostly continuing the roles I currently have and
such. I also keep myself busy doing narrations for computer
programs and other corporate projects.~


















































































TCM: How do you see Takila Mak as a person?

MK: Mak is historically very much a loner and doesn't
trust others easily. However his circumstances have
been such that he's had no choice but to occasionally
rely on others from time to time. I've typically imagined
him to be an only child whose parents were so busy
with their own scientific or administrative work on the
homeworld that he was left to learn a lot of things on
his own. It was that combination of independence and
natural curiosity for the unknown that made him an
excellent candidate for the Novachron Sentinels. For
most of his life, Mak hasn't had many enduring
relationships and few peope he'd call friends. Naturally,
being virtually immortal it's kind of hard to get to close
to people only to have them die. Over the centuries I
expect he's known a number of beings with whom he'd
say he was pretty close, especially during his time on
the Defiant and the Nosferatu. Those crews were
probably about as close to family as he's seen since
leaving home.


TCM: How much involvement did you have over your
character's evolution?

MK: About 96% by now. I created the character in March of
1996 for the U.S.S. Defiant role-playing/storytelling list that
was run by Jeffrey Bridges who now leads Pendant Audio.
Though Jeffrey wasn't really around for my first year, his
"XO" Scott Kliemann took me on and made Mak the ship's
Chief Intelligence Officer which I thought was very cool.
When Mak first debuted I had it in mind for him to be a Trill
host (Mak actually being the name of the creature inside
him) and that can be seen in my first couple stories, but I
decided soon that I didn't want him to be bogged down by
this thing and decided to have it go mad and die, with Mak
essentially cutting himself open to remove it. But, since the
hosts typically died as well, I needed an angle to keep him
alive.

At the time, my knowledge of Star Trek aliens was pretty
much limited to Klingons, Vulcans, Romulans, Ferengi...the
major popular races; but I wanted something different,
something more than just human. So I researched a number
of books about races on Star Trek and I picked up a book at a
used bookstore called "Let's Trek: The Budget Guide to the
Federation" by James Van Hise. Inside was a description
about a place called Novachron that sounded pretty cool, so
I said, "OK, Mak will come from there." I cleared it with Scott
and then searched the Internet to find what I could about
the place but really discovered nothing apart from a brief
reference to Novachron that Wesley Crusher made while
speaking to Guinan in an episode of Next Gen. Well, I
thought, at least the place isn't made up, but it looks like I'm
going to have to flesh out what Novachron is all about and
over the years I've developed a number of ideas about its
people and culture.

Naturally, when working with a group of writers on
collaborative projects there are occasionally times when
others have gotten particularly creative with him and the
Novachron mythos such as the development of the concept
of the clan system on Novachron which was introduced in
the very late 1990's by Elise Tobler, my former editor at the
First Light fanzine. At the time it sounded pretty cool and the
idea of Mak being largely immortal and part of a clan (Clan
Shuriik) greatly appealed to my love of the Highlander
mythos, so I went with it. Eric Busby at Darker Projects was
also keen on the idea of a connection between Mak and Dr.
Who and as such, has made references to the two of them
having crossed paths over the years as well. Thinking back to
Wesley's comment to Guinan, I thought the possible tie
between the El Aurians and the Novachrons was an
interesting concept so I took things a step further and
connected the two in our mileu as having been descended
from an original source race --
HERE TCM TALKS TO MARK
KALITA, WHO PLAYS TAKILA
MAK, IN DARKER PROJECTS
STAR TREK THE SECTION 31
FILES AND STAR TREK LOST
FRONTIER.



























along with the Gallifreyans from Dr. Who -- and came up
with the concept of The Three Tribes. Though this
relationship between the three races has only recently
started to come to light in the second season of the
BrokenSea Dr. Who audio dramas, I had actually laid the
foundation for it about 10 years ago. But on the whole, I've
tried to keep my hand on the character at all times over the
years so that other people don't get too creative and take
him in directions that would seem overly out of character.

I think the greatest thing about playing Mak has been the
fact that since I know him so well he's very easy to write for
and act out. He is an interesting blend of darkness and light,
moodiness and mirth, seriousness and sarcastic humor. I
believe actors bring the most life to characters they connect
with and Mak is very much a part of me. In fact, these days
most of the people in the fan audio community simply call
me Mak rather than Mark, which I find rather interesting.
The reality of it is this though: TAKILA is simply an anagram
of my last name and M.A.K. are my initials.


TCM: You are also known for portraying Doctor Who at both
Darker Projects and Broken Sea. Who do you prefer playing?

MK: I don't know that I necessarily have a preference
because both roles have so much of me in them now and
they both indulge different aspects of my personality. Mak is
my darker more brooding side: the cynical, down-and-dirty
professional side, while The Doctor is more a reflection of
my whimsical, curious, eccentric side. I find Mak perhaps a
bit easier to play in that his voice is largely my own, whereas
I need to "Brit-ify" my voice a little to play Dr. Who. What
I've found particularly interesting is despite having played
Mak for so long and having been identified so closely with
the character, in the past year and a half I'm discovering
even more people now linking me with the Doctor. In either
case, it's a lot of fun and the recognition always flatters me.


TCM: How do you try to individualise your various
characters?

MK: Well, by now I've played quite a diverse bunch of
characters from a nigh-immortal space soldier on Star Trek
to a nubian shaman on Conan: Queen of the Black Coast, so
I'd say the biggest thing I try to do is make them all sound
and feel as different as I can. One of the worst things an
actor can perpetrate is to make all their characters sound
the same, what some people call the "Keanu Reeves School
of Acting," where no matter who they play, the character
essentially sounds or behaves the same. I've also tried
purposely to play roles that are marketably different so as to
avoid being branded as some kind of one-trick pony
character actor. While it's cool to play quasi-immortal
spacemen, it's not the only thing I want to be known for.




























TCM: What would you do to prepare for a Section 31
scene?

MK: Not too much really, apart from read the scene to
understand what's going on and get a sense of the
gravity of the situation so I know how I should be
reacting to the other actors' dialogue. As I said, Mak is
so closely connected with me that the delivery and the
voice typically just fall into place. Other shows are
more of a challenge, like Percy Atherton on
Maudelayne. I find I really have to concentrate to get
his voice and personality in sync. When I played Carl
Henshawe in the audio adaptation of David Moody's
Autumn, I was absolutely exhausted afterward; not just
from several days of recording a huge script, but from
trying to keep the accent and emotional levels where
they needed to be. For the Old Man on BrokenSea's
adaptation of Logan's Run, I literally had the movie in
my DVD-ROM as a scene-by-scene reference for Peter
Ustinov's vocal mannerisms.

TCM: Do you focus just on the series you work on, or
do you keep updated with the other shows on the site?

MK: Being a member of the BrokenSea executive team
I'm afforded the luxury of being able to hear everything
before it's actually released, as well as to review many
shows as they're being produced. So while I may not
work directly on a particular show, I do have the
opportunity to give input on its development.


TCM: Do you enjoy playing one character over the
other?

MK: I think most actors have favorite characters they've
played for different reasons. Certainly I'm best known
for Takila Mak and Dr. Who at this point, but I can't say
that I prefer one over the other as they're both now
such a close part of me. I will admit I like stretching my
theatrical chops a bit and doing assorted diverse roles
like Eye Ching on Ulysses: Intergalactic Guides and
Bounties Inc. or Cornelius and The Lawgiver on Planet
of the Apes or Professor Charles Xavier for Circus-13's
X-men production. My newest challenge is playing
Algernon Moncrieff in The Importance of Being Earnest
for Gypsy Audio. That's been fun.





























TCM: What is it that drew you to the various
characters you have portrayed?

MK: It's varied from character to character. I'd
created and written for Mak for many years and
been a fan of Dr. Who for even longer, so I'd had a
longstanding relationship with them and
consequently I got into them very easily. I was
attracted to other characters, ironically, for
opposite reasons -- because they were so different.
Further still, have been the characters that people
have come to me personally for because they saw
something in my work that they believed could
bring one of their characters to life, like Blackthorn
on Feedback: A Hero's Calling. I was attracted to
Maudelayne because I not only liked the sort of
P.G. Wodehouse-like setting, but I loved the
concept of these portals opening up and letting in
various mythological creatures. With Gaia's
Voyages, which I do for Misfitsaudio, I got involved
by accident just chatting with its creator, Elaine
Barrett. What I liked about that show was the huge
cast of different, bizarre characters; but initially my
role didn't even exist. Elaine essentially wove it in
out of her need for "a cosmic badass" in the vein of
Takila Mak. So she created the assassin, Armarok,
and I've been helping to flesh him out a bit.

TCM: How did you get involved in voice acting in
general?

MK: Purely by accident. To be honest, I've always
hated the sound of my voice. But just before the
turn of this century (I love being able to say that),
the Big Finish company in England started making
Dr. Who audio stories using the actual actors from
the TV show. Eric Busby and I were writing stories
on the Defiant list at the time and he thought we
should look into dramatizing some of them and
perhaps, if it worked out, make our own BF-style
series. So we enlisted our pals from the list and
whipped up a few episodes. At the time, of course,
none of us had any real experience in writing,
acting or post-production and it showed, but it was
fun -- fun enough for Eric to suggest we explore
doing a Dr. Who series as well. Few people know
that I wasn't actually the first choice for The
Doctor. That came about after Eric's original choice
bailed out and I stepped in that same night,
recording a 1-page script he'd written playing both
the part of The Doctor and his whifferdil
companion, Frobisher. In truth I just didn't want to
see the project die even if it meant my own awful
voice had to hold it for awhile. That night, Eric took
those raw lines, put in some SFX and the next day
my true first appearance as Dr. Who was born.





























TCM: What is you own experience with 'canon' Star Trek?

MK: That there doesn't seem to be much left to do with it anymore, hence its imminent "relaunch" with the new movie.
Like most of Hollywood, I've gotten the impression that creativity has taken quite a dive and Trek has unfortunately
gotten pretty stale. So if all else fails, start from scratch (we've seen it with Batman, Superman and James Bond
already). What was radical on the original series or cutting-edge on Next Gen, and to a degree on DS9, simply became
watered down as the franchise went on. Voyager was an attempt to return to the grass roots of "boldly going where no
one has gone before" with the added novelty of a female captain and more of a balance between male and female
characters which was great. But again it suffered from weak stories and lame alien races to such an extent that the Borg
had to constantly be brought in to boost ratings. As a result, the Borg essentially lost their cool factor. I suppose
canonical Star Trek has typically been a very cut and dry, black and white universe: you're either a good guy or a bad
guy and Starfleet always prevails. That's what fans found so appealing, I think, about The Section 31 Files: our show had
a genuine edge for portraying a crew whose missions and characters operated in various shades of grey.

TCM: How did you get involved with Darker Projects and BrokenSea?

MK: As I mentioned earlier, Eric and I needed a new creative outlet. We started with the Defiant audios and fairly soon
into it we parted company with Jeffrey who went on to found Pendant. We still wanted to make Trek and Dr. Who, but
had no way of hosting it nor did we have much knowledge about how to make more professional-sounding shows. So
we hooked up with a woman named Aurora McPherson who ran a group called Quantum Realities Productions, that's
also how we met Matthew Kopelke at Back To Reality Productions (BTR), who'd already been producing a Dr. Who
show for awhile. They both gave Eric a lot of pointers about how to produce audio and his mixing kung-fu began to
grow strong. Unfortunately, various things happened and we severed our relationship with QRP after my debut episode
of Dr. Who, "Grave White North" was delayed for nearly a year. Thus Eric and I decided we'd create our own audio
group. He'd originally wanted to call it Defiant Productions, but between concerns over potential confusion between its
name and the Defiant RPG/storytelling list as well as the discovery that Defiant Productions was also the name of a gay
porn company, he settled upon Darker Projects. Back then it was essentially the two of us, in a sort of audio
relationship like Tim Burton and Johnny Depp, but on a much smaller scale. We both wrote, he post-produced and I
acted. In time, Eric brought in Tom Davis, an old friend who was a Web guru, and our work soon started attracting some
fantastic actors, writers and post-producers who got the ball really rolling and Eric selected a few of us to become
Darker Projects' management team, The Dark Council.

Now, audio groups, I've discovered, aren't terribly different from rock bands. They are composed of creative, talented
people and colorful personalities; and given time they can not only make magic, but also come to cross-purposes. It's
not unusual at all. However, it can get very stressful for everyone involved. As luck would have it, Paul Mannering (a
former Dark Council member himself, albeit briefly) and Bill Hollweg (a complete newcomer to audio at the time) struck
up a friendship that led to their concept of the BrokenSea audio group. I'd struck up a relationship with each of them
individually around that time and they approached me about joining their executive team. They also spoke to David
Sobkowiak (who had done some assorted work over at DP as well) to work on the website and do post-production.
Needless to say we both needed a change, so we signed aboard and the four of us were all soon spreading the doctrine
of Audio Hooliganism.

TCM: What other projects do you have on the go at the moment?

MK: A whole bunch, spread throughout several different groups including Misfitsaudio, Imagination Lane, Circus-13
Productions and Gypsy Audio. I've mentioned some of them already. I'm particularly proud of Gareth Preston's
production of The Prisoner: Shattered Visage, in which I play Number Two. That's over at BrokenSea. But listeners can
also look forward to more episodes of Jake Sampson: Monster Hunter as well as extended adaptations of Escape from
New York, Beneath the Planet of the Apes and Battlestar Galactica along with a new series of The X-Files, also from
BrokenSea. I'll also be appearing on TamLynn P.I. over at Gypsy Audio and am slated to play Appsley Cherry-Garrard in
Alexa Chipman's new production about the adventures of Antarctic explorer, Tom Crean, over at Imagination Lane. I'm
further hoping to do more work with the amazing Zombie Astronaut on Frequency of Fear as well as with the Canadian
creative team of Jack Ward and Shannon Hilchie over at Sonic Cinema. So yeah, there's plenty to do. Would that this
were Hollywood, I'd be a very rich man.~














































































































Tom Backus here.

I was born to be an engineer. All my
life I've been fixing things, making
them work better. I remember re-
wiring the mobile over the crib of my
younger brother Seamus's crib to make
it spin more efficiently. I think
that's why I've come to fit so well
into the world of Section 31. At
first, I was hesitant, given 31's
reputation, but I've found that my
role as a fixer continues; Section 31
exists to keep the Federation and all
its allies safe and secure by weeding
out and squashing those who threaten
the well-being of the Federation's
worlds. In essence, we're all
engineers here in Section 31, and
it's your universe we're here to fix.
Don't lose sleep over those who wish
your harm- we're making sure their
plans never come to fruition. Your
future is safe, thanks to Section 31.


TCM Staff
EDITOR
RICHARD MILES
ASSISTANT EDITORS
HEATHER ASHLEIGH AND ALEX MATTHEWS
HEAD WRITERS
GERRI DONALDSON, ALEX MATTHEWS, RICHARD MILES AND EUGENIA STOPYRA
WRITERS
HEATHER ASHLEIGH; JENNIFER COLE; GERRI DONALDSON; JOSH EDELGLASS; DANNY LAVENY; GUSTAVO
LEAO; ALEX MATTHEWS; RICHARD MILES; EUGENIA STOPYRA; SEAN-PAUL TEELING and JOHN WHITING.

GRAPHICS ARTIST:

RICHARD MILES

CREATIVE CONSULTANTS

MICHAEL HUDSON AND RICK PIKE

COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT
RICK PIKE AND RICHARD MILES

WEBSITE STAFF
RICHARD MILES

TREKKIE CENTRAL WEBSITE
WEBSITE STAFF
LEE GARTELL AND RICHARD MILES