SUB-SPACECOM

   NEWS & GOSSIPS

Behind-the-Scenes on the set of "Enemy: Starfleet"
or
“It was the Best of Times, It was the Worst of Times”
by Andrew “Sarge” Grieb

PHOTOS BY: Andrew "Sarge" Grieb

As I sat to watch the movie, The Wrath of Khan, again, I had to laugh at the sequence between Kirk and Spock when these words came up. I had just been through the “best of times” and the “worst of times”.

The Phase II crew had just finished getting together again to shoot a new webisode. As Spock says in the movie, “Surely, the best of times?”
This shoot had its moments and not all of them were the best. Delays in the shooting schedule caused by technical problems, water main breaks and other issues resulted in high tension and the need for more pick-up shots later, but the overall mood of the shoot was high and the camaraderie was great. We came together to make this shoot successful, despite the seemingly unending problems.

We started on Saturday, June 14th and Sunday, the 15th with crew check-in and orientation. This was the first year that we’d had an orientation session and it worked out well, greeting the new crew as well as the returning members of the family. As the crew all got off on the same foot, we were able to hit the ground at a run instead of a crawl.

That didn’t help much on the morning of the first day of shooting. We had a technical glitch that set us back half a day right at the onset, but was dealt with that morning. By noon, we were back to work preparing and shooting on the sets.

The second day was unmitigated disaster. Water started coming up through the floors of the studio and endangered the sets and the costumes within minutes. Luckily, James Cawley and Patty Wright were in the Costume rooms working on new costumes and Linda Falvo was in “green room” working on Craft Services when it started. Quick thinking and quicker action saved the costumes and sets from any permanent damage. The only problem after shutting off the main water line was that we had no bathrooms for the cast and crew. Again, quick action was needed and a backhoe was brought in to expose the water line from the city of Port Henry. Jay Storey, Tony DiGregorio and Max Kaiserman took over as the men of the hour as they started digging by hand to complete the job. After several muddy and exhausting hours, they were ready for the first attempt the fix to the water system. The proposed fix took longer than expected to complete due to the many heavy afternoon rain showers that started to fill in the hole and continually slowed down production. Stewart’s, up the street, and the marina, down the street, let us use their bathrooms while ours were down. Other crew members jumped in and started pumping out the water and digging out the main again to repair the water, but the rains kept coming and backfilling the hole. “The Port Henry Big Dig” was going in the wrong direction, but we finally got the water going after the third day. By Saturday of that week, we started filling in the hole. By hand! All of the crew who helped out with “The Big Dig” are extremely appreciated, including Jim Wood, Tony DiGregorio, Doug Caprette, Bill Teegarden, Ron Gates, Pat Heward and others.

As mentioned, the rain delayed our production further every day. We were forced to postpone our location shoot due to the weather, which put us even further back. These shots will be part of the pickup shoot to be scheduled for later.

The rest of the shoot was punctuated by the fantastic. We had one of the best organized shoots ever. The crew was good natured, taking every little problem in stride and laughing about it later. We had dedication from members that was unprecedented.

Rich Gedney drove from Marietta, Georgia in his Ford F-250, with a trailer. Considering the gas prices, that was amazing. To top that, he was responsible for the success of the company move from Port Henry to Ticonderoga and back, due in no small measure to his truck and trailer. Thanks, Rich!

All of the Production Assistants were great. Parker Nolen did his best to imitate “Speed Racer” as he shuttled people back and forth from one location to another. It wasn’t until he spun out in the rain with the Mustang rental car did he realize just how lucky he really was. His new forum name is Speed Racer because of this. Nice job, Parker!

Many more PAs were on the sets to make it all happen, but I can’t forget to mention one man in particular and that is Troy Boyle. He came to be an extra, became a PA and worked his tail off and never complained much. He understood the nature of the beast when it came down to it and his positive attitude is refreshing to all of us. Troy, you will be on camera!

Bill Teegarden is another example of great camaraderie. He came in and opened his summer cottage to some of us, because of the housing shortages (and funding shortages) that we were having. Bill’s good nature and get ‘er done attitude were of immense help and made the shoot that much more bearable for the production crew. Thanks tons, Bill!

BarBara Luna was fantastic. She is a gracious and lovely lady and wonderful to work with. Despite the obstacles presented Luna continued to have great fun with us and kept up spirits on the set. Her scenes with James Cawley made the entire process more fun. Luna commands the screen as Alersa, our Pirate Queen. She makes the episode work. We love you, Luna!

Paul Sieber, Big Paul, is back in this webisode as Kyril. Poor Kyril doesn’t know which horse to back in this episode and this confusion leads to some great moments for Paul to “chew up the scenery”, but in a very realistic and powerful way. Watch this performance as Paul has outdone any of his previous work with this webisode. What can I say, Paul? You were fantastic!

The best of times and the worst of times. We had both on this shoot and we, once again, came together as a family to overcome adversity and have a great shoot. Congratulations to everyone who attended and will attend again!

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