Happy 23rd anniversary, Independence Fleet! For anyone new and not aware or simply not wanting to do the math, this club was founded all the way back on July 4, 2001. Continuing a tradition we began a few years ago, here is a message from a special guest:
What else do we have for this year? You might remember the 20th Anniversary Almanac that we published three years ago. Well, we got the cover page signed by none other than Star Trek legend William Shatner:
In case you were wondering, the cover photo at the top is indeed based on the greatest Star Trek selfie ever taken by LeVar Burton. Thank you to Captain Misaki for creating our header image two years in a row.
I almost forgot, we have a second message this year too:
And yet another year of IDF is in the books with our 22nd Anniversary today. To remind you of how old we really are, here’s a quote from last year’s anniversary post:
“On our 22nd Anniversary, we will be further removed from the premiere of the 2009 Star Trek film (May 8, 2009) than IDF’s launch was from the premiere of The Next Generation (September 28, 1987): 14 years, 1 month, 26 days vs. 13 years, 9 months, 6 days.”
Well, here we are! For this year’s celebration, each of our 12 sims created a movie poster to capture their unique essence and feel. We are also very fortunate to have Amanda Rose from RPG Writing, NX-1701-G from Zodiac Fleet, and Beth from Sim Central to judge the entries in three categories: overall image quality, how much does it look like an actual movie poster, and general creativity/originality. Before we get to the posters themselves, we first have an announcement from a special guest:
“I’m impressed by the technical skill and originality that went into this poster.”
“If you’re familiar with Anime movie posters, this is spot on.”
“Having anime Trek characters in the mirror universe with the crack showing the Federation and Terran emblems on different sides was brilliant.”
“Of all the posters shared this was the one that actually made me want to join the game in question.”
“Image expertly merged the dinosaur imagery with clear Trek imagery without making them appear distinct.”
“This poster screamed movie poster. I would expect to see this on the wall in some theater. A starship with dinosaurs and big lettering. Well done!”
“I’m not typically a fan of the starship and character posters, but this one spoke to me.”
“I kept wanting to rate this poster higher in my rankings. There’s a lot to like with the faded facial imagery and ship…
…[including] ‘Coming Never,’ which was mildly amusing.”
Congratulations to all three winners, and a special thanks to our judges! However, to quote Kirk from Star Trek III, we’re not finished yet! Here are superlative awards for our other nine games:
Best poster for Seinfeld/Trek crossover USS Albion CO: Captain Dick Sprague Poster by: Akeno Misaki
Some bold judges not to pick this one! USS Chuck Norris CO: Captain Aurther Winters Poster by: Bonnie Durnell
Best poster for past meeting the future USS Churchill CO: Captain James Stewart Poster by: Akeno Misaki
Best poster if you actually watch Picard USS Eminence CO: Captain Alex Shepard Poster by: Akeno Misaki
Best poster for a random trailing light USS Ganymede CO: Captain Dyllon McMahon Poster by: Akeno Misaki
Best poster for a low Earth orbit view USS Liberty CO: Captain Kaylia Strenvale Poster by: Akeno Misaki
Best poster for the IMAX experience USS Montana CO: Captain Jackson Adams Poster by: Bonnie Durnell
Best poster for “Aft torpedoes, fire!!!” USS Washington CO: Captain Shran dh’Klar Poster by: Akeno Misaki
Best poster that could double for Dune Starbase 80 CO: Captain Kathleen O’Shea Poster by: Bonnie Durnell
While we’re on the topic of movies, we are now further removed from our July 4, 2001 founding than it was from the premiere of the first Star Trek film Star Trek: The Motion Picture (December 6, 1979): 22 years vs. 21 years, 6 months, 28 days. Feel old yet?
Continuing last year’s tradition, we again have a second video message:
Congratulations to those who won some real prizes at our annual gift drawing earlier this month. Here’s the first group to place their names on the big wheel for next year…
Best Post (Single Author)
Commander Samantha Howard Chief Medical Officer USS Washington
Writing for doctors can be difficult, without constantly employing a deus ex machina to solve a problem. Spending time writing about the thinking process and coming up with a creative solution is sometimes the best kind of medical post. Love this one!
Best Post (Joint Post)
Capt. Rhenora Kaylen & Lt. Cmdr. Dean House & Lt. Ashlesha 4827/A & Ens. Kitiuas Thenis CO / 2O / COO / SO USS Sunfire
This is a very interesting subject, not seen often in Trek posts, which kept me engaged. Well written, seamless even though multiple folks contributed, and just the right mix of personal interactions with technical jargon. Well done!
Funniest Post
Lieutenant Nerex Flight Control Chief USS Eminence
Unexpected, yes, and a perfect way to get the crew going.
MVP
Lieutenant JG Luna Eclipse of the House of Martok Flight Control Officer USS Wayfarer
Lt. jg. Luna has really developed her character in a short amount of time. She expertly writes the clash of the Human/Klingon slides while easily incorporating it into the mission with the rest of the crew. A great teammate!
Most Posts
Lieutenant Anna Thesia Chief Medical Officer USS Sunfire
For writing 10 posts.
Most Improved
Lieutenant Ashlesha 4827/A Chief Operations Officer USS Sunfire
Still relatively new to the Sunfire, Lt. Ashlesha continues to involve herself in all matters of the mission and consistently offers great ideas and well written posts. She is also super easy to work with, which is always a plus.
Rookie of the Month
None this month
Recruitment
None this month
It’s hard to believe this crazy group we call IDF has now been around for 21 whole years. Here’s to 21 more!
It’s going to be near impossible to top last year’s Day of Trivia, Webcast, and special edition Message & Almanac. And that’s for good reason: 20th anniversaries are a big deal in role playing! But 21st birthdays are important too. Indeed, if Independence Fleet (IDF) was a humanoid (living in the United States), the 21st would be even more important. I’m quickly getting off track…
What did we decide to do? For our 21 years together, here are 21 facts about IDF, Star Trek and/or other topics that might change your perception of time. Modeled after two articles from Buzzfeed (here and here), we hope you enjoy the list.
But before we do that, here is a special message for this year’s anniversary:
IDF’s launch (July 4, 2001) was closer to the release of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (June 4, 1982) than it is to today: 19 years, 1 month vs. 21 years.
Ditto for the North America release of the Nintendo Entertainment System (October 18, 1985): 15 years, 8 months, 16 days.
And for the release of Windows 1.0 (November 20, 1985): 15 years, 7 months, 14 days.
And also for the release of the world’s very first website (December 20, 1990): 10 years, 6 months, 14 days.
The time from IDF’s launch on Angelfire to the registry of its first URL (July 4, 2001 – February 26, 2005) was longer than the entire run of Star Trek: The Original Series (September 8, 1966 – June 3, 1969): 3 years, 7 months, 22 days vs. 2 years, 8 months, 26 days.
The time from the registry of IDF’s first URL to officially moving to its current URL (February 26, 2005 – February 29, 2020) was longer than the entire run of the TNG/DSN/VOY television series era from the premiere of Star Trek: The Next Generation to the finale of Star Trek: Voyager (September 8, 1987 – May 23, 2001): 15 years, 3 days vs. 13 years, 7 months, 25 days.
The time from moving to IDF’s current URL to today (2 years, 4 months, 5 days) is shorter than all but three periods between Star Trek movies: The Wrath of Khan to The Search for Spock (1 year, 11 months, 28 days), Generations to First Contact (2 years, 4 days), and First Contact to Insurrection (2 years, 19 days).
However, it’s longer than the time from Utopia Fleet’s founding (April 7, 1999) to IDF’s founding: 2 years, 2 months, 27 days.
Utopia Fleet’s founding was closer to the North America release of the Atari 2600 (September 11, 1977) than it is to today: 21 years, 6 months, 27 days vs. 23 years, 2 months, 27 days.
Ditto for the release of the original Star Wars movie (May 25, 1977): 21 years, 10 months, 13 days.
The time from the launch of the original USS Sunfire NCC-3935 (February 16, 2000) to IDF’s launch was longer than the entire run of Star Trek: The Animated Series (September 8, 1973 – October 12, 1974): 1 year, 4 months, 18 days vs. 1 year, 1 month, 4 days
The launch of the award-winning USS Sunfire NCC-3001-D (October 10, 2010) was closer to IDF’s founding than it is to today: 9 years, 3 months, 6 days vs. 11 years, 8 months, 24 days.
The launch of the USS Chuck Norris NCC-4005 (January 2, 2012) was closer to the first Chuck Norris facts appearing on the Internet (sometime in early 2005) than it is to today: ~7 years vs. 10 years, 6 months, 2 days.
IDF is older than the iPod (October 23, 2001),
Facebook (February 4, 2004),
YouTube (February 14, 2005),
the Microsoft Xbox (November 15, 2001),
commercially available Blu-ray Discs (June 20, 2006),
and NBA All-Star LaMelo Ball (August 22, 2001).
At IDF’s launch, Tom Brady had zero Super Bowl rings. In fact, he had only completed 1 NFL pass.
The time from IDF’s launch to today is longer than the time from The Original Series finale to The Next Generation premiere (June 3, 1969 – September 28, 1987): 21 years vs. 18 years, 3 months, 25 days.
And for a bonus, something to look forward to next year: On our 22nd Anniversary, we will be further removed from the premiere of the 2009 Star Trek film (May 8, 2009) than IDF’s launch was from the premiere of The Next Generation (September 28, 1987): 14 years, 1 month, 26 days vs. 13 years, 9 months, 6 days.
Until then, let’s keep role playing!
Oh, I almost forgot: We have another video message for this year:
First, thank you to our very own Ken Gillis for hosting the anniversary webcast yesterday. An outstanding show, just like last year! He introduced our Hall of Fame class of 2022 and played two special videos. Unfortunately, those who missed it will have to wait until our official anniversary blog post tomorrow. However, we can now share who the winners of our annual prize drawing were. Here’s how it worked:
Everyone who won a monthly award over the last year had their name added to the big wheel. 1 award = 1 entry. All award fractions were rounded up. Then time to spin the wheel!
In order, they will have their choice from among the following three prizes:
From left to right: Runabout from Deep Space Nine, Horga’hn (3D print by Admiral Gillis), Phaser from The Next Generation
Congratulations to all three! Should anyone not be able to provide a US mailing address, they will be given a gift certificate for their country of residence and we’ll draw a replacement winner.
In case you were wondering, WarGames was simply a one-time rebranding of the annual Tournament of Simulations, which we have had a lot of success at over the years.
Excellent Star Trek:
Great Star Trek:
Star Trek Gameplay:
I can’t wait to see who wins for 2022. Until then, keep up all the great role playing!
Captain Emmalyn Marcus has resigned as Commanding Officer of the USS Montana and will be replaced by Captain Jackson Adams. We thank Captain Marcus for all of the hard work and great simming since April 2021.
As a result, Captain Adams’s other character, Captain John Wells, will be resigning as Commanding Officer of the USS Eminence and will be replaced by Captain Alex Shepard. We thank Captain Wells for all the hard work and great simming since June 2021.
Captain Adams and Captain Shepard will both assume command on February 1st. Congratulations and best of luck, Captains!
Happy new year! As we close out 2021, I think of all the many great things that happened in this fleet over the last 12 months. There’s not enough room here for it all! But we do have room for our final batch of 2021 award winners…
Best Post (Single Author)
Lieutenant Aiko Kato Flight Control Officer USS Washington
Lt. Kato wins for an incredible third month in a row with an excellent character introspective that distills information into direction for the rest of the crew. Well done!
Best Post (Joint Post)
Lt. Callie Raven-Grayson & Cmdr. Jonathan Grayson & Lt. Shoniara T’ghann Dex CC / XO / ACMO USS Washington
Commander Jenna Ramthorne Chief Flight Control Officer USS Sunfire
Cmdr. Ramthorne returns to action! She’s a brilliant writer and an incredible asset to the ship and fleet, always willing to lend a hand or an ear to whoever needs it.
Most Posts
Lieutenant Shoniara T’ghann Dex Assistant Chief Medical Officer USS Washington
For writing 22 posts.
Most Improved
Lieutenant Brakon Ryal Executive Officer USS Eminence
Lt. Ryal really stepped up his game, driving the story forward and helping organize posts.
The W’s new security officer jumped aboard with phasers blazing. He showed an ability to adapt quickly and push the story forward, all while developing his own character and working with others.
Not only is this the latest edition of My Favorite Trek, but it’s also announcement time: Commodore Heather Meadows hereby joins us today as our new Director of Media. Her main responsibilities will be My Favorite Trek interviews and other blog & media content. She has a long and distinguished simming career, frequently filling roles similar to this, that goes back two decades now. Without any further ado, let’s meet Commodore Heather Meadows…
Name: Heather Meadows Rank: Commodore Sim: N/A Position: Director of Media Other Characters: Lieutenant Tosh Tarkin of the USS Eminence
Favorite Star Trek episode? It is incredibly difficult to narrow Star Trek down to one favorite episode. However, I will go with “Measure of a Man” from Star Trek: The Next Generation’s second season. Why? The writer of this episode is Melinda Snodgrass, an accomplished science fiction author, but has a background in law. She earned her Juris Doctor from University of Mexico School of Law. Snodgrass’ knowledge of law applied to the science fiction setting of Gene Rodenberry’s 24th century brings about a thorough discussion of morality, ethics, and what constitutes sentient life. Favorite Star Trek series? Alas, a continuation of a predicament that places a fan in a tug-of-war within a wonderful franchise. Star Trek: The Next Generation has the best cast, but my personal favorite is Star Trek: Voyager. Why? When measuring each series and comparing/contrasting them, Star Trek: Voyager edges out the others for me on a personal level because the premise was good, the pilot was interesting, and the first season was solid. Where other series needed time to grow and develop (surpassing Voyager even), Voyager as a series did not need to go through the same growing pains. Favorite Star Trek film? This would be Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home for me. Why? This is probably one of the more divisive films because of the plot and humor. I, however, greatly enjoy both the plot and the infusion of humor throughout the movie. The 1980s was a quirky time and having Kirk and the crew travel back to this period of time in Earth’s history worked out well because the actors were contemporary during the time. This made for sharper writing than having them sent back to say the 1880s. Environmental conversation is also something that is very important to me, and that is essentially at the core of this film. Favorite Star Trek Captain? Most people have the ongoing battle of Kirk or Picard, but mine is actually a struggle between Picard or Janeway. Any given day, it could go either way for me, but I will go with Captain Kathryn Janeway. She adjusted to the situation that she found herself in, and part of that adjustment meant being more than just the Captain – Janeway had to become softer and more integrated with her crew, especially because there’s a huge difference between a Galaxy class starship and an Intrepid class.
What year did you start simming? I started simming in 2002 which does indeed feel like a million years ago because things were different back then.
What sim was it? It was Dowding Station, a space station sim and it was not part of a fleet. I actually spent about eight or nine years, strictly on the independent scene before setting foot in a fleet.
What keeps you simming today? I actually don’t write (simming) as much these days, but I do keep involved with the simming community. I stay involved because I like being a mentor and helping new COs (Game Managers) find their confidence and get into their groove.
Favorite non-simming hobby? I actually am a bit Neelix myself. I enjoy cooking and baking (hate the cleaning) and experimenting with recipes.
Favorite non-Trek series? That would probably be Buffy the Vampire Slayer because it’s a relatively timeless piece that has embedded itself into pop culture, and it is a series that any writer, director, or producer could learn a lot from.
Favorite non-Trek film?North by Northwest because I love James Bond, and though this is not a ‘Bond Film’ it still has the feel of one, and it is a well written film. It certainly is rightfully a classic.
Favorite book (fiction or non)?I’m going to give a quick shoutout to Nightshade, a Star Trek novel by Laurell K. Hamilton because Star Trek books do not get enough attention. However, because I am a literary geek, Frankenstein by Marry Shelly is my favorite book.
Favorite video game? I really don’t do gamming aside from auto racing games and such. Though I thoroughly enjoyed the Uncharted series and Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order.
Favorite musician or band?The Cranberries (Yes, the band known for “Linger” and “Zombie”) as I loved the Singer (she passed away a few years ago) and the band had a lot of gems of songs that weren’t hits or singles.
Favorite superhero? Nightcrawler from the X-Men.
If you could have any super power, what would it be? I would take telepathy though it would literally be a headache. The ability to know what people are truly thinking is alluring as you’d get them in their truest form.
Favorite sport? I’m an auto racing and motorsports person. Be that Formula 1, IndyCar, or NASCAR.
Favorite team? Team Penske
Favorite food? Pretty much all of it though I am fond of Tacos, Pide, and Malai Kofta.
Coke or Pepsi? I reject your binary cola thinking and insert my own. Royal Crown (RC Cola). However, I am less of a ‘cola’ person and more of a: Moxie, Dr. Pepper, birch beer, root beer, sarsaparilla, and cream soda person.
Lennon or McCartney? Let’s just say I am not a Beatles person.
Jordan or LeBron? Basketball – Nope.
Star Trek or Star Wars? Star Trek because it was less action and more philosophical.
Rank the Trek TV shows from best to worst. VOY / TNG / DSN / ENT / TOS / PIC / DSC Rank the Trek movies from best to worst. TVH / FC / TUC / TWOK / I / G / TSFS / N / TFF / ID / B / TMP / ST (2009) Was this too many questions? Not at all. It was a nice opportunity for people to get dome insight into me from a Trek perspective. I welcome any questions they may have.
