I’m 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 you’re 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, you’ll learn more about the secret agency for you when you don’t know you need one, outlining just what we do and how we do it. Next, you’ll find out about some of our more creative efforts to distribute misinformation about ’31 and how it’s made our little organization more popular than ever in the intelligence community - and how it’s continued our mission more than we could’ve possibly imagined. Some of the best operations involving this information campaign is actually telling people the truth - you’d be surprised about how often that works when you want to conceal what you’re doing.... Once you’re done absorbing those nuggets of info, you’ll 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. We’ve also included some data about Lieutenant Cole, an operative aboard USS Intrepid. Read up quickly - your first assignment starts very soon. And don’t forget... ...31 watches over all of the Federation’s 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 don’t 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 he’s just

muddling along doing whatever needs done. His

speciality is acquisition. If you need something,

he’s 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 hasn’t 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 don’t, they’re

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). I’ve an idea what

Nick plans to do with Cole, but I’m revealing

nothing. Let’s just say we’ve 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 it’s 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 that’s 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 hasn’t 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, I’m 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 can’t wait to see what the

writers come up with. Just don’t 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:

22nd

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”]

23rd

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, I’m a Doctor not a........

Leonard McCoy’s 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 Spock’s

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. It’s his revenge for all those

arguments he lost.” says McCoy but deep down he

treasured that he could save his friend’s 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 Spock’s 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 she’ll 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 Earth’s 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 Jack’s body home to them. She never fully recovered

from her husband’s 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

future’s 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 Julian’s 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 O’Brien offside when he first arrived. Eventually

though he became good friends with Miles O’Brien 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. Julian’s

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 Doctor’s 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 B’Elanna 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 Seven’s 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

Lana’s 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 ‘Pulaski’s 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-Luc’s 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 Picard’s 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.

Don’t 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 Excelsior’s captain. Even though

Henglaar’s 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 Henglaar’s 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 20th

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 Elbrey’s

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 22nd

Century. Its

main work is to search out and identify

potential threats to the Federation and to

‘quietly’ get rid of them.

Starfleet Command doesn’t acknowledge

its existence but it doesn’t 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 Federation’s equivalent

of the Cardassian Union’s Obsidian Order

or the Romulan Star Empire’s Tal Shair.

Bashir when he was stationed on Deep

Space 9 was recruited by Luther Sloan

one of Section 31’s 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 haven’t 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 Bashir’s 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 people’s 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 doesn’t 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 don’t 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 Intelligence’s representative in the Charydbis

Sector is Jacen Navar, who has been assigned to

Commodore Prentice’s (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 I’m 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 Aster’s

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. I’m

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 Kara’s 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 don’t realize that sometimes as an actor, you just

become a “go to” for a certain type of part. It’s 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 I’m

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, she’s just amazing. She’s 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. She’s 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 can’t 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 she’s looking for. It’s a shame she

isn’t 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

don’t 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 Man’s 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 I’m 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, she’s just so much fun! I can’t say

what it is really that makes playing any one

character more enjoyable than any other, as there

are so many factors involved, but I’m 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 it’s line was ‘I am a rock.’ And it’s

backstory was that it had been a rock its entire

existence…I 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 won’t 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

wouldn’t 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 Disney’s The Little

Mermaid (yes I know, I know) and I really really

realized I wanted to do the voice of cartoons. I

wasn’t 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 don’t 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 it’s 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. I’m moderately familiar with Voyager as well,

but outside of those two shows I don’t know much, to be perfectly

honest. I think my Mom might be a bigger Trekkie than I (she’s

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 he’s not a computer.)

TCM: How did you get involved with Darker Projects?

LP: I auditioned for a project (although I don’t 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

don’t 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 A’s, just came out a few weeks ago or so, so it was

fun to watch that! I’m 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