Star Trek III: Redemption

Star Trek III: Redemption is a forthcoming fan-produced CGI film, produced by Brandon M. Bridges as a sequel to the film Star Trek II: Retribution and the final entry in the Specter series. Work on the new movie's plot began as early as March 8, 2012, and writing officially commenced on July 17, 2012. At least a preliminary plot outline seemed to have been completed as of July 24, 2012, as the first teaser trailer was posted on YouTube on that date. A post on 3DGladiators.com indicated that production had officially commenced on Friday, July 27, 2012, and a project thread appeared shortly thereafter. A second poster for Redemption was posted in the Retribution project thread the same day.

Summary
Early script notes made available on 3DGladiators.com (in the Retribution project thread) indicated that the story is set in the year 2399, a few days before the end of the calendar year.

The available summary indicated that the film would be divided into four primary acts, each with its own subplot. The first act, set in 2399, will be the shortest and follows the principal cast aboard the Fitzgerald as they attempt to determine the cause of a massive temporal disaster across the Alpha Quadrant.

The second act, set in 2378, would detail the efforts of the crew to repair the ship following a battle with the Cardassians and a difficult time jump, and to enlist the aid of the original Dr. Garr.

The third act, set in 2367, would involve the crews of two versions of the USS Fitzgerald--along with the original Dr. Garr and the Mark-I ISS Voyager--attempting to track down Drakus and stop him before he can retrieve Borg nanoprobes he needs to repair his physiology (damaged by Captain Prentice at the end of Retribution) and survive. Complicating matters is the presence of Admiral Reyf from the alternate timeline seen in the previous film, along with a new Mark-II ISS Voyager, more advanced and more powerful than the Mark

Act One
In late 2399, the USS F. Scott Fitzgerald is docked at the Starfleet Museum Annexe, the night before she is to be decommissioned. With the ship deserted and almost entirely powered down, Captain Kendra Ronston takes one last look around before disembarking herself.

After wandering through the ship, she finds herself in Ten Forward. After reminiscing alone for a few minutes, Renee Mitchell unexpectedly arrives, followed moments later by Dr. Falwell, Captain Hargrove, and Lesley Kal, who is now a civilian. After a tense moment between Kal and Mitchell--the two having parted ways years prior after a messy breakup--the planet below them suddenly begins to break up, and the five crewmembers are barely able to power up the engines in time to escape destruction themselves. Unable to raise Starfleet Command, they rush to Sector 001, only to find Earth a prehostoric and volcanic ruin devoid of life. As Ronston takes a shuttle down for a closer inspection, a ship from the Starfleet Corps of Engineers arrives, commanded by none other than Merv Ronston. Aboard the Fitzgerald, he explains that what happened in the Alphekka system and at Earth are just symptoms of a much larger problem, that space-time across the quadrant has been "fractured" somehow, and time distortions have devestated almost all of known space. Worse, the effect is spreading, and within five days the present will have been completely obliterated.

Captain Ronston sends him off to conduct a survey of the Federation and look for survivors, while she tracks the distortions to their source in the Vandor system. While investigating the remains of a laboratory on Vandor IV, Admiral Bradley Prentice and Dr. Braiyon Garr unexpectedly appear, having arrived by shuttlecraft hours earlier. Prentice agrees to join Ronston and assist in their efforts, while Mitchell makes a discovery of her own: DNA traces spread through the laboratory that are weeks old, which apparently belong to Dr. Braiyon Garr, and impossibly, also to the long-dead Captain Gaius Reyf, killed during a mission to Dominion space nearly two decades earlier.

Later, aboard the Fitzgerald, Garr reveals that the distortions in space and time were caused by a massive detonation of Omega particle energy, theorizing that if the explosion was somehow part of an effort to go back in time, it would amplify the molecule's destructive force and spread the devestating effects through time as well as space. Unfortunately, he lacks the scientific expertise to reverse the effect, and that even if he did, the only place to stop it would be at the focal point where it began in the first place--meaning they have to go back in time.

Ronston is able to locate a patch of stable space large enough to make the attempt, but getting to it requires crossing into Cardassian space, and even with the unfolding disaster, it's unlikely they would permit the Federation starship to cross their borders. With Prentice's help, the crew prepares to make the attempt, but when they enter Cardassian space they are immediately attacked by a trio of warships. Merv Ronston rescues them at the last minute, and despite taking severe damage during the battle, the Fitzgerald is able to successfully complete the time jump.

Act Two
Reproducing the temporal energy surge, the crew finds themselves in the year 2378, all but crippled from battle with the Cardassians and made worse by the rough trip through time. With the replicator system inoperative, Mitchell finds herself unable to make repairs, as all of the ship's emergency parts and supplies had been transferred already due to the impending decommissioning. With less than two days of emergency life support remaining, a plan is hurriedly hatched to send an away team to the Fitzgerald of this time to obtain parts needed to make repairs. With the crippled Fitzgerald concealed inside the Azure Nebula, a team of five departs in a shuttlecraft, leaving Dr. Falwell and Commander Mitchell behind.

The away team boards the past version of the Fitzgerald, and set to work rerouting the ship's security systems to avoid detection. Although they are able to secure the supplies they need, Prentice accidentally sets off the intruder alert while trying to cover for Ronston, and the away team hastily falls back to the cargo bay. Garr is able to beam Hargrove, Kal, and the supplies off the ship, but before he can do likewise for himself, Ronston, and Prentice, Merv Ronston shuts down the transporters. Moments later, Lieutenant Erickson arrives with a security team, and quickly takes them to the brig. On the shuttle, over Kal's objections, Hargrove elects to return to the Azure Nebula so that Mitchell can begin repairs.

On this era's Fitzgerald, Captain Reyf discusses the situation with Lieutenant Erickson and Commander Prentice in his ready room, and over their objections he decides to meet with the intruders and hear what they have to say. They tell him about the disaster in the future, and Prentice recounts his own experiences in the alternate timeline, suggesting this may be their only chance to prevent both disasters from happening. Reyf is suspicious of their account at first, but becomes convinced when Garr reminds him about the role he played after Reyf lost his father at Wolf 359. At almost the exact moment, the transmission comes in from Mellis II advising of the visit by the Garr from this time frame. After discussing the situation with his senior staff, Reyf allows Garr and his away team to return to their own ship.

With repairs nearly complete, Ronston meets with Kal in her ready room and, impressed by her renewed professionalism and exemplary performance since the disaster began, offers her the opportunity to return to Starfleet. Before Kal can reply, Mitchell summons her to Engineering, reporting her readiness to reinitialize the main power systems. With Ronston and Prentice assisting, Mitchell is able to bring main power back on-line, and minutes later the Fitzgerald--once again operational and with a now-reinstated Kal at the helm--leaves the Azure Nebula, and sets course for the Alcawell Mineral Refinery.

At the station, history unfolds as it did originally:  the Mark-I ISS Voyager appears, disables the shields around the space station, and then forces the inhabitants to evacuate. Once all the ships, shuttlecraft, and escape pods are out of sensor range, this era's Garr boards the station to retrieve the neutrino dampener, only to face Ronston, Prentice, and Hargrove inside the main airlock, all armed with large phaser rifles. A short time later, he meets with them along with his counterpart in the briefing room aboard his ship, and they tell him about their mission and ask for his help. Deeply skeptical--in large part due to the presence of his counterpart--Garr at first refuses their request, until his future counterpart tells him that Reyf will die.

With Garr's help secured, the away teams returns to the Fitzgerald, where their Garr shares what he discovered on this era's Fitzgerald:  Drakus is dying, and soon. Prentice recalls that in the alternate timeline, he used a modified phaser to disable the Borg technology that had been sustaining him, and that absent a replacement in 2399, the only possible answer would be to return to a time when the Borg were still a presence in the Alpha Quadrant. This leads him to conclude that there's only one possible explanation:  Drakus is going to go back to the year 2367, with the objective of boarding the Borg cube that invaded Federation space, and salvaging the technology he needs while the Borg are "asleep."

Planning to follow Drakus back to 2367, Garr assists with last-minute preparations, moments before his counterpart destroys the Alcawell station--precisely as he did before. Reminded that they're dealing with an unstable element with this era's Garr, Ronston orders the ship to warp speed, and both the Fitzgerald and the Mark-I ISS Voyager successfully complete a time jump to 2367.

Act Three
Arriving safely in the year 2367, the crew is startled to discover that they are not alone: directly off their starboard beam is the USS F. Scott Fitzgerald, NCC-85107-A, from the year 2378. Prentice and Ronston angrily demand answers from Captain Reyf, who calmly explains that he wasn't about to let a crew of seven take on Drakus alone, and that if he really is responsible for Drakus' existence in the first place, the situation is partly his fault and he can't sit idly by and do nothing. Though angry that Reyf' intervention has caused them to arrive one month later than they were supposed to, Ronston relents and says she understands why he did what he did, and accepts his offer of help.

Scanning space, there is no sign of Drakus, until a beacon begins to transmit on a frequency that could only have come from 2399. Tracking it to its source, the Fitzgerald discovers a signal buoy floating in space, and a short time later the buoy begins to emit a powerful subspace signal and direct it towards the ship from 2399, activating one of the holodecks. Going to the holodeck, Ronston finds herself face-to-face with none other than Drakus himself--and even more startling is the message he brings:  that all he wants is to live out his remaining days in peace, and that he's a changed man since he and Prentice last saw each other. With that, he disappears.

Later, the three crews confer via visual teleconference, and all agree that they can't trust Drakus or take him at his word, and that something more must be going on. When the Garr of 2378 hears Kal and Ronston discussing why the signal overloaded the ship's transceiver array, he realizes the signal is coming from the Beta Stromgren system--the self-same site where he first constructed the ISS Voyager. Reyf wants to go there immediately, but Ronston wants to avert the temporal disaster in the future first, so the three ships set course for the source of the disaster:  Sector 411, the Beta Reticuli System.

The Mark-I ISS Voyager takes the lead while the starships Fitzgerald hang back, and seals what turns out to be a minor temporal fracture, before they continue on. Unknown to the others, in the process he collected the verteron particles he needs to run his temporal reactor, the real reason he had the other two ships remain out of range.

En route to Beta Stromgren, Drakus visits the Mark-I ISS Voyager in holographic form, and presents his younger self with a tempting offer:  he has developed a process to restore damaged tissue to normal, but it won't work on his own physiology as he is "too far gone." He offers to use it to restore Garr's physiology to its original state, in exchange for his help in defeating "those that stand between me and what I want." Garr appears to consider his offer, and Drakus disappears.

A short time later, the ships arrive at Beta Stromgren, and make a chilling discovery:  a modified Federation construction yard putting out inexplicable energy readings, which lights up as the Fitzgerald approaches to reveal a red-hulled ISS Voyager, which Kal dubs "the Mark-II." Drakus hails the 2399 Fitzgerald to gloat at their being too late to stop him, and as they watch the new ship powers up and launches from the yard. A fierce battle ensues, as the two starships Fitzgerald make a valiant effort to disable the Mark-II before it can escape. At first, Garr and the Mark-I ISS Voyager remain out of the fight, but seeing how badly Reyf and Ronston are overmatched and knowing they'll be killed without his help, he enters the fight against Drakus.

As he draws Drakus' fire away from the starships Fitzgerald, Reyf and Ronston swing around to take advantage of the Mark-II's one weak spot:  its aft command processors. They manage to score a direct hit, but the impact sends the Mark-II careening into the Mark-I, which is disabled in the process. At the same instant as Drakus regains control of his listing ship, his warp engines come on-line. Enraged by his counterpart's betrayal, he destroys the disabled Mark-I, and then warps out of the system, leaving the two crippled starships Fitzgerald behind with the debris from the destroyed Mark-I.

Act Four
After the Mark-II departs, Prentice locates a single intact escape pod among the Voyager debris. Kal detects one life sign aboard, faint but alive, and Ronston orders it beamed to sickbay. A recovering Garr demands to know why she didn't tell him their foe was a version of him from an alternate future; admitting that she made a mistake in not telling him, Ronston pledges full disclosure from that point on.

Having discovered that the construction yard they found is actually a replicator, which Prentice dubs "the starship replicator," Ronston decides to use it to expedite repairs. Knowing they have only one more opportunity to stop Drakus--when the Borg cube reaches Earth, only to be disabled by the Enterprise--Ronston insists that this time they must be ready. With no time to lose, the crews immediately begin repairs and retrofits, and the ships are again made ready for action--just in time for the Battle of Wolf 359. On her bridge, Kendra Ronston listens to the comm chatter from the battle, and when Kal announces that all the Federation power signatures from the battle site have ceased, she looks stricken. Barely able to maintain her composure long enough, she orders a course set for the Wolf system as soon as the Borg ship departs, and then leaves the bridge. Prentice explains that Ronston made the decision not to intervene with the battle, despite the fact that the two starships Fitzgerald combined possessed more than enough firepower to disable or even destroy a Borg cube of this era--and feels as though the decision was tantamount to killing all 11,000 plus herself. Meanwhile, Reyf returns to his own ship, to grieve the loss of his father for the second time.

En route to the Wolf system, Reyf receives an unexpected visitor in his quarters:  his counterpart from the future. Some time later, he boards the other Fitzgerald, but with Ronston unavailable, he speaks with Prentice instead, revealing his belief that the admiral is questioning his allegiance to Drakus. Hargrove pointedly questions why his counterpart would "sell his soul to a devil like Drakus," and Reyf reveals that in return for his assistance, Drakus promised to rescue his father from the Goodson just before it was destroyed. Prentice acknowledges that from his perspective, it might be worth it:  get his father back, then stop Drakus at some later date. Just then, the call comes in that the Fitzgerald has reached the Wolf system.

Prentice returns to the bridge, and a visibly broken Ronston arrives a moment later, escorted by Dr. Falwell. Ronston watches on the viewscreen as the Fitzgerald flies through the Wolf 359 debris field, and after a few minutes Kal asks to speak. She gives a stirring speech, and the other bridge officers remind Ronston that the mission isn't over yet and they still need her. When even the Garr from 2378 agrees, Ronston resumes command, and the ship sets course for Sector 001...where the Borg have already arrived.

As the Borg ship approaches Earth, the Fitzgerald and its counterpart arrive on the outskirts of Sector 001. Reyf elects to join Ronston and her ship, while his Fitzgerald moves off to monitor the situation from a distance and render aid if required. All preparations made, Ronston sets course for Earth, and they quickly catch up with the Borg vessel. Kal quickly locates the Mark-II, powered down and secured via magnetic grapple to the hull of the Borg cube, on the far side from the Enterprise-D. As the Fitzgerald closes in, the Borg attempt to lock on with their tractor beam; despite efforts by both Garrs, the shields fail and the Borg lock on. They activate a cutting beam and begin slicing into the secondary hull, disabling the ship's propulsion systems in the process, before the Borg ship abruptly shuts down. Kal immediately reads two transports from the Mark-II aboard the Borg cube and tracks the coordinates. While Mitchell assesses the damage, Ronston leads an away team consisting of herself, Hargrove, Reyf, and both versions of Dr. Garr, all armed with specially adapted phaser rifles, aboard the Borg ship.

Inside the cube, Ronston and her away team track Drakus' life signs, and discover he and Admiral Reyf extracting nanoprobes from an inactive Borg drone. Garr immediately fires, but Drakus is protected by a forcefield, and rejoices at his victory. Ronston and her officers try to convince Admiral Reyf to help them, but the admiral does nothing. Drakus gloats, only to be shot in the back by Admiral Reyf. Drakus falls, and Admiral Reyf simply says to his counterpart:  "For our father." The admiral shuts down the forcefield and moves to join the away team, only to be shot in the back himself by Drakus, critically wounded but still alive on the deck. Hargrove, Garr, and Ronston fire their phaser rifles in unison, completely vaporizing Drakus and ensuring he can never hurt anyone again. The Garr from 2378 steps over to examine the body of Admiral Reyf as Prentice signals from the Fitzgerald:  the propulsion systems have been badly damaged, and Mitchell can't fix them in time to get away from the Borg ship, meaning when the cube explodes, it will take the Fitzgerald with it. Kal suggests evacuating in a shuttlecraft, and Prentice orders Ronston back immediately, knowing they have only a few minutes. The away team prepares to depart, but are stopped when the 2378 Garr reactivates the forcefield, and declares his intention to remain aboard the Borg ship until it self-destructs, sacrificing himself rather than run the risk of turning into Drakus. Ronston and her Garr try to persuade him to change his mind, but he remains adamant and refuses, leaving them no choice but to return to the ship without him. Moments later, Prentice pilots a shuttlecraft away from the Fitzgerald, attempting to remain out of sight from Starfleet as he flees the area. Seconds before the Borg cube explodes, Reyf's Fitzgerald enters transporter range and beams the shuttle aboard, before accelerating to warp speed away from the site. The Borg cube explodes, and history is left to unfold as it did before. Using the leftover boronite ore and the hastily-rescued reaction chamber, Mitchell is able to return Reyf and his ship safely to 2378, and the two crews say their tearful goodbyes.

Epilogue
Returning to 2399, Ronston and her crew discover that 2399 is back to normal, not a trace of temporal damage. More importantly, when the shuttle re-enters normal space, directly before them is the USS Wehmann--the ship belonging to Merv Ronston. Along with space and time, Merv was restored as well. On board, Kendra tearfully reunites with him, and together they all return to Earth.

Recording a log entry, Ronston remarks that it was surprisingly easy to convince Admiral Thornton that her experiences were genuine. She also notes that she put her entire crew in for commendations, particularly Lesley Kal. After some deliberation, Starfleet agreed to reinstate Kal's commission--but not as a lieutenant commander. Ronston notes that Kal will have to work her way up from the rank of lieutenant, but that she can do so with the help of her friends.

A short time later, a shuttle is taking Ronston to her new command, ultimately revealed to be the new Sovereign-class USS F. Scott Fitzgerald, NCC-85107-B. On board, Ronston is reunited with her entire crew, including Admiral Prentice, noting that Garr and Kristie are also present. Prentice points out that Admiral Reyf is also present, the past having been changed so that he is still alive. Surrounded by her friends and colleagues, Ronston formally assumes command of the new ship, and sets course for the unexplored mass of the galaxy.

In 2378, Gaius Reyf concludes a conversation with Kendra Erickson about their vision of the future, and in his quarters, sits at his desk, and asks the computer to play a particular music file. Garr's favorite folk melody begins to play, and Reyf begins to smile, finding at last that comforting element to the music that his late friend had always tried to tell him about.

Memorable Quotes
"Ronston to Mitchell, we need impulse power now!"

"Already on it!"

"Why is it taking so long?"

"The ship was about to be decommissioned, we weren't expecting to have to start them up again!"


 * -Kendra Ronston and Renee Mitchell, during the escape from Alphekka

"This situation is getting stranger by the minute, and I'm not sure I like what all the pieces of this puzzle are adding up to."


 * -Jennifer Hargrove

"We'd thought he was dead twice before that, and turns out we were wrong."

"Twice."


 * -Adm. Bradley Prentice and Dr. Braiyon Garr, discussing Drakus in the alternate timeline

Cast
It has been stated that most of the principal cast from the previous film will return, and that of those, most will be seen alongside their past counterparts from 2378. It has also been stated that at least three different versions of Dr. Garr will appear, presumably the alternate version of him seen at the end of Retribution, the original version in 2378, as well as Drakus, who will play the role of the film's villain.


 * Captain Kendra Ronston. Commanding officer, USS F. Scott Fitzgerald.  In the film's opening scenes, she is shown packing up the last of her personal effects prior to the decommissioning of the ship.
 * Admiral Bradley Prentice. Starfleet flag officer, exact role unknown.? Crossed paths with Dr. Braiyon Garr after the space-time continuum in 2399 shattered, and was with him at Vandor IV investigating the source of the disaster when they encountered the Fitzgerald away team.
 * Captain Jennifer Hargrove. Boarded the Fitzgerald for one last look around prior to its decommissioning, then assumed role as Captain Ronston's acting first officer following the temporal disaster.
 * Commander Renee Mitchell. Boarded the Fitzgerald for one last look around prior to its decommissioning, then became acting chief engineer of the Fitzgerald.
 * Dr. Elizabeth Falwell. Chief medical officer of the Fitzgerald.
 * Lesley Kal. Former Starfleet officer, boarded the Fitzgerald with Dr. Elizabeth Falwell and Captain Hargrove for one last look around, and remained aboard to assist the crew with their investigation.? No longer a member of Starfleet, she is later revealed to have left the Fitzgerald following an unknown incident involving Commander Mitchell and a serious falling-out with then-Commander Ronston.  Shortly after leaving the Fitzgerald, she entered a self-destructive spiral, and if not for Ronston's intervention, would have landed herself in serious trouble on several planets.
 * Dr. Braiyon Garr (2399).  Starfleet officer
 * Dr. Braiyon Garr (2378).  Former Starfleet Intelligence operative and member of Section 31.
 * Drakus. Warlord from an alternate history, whose trip back in time at the start of the film seemingly triggers the temporal disaster across the galaxy.

Themes
As its name implies, Redemption's primary motif centers around the notion of redemption; that is, restoring something damaged to its proper state, or better.

The film opens with images of a horrific temporal disaster, which has ripped apart the space-time continuum in 2399 and reduced Earth to a prehistoric volcanic wasteland. Thus, the film's A-plot centers around the crew's efforts to undo the damage and restore the future. A more subtle plot point centers around the Fitzgerald itself--at the start of the film, Ronston reveals that the ship is about to be decommissioned. A later conversation with Prentice further reveals that the ship will then be "made into a museum piece," which Ronston's tone implies to be a less than fitting end. The events depicted in the story, then, progress in such a way as to give the old ship a more proper sendoff.

The character arcs likewise share this theme, interspersed with the theme of friendship. In the opening scenes of the film, as Ronston takes one last look around before disembarking, Mitchell appears, and the two spend a few minutes reminiscing--until Mitchell mentions Lesley Kal, with whom she was shown to be in a happy relationship at the end of Retribution. Ronston then notes that none of the crew have had much luck with relationships, including her own attempts with Prentice. Moments later, when Kal appears, she and Mitchell don't speak to each other and can barely even look at each other. As the film progresses, their relationship gradually improves, until Mitchell reveals the depth of her feelings to Garr--not knowing Kal is standing in the open doorway and can hear her. This returns their relationship to equilibrium, and the two embrace.

Kal has her own story arc. In the opening scenes when she visits the ship, she alone is shown not wearing a Starfleet uniform, instead donning blue lipstick and a leather outfit reminiscent of an old-style flight suit. It's revealed that she is no longer in Starfleet, and that whatever caused her relationship with Mitchell to disintegrate also destroyed her Starfleet career, after which she fell into a self-destructive spiral and wanted nothing further to do with duty or responsibility. In a conversation with Ronston, Hargrove bluntly tells her not to trust Kal, but Ronston insists on giving her a chance to prove herself. Then, when the temporal disaster happens, Kal has accompanied Falwell and Hargrove to the Fitzgerald, and finds herself pressed back into her former position as operations officer. As the story progresses, Kal slowly regains the trust and respect of her crewmates--including Hargrove--and near the middle of the film, Ronston even reinstates her Starfleet commission in recognition for her continued service.

Another, similar story arc centers around the version of Dr. Garr from 2378, nicknamed "Dark Garr." When Ronston and her crew first meet him, he displays all the traits he exhibited in Specter--arrogance, callousness, smugness, and above all cold determination to complete his own mission. However, as soon as he learns that in Ronston's timeline, Gaius Reyf was killed in one of the last skirmishes of the Dominion War, he agrees to join their mission so as to prevent Reyf's death. As the story progresses, he shows increasing signs of regaining his humanity. Following an offer from Drakus to help restore his damaged physiology, Dark Garr decides the price is too high, and sides with Ronston and his era's Reyf, joining a fierce attack against the Mark-II ISS Voyager, even losing his own ship in the process. Later, he even summons his future counterpart to make peace between them. Though the other Garr is initially skeptical, in light of his counterpart's heroism, he agrees to keep an open mind.

Kendra Ronston's relationships also play a significant role in the story. Early in the first act, she meets up with ex-husband Merv Ronston over the volcanic Earth, and is less than kind in her dealings with him, at one point openly criticizing his attempts to patch things up with her as poorly timed and bluntly asserting her authority, sending him on a survey mission while she attempts to learn the cause of the temporal disaster. Later, when the Fitzgerald is forced to cross into Cardassian territory, it comes under attack from three Cardassian warships and is nearly destroyed--until Merv Ronston arrives, and distracts the Cardassians long enough to allow Kendra to complete her mission, losing his life in the bargain. Kendra is later shown to be devestated by this, and when her younger self asks if her Merv is "worth it," she immediately responds that he is. Later, when the Merv Ronston of 2378 visits her in her ready room, Kendra nearly breaks into tears, and makes him promise her that no matter what happens, he will not turn his back on her younger self. Given how hard-edged she is shown through most of the film, this was received by viewers as a particularly powerful moment for her.

It was also established at the end of Retribution that Admiral Reyf--from the alternate timeline seen in that film--had thrown his lot in with Drakus and was helping him, and is on the bridge of the Mark II ISS Voyager when it launches, serving as first officer and tactical officer while Drakus pilots the ship. After the Mark II fails to overpower either the Mark I or either version of the Fitzgerald, Drakus becomes suspicious of Reyf's motives. When the admiral visits his younger self via hologram, the younger Reyf reveals that he is questioning his allegiance, and that his reasoning for helping Drakus to start with was the promise that his father would be rescued before the Borg could destroy it at Wolf 359.

In addition to the theme of redemption, friendship plays a critical role in the advancement of the story. Early in the mission, Ronston points out that for the first time in her career, she's leading a fractured crew that isn't a cohesive whole, and that frightens her even more than the outside threats they face. Falwell tells her that the best thing to do is try to unite the crew behind something inspirational, becoming de facto ship's counselor in the process. Falwell continues to play this role throughout the film, offering a caring ear and support whenever she can. At one point, while the majority of the crew is aboard the counterpart Fitzgerald, she encourages Renee Mitchell to sleep on one of her biobeds when she realizes the engineer is afraid of being alone.

Moreover, later in the film, after Dr. Garr becomes depressed after visiting the counterpart Fitzgerald and seeing Reyf alive after so many years, Prentice sends Kal to speak to him and try to get him back to work, knowing she's faced her own share of personal demons. She does, and Garr does indeed return to work, and when he takes proposed shield modifications to Mitchell, he realizes she's upset about something, and gets her to tell him about the problem, inadvertantly allowing Kal to overhear.

This is an especially important plot point because of the amount of backstory it has. Earlier in the film, Ronston had a heart-to-heart conversation with Kal about helping keep her out of trouble after she left Starfleet. Kal is visibly moved, but later Ronston has a similar conversation with the 2378 Reyf in his ready room after he follows them back in time. In that exchange, Reyf comments, "I couldn't let you face this alone," referring to Ronston's mission to find Drakus and eliminate him once and for all. In effect, this scene reveals that Reyf taught his crew good morals, particularly regarding friendship and the importance of helping others. In turn, Kendra Ronston taught the same lesson to Kal, who in turn taught it to Garr. Perhaps most critically of all, Reyf understands the importance of friendship and the support that comes with it due to Garr having helped him grieve and recover after the loss of his father.

Later, after the crew of the 2399 Fitzgerald listen to the Battle of Wolf 359 on Starfleet's comm channels, Kendra Ronston herself becomes depressed, knowing she's allowed over 11,000 innocent people to perish. Falwell's best efforts yield no results, as she indicates to Prentice as she leaves Ronston's quarters. When she later returns to the bridge, the rest of her crew--including Reyf--remind her that they're stronger as a team and that they need her. Even Dark Garr agrees, and the collective insistence is enough to pull Ronston out of her depression, and she resumes command from Prentice just in time to set course for Sector 001 to intercept the Borg cube.

Dedication
The first cut of Redemption featured a "For Lesley" dedication. It is unknown to whom this dedication referred, however the dedications for the previous two films were known to have been real people who somehow influenced the development of the plots. It is noteworthy that one character (minor in Specter, principal cast member in Retribution and likely in Redemption as well) is named Lesley Kal, both allusions likely referring to the same individual.

Midway through production, the dedication abruptly changed from "For Lesley" to "For Leila," and then again to "For Kristie" to match the first film. No information was available from any public source as to why the changes were made.

Production
Production of Redemption formally began on Friday, July 27, 2012. A new trailer was posted that featured several clips from Specter, newly re-rendered and sporting visual effects not seen in the original film, including what appeared to be a lensflare similar to that seen in Star Trek XI, seeming to indicate that this would be the new visual style for Redemption. Production notes indicated that a new version of the Deep Space Nine station would appear, the version by Jörg Gerlach replacing the original Dave Charnow version.

Like Specter and Retribution before it, Redemption is to be produced as though it were a live-action film, rather than a CGI production. Unlike the remastered versions of episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series or principal effects shots from Star Trek: Enterprise, CG effects shots are very restrained in terms of camera motion, and interior shots continue to utilize depth-of-field and other effects to mimic traits of practical productions. Thus far, Redemption has offered more animated shots of its various elaborate sets than either of its two predecessors, using simplified lighting setups for low-light scenes to decrease render times.

On Saturday, September 22, 2012, the final scene of Act I was posted (Scene 15, "Sector 113"), and it was announced that there would be a production stopdown to correct some errors and inconsistencies seen during Act I, most notably glitches with the uniforms and with the presence/absence of characters' eyebrows from one shot to the next.

Re-Use of Material from Star Trek: Specter
On Thursday, October 18, the first scene to fully take place aboard the 2378 version of the Fitzgerald was posted, integrating material from Specter, affording viewers the first glimpse of how material from the first film would be presented.

The exterior shot of the Fitzgerald docked at Deep Space Nine has been completely remade featuring new lighting and more ships in the area, and all 3D models except that of the Fitzgerald itself have been updated. Mark Kobrock's DS9 model has been replaced with what appears to be Jorj Gerlach's, the two distinguishable by the different angles of the docking pylons and by the more detailed textures on the latter. In addition, in Specter there was a magenta-colored nebula behind the station, whereas the cloud is notably absent in Redemption.

For interior scenes on the bridge, a number of the original background plates from Specter were re-used (though several had clearly been re-rendered at higher resolution than they were for the first film, to correspond with the resolution of plates already in use for Redemption) with only two completely new background plates of the 2378 bridge set. No changes have been made to the older bridge since its last appearance in Specter, and some known glitches with the original set (which were finally corrected for Redemption) still appear, most notably the fact that several of the workstation LCARS appear "raised" slightly from the glass surfaces beneath them.

Interestingly, although the ability to add video to simulate LCARS monitors on the sets was introduced in Retribution, the monitors on the 2378 bridge remain static displays as they were in Specter, and the producer has indicated that these are deliberate moves to stay true to the original look and feel from the first film.

The same was true for the Engineering set, which was unmodified from its appearance in Specter. Like the bridge, the set continued to utilize only still-motion graphics on the monitors, with animations superimposed onto the still images as needed. Comparison with similar scenes from Specter, however, shows that the animation for the warp core has been re-rendered, as evidenced by the animation of the lights in the power transfer conduits--in Specter a single, 23-frame animation was rendered and then looped to create the core effect, but because the animation of the main core and the power transfer conduits were of different lengths, the loop caused the power transfer lights to "hiccup" midway through their cycle. The updated animation appears to be a single piece of continuous footage.

On Sunday, November 4, 2012, a scene was posted which re-used material from Specter in its original context, specifically an exchange from early in the first film between Reyf and Dr. Falwell as they discussed the Frankenstein holonovel they'd just run. Comparison with the same scene from Specter shows that although the original voiceovers were re-used, the animations of the characters as well as the still shots of the corridor had been re-rendered. The new plates could be distinguished from the originals by the different graphic of the Fitzgerald on the companel display outside the holodeck doors: the original version in Specter had a red hue, while the same graphic in Redemption has a blue hue. Likewise, the new character animations can be distinguished from the originals by improved lighting and textures on the uniforms and combadges.

Interestingly, in Specter, Dr. Garr did indeed appear in the corridor as Falwell and Reyf exit the holodeck, however he was seen working at a different companel with a different configuration, and he deactivated it and hurried away as soon as Reyf and Falwell had passed him.

The set for Lieutenant Erickson's quarters as visited by Captain Ronston were originally constructed for Specter, and first appeared as Lt. Cmdr. Data's guest quarters on the Fitzgerald. A second version was created and dressed to appear as Lt. Erickson's quarters, however the scene was eventually cut from the film and the set was never finished. To help cover that fact, for the set's appearance in Redemption the lights were left at extremely low levels.

Unlike the other 2378 sets, the brig set is newly constructed specifically for Redemption; like several other Fitzgerald interior sets, the brig appears to be a redress of the Voyager brig set, with TNG-style orange doors in place of the typical metallic Voyager doors, and warmer lighting.

A later scene shows the observation lounge set, in its original configuration (featuring the large wall screen opposite the windows) for the first time since Specter. The same scene also features a cameo appearance by the Mark-III EMH--along with the 2378 sickbay set--written specifically because of the character's popularity in the first film. While the sickbay set was unchanged, the observation lounge lighting appeared to have been redone, and the first shot of the comm channel with the EMH was facilitated through the use of a video texture applied to the viewscreen itself, something which was not possible during the production of Specter due to software limitations.

Production Hiatus
On Thursday, March 7, 2013, it was announced via Facebook post that Scene 61--"Cemetery of Dead Ships / Kendra's Back"--would be the final segment of Redemption posted before production went on hiatus. Bridges indicated that like a similar hiatus during the production of Retribution, this would be due to a deployment to Afghanistan, and production would resume once that deployment was completed.

On Sunday, September 1, 2013, the first of a new series of video tests appeared on YouTube, indicating at least a limited resumption of production. In response to viewer inquiry, Bridges commented that he wasn't "quite back yet," and that the clips represented only some "tinkering around" with ideas from the written conclusion of Redemption.

The new clips all appeared to be from the film's final scenes and contained several spoilers from the film's ending:


 * Volga-class shuttle returning to 2399, discovering the USS Wehmann waiting for it (the Wehmann was last seen early in the film, its commander Merv Ronston sacrificing himself along with his ship and crew to buy the Fitzgerald enough time to reach warp 8.8)


 * the Wehmann arriving at the 2399 Earth, restored to normal


 * the Sovereign-class USS F. Scott Fitzgerald NCC-85107-B accelerating to warp speed, followed by a dissolve to the F. Scott Fitzgerald NCC-85107-A, presumably back in 2378

On Monday, November 18, 2013, Bridges announced via YouTube comment that production of Redemption would resume within two weeks, and that he anticipated completing the film before the end of the year as originally planned. The first new segment was posted two weeks later, on Monday, December 2, 2013.
 * Gaius Reyf listening to the theme music from Garr's Price is Right holodeck program in his quarters, before the image dissolves to an exterior shot of the FItzgerald moving off, just as the end credits roll

Sequel
Midway through production, rumors began to circulate regarding whether Redemption would be followed by a sequel. Bridges was unequivocal in declaring that Redemption would be the definitive conclusion of the Specter trilogy and that it would be his final Star Trek film outing, adding that the ending of the third film would close out the trilogy in "a very fitting" manner.

Ending
Shortly after Act III began production, rumors began to spread regarding possible endings for Redemption. Myriad predictions had already circulated on YouTube, but fueling speculation was a request made via TrekMeshes for a Sovereign-class texture set featuring the registry name and number of the Fitzgerald. A short time later, a modified version of Paul Trenkler's Sovereign-class mesh was made available at Trekmeshes.ch featuring custom-made registry, confirming that future plans for Redemption somehow involve a Sovereign-class USS F. Scott Fitzgerald. No additional details were immediately available concerning the new ship's involvement, though original script notes from Specter archived at Scifi-Meshes.com indicated that at one point, the Fitzgerald was to be a Sovereign-class vessel rather than a Galaxy-class refit.

On Friday, January 4, 2013, the first details of Redemption's finale emerged via YouTube in response to a viewer inquiry. In response to a question regarding whether the finish would result in the destruction of the 2399 Fitzgerald, the producer confirmed that while the ship would in fact be destroyed, Captain Ronston and her crew would all survive, and in fact would return to 2399.

Fan Involvement
Unlike the preceding two films, when Redemption commenced production, no real effort was made to solicit story feedback from viewers. Scifi-Meshes.com--whose membership had played an integral role in the creative process for the first film and most of the second--appeared to be uninvolved with Redemption, and the project thread on 3DGladiators.com seemed less collaborative and more presentational. Bridges has been largely silent on the matter, except for a single comment via Facebook that after what happened with Scifi-Meshes.com towards the end of Retribution's production cycle, input on the story from viewers--while still welcome--would be strictly controlled, and that he was no longer affiliated with SFM. A subsequent post on 3DGladiators.com on another topic confirmed the latter sentiment.

Deleted Scenes
Midway through production, notes emerged detailing several scenes which had been deleted before being made. Most were brief character moments involving Lesley Kal, both the 2378 and 2399 versions, however those were dropped due to pacing concerns. A full scene between Captain Ronston and Admiral Prentice aboard the shuttle while waiting for word from the away team was also scrapped; that conversation would have shown them discussing the failed relationship that Ronston alluded to at the beginning of the film. It too was dropped over concerns about pacing, fearing too much time had already been spent on the Kal-Mitchell love story, and the Ronston-Prentice arc could be developed later in the production.

Script notes also show a major aspect of the time travel/alternate history plot was dropped. According to the notes, at some point, the 2399 and 2378 crews would have compared notes on their respective histories, discovering that in the original history Dr. Garr created a number of holoprograms while at Starfleet Academy, while in the revised history he did not, and that difference would be explained by Reyf never having lost his father and therefore never needing Garr's help to recover, a difference further attributable to the unseen presence of the ISS Voyager at the Battle of Wolf 359 in 2367. In Specter, Garr had offered to take Reyf to that time and place to save his father, as he had been believed killed when the Borg destroyed his ship--however, in the alternate history created at the end of Specter, the ISS Voyager would have destroyed the Goodson before the Borg could, ensuring Thomas Reyf's death as the first act of Drakus' revenge. Understandably, this plot arc was dropped for fear of making the story too complicated for casual viewers.

Additional notes concerning the climax of Redemption indicated that at one point, the Fitzgerald was to undergo saucer separation, however that plot aspect was scrapped when a model of the Galaxy-class dreadnought could not be located that could properly separate.

Voiceovers
In response to inquiries from Star Trek Reviewed and other volunteer groups seeking to contribute voiceovers to Retribution following its completion, Bridges issued a strongly-worded statement discouraging such requests, adding that voiceover casting calls would not be issued until Redemption was completed, if even then, as no final decision had yet been made regarding a voice cast. A request by a fan audio group to do their own dub independently was also denied, Bridges justifying the decision by expressing discomfort with having potentially multiple versions of Redemption on the Web, emphatically stating that no fan dubs conducted in this manner would be honored if and when a casting call occurred.

Bridges has indicated that should he decide to move forward with voice casting, a single casting call would be issued for all three films--Specter, Retribution, and Redemption--at once, but that until and unless that that point was reached, the subject was not to be broached again. As of April 2, 2013, 33 YouTube users were confirmed blocked for this reason.

Reception
Initial reaction to Redemption was overwhelmingly positive, with early scenes generating far more hits than the final scenes of Retribution. Viewers reacted strongly to the destruction of Alphekka IV and to the chilling views of the devestated Earth, as well as the new and underlying friction between the crew.

Early scenes suggested the dynamic would be very different among the principal cast than it has been in the previous two films, and that in addition to the overarching sci-fi plot, a significant subplot would be the different crewmembers attempting to resolve their differences.

Viewers continued to respond positively through the completion of Act I and well into Act II, with many commenting that the production felt like "an old-fashioned Star Trek episode." Viewers have credited the small character moments--in particular the several scenes with Dr. Falwell--as some of the best elements of the film.

Soundtrack
Unlike its predecessors, Redemption draws from a wide variety of sources for its music. Specter and Retribution largely relied on cues from within the Star Trek franchise, while Redemption has ventured into other franchises and even other genres for source music. Along with score from contemporary and mainstream media, lesser-known entries such as Mainframe Entertainment's ReBoot and Disney's DuckTales feature film are incorporated, representing the lighter tone of this film compared to Retribution.

Sets
The sets for Redemption were mostly the sets from Retribution, retextured to appear more like their TNG counterparts, and with brighter and more natural lighting schemes. Because the plot called for both the 2378 and 2399 versions of the sets to appear side by side, some 2399 sets were modified so as to be readily distinguishable from their 2378 counterparts.

The first trailer released offered glimpses of several original sets from Specter, notably the captain's ready room and the main corridors, and while there appeared to be some improvements in lighting, most of the sets otherwise appeared unchanged from the first film.

Promotional renders made available on Facebook on Friday, July 27, 2012 offered the first glimpse of the set for Dr. Garr's quarters aboard the 2399 version of the Fitzgerald, which differed from the brief look that appeared in the first and second trailers. Instead of a view of the Milky Way galaxy, the large wall monitor displays a view of a blue planet and moon, and the room appears fully furnished. The gold NCC-1701-A model, gold Triforce symbol, Delorean time machine, diplomas, antique television, and Risian Horga'hn remain on the set from Retribution; new additions included the photo of Kristie from the office at Starfleet Headquarters in Specter, a 3D chessboard, a camping lantern, bar of gold-pressed latinum, and large photo or painting on the far wall; and a Green Lantern from the franchise of the same name, and what appeared to be the Touchstone from the Stargate SG-1 episode of the same name on one momento shelf; an Atari and Nintendo Entertainment system on the other. Several photos also called attention to what appeared to be a framed photo autographed by MMA Fighter Tecia Torres, which one caption indicated was featured by special arrangement with Torres herself.



Also, for the first time, a closeup will be featured of the dedication plaque on the bridge set of the Fitzgerald. Because it was never clearly visible in either of the previous two films, a proper plaque was never made and a rudimentary alteration was made to a scan of the plaque from the Enterprise-D. The new version sports the ship's complete name, the USS F. Scott Fitzgerald, and lists the ship as a "Mark-II Galaxy-class" vessel.

In addition to re-using and redressing sets from the previous two films, several new sets were constructed specifically for Redemption. In addition to a brig for the Fitzgerald--which appeared to be a recolored version of the Voyager brig--several new sets for the ISS Voyager were built, including the residential corridor, a full mess hall, as well as a new set for Garr's quarters. They were seen briefly in Specter, following the nightmare sequence, though that set was an unlit re-dress of the Fitzgerald quarters set, and the shot was framed in such a way that only a few stock props were visible. The new Voyager quarters set appeared to resemble Garr's quarters as seen at the end of Retribution; some of the same props were visible, as were diplomas that were seen in Garr's office in Specter.

Third-Party Contributions
More than its two predecessors combined, Redemption features a number of assets contributed specifically for the production, rather than objects fortuitously located during the production process.

Uniforms
Redemption features a different uniform design for personnel in 2399 than was used in the previous two films. Specter and Retribution utilized the First Contact-style uniform made by Warrior (and available for download at 3DGladiators.com), with Voyager- and TNG-style variants created as needed. Redemption, on the other hand, features uniforms styled after those used in Star Trek: Online. Early clips featured a modified version of Warrior's original texture, however by the time the third scene was completed, new uniform textures had been created specially for use in the film by DeviantArt user DopiusFishius. The new uniforms were introduced in Scene 4, and earlier scenes were re-rendered to reflect the new uniforms during later production stopdowns.

TNG Tricorders
Redemption will feature new props for the scenes in 2378. Specter and Retribution had featured props from the now-defunct DTEMachine.com, including VOY-style tricorders, a hypospray, and a desk computer. For Redemption, new versions of those props would be featured--including for the first time a TNG-style science tricorder in what may be an in-universe retcon--courtesy of DeviantArt user TheMightyZoidZilla (see External Links below), who agreed to provide the props specifically for use in the production.

VOY Tricorder
The scenes set in 2378 and involving the crew from that year will feature the second-generation tricorders from Star Trek: Voyager, and for those scenes, a new and much more detailed 3D model by Tim Davies (DeviantArt user SuricataFX) will replace the previous model, originally from DTEMachine.com.

Type 25 Shuttle
Later planned scenes will involve the use of a 2399-era shuttlecraft, in contrast to the Insurrection-style shuttlecraft already seen during the low-altitude flyover of Earth. Original script notes had indicated that the Volga-class runabout would play the role, however DeviantArt user JamieTakahashi granted the use of his Type-25 shuttle for those scenes.

LCARS
For the first time since Specter, Redemption will feature all-new LCARS console graphics for the starship sets, including the bridge of the ISS Voyager, provided by Robert (Robert Brisson) and Deif (David Kleist), both from The LCARS Community. Adge's LCARs will continue to serve as graphics for animated computer screens.

Robert's improved graphics could first be seen in the Astrometrics set in Scene 12, on the side workstations and their control panels, though the original graphics from 2006 remained in use on the main consoles in the center of the room. Kleist's Future LCARS Concept (FLC) graphics have been slated to replace the more traditional graphics in the Fitzgerald shuttle cockpit, and this change will be introduced in the next full cut of Redemption to be released.

Ships
In addition to the USS F. Scott Fitzgerald, the ISS Voyager returns. The original, the Mark I, as seen in Specter and in Retribution, and a new version, the Mark II, being constructed by Drakus in 2367. The Mark II features a dark red hull and an overall darker color scheme in contrast to the Mark I.



It was stated during the production of Specter that the overall blue color scheme of the ISS Voyager'' was based on the character of Megabyte from the TV series ReBoot. The Mark II ISS Voyager seen in Redemption seems to have drawn its color scheme from the character Hexadecimal, from the same series.''

In Specter'', the ships' warp engines glowed a solid blue color, much like the visual effects of the TV series and films. Beginning with Retribution, however, the engines were shown to have a subtle shifting pattern to them, similar to the visual effects for the warp cores in Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek: Voyager. Clips shown in the trailer depict the engines as operating both ways, so it was not immediately apparent which standard (or both) would be featured in Redemption.''

Vimeo

 * Vimeo: Star Trek III: Redemption (Pt. 1)