STAR TREK: New Frontier - About

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CURT DANHAUSER'S GUIDE TO

STAR TREK
NEW FRONTIER

ABOUT

This page contains behind the scenes information about the the book series, this site and the characters in the stories. Sections in this page are:

Interesting Notes.
  • The character of Robin Lefler first appeared in two fifth-season episodes of STAR TREK: The Next Generation, namely "Darmok" and "The Game." Her character was created by "Darmok" scriptwriter Joe Menosky.

  • The character of Robin Lefler was portrayed by actor Ashley Judd in STAR TREK: The Next Generation. Ms. Judd is the daughter of country singer Naomi Judd and sister of country singer Wynona Judd. Ashley's father is Michael Ciminella. In 1996, Ashley Judd was named one of "The 50 Most Beautiful People In The World" by People Magazine. A versatile actor, Ms. Judd has made several highly acclaimed performances in films such as "Heat" with Val Kilmer and Robert DeNiro, and "Kiss the Girls" with Morgan Freeman.

  • Fred Bronson, the scriptwriter who co-wrote the story for "The Game," which was the second appearance of the perky Ensign Lefler, also wrote other STAR TREK episodes. Mr. Bronson and his longtime friend Susan Sackett collaborated on the third-season STAR TREK: The Next Generation episode "Menage a Troi." In that episode, Fred created the often-reused concept of oo-mox, the sensual arousing of a Ferengi male by rubbing their lobes. In 1974, Fred Bronson wrote the script for "The Counter-Clock Incident", the excellent last episode of the oft-forgotten Animated STAR TREK series.

  • The idea to have Robin Lefler be a part of the crew of the Excalibur in the New Frontier books belongs to author Peter David. He knew that she was a fan favorite like Dr. Selar and Commander Shelby.

  • The character of Commander Shelby was first seen on STAR TREK: The Next Generation. She appeared in the the third season cliffhanger "The Best of Both World, Parts I and II." Her character was created by writer/producer Michael Piller.

  • The character of Elizabeth Paula Shelby was portrayed by actor Elizabeth Dennehy in STAR TREK: The Next Generation. Ms. Dennehy is the daughter of actor Brian Dennehy who appeared in such genre films as "Cocoon" and "F/X."

  • The character of Shelby did not have a first or middle name when she appeared in STAR TREK: The Next Generation. She received them in the New Frontier series of novels, and their choice had to be approved by Paramount Pictures.

  • The initial idea of having Shelby be a part of the crew in the New Frontier books was suggested by John Ordover, Senior Editor of Star Trek fiction at Pocket Books. Mr. Ordover knew that Shelby, like Dr. Selar, was a one-shot fan favorite. Author Peter David would have included Shelby anyway, since he is quite fond of the character, and has used her in his 1991 Giant STAR TREK: The Next Generation novel "Vendetta."

  • The character of Dr. Selar was first presented on STAR TREK: The Next Generation. She appeared in the second season episode "The Schizoid Man." Although Selar's only appearance was in that one episode, she was mentioned in several others. She was referenced in "Yesterday's Enterprise", "Remember Me", "Tapestry", "Suspicions", "Sub Rosa" and "Genesis." Her character was created by "The Schizoid Man" script writers Tracy Torme, Richard Manning and Hans Beimler.

  • The character of Dr. Selar was portrayed by actor Suzie Plakson in STAR TREK: The Next Generation. Ms. Plakson later played the very important role of K'Ehleyr, the half human half-Klingon woman who was Worf's mate and mother to his son Alexander. K'Ehleyr appeared in the second season STAR TREK: The Next Generation episode "The Emissary" and the fourth season episode "Reunion." Star Trek's writing staff to this day express regrets that the K'Ehleyr character was killed off, because she was so interesting and so much more could have been done with her. Ms. Plakson more recently appeared on STAR TREK: Voyager as a female Q in the third season episode "The Q and the Grey."

  • The initial idea of having Dr. Selar be a part of the crew in the New Frontier books was suggested by John Ordover, Senior Editor of Star Trek fiction at Pocket Books. Mr. Ordover knew that Selar, like Shelby, was a one-shot fan favorite. She was also well liked by the STAR TREK: The Next Generation writing staff and her character was referenced in several subsequent episodes.

  • The character of Dr. Selar has been used in seven STAR TREK: The Next Generation novels. These were: "Metamorphosis" by Jean Lorrah (March 1990), "The Eyes of the Beholders" by A. C. Crispin (September 1990), "Vendetta" by Peter David (May 1991), "Chains of Command" by W. A. McCay & E. L. Flood (1991), "Imbalance" by V. E. Mitchell (1991), "Reunion" by Michael Jan Friedman (August 1992) and "Imzadi" by Peter David (July 1993). Dr. Selar played a major role in "The Eyes of the Beholders", but had a very minor part in the other six novels.

  • The face used for Captain Calhoun on the first four covers of the New Frontier books belongs to a friend of cover artist Keith Birdsong. The model for Calhoun lives in Arizona and is not an actor.

  • The initial idea and most of the background of the New Frontier book series came from John Ordover, Senior Editor of Star Trek fiction at Pocket Books. Mr. Ordover gave author Peter David general guidelines for what he wanted the ship's captain to be like, but the final details and the fleshing out of the Calhoun character came from Peter David.

  • The characters of Zak Kebron, Soleta and Mark McHenry first appeared in three STAR TREK: The Next Generation Starfleet Academy books written by Peter David and published in 1993 by Minstrel Books, an imprint of Pocket Books. All three entered the Academy together, and at the same time as the Klingon Worf. The fact that the three had gone to the Academy together was mentioned in the New Frontier books, as was Zak Kebron's initial encounter with Cadet Worf. The Starfleet Academy books were well written and provided much background information about these characters.

  • The Vulcan character of Lieutenant Saavik, who appeared in the features STAR TREK II: The Wrath of Kahn and STAR TREK III: The Search For Spock, was originally intended to be half Romulan, like Soleta. The scenes in STAR TREK II: The Wrath of Kahn in which Saavik's dual heritage was mentioned were cut from the film.

  • The Excalibur, which is an Ambassador-class vessel, was first seen in the fifth season STAR TREK: The Next Generation episode "Redemption, Part II." The Ambassador-class model was first seen as the U.S.S. Enterprise-C in the third season STAR TREK: The Next Generation episode "Yesterday's Enterprise." The Ambassador-class ship was designed by Rick Sternbach and Andrew Probert and was intended to suggest an intermediate step between the Excelsior-class Enterprise-B and the Galaxy-class Enterprise-D. The ship model was built by Greg Jein.

  • At one time, John Ordover and Peter David had planned to eventually replace the Ambassador-class U.S.S. Excalibur in the New Frontier novels with a Prometheus-class starship as seen in the fourth-season STAR TREK: Voyager episode "Message in a Bottle" (VGR). That ship was built for battle and was capable of a tactical multi-vector attack separation in which the vessel splits into three separate attack ships that are each equipped with phasers and photon torpedoes.

  • The character of Captain Morgan Korsmo, who was the Starship Excalibur's previous Commanding Officer, was first seen in Peter David's 1991 Giant STAR TREK: The Next Generation novel "Vendetta." In that book, Korsmo's executive officer was Commander Shelby. In STAR TREK: New Frontier Book One, Captain Picard mentions that he and Korsmo went through the Academy together and that they had once fought the Borg at each other's side. These were direct references to events in Peter David's book "Vendetta."

  • The character of Lieutenant Boyajian, who makes an appearance in Books 3 and 4 of New Frontier, has also been previously used in two STAR TREK: The Next Generation novels by Peter David, namely "Strike Zone" (March 1989) and "Vendetta" (May 1991).

  • The character of Ensign Janos, the mugato security officer who appears in Book Five and Six of the New Frontier series was named after Janos Prohaska, the actor who portrayed the mugato in "A Private Little War" (TOS), the horta in "Devil in the Dark" (TOS), Yarnek the Excalbian in "The Savage Curtain" (TOS) and two zoo creatures in "The Cage" (TOS). Prohaska created both the mugato and the horta outfits himself and also created several special props on the original STAR TREK series.

  • The spacefaring race known as the Kreel was prominently featured in Peter David's first STAR TREK: The Next Generation novel Strike Zone (March 1989). The Kreel were also referenced in Mr. David's 1993 book Imzadi and in John Vornholt's 1994 Star Trek:The Next Generation book Contamination.

  • The bridge of an Ambassador-class starship, like the Excalibur, was seen in the third season STAR TREK: The Next Generation episode "Yesterday's Enterprise." The bridge set used was a redress of the battle bridge of the Enterprise-D.

  • The motto from the Excalibur bridge dedication plaque shown on the Ship page within this site is "l'audace, toujours, l'audace" which is French for "Audacity, Always Audacity." This comes from the motto of the United States Naval Guided Missile Cruiser U.S.S. Horne (CG-30). As a Naval Officer I served aboard the Horne as Assistant R-Division Officer and later Electronics Warfare Officer from April 1986 to May 1988. This motto was dear to me and it seemed to fit the Excalibur under Calhoun's command.

  • The cover illustrations of Books One through Four were done by cover artist Keith Birdsong. The covers of Books Five and Six, which together form a single picture, was done by Dru Blair.

  • The original logo devised for the New Frontier series of books featured an "N" and an "F" run together. This logo appeared on an early version of the cover of Book 2. When a British fan called Mischa saw the early cover image, she immediately e-mailed John Ordover telling him that the logo should be changed to avoid a problem in Great Britain. It appears that Pocket Books had accidentally duplicated the logo for the British neo-Nazi party which was a stylized "NF." The early cover image showing the offending logo is shown at right.

  • There was a small consistency error in the New Frontier books. In Book Four on page 15, it is stated that a section of the city of Selinium has 500,000 people in it, however it was stated earlier in Book Three, page 96 that the total population of the city was not more than 100,000.

  • Possible error in Book One, page 91. When Voltak has a heart attack it is stated that he has chest pains. A Vulcan's heart is where a human's right kidney is approximately, so shouldn't the pains be in that area?

  • Slight error in Book Three. On page 102-103, when Soleta comes to Selar's quarters, it is described as being utterly stark. The only things in her quarters were her computer, her bed, and a single light. Then on page 106 Soleta sits in a chair. On page 107 she gets up and later, on page 112, she sits back down into a couch. This is a pretty well furnished empty room.

  • John Ordover once had and may still have a plan in the works that might result in audio-only New Frontier stories.

  • The New Frontier series of books are very financially successful and they have even outsold Next Generation books. The series sell in this order at the moment: New Frontier, Next Generation, Original Series, Voyager, Deep Space Nine.

  • There is an Audio book version of the complete four-book New Frontier story. It is read by Joe Morton. Mr. Morton is the actor who played the scientist who died in the movie Terminator 2.

Unanswered Questions.

The New Frontier books introduced us to a new ship and several new characters. We learned much about the new characters and the Starfleet Academy books gave background information about Zak Kebron, Mark McHenry and Soleta. Even still, several questions pertaining to the character's history remain. Listed below are some of the more interesting mysteries that remain in the New Frontier:

  • What did M'k'n'zy do in space for the year before he entered Starfleet?

  • Who exactly initiated the breakup of the relationship between Calhoun and Shelby?

  • What did Soleta do while she roamed in space for those years?

  • What are the details of Burgoyne's backstory? When was s/he born and what was hish early Starfleet career like?

About Peter David.

Peter David is the prolific and immensely talented author who writes the STAR TREK: New Frontier novels. The idea for the series of books was the brainchild of Peter David and John J. Ordover, senior publisher at Pocket Books.

Peter David has written over two dozen novels including several popular Star Trek novels including Q-Squared, Rock and a Hard Place, Vendetta, Imzadi, and Q-In-Law, which have spent a combined six months on the New York Times Bestseller List. His other novels include Knight Life, Howling Mad, the Psi-Man and the Photon adventure series, and novelizations of Batman Forever, The Return of Swamp Thing, and The Rocketeer.

He has written for television including episodes of Babylon 5. "Soul Mates" and "There All Honor Lies". He is also screenwriter of the award-winning SF film spoof Oblivion. He created the television series Space Cases which he co-wrote with Bill Mumy.

Mr. David has written the stories for hundreds of comics including such titles as The Incredible Hulk, Spider-Man, Star Trek, Aquaman, X-Factor, Sach & Violens, Soulsearchers & Company, The Atlantis Chronicles, Dreadstar, Wolverine, and The Phantom. He also writes a regular column for the Comic Buyer's Guide called "But I Digress..."

Peter is the son of Gunther and Dalia David, and he has a sister Ronni Beth David. He began writing around 1982. He became interested in Star Trek in seventh grade through his friend Keith Roberts. Peter is a long-time New York resident with his wife Myra. They met at a Star Trek Convention and were married in 1978. They have three children: Shana, Guinevere and Ariel.

Mr. David Currently working on a sequel to his much acclaimed giant Next Generation novel Imzadi. This is in addition to his writing the next installments of the New Frontier series.

Some of the novels written by Peter David are listed below. Those titles still in print are linked to amazon.com, the online bookseller.

About John Ordover.

John Ordover is the Senior Editor of Star Trek fiction at Pocket Books. He and Peter David came up with the idea of the Star Trek: New Frontier series of books. John Ordover was born in New York and his family later moved. He lived in Chicago and Kansas for a time before returning to New York. As an adult, he took a job as Assistant Editor at Tor Books. In 1992 he moved to Pocket Books where he began editing Star Trek novels.

John Ordover has many short story sales to his credit, and recently wrote, with David Mack, the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Starship Down" which aired the week of 11/06/95.

The initial idea behind the New Frontier book series belongs to Ordover, and the background was mostly his as well. He based the collapsed Thallonian Empire on the collapse of the Soviet Union. He wanted New Frontier to be the first Post-Cold-War Star Trek. Ordover also suggested Shelby and Selar to Peter David, as he knew they were one-shot fan-favorites. Peter David would have included Shelby anyway, since he loves the character, and has used her in his past book, "Vendetta."

Mr. Ordover gave author Peter David general guidelines for what he wanted the ship's captain to be like, but the final details and the fleshing out of the Calhoun character came from Peter David. Other than that, everything else was Peter David's idea, including picking Lefler to be part of the crew.

Why I made this site.

I am a very busy individual and have precious little free time. So before embarking on a new project such as creating a site as extensive as this, I must have several good reasons to do so. One reason does not suffice. My reasons for creating this New Frontier site are seven-fold and are listed below.

1.Even before they were published, I knew that the New Frontier books were going to be something quite special. I am a voracious reader and sometime ago I realized that author Peter David's STAR TREK novels were the best of the rest. (A close second going to Gar and Judith Reeves Stevens). I had tacitly decided to do this site even before the New Frontier books were available. When the books were published and I began to read the first one, I was blown away by how good they were and committed myself to do this site then and there.

2.A site devoted to the NF books would require many photographic images of characters that had never been seen in the real world, and several images of existing characters as they appear years earlier and years later than their appearances on STAR TREK: The Next Generation. Four of these characters were based on text descriptions and some sketches from the STAR TREK: The Next Generation Starfleet Academy books. I enjoy creating images using Adobe PhotoShop for the Macintosh and wanted to hone my skills even more by creating the needed images that a proper site would need.

3.I wished to create another site that would be newer and better than my last site, STAR TREK: Excelsior - The Adventures of Captain Sulu.

4.I love timelines and encyclopedias and this site afforded me the opportunity to create both.

5.I figured that since the books were very well received, this site would allow me to interact in some small way with the multitude of people who also found the books enjoyable.

6.No such site exists devoted wholely to the adventures of a new ship and crew created professionally and authorized by Paramount Pictures.

7.I jumped at the chance to create a ship page for the Ambassador-class Excalibur as I had for the U.S.S. Excelsior in my STAR TREK: Excelsior - The Adventures of Captain Sulu site.

How I made this site.

The following is a brief overview of HOW I created this STAR TREK: New Frontier web site. These steps may be employed by anyone wanting to create web sites.

The Process:

STAR TREK is a Registered Trademark of Paramount Pictures Corporation. All Rights Reserved. The STAR TREK: New Frontier books are published by Pocket Books, a division of Simon & Shuster Inc., under exclusive license from Paramount Pictures. New Frontier concept by John J. Ordover and Peter David.

Email: cdanhauser@yahoo.com

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