Star Trek fans may remember making an appointment in front of their TV's on Saturday morning's in 1973 and 1974 to watch the animated version of Star Trek. The animated series was something of a pacifier for legions of Star Trek fans around the country left adrift when the original series was cancelled. One of those fans was Tim Vining. The 49 year old Vining has a day job as an illustrator and video manager for a Massachusetts based medical publication. For the last few years Vining has been almost single handedly turning out episodes of a computer animated series called "Star Trek: Aurora".
While other Trek series, either official or fan-produced, concentrate on the heroic adventures of glamorous characters and their giant starships as they save the Federation from various threats, Aurora concentrates on what Vining sees as the less glamorous side of life in the Federation. "The inspiration for following the exploits of interstellar merchanters rather than Starfleet characters (who will appear in later portions of this work) comes from the many civilians that Kirk's Enterprise encountered in the original series: as a kid, I would see these jumpsuit-clad people on this planet or that station and wonder more about their stories. It seemed to me that they'd have to be almost as courageous as the Enterprise crew to leave their home planet behind and put themselves out there in that very same unpredictable and sometimes hostile galaxy–but without a heavily armed starship at their disposal!"
The series focuses on Captain Kara Carpenter's struggle to scratch out a living on her tiny and nearly obsolete cargo ship called "Aurora". Carpenter not only has her hands full trying to make a living in a dangerous galaxy while trying to outwit sleazy competitors, she also has to battle inner demons from a childhood incident that left her scarred for life.
Vining is getting ready to release his fifth and perhaps final episode of Aurora sometime before the end of the year. Asked whether he has plans for another series, Vining tells Examiner.com: "I think the next project will be something other than Aurora, but that doesn't mean I won't come back to another Aurora story. I have other Aurora stories in mind that I would like to tell."
Whether or not there are more Aurora adventures or stories from a different imaginary reality, "Star Trek: Aurora" stands as a major accomplishment for someone working with not much more than a home computer and a vivid imagination. To see the Aurora website log on to www.auroratrek.com.
Comments