Writer Jack Trevino and NEO f/x producer/manager Michael Struck discuss the development of the animated Starship Farragut episodes.

As reported by Trekweb, The Needs of the Many, written by both Trevino and Struck, concerns the Gorn of Cestus III. The Farragut is sent to Cestus III to help a Vulcan scientist there. The same Gorn that fought James T. Kirk in Arena returns to try to exact revenge on the Federation.

The Needs of the Many will have some familiar Trek names as guest stars. Chase Masterson, Tim Russ and Chris Doohan (son of James Doohan) will guest star. "I thought it would be a great nod to all the strong female characters, if we included yet another female hero," said Trevino. "Knowing that the role would be an extremely pivotal one, I immediately thought of Chase Masterson. She's quite good in "Of Gods and Men" and I knew (that) she has contributed to other popular animation projects, so I contacted her and explained a little about the project. Michael continued the process and after she read the script, she was excited to be a part of it. I also thought it would be nice if her character was part Hispanic. Tim Russ then came onboard and it was quite easy to adapt his role, since the role was that of a Vulcan scientist. We thought about having some similarities in his name and that of his character's name on Voyager, suggesting to some degree, that they may have come from the same family line. And, of course, having Chris Doohan, the son of James Doohan, well, that in itself is Star Trek history in the making."

Struck had Doohan in mind for a new character. "Since the beginning of this project, I had a 'special' character in mind for the crew of the Farragut," he said. "Very similar to M'Ress and Arex in TAS, I wanted an alien in the mix. The character I had in mind was originally voiced by James Doohan, and then one day it clicked...why not ask his son to participate?"

Trevino and Struck had wanted Walter Koenig to voice Chekov again, but "He felt he had done Chekov to death and was not interested in revisiting that character," explained Struck. When Chekov declined, they elected to make the main character a female and asked Chase Masterson instead.

Farragut: The Animated Episodes is meant to emulate the style of Star Trek: The Animated Series. "We are working very hard to make this just like the Saturday morning cartoon," said Struck. "However, the stories will be more 'modern' in nature, and we are not going out of our way to emulate the 'mistakes' that appeared in the original."

There will be another animated episode made after The Needs of the Many, called Power Source. Power Source was written by Thomas J. Scott, president of Magique Productions.

To read more, head to the article located here. To see a preview, head to the link located here.

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