THE AREA around Arbroath’s Abbey Theatre took on a somewhat surreal and futuristic appearance yesterday as cast members in an internet Star Trek tribute series took a break to check for alien lifeforms.

Fortunately for the actors, the most dangerous encounter they had was with a group of Angus Council workers—armed to the teeth with backpacks and spray guns.

They were more than happy to break off from their duties to face the phasers of the “away team” from the USS Intrepid in a light-hearted battle for supremacy.

Led by Nick “Commander Daniel Hunter” Cook—who when he is not paying homage to Star Trek is an anaesthetic theatre nurse in Dundee—the party were embarking on a busy weekend of filming for their latest on-line production, Star Trek Intrepid: No Stone Unturned.

Nick said, “A couple of years ago we did a production called Star Trek Intrepid: Heavy Lies The Crown, which was quite warmly received by fans of the television series who have been left with little option but to do their own thing since the shows were cancelled.

“Since Heavy Lies The Crown we have done a 10-minute short and now have the current 30-minute piece in production.

“Although I don’t want to give away too much of the plot of No Stone Unturned, it basically involves USS Enterprise Captain Jean-Luc Picard travelling to the sector where my ship is based looking for the secret to an archaeological mystery.

“The crew of the Intrepid then become involved in Picard’s mission.”

Nick and his wife Lucie —who plays Trill officer Lieutenant Caed— and their friend David Reid —yellow-skinned and pointy-eared Romulan Lieutenant S’Ceris—are all former members of the defunct Dundee Star Trek Club Sector 001 but others in the project are less fanatical about the show.

He said, “There are about 30 people involved in No Stone Unturned, some of whom are big fans like ourselves and others who are more interested in the acting and production side of things.

“For those of us who love Star Trek and miss the series it’s a way of keeping it alive and there are now several groups like us around the world producing internet tribute films.”

Giving a true touch of Star Trek authenticity to the filming, which continues over the weekend in Dundee, Dunkeld and Glen Doll, is Patrick Stewart lookalike Giles Aston.

Nick said, “As Star Trek fans we were well aware that Giles was on the convention circuit as Picard and I just got in touch with him through his Myspace page and was delighted when he agreed to come on board for the project.

“It turned out that Giles not only looks like Patrick Stewart, but he is also a big Star Trek fan himself so he already knew about what we were doing.”

Giles said, “I was about 27 when my genes and hormones dictated that I would lose my hair and it was really only then that people started commenting on how much I looked like Picard.

“I resisted it for a while but then a friend was hosting a famous people fancy dress party and, under protest, I agreed to get a uniform and go with it—and and I’ve never looked back.

“I thoroughly enjoy getting dressed up for fan conventions and the like—I had a marvellous time at one of the big events over in Las Vegas—and I also get asked to appear at promotional events like new car launches and so in.

“It is a bit of fun and I really only do it in my spare time so it was nice to be asked by Nick to appear in his film in character.

“Even out of uniform people do look twice when I am walking along the road —I call them sightings!— and I do get Picard catchphrases like ‘Engage’ and ‘Make it so, Number One’ directed at me, which is great fun.”

The completed film will be available free at www.starshipintrepid.net.