ScuttleButt - USS Southern Cross

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The Southern Cross – Past, Present & Future! The Coms Station H.O.D. Lt Jg Donna Reid http://thedarknebula.com The USS Southern Cross, even though it is a new chapter of Starfleet International is the heir to a distinguished history as the successor to the last SFI chapter in Australia. The original USS Southern Cross, NCC 1886, fictionally a Miranda class frigate, was a meeting chapter in Sydney, NSW between about 1986 to at least 2001. I was a member of the original Southern Cross for a short time until I decided that I preferred the freedom of a correspondence membership over the commitments of a meeting chapter. But it goes further back than that. Did you know that there was a HMAS Southern Cross 1 in WWII Or that there was a radio series and costumed super hero called the Southern Cross who defended Australia from saboteurs and spies during the same period What the ... Ok, so maybe I'm stretching the truth a little with that last bit, but the story of the Southern Cross comic character involves a real historical link going back at least as far as the history of our chapter. Back in 1985, Tad Pietrzykowski was one of the founding members of "Cyclone!" a short lived but extremely influential Australian comic. He was already established as a comic book writer and illustrator for his Dark Nebula graphic Novels and wanted to contribute another title to the monthly anthology. He wanted his other story to be in stark contrast to Dark Nebula, which is a dark tale of Sci Fi with supernatural overtones. He settled on a retrospective, swashbuckling character, the storyline laced with subtle overtones of the Golden Age of pulp fiction and Old Time radio - The Southern Cross! "It was my lament that Australia never had a 'National Pride' hero like the Yanks have Capt. America, The Shield, Uncle Sam etc., so I felt it only right to create one myself that would be that without being too obvious or tokenistic. I laid out the foundation, set up the backdrop, the whole pretext the character-design etc., & then handed it to Glenn Lumsden who literally ran with it. While the initial concept came from me Glenn put just as much of himself into it to give it the character that it exudes. Hence why he is co-creator - he earned it in my eyes. While my focus was on my primary creation, The Dark Nebula, his was on my secondary one, The Southern Cross, which is how I wanted it as I wanted them both to contrast one another as night does to day." Over the past few weeks I've been privileged to be able conduct an extensive email interview with Tad, who has been incredibly generous with his time. I originally contacted him to discuss the close links between his creation, The Southern Cross, and Radio Dramas of the Golden Age of Radio - was it an accident that the hero, Gordon Russell was a radio announcer like Tad himself "The whole backdrop of the radio theatre was simply my love of the medium as by trade I am a Radio Announcer, have been for 21 years. There was never a richer chapter in our broadcasting history than the days of Radio Theatre as, in its day, it was their TV. I did my research & the names of most of the characters is based on the names of real radio theatre stars of the day. Don't ask me who because that research was done about 25 years ago & I would have to start from scratch to remember. In all my years in broadcasting I never really had the opportunity or incentive to pursue the Southern Cross as a Radio Play as the formats of all the stations I worked for didn't suit such a feature. It is only now, while on a break from broadcasting that I decided to 'complete the loop' & see about adapting The Southern Cross to radio so that there would be a radio play about a comic about a radio play. 14 Vol.1 Issue 6 ScuttleButt 1 http://users.sa.chariot.net.au/~lenshome/auxilliaries.htm
y Lt Cmdr Kirok of L’Stok I am looking at submitting the Southern Cross as an adapted radio play to finally compliment the comic feature. I believe the fact that it already exists in comic form should be very attractive to them as they like to explore all avenues of such projects e.g.: pod-casting, multi-media, on-line content etc., The fact that visuals can accompany the audio should be a very tempting carrot. I'm in the process of adapting the script of the first chapter for the Radio form. Once that's done I'll hand it to some former colleagues who are interested in being involved in this as it is a change from their usual gigs. By providing a demo of the radio serial as well as visual aids of the feature I should be able to submit it fully costed for consideration by the ABC for their Regional Production Fund. I'm presently chasing up the 'team' I've assembled for putting the demo together which will take up early July. " After a 12 year break he is planning on continuing the adventures of both the Dark Nebula and The Southern Cross on-line at thedarknebula.com. This is mainly to introduce the characters to a younger and wider audience who have never heard of them. He had been toying with the notion for some years, but never had the time until a serious car accident laid him up for a matter of months with his jaw wired shut. Since he is by trade a radio announcer this effectively sidelined him until he was recovered. "It's ironic that my character [the Dark Nebula] gains his power after coming back from the dead and he's given a new lease on life just as I was. It's amazing what you can do when you're unable to do the things you're used to." For more on The Southern Cross professional Radio Drama watch out for an article in the next issue of Sci Fi Studios Magazine 1 entitled, "The Return of the Theatre of the Mind" Radio and the internet are not the only media that we will see Tad and Glenn's work appear in. "I'm a hair's breath away from having the first Dark Nebula & Southern Cross print editions in over 15 years available (via print on demand). I'm starting with prestige editions of the first two Dark nebula adventures redone in a special edition titled 'Origins' & the entire Southern Cross adventure collected in one volume (it has only been serialised previously). All these will be in colour. Following that I will roll out a series of minitrades, each collecting 2 Dark Nebula adventures (again, in colour). http://thedarknebula.com Many of my stories were twoparters so this is an excellent opportunity to offer these stories complete. Each a piece of the bigger puzzle. When put together it makes for an impressive read. Following on from that the new adventures continue. The Dark Nebula 'Origins' Graphic Novel & The Southern Cross Extra Special Edition aren't too far away from print & release. They should be available through www.indyplanet.com." As a special scoop for readers of ScuttleButt, Tad has given me permission to print the covers of the two prestige editions to be published by print on demand outlet www.ka-blam.com. You guys are the first outside the actual Cyclone production crew to see these. "I think you'll agree that the look of each is as different as night is to day, which is how I've always wanted to keep it between The Dark Nebula & The Southern Cross. They'll also be available through my website as well. I may even get supplies in to sell directly. Any copies that I get in personally will be sold autographed." An ambitious project on many levels: independent publishing as print-on-demand, multi-media presentation as a comic and radio drama ... ScuttleButt July, 2007 15 1 http://scifistudios.com/magazine
Page 1 and 2: July/August 2007 Volume 1, Issue 6
Page 3 and 4: Nailed To The Masthead From The Rav
Page 5 and 6: Ship’s Muster The following are c
Page 7 and 8: ST:DS9 - Episodes ST:DS9 - Main Cha
Page 9 and 10: College of Law D1 D2 D3 College of
Page 11 and 12: USS Southern Cross - Region 11 Conv
Page 13: Marine Cadet Christopher Anderton W
Page 17 and 18: Lima Echo One - Character Building
Page 19 and 20: 17.40 Lieutenant Commander Kirok of
Page 21 and 22: Science Department Changes Greeting
Page 23 and 24: But What About LEDs Light Emitting
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Page 27 and 28: Ship's Barbers Shop It's Green! Alc

ScuttleButt - USS Southern Cross

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