THE FINAL FRONTIER
by Simon Plumbe


There can't be many Amiga owners out there who DON'T enjoy watching science fiction TV shows or films, and out of those, I think it's quite safe to assume that a large proportion of you enjoy watching STAR TREK and many of you consider yourselves to be STAR TREK fans. Why am I saying this? Well, THE FINAL FRONTIER is the world's first disk magazine devoted ENTIRELY to Star Trek in all it's forms - the original series, the animated series, the movies, The Next Generation and finally, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Basically, if you love Star Trek, this magazine is for YOU!


Work started on THE FINAL FRONTIER in November 1990, when I decided to combine my two main hobbies/interests - Star Trek and the Amiga. After advertising on the cat-disks of a few PD libraries, and writing countless letters, I managed to form a reasonably solid team of writers.

The first issue wasn't released until September 1991, almost 12 months later, on 2 disks. The time taken wasn't a sign that I didn't do a great deal of work on it - it's just that it took a VERY long time to write/ produce/test!!


The Team

Originally, THE FINAL FRONTIER was produced under the name of an unknown demo crew on the Amiga, although following disagreements, we have since split with them and TFF is now produced by the fan-publishing team INFINITE FRONTIERS, a group devoted to creating the best possible magazines, either on disk, paper or on whatever medium we decide to work on. So far, our group consists mainly of Star Trek fans and experts working on TFF and although we don't claim to have the same presentation as "normal" disk mags, if you're a Trek fan you won't find better Trek material on the Amiga.

Currently our team consists of the following guys:

Simon Plumbe - Editor, Producer, Writer, Photographer, Occasional Art
Colin Gunn - Editor, Producer, Writer
Tobias Richter - Artist, Writer
John Kitts - Writer, Photographer
Alex Kerr - Artist, Writer
Gary Moffat - Artist, Writer
Vince Hirst - Artist, Photographer
Tim Smith - News Editor, Writer
Sven Harvey - Writer, Artist
Matthew Dean - Writer
Neil Safi - Writer, Photographer
Mark Cotterill - Artist
Allister Brimble - Musician
Neil Higgins - Writer, Photographer
Pio de Cicco - Writer, Production Assistant
Phil Innes-Chaytor - Programmer
Anthony Carpendale - Artist, Writer
Mark Platts - Artist
Luke Elliot - Programmer


Some of the names on the list may be familiar to you. First is Tobias Richter. If you haven't heard of him, Tobias is regarded as being one of, if not THE best artist on the Amiga in the WORLD! Then there is Allister Brimble who's music for games such as ALIEN BREED, PROJECT X and dozens of other games has made him very popular amongst the game-playing community, so as you can imagine, we have quite a strong team! As well as our regular team, we also have "freelance" contributions from top talents including the musician, Bjørn Lynne. 

One of the things that is unusual about our team (and our "freelancers") is that a very large proportion of our team have worked in their respective fields professionally. Tobias has produced graphics for dozens of games and has created numerous animations for TV stations in his native Germany, as well as recently being given a job creating animations for the film Moontrap II (although this project was subsequently shelved).

One of our ex-members, Edwin Yau has been writing on a freelance basis for the publishing company Visual Imagination fdor the last year or so and has contributed on a regular basis to "TV Zone".

Vince Hirst is one of our "traditional" artists (he doesn't currently own an Amiga), but he will be doing any other artowrk we need and last year he worked on a stage production of "The Pied Piper of Hamlin" in Birmingham.

Alex Kerr, who has written a large number of reviews for us and who is currently writing our new menu system for us, has previously written one of the top PD menu systems available, "Control Console", that was featured for several months on "Amiga Format".

As far as I am concerned, I have been heavily involved in this launch issue of CD GOLD and I have been HEAVILY involved in fandom for the last 4 years, running a sci-fi fan club, writing and editing it's monthly newsletter, producing other zines and finally moving on to THE FINAL FRONTIER as editor and head writer. Usually you can guarantee that, between myself and Colin Gunn, we write at least half of every issue!! I have also done a large amount of "freelance" writing for other amateur productions including regular sections on catalogue disks of two PD libraries, my own column on the music disk mag, AM/FM and I have also written for other Amiga disk mags. As well as this, I have written for a large number of paper-based fan publications over the last 5 years.

As far as our "freelance" team is concerned, Bjørn Lynne, from Norway, has composed music for a large number of top games, and he is the producer of the top music disk magazine AM/FM (more information on this later). He has recently finished work on composing music for a stage production in Oslo.

The artist, Ian Faichnie, who worked on our first two issues, has recently joined the top software company, Mindscape, as one of their in-house artists and worked on graphics for the game "Battletoads".

We are also in contact, on a regular basis, with Richard Arnold, Paramount's former Research Consultant for Star Trek, who I am proud to call a friend. Basically, it is safe to say that Richard knows more about Star Trek than anyone else in the WORLD!!

Not a bad group, eh?!


The Mag Itself!

THE FINAL FRONTIER is not published on set dates like other magazines. Instead of promising to release a magazine every two months or so, we feel it is more important to release a magazine only when you feel there is enough GOOD material to warrant it's release.

As I said, each issue of THE FINAL FRONTIER caters for ALL fans of STAR TREK - whether they are fans of the original series, The Next Generation or the new series, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The mag is packed with articles, interviews, reviews, episode guides, art, music, animations, features and lots more!!

As far as the articles themselves are concerned we feature regular merchandise guides, extensive merchandise and book reviews (at least 10 books reviewed per issue), news and reports from various Trek conventions throughout the world (with photos), Trek news, a guide to all the Trek fan clubs in the world (currently over 140 clubs listed!), fiction and much more. Many of these articles are also accompanied by high quality original digitised photos taken by members of the group or art from the team.

Also we are the pioneers of a new type of Trek article - the Convention Talks! At most major conventions, we record the talks given by guests and we then, with their permission, publish articles in the form of edited highlights of these talks. When I say edited, each of these articles run for more than 30 pages each when printed out and are packed full of fascinating information. Many people mistake these for interviews, which is what they really are - the guests being interviewed by Trek fans en mass!

Fan Clubs do publish highlights of talks like this, but rarely in article form and we tend to publish far more of the talks than anyone else. I'm also not too sure whether others actually get PERMISSION before they use the material. We do in EVERY instance.

So far, in our first five issues we have featured Richard Arnold [Issue 1], Guy Vardaman (Former Research Consultant and regular stand-in and extra on TNG and he also appeared as a Klingon in Trek VI) [Issue 2], John de Lancie (Q) and Carel Struycken (Mr Homn) [both Issue 3], in Issue 4 we had a superb talk by the one and only GEORGE TAKEI (Sulu)!!! Finally, in issue 5 we featured Jimmy Doohan (Scotty)!! The latter two talks were, unlike the others, being printed IN FULL and the articles ran for almost 100 pages!!

We also have a regular section featuring some of the best articles/pieces of fiction to have appeared on various bulletin boards. Again, because of the way they are distributed, there are no size restrictions and many of these are absolutely massive!

Another highlight to look out for was on Issue 4 which features a piece of TNG fiction called "The Ghosts Of Yesteryear" which was a script actually submitted to Paramount but later rejected. We contacted the author and obtained FULL permission to use it!

What else can I say! There's so much more to discover in each issue of TFF, there really isn't enough space to go into it here, but I hope this whets your apetite!

Each issue is also packed with background music and each issue has at least 2 pieces on it, although later issues feature as many as 6!

Finally, most issues have a small demo, although the intro on issue 3 won't work on machines with 1MB of Chip Ram unless they have additional FAST RAM. I.e. they won't work on A500+'s or A600's, or A1200 with less than 3MB of RAM. Still, there is an option to by-pass this so the rest of the mag can be accessed.

Other one-off items to have appeared in TFF include a 790K animation with sampled music/speech (Issue 1), a tribute to Gene Roddenberry with photos (Issue 2), a selection of convention reports with over 830K of digitised photos (Issue 2 - these appear on all issues, but Issue 2 was the first to feature photos!), Star Trek VI special with reviews, articles and photos from the film (Issue 3), a Deep Space Nine special (with reviews, articles, SEVEN pieces of art from Tobias Richter and a few photos) and much more!

No profit is made on the sale of the magazine. All of the profit is put back into the magazine to cover production costs such as providing free issues for contributors, prizes for competitions, adverts etc. We recently broke even on our production costs so we are also now able to hire top artists/musicians to do exclusive work for the magazine. On top of that, we intend to inest money into Trek fandom/non-profit making fan groups and donate large sums to charity. However, feel free to copy it for your friends as it IS freeware.


Reviews

However, don't just take my word for it on the mag's quality... this is what some of the top Amiga mags have had to say about it:


AMIGA COMPUTING - February 1992, reviewed by Daniel Whitehead

"... The whole thing is very well presented, featuring several Tobias Richter pictures inspired by the series... for all you Trekkies, it'll go down a treat." 

PUBLIC DOMAIN - February 1992, reviewed by Nial Grimes

"... despite it's rather cult contents was one of the best presented magazines we've seen."

AMIGA USER INTERNATIONAL - October 1992, reviewed by Gideon Overhead

"... If the magazine receives a positive response from the fans, and they start sending in plenty of material then I think it will be a big success."

AMIGA SHOPPER - January 1993, reviewed by Ian Wrigley

"... I must say that this disk mag is well put together, and has a wide range of articles and graphics... I'm not a Star Trek fan. But if you are then you really do need to get hold of The Final  Frontier... Issue 3, which I reviewed, rivals many fanzines I've seen - I wouldn't be surprised if it started appearing on Forbidden Planet's shelves in the near future! Value for money - 10/10" 

AMIGA FORMAT - February 1993, reviewed by Pat McDonald

"...get this and enjoy."

CU AMIGA - May 1993, reviewed by Mat Broomfield

"the magazine is a veritable treasure trove of Trek trivia... Anyone with more than a passing interest in the goings-on on board the Starship Enterprise should get themselves a copy of this." Rated 91%

AMIGAMANIAC - September 1993

"Very slick disk based magazine for Star Trek enthusiasts....a must for anyone remotely interested in Star Trek."

AMIGA FORMAT - October 1993, reviewed by Richard Baguley

"...if you're into Star Trek, you'll enjoy this well put together disk magazine."

CU AMIGA - 1993, reviewed by Tony Horgan

"...Bjorn Lynne supplies the sounds, and a cast of plenty supply the rest, in one of the slickest disk mags around. A must for Star Trek fantatics."



Firsts/Major Achievements!

Without trying to boast too much (too late for that, I think!), TFF has actually broken many new grounds in terms of Trek fanzines and disk magazines. Like what, I hear you ask? Well, read on...

* THE FINAL FRONTIER is the world's first Star Trek disk magazine and has been available for almost 2 years and in production for another year prior to that.

* THE FINAL FRONTIER is the LARGEST disk magazine on the Amiga with current issues spanning a staggering 4 disks. It's closest rival is the Amiga "scene" disk mag, "Grapevine" which has it's current issues on 3 disks.

* THE FINAL FRONTIER is the ONLY article-based disk mag to have ever received a maximum 10/10 score from Amiga Shopper and only the third disk mag ever to do so (including those "magazines" that are more software based than anything) out of 37 mags reviewed to date.

* In terms of reviews, THE FINAL FRONTIER is also the highest rated disk magazine EVER in CU AMIGA (91%), again beating such strong competition such as GRAPEVINE and AM/FM. In CU, TFF also holds the second highest rated disk mag at 90%!

* While on the subject of reviews, THE FINAL FRONTIER is the only disk mag EVER to have been featured photograpically on the cover of an Amiga magazine, namely the now-defunct "Public Domain" Issue 5, published by Future Publishing.

* THE FINAL FRONTIER is only one of two magazines that is compatible with ALL Amigas ranging from the old A1000 to the A4000, the CDTV to the A1200. They all work fine with TFF! The only other mag able to claim this is AM/FM, for which we are an authorised dealer. No doubt when we get our hands on the Amiga CD, we'll find out that TFF works fine on that too!


How To Order

The prices for THE FINAL FRONTIER direct from the producers are:

Issue 1 - September 1991 - £3 (2 disks)
Issue 2 - March 1992 - £4 (3 disks)
Issue 3 - August 1992 - £5 (4 disks)
Issue 4 - January 1993 - £5 (4 disks) 
Issue 5 - June 1993 - £5 (4 disks)
Issue 6 - Late October/November 1993 - £5 (4 disks)

inclusive of postage and packing ANYWHERE in the world! Obviously, there is no need for any of you to order Issue 4, as you can find a copy elsewhere on this issue of CD GOLD.

If you wish, you can also subscribe to future issues. From issue 3 onwards, the size of THE FINAL FRONTIER has been fixed at 4 disks per issue. Although we do not have a regular release schedule (I feel that it is more important to release a mag when it is ready rather than rush a disk out to meet a deadline), if you subscribe, your copies will be sent to you as soon as they are released.

To subscribe, simply send enough money to cover the number of issues you want and tell us which mags you would like. E.g. if you want Issues 6 - 11, send us the appropriate amount (worked out from the table below) and tell us in your order that you want THE FINAL FRONTIER Issues 6 - 11. Simple!


Subscription Rates

1 Issue - £4.75 (must be ordered 2 weeks before it is released)
2 Issues - £4.50 each
3 or 4 Issues - £4.25 each
5 or more Issues - £4.00 each

Again, all of the above prices INCLUDE postage etc. anywhere in the world.


Other Products


Obviously, when a group like INFINITE FRONTIERS is trying to raise money to invest in the magazine's production and to send to charity, we try everything we can to boost our flagging cash flow. As well as THE FINAL FRONTIER, we have a number of other titles available.


THE FINAL FRONTIER SPECIALS

This is a series of disks being released to compliment the TFF range. Each disk (or disks as the case may be) in the series will cover a different topic related to Trek. All the titles in this series will, initially, only be available from INFINITE FRONTIERS and the disks are copyrighted to us (that means you CAN'T copy them to your friends), so the only way you can legally obtain these disks is by purchasing them from us or from any authorised stockists.

All the people working on these disks receive royalties from every copy sold, so please support them by buying these titles and encouraging your friends to buy them instead of copying them. You never know, your software could be here next!

All of the prices below INCLUDE postage etc. ANYWHERE in the world.


TFF SPECIAL 1 - "THE FINAL FRONTIER DEMO" - 2 DISKS

This is a 2-disk rolling demo of the magazine that we created as part of the TFF Live roadshow and it features over 25 pieces of art and photos, including 4 pieces from Tobias Richter, taken from the first four issues, along with a few brand new photos never seen before. All of this is accompanied by a piece of music from Bjørn Lynne.

This set is ideal for anyone who has ever wanted to look at the art from the mag, or see any of the convention photos, but didn't want to go through the hassle of loading the mag itself.

Great value for only £2.50.


HOLODECK - 2 DISKS

A great new 2 disk ray-traced TNG slideshow featuring some stunning artwork from Mark Platts. If you like Tobias Richter's work, you'll love this! 20 pieces of art and music from the ever impressive Bjorn Lynne.

Only £3.00 (1MB required, 2 drives recommended).


AM/FM

About 6 months ago we became official dealers for this top, highly acclaimed disk magazine for music lovers everywhere. For full details about AM/FM, see the regular adverts section on Issue 4 of TFF, although briefly the magazine is a single disk mag released approximately every 2 months with articles, discographies, reviews, tutorials, some of the best PD music utilities, MIDI arrangements of well-known and brand new songs, and between 2 and 5 original pieces of music on every issue!

The magazine is written BY music lovers FOR music lovers everywhere. If you have ANY interest in music on the Amiga, be it just listening to the sounds the Amiga can produce or if you are interested in composing your own masterpieces with a host of MIDI-controlled synthesisers, then AM/FM is for YOU.

We currently have issues 1-15 available (issue 16 due out very soon) for only £2.25 each including P+P. There is no extra charge for postage for orders outside the UK. Also, as with THE FINAL FRONTIER, if you wish to subscribe to future issues of AM/FM, then tell us what issues you want when you order and send the appropriate amount.

We also stock the AM/FM sample disks, a series of disks that accompany the magazine, each packed with sampled instruments for use in Protracker, MED and similar music utilities. All samples are of the highest quality possible and are grouped in "themes" i.e. a percussion disk etc. These disks are also £2.25. Again, there are 15 of these available.

However, if you buy the sample disk and the appropriate issue of AM/FM together (e.g. AM/FM #9 and Sample Disk #9) then you can have both for only £4.00. These discount prices also apply to subscriptions.


THE AGATRON RANGE

We are also licenced to sell the entire range of Agatron PD disks produced by Tobias Richter. We currently have the FULL range of 87 disks including 13 slideshows, 38 animation disks, 3 animation specials, 6 program disks plus Tobias's Star Trek Megademo. Prices for these are £1.50 each or £1.25 if you order 6 or more. Royalties from the sale of each disk are sent to Tobias.


Ordering Details

If you are still interested and you want to order anything from this, write to me telling me what you want and enclose the appropriate amount (cheque/ PO/Int. Money Order/Cash) in UK funds only, quoting CD GOLD, and send it to:

INFINITE FRONTIERS
c/o Simon Plumbe
14 Rousdon Grove
Great Barr
Birmingham
B43 5HN
ENGLAND


Please make all cheques/Postal Orders payable to "Infinite Frontiers" and please allow up to 28 days for cheque clearance/delivery. UK orders should be normally be despatched within 7 days (in most cases it's within 24 hours!), although please allow a little longer for overseas orders or large orders.

Also, for UK orders only, add £0.50 to your total order and we will send it by Recorded Delivery. It won't reach you any quicker, but it IS safer! Note - this does NOT apply to subscriptions/orders for forthcoming releases. In these instances, please add £0.50 per parcel i.e. if you order 5 future issues of AM/FM, please add £2.50 to cover Recorded Delivery postage on ALL 5 issues, as they will all be sent under separate cover. This does not apply to back issues as they are always kept in stock.

Keep on Trekkin',


Simon Plumbe 

