Star Trek: Diplomatic Relations

"When Starfleet leaves, the real work begins" - series tagline

Star Trek: Diplomatic Relations is an audio drama series created by Front Line Productions, currently produced by Hidden Frontier Productions, and is a sister series to their collection of live-action and audio drama series. Instead of focusing exclusively on Starfleet personnel, the series also focuses on civilian members of the Federation Diplomatic Corps assigned to the Embassy on a newly inducted member world, called Tahn'Los.

On 24 June 2016, the producers announced they were suspending production indefinitely. ([1]) On July 6th, the producers announced that they would resume production under the leadership of Henglaar, M.D. producer David W. Hill, briefly changing the name of the show to "Diplomatic Relations: A Star Trek Fan Production" before eventually reverting to the original name. ([2])

History

Originally launched as an independent production set alongside the active Hidden Frontier universe back in 2008, the first episode "Rapprochment" was released in two parts in April of that year. It featured many different voice actors from across the world, brought together through the now-defunct Hidden Frontier forums, and featured cameos from characters and actors from both the HF universe and the Scottish fan production "Intrepid".

The second episode, "Agrément " aired the following year in January, but then production difficulties and actor illness prevented further production of episodes. It wasn't until 2012 that the third episode, "Accession" was released, and then it was another three years before the 4th episode, "Detente" was released in 2015. The following year in 2016, production was again put on hiatus during the debacle that followed the Axanar lawsuit situation and the release of 'fan production guidelines' by CBS Studios, before the series original creator Alex Matthews stepped down from production duties to focus on other projects, while still writing the series.

Episodes 1x01-1x03 were produced by Michael Hudson, Alex Matthews produced 1x04, and future episodes will be co-produced by Matthews and David W. Hill.

Characters

Main Cast

Ambassador Jessica Kingsley - voiced by Barbara Puder (Eps 1x01-1x03)/Kim Gianopolous (Eps 1x04+)

Deputy Chief of Mission Sovik - voiced by Karl Puder

Defence Attache Commander Sa'ad Al-Zaid - voiced by Glenn E. Smith (Eps 1x01-1x04)

Defence Attache Commander William Hollis - voiced by Seth Adam Sher (1x05+)

Political Attache Yiela Norien - voiced by Jennifer Cole

First Representative Rrin'Se Es'Laan - voiced by Holly Bednar (Eps 1x01-1x04)/M Sieiro Garcia (1x05+)

Second Representative Kree'Ho Te'Maat - voiced by Mike Skurr (Eps 1x01-1x04)/Edward Winterrose (1x05+)

Health Attache Dr. Phillip Gregson - voiced by Nick Beckwith (Eps 1x01-1x03)/Joel Nisbett (1x04)/Dave Maciver (1x05+)

Recurring Characters

Agricultural Attache Lyta Brennan - voiced by Lauren Davies (Ep 1x01)/Tanja Milojevic (Eps 1x04+)

Public Affairs Attache Nevichikal th'Dren - voiced by S. R. Ellis

Economic Attache Avren Osen - voiced by Michael Hudson

Head of Planetary Security Sub-Minister Jiin'La Si'Taan - voiced by Betty Skurr (Eps 1x01-1x04)/Eleiece Krawiac (Eps 1x05+)

Princess of the Royal Blood Mey'Lii - voiced by Heather Ashleigh

Judge Advocate General Investigator, Captain Dalonis Tohre - voiced by Andrew Foster

Linguistic Specialist Lieutenant Keran Azhan - voiced by Alex Matthews

Royal Liaison Archduke Vren'Ka Li'Prit - voiced by David Robertson (Ep 1x01)/Nick Rowley (Ep 1x04)

Commanding Officer USS Callisto, Captain Alysen Ibanya - voiced by Gwendolyn Jensen Woodward

Places

Angel One

A class M world located in the Alpha Quadrant. Similar to Tahn-Los, Angel One's government and society was primarily matriarchal, as well as highly segregated, with the females holding positions of power and authority, as the males were smaller, weaker and considered less capable than the females. Ursula Kellin is a citizen of Angel One, the product of a union between a female inhabitant and a terran survivor of a crashed freighter, the Odin.

Repositories

The repositories were a series of massive underground storage facilities dedicated to a different facet of Tahn-Lana culture. The types of storage medium varied widely, from printed to holographic storage media. How the repositories came to be was a great mystery until recently, when a Presever obelisk was discovered in one of the repositories. Prior to this, the Preservers were known only to interact with humans. Not all the repositories were simply innocuous storage facilities. One carried chemical as well as biological warfare agents. That facility was well over 1000 years of age, and one storage vessel had begun to fail. Chemical agents entered into the groundwater and plantlife, infecting one tribe of Hie-Linn, decimating the populace. It was only through the efforts of the Federation Diplomatic Corps, as well as Federation One that the facility was discovered and decommissioned.

Tahn-Los

A class M world located in the Alpha Quadrant. Primarily a matriarchal society, the planet has a long history of internal conflict, referred to as "The Great Wars of Past Time." Sometime in their recent past, the planet was occupied and stripped of resources by the Ferengi. Recently the world has achieved member status in the Federation.

Organizations

Hi'Linn

Named after the Tahn'Lana philosopher and their founder, The Hi'Linn are tribes of Tahn-Lana nomads, travelling one of the continents. The Hi'Linn believe in living in harmony with the environment avoiding altering and/or contaminating the places they visit. Despite their rustic, low-tech lifestyle, they have an elected representative to the High Curia, who also happens to be the First Representative Rrin'Se Es'Laan.

High Curia

The primary governing body on the planet Tahn-Los. The representatives on the High Curia are elected, but are numerically addressed. (First representative, Third representative)

Shre'Ti-Lin'Va

Translated to "Army of Male Supremacy" The Shre'Ti-Lin'Vah are dedicated to reorganizing the Tahn'Lana government into a male-dominated society. They are determined to attain this goal through acts of terrorism. They are responsible for multiple attacks across the planet.

Memorable Quotes

"Ensign, I'm not old enough to be a ma'am just yet!"

— Ambassador Jessica Kingsley

"Mister Azhan, sometimes investigating from behind a desk is simply not enough."

— LCDR Yanis Caed

"Methinks the man doth protest too much."

— Captain Dalonis Tohre

Episodes

Season One

1. Rapprochment (14th April 2008)

2. Agrément (8th January 2009)

3. Accession (May 7th 2012)

4. Detente (May 26th 2015)

5. Asylum (In Production)

6. Modus Vivendi (Unreleased)

7. Diplomatic Immunity (Unreleased)

8. Entente (Unreleased)

9. Casus Belli (Unreleased)

10. Breaking Relations (Unreleased)

External links

• Star Trek: Diplomatic Relations at HiddenFrontier.net
• Star Trek: Diplomatic Relations website 
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