By Captain Starkiller for BlackOps Station, 2001-04-13

Starkiller
oh?
You wanna do it now???
I am game :)

Maggot
ok...

Starkiller
Serious :) !!!
gimme a sec... :)
ready?

Maggot
ok

Starkiller
1)What was the motivation for naming your site
Utopia Planitia?

Maggot
Ah, well...that's an easy one. My favorite era is the TNG era. The spiffy-looking "modern" ships with transwarp everything and
Phaser XII and Quantum Torpedoes. The place in the Star Trek Universe that they build that stuff is Utopia Planitia. Also, I'm a big fan
of the space program and I knew that Utopia Planitia is a real place that maybe I'd like to visit one day...if we can ever get our act
together space wise.

Starkiller
Have you been formally contacted by Red Rock Cafe?

Maggot
Hee hee..actually yes. Someone made this
really cool Red Rock Logo and suggested that I
post it at UP.

Starkiller
Yeah, we have to... like a 'Hard Rock Cafe'
from SFC locations... hehehhe... pretty
kewl...

Maggot
I think working Red Rock Cafe Franchise is the first step to human colonization and Martian terraforming.

Starkiller
heheh... why the name Maggot?

Maggot
That's a throw back to my college days. I was a member of a retro punk rock band and my name
in the band was Maggot. I played the violin. It seemed natural to adopt that as my handle
for the Internet. It's very strange but in four years of classical education, that harsh cognomen is the most persistent part of my
post graduate experience. In real life I'm not at all Maggoty. I'm really quite nice. :)

Starkiller
So many of the modelers also express an interest in music. Very cool. Do you have any tracks for public ears?

Maggot
I think there might be a track wandering around the internet somewhere, but, no...I don't have any of the recordings. Probably a
good thing. My violin teacher, Mr. Hiyakawa would probably be horrified and commit sepuku if he got wind of my alternative music
activities.

Starkiller
Heheh... wouldn't want that... Which has been your favorite models to make?
Your worst?

Maggot
I like Federation ships a lot. Not just cause they're the good guys, but they are just so pretty as art objects. I mean, if you looked
at a federation starship from any era, it looks so streamlined and beautiful compared to the machine-like functional wire wrapped,
girder dominated, solar panelled stuff we're hurling into orbit in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

I think in every era of human history, the civilizations that endure do so because they're really good at something. The
Egyptians bult pyramids, the Vikings built longboats, Medieval Christians built cathedrals, we in the modern west are pretty
good at science and it looks like Federation civilization in the 23 and 24th centuries are really good at making starships. That
inspires me.

Maggot
The worst? hmmmm

Maggot
I hate the damned borg....no poetry there for
me.

Starkiller
What about Dark Drones latest?
Much more flow...

Maggot
Well Dark drone adds poetry to the Borg. His early era Borg are more than just cubes and spheres with textures. That's the art I'm talking about. Yes, Dark Drone rocks.

Starkiller
As a modeler, and a game player, how do feel about the Taldren Forums? What has been there impact on you as a gamer?

Maggot
I think they're a necessary interface between the artist/modeler and the user/audience. Before the Taldren Forums were the Simxtreme
forums which served the same functions. A clearinghouse for ideas, a place to ask for tips, tricks and tutorials, a place where fans
could make requests and offer praise, a place where modelers could advertise their wares and learn what was hot and what was not.

I'm a bit saddened by the (very) occasional hard feelings and ruffled feathers. I do my best to be a strong advocate for the modelers
on the modeling forum. I've also made quite a few new friends in the community on the forums these last eighteen months or so while I've
been modeling for SFC.

Maggot
I've counted you as a friend ever since you started posting my models on Brad's old site...Thanks Bat.

Starkiller
*blushes*
Oh yeah... the good old days of dsl...sigh... miss the old shipyards badly... Did you walk around for a month, repeating
like a lost monk, "All your base are belong to us?"

Maggot
Actually, I have quite a bit of experience with that poor translation phenomenon. English is not my first language. My family
all comes from Hong Kong and south China. So that kind of broken English is second nature to me. My family has been talking that way
ever since I was born. I think that Uncle Albert is much funnier.

Starkiller
Kewl... and I respect that...
but...but...dood...the PowerPuffGirlz?
Hawkeye's Wife is really upset that he hasn't installed them in-game! What were you thinking?

What came first, the love for Star Trek or Modeling?

Starkiller
you dont have to answer :)

Maggot
Whoa..that's two questions....

Starkiller
heheheh, the first is a "No comment"-freebie... unless you want to :)

Maggot
OK...Crymson is illuminating the Powerpuff Girls and a brand new Akira model. My girlfriend has these two adorable little
sisters and they LOVE the PPuffs and I LOVE my girlfriend so the Powerpuff girls in SFC seemed a logical way to placate the females in
my life while I got to do the job of modeling. See the way I cleverly intertwined all my interests there? I was as "flawlessly
logical" as T'Pring when she screwed up Spock's Pon Farr in "Amok Time." Hah! and people said Maggot was "Losin' it." Little
did they know.

What came first?

Starkiller
So... it wasn't a copy paste april fool's joke gone horribly wrong?

Yes... what came first...

Maggot
hee hee....yeah....I think I'll make a new Galaxy Class....oopsie...there's Buttercup!!!

Starkiller
thought so ;)

Starkiller
You are a Trekkie then?

Maggot
Well, it was a rather simultaneous love affair. I liked Star Trek because of the ships. (Well, it was also because of the really pretty space chicks, Like Lt. Palomas
in TOS:Who Mourns for Adonais) But anyway, I liked the space ships and the idea oftravelling faster than light. I bought an AMT
model kit and built the original Constitution Class 1701. It was cool, but there was something missing....the only thing I could do with it was to hold it...and run around the
house making whooshing noises....

Starkiller
Thank God for AMT/Ertl... though the Ertl versions really got o sucking pretty hard for a while there...

Starkiller
but I loved the multiple registries...

Maggot
But what about all the other ships? Where were the models for them? Andwhy was it so hard for the model makers to make the ships in
proper scale relative to each other? And why couldn't they make ships that could fly by themselves and fire phasers and torpedoes.
This is why I'm so dedicated to Starfleet Command modeling. It's really the fulfillment of a childhood space fantasy.

Starkiller
*applauds* Nailed it for me too... wish I had your talent! I am living vicariously through your creations, and the creations of the
others... very cool time to be gaming... do you have other games you play?

Maggot
We can now make any ship in Star Trek and Star Wars and B5 and BStar Galactica and Buck Rogers and Powerpuff girls....and they can fly
around and fight each other and take shield hits and explode!

I'm not a real big gamer. I have enough on myplate making models, updating the Dominionsite and UP, creating missions, writing spec
files, integrating all the new mods. I barelyget a chance to play SFC2. I am getting more and more impressed with recent games emerging
from the Star Trek License. Elite Force is very exciting. I just got to play Star Trek Away team. Klingon Academy wasn't bad. Star
Trek Armada wasn't bad either. I'm looking forward to Dominion Wars.

For Non trek games...I play the sims and civilization type games.

Starkiller
Kewl... yeah... Elite Forces is coming out with a full-Voyager walk through mission pack... very excited....

Lightwave versus Milkshape versus 3dStudioMax?

Maggot
Wow...that would be cool if they could have an Enterprise D walkthrough or a DS9 one.

Well...I presently use Lightwave and UView. I've never used Milkshape. I'm learning 3dsMax. Before I made my first USS Centaur
kitbash, I had never touched a 3d modeling program. I'm new to this type of software and there has been a lot of trial and error,
error, error. I'm still learning and the other modelers in the community have been very helpful. Originally, I asked questions of
Moonraker. Noah Wallace has been a great help. Pneumonic, Cleeve and Wicked Zombie have all assisted in the education of young Maggot.

Starkiller
How old are you?

Maggot
I guess my answer is that I'm not really experienced enough to specify a preference in modeling program.

29 going on 30 in October

Starkiller
What program do you use to texture?

Maggot
UView....although I'm starting to use 3dsMax. I use different programs to create textures...CorelPhotopaint 9, Photoshop 5.5,
Photofinish

Starkiller
Who, or what has been the biggest influence on your creativity?

Maggot
Zephrem Cochrane.

Starkiller
rock on... Do you see more game support with the second installment of Starfleet Command or the first?

Maggot
And all those chicks with Kirk in the original series

The second...which is a bit strange. I always wondered why Taldren didn't release a Lightwave plugin that would have done the same
thing that SCME did...only better since they had the code.

We still don't have a way to make original break models in Lightwave.

Starkiller
What kind of computer do you use when modeling, gaming?

Maggot
I have three main machines that I use for model development. I have three 1 Gigahertz Athlon machines with GeForce2 or Radeon All in
Wonder Video 512 meg Ram and about half a terabyte of storage. I use all these systems for gaming as well.

Starkiller
omg... you suck. Connection to the Net is dsl or cable, right?

Maggpt
DSL..at home...T3 at work

Starkiller
omg...
omg...
*droolz*
yeah, me too... thats what I have too... ;)

riiiiiight

So, you are a man of the world... I mean, you have been with Rick Knox... being a member of the Dominion of Modders...nudge,nudge...
what's it like?

Maggot
Hee hee....little Monty Python there, eh? Nudge, nudge Wink Wink?

Starkiller
yeah
glad you got that... was wondering how big an idiot I looked... :)

Maggot
Rick is one of the most talented SFC modelers I know. He has a passion for modeling in SFC that surpasses my own....and that's no mean
feat. He is also a genuinely fine person. I mean, he's even good at making models that he doesn't really like. He's mostly a FASA
freak, but his TOS and TNG work is uniformly excellent.

I've also gotten to know Rick on a personal level (as much as you can chatting on-line) and I've found him to be a great
friend....considerate and generous.

Starkiller
Do you think Stoneyface looks like Yoda?

Just Kidding... heheh...

How does it make you feel when players choose one modeler's version of a ship, say, the Defiant model, versus another modeler's?

Maggot
Funny you should ask that...Rick asked me what I models I was working on. I told him I was working on a new Sovie and a new Defiant. He
was upset because he was working on the same models. He was concerned that I would be upset if he released his models at the same
time as mine...overshadowing my work. I told him that he had better release his models without regard to my own release schedule. I
don't really care too much if someone prefers Rick's or Moonraker's models over mine. I mean...hell...I usually prefer Rick's or
Moonraker's models over mine. I don't see this as a competition, but a community of modelers striving to be the best. I am far
from the best and know that these guys have much to teach me. I'm eager to learn.

Starkiller
excellent
The Starbabe Class (I like the naming by the way)? Are you continuing that lineage?

Maggot
Yes indeedy..that's the reason I need to revamp the Sovereigns and the Galaxies...need more and better parts to make better Starbabe
kitbashes. The naming convention solves a basic incongruity in the Star trek Universe (at least for me.) All the ships are named
after American Battles, Cities, States and American MEN. But the Federation is not only a global earth alliance it is a interplanetary
alliance that seeks to be a Galactic Alliance of all species and sexes. I thought it fitting if we were to name ships after
beautiful trek women of any species...especially since we designate starships with feminine pronouns anyway.

Starkiller
heheh.. thank you... I will get this to htm and on the web, minus that last part, asap!

Maggot
OK...my girlfriend is getting impatient. Gotta go to a party. Thanks for interviewing me...It was an honor.

Starkiller
take care, have fun :)

(Interview conducted over ICQ)