| abstract | - Star Trek: Hidden Frontier (HF), arguably the longest-running Star Trek fan film project, is considered the "grandfather" of almost all modern Star Trek fan films. Although fan films have been produced for almost as long as there have been film fans, they were generally few and far between before the advent of home video. Only with the two-pronged revolution of digital video production/editing and the advent of internet distribution did they become something more than a curiosity to be shared by a few intimates. Produced on digital video, Hidden Frontier's sets are almost 100% virtual, using a green-screen chroma-keyed process to place performers into virtual settings. As is the norm for fan films, Hidden Frontier, produced by Rob Caves, is set within the continuity of a narrative of which its creators were fans: the era of the Next Generation series. Episodes revolve around the starship USS Excelsior (a sister ship to the famous Galaxy-class USS Enterprise), and its home base, Deep Space 12, in the Briar Patch, a wild region of space introduced in the film Star Trek: Insurrection. However, what makes Hidden Frontier unique is the volume of episodes, and its focus on character relationships. The series incorporated gay and lesbian characters, and their struggles and relationships in the 24th century: a step Star Trek producers never took with the canon series, as it would have alienated most conservative elements of Star Trek's fan base.
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