Region 2 "Newsletter of the Year" Award, 2012
Volume I
Region 2 "Newsletter of the Year" Award, 2nd Place, 2011, 2014
Number 86
Region 2 "Best Electronic Newsletter" Award, 2009
Late May/Early June (August) 2015
CONTENTS
UPCOMING EVENTS
•  Saturday, August 29: Republic & Treklanta Dinner Meeting
•  Saturday, September 19: STARFLEET Bowling Challenge

NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
•  The Treklanta 2015 Postmortem Report

•  Personnel Records
•  Library Computer
•  Recent Chapter Event Photos


SIDEBAR
•  Belated May Birthdays
•  August Membership Renewals
•  About the Republic
•  For More Information
•  USS Republic Online
•  Crew Roster
•  Photos from Treklanta 2015
UPCOMING EVENTS
USS Republic Late Summer Dinner Meeting & Treklanta Staff Meeting

7:00 p.m. Saturday, August 29, 2015
Marlow's Tavern
4156 Lavista Road, Tucker GA  30084
(678) 987-1197
WELCOME BACK!  The USS Republic has been relatively quiet this summer in order to give your beleaguered Commanding Officer a bit of a break and an opportunity to rest, recuperate and take care of some important personal business.  But we're back and it's time to get the Republic back up to warp speed!  Let's close out the summer with a purely social meeting at Marlow's Tavern in Tucker where we can just sit down with our members and friends to enjoy a nice dinner, get caught up with each other and talk about what's coming up in the weeks and months ahead!  We'll also talk about this year's successful Treklanta convention and what we've already got planned for next year!  All members and friends of the USS Republic, as well as all current Treklanta staff volunteers (and anyone who's interested in becoming one), are cordially invited to attend!  Marlow's management has asked us to let them know if we expect more than 15 people to attend, so if you're planning to join us, please click "Join" on our Facebook event page.

Marlow’s Tavern has a warm neighborhood yet contemporary feel and features the “Best of the Best” in American tavern fare served in a modern atmosphere.  The menu offers a diverse combination of classic dishes that are updated and elevated to a higher level, including a wide variety of appetizers, salads, sandwiches, burgers, entrées and desserts, as well as a full-service bar.  Appetizers range from $4.50 to $13.00, sandwiches and burgers range from $8.50 to $15.50 and dinner entrées range from $14.00 to $20.00.  For more information about Marlow's Tavern, visit their web site at marlowstavern.com.
Tenth Annual STARFLEET Bowling Challenge

6:30 p.m. Saturday, September 19, 2015

Midtown Bowl
1936 Piedmont Circle, Atlanta GA  30324
(404) 874-5703 || www.midtownbowl.com
The 2014 Bowling Challenge was a lot of fun for all who attended.  Seated: Tina Louise Jones, Christopher M. Jones, Ens Alan High, ENS1 I. Claire Willis.  Standing: ENS1 Sue Lin Lange, ENS1 "Wolfy," Ens Kevin M. Fry, CO FCapt Eric L. Watts, ENS1 Todd Dissinger, Bunny Ai.
Join the USS Republic for our Tenth Annual STARFLEET Bowling Challenge!  We once again challenge the Klingon Assault Group and the Georgia 501st to this longstanding annual event... we'll see who shows up to meet us in the alley!

The game fee is $20.00 per person for two hours of bowling and includes shoe rental.  CASH ONLY, PLEASE, and please pay the Republic, who has already paid for the lane rental.  We have rented two lanes for two hours which accommodate up to six players each.  Please RSVP if you plan to attend so we can add lanes if necessary.  Please arrive no later than 6:30 p.m. to pay for play, get your shoes and choose your ball.  First ball rolls promptly at 7:00 p.m., so please arrive early and be ready to roll (literally) at 7:00 p.m.  Midtown Bowl's food grill offers a broad range of menu items and adult beverages are available at the full-service bar.

The now-legendary 2007 Bowling Challenge was a huge media event with lots of TV cameras and all the challenges since then have been just as much fun, if perhaps not as well-attended.  Plan to wear your best Star Trek costume or your USS Republic sport shirt or chapter t-shirt for this fun-filled family-friendly event!
NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

The Treklanta 2015 Postmortem Report
A Very Successful, Record-Breaking Year
The fifth annual Treklanta (formerly TrekTrax Atlanta), the Star Trek and space opera convention hosted by the USS Republic, was held April 24-26, 2015, at the Atlanta Marriott Century Center hotel nestled between the northeastern Atlanta communities of Brookhaven and Lakeside.  Our headlining Guests of Honor were Sean Kenney (best known to Star Trek fans as Capt. Christopher Pike in the original series episode "The Menagerie" as well as Lt. DePaul in the episodes "Arena" and "A Taste of Armageddon"), Jason Carter (best known as Ranger Marcus Cole in the science fiction TV series Babylon 5) and Anne Lockhart (best known to science fiction fans as Lt. Sheba in the original Battlestar Galactica TV series).  Additional Guests of Honor included Alec Peters (official Star Trek archivist for CBS and the creator, executive producer and star of the award-winning independent Star Trek film series Star Trek: Axanar) and, for the third year in a row, Keith R. A. DeCandido, the prolific writer/editor of many Star Trek and other sci-fi franchise novels, novellas, short stories, comic books and eBooks.

Two dozen additional guests, performers and artists included cast and crew members from the Star Trek fan film productions Project: Potemkin, Star Trek: Reliant and Star Trek New Voyages: Phase II and the independent Star Trek fan audio series Star Trek: Ranger and Star Trek: Valkyrie; live "nerdy pop punk" band Hyperspace; puppet troupe Felt Nerdy; stand-up comedians Eric Daugherty, Bobbin Wages and Ellaree Yeagley; and artists Justin Anderson, Katie Bracewell, Dan "DTM" Flores, Lesley Jones, Peter Lücker, Carly Strickland, Dimitri Walker and Joseph R. Wheeler III.

Over the course of the three-day convention, Treklanta presented four dozen different events and activities on two concurrent tracks of programming: one dedicated to the Star Trek universe and the other dedicated to Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica and Firefly.  In addition to Q&A hours with our Guests of Honor, discussion panels with cast and crew members from various independent Star Trek fan film and audio series, a tribute to Leonard Nimoy, a trivia contest, makeup and costuming workshops and bellydancing lessons, other special events included a VIP champagne reception, a tremendously popular sci-fi puppet show, a live concert by a local band, the second Treklanta Masquerade, Dirty Harry's Karaoke Cantina and of course, the 16th annual Miss Klingon Empire Beauty Pageant, which was won after an honorable competition between five valiant contestants by "Q'Inpella" (Jennifer Cook of Dalton, Georgia) (additional details in last month's Republiqué).
Judges for the 16th annual Miss Klingon Empire Beauty Pageant included Treklanta Guests of Honor Jason Carter, Anne Lockhart, Sean Kenney and Keith R. A. DeCandido.  Korgoth served as Master of Ceremonies.
Three new events were introduced at this year's Treklanta, all of which were unqualified successes.  The first was our first-ever (no, really this time!) Artists Alley, something we have been trying to launch for three years and which totally crashed and burned on the launchpad last year.  This year, we filled our alley with no less than eight talented artists, all of whom brought amazing portfolios of artwork for show and sale.  Our second successful startup was our Star Trek Stand-Up Comedy Show, featuring three comedians who entertained the audience with their unique styles of humor.  Most significantly, our third spectacular success was the first annual Independent Star Trek Fan Film Awards Ceremony, created and presented to recognize outstanding achievement in independent Star Trek fan films.  Awards were presented in nine categories, six of which were swept up by Star Trek: Axanar, two to Star Trek Continues and one to Star Trek New Voyages: Phase II.  Specific details about this year's categories and winners can be found in this previous issue of The Republiqué.
The first annual Independent Star Trek Fan Film Awards proved to be a spectacular success for Treklanta
Treklanta also hosted a gaming room, a dealers room and a con suite.  During our third annual "Star Trek Fan Film Festival," twenty-four independent Star Trek fan films (and one Star Wars) released during calendar year 2014 were screened in our Video Room, including all sixteen films included on the Independent Star Trek Fan Film Awards ballot, each of which was screened at least three times during the convention.  On Saturday night, cast and crew members from Project: Potemkin, Star Trek: Reliant and Star Trek New Voyages: Phase II came together once again to film another Project: Potemkin vignette, "Room Service," which will premiere on the Internet sometime in 2016.  This episode is particularly noteworthy because it includes a cameo appearance by none other than our Guest of Honor Jason Carter, and also features the return of everyone's favorite resident Klingon, who demonstrates his... ah... proficiency at Klingon Opera.  This marks the third year in a row that multiple independent Star Trek fan film productions have collaborated on a single film, and Treklanta is pleased to have hosted the production.
Cast members from Project: Potemkin and Star Trek: Reliant collaborated on a new vignette, "Room Service," the third Potemkin episode filmed at Treklanta
Finally, Treklanta is especially pleased to have brought in Digital Video Productions LLC to offer portrait photography services to our attendees.  For only $20 plus an additional $20 for each of our Guests of Honor, attendees could get a professional studio-quality portrait made against a variety of backgrounds and have an 8 x 10 glossy print in their hands in less than 10 minutes for autographing.  This is a tremendous improvement over the portrait service we offered in 2014 and helped increase the revenue we were able to generate for our Guests of Honor, two of whom had guaranteed minimums with the convention.
Digital Video Productions LLC provided outstanding portrait photography services at a very affordable price
Any problems the convention might have experienced this year were relatively minor.  The location of our Friday night VIP champagne reception had to be changed at the last minute because the presidential suite we were promised was not made available to us at check-in, but that was more of a headache and an inconvenience to our staff than to our attendees.  Wi-fi reception was spotty throughout the hotel and unavailable for free in our meeting rooms, which irritated a fair number of folks, including our dealers, but we managed to get access for them and did the best we could for the rest.  Some of our Guests of Honor didn't quite make it to their contractually required autographing sessions on time, which we believe diminished the revenue they received from same, so that's an area we'll have to address and resolve moving forward.  We've also been made aware that some badge-sharing was going on among some of the folks to whom we offered comp badges, so that's another problem that we will deal with decisively.  Sharing badges is strictly prohibited and violators of that policy will be held responsible.  Finally, two of our three camcorders failed on-site, leaving us with only one working camcorder, which was used to videotape the Star Trek programming room's events and activities.  It is a huge disappointment that we were not able to record the Space Opera track's programming.  We will have to replace the two dead camcorders before next year's convention and make sure that everything gets recorded and archived appropriately.

All that said, most of this year's attendees will tell you that they had an absolutely fantastic time at this year's Treklanta convention.  All of our Guests of Honor were charismatic, approachable and entertaining, and we are grateful to have hosted them.  All of our other guests, performers and artists were equally so, and we appreciate their participation and involvement to help make Treklanta the robust, multi-faceted convention that it is.  In all the important categories, Treklanta 2015 was an absolute success.

And Now... The Numbers
In 2011, TrekTrax Atlanta attendance numbered 25 guests, 45 staff volunteers and 187 paid memberships for a total attendance of 257 persons.  In 2012, attendance numbered 33 guests, 45 staff volunteers and 162 paid memberships for a total attendance of 240 persons, a 6.6% decrease from the previous year.  In 2013, attendance numbered 43 guests and comps, 41 staff volunteers and 97 paid memberships for a total attendance of 181 persons, a 24.6% decrease from the previous year.  In 2014, TrekTrax Atlanta attendance included 72 guests and comps, 40 staff volunteers and 134 paid memberships for a total attendance of 246 persons, a spectacular increase of 35.9% over the previous year.  This year, Treklanta 2015 attendance numbered 60 guests and comps, 45 staff volunteers and 193 paid memberships for a total attendance of 298 persons... another spectacular increase of 21.1% over last year and 15.9% greater than our previous all-time highest attendance in 2011, making Treklanta 2015 by far our most successful convention EVER.

This second consecutive dramatic increase in attendance comes as a very welcome surprise because we did not spend nearly as much on advertising and marketing for this year's convention as we did for last year's, so we can only speculate on the reasons why our attendance increased by a full fifth over last year.  It seems likely that following our successful convention in 2014, those attendees went back home and told their friends what a great time they had with us, so part of this year's increase in attendance can be attributed to good old-fashioned word-of-mouth referrals.  It also seems likely that now that the convention is five years old, we're now considered as an established convention with a history and track record of success, and folks who might have previously heard of us but weren't willing to risk attending a relatively new and unknown convention are now coming to see what we're all about and, by all accounts, are glad that they did.  Some of the increase must also certainly be attributable to our name change from TrekTrax Atlanta to simply Treklanta, which might very well be the best single decision we've ever made.  While "TrekTrax Atlanta" had a certain legacy value as being an intentional carryover from and continuation of the old "TrekTrak" programming at Dragon*Con, it never really caught on with... well, anyone, really... and most everybody referred to the convention as simply "TrekTrax" or "Trek Trax" because "TrekTrax Atlanta" didn't exactly roll off the tongue.  In contrast, "Treklanta," an obvious portmanteau of "Star Trek" and "Atlanta," is not only easy to say and remember, it also more clearly and more succinctly conveys the essence of what our convention is all about and as such is much more marketable.  Finally, it seems clear that the creation and introduction of the Independent Star Trek Fan Film Awards brought new attention to Treklanta and helped increase our attendance this year.  When these awards were first announced late last year, the news was reported in several fan press sites, and when the nominees were announced early this year, almost all of those films' social media sites reported on them, all of which helped increased our attendance.
On a related note, it must also be mentioned that the Independent Star Trek Fan Film Awards was an unqualified success on multiple levels, the most important of them all simply being taken seriously.  When the concept of such an awards program was first discussed last summer, we understood that there was a very real possibility that they would be dismissed or ignored by the fan film community and that the first awards ceremony might very well be its last—an interesting but ultimately failed one-off event that aspired for footnote status.  Quite the contrary, we are extremely pleased that the awards program was immediately welcomed and embraced by the fan film community as something wanted, needed and long overdue.  The fan films that were announced as nominees proudly reported the news on their social media sites.  Folks involved with other fan films not nominated made their voices heard.  Lots of folks voiced their opinions about the nominees and made their predictions on who would win.  Still others voiced their opinions on the selection of categories, how the nominees were selected and even how the judging was done... and by whom.  And while all the pre-convention talk about the awards (like this article on Examiner.com) certainly helped increase our attendance, all the post-convention talk about the award winners (like this article on TrekMovie.com) helped establish the awards as a credible and successful program, and one that will most definitely continue and possibly even become the centerpiece of our convention.
And Now... The Books
There is good news and bad news regarding the financial health and performance of Treklanta.  The good news is that as a standalone, one-fiscal-year event, Treklanta 2015 received as total revenue from all sources approximately $14.7K and paid out in total expenses approximately $14.2K, resulting in a net profit of approximately $500.  The bad news is that one of those sources of revenue included in the $14.7K figure is an approximate $3,700 donation from the convention's chairman for this year alone, which means that without that donation, the convention would have finished the year about $3,200 in the red.  That seems pretty bad (and... well, it's not exactly good, either), but what that donation did was to completely wipe out the convention's long-term debt from previous years that had carried over into this year's budget.  What this means is that moving forward, the convention will begin FY2016 with a zero-balance budget for the first time since 2011, meaning that the current budget contains no debt whatsoever from previous years.  That is a very good thing and will help Treklanta be able to develop a much more practical budget based on realistic expectations of attendance revenue and established expenses.

Treklanta founder and chairman Eric L. Watts would like to thank all those persons who worked to make this year's convention the tremendous success that it was, including Director of Convention Operations Remy Loste, Director of Technical Operations Matt Steinberg, Director of On-Site Registration Russell Ruhland, Director of Guest Transportation & Services Mark A. Ozanick, Star Trek Track Operations Director Brian Holloway, Space Opera Programming Director Marcia Patterson, Art Show Director Julianne Trew, Gaming Room Director Mike Henigan, Security Director Jeff "Legoless" Moore, Con Suite Director Jay Cannon and Staff Photographer Tim Carr, as well as everyone who served on their staffs.  We would also like to thank our Independent Star Trek Fan Film Awards judges Diana Dru Botsford, Peter David, Keith R. A. DeCandido, Michael DeMeritt and Susan Sackett.  More than 1,300 photos from this year's convention can be seen in our Flickr album here.

Next year's Treklanta will be held April 15-17, 2016, at the DoubleTree by Hilton Atlanta Northlake hotel in Tucker, Georgia.  Our special group rate for guest rooms is only $91 per night, and the Treklanta web site will be updated with a reservations link soon.  We're currently in the process of contacting potential guests for next year and hopefully we'll have some announcements on that by next issue.  In the meantime, save the dates on your calendar and make plans now to attend Treklanta 2016!
Personnel Records
STARFLEET Academy Course Completions
Congratulations to Ens Vicki Greve, who received a grade of PASS for the STARFLEET Academy course "Officer's Training School" from the Institute of Leadership Studies, completed on July 11, 2015.
Other Notable Actions & Achievements
Congratulations and Best Wishes to ENS1 Mark A. Ozanick, who has relocated from Decatur, Georgia, to Kerrville, Texas, a city of about 25,000 people about 60 miles northwest of San Antonio, for his new job with GVNW Consulting, Inc., in his longtime field of telecommunications.  Ensign Mark departed Atlanta in mid-August and starts his new job on August 24.
Congratulations and Best Wishes to FCapt Eric L. Watts, who recently launched Watts Vox Creative, a new voice talent company offering voice acting and voiceover services.  Captain Eric has also been cast as the Rebel Klingon Commander in "Klingon Honor," an episode of the independent Star Trek fan audio series Star Trek: Valkyrie, to be released in September.
STARFLEET Academy is a special collection of correspondence courses available to every STARFLEET member.  Over 60 Academy Colleges offer courses spanning all aspects of Star Trek and science fiction; some courses even cover non-sci-fi real world topics.  Each college offers dozens of different courses at varying levels of challenge from super-easy to really hard.  In total, there are nearly 1,000 different courses available.  Take a course today!

Something special going on in your life?  Submit your Personnel Record for publication in the next issue of The Republiqué!
Library Computer
CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE
Recent Chapter Event Photos
CLICK ANY PHOTO TO ENLARGE
TimeGate  ||  May 22-24, 2015
Captain Eric manned the USS Republic and Treklanta fan table on Saturday and Sunday.
Captain Eric with the absolutely stunning Ensign Carly May in her fabulous beehive hairdo.
Captain Eric was invited to join Adam Throne (center) and Aaron Dunne (right) for the "Ears Looking at You: A Tribute to Leonard Nimoy" panel on Sunday.
Captain Eric with one of the USS Republic's original members, Robert Ray (left) and the talented, ravishing and irresistable Jevocas "Java" Green (right), star of the Forgotten Doctor fan film web series.
Captain Eric with the stunning Moxie Anne Magnus, Chief Cosmetologist of the USS Enterprise, comedienne extraordinaire and author of the hilarious Tales from SalonBay comic strip (left) and a certain Doctor... who... has never served in Starfleet (right).

BELATED MAY BIRTHDAYS

Monday, May 18
Lt JG Lee Johnson

Monday, May 25

ENS1 Julianne Trew

Saturday, May 30

ENS1 Richard Tucker

AUGUST MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS
These members' dues expire(d) in
August.  Please renew now!

ENS1 Wil Sims
ENS1 Eddie Hines
ENS1 Julianne Trew
ENS3 Jenilee Trew
FCAPT Eric L. Watts

ABOUT THE REPUBLIC
The USS Republic NCC-1371 was originally commissioned as a chapter of STARFLEET International on May 14, 1988, at the Dixie-Trek convention in Atlanta, Georgia.  As of August 16, 2015, the Republic crew includes 36 members who are active members of STARFLEET in good standing.
The Republic plans and coordinates an active schedule of events for its members, but does not hold meetings on a consistently fixed date each month.
Because the USS Republic is a duly commissioned chapter of STARFLEET International and is bound and governed by its Constitution and By-Laws, membership in STARFLEET is a prerequisite for membership in the Republic.  STARFLEET dues for one person are $20 for a "Standard Membership" or $10 for an "E-Membership" and chapter dues are $10 per person for either membership option.  A combined payment for all dues is collected by the Republic (family discounts are available with certain conditions and restrictions).  Additional information about the two STARFLEET membership options, amounts due for additional family members, payment options and payment instructions is on the "How to Join" page of our award-winning web site.
MEMBERSHIP DUES
PDF STARFLEET NEWSLETTER EMAILED TO YOU
# PP
SFI +
REP. =
TOTAL*
1
$10
$10
$20
2
$15
$20
$35
3
$17
$30
$47
4
$19
$40
$59
*CASH; PAYPAL FEES APPLY
PRINTED STARFLEET NEWSLETTER MAILED TO YOU
# PP
SFI +
REP. =
TOTAL*
1
$20
$10
$30
2
$25
$20
$45
3
$27
$30
$57
4
$29
$40
$69
*CASH; PAYPAL FEES APPLY

FOR MORE INFORMATION

USS REPUBLIC ONLINE

CREW ROSTER
AS OF AUGUST 16, 2015

ENS1 Nelson M. Barnhouse

CDT4 Zarena Nova Tucker
ENS1 Chris White
ENS1 "Wolfy"

PHOTOS FROM TREKLANTA 2015
CLICK ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE
OPENING CEREMONIES
STAR TREK: AXANAR FAN TABLE
GAMING ROOM
ARTISTS ALLEY
VIP CHAMPAGNE RECEPTION
SEAN KENNEY
ANNE LOCKHART
JASON CARTER
STAR TREK: RELIANT FAN TABLE
ARTISTS ALLEY
DEALERS ROOM
CELEBRITY AUTOGRAPHS
RECORD-BREAKING ATTENDANCE
MISS KLINGON EMPIRE PAGEANT
HYPERSPACE
DIRTY HARRY'S KARAOKE CANTINA
PROFESSIONAL PORTRAITS
CELEBRITY AUTOGRAPHS
REGISTRATION & CON STORE
NEW VOYAGES/PHASE II FAN TABLE
BELLYDANCING WORKSHOP
CELEBRITY GUESTS
PROJECT: POTEMKIN PANEL
NATURES HUNGER FAN TABLE
CON SUITE SHENANIGANS
ANACHROCON FAN TABLE
DIRTY HARRY'S KARAOKE CANTINA
MANTICORAN NAVY FAN TABLE
ARTISTS ALLEY
ORION SLAVE GIRLS
SCI-FI PUPPET SHOW
ARTISTS ALLEY
DEALERS ROOM
GAMING ROOM
CON SUITE SHENANIGANS
STAR TREK: RELIANT PANEL
ARTISTS ALLEY
TIMEGATE FAN TABLE
STAR TREK: VALKYRIE PANEL
STAR TREK: VALKYRIE PANEL
SEE MORE THAN 1,300 PHOTOS FROM TREKLANTA 2015 ON
PHOTOS BY TIMOTHY CARR
USS Republic NCC-1371
B O L D L Y    G O I N G 
 B O L D L Y    D O I N G™
2902 Aspen Woods Entry
  Atlanta, Georgia  30360-2759
  www.USSRepublic.com
Commanding Officer
  Fleet Captain Eric L. Watts
Executive Officer
  Admiral W. Michael Henigan

The Republiqué Volume I, Number 86, Late May/Early June (August) 2015.
Published monthly by and Copyright © 2015 USS Republic NCC-1371.
Fleet Captain Eric L. Watts, Editor.

If you prefer not to receive any future issues, please let us know.