Season Seven, Our Last Season


We have begun pre-production work on season seven, and expect to start principal photography on our first episode of the season shortly.

Season seven will be remarkable in several ways: it is our final season. It is expected to have more than six episodes. And it is expected to last from January, 2006 to approximately March, 2007, to accomodate the extra episodes without "cramming" them into our already busy schedule.

Hidden Frontier has already created a record number of "firsts": it is one of the few (perhaps the only?) fan series with more than one episode a year. As such, it is also the first series to complete six seasons. It is the first Star Trek video series to fulfill the late Gene Roddenberry's promise to feature gay characters as part of the straight crew. After the Associated Press picked up the story from the Columbia University's newspaper article, Hidden Frontier's gay subplot achieved national publication. Hidden Frontier is the first fan series to be written up in Variety. Four representatives of Hidden Frontier were Guests of Honor at Gaylaxicon in 2005, serving on discussion panels with Hugo award-winning authors Joe Haldeman and Lois McMaster-Bujold.

Hidden Frontier has also cooperated extensively with our fellow fan productions (New Voyages, Intrepid, Section 31, Pioneer, Tales of the Seventh Fleet, to name but a few), exchanging technical information (and occasionally actors) and generally maintaining a sense of community in a world not always friendly to amateur efforts. (Manny Coto, former producer of the greatly missed ENTERPRISE fourth season, is a notable exception: he is on record as enjoying several fan film efforts, including New Voyages and Hidden Frontier.)

It is our fond hope that our fans will enjoy the seventh and final season of Hidden Frontier as greatly as they've enjoyed our previous efforts. Certainly they've made our efforts even more fun than we'd expected.

John A. Whiting
Head of Makeup
"Dr. Henglaar"

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Tony,

How dare you presume to know my reasons for leaving Hidden Frontier. They are my own, and I resent your attempt to use my departure to further your own spiteful agenda against the fine people who produce this show.

Shame on you.
Carlos Pedraza

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"No "ad hominem" attacks; argueing a person's character instead of addressing their points."

Let's see how well you do following your own rules.

"whatsinhisboxers24, real name "Ben Berwick" of UK's London (thehamster, sothis, timon, and many more.) it's been loads of fun but I just won't bite. Everything has been said and posted on the Internet for all to see and judge for themselves."

Then why are you so upset when the judgements usually go against you? After all, you DID put the comments up to be judged impartially.

"BTW: I am aware of your AdM deleted PAID Yahoo account and website for posting vicious harassing attacks towards others on yahoo like myself. Losing a 'paid for' Yahoo account...you must have really screwed up !!!! LOL."

You managed to have TWO of your Live Journals deleted, plus FIVE MSN Groups deleted, and several websites deleted for libel against me personally and the cast and crew of Hidden Frontier. To quote yourself "you must have really screwed up."

"It is a mistake to wholesale swallow the carefully concocted and sanitized HF history that you get from your corrupt lying copyright pirates Hidden Frontier cronies buddies. Maybe you will get a backbone and think for yourself when you get past 25."

Okay, this entire paragraph is nothing but a series of ad hominem attacks. There is ONE opinion in it ("It is a mistake . . ."), a series of ad hominem attacks, and not one fact. Except for the opinion, the paragraph might as well not be written, for all the useful content it has.

"I'll keep giving out the facts; don't like it, tough. My country's Constitution protects my right to be heard.
o35"

And when you actually start giving out facts, I don't doubt they will be eagerly latched on to. Yes, our country's Constitution does protect our rights to be heard (mine as well as yours, Tony). It does NOT protect you against charges of libel OR slander, and you are repeatedly and demonstrably guilty of both. Your latest little cartoon, for example.

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Carlos, you know that Tony will always put the worst possible spin on any events that occur at HF.

If you got hit by a car, he'd manage to find a way to imply that your death was caused by complications of AIDS that you caught while serving on Hidden Frontier. Or that you were pushed by one of the cast or crew. Remember how he used to claim that Rob Caves had pointed a loaded gun at Jason Munoz at a meeting of the U.S.S. Angeles? Claimed it as a fact as if he'd personally witnessed it. For YEARS.

Kept it up until Jason Munoz offered personal testimony that it hadn't happened at an Angeles meeting, and it hadn't been Rob Caves, who'd been miles away at the time anyway. When confronted with Jason's testimony, Tony finally admitted that he hadn't witnessed it after all, and had allegedly gotten the garbled version from a third party who also hadn't been present to witness it. Despite implying that he'd personally seen it for years at a time, and that it was a known and proveable FACT. He never apologized for it, either. Never admitted any wrong-doing in not checking his facts. It was delicious, scandalous, criminal, and it cast us in a bad light, and all of that was far more important than it actually being RIGHT.

Naturally, he's going to claim he knows more about your departure than you do. Naturally, he's going to claim that you're lying about your motivations. And naturally, he's never going to offer any proof. This is just another example of his journalistic skills in going after "the truth".

As a former reporter yourself, you're certainly qualified to judge bad journalism when you see it. But after all the years and all the libels he's slung, don't be surprised that he's remaining consistent and true to type.

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Getting this thread back on topic, recording has begun on our first episode of season seven, "Heavy Losses". This picks up where the cliff-hanging sixth season finale left off. The episode is being directed by Hidden Frontier veteran actress and director, Risha Denney, and was written by Carlos Pedraza. Primary photography is expected to occur on weekends over the next several weeks.

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Episode 701, "Heavy Losses" is now in post production.

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but the people making this 'effort' are belligerant, whiny and hopelessly vane about making this psuedo-show. They are constantly seeking any acceptance, while dealing out little of that to people who explain their errors to them.

Boy, that sounds like someone else, doesn't it? I can't quite think of who... or maybe I can... <-where's a "redshirt" icon when you want one?

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For that matter, what's your credentials, Forpiker? Oh wait, I know... you're one of those "actors" who's really an just a glorified extra...

Kool-Aid's yummy, BTW...

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C'mon, guys, let's try to keep it civil here. Imflammatory remarks only make the poster look bad to an intelligent, unbiased reader. And since the intelligent, unbiased reader is the theoretical audience for both sides of the argument, it behooves us to try and reach that reader without making them react with "Oops, the children are at it again!"

(It's also wise not to make posts of the sort "Any intelligent honest person will agree that . . ." Because if they don't agree, you've just called them an idiot, and you've just lost their empathy for your position.)

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Is that pompous ass STILL trolling us? And he has the nerve, after nearly seven years of obsessive behavior to call US "belligerent"? I hope the board moderators have built up enough evidence to have him thrown from the board by now.

Well, for those who actually want to talk about Hidden Frontier's seventh season, it might interest you to know that the rough cut of 701, "Heavy Losses", is complete, and is being sent to the director for review. Which means it should be available for release soon.

The usual way our episodes are released is for a "sneak preview" to be released during our weekly Monday night chats. Shortly after that, it gets released to newsletter subscribers. And finally, it becomes available to the general public.

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"If the makers of Star Trek can accept Hidden Frontier enough to put them into the OFFICIAL Star Trek Magazine, then dont you think you can accept them as well?"

He has a personal grudge against HF in general and certain crew members in specific. If we were the greatest thing since sliced bread and somehow managed to win an Academy Award(tm), he'd still find something about us to complain vociferously about. That's one of the two things we object to about his criticisms: it's not that his criticisms are so viciously phrased, which is bad enough, but that they are a cover for his actual agenda. His agenda is solely to get "revenge" on us for a perceived wrong. (Part of the wrong we've done him is to not show nearly as much respect for his accomplishments as a stand-in and occasional actor as he feels he deserves.)

Here's an example where his personal Bible, "Variety", wrote something complimentary about us. It is his opinion that anything nice about us cannot remain uncontested, so he wrote his attack letters, even going so far as to accuse the author of being a compensated agent for HF, to his face. (Oops! Sorry! I forgot to put in the link. Here it is: http://www2.variety.com/discussions/forum_posts.asp?TID=84&PN=1&get=last )

Note also his comment: "This hyperbole is too much to accept for most sci-fi fans." How does he know what "most" SF fans, or even what "most" Star Trek fans think? Has he ever done a formal poll? No, he only knows that Hidden Frontier has received a half-dozen to a dozen bad reviews on the web and that HE doesn't like us. To him, that constitutes a majority, despite the 2000 plus members on our BBS, or the 11,000 plus people who regularly download the episodes.

Something else while considering the "balance" of his reporting. He'll quite cheerfully boast about having one of my LJs removed because it said nasty things about him. True enough, as far as it goes. What he never volunteers while reporting this fact is that I had two of his LJs removed for saying equally nasty (and untruthful to boot) things about me. THAT is his idea of "balanced reporting". NOT all the facts on both sides, but all the facts that make him look good. The rest of his "facts" tend to be unsupported hyperbole he made up on the spot like the comment about "most Sci-Fi fans".

Oh, and never concede that you're wrong on even the tiniest part or that he's right about the tiniest part, even when true. Why? Because he'll then start claiming that because one part is wrong, it's all wrong. Or because that you've conceded he's right about one thing, he's right about everything. Another example of his idea of 'balance.'

Now. Can we please get back to actually discussing the show instead of each other?

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Well, I for one am looking forward to the new season of HF. Can't wait to see what happens next. Keep up the good work people.

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Thanks, Umpire, we'll do our best to keep you interested. I'm told that this episode's blooper reel was made available during the weekly chat's sneak preview, so the episode itself can't be far behind. We're going to being taping soon for the season's second episode.

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Episode 701, "Heavy Losses", had a sneak premiere during the Monday night chat. Next, the link goes out to newsletter subscribers, and finally, to the general public.

Initial reviews have been favorable.

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Sitting with my email program open, waiting for the newsletter.

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You should have received the newsletter by now. If not, go to www.hiddenfrontier.com and look for the links to contact the newsletter editor and inform them of the problem.

It's a pretty short newsletter, this time out, with little more than the download link. I guess you'd call it a Episode Release Special Edition.

Enjoy!

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Yep got it. Awsome episode. Well acted and directed. Special effects were top notch in high res.

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It's a shame that he's still here. He's never learned to simply make his point and drop it. No, like some sixteenth century missionary, he's out to make CONVERTS, at swordpoint if need be. And like a missionary of any sort, you're 100% for him, or you are 100% a heretic. No doubts or questionings allowed.

His claim to be unbiased is ludicrous, of course. He's at least as biased as I am, if not more so. One of our numerous differences is that I never try to convince anyone I'm unbiased.

Another difference is that where possible, I try to supply proof of my claims. I never use a link to one of my own websites or blogs, even if I'm using another name there. I don't believe in the self-referential posts that basically say "I'm telling the truth, and to support it, let me link to one of my websites where I say exactly the same thing as I said here, which proves that I'm right." If Gabe Koerner or Glenn Harrison said something against HF, give a link to their website or blog where they said it, or offer to pass on a message to them containing your email address so they can reply for themselves. It's too easy to put words in someone's mouth when you won't let them speak for themselves.

But that's more than enough about the differences between Genovese and myself. In case any individual needs reminding, this thread is not about Genovese or myself, it's about Hidden Frontier's seventh (and final) season. Anything else is off-topic and should be disregarded.

Appropos of this thread's actual purpose, episode 702, "Bound", is in post-production and should be available before the end of the month. Principal photography on 703, "Past Sins" has already begun. Due to actor availability issues, a few scenes from other episodes were also taped that particular weekend. Actor availability issues were also behind recent recastings. (Don't worry, the main characters are still played by the same people as last year. [grin] Although those main characters can expect things to get more complex before they get simpler.)

Keep on Trekkin',

John A. Whiting

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If Genovese could debate in a civilized manner, then sure - but it's obvious that he can't, as evidenced here and elsewhere...


If he can't, or won't, it just makes him look even worse by contrast. That's scarcely my problem. [grin]

At some level, I feel sorry for him, living in his cloud of hate, taking out his career frustrations on those who are having fun and getting more recognition than him... and it's not just you guys - apparently he's now looking for ways to go after the New Voyages crew, since the fact that real Trek actors are appearing on the show has apparently really gotten under his skin, and he's carping about how this violates all kinds of SAG rules... it's almost like he can't accept that fans can do well without being "professional" like him...


I'd be able to feel sorry for him too, if it weren't for the fact his mental state clearly makes him a danger to my friends.

Going after New Voyages? Well, now we know what he'll do for a hobby when Hidden Frontier has ended.

He does have some peculiar notions about professionals and professionalism. Past conversations seem to indicate that somehow the simple act of getting paid somehow makes you worthy of getting paid, and that not getting paid makes you somehow unworthy of ever getting paid. It's as if he's never seen craftsmen unworthy of their hire before. (And yet he has: he has a lot of nasty things to say about the professionalism of the Spawn crew.)

He's also demonstrated this rather elitest attitude that the meanest, lowest wage-slave in the industry is not only better than the best of their amateur counterparts, but considerably better. His worldview doesn't seem to permit the notion that there are amateurs good enough to be professionals and professionals who are not worthy of being paid. Probably because that means ANYONE can join, and he wouldn't be "special" any more.

Certainly I've seen amateurs who had more professionalism than some of their "professional" counterparts.

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First, our loyal chatters got a sneak peek at it. Then, the newsletter subscribers got their link to it. Now, episode 701, "Heavy Losses" is available to everyone. Just go to www.Hiddenfrontier.org and follow the episode links to download.

Hope you all enjoy it!

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The latest newsletter is out, and with it, the links to our latest, episode 702, "Bound". Release to the general public should follow in about a week.

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Didn't enjoy this episode as much as the last, not a particular fan of the subplot that took centre stage. Still well written and more great CGI. Acting very good from Bobby Rice as Ro.

Just watched the special edition of Two Hours. Great to see an early episode and characters like Martinez in promenant roles in high res. I'd almost forgotten how good some of the early episodes were.

Good work.

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[nodding] I can understand that. That particular subplot is not everyone's cup of tea.

Two Hours has a special place in my heart, despite being a time travel story. I could wish that my own performance was a bit better, but I was brought in more or less at the last minute. And I've learned so much since those days, including a more effective way of memorizing my lines.

I'm glad that you enjoyed it, and I hope that the remaining episodes of the seventh season continue to please.

John Whiting

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'Bound' was pretty much the dullest episode i've seen yet, what was the point to it, really? Better acting could have been done by setting up cardboard cutouts in front of the green screen as far as the aster scenes went. And the whole klingon 'brotherly bonding' thing seemed self-indulgent and a gratituous way to say 'hey, we can have gay klingons and make jokes about their ridged members - and get someone laid.'

i could care less about homosexual storylines, a straight character, a gay character, or a character with four husbands and seven wives is still a character, but please don't pull off some contrived ritual malarky and then beat us over the heads with it.

This one gets hit with a solid D in my book, only Knapp and Tolian's scenes really salvage it for me, but not enough to keep me from flushing this one down the cosmic tidy bowl of recycle bin oblivion.

Hopefully this will not be an indicator of the rest of the season, because this one stunk more than a targ's behind.

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Perhaps you want to visit our website http://www.hiddenfrontier.com and make your feelings known to the writing and production staff.

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I didn't see anything by Thalek that constitutes an attack on my person, and if I had then I am more than experienced at message board flamefights.

I also don't need others putting words in my mouth and reinterpreting my phrasings for me, thank you.

What I meant by my commentary on 'Bound' was that I did see some scenes that salvaged the episode for me to not write it off as a total loss, but didn't see it worthy of keeping on my hard drive, so i 'flushed it down the cosmic tidy bowl.'

The Good: Tolian Naros' Scenes and Knapps Scenes

The Bad: Most of the rest of the acting, Lefler being on the bridge instead of the engineering room where she belongs, IMHO.

The Juvenile: Klingon ridged member comments, that was just...the locker room type of crude humor, and yes i checked the HF forums, which had an abundance of love for that tidbit, and the commentary there seemed rather juvenile about it as well. I like locker room humor in movies like porky's, american pie, etc.etc, straight or otherwise, just not in Star Trek.

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"It's almost funny to watch him [] , in a pathetic loser kind of way..."

Actually, I find him both pitiable and pitiful. If I hadn't gotten psychiatric help, it's vaguely possible that I would have ended up just like him. But there are two unfortunate facts that never ever let me be amused by this: One, he will never seek out psychiatric help because he genuinely believes that he is not the one with the problem, despite all evidence to the contrary. Two, something like 75% of all stalkers eventually go from long-distance harassment to physical harassment and even violence. Because of the latter, I keep my new address confidential, my weapons close to hand, my shooting skills up to date, and my glasses prescription current. If he ever manages to break into my home, I want him to meet as thoroughly unfriendly a reception as I can manage.

But, let's take a quick look at the title of this thread. It is NOT the Genovese is a Star and a God thread. It is not the Genovese is a Laughingstock thread. In fact, there is no mention of Genovese in it at all. It is about the seventh and final season of the fan-made series, Star Trek: Hidden Frontier. This also means it is not the Hidden Frontier's Staff has Different Lifestyles than I Approve of so They Must Be Evil and Degenerate thread, either.

If your post attacks Genovese, it's off-topic. If it attacks the staff of Hidden Frontier, it's off-topic. If it's yet another cut and paste post about copyright law, it's still off-topic. Stick with the thread, or stop wasting your bandwidth.

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Our second episode of the season, "Bound", is now out for general distribution. It can be downloaded from several mirror sites via the link at http://www.hiddenfrontier.org.

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Our third episode, "Past Sins", is now in wide distribution at http://www.hiddenfrontier.org

Our fourth episode is currently taping. Not having the current shooting schedule in hand, I don't know when it will finish taping, nor when it will be distributed.

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Episode 704, "Hearts and Minds", has finished lensing and should be available to newsletter subscribers as a sneak peek fairly soon. You can sign up for the newsletter at http://www.hiddenfrontier.org.

I'm told that the blooper reels for "Hearts and Minds" should be available in next week's chat (7/31/06, 19:00 PDT) as a sneak peek.

Reminder: people who show up in chat get first crack at our videos, followed by the newsletter subscribers, and then the videos become available to the general public. In this way we can reward our loyal viewers by giving them the first view. The only person who gets to see the final draft sooner than people at the chat is our editor. <grin>

John A. Whiting

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Episode 704, "Hearts and Minds", is now available to the general public at http://www.hiddenfrontier.org. Click on 'Episodes' and choose Season Seven. Further download instructions are there on the site.

Episodes 705 and 705 are in concurrent production to make it easier for our non-local actors by reducing the number of times they need to fly in to tape. As the episodes become available, I'll report so here.

Our final two episodes are tentatively scheduled to go into production early in 2007.

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On the other hand, we would appear to finally have an indirect confession that ForPike and Oscar-35 are one and the same, as ForPike complains that people are apparently not bothering to read the link "that I provided", the link that was actually provided by Oscar-35.

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I'd say that falls into the "oops" category

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I thought the real point was that I'm supposed to be a liar.

That you lied by putting words in my mouth, and then "proved" those words were false. That you got caught at it. Kinda weakens your contention that I'm a liar, doesn't it? Kinda weakens your credibility even further, doesn't it?

Or perhaps I need you to tell me what the "real point" was, if it wasn't to "prove" I'm a liar?

Yes, the three of us are still friends. I'm also still friends with Jim, Camin, the entire cast and crew of Hidden Frontier, the author of Great Starship Robbery, the former webmaster for Hidden Frontier, Jay Smith, Janet Wilson, Bridget Landry, Jim and Kathy Pillsbury . . . who else do you want to know that I'm still friends with? I bet I'd be good friends with your ex-wife, Elizabeth, too. She and I could probably spend hours telling our favorite Tony stories and laughing.

But that's a bit off-topic. What is this "real point" you were trying to make that caused you to create a lie and then "disprove" the lie? How did I somehow miss this "real point" while I was too busy proving that you'd lied about me yet again?

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[nodding] It's just plain STUPID to tell a lie that anyone can verify as being a lie. It's a lot like the time he claimed that Rob had pointed a gun at Jason Munoz when any one of us could easily ask Jason what the truth was. Very, very stupid.

I wish the admins would just perma-ban him and get it over with. He has never once contributed anything useful to ANY conversation about Hidden Frontier.

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Yet another ad hominem attack by the guy who begs, nay, DEMANDS that others not make ad hominem attacks on him. I'm tempted to not ask the moderators to remove it, just so his hypocrisy remains here, obvious to even a casual observer. Tony, I'm going to quote your own entry on my Live Journal here: "Sometimes it is just time to shutup and you blew it here."

As an alternative, I could always subject him to ridicule by posting a link to his own website, where he has Photoshopped a picture of himself on top of someone who has earned an Oscar award.

And of course, the man who complains that the threads are constantly being dragged off-topic (while simultaneously complaining that I'm usurping authority I don't have when I try to drag them back on-topic), has once again made an off-topic post.

Come on, Tony, defend yourself on this one: exactly HOW is this cartoon relevant to Hidden Frontier's final season? Let's hear your reasoning on just how this personal attack on me furthers a discussion of Hidden Frontier's seventh season.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEX4iLkERKg

This is a lovely tribute to the various romantic story arcs in Hidden Frontier. Homophobes and heterophobes should stay away: you WILL see material you don't like. Non-bigots will have plenty to enjoy.

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A whimsical look at Hidden Frontier utilizing the General Hospital theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N558scQVaBo&mode=related&search= Warning: may contain material that homophobes or heterophobes may find distasteful.

These two contain spoilers if you haven't seen the episodes involved yet:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2YeGZvkv9Y&mode=related&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqcrsmXLOZc&mode=related&search=

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I remember seeing the General Hospital one a while back. Quite amusing. :)

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I wonder who Laura is, and where she's posted this? She certainly didn't mention it on the HF board. I guess she wasn't willing to "speak out" to the show's actual creators.

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