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Site Log
Most recent (archived) news at the top.10 December 2002 - Another month, another update, and again this is quite a significant one. As I recently did with the old ships page (see below) I decided to take the old characters page in the overview section and expand on it while at the same time giving it more visibiliy in the site's structure. So basically I've merged the old format of having images of the characters and brief biographies into what used to be just the voice actors section. The result is that each of the main characters get a page to themselves, plus a bigger image. This actually took longer to do than I'd thought it would as I ended up writing new material, creating new images and editing the pre-existing voice actors material. However, the result is pretty comprehensive and includes new external links for the voice actors where possible. Oh, and this past month also saw the release of the Japanese X-Bomber series on DVD...
9 November 2002 - Well, it's been a little while since I noted changes here so I'd better pull my finger out! In October the promised revamp of the episode guide took place. This was much larger in scope than I'd originally planned, in that I not only split all of the episodes onto individual pages but also added literally hundreds of images to my guide to make it a more colourful retelling of the original story. It also now links in to multimedia files, and to some extent will be a work in progress as I re-write some of it. At the time of writing, the big news is the all new Mecha section. My aim in putting it together was to replace the old Ships page in the overview section which was far too detailed to be an overview page and dated back to a time when the site was quite young. The new section includes far more imagery from the series and hopefully covers the majority of the ships, weapons and vehicles seen in the show - it's effectively a Star Fleet Technical Manual. As always, keep an eye on the forum for the latest developments.
1 September 2002 - Several changes and additions, the largest being on the multimedia front. You can now find a whole pool of 80s cartoon intros at the new 80s Multimedia page - all the ones I've recently produced for pages on the site and more besides. Whilst I was in the mood, I also looked at the Star Fleet videos situation and decided that I could do better. So some of the older AVI files are gone, having been replaced with shiny new WMV files mainly from episodes 4 and 5. They're longer, and higher resolution, but it's a streaming format so you might notice some glitches when things speed up. The same is true for the 80s intros. I've also extended the SFX article with a contribution from Shane and I'm gradually revising the episode guide to make the language a little more flowing than it currently is. Once I've sorted through these changes I'll be turning my attention back towards the 3D side of things for Genesis. As always, it's worth monitoring the forum for the latest updates.
18 August 2002 - Sorted out a few thing for this update, and planning for more. You can now find new videos on the site in the animated section of Other 80s Stuff - Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors and Ulysses 31, as well as a new section on the Centurions! My article on Star Fleet has now become part of the edited guide of the h2g2 project - you can read it here. Hello to those visiting from there! The Star Fleet Genesis project has become quite active over the last couple of weeks - read the Genesis forum for the latest developments.
14 July 2002 - Haven't updated this page for a while as I've mainly been maintaining the site lately, rather than adding to it as such. However, I've finally gotten round to making the section logos link to the section indices, and in a much simpler way than I originally had planned. Couple of new pages are planned, probably a little later this week if I pull my finger out. Oh, and of course the T Shirt is now available! Oh, and my article on Star Fleet for h2g2 has been accepted for entry into the edite guide - read it here.
26 May 2002 - After some fun and games with my domain name earlier this month, it's probably time for an update while the site's still visible! So this month sees the Animated section of 80SFXB get a little bigger with the addition of Thunderbirds 2086, another animated show of Star Fleet's era which was a clandestine anime. In more general news, it looks as if Brian May himself may have signed my guestbook although I can't confirm or deny that one way or another, but you can look for yourself! Plus Star Fleet T Shirts should soon be in the offing...
24 April 2002 - Well, quite a few major additions this month. After several months of thinking about it, the Action Shows portion of 80SFXB finally pops into being. I'd been planning on getting it together for quite a while, but it's only latterly that I had enough material to do it with. Similarly, with the arrival of some new magazines and with my new scanner raring to go, the old Origins section has been split into the pre-existing Interviews and an Articles section which now includes some new material as well as the Manga Max article. On top of all that, I've also identified and fixed some minor niggles with the Next/Back functionality. I'll now be considering how the various sections inter-connect with one another and will also make more of the Forum by linking pages to relevant threads as and when they occur. But no real urgency on that front, as the Forum's searchable anyway...
24 March 2002 - New buttons to brighten things up a bit, plus a much larger addition to the site - see the Videos section for more details! Also, dug up some new links which haven't been added to the site just yet; see the Show forum for up-to-date information. With all the "new look" elements in place and a 2 week course coming up the site'll probably be fairly static for a little while now...
20 March 2002 - What are hopefully the final tweaks to the layout have now been completed; the new buttons Next and Back follow the Pathway through the site, so you can read the entire site as you would a book, basically. Plus, added in a search function courtesy of Google which you can get to from every page. Should help you pin down anything you want on the site, and elsewhere. Turned out Homesite (similar to Dreamweaver but hand coding only) didn't do quite what I wanted it to, so I'm sticking with my old faithful Pagebuilder. The advantage of the new layout and approach is that I can have more content-tied ads in the right hand column - bit more work, but they're all stuff I like and which, hopefully, you'd like too!
5 March 2002 - Following a shift over to my new Windows XP box, I've carried out a major layout overhaul, giving myself more flexibility - partly with a view to moving the management of the site over to a different authoring package. Also because I'm trying to spice the site up a little now that I have better creative tools to play with! With the move completed I've also caught up on some updates - Paul Green's interview now includes images from the annuals he helped to create and the Star Fleet Genesis gallery has now been updated to reflect the recent creative work on the 3D side of things. Still a few things to add, but I'll be waiting on a little feedback for the time being... Plus I have a lot of games to catch up on!
10 February 2002 - Brand new page for the first time in a while, featuring an article with Paul Green who illustrated the Star Fleet and Terrahawks annuals. Looking at navigating around the site again now that it's reaching a state of stability once again. So a few tweaks to come over the next month or so...
27 January 2002 - Another presentation update, on a bit of a whim really. Ever since calling the site SFXB I've felt that I needed a new logo that reflected the name - so I've finally got round to making one, post Genesis. I've also taken the opportunity to redesign my top navigation bar at the same time; takes a bit of getting used to but it's quite neat and I think people will like the rollover effect. Also added all the largest sections onto the dropdown list which wasn't quite complete before. Also added in some new ads earlier in the week to improve visibility of affiliate schemes on the site, and refreshed some of the older ads.
17 January 2002 - Not a content update, so much as a presentation update. Thanks to work upgrading to Internet Explorer 6 I became aware of some issues with the latest version of Microsoft's browser - like the fact that it messed some elements of this site up! So as a result I've done some reading and rather belatedly opted to use CSS - Cascading Style Sheets - more heavily. One's been used with the site more or less from the get-go, but now that more browsers are CSS compliant I'm using a few more features. This does mean that some older browsers won't display the site quite as well, but it should all still be understandable - I hope! Please let me know if it isn't - the forum has a feedback section.
30 December 2001 - Very early in the AM! Well, looking down this page I see I've been writing Star Fleet Genesis for a good five months - more like six when I take into account the planning. And here it is done! Chapters 12, 13, 14 and 15 were written very intensively over the past couple of days as a lot of thought had gone into them over the Christmas break. Not quite the end of the story, of course, but I'll be adding some afterthoughts in 2002...
10 December 2001 - Things start to get interesting in Star Fleet Genesis Chapter 11, Dark Zenith! Forum seems to be going down well too...
9 December 2001 - To reflect the breadth of interest the show is now producing, plus the gradual expansion of SFXB to include other 80s shows, I've brought the forum onto the site's server - and it's a very different style to the original. However, it should provide a better forum in many respects and I hope people will enjoy using it. Plenty of Star Fleet avatars have been provided!
3 December 2001 - Spurred on by exciting new pictures on Big Dai-X and a cracking Farscape episode the next Genesis chapter is produced just 7 days after the last one! Can't believe I started writing back in July and I've only just done chapter 10! Still, rolling in on the climax now - might finish it before the New Year, but no promises!
26 November 2001 - Managed to write another Genesis chapter - only 9 days since the last one, not bad going! I'll try and keep the momentum going...
17 November 2001 - Well overdue - wrote and added the next chapter of Star Fleet Genesis featuring the return of a familiar face...
12 November 2001 - Added a Guestbook to the site for the first time, and have also been standardising some graphics and doing other minor tweaks. Planning more content for the 80s section.
25 October 2001 - The start of the Other 80s Stuff section, with Terrahawks, Ulysses 31, Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors and Thundercats covered just for starters!
8 October 2001 - Finally managed to upload the next Star Fleet Genesis chapters. Also, in response to some requests on the forum, created and uploaded some new wallpapers for the gallery pages. Bigger than average, but then my monitor's ancient...!
15 September 2001 - A few things in the past month. Most notably, new artwork from Steve Kyte, the illustrator of the Manga Max article, is now available on site. Also got round to writing and putting up the next Star Fleet Genesis chapter. Somewhere around this time I should also have mentioned the excellent new colour storyboards provided by Shane - see the storyboards page for more info.
17 August 2001 - Totally out of the blue, I managed to find and speak with Louis Elman who produced and directed the definitive English version of Star Fleet! Now THAT'S news!
11 August 2001 - Uploaded the second part of Star Fleet Genesis and amended some of the gallery pages' layouts for the first time in a couple of years! More tinkering will be carried out over the weekend, time permitting...
29 July 2001 - It's bl**dy hot! Before my machine melted I managed to post the first parts of the Star Fleet Genesis Storyline which will be the major work in progress here for some time. Some other small additions elsewhere.
15 July 2001 - New Music Gallery page added following some hunting on Ebay, plus some more additions to the Star Fleet Genesis project pages.
2 July 2001 - Cleaned up some errors arising from the shake up and added a new Star Fleet Genesis logo provided out of the blue by David Balson. Extended the idea of paths to create a Pathway through the entire site.
1 July 2001 - Major shake up of the structure of the site, with the inclusion of some updated material and extra video files. Created "paths" through the larger sections. Added web ring. Also marks the beginning of the Star Fleet Genesis project.
23 June 2001 - Following a move to a bigger server, you can now find more Multimedia Files on the site! Please register with BlackStar to help me fund the expansion, or just click on an Ebay icon and then register with them. Thanks!
21 June 2001 - revised the front page somewhat, added in links to Enoki who hold the rights to the show internationally and are keen to get it re-released over here. Other edits to some other pages.
20 June 2001 - Following the blocking of an IP address forum becomes unmoderated again.
19 June 2001 - following requests on the forum, have removed a link and some other details from the site. The forum will also be moderated for the time being.
11 June 2001 - fixed an absolute clanger on the site which no-one seemed to have noticed (phew!) and added some new San Ku Kai comic images to the miscellaneous gallery page courtesy of Eric DeBock. With a view to adding in some more video cover scans I'll probably split the gallery down at some point in the future, as the miscellaneous page is getting a bit crowded now...
27 May 2001 - following comments on the discussion forum, I've tidied up the navigation through the site so that it's very close to the Archipelago's again. I've also split the episode guide page up into 4 separate pages, as the single page was so large. Also done some minor content updates - new midi files, revised Actor information, amendend links.
22 May 2001 - this site is now a self contained entity, having previously been part of the Adamantium Archipelago my general homepage. This was something of an impulse move, although I'd been pondering the possibility for a while. When the idea of using a nice short URL, SFXB, came into my head I decided it was time to go for it. For the time being the site can still be reached through the original URLs, but it will probably end up being hosted elsewhere - it already has the new URL - http://www.sfxb.co.uk/ - which you should use to replace your existing bookmarks as this will be the new permanent address. Any comments you have to make on this site following its "birth" would be welcome - get in touch.
If you haven't been here before then you won't be surprised - but if you have, then you're probably a bit confused! Don't worry, you'll get used to it! Basically the site is now grouped into three sections - About the Show, Multimedia and About SFXB which is the section you're in. Some elements of the old site remain so it shouldn't be a total shock...!
28/4/01 - Restructured the links page and added a few new links. The discussion forum settings have also been modified, so don't be surprised if it looks more stylish than you're used too!
21/4/01 - Significant additions to, and restructuring of, the gallery pages - more screen grabs plus lots of Look In strips, covers and centre page spreads. Also added links to off site images on various Japanese and Italian sites. Have an explore...
16/4/01 - Added an all new Episode Guide to the site; more new images on the way once I've freed up some space. Also, didn't have time to put the info in at the time when I did the update, but there are some very interesting new photos on Toru's page showing some of the models used in the making of the series. Well worth a look!
5/4/01 - Added some more links into the links and multimedia sections, having found a video of the Star Fleet opening sequence in French, complete with the French soundtrack and original Japanese credits which don't appear on the English version anywhere...
27/2/01 - Added a new page about Toru Kubo who worked on the crew of X-Bomber and played the Imperial Master, one of only 2 puppets (the other being Dai-X) which were also represented using men in suits. Includes photographs from the production studio itself!
07/2/01 - Added a few new links and corrected the Voice Actor information for Captain Carter - the bloke concerned also played Biggs in Star Wars IV: A New Hope and is married to Princess Lamia! Thanks to Derek Tate and others who updated that bit of information.
14/1/01 - Keeping the momentum going, you can now find the full text of the Manga Max article mentioned below on this site. Artwork will be added in due course. The article details the full history of the series using Japanese source material, and also includes an episode guide. Many thanks to Steve Kyte for this major contribution which rounds out my more informal look at the series with hard facts.
03/1/01 - As part of an overall site revamp, finally completed Toby Thorp's Voice Actor Information contribution. Also added new information on obtaining Star Fleet video material, along with a few other new bits and pieces. Battle of the Planets fans should note that you can now buy tapes released by Mollin, who are looking into getting Star Fleet out on tape as well.
28/6/00 - Voice Actor Information section added, courtesy of Toby Thorp.
23/4/00 - Cover of the 1984 annual put in the Miscellaneous Gallery section, courtesy of www.tastoy.com.
21/4/00 - Manga Max Issue 17 features a large article on Star Fleet - I'm not going into it here because you won't buy the magazine if I do! Plus, messing around with a few counters until the location change is registered on the main referral sites...
Last updated 14 December 2013
