EVA-Trek [NGE x Star Trek]

[Allansfirebird]

EVA-TREK

"Episode 103 Preview"​

FADE IN:

A WHITE SCREEN

With a TITLE: "Next Episode." Music OVER.

MISATO (V.O.)​

Next time, on EVA-Trek...​

CUT TO:​

EXT. ORBIT - NERV (OPTICAL)

She sweeps in toward a beautiful blue-green world.

MISATO (V.O.)​

The Nerv is rerouted for a cargo drop-​

off at a Federation colony...​

CUT TO:​

INT. CORRIDOR

Misato confronts Mari.

MISATO (V.O.)​

However, tensions are mounting between​

Misato and Dr. Amagi, catching the interest​

of Counselor Makinami.​

​

MISATO​

(to Mari)​

You will not interfere, and consider that an​

order!​

CUT TO:​

CLOSE-UP - HITOMI

She sighs, massages her temples.

CUT TO:​

MED. SHOT

Sakura yells at an irritated Touji while Shinji, Rei, Hikari, Kensuke, and Mana look on.

MISATO (V.O.)​

Meanwhile, things aren't much better for​

Shinji and his class.​

​

SAKURA​

(to Touji)​

You beat up Shinji?!​

CUT TO:​

EXT. ORBIT (OPTICAL)

Shamshel approaches.

MISATO (V.O.)​

Unfortunately for everyone, another angel​

appears.​

CUT TO:​

EXT. TAU CETI IV (OPTICAL)

The Hakone fights off Shamshel as the two, locked together in struggle, enter a rapid barrel roll.

MISATO (V.O.)​

Will Shinji be able to get it together in time​

to save the day?​

​

CUT TO:​

INT. BRIDGE

Misato looks on in concern as we can hear Shinji SCREAMING on comms.

MISATO (V.O.)​

Find out next time on EVA-Trek, episode 3...​

​

CUT TO:​

WHITE SCREEN

With the TITLE: "Fraternity"

MISATO (V.O.)​

"Fraternity." Stay tuned for no guarantee of​

fan-service!​

FADE OUT.
​

 

[Allansfirebird]

Welcome back (sorta) to EVA-Trek, everyone! We're a month into the writer's strike, and there looks to be little-to-no change in the negotiations. On the bright side, SAG-AFTRA (the actor's guild) has voted in favor of a strike authorization, and there's a lot of pushback within the Director's Guild against the dubious "historical" agreement their negotiators made with the AMPTP. Should make for an interesting summer if the DGA ends up having no writers or actors to make their films and shows with.

If you're interested in showing support for the various unions against corporate greed, please consider donating to the Entertainment Community Fund. It'll go a long way to helping writers (and potentially actors) during this time until they're able to get back to work.

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This month, as I previously said, there's not going to be a new episode posted in solidarity with the WGA. What I'm going to do instead is crack open the EVA-Trek vault back to the beginning. From the start, I treated the show as if I were creating a television series, and during development of pilot episode and concept, a vital document I needed to create was a writer's guide, or show bible. In the television industry, a bible outlines the characters, plots, settings, and the overall themes for the series. Many times, the bible is part of the package that writers use to pitch the show to the network, but then continues to evolve and change over the life of the show once it's been picked up.

The first draft of the series bible was completed in November, 2021, with another couple of polishes over the next couple months. The "final" draft came shortly after finishing the first draft of "New Way Home," the pilot episode, and acted as a main springboard for the characterizations of my treatment of the Evangelion cast. This version you see here is a cut-down version of that from last summer, which pruned about 15 pages of spoilers from the 56-page document. Following the series finale, I'll post that full version, along with the Series Arc Notes document that had my initial rough ideas for every episode.

And now, without further ado, here is the July 16, 2022 Revised Final Draft of the EVA-Trek Writer's Guide, by me, based on the Star Trek: TNG writer's guide by Gene Roddenberry and David Gerrold.



------

These are the voyages of the starship Nerv.
Its continuing mission: to develop "Project E"
to protect and defend the Federation from any threat
to seek out and stop the menacing lifeforms known as "angels."


THE MISSION OF THE USS NERV

STARFLEET OPERATING ORDERS:

STARSHIP: NERV
DESIGNATION: NCC-71855
COMMANDING OFFICER: CAPTAIN GENDO IKARI
STARDATE: 48200.2

SHIP'S MISSION:

To provide for Earth/Federation security.
To seek out and engage the lifeforms posing a threat to Earth, known as "angels."
To facilitate the continued development of Project E.
To expand the body of Federation knowledge.
To seek out new life, new civilizations.
To provide assistance as required to Earth/Federation colonies, commerce and travelers.


EVA-TREK

EVA-TREK is dated around the time of STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE's third and fourth season, the years 2271 and 2272. Tensions between the Federation and Dominion are beginning to heat up as a prelude to the inevitable war. In this section of the history, we find the characters of the NEON GENESIS EVANGELION franchise transplanted here as if they were always a part of the Prime Timeline.

The object of the series is to see the ways living in Trek's 24th century would benefit the characters, or in some ways, open them up to pitfalls they never would have suspected. Familiar faces we've known now for twenty-five years may appear differently, act differently, may even fight for different sides. In addition, we aim to see how the typical stations of the Eva canon could be integrated and make the struggles against the Angels and SEELE play out over the backdrop of the build-up to the Dominion War. Will our crew make it out alive with their sanity intact, or is history doomed to repeat itself?

Along the way, we should not forget that we are playing around in the Star Trek universe and that we are aboard a Federation starship patrolling the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. Remember that only 20% or so of the galaxy has been charted around the time of DS9.

If only one out of a million of the stars in the galaxy had worlds and if only one out of a million of these worlds were capable of supporting life, and if only one out of a million of those bore intelligent life, there would still be millions of inhabited worlds for us to visit.

So much for the question: "Are there any star Trek stories left?"


THE SCRIPT

What We Must Have:

• Action/Adventure/Drama Entertainment --
• Involving our Starship Crew and Vessel --
• Plus, once the above has captured the audience's attention, our usual comments about challenges which humanity now faces.

THE SCRIPT -- FORMAT

THE FORMAT of an Eva-Trek script is a TEASER and FIVE Acts.

The Teaser can run as long as 7 pages if necessary, but should not be shorter than 3. Each Act should be approximately 10-11 script pages long.

The total length of the First Draft script should not be more than 61-62 pages.

Because the style of the show is a fast-paced action/drama, long rambling scenes are to be avoided. The actual running time of each episode will be 43 minutes.

TAG:

We've fought against an angel or come across an interesting phenomenon. Having Captain Ikari order the ship to "warp out" at the end of each episode puts us in harm's way, dramatically speaking.

Our new optical effects shots of Nerv entering into warp speed last no more than a second or two overall. The ship appears to stretch like a rubber band, then snap forward and is gone from sight much too quickly to allow our composers to "button off" the end of the show with a proper music cue. We need to finish each show with a shot of the ship that lasts a lot longer than that.

The writing staff can help us in this regard by writing dialogue in the last scene that doesn't refer to speed. The Captain can order Hyuga to "set course for ________" or "take us out of here" or to "take us out of orbit" or whatever -- just so long as warp speed isn't specified. This gives us a chance to use any shot of the ship we want for as much screen time as we need.

EVA-TREK uses the narrative device of the ship's log to provide necessary exposition for our stories.

PERSONAL OR CAPTAIN'S LOG:

Since many episodes will follow from Shinji's point of view, the Personal Log is a voice-over supplement to the narrative of our story. In cases where Gendo drives the story, we would use a Captain's Log. Any other crew would use a Duty Officer's Log, or a similar title. Example: "Personal Log, stardate 48313.2. The Nerv is in final preparations to leave drydock..."

One purpose of the log entries is to move the story along rapidly and economically with a few words sometimes doing the work of several scenes. It also allows our characters to annotate their personal responses and feelings about a situation as it is occurring.

Log entries are ALWAYS introduced with a stardate.

STARDATES

A stardate is a five-digit number followed by a decimal point and one more digit. Example: "49110.4" The first digit of the stardate is always "4." The 4 stands for the 24th Century. The 9 indicates the year/season, relative to the start of TNG. In our case, it will go from "8" to "9" by the finale. The additional three leading digits will progress unevenly during the course of the season from 000 to 999. The digit following the decimal point is generally regarded as a day counter.

 

[Allansfirebird]

Turns out the Writer's Guide maxes out the number of characters in a single post, so I'll have to split it into separate posts.

THE STARSHIP NERV

THE U.S.S. NERV -- NCC-71855

One of the newer vessels of the Galaxy class, a sister ship with the Enterprise. Twice the length of the original starship Enterprise and thus approximately eight times the interior volume. (See cover illustration.) She retains much the same symmetry which includes an engineering module with twin nacelles and, of course, a great saucer-shaped command module. It is the home for over 700 people who live and work there over the course of its mission. (Unlike typical Galaxy-class vessels, the addition of Evangelion support areas in the saucer section reduces the crew and civilian complement.)


The Main Bridge

The COMMAND AREA of our Main Bridge is a semi-circle of control seats where the Captain Ikari, his next-in-command Fuyutsuki, and advisors are located.

On the stage-right side of the Bridge are three duty stations called STARBOARD CONSOLES. These three stations center on sciences, due to the nature of the NERV's missions. From fore to aft, these are:

• SCIENCE I. Used by researchers, science officer, mission specialists, and the like. Typically manned by Ritsuko whenever she is on bridge duty and during Evangelion operations.
• SCIENCE II. Additional console to allow researchers to interact with each other. Typically manned by Maya.
• SCIENCE III. Additional console. Typically un-manned.

The rear of the Bridge has a raised semi-circular area, separated from the Command Area by a railing which is also a set of console stations. This is the TACTICAL CONSOLE. At this position, Aoba plus any necessary assistants are responsible for weaponry, defensive devices (shields, etc.) plus ship's internal security.

The rear wall of the Bridge is an additional set of duty stations called AFT CONSOLES. From left to right (facing aft), these are:

• SCIENCE IV. Used by researchers, science officer, mission specialists, and the like. Typically unmanned.
• MISSION OPS. Used to monitor the routine activities of Away Teams. Evangelion operations are monitored at the forward OPS station. Typically manned by Ensign Kitakami.
• Life support and related environ-mental engineering functions. Typically manned by Lt. Nagara.
• ENGINEERING I. Supplemental console to com-plement ENGINEERING II. Typically manned by Ensign Tama.
• ENGINEERING II. This is a double-sized, major bridge station which includes control of matter and anti-matter engines. It is the center of Kaji's engineering functions when he is on the Bridge. It is capable of more than the other aft consoles. No one ever sits here except Kaji.

The stage-left side of the Bridge features three additional duty stations dedicated to Communications and will be typically unmanned except during battle operations. From fore to aft, these are:

• COMMUNICATIONS I. Primary station for management of external ship's communications. Functions usually assumed by Aoba at Tactical except during battle operations, when these functions are transferred to allow tactical to focus.
• COMMUNICATIONS II. Back-up station.
• COMMUNICATIONS III. Back-up station.

Just ahead of this are two FORWARD STATIONS, "OPS" and "CONN" positions.

• For vessel control and navigation. Usually manned by Hyuga but is occupied by a supernumerary when he's not on the Bridge.
• Evangelion and vessel operations. Position usually manned by Misato. Occasionally the job will be handled by a supernumerary when Misato is off-duty, on an away mission, or is elsewhere on the ship.

Also on the stage-left side of the Bridge are two Turbolifts and a door leading to the Captain's Ready Room. On the right side of the Bridge is a door leading to the Bridge head and washroom.

Main Viewer

The forward part of the Main Bridge is a large wall-sized holographic "viewer." This Main Viewer is usually on and will dominate the Bridge and the action as the original framed viewscreen could never do.

Spoiler

Observation Lounge

Just behind the Main Bridge is a large Conference Room lined with huge windows facing rearward and giving a spectacular view.

Spoiler

Captain's Ready Room

On the left side of the Main Bridge (facing forward) is a door leading to the Captain's Ready Room. It contains the Captain's private head and washroom.

The Ready Room is intended as a private office for the Captain, offering both a confidential and convenient place to work and rest; but it serves a second and equally important dramatic function: It can be used for personal and private conversations.

Spoiler

Turbolift

The Turbolifts allow our crewmembers to travel vertically and horizontally to any part of the Nerv. The interior is comfortable, relatively spacious cabin eight feet in diameter.

To use the Turbolift, a crewmember simply enters the compartment and speaks their destination aloud. Example: "Sickbay" or "Bridge." The Ship's computer will instantly compute the most direct route and send the Turbolift to the exit nearest the desired destination. Because the ship's computer is constantly monitoring the daily routines of our people (something that really bothers Kaji), there will be many times when it will know exactly where to deliver the Turbolift's passengers without their even having to say (but if it does need instructions it will ask for them).

Spoiler

Ten Forward

A dramatic set, located on Deck Ten-Forward where the star clusters of the Milky Way seem to be rushing in and under the huge window ports. In the 20th Century, it would have been called a bar and lounge and does serve a similar purpose on our Starship except for the fact that alcohol is no longer consumed by humans.

However, Ten-Forward treats the same kinds of needs; i.e., a place to physically relax, conditions where judgement can be relaxed, where reality and dreams mix, where varied beliefs and performance are accepted rather than tested. One thing that helps make this possible is a substance called synthehol which acts much like alcohol when consumed but with effects that can be dismissed from one's consciousness at will.

But Ten-Forward offers more than just that. It is not a duty station but a place where the crew can interact with their friends or meet new ones. We will see non-uniformed people there, but these will usually be crewmembers rather than family members or passengers (who have similar facilities available). Another plus here on this deck is varieties of drink and food taken from the best in the entire quadrant of the galaxy. Now and then we'll see something being served that looks rather spectacular.


Holodeck

On first view, the Holodeck appears to be simply a large, empty set – until its computer magic happens. Then, depending upon what has been programmed in, the Holodeck becomes anything that exists in the starship's vast library memory banks – jet-setting spy adventures, any number of sporting events, film noir private eyes, and so on.

If the Holodeck has a flaw, it may be that it is so rich in story possibilities that the producers must limit its use to three or four times a season in order to keep the subject matter of episodes as broad and varied as the series format deserves.

Spoiler

Sickbay

As in the Original Series, but vastly improved: a three-room complex including the CMO's office, a set of diagnostic beds with complete medical monitoring, and a state-of-the-art medical research facility.

Spoiler

Corridors

Again, as seen in the Original Series, but without the same battleship sterility. The new Corridors are wider and more friendly-looking and (as elsewhere) will include vegetation.

Spoiler

Senior Officer's Quarters

Each person (with notable exceptions) has personal quarters of their own. These quarters are much more spacious and livable than we have seen in the past. Each person's quarters will reflect their own background and tastes. (This will be a standard set, redressed as necessary.)

Spoiler

Junior Officer's Quarters

Slightly more compact than the Senior Officer's layout and also without windows to provide a view outside the ship. Officers below the grade of Commander occupy these still very livable layouts.

Spoiler

Transporter Rooms

There are several Transporter Rooms throughout the vessel. The one we will see most frequently will be an updated version of the original Transporter Room and, as before, a Transporter Chief stands at a separate console opposite the Transporter platform.

Spoiler

Main Engineering

Our Engineering room contains a huge matter/anti-matter blender. It is located near the base of the main module of the ship.


Stellar Cartography

An impressive two-story set featuring a near 360° backdrop display of whatever section of the galaxy that may need to be called into view. At the second level is a catwalk extending to a platform with a control panel in the center of the room where our characters can manipulate star charts and review data.


Jefferies Tube

An angled shaft containing electrical conduits and light-fiber cables, the Jefferies tube is large enough for a human being to crawl through. Jefferies Tubes provide direct access to various parts of the ship's control mechanisms and computer monitoring systems.


Shuttlecraft

The NERV Shuttlecraft are eight-and-a-half meters long, five-and-a-half wide and three meters high. They are comfortable landing vehicles for travel between the ship and a planet when the Transporter is not available or practical to use. The interior of the shuttle can seat eight passengers and two operators comfortably. The passenger would be removed to convert to a cargo or ambulance shuttle. They also have interplanetary capabilities but at a speed of only warp one.


Runabouts

The NERV has multiple Danube-class Runabout patrol ships stationed onboard which allow our characters to travel to numerous star systems in the immediate sector of the ship for longer periods than a shuttlecraft. These ships are twenty meters long, with impulse and warp capabilities, a maximum speed of warp 4.7. They're generally operated by a two-person crew, but a single pilot can control them if necessary. They can transport up to forty people, but that's a crowd. There are cramped, uncomfortable sleeping quarters for six people. A multi-purpose room for meetings and dining is located at the aft section.


Battle Bridge

In extreme emergency situations, the saucer section of the Nerv detaches ("saucer sep") from the warp drive section of the ship in order to seek safety, enabling the Captain and minimum crew to face the danger. Control of the warp section is maintained from the Battle Bridge, a much smaller auxiliary Bridge as compared to the Main Bridge. Like the Main Bridge, there is a Captain's Ready Room adjacent to the Battle Bridge.

Spoiler

Evangelions

40 meters in height, humanoid in general shape, the Starfleet-designed Evangelion-class mobile units are quite like the canon counterpart. They're designed for quicker-reaction close-combat situations against Angels that starships, shuttlecraft, and one-man fighters are just not designed for. Each unit of the Evangelion class are named for cities in Japan. The Nerv will carry three Evas early on in the show's run:

• USS Tokyo, MU-00. Piloted by Rei Ayanami. The pet project of Dr. Naoko Akagi before her death. MU-00, 01, and 02 were all designed and completed at the Daystrom Institute's Hakone branch. Following the accidents that happened to both doctors Ikari and Soryu, future construction contracts were agreed to be given to other shipyards as Daystrom-Hakone was informally thought to be cursed. A maximum of two Evangelion-class contracts are awarded to each shipyard, up through unit 13.
• USS Hakone, MU-01. Piloted by Shinji Ikari. Shinji's mother, Dr. Yui Ikari, was the lead designer for the Hakone.
• USS Kyoto, MU-02. Piloted by Asuka L. Soryu. Kyoko Z. Soryu was the assigned designer and developer for this unit.

Starfleet Evas are generally alike in their design. Only MU-00 has some different detailing as the protype model. The Evas, as is tradition in Starfleet, are a base naval gray in color, with the familiar "Aztec" patterns giving additional detail to the external structure. The major flashes of color will be the yellow denoting the thruster emplacements, robin's egg blue at the external plating hatch, and the familiar red in the typical Starfleet livery of identification logos and registry. The unit's name and registry number are printed on the upper shoulders and on the spinal column assembly below the plating hatch.

Hidden beneath external hull plating in the chest of the Eva is the familiar core, typically referred to as the "AI Core" in the show. The Evangelion lifeform itself is not affected by being in the vacuum of space, so the hull plating does not act as a spacesuit.

Pilots board a specialized entry plug system to connect and synchronize with the core AI of their assigned unit. Entry plugs are approximately 6 meters long and are inserted into the spinal area of the Evangelion via tractor beam. A hatch in the spinal hull plating opens to allow access to the entry plug tract. Once the plug has been seated into the entry tract, it is automatically pulled and locked into position by internal mechanisms. The plating hatch then reseals, adding a further layer of protection for the pilot inside.

The cockpit of the entry plug is designed like shuttlepods – a solitary, faux-leather textured seat with lumbar support and extra cushioning for the pilot's comfort (as well as a harness to keep the pilot safe during high-G maneuvers in battle), and an angular control panel. Behind the pilot are status readouts and emergency function panel for egress as well as isolinear chip access panels. To the pilot's front is a fully three-dimensional viewer that provides the pilot a nearly uninterrupted forward view.

Control of the Evangelion itself is done via neural connectors that are clipped in the pilot's hair. With the advanced technology of Trek's 24th century, there is no need for LCL to be a part of the pilot interface. The pilot handles all physical manipulation of the Eva via thought. Communications, weapons, management of life support are handled through the control panel in front of the pilot seat.

Communications inside the Eva can be done in two forms. In non-battle scenarios, the main viewing screen doubles as a comm screen. During a mission, holographic displays are generated above the control panel so as to not completely obscure the pilot's view. These displays can also show aft and/or oblique views via internal cameras in the Eva's structure. Sound-only communication is also possible through internal speakers in the cockpit.

Pilots board the entry plug from directly above the pilot seat – the orientation of the plug is perpendicular to typical deck plating. Due to the grav-plating in the plug, the occupant will automatically stand on the floor of the plug upon entry. Access to the plug consists of two doors – the inner door slides to the pilot's aft and the outer door slides to the pilot's left.

Evangelions are equipped with standard Starfleet defensive weaponry – phaser strips on the forearms, mini-photon torpedo launchers built into the shoulder/upper chest assembly. RCS thruster emplacements are located in strategic points across the hull plating – rear edges of the shoulder torpedo launcher assembly and the soles of the feet. Main propulsion is provided through an impulse engine integrated with the rear assembly, almost looking like a backpack on a typical Starfleet spacesuit. (NOTE: great care should be taken to ensure that it does not resemble the rocket pack of a Gundam or similar type of mecha. Rather than A.T. Fields, Evas utilize standard Starfleet deflector shields as starships.

The main shuttlebay complex in the Nerv is structured differently from the typical Galaxy-class starship to fit the holding cages and support facilities for the Evangelions. The units are stored standing up in the saucer section and launch from hatches in the dorsal of the saucer. Synchronization testing chambers are just off the shuttlebay. Eva simulations are done in a dedicated holodeck facility nearby to the testing chamber. Initial startup and synchronization testing on the Evas are never done aboard a starship after multiple incidents during the development process showed that the mobile units are safety hazards in enclosed spaces, as Ensign Ayanami can attest.

 

[Allansfirebird]

Our main cast:

CHARACTERS - EVANGELION PILOTS

Spoiler

Crewman Shinji Ikari

14, born June 6, 2358. Assigned pilot of MU-01. Son of Captain Gendo Ikari and Dr. Yui Ikari. Following Yui's death in a contact experiment, Gendo tried as best as he could to raise Shinji on his own, but ultimately, he was too broken of a man and too focused on his career as a Starfleet officer. Shinji was sent to live with his paternal grandparents on Earth. In the subsequent years since then, there's only been the sporadic communications and visits when Gendo was near Earth or for birthdays. The relationship between father and son is a bit warmer than in the original show, though a measure of distance remains between the two for having been living separately for so many years.

Shinji's personality and demeanor are mostly like the canonical EVA universe. However, by benefit of being in Trek's 24th century, Shinji is a bit more well-adjusted, capable of snark levels that can amuse, impress, and irritate just about anyone within his orbit. Shinji is certainly not a Wesley Crusher in the brains department, but he takes an almost scarily quick adaption to piloting an Evangelion that makes him rival the skills of Asuka, much to her annoyance.

Shinji's grandparents were a bit traditional in the age of the 24th century and generally tried to live their lives with as little technology as possible, outside of Shinji's schooling. Their home was partly a diner, with Shinji's grandmother being a rather renowned ramen chef in their corner of Kanagawa. Shinji's grandmother taught him how to cook from the moment he arrived at their doorstep as a way of bonding with him and trying to pull the shy and insular child out of his shell. There may not be many things that Shinji could distinctly point to as a passion, but cooking would be the closest. The next closest on that list would be his cello, something his grandfather encouraged Shinji take a stab at learning. Shinji's grandpa is a musician in the Tokyo Orchestra and one of the leading cellists on Earth, and he was eager to pass down those skills to his grandson just as his wife wanted to teach the boy to cook.

Being so young, Shinji doesn't quite have a direction he has in mind for his life as he gets older, music and cooking seem to be mere hobbies for him. The thought that he could turn one of those into a career someday doesn't quite compute for him. Before he's called up by his father to join the crew of the Nerv, Shinji is an average high-school freshman. He had no active aspirations to someday be a Starfleet officer like his father. Indeed, Shinji feels the responsibility of suddenly becoming an acting ensign rather overwhelming and finds difficulty dealing with it for a long time. Unfortunately for Shinji, this triggers his existing problem with anxiety and panic attacks in stressful situations.

Spoiler

Ensign Rei Ayanami

14, born March 30, 2358. Assigned pilot of MU-00. Background details and family information unclear. The official records state that Gendo encountered her as a homeless orphan during an away mission some years after his wife Yui's death and adopted her. Since then, she's lived with Gendo during each of his postings aboard various starships. What is known is that Rei is only part Human, meaning that she has certain strengths and abilities that exceed that of an ordinary teenaged girl. Thankfully, given that this is the 24th century, many of these abilities aren't looked upon as odd or strange, so she's not under as much pressure to keep them hidden (though there are still some abilities and secrets Rei has sworn to keep with her life).

Shinji initially resented Rei after learning about her adoption, but Gendo encouraged the two to talk as often as they could. Over the years, they've developed a friendly relationship. Indeed, it's this friendship that has also helped Gendo to keep in touch with his own son and try to prevent their relationship from going cold.

Rei seems rather reserved to those who don't know her. Some almost think she's a Vulcan without the ears. Once Shinji and Rei start spending more time together after he comes aboard, she starts to come out of her shell.

Though she's very capable as a pilot and an officer, Rei is still sent to school aboard the Nerv each week in an effort to give her as normal of a life as possible and to get her to socialize with others her age. This was done out of a measure of guilt from Gendo who always regretted not being able to give the same thing to his own son. Rei is quite intelligent, so she has to put forth little effort on assignments and tests to get excellent scores.

Spoiler

Lieutenant Junior Grade Asuka L. Soryu

14, born December 4, 2358. Assigned pilot of MU-02. Child prodigy and ace pilot, renowned throughout Starfleet for her rapid ascension through the Academy and pilot training. Asuka has an innate ability to figure out how to pilot just about any ship or shuttle within minutes of stepping into the cockpit for the first time, no matter what world it's from.

She's the daughter of Dr. Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu and Pieter Langley. Langley separated from Soryu not long following Asuka's birth and disappeared; his whereabouts are still unknown to this day. Asuka was orphaned following Kyoko's death from complications due to an experiment with MU-02. Briefly raised by associates of Dr. Soryu before she quickly showed academic aptitude and entered Starfleet Academy at the age of 10, declaring herself to be emancipated.

Asuka is still a tsundere in the finest fashion here. Overconfident, impatient, and a stickler for doing things her way. She finds it very difficult, if not impossible, to admit when she's in the wrong, often leading to contentious situations. Rumor has it she challenged a group of Klingons to a bat'leth competition during her third year at the academy and won. (Though, her prowess with the bat'leth belies a deeper psychological issue she refuses to discuss.) Her general attitude at the academy largely isolated her, leaving her alone and practically friendless.

Asuka graduates from Starfleet Academy with the rank of Lieutenant J.G., a feat that's rarely been accomplished since Jim Kirk graduated a century before. Indeed, she's the second person to have won the Kobayashi Maru simulation, and she didn't have to reprogram it to do it. She still got the commendation for original thinking, however.



CHARACTERS - U.S.S. NERV SENIOR OFFICERS

Spoiler

Commander Misato Katsuragi

29, born December 8, 2343. Chief Operations Officer of the USS NERV. Wears command red uniform instead of operations gold, much to the confusion of everyone aboard, including herself. Misato does an impressive Gendo impression at the drop of a hat... whenever he's not around. On duty, Misato is impeccable at her job and completely professional. It'll be little wonder that every ship in the fleet has her high on the list every time a first officer position comes open, but she turns them down – Misato loves what she does on the Nerv and can't bear to be separated from her friends and new family she's found there.

Misato is the daughter of Dr. Katsuragi, the science officer of the ill-fated USS Asimov that was destroyed during the Adam Incident 15 years before the start of the series. She's the only survivor of the ship's destruction, which left her with trauma that took some years to get through.

Misato's mother took care of her, refusing to let her be institutionalized in an antiseptic environment. This close and safe situation allowed Misato to gradually come out of her shell; she was able to make up for the time in school she missed and quickly enrolled in the Academy at the age of 19.

She quickly found her footing in the command track at the academy, making herself out to be a capable leader and outgoing friend to anyone. A personal point of pride for Misato is making friends with a severe introvert like Ritusko. On the other hand, a point of shame and regret is her time with Kaji. The relationship did not end pleasantly, and neither of them handled it well. Imagine her frustration the moment she realized she'd be serving alongside Kaji once again after she was assigned to the Nerv. Kaji and Misato will tease and push each other, giving and getting equally, though Kaji will usually get the upper hand.

Off duty, Misato is as big of a slob as ever, with her quarters looking like a disaster zone within a day if Shinji isn't around to keep it cleaned. Initially, she takes in Shinji because she feels sorry for the lonely child.

Spoiler

Captain Gendo Ikari

48, born April 29, 2324. Commanding officer of the USS NERV. As is tradition, Gendo is still a plotting, scheming, magnificent bastard. However, the distinction in this timeline is Gendo managed to deal with Yui's loss a bit more healthily and managed to keep his relationship with his own sanity and Shinji intact. As discussed, Gendo had Shinji live with family on Earth following Yui's accident, deciding it would be safer for the boy and him while Gendo continued his path to becoming a starship captain. Yui's death shattered him, and it took some time for Gendo to recover. He eventually dove into his work as a Starfleet officer to keep the memory of her loss from overtaking him.

Gendo is rather taciturn and often gruff, making much of the crew confused at how the hell he ever became or even wanted to be a starship captain. However, beneath that exterior, he's a sharp and decisive leader. Gendo cares for his crew and will protect them at all costs... he's just almost incapable of outwardly showing it. This behavior endears and frustrates the crew, with nearly everyone having their own Gendo impression of his signature stoic finger-tenting pose.

Gendo's relationship with Rei is a tad bit warmer since he adopted her and took her under his wing after "finding" her during an away mission not long after leaving Shinji on Earth. She's like a beloved daughter that he dotes over, and he'll go into papa bear mode whenever the topic of boys comes up.

From the start of the series, Gendo wears a VISOR of the same type sported by Geordi La Forge for all seven seasons of TNG. Whether we ever get down to explain how or when he acquired it has yet to be seen.

Spoiler

Commander (Doctor) Ritsuko Akagi

30, born November 21, 2342. Chief Science Officer and Head of Evangelion Development Project. Ritsuko is still the stoic, somewhat socially awkward genius as in the canonical timeline here. She's the Nerv's third-in-command after Fuyutsuki and Misato and is an efficient bridge officer. Project E and the Evangelions are her children, and she takes close care of her eventual brood of five. Beyond the Evas, Ritsuko has her beloved cat, Spock, living with her aboard the Nerv. Spock only seems to get along with her and, most improbably, Gendo.

Ritsuko first met Misato and Kaji during their time at the Academy and befriended them both. By her mother's association with Section 31 and SEELE, Ritsuko has been acquainted with Gendo and Shinji for many years. She's somewhat of an aunt to Shinji (she hates when Shinji calls her "aunt Ritsuko" or any variation of it), though the relationship between them is awkward at times due to their introverted natures. She has a close professional relationship with Maya, her equivalent of a "number one" in the Nerv's science division.

Ritsuko and her mother never had the closest relationship growing up, which fed into Ritsuko's introverted personality. She never knew her father, with Naoko never being completely honest as to what happened to him.

Spoiler

Lieutenant Commander Ryoji Kaji

30, born June 17, 2342. Chief Engineer. Kaji is sly, confident, jovial, and dedicated to his job as the Nerv's engineer. Although, Kaji projects a laissez faire and non-committal energy in most situations to downplay any intensity. The ship is like a child to him, at least that's how he likes to think it must feel like. Unfortunately, Kaji never knew his parents – he grew up as an orphan and faced a challenging childhood and adolescence.

From an early age, Kaji was passionate about starship design and warp engine mechanics. Even through the hard times he faced, his burning desire was to eventually go to Starfleet Academy and become a Chief Engineer aboard a starship. He spent a few years as part of the engineering department on a couple different ships following his graduation. His posting to the Nerv was his first shot at being a Chief Engineer, and he takes the post seriously, despite his outward demeanor.

He shares a common past with Misato and Ritsuko from their time at the Academy together. Kaji and Misato dated for a few years before she abruptly broke things off when they graduated, and they parted ways. Not really being fully mature yet and driven by his career aims, Kaji didn't try to chase after Misato, and just dived back into his career.

He forms a tight and efficient team in his engine room, with Takao as his right-hand man. Takao might be the closest to being Kaji's best friend. They worked together on their previous posting and got along so well that Kaji instantly requested from Captain Ikari that he be transferred as his assistant chief.

Spoiler

Commander Kozo Fuyutsuki

59, born September 4, 2313. First Officer of the USS NERV. Fuyutsuki is warm and genial to everyone he comes into contact, a stabilizing presence on the bridge and the ship in general. Some are rather surprised that he's not the Captain, but the Commander is perfectly at home in his current position and can't see himself anywhere else but at Gendo's side.

Fuyutsuki spent years gradually rising through the ranks before requesting a sabbatical from starship duty. At the time of the Adam Incident, he was an adjunct professor at Daystrom-Hakone, teaching in metaphysical sciences and biological technology integration. It was during his time at Daystrom that he became acquainted with Yui and Gendo Ikari.

In the years before Yui's death, Fuyutsuki would eventually become friends with Gendo after understanding his odd quirks. He even was a sort of grandfather figure to Shinji and Rei. Following Yui's accident, Fuyutsuki decided to end his time as a professor and take up starship duty again once Project E had progressed far enough along that space testing would commence. Principally, Fuyutsuki did this out of concern for Gendo and to make sure he would be okay (in some ways, their dynamic is similar to Kirk and Bones McCoy). Gendo and Fuyutsuki end up serving together as Captain and First Officer on the USS Nerv, acting as the mobile testing laboratory for Project E.

Spoiler

Lt. Commander Mari Makinami

38, born August 22, 2334. Ship's counselor. Eccentric is one word to describe Mari, some might say looney is another. Very few people aboard the Nerv can understand how Mari became the ship's counselor when she seems to be a scatterbrained cloud cukoolander 99% of the time. It's this perception that Mari uses to her advantage in her job each day, especially with some of the tougher nuts to crack amongst the crew. To her disappointment, Gendo is the only one she hasn't gotten yet, but that doesn't mean she's going to stop teasing the living shit outta him anytime soon. If asked, Gendo would honestly say he couldn't figure out whether dealing with Makinami or Q is worse.

Outside of her needling of Gendo, Mari is a surprisingly calming and understanding voice amongst the crew, easily demonstrating why she chose psychology and mental health as her field of expertise. She takes a keen interest in the mental wellbeing of the Eva pilots.

Even in this timeline, Mari wears her trademark glasses. She's one of the rare people that are allergic to Retinax V and the idea of a laser scraping off part of her retinas doesn't sit too well with her. At this point in her career, Mari uses the glasses to her advantage in certain situations, with them mysteriously glazing over when she's attempting to be intimidating.


Lt. Commander (Doctor) Hitomi Amagi

27, born February 23, 2345. Ship's Chief Medical Officer. Hitomi is one of the kindest people onboard the Nerv, even giving Maya a run for her money in the sweetness department. She always wears a crescent-shaped hair clip with her duty uniform, which she somehow got past the regulations. Hitomi has a clear passion for her profession, which has a personal meaning for her. She treats Sakura as her little kouhai and is eager to show her the ropes in Sickbay.

At the time of the Pilot, Hitomi is still new to the Nerv. This is her first shot at being the CMO for a starship, so she's eager to make a good impression and do her best. Unfortunately, she was never told she'd be serving with Dr. Katsuragi's daughter. The two have a shared past that will be gradually revealed over the course of the series.

Misato is a bit of a sore spot for Hitomi. She's not outright rude to Misato, but the room temperature certainly drops a few degrees when they're together. On duty, she does all she can to be professional and respectful and is almost always successful.

 

[Allansfirebird]

And the supporting cast and characters:

CHARACTERS - U.S.S. NERV CLASS 2-A

Spoiler

Touji Suzuhara

14, born December 26, 2358. Even in this timeline, Touji's still the brash and loud-mouthed hot head, but is dedicated to his friends. He's girl-obsessed, as is to be expected of a growing, hormonal boy, except for Hikari. Their personalities are practically oil-and-water, but because they grew up together, they know each other well. Before meeting Shinji, Kensuke was Touji's best friend for just about as long as they've both known Hikari.

Touji and Sakura are twins, with the former always needling the latter about how he's the older brother, even though he only came out a few minutes ahead of his little sister. He's fiercely protective of Sakura, sometimes getting irritated when Sakura gets ga-ga over Shinji. He's the more athletic of the two and is something of a star athlete of all the kids on the ship. Touji can even give some of the young ensigns a run for their gold-pressed latinum.

Touji and Sakura's mother died at some point in the past, so their father, an officer in the Nerv's sciences department, has raised them on his own. As a result, Touji and Sakura are very close with their father. On days when they're not in class, one of the twins will come to visit him during his meal break on duty to keep him company.

Sakura Suzuhara

14, born December 26, 2358. Touji's twin sister. She has a pleasant and sweet demeanor, making friends easily. The one exception to this is Touji; she loves the hell outta her brother, but dammit he can be a pain in the ass sometimes. Sakura has a bit of a complex about being the little sister between the two and hates it when Touji calls her that.

She's got aspirations to go into medicine and someday be the Chief of Starfleet Medical. Hitomi sees this budding passion and is all too happy to get Sakura some on-the-job training to help get her started. We'll see her occasionally shadowing one of the doctors or nurses in sickbay to get a head start on her future career.

Sakura literally runs into Shinji minutes after he first arrives on the Nerv, finding him cute and feels embarrassed for having made such an awkward impression. Once she finds out that it was Shinji was the pilot of the Eva that saved the ship and Earth later that day, she develops an instant crush on him. Shinji is flattered, flustered, and worried by this, typically at the same time.

Kensuke Aida

14, born September 12, 2358. Kensuke is very much the Starfleet otaku in this universe. Kinda like Wesley in Encounter at Farpoint, he can name just about every control on each bridge console panel, a fact he will always be proud of. It doesn't take much for Kensuke to go into intensively technical runs of dialogue explaining various tech, which will usually earn responses of "in English, Kensuke, please!" From the moment we first meet him in the series, Kensuke's got an obsessive drive to learn as much as he can about the Evangelion-class and is just as obsessed to get to pilot one.

Hikari Horaki

13, born January 25, 2359. Sisters Nozomi (younger, living with her family aboard the ship) and Kodama (older, attending school on Earth). Prim, proper, and a bit stuck-up, our Class Rep is very much the same here as in the canon. Hikari rules the classroom with a tritanium fist and doesn't hesitate to smack Touji or yank on his ear to get him to act right or get his attention. She instantly gets along well with Shinji when he joins their class.

Mana Kirishima

14, born April 11, 2358. Mana is outgoing and intelligent, always casting a curious glance at anything that interests her. At least, outside the times her teacher isn't lecturing during class. Her time spent sitting next to Rei in class has pushed her into becoming a voracious reader. They routinely recommend new books and articles to each other.

She has an interesting relationship with Kensuke. Much of their interactions are teasing done with equal measure from both sides. It's hard to tell sometimes whether the teasing is meant seriously or if it's all in good fun.



CHARACTERS - U.S.S. NERV JUNIOR OFFICERS

Spoiler

Lt. Maya Ibuki

24, born July 11, 2348. Executive Science Officer under Ritsuko. In a ship where it seems like everyone is broken in one way or another, Maya is a bit of an oddity. She's nearly always upbeat and probably the most "normal" of the bridge crew. The only issue she has is her tendency to be a bit timid and squeamish. Choosing a career in Starfleet and working with gigantic robots made from aliens makes for an odd dichotomy in that case, but somehow Maya makes it work.

Because of the intense and complicated nature of Project E and the intensive missions that put incredible strain on the Evas, Maya naturally spends long hours on duty working with her senpai, Ritsuko. She developed an instant crush on sight, which only deepens as time goes on

Maya is close friends with Hyuga and Aoba, having served together on a previous posting before getting assigned to the Nerv. As is tradition on many starships, the three often have poker nights in one of their quarters. Much to the annoyance of Huyga and Aoba, Maya has a knack for winning most of the time. If real money were still a thing, they'd be indentured servants to Maya at least until the 27th century at this point.

Lt. Makoto Hyuga

26, born February 13, 2346. Chief helmsman. Makoto is a sharp and decisive officer and an imminently talented pilot. He handles the Nerv as if it were a sleek shuttlecraft, to which the crew is thankful for inertial dampeners. Tends to be chosen to be part of Away Teams and may have somehow died and been resurrected a couple times (to which he usually responds with a flat "it's a long story" whenever someone asks about it).

Off duty, Makoto is a bit of a nerd for old manga, movies and TV shows, or "classical literature" as he facetiously calls them. He'll often use the holodeck to act out moments from his favorite series, often roping his best friend Aoba into coming along as a sidekick.

Makoto is the least sore loser out of the three poker buddy bridge bunnies. As he often says, "a loser in love, a loser in cards," so he takes Maya's often wins in stride. He'll often try to get some of the other bridge crew or even the Eva pilots to join the poker games, which gradually meets more and more success.

Lt. Shigeru Aoba

27, born May 5, 2345. Head of security and tactical officer. The closet nihilist and semi-professional cynic is ever present at the horseshoe on the bridge, taking his job as security chief very seriously. He tends to nerd out on new advances in Starfleet defense and weaponry and keeps up to date as much as possible. This common trait of nerding out endeared Aoba to his best buddy Hyuga ever since their days at the academy and first starship posting together.

You'd think that his dedication to security and weaponry advancements would leave little time for hobbies, but Aoba is a man of many talents. He's been a guitar player since he was a kid and keeps a couple on hand in his quarters.

Spoiler

Lt. Koji Takao

32, born 2340. Assistant chief engineer, works side-by-side with Kaji. Takao has a nearly encyclopedic knowledge about every system on the Nerv yet is happy to take a backseat to Kaji because he doesn't desire the leadership position. Kaji views him as the glue that holds his team together, thanks to his calm and welcoming demeanor. That doesn't mean that Takao is a pushover; if anyone on the team speaks outta line or gets insubordinate, he'll put them in their place so fast, they'll wish they were back at the Academy.

Ensign Midori Kitakami

24, born 2348. Engineering division, bridge bunny. Midori tends to have a prickly personality, every bit the opposite of Takao. She tries to control her anger issues, but her record shows a couple instances of reprimands for some incidents occurring off hours. She tries to excuse it by saying that she's never happened on duty but is quickly reminded by Misato that she's not helping her case.

Lt. Sumire Nagara

29, born 2343. Engineering division, bridge bunny. Sumire tends to blend into the background while on the Bridge, preferring to get her job done. Unfortunately, her station is right next to the outspoken Kitakami. The stress of that situation might just turn her gray at an early age.

Ensign Hideki Tama

24, born 2348. Engineering division, bridge bunny. Shy and serious, Tama is still learning his way as an Ensign (he's the Boimler of the Nerv). He deals with the stress of Imposter Syndrome almost every day, and almost can't believe someone like Kaji would have enough faith in a green kid almost fresh out of the Academy for a major bridge position in the main engineering station. He acts as Kaji's eyes and ears whenever he's not on the Bridge.


CHARACTERS - SUPPORTING AND RECURRING

Pen-Pen

5, born 2367. The "Spot" of our series, Pen-Pen is the beloved hot-water penguin pet of Misato. He only ever speaks in variants of the word "wark." Regularly seen sharing morning coffee with Misato before she goes on duty, and occasionally a draught of synthehol in Ten-Forward when she's off-duty (in the 24th century, a penguin throwing back a drink or two at the bar is probably one of the least strange things you might encounter). Pen-Pen is super intelligent, though we'll leave how that came to be a mystery.

Commodore Lorenz Kiel

unknown age. Senior member of Section 31. His method of running his department means he doesn't have to repeat an order twice to ensure it gets carried out. He is an imposing, even terrifying figure, though he fails to intimidate Gendo in their many conferences. Kiel has an unwavering motivation to see the Nerv's mission being successfully carried out, practically to the expense of any crew member's life.

 

[Allansfirebird]

Hey everyone!

After 148 days, the Writers Guild of America strike has finally come to an end, which means EVA-Trek will be back with new episodes on October 13th!

But, not only that - I'm far-enough ahead with production that I'll be releasing episodes twice a month at least through January! I'm looking forward to bringing the voyages of the USS Nerv to you once more.

Until then, here's a recent illustration of Lt. Soryu I did, impatiently waiting for the EVA-Trek writing staff to get back from the picket line at Paramount. See y'all in two weeks!

 

[Allansfirebird]

I don't usually do standalone posts like this, but this felt like a significant enough milestone in the life of the series that I just had to share.

Late last night, I finally completed the first draft of the feature-length finale of EVA-Trek, "The Last Song." It took me about 30 hours, spread out over the better part of a week, to complete the one-hundred and twenty-four page script. This is a preview of the title page, just about the only bit I can show that's not spoilerific...

​

The fun thing for me is that this comes two years and two days after I first outlined my basic ideas and concepts of the finale on Christmas, 2021. EVA-Treks' finale is such an intricate story, with a lot of locations and players, that it took me the better part of the last two years to outline and refine before even hitting the script stage.

I'm excited to share this final installment when it drops in March! But for now, there's lots of tweaking and refining until then, in addition to doing final touches on the episodes between.

 

[Allansfirebird]

I mentioned it in the pre-episode blurb for the finale, but I went through each episode's script to figure out just what the real word count would be for season 1 of EVA-Trek:



Other than being bowled over that I've written more than a quarter-million words in the last 2.5 years, it surprised me to see each episode averages right around 10K apiece.

Going through the other media, I drew a total of 104 illustrations, and composed or edited 33 minutes of soundtrack between summer 2021 and March 2024.