September 19

[Zeke]

I've taken some time to think things over after that last update. A lot has changed here in a very short time; I didn't want to risk making it worse by acting on impulse. I'm ready now to get things moving again, but first I want to give Marc a proper sendoff.


I've formatted Marc's farewell post as an article, and added some comments of my own. In that post, Marc mentioned some material he'd written that hadn't yet been published; I think the least I can do as a parting gift is to publish it. There are three items....

[*]....the first and oldest of which is ENT's "First Flight." Back in 2003, Kira suggested that I let the staff do some Season 2 ENT fivers to help me catch up; we worked out a plan for a 5ME "guest event," for which each staffer picked an episode. This was a back-burner sort of event with no deadline, just something we were going to get around to when we all had time... so naturally, Marc had his done almost immediately. It's a great fiver, making use of 5ME conventions while still being clearly Marc's. We were saving it for the event, but since that event is pretty much shot now, here it is. Enjoy.[*]The second fiver is much more recent: Five-Minute The Day the Earth Stood Still. This is a classic 1951 sci-fi movie, one that every fan of the genre should see; I was delighted to find that Marc was as fond of it as I am. It was directed by the great Robert Wise of ST:TMP fame, who recently passed away; I'm sure the fiver won't mind doing double duty as 5M.net's tribute to him.[*]Finally, here's a Top 10 list from Marc that was lost in the shuffle of a past event: The Top 10 Things Picard Would Dislike About Commanding Archer's Enterprise.[/list]What I have to say about Marc is in the article, so I'll return to the question of where we go from here. I know how this must look. We've lost two staff members in as many weeks, and I won't deny that it's a serious blow. Quite frankly, I feel like crap. But we had big plans for the coming year before all this, and we still do.


A long chapter of this site's life -- the chapter called Five-Minute Voyager -- is over. We've entered a new chapter called FiveMinute.net. Maybe it was naive of me to think we would enter it unchanged. Maybe the things that have just happened were inevitable. I don't know. What I do know is that I'm not giving up. This is something I want to do, and I would do it alone if I had to.


But I'm not alone. IJD and Derek, two very talented people who've earned their positions many times over, are still on staff. I have two eager new section heads, Scooter and Sa'ar Chasm, along with a new one to be announced at the end of the month, and others waiting in the wings. I have Nan, my friend since before there was a Five-Minute anything, who's always there to lend a hand. I have Xeroc, tireless organizer of the 5M.net community weekend chats and developer of a project called 5MX that you'll soon be hearing more about. I have too many guest writers and forum regulars to list; their contribution is enormous. These people are my support, and with that support, I'm not even tempted to give up.


This site is bloody but unbowed. It will be here tomorrow -- and I hope you will be too.


(Note: My fiveminute.net email hasn't been available to me for the last three days or so. AntonyF at Trek Nation is working on the problem; in the meantime, you can reach me at my old address, five_minute@lycos.com.)