The recording session for “The Zenoids” webisode scripts lasted a few high-octane hours at NRG Studios in Los Angeles. The family fun atmosphere of the recording was helped along by the fact that Shatner, who directed the actors and played alien amphibinoid father Kozmo, asked daughter Melanie to step into the spangled shoes of Ziri, Kozmo’s snarky, starry-eyed daughter. Her husband, sci-fi hero Joel Gretsch (Father Jack on ABC’s V and Tom Baldwin on The 4400) also lent his voice talents to our kooky alien creations.

Additional crazy voices exploded from Troy Baker, famed for voicing games like Call of Duty: Black Ops and anime like Bleach. As caught by the cameras of Entertainment Tonight, a few of the comedic talents starring in Myouterspace’s new sci-fi parody, currently in development, also pitched in.

Congratulations are in order for Myouterspace member Rhonda Eudaly (REudaly on the site) who wrote the dialogue Myouterspace used to record the “Zenoids Fill-In” story. With multi-talented producer, director and actress Amanda Tapping (Sanctuary, Stargate SG-1) playing the family’s heart, Zara, and notable sci-fi author Alan Dean Foster on hand to tweak lines, “The Zenoids” landed a pretty sweet gig.

Tapping, a guest at the MOS launch party at Comic-Con 2010, had joked about coming aboard Myouterspace as a Starship Captain, and now she’s at the conn of Orion, homebase for “The Zenoids” on the website. That’s also where Shatner’s site-runners first men multiple-award-winning Michael Giacchino, composer of Up, Lost and the J.J. Abrams Star Trek. Giacchino has since stepped into the role of governing Myouterspace’s music planet Orpheus, which will soon be announcing another step for “The Zenoids”” – a theme music contest.

The contest will feature animated video created by the winner of last year’s “Animate Shatner” contest, Jeremy Appleman, who also got to sit down with the Admiral for an in-person interview in Burbank. That video features the MOS exclusive virtual set, created in 3D and built in Lightwave for Shatner’s interview with fellow effects enthusiast Dick Van Dyke at last year’s SIGGRAPH convention.

Since last year, Myouterspace.com has gone through a few face-lifts, and reports are that a new streamlined design is in the works. Myouterspace also developed and published apps for the iPhone and Android devices, so mobile members could keep tabs on the go. Currently in Beta, awaiting her first issue, is one of the sci-fi site’s newest projects, the online fiction magazine Anachron, which began accepting submissions for stories and flash fiction just last month. Anachron aims to be the first publisher of science fiction and fantasy short fiction to be created for and by the burgeoning new writers of the cybersphere. Submissions are reviewed and recommended by members of the site to the editorial staff, who also plans to commission artwork for the e-zine from artists right on Myouterspace. 

Mini-contests with Alan Dean Foster’s publisher Open Road Media awarded prizes to flash fiction writers on Planet Creatia, where the hottest community threads include group writing projects like “How the Vest Was Won” and “The Bag”, stories crafted one sentence at a time by member authors. This year, members on the community pages have discussed everything from convention costumes to the untimely demise of fan-favorite Stargate Universe, posted tips on software and online resources and shared their own projects. There’s a long way to go yet, but Myouterspace has grown their online content with science articles and reviews and is expanding their online relationships with the sci-fi community on Twitter and Facebook.

In the year since Shatner took the helm of a helicopter at the San Diego convention center and flew it to our live-streamed launch party on the aircraft carrier USS Midway, Myouterspace has had its ups and downs exploring the how-tos and do-nots of a unique mission. Along the way, the staff has forged partnerships for the future and met some truly talented people from the membership. In the meantime, the creative department has been working hard behind the scenes on interactive tools and projects for our Myouterspacers to participate in, including animated webisode ideas, live-streaming programming with interactive live chat and the expansion of the starship project lineup. 

Last but not least, Myouterspace has been developing a space opera parody concept for awhile now, and the staff have started to think of themselves as characters in their own starship comedy – a brave, few souls on a mission that could lead beyond the stars – or find them careening into the heart of a supernova. Creative Director Sammy Oriti, the mind behind “The Zenoids” and instigator of most of Myouterspace’s madcap creations, keeps the staff inspired – and cracked up – as they face the daily grind of making a galactic media empire out of a few good ideas and a warp-coil full of hope.

Above all, Myouterspace would like to thank all of the members who have been on this strange journey with us. To another year!