One thing I have noticed lately about MyMac is that there has been no Star Trek related Blog entries. This nonstartrekian omission is in dire need of resolution and I’m just the kind of guy to do it. Before howls of protest begin (or deafening walls of silence and disdain), let me tell you where this is going. This has nothing to do with William Shatner or Leonard Nimoy. This is absolutely not another living in the basement of the science building rant about whether Kirk or Picard was a better Captain of the Enterprise. This is about certain fan’s love of a Science Fiction show that is SO great; they have devoted tremendous amounts of time and money to make something that really wasn’t possible before the advent of Digital Video on computers. What these fans have done is to write, produce, and star in something called Fan Films. See? I did manage to bring it back to advance technology.
Fan films have been around for a while. Mostly done in the past by film students with access to advanced film technology through whatever college they were attending. If their film was based on some established Movie or TV show, it was mostly done tongue-in-cheek, with a wink and nod to their potential audience (if any). Starting long before iMovie however, Apple gave us the technology to do digital video. I remember an add-in for my old Performa 575 that enabled me to do 15 frames per second, 320 X 240 video. It was jerky as hell and looked like crap, but remember that this was a Motorola 68040 processor running at a blazing 25 MHz.
With advancements in technology came an explosion of home-made films. Most of them are horrible of course. Although badly acted and poorly directed, many have a charm that goes beyond their content. A good place to see many of them are at this web site, http://www.theforce.net/theater/. As you can imagine, most of them are Star Wars related but there are many non-wookie associated films as well. The Matrix is well represented and there is a Batman film called, ‘Batman: Dead End’ that somehow includes Aliens (from the Sigourney Weaver collection), Predators (from the Arnold film library), AND the Joker (Played by Walter {Chekhov} Koenig’s son). It’s relatively short (about 8-9 minutes), but it’s better than at least three of the last studio released Batman films. What does any of this have to do with Star Trek? Shut down your Warp Drive (Trademark held by Paramount), I’m getting there.
While at the aforementioned fan film site, I saw a news blurb about a Star Trek fan film. Done by an outfit based in Potomac, Maryland (CowCreek films), it purported to be a continuation of the original series five-year mission. As many of you probably know, the original Star Trek television series was on for a total of three years before being cancelled in 1969. The five-year mission was cut short by two years. CowCreek picks it up at the beginning of what would have been their fourth year. Obviously, even if they could have, there was no way to use Shatner, Nimoy, or any of the rest of the original crew as 25 years has gone by, making them far too old to play their characters as they were. That aside, no seat of their pants studio could afford to pay them. Add in Paramount’s HUGE legal team suing anyone who attempts to make money with their cash cow and it’s amazing that anyone would even make the attempt. How do they get around this? It’s only logical. Do it without the intent of making money. I’m not a lawyer, so I don’t understand the legal complications of this type of endeavor. The bottom line is, they did it. As have others, but I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s talk about Star Trek: The New Voyages.
As I said, this is the fourth year of the five year mission. They have recast most of the original crew (Captain Kirk, Mister Spock, Doctor McCoy, Scotty, Lieutenant Uhura, Ensign Chekhov, Nurse Chapel, and many others) with local actors and friends. They rebuilt many of the original sets including the Bridge, Transporter Room, and more in fine detail based on drawings available and watching the show countless times. The special effects are amazing. Far superior to what was done for the original show, and better in many ways than what was accomplished during ST: The Next Generation. They used Windows-based computers and software (Being a Mac guy, I try not to hold it against them) for some truly amazing and innovative shots. It is very impressive. How is the acting? Considering the shoes they had to fill, and the pre-conceived notions most people would have on how these classic characters behaved, I would give them an A- for the sheer audacity of even trying this. Some parts hold up better than others and I won’t discuss the plot. If you are a Star Trek fan, do yourself a favor and download the films. Follow the links at www.5yearmission.com. You will need a broadband connection and Windows media player to view it. Criticisms? Yeah, a few. The actor playing Kirk has a haircut that resembles an Elvis impersonator, but rumor has it that he actually is an Elvis impersonator so no harm no foul. Lieutenant Commander Sulu is nowhere to be found, but this is explained in the first minute or so. The files are only available in the WMV format (This is a Microsoft based video format), which cannot be easily converted to another format (DVD or VHS tape) for people without computers to view. You can of course, download it and watch it on your computer (Regardless of Operating System) whenever you wish. They do offer a DVD as well that includes not only the episode, but bloopers and production notes as well. I felt that this was done well enough to warrant paying for. I was not disappointed. My favorite inclusion is the episode in full played in black and white (which is how most people would have seen it in 1969). My only complaint about the DVD is that it doesn’t play in either Macs or PCs with DVD drives. The price? Free with a donation (nod nod, wink wink, know what I mean?) to the studio. To their credit, they also ask for donations to the Space Shuttle Columbia’s Children’s Trust Fund. According to their website, they are currently in production of their second pilot.
The New Voyages gang isn’t the only ones doing the Star Trek shuffle. New Voyages whetted my appetite to see what else is out there. Another bunch have created a Star Trek episode set in the same time frame as the original series (TOS). Except this isn’t the Enterprise they are on. Trekkers will tell you on a moments notice that there were 12 Constitution class (Same as the Enterprise) ships built by the Federation. Besides the Enterprise (NCC-1701), there was also the Exeter (NCC-1706). The Exeter was mentioned during the second year of the NBC run (TOS) in a completely forgettable episode called ‘The Omega Glory’. I won’t go into all the plot details of that episode (Which is probably one of the most bizarre and painful ones to watch. Hey, they weren’t ALL gems.), but at the end of it you have the U.S.S. Exeter with an insane Captain, a dead crew, but a fully operational starship. Starfleet would not leave such a state of affairs as it is, and this project starts with the premise that a new crew is onboard the Exeter and it is set off to explore the great unknown. Like New Voyages, the Exeter crew has only made one episode (See it at www.starshipexeter.com) so far, but promise that more are to come. The effects aren’t quite up to the same level as New Voyages, but by using old style tech (Models and blue screens instead of computer animation), it has more of the original series feel to it. They have built a few sets as well including a partial Bridge set and a corridor that looks exactly like the old series down to a communications terminal set in a small alcove replete with dryer hose (I’m not kidding) sticking out of one part of the wall. It sounds ridiculous, but it all fits within the confines on what they were trying to do. The crew of this ship is a little more diverse as well. Besides humans, there is a blue-skinned Andorian too. Later on, we find more Andorians (Not too surprising as the Exeter crew end up on their home world) and everyone’s favorite bad guys, the Klingons. They even manage to explain how a certain Klingon in a certain ST movie (OK, it’s the 6th one called ‘The Undiscovered Country’) ends up with an eye patch. The acting is at or near what the New Voyages people did with the exception of a few of the Klingons. They mostly moved and talked like large pieces of wood. One thing that I really liked about Exeter was a scene with a monster on the Andorian home world. This monster looked like a big really angry Barney and I almost cheered when it got phasered out of existence (Captain! The LITHTOR!). Those of you with small children over the last ten years can probably relate. One other thing the Exeter guys did that I appreciated was to post their stuff in the QuickTime format. This allowed me to download it and use iMovie and iDVD to make my own DVD to watch whenever I feel like it. They also offer a DVD, which will be used to fund the creation of further episodes. Like New Voyages, a broadband connection is almost a must to download these movies.
The last one I found is really, really, um, different. Unlike the other two, it is set in the 24th century (Same timeframe as Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager). It’s called Star Trek: Hidden Frontiers and is available for viewing at http://www.hiddenfrontier.org/. Unlike the other two sites, the Hidden Frontier people have been very busy. They are currently on their 5th season (Each season is comprised of six to nine multi-part episodes) with no signs of stopping. The focus of the show is that a new threat has engaged the Federation after the end of the Federation’s war with the Founders. Don’t understand what I’m talking about? OBVIOUSLY, you didn’t watch Deep Space Nine and I harrumph in your general direction. Anyway, a new war is about to start and the valiant crews of the Starship Independence and Deep Space Twelve is there! And what a crew. The command officers for the most part aren’t exactly in line with what I assume are Starfleet’s physical fitness regiment. OK, some of them are a little’¦chunky. While it certainly isn’t a requirement for Star Trek actors to be fit, I found it to be a distraction. The acting in these productions isn’t at the same level as the first two ST productions I mentioned, which I find odd since they have been at it for much longer. Maybe part of the problem is that they have no standing sets to work with. Everything is blue screen. Their outer space special effects come somewhere between New Voyages and Exeter. No models, everything is computer animated, but it’s not quite as smooth as what you get with New Voyages. There is definitely a more varied crew however. Multiple races are represented here including Vulcans, Klingons, Tellerites, Cardassians, and many others. There are also multi-species love affairs with concepts that some will find objectionable. If you have to ask, yadda yadda yadda. I wish I could tell you I have seen all the episodes, but there are too many for me to sit for one or two quick viewings. What I did see was engaging enough for me to go back at my leisure (leisure time with two kids’¦.RIGHT) to try and take it all in. Hidden Frontiers episodes are also available in the QuickTime format, which means if you have a broadband connection (Vuja Day. That incredible feeling that you have not done something before), they can easily be downloaded and put on to DVD via all the usual suspects or just viewed on your computer.
There you have it. If you’re not happy with Paramount’s official current Star Trek offerings (Enterprise), you do have choices. True fans should enjoy some or all of these labors of love.
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