Fan Made Star Trek Series

[Huttman]

Recently I've discovered the world of fan made Star Trek episodes/films. I found them because I always knew Roddenberry and crew were going to make a new series on the 70's called Star Trek: Phase II but it ended up going to the movies instead. So, jump ahead 30 years, add kickstarter programs and make top notch special FX accessible and affordable and voila, the 5 year mission continues...which seems to be a fan favorite target for continuing. Some are a little difficult to watch as they don't feel like Trek but I started watching one whose name they took from the cancelled show Phase II (currently called New Voyages) and somewhat enjoyed them being the nostalgic trekker I am. The actors seemed to change from episode to episode and Kirk has jet black hair, but hey, it was better than anything I'VE done.

But then I found it, http://www.startrekcontinues.com/. This show has an amazing original feel to it, from the pacing, the lighting, the great stories, the sets and FX and the care they put in every episode. The actor that plays Kirk (Vic Mignogna, who started it all) seems to have been born to play him. I cannot say enough about it with three full episodes and a few vignettes on their web page they seem to be going strong and have something truly special. I highly recommend you check it out. So, is there any other fan made stuff worth checking out?

 

[Brian G Turner]

That's looks quite entertaining - he even speaks like James T. Kirk.

 

[Dave]

I heard about that when it first began, but I have never seen any. They do look good so I'll check them out sometime, thanks for sharing.

I also wanted to say that most of the Star Trek: Phase II stories were used subsequently. As you mention,, one became Star Trek: The Slow Motion Picture which is why it seems like an hour plus filler. Most of the others were used as TNG stories, especially during the second season period when there was a Hollywood writer's strike. One story that was adapted was the one where Troi gets pregnant with an alien baby, which is why it always seems a little incongruous.

 

[Vince W]

That looks very interesting. Any idea how it compares to http://www.startreknewvoyages.com/?

 

[Huttman]

Well, Star Trek New Voyages is the one I discovered first. They did their own version of the alien baby impregnates a crew member episode and it was quite good. George Takei and Walter Koenig both had guest roles to bring some authenticity to the show. The effects are well done for most of the episodes but the fact that the actors playing the cast changed constantly, it was a bit distracting (not to mention Kirk's Elvis hair-do). The wiki page has a huge credit list for just the regulars alone. Star Trek Continues just feels more authentic, though. One small detail that ST Continues has that no one else I've seen yet does is the pacing like the 60's show. While there are no commercials, they still have the climactic pauses like TOS had before each break and they stick to a 4 act show. When it's not there, you almost don't notice it. By contrast, New Voyages episode lengths are all over the board. Oh, and the fact that James Doohan's son plays Scotty on Continues (and he is a dead ringer for his pop) helps put this one over the top.

 

[spacepilotsshow]

It's not that bad of a show. Hard to imagine someone would put that much effort into a fan series, since it'd be impossible to monetize, but, whatevs

 

[steve02]

Awhile ago, there were several episodes which had the show done in a brown cabin.


These were very fascinating due to the main character (probably captain), with ability to destroy planets at will, alongwith other space items.


Could anybody provide a reference.


Thankx.


Steve

 

[logan_run]

I saw one with Chirss Dohan playing his role of his dads charector Scotty .

 

[Ensign Shah]

Love these! Thanks for sharing.

 

[BAYLOR]

I am impressed with how they've duplicated the look and the feel old series . Unfortunately , it also illustrates the fact that her are fans who want the series to remain unchanged . They want relive the same old show over and over again. Concepts, characters and stories have to evolve and change or else they become stale , quaint and in the end, obsolete.

 

[Dave]

I am impressed with how they've duplicated the look and the feel old series . Unfortunately , it also illustrates the fact that her are fans who want the series to remain unchanged . They want relive the same old show over and over again. Concepts, characters and stories have to evolve and change or else they become stale , quaint and in the end, obsolete.

I role play on a Star Trek ship online. I'm the Captain of an original series movie era ship, (launched around about the Khitomer Conference time) very much from the same mould as Kirk and the Enterprise. If you are interested you can read it here:
Roster | STF Heck! You could join another ship if you wanted as they need some new blood.

Anyway, my point is that I've done that for 16 years and I am the longest serving ship's Captain. We certainly don't "relive the same old show over and over again." "Concepts, characters and stories" do "evolve and change" and I don't think they are "stale, quaint and in the end, obsolete." You can judge for yourself, but I'd have to take issue with those statements. Time still moves on. There are new alien threats, time travel, missions of mercy. Some of our stories have been better than TOS. I just don't recognise what you said at all, and I've done it for long enough to know.

Okay, I accept that having women officers in miniskirts and not having holodecks might be considered quaint. We don't, however, have a Ship's Counselor, which I consider to be a huge bonus.

 

[BAYLOR]

I role play on a Star Trek ship online. I'm the Captain of an original series movie era ship, (launched around about the Khitomer Conference time) very much from the same mould as Kirk and the Enterprise. If you are interested you can read it here:
Roster | STF Heck! You could join another ship if you wanted as they need some new blood.

Anyway, my point is that I've done that for 16 years and I am the longest serving ship's Captain. We certainly don't "relive the same old show over and over again." "Concepts, characters and stories" do "evolve and change" and I don't think they are "stale, quaint and in the end, obsolete." You can judge for yourself, but I'd have to take issue with those statements. Time still moves on. There are new alien threats, time travel, missions of mercy. Some of our stories have been better than TOS. I just don't recognise what you said at all, and I've done it for long enough to know.

Okay, I accept that having women officers in miniskirts and not having holodecks might be considered quaint. We don't, however, have a Ship's Counselor, which I consider to be a huge bonus.

But you can't live Kirk , Spock and and McCoy forever even with new stories and voyages .

 

[Dave]

No, we don't live those characters, they are old or dead. I see you point there. The fan-made films that I have seen had different characters. I would say that within the "5 year mission" there is room for another 2 years to be shown, in the time that passed before the first film.

They did it with M*A*S*H though, and a UK series called Dad's Army. They were both set within wars that lasted a fraction of the time the series ran for. They didn't get "stale, quaint and in the end, obsolete" but they may have had exceptionally good writing and be unusual in that respect.

 

[Dave]

@BAYLOR I got your message, which I think is just a restatement of the views already expressed by you, and others, in this thread, and some of the other threads about the direction which the original series took, and about the possible new series Star Trek Discovery. I find it hard to disagree with any of that and I don't. That wasn't the point I was trying to make here. I'm only saying that there are plenty of original stories that could be told about the original series crew that would not just rehash and repeat and relive. The problems with actually doing that are different problems and nothing to do with the screenwriters creativity.

If you are going to make a prequel like Enterprise or a concurrent series like Discovery, your writers then have to fit modern science concepts into some weird and discredited 50 year old concepts. This is a severe limitation on writing. There is a choice. You can retcon the original series and upset all its fans or you can write it as a pale homage to it with everything that you described that is wrong. There is a third way, which I was skeptical about at the time, and that is JJ Abrams alternative universe. I now see that it was the only way to do it, and like you, I fear that Discovery will ultimately fail for not following the same path and using an alternative universe.

For fan made films using the original characters, I think there are gaps in the timeline of the original series that could be filled, but I have never watched these films so I can't comment on their quality. I can understand why fans make these films, and if they are a little quaint I doubt they care. They are only making them for themselves and probably having a lot of fun. It doesn't matter to them that they can't make any money from it. What I can't understand is why the studios would want to make them themselves. They should only make sequels set in the far future, or else mini-series about particular events, or a series set on a Klingon ship. I have expressed all these ideas in other threads here already, some of them a decade ago.

If the point of Discovery is to celebrate 50 years of Star Trek then it is a poor homage if it turns out, as you said, "quaint, stale and in the end obsolete." If the point is to cash in on the Star Trek brand name, then it is equally flawed because neither the old fans or the new fans will like it. I'll watch it anyway and then complain bitterly about it, but others will switch off.

These fan films I find harder to criticise because they have a limited audience, but they know that audience and that audience is very happy with them as they are. They are the equivalent of fan-fiction books. I think that your problem may be with those fans than with the films they make, but then everyone needs a hobby, and some hobbies are far stranger than this.

 

[BAYLOR]

Ive seen some of the Fan made films. They are decently crafted stories. They play like classic trek episodes , they've got the look and feel of the original series. I do applaud the effort here.

Ive seen the 20 minute Axanar and I wish it could be completed.

 

[Galactic Journey]

The one that nailed it for me was Starship Exeter.

Sadly, they only made 1.5 episodes.

It was firmly planted in the TOS universe, but EVERYTHING, from characters to music, was new.

Frankly, I've had enough of the Enterprise and their crew and sequels to TOS episodes. It just makes the broad universe seem tiny, like they've done with Star Wars.