So I've been back and forth about posting here about this. Speaking around so many seasoned professionals, I no doubt sound like one of those "fans with a plan." But, here goes... I am hoping to make a series of new episodes of TAS, using vocals and storylines culled from the 25th Anniversary game. The opening episode, Demon World is a half pilot/half proof of concept, created by mixing stills with rotoscoped animation from TAS. This is to provide an idea of what I hope we can do with a proper animator on board. In addition, as the vocals only make up about 15 minutes of story, I hope to record new dialogue for new characters to add a subplot to each story expanding them a little from their current format. This isn't my first foray into production; my team recently put together an animated adaptation of the unmade 1993 Doctor Who anniversary special, with the final product due out next year. But moving over to Trek, I'm looking forward to making some brand new stories with the original crew. Anyway, thanks for reading and keep an eye out for future updates.
This sound great. I look forward to seeing it. However, I hate to be the one to ask this, would this be in compliance with the CBS fan film guidelines?
Alas, no. At least, not entirely. I'll obviously make every effort to comply with the guidelines where possible - copyright information included, no funding over their limit etc - but the very nature of the show (using original cast vocals) does mean we are treading on some toes. I can only hope CBS sees this as what it is. A fan film. Not an independent film... PS: Our "proof of concept" is now available on our Facebook page.
This looks amazing! If you need any authentic-looking TOS Transporter effects, let me know. I was VFX Supervisor on STAR TREK PHASE II since BLOOD & FIRE.
This will end up being pulled if it gets on YouTube or Vimeo because it uses voices owned by another company. The actors where paid to do those recordings, so fans can't use them for fan films. Trust me, the actors' agents would also take issue with this. You wouldn't be able to do any fundraising on Indiegogo or KickStarter because you don't have the rights to those recordings. I hate to be a Debbie-Downer but those are the facts. If this is something you are passionate about doing, you might want to create a proof-of-concept and send it CBS. Maybe this is something they might air on their all-access channel if the quality was good. But if you put this online for free, you are just asking for it to get pulled.
Is this the same guy with the giant library of un used sound clips unlocked from the depths of the old CD games, that was trying to make the CGI animated series awhile back? He could make the characters say just about anything in their own proper voices and an entire library of sentence and word fragments. I always hoped that would get more traction. If this is the same guy, then switching to standard animation might make the job easier. If not, those two guys might seriously want to talk to each other.
IIRC the claim from the guy who wanted to make that CGI series was that using those clips was legal because of a quirk related to use of characters from video games as opposed to a straight copy from existing television shows or movies. I have no idea if that is true, or even if my recollection is correct.
Have you chatted with Curt Danhauser? He has a handful of complete animated Star Trek episodes on-line.
Recommendations: 1) Use TAS music, not TOS. More authentic. 2) I made it four minutes in before I bailed. Punch up the action! 3) Too bad the recordings for Secret of Vulcan Fury are lost. Those would be a very cool addition to your pool of voices.
You're right, it was this project I was thinking about: http://www.trekbbs.com/threads/robe...e-cgi-with-original-cast-voices.206398/page-3 Similar ideas though. I really hope something comes of one of these projects! Any idea where these are hosted? I think I saw one of them a few years ago and downloaded it from vimeo. It was TAS style, but a bit lacking in the voice acting. It was a good story which made up for that.
Thanks! I have downloaded "And Let the Heavens Fall" but never knew there was any more. I thought there were troubles keeping it hosted on line. Awesome news, thanks.
After seeing the proof of concept, I would echo what was mentioned above regarding the background music. While I'm definitely NOT a fan of the BGM used for TAS - I'm sure many who really enjoyed the show also liked its BGM, so you really should be using TAS BGM for the project.
Thanks for the link Cap. I've spoken with an animator and we've just started work on an opening credits sequence and a couple of new logos.