Even working on it as much as I did, I forget how cool this thing is to look at. Back in 2005 it was exciting as all hell to see the bits coming together. Seeing the teaser and opening credits put together, and the reaction of folks online when that part was released, was just wonderful. Thanks, Maurice.
The Savage Empire was the first fanfilm I saw that made me think I could do it. That Making of Savage Empire DVD was like a bible to me when I started work on my own fanfilm. Jimm and Josh were both very supportive towards me when I started out. They didn't have to be, they didn't know me from Adam. So I've always been grateful to them for inspiring me to try my own hand at this, and I'd still love to work with them one of these days.
Exeter is still the gold standard of the "TOS look". No one else has come close. Others pay it a lot of lip service...
While we're all here... I do have a couple of questions. Some of the uniforms are a bit off, a couple are in rough shape, and still others look perfect. I have always wondered what the specifics were. I think I heard that the Doc's uniform was fitted for another actor? Garrovick's wrap around has a texture to it I am unfamiliar with and the braids seem really high up the forearm. Also, the helmsman, his uniform looks like it was just pulled out the laundry bin. Maybe he was late to his duty shift. Of course these a little things, just curiosities really. Given the superb amount of detail and work that went into everything else, this has always stuck in my head. Anyone know? Anyone?
I wasn't there, but the realities of filmmaking sometimes force you to use things you didn't plan to. People drop out or can't make it and you have to switch actors or you're forced to use a prototype costume or whatnot.
That was certainly true when I was there. They needed a replacement red shirt to stand near the turbolift on the bridge because the person who was doing the job before wasn't available for the shoot. I was just standing off to the side watching the proceedings when Scott (the director) yelled "we need another red shirt for continuity!". So I volunteered and found a costume to squeeze in to. Incidentally, after viewing the footage and seeing what I looked like - I went on a diet/exercise routine and lost about 20lbs
One promising thing I've been looking at is the visual effects. Most of the elements (ships, mattes, starfields, "weirdspace") had been completed long ago, but the final shots hadn't been composited. This is finally happening, but it's a lot of work because Act 4 probably has almost as many pure VFX shots in at as the rest of the show put together.
Yeah, I think Michael from Neo FX said to me the first time we talked "why did you write so many effects into Act 4? You've created a lot of work for yourself" or words to that effect. Of course, later on it turned out that I'd created work for him as well.
[/QUOTE] I wasn't there, but the realities of filmmaking sometimes force you to use things you didn't plan to. People drop out or can't make it and you have to switch actors or you're forced to use a prototype costume or whatnot.[/QUOTE] Oh sure, I just want to know the inside scoop.
I've learned on Exeter and since on Polaris that this is really not the best question. There is an aphorism to the effect that the movie you wind up with is never the movie you started out to make. And I think the subtext there is "and it's a damned good thing." There's a point where you see that all the folks who have gotten involved in the process who you hoped would know more than you do about a thousand things actually do (if you're lucky) have skills and ideas that you would never, ever have been able to anticipate. At least, that's the way it is in a collaborative, volunteer production - again, if you're lucky. Someone sitting heavily on top of the cast and crew with an inviolate "vision" is an albatross. Exeter has already turned out to be a lot more, a lot better than I thought it would when I volunteered to work on it in 2003. And also very different. The scale of what the producers were attempting just grew, week by week, and there were a lot of lucky breaks that could have gone another way. For example, Jimm started out looking for a large barn or other facility where they could construct part of a bridge set; he wound up shooting on a sound stage at Austin studios. People with skills and experience in film making and as artists contacted him from all over the U.S. and abroad, wanting to help. "The Savage Empire" includes the credit "produced by Jimm and Josh Johnson" in place of the "created by Gene Roddenberry" card from the original Star Trek. When I was finalizing the title cards for "The Tressaurian Intersection" Jimm told me to take that out - he said, in essence, that so many people had brought so much to the show that he didn't want to take special credit right at the beginning of it for what we'd all done together. Jimm's a real good guy. Long-winded essay there. I guess the real point of the question in some ways is "will you be really happy with the show when it's done?" and the simple answer to that is yes, seeing what DS9Sega is doing with the final part of it I think all of us will be proud of it.
I appreciate the insights. As we're beginning to edit our first, full-length episode, "The Void," I'm not sure that the episode is quite the way I (as the writer) intended, but again, (as executive producer) I'm not sure that's a bad thing at all. And since we've only got a rough cut of the teaser, maybe I've just got the expectant parent willies... Thanks for the reply.