Using Videogame audio to create new episodes / films

[Danlav05]

This has been discussed several times and attempted a couple, but for us non-gamers how do people feel about uaing material from videogames to create new material?

Now before you say 'Why isn;t this in Fan Productions' then please hear me out - it's been suggested several times that audio recorded for 'Secret of Vulcan Fury' could be made into a new TAS episode.

However there's so much more than SOVF out there - there were 25th Anniversary and Judgement Rites in the early 90s has audio for at least 15 new episdoes, also from other shows there's TNG's A Final Unity, two DS9 games (though one has a different guy voicing Sisko.)

Also beyond voiceovers, there's Klingon and Borg, the latter in particular looks just like a lost DS9/VOY episode, I'm almost surprised that they weren't Interactive features on the DVDs, though I guess rights issues may apply?

This type of thing has already been tried in fan projects - there is all thtis forgotten material out there that isn't being used by many, thre could be so many new Trek adventures with old favourites back in their roles

There's Beyond Antares, a CGI work in progress by Robert England

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Borg War - machimina game made from Starfleet Command III and Elite Force 2 wit hte voices of Sir Patrick Stweart, Tim Russ & Brock Peters
http://www.borgwarmovie.com/

A Final Unity - seemingly 'on hold' but this guy was trying to turn the TNG game into a 100min feature!
http://st-afu.com/

 

[wayne66]

This has been my big wish regarding Star Trek for years now. I am not a gamer so I would love to see the audio to all these games get used as part of a new animated series. As you said 25th Anniversary Edition and Judgement Rites are about 15 episodes. Dorothy Fontana wrote Secret of Vulcan Fury and has been quoted as saying there were 5 episodes written for it. Ergo, we have 20 new episodes ready to go. TAS has 22 episodes, so 22+20=42 episodes featuring the original cast. Robert England who is doing Beyond Antares has talked about the Story Records that were done in the 1970s by Shatner and company, but the deal fell through. Different actors ended up doing about 11 of these. He claims that there are 22 mini episodes that average 15 minutes in length. So perhaps these short stories can be incorporated into the other episodes. So many possibilities. I have seen a bit of A Final Unity on YouTube. It looks very interesting. I hope that it can be made into a movie as well.

 

[wayne66]

Also, one more thing. I think that CBS should think of this in the long term. An investment for the future. A video game tends to have a shorter life span compared to a television series. These games converted into new animated episodes can continue to be repackaged by the company and resold to the fans. We continue to see CBS and other companies try and resell us the same television series and music over and over again. If these games remain video games they have a limited shelf life. But if they can be converted to the television series format, than they can continue to make money on it. Easy money.

 

[INACTIVEUSS Einstein]

I bet there will be a ton of legal issues, but I've always wanted this too.

25th Anniversary, Judgement Rites and A Final Unity, could be completely re-made into modern games, using all the hours of voice acting that Shatner, Nimoy, Kelley and the others put in.

Or it could become a CGI movie/animated series as an outside possibility.

It would prevent some of the finest Trek material ever committed being lost by a generation of casual gamers that is generally uninterested in older games.

 

[IronMaiden]

Who says it has to be from games?

For me i been saving parts of odos voice from the 5.1 audio so it is a bit more clean.

 

[Danlav05]

Or it could become a CGI movie/animated series as an outside possibility.

This would be my preference personally!

 

[HIjol]

Wow! You all gave me an idea for using my Hallmark Ornaments, with their voice and sound effect features, to do a Stop-Motion Spec Filmette!

 

[Danlav05]

Robert England who is doing Beyond Antares has talked about the Story Records that were done in the 1970s by Shatner and company, but the deal fell through.

Is this the Power Records series? Would mixing the Shatner crew with otehrs work? These are already being animated here:

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[Danlav05]

Also, one more thing. I think that CBS should think of this in the long term. An investment for the future. A video game tends to have a shorter life span compared to a television series. These games converted into new animated episodes can continue to be repackaged by the company and resold to the fans. We continue to see CBS and other companies try and resell us the same television series and music over and over again. If these games remain video games they have a limited shelf life. But if they can be converted to the television series format, than they can continue to make money on it. Easy money.

I like the way you think. For me a big part of it is legacy - sadly only 4 of the original 7 are still with us - newish material featuring the actual voices would potentially be huge.

 

[Relayer1]

I bet there will be a ton of legal issues, but I've always wanted this too.

Me too, but I suspect that due to both legal problems and lack of interest from the rights holders, fan productions are the best bet. Not necessarily lower quality either...

 

[INACTIVEUSS Einstein]

This would be my preference personally!

The problem with this is, if you have ever played those games, you will realize about 80% of their worth would be lost in a movie, since much of it consists of characters describing artifacts and scientific equipment. And great descriptions they are!

 

[Danlav05]

The problem with this is, if you have ever played those games, you will realize about 80% of their worth would be lost in a movie, since much of it consists of characters describing artifacts and scientific equipment. And great descriptions they are!

That's the tricky part about games!! Finding a way to make a single story out of them. For the TOs era stories would the TAS style work? It would be an opportunity to throw in animated Chekov which I'm sure many would relish the chance to see. neo f/x replicated the style perfectly for some Starship Farragut animations.

How about an auio play? What about later games like DS9, VOY and the Ent-E ones? Would they work?

 

[Kor]

A video game is comprised of hours of interactive gameplay, with occasional cut-scenes that serve to tie it together into a coherent story. It would take some skillful legerdemain to turn that into a watchable and compelling episode.

Kor

 

[wayne66]

Is this the Power Records series? Would mixing the Shatner crew with otehrs work? These are already being animated here:

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That is one of the stories that were done in the 1970s for Power Records or Peter Pan Records. Curt Danhauser Star Trek site has more information on these. I think it would be possible to bring back the surviving cast members to expand the episodes. I would hope that the rumor that the original cast did the voice work for these short stories is true. I would like to get more information/confirmation on that. I kind of doubt that they would mix the surviving cast members with these voice doubles, still you never know. The Story Records were done right after The Animated Series and many of the episodes were written by Alan Dean Foster who was novelizing TAS at the time helps give these stories a TAS feel. So they would make for a nice addition to the BluRay release of TAS.

 

[wayne66]

I like the way you think. For me a big part of it is legacy - sadly only 4 of the original 7 are still with us - newish material featuring the actual voices would potentially be huge.

We are running out of time when it comes to using the original cast of Star Trek. When they are gone, we cannot use them anymore. The animated series is a perfect format for using them. They can be made to look exactly like they did back in the 1960s. I just wonder how close the technology is to creating live action images of the original cast. People have said that Michael Douglas was de-aged almost perfectly for the movie Ant Man. The entertainment industry continues to move in that direction. So my hope is that all this audio from TAS, The Computer Games and all the rest could be used to make brand new live action Star Trek episodes. Season 4 and 5 are just waiting to be made. That would be awesome.

 

[SpaceLama]

I always thought they could easily do a CGI Star Trek series (along the lines of Rebels, but more mature).

Set between The Motion Picture and Wrath of Khan, during the second five-year mission of Kirk, on the refit Enterprise.

DeForest Kelley, James Doohan and Leonard Nimoy are no longer with us, but I'm sure we could find new voice actors to fill their rolls.

More stand-alone stories, written by veterans. Basically Star Trek: Phase II.

But ideas like this never come true.