I'm writing this as a viewer not a creator
Over the past 10+ years I have watched many a fan film. Since the ending of Voyager I've been following these series, shorts and even independent features online, and their growth as technology has enabled them to develop. Particular projects I've followed:
- Hidden Frontier/Odyssey/The Helena Chronicles/Federation One
The first fan series I ever got into. Notable for being the first to do gay storylines, the 70ish episodes overall had overarching plots and characters which would develop as well if not BETTER than some of the characters on televison
- New Voyages/Phase II
Although I liked the movie series before I checked this out I didn't pay much attention to The Original Series. This made me go back and actually looking at the show on DVD this widening my horizons and made me fall back in love with the franchise. A major point about this show was that they began using elements from the 'lost' TV series such as unmade scripts, costumes and design ideas. While I know many prefer Continues (and I'll talk about them later) for being closer to what would have happened in 1969 I liked how elements from the Movie era and TNG cropped in retroactively.
- Intrepid
The underdog of the fan film world. Beautiful locations, great cast and some fun ideas - great quality whiler this still reminds you of the fun of making fan films.
- Renegades
Although rewriting the Trek elements and filming as a non-Trek movie, these guys have endeavoured to continue. Although I'm gutted that a while bunch of Trek characters are not officially returning, the cast will be keeping the same roles jsut with different names. The production photos look good.
- Continues
This can be applauded for literally looking straight out of the 60s, the cast is great as all have settled into their roles. I love Lolani and The Fairest of Them All. Good guest casting too
- Starship Farragut
Giving TOS the spin-off treatment TNG did, a series of enjoyable adventures of a completely different 23rd Century crew
Outside of the long-running series there's stuff like Exeter, Horizon, Deception, and many others who have produced sterling work in the name of Star Trek. I'd like to thank all of them for over the past decade+ for their hard work and stunning creativity. I hope that it can all somehow continue.
Now these 'guidelines' have angered a lot of people, myself included. That with a certain political shock in my country made the end of last week feel like the apocalypse! It's not just a hunger for indie Trek to continue, it's the fact that a lot of hard work by good people MAY now have to go out of the window. Continues and New Voyages want to do more episodes, Farragut wanted to go into the movie era and others like Intrepid & Anthology had more stories in the pipeline.
Maybe Wednesday's podcast will show a tiny little light at the end of the tunnel - a few things are NOT clear. The rules seem to instruct no ongoing series and no non-merchandise props/costumes. Does this mean one must spend thousands on expensive Anovos costumes? Will ongoing projects be forced to sit forever in a state of post-production? What about audio drama?
Another thing suggested is a boycott of official Trek, which is absurd. The cinema, the series, books, comics--- the reason why we all love fan films is because we watched real Trek in the first place! CBS have a right to protect their intellectual property. Maybe AP's meddling is the problem. If we want a change MAYBE we could give our voice, which people are doing via asking question on the podcast page.
If we want change we have to tell CBS.
Over the past 10+ years I have watched many a fan film. Since the ending of Voyager I've been following these series, shorts and even independent features online, and their growth as technology has enabled them to develop. Particular projects I've followed:
- Hidden Frontier/Odyssey/The Helena Chronicles/Federation One
The first fan series I ever got into. Notable for being the first to do gay storylines, the 70ish episodes overall had overarching plots and characters which would develop as well if not BETTER than some of the characters on televison
- New Voyages/Phase II
Although I liked the movie series before I checked this out I didn't pay much attention to The Original Series. This made me go back and actually looking at the show on DVD this widening my horizons and made me fall back in love with the franchise. A major point about this show was that they began using elements from the 'lost' TV series such as unmade scripts, costumes and design ideas. While I know many prefer Continues (and I'll talk about them later) for being closer to what would have happened in 1969 I liked how elements from the Movie era and TNG cropped in retroactively.
- Intrepid
The underdog of the fan film world. Beautiful locations, great cast and some fun ideas - great quality whiler this still reminds you of the fun of making fan films.
- Renegades
Although rewriting the Trek elements and filming as a non-Trek movie, these guys have endeavoured to continue. Although I'm gutted that a while bunch of Trek characters are not officially returning, the cast will be keeping the same roles jsut with different names. The production photos look good.
- Continues
This can be applauded for literally looking straight out of the 60s, the cast is great as all have settled into their roles. I love Lolani and The Fairest of Them All. Good guest casting too
- Starship Farragut
Giving TOS the spin-off treatment TNG did, a series of enjoyable adventures of a completely different 23rd Century crew
Outside of the long-running series there's stuff like Exeter, Horizon, Deception, and many others who have produced sterling work in the name of Star Trek. I'd like to thank all of them for over the past decade+ for their hard work and stunning creativity. I hope that it can all somehow continue.
Now these 'guidelines' have angered a lot of people, myself included. That with a certain political shock in my country made the end of last week feel like the apocalypse! It's not just a hunger for indie Trek to continue, it's the fact that a lot of hard work by good people MAY now have to go out of the window. Continues and New Voyages want to do more episodes, Farragut wanted to go into the movie era and others like Intrepid & Anthology had more stories in the pipeline.
Maybe Wednesday's podcast will show a tiny little light at the end of the tunnel - a few things are NOT clear. The rules seem to instruct no ongoing series and no non-merchandise props/costumes. Does this mean one must spend thousands on expensive Anovos costumes? Will ongoing projects be forced to sit forever in a state of post-production? What about audio drama?
Another thing suggested is a boycott of official Trek, which is absurd. The cinema, the series, books, comics--- the reason why we all love fan films is because we watched real Trek in the first place! CBS have a right to protect their intellectual property. Maybe AP's meddling is the problem. If we want a change MAYBE we could give our voice, which people are doing via asking question on the podcast page.
If we want change we have to tell CBS.
