James designed it and built it! He really does "channel" Bill Theiss, and it shows. Unfortunately, you weren't able to see the "crew" jackets that he designed and built for the members of "Captain Kyril's" crew. (The guys that are on top of the hill shooting down at the landing party.) They complement the captain's jacket with a reverse pattern design.
Star Trek Phase II Enemy: Starfleet! Now Released!
- Thread starter GSchnitzer
- Start date
James designed it and built it! He really does "channel" Bill Theiss, and it shows. Unfortunately, you weren't able to see the "crew" jackets that he designed and built for the members of "Captain Kyril's" crew. (The guys that are on top of the hill shooting down at the landing party.) They complement the captain's jacket with a reverse pattern design.
It definitely was not written to echo the scene with Decker (which I still don't remember from TMP). From what you say it is Kirk 'dressing down' Decker for what he did and Decker having the guts to stand up for himself and explain it, and Kirk being the kind of senior officer that will adjust his opinion based on that.
In this scene from "Enemy: Starfleet!", the supposed "dressing down" was a joke... Kirk was ribbing Chekov for being so self-critical and using it against him to make him squirm before he pulls a turn-around and "explains" that what Chekov sees as faults Kirk sees as good qualities. And that Chekov's recent actions based on those traits have really shown that Kirk is right...
It shows a development in their relationship from when Chekov was just the "new young ensign"...to two experienced officers that know and respect each other and, well, see similarities in each other.
In this scene from "Enemy: Starfleet!", the supposed "dressing down" was a joke... Kirk was ribbing Chekov for being so self-critical and using it against him to make him squirm before he pulls a turn-around and "explains" that what Chekov sees as faults Kirk sees as good qualities. And that Chekov's recent actions based on those traits have really shown that Kirk is right...
It shows a development in their relationship from when Chekov was just the "new young ensign"...to two experienced officers that know and respect each other and, well, see similarities in each other.
Yeah -- that's what i was talking about. I realize it didn't play out the exact same way -- but it definitely echoed it.
Maybe I'll shut up now. I used to make Star Trek fan films when I was in high school (from 87-89) and when I look at them now, I see that they were so heavily peppered with lines from real Trek productions that it's distracting from what little original content there was there. I can't tell you how many times Spock uttered the line "That would explain a great many things." in my productions or I made allusions to the then-new Next Generation episodes.
Maybe I see it more than the average fan because of that, but regardless -- if this truly were an episode from Star Trek's fourth season, it would not be referencing episodes or movies as often as our fan films do. Or -- at the very least, if these situations had happened in the series, they would not have been in the movies.
Are you talking about the scene were Kirk was going to jump Decker's ass for belaying his phaser order during the wormhole sequence in TMP?
I don't see how that echoes Kirk's scene with Chekov.
In TMP Kirk wanted to tear Decker a new one, and only calmed down once Decker explained his reasoning.
In Enemy: Starfleet! Kirk meets with Chekov to commend him and promote him to Chief of Security.
I'm not seeing the correlation.
About to watch this episode myself. Knowing I'm going to enjoy it after this long wait. 
A
Amaris
Guest
Some visual effects look awesome (the Enterprise in drydock), others look pretty cheap again (the space battle at the beginning). Did a group of people do these, or a couple of people independently?
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In our production, different VFX people/teams work on different effects shots relatively independently of the other people/teams.
J
Jetfire
Guest
I think the sets are great and the VFX are too. 
Really? Ha! I'm starting to think there's nothing that man can't do!
Well, although James has been a professional actor for over 24 years, he started his "Trek" career working with Bill Theiss on the TNG costumes. Bill must have saw the James could "channel" what Bill would have done - because it's James he entrusted his TOS patterns and costume notebooks to when he passed away.
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A
Amaris
Guest
Really? Ha! I'm starting to think there's nothing that man can't do!
Well, although James has been a professional actor for over 24 years, he started his "Trek" career working with Bill Theiss on the TNG costumes. Bill must have saw the James could "channel" what Bill would have done - because it's James he entrusted his TOS patterns and costume notebooks to when he passed away.
I did not know that. That's a whole level of backstory of which I was completely unaware! I've always loved William Theiss' work, I mean, he designed some of the most beautiful costumes I've ever seen either in television or the movies. It's great to see his legacy gets to continue thanks to James.
Also, I swear to god I'm not kissing up or anything. I just really think that is wonderful.
That said, would you be able to expound on what's going on in the picture you have posted? It looks like James fixing up an actor's costume while wearing a TNG S1/S2 uniform. Was he actually in a TNG episode (sorry if I should know this)?
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For those of you who didn't want to watch the online streaming version of Enemy: Starfleet! and who were holding out for downloadable versions, we did indeed make downloadable versions available today ("Earth Day") at 5:01 p.m. EDT. (That's 1701--get it?)
Find our download mirror sites here:
http://www.startreknewvoyages.com/episode_ES.html
Find our download mirror sites here:
http://www.startreknewvoyages.com/episode_ES.html
Thank goodness you guys are an east coast operation, we in the west got it at 14:01 here. I have it downloaded and ready to watch.
Cool beans. Well, let us know what you think after you come up for air.
Dusty Ayres
Commodore
You know, if you produced this show in Canada, or showed it on a Canadian network, you'd be seeing this ident:
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYxw4-KwDXQ[/yt]
Could you please consider putting it at the beginning of a future episode?
Saw the episode...not all that thrilled with the story...its kind of a rehash of several other TOS episodes, and the new bits added aren't all the interesting. Luna is fine, still a vivacious lady, but hammed it up a little too much. The production has a glossier quality about it, but overall this is a comedown from the last episode, and doesnt seem as promising as the next few.
RAMA
RAMA
Oh well. Maybe we'll do better next time.
So, it's not our "City On Th Edge of Forever," but is it our "And the Children Shall Lead" or "Spock's Brain?" Or somewhere more in the middle of the episode pack?
Thanks for watching and for providing your feedback.
Firewall was said in that TNG episode "Conundrum", and this episode has TNG warp effects. A more obvious retconned reference in another episode has a picture of the NX-01 on the wall.
Also I don't think TMP was supposed to be in 2279, but more like 2 years after the 5 year mission as the Enterprise was being refitted. And plus it would have had to have been before 2278 since the TWOK uniforms were in use at that time.
Also I don't think TMP was supposed to be in 2279, but more like 2 years after the 5 year mission as the Enterprise was being refitted. And plus it would have had to have been before 2278 since the TWOK uniforms were in use at that time.
I just finished watching the episode.
First off, my hats off to James Cawley and the cast and crew of Phase II for another excellent effort in bringing new Star Trek to the fans. Every new adventure I see improvements in acting, special effects, cinematography and a host of other places.
I like the use of professional actors with fan actors to keep each other on their toes, the synergy between them makes it all the more of a challenge to bring a good product to the (computer) screen.
What I liked was the following:
Acting: Everyone has grown into their roles nicely as well as adding their own touches as the original actors did. BarBara Luna and Paul Seiber as guest stars were wonderful, they occasionally ate a little scenery but it was not as bad as some productions.
Special Effects: I liked the look and feel of it, it never brought me out of the story, The ships looked good and moved as they would have in Star Trek. I agree with the choice of TNG-like touches as the warp scenes and battles.
Story: A basic story but the B story was also a nice touch. It flowed well and nothing was telegraphed as to the ending.
Overall, I am giving it an A, looking forward to the next production.
On a final note, I am glad they waited until the episode was locked and ready rather than a sneak peek or work in progress. That made the viewing experience much more pleasant rather than the re-downloads I had to do with Blood and Fire. I have the utmost respect for James and company knowing how hard they bust their asses to create Star Trek. They are slowly leaving fan film and going into independent film, a graduation of sorts.
/end review.
First off, my hats off to James Cawley and the cast and crew of Phase II for another excellent effort in bringing new Star Trek to the fans. Every new adventure I see improvements in acting, special effects, cinematography and a host of other places.
I like the use of professional actors with fan actors to keep each other on their toes, the synergy between them makes it all the more of a challenge to bring a good product to the (computer) screen.
What I liked was the following:
Acting: Everyone has grown into their roles nicely as well as adding their own touches as the original actors did. BarBara Luna and Paul Seiber as guest stars were wonderful, they occasionally ate a little scenery but it was not as bad as some productions.
Special Effects: I liked the look and feel of it, it never brought me out of the story, The ships looked good and moved as they would have in Star Trek. I agree with the choice of TNG-like touches as the warp scenes and battles.
Story: A basic story but the B story was also a nice touch. It flowed well and nothing was telegraphed as to the ending.
Overall, I am giving it an A, looking forward to the next production.
On a final note, I am glad they waited until the episode was locked and ready rather than a sneak peek or work in progress. That made the viewing experience much more pleasant rather than the re-downloads I had to do with Blood and Fire. I have the utmost respect for James and company knowing how hard they bust their asses to create Star Trek. They are slowly leaving fan film and going into independent film, a graduation of sorts.
/end review.
As I've said in the past, I tend not to beat up fanfilms too much for the acting or some of the technical aspects because so much of the work is volunteer labor, and that most of the actors are enthusiasts rather than trained. I'm keenly aware of how hard it is to do these things in even the best of circumstances. However, if viewers start comparing fanfilms to indie film or professional TV production, then they can't be surprised when these elements do fall under serious critical scrutiny and may be found lacking.
That said, the biggest problem with fanfilms in general is the cheapest one to fix: the scripts. If you're brutally hard on the script, if you really take it apart and take it to task, and if you're willing to "kill your darlings", you usually end up with a better story an easier time once you get into production. "Fix it on the page" is really the best filmmaking advice I've ever heard.
As to its script Enemy: Starfleet , as with Blood and Fire suffers from poor construction, unprofessional behavior on the part of the characters, and dialogues that are overlong and drawn out. Both episodes could be vastly improved just with dialog trims. I'd urge the writers to be brutal, look at every scene, find the lines that are the gold, the lines that really say something, and trim out the rest.
As Howard Hawks said, a great film needs three great scenes and no bad ones.
That said, the biggest problem with fanfilms in general is the cheapest one to fix: the scripts. If you're brutally hard on the script, if you really take it apart and take it to task, and if you're willing to "kill your darlings", you usually end up with a better story an easier time once you get into production. "Fix it on the page" is really the best filmmaking advice I've ever heard.
As to its script Enemy: Starfleet , as with Blood and Fire suffers from poor construction, unprofessional behavior on the part of the characters, and dialogues that are overlong and drawn out. Both episodes could be vastly improved just with dialog trims. I'd urge the writers to be brutal, look at every scene, find the lines that are the gold, the lines that really say something, and trim out the rest.
As Howard Hawks said, a great film needs three great scenes and no bad ones.
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