Both Robert Walker, Jr. and Gary Lockwood are very much alive.
Of God's and Men ??
- Thread starter Gil T.Azell
- Start date
And, even if the only change in OGAM was that they had reprised their original roles, it would have been a lot better IMHO.
Well, time has not exactly been all that kind to Gary Lockwood; he wouldn't be recognizable as Mitchell. I have no idea how well Walker has held up.
I went and rewatched OGAM today. If they ever went back to re-edit this film, these are the changes I would recommend for the first chapter:
1. Cut Uhura's opening narration line: "its said that if you move but one grain of sand, you run the risk of altering history." It feels very tacked on and out of place, and it gives away the fact that its a time travel/alternate universe episode. The audience should be allowed to figure that one out for themselves.
2. After the Renegade Studios logo appears on screen, it should immediately open with the Ethan Phillips space station scene. At the end of the scene (when the station disappears) is when the main credits should start (similar to Star Trek V).
3. After main credits role, cut to the Enterprise museum ship shots. Cut out Uhura's depressing narration, and replace with either music, or a new captain's log by "Cmdr Kirk" about a "special guest" coming aboard (would make Uhura's appearance on the bridge more exciting if it wasn't telegraphed at the beginning in the narration).
4. Trim down the opening bridge scene. Too long before the action starts, and too many character moments. Less is more sometimes.
5. Cut Chekov's lines where he is bitching about not getting promoted because of politics. I can't imagine an officer saying that on a bridge of a ship, when junior officers are around him.
1. Cut Uhura's opening narration line: "its said that if you move but one grain of sand, you run the risk of altering history." It feels very tacked on and out of place, and it gives away the fact that its a time travel/alternate universe episode. The audience should be allowed to figure that one out for themselves.
2. After the Renegade Studios logo appears on screen, it should immediately open with the Ethan Phillips space station scene. At the end of the scene (when the station disappears) is when the main credits should start (similar to Star Trek V).
3. After main credits role, cut to the Enterprise museum ship shots. Cut out Uhura's depressing narration, and replace with either music, or a new captain's log by "Cmdr Kirk" about a "special guest" coming aboard (would make Uhura's appearance on the bridge more exciting if it wasn't telegraphed at the beginning in the narration).
4. Trim down the opening bridge scene. Too long before the action starts, and too many character moments. Less is more sometimes.
5. Cut Chekov's lines where he is bitching about not getting promoted because of politics. I can't imagine an officer saying that on a bridge of a ship, when junior officers are around him.
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Gary was unavailable at the time, and originally Robert Walker was going to do it but he had a leg injury. Yes STOGAM has issues, we were delayed a year just because of the FX alone. There was other issues, but it all had to do with the fact there was really no budget and had to depend on people volunteering there time.
As for the story, it was orginally much longer and many things were cut from the original script before filming. The script was written to complement the TOS tv series and movies and was suppose to pull things from the show. So yes, a bit fanwankery.
Probabably the biggest acheivement that is most over looked is getting over 15 former Star Trek cast or guest cast members together. Not bad for a production that was not officially from Paramount. Only PhaseII has come close with a few actors of the TOS cast or guest cast.
So love it, or hate it, it is what it is, if we had a bit more production funds it would have been even better.
Its being talked about and also new VFX so make a Special Edition version. We will see.
As for the story, it was orginally much longer and many things were cut from the original script before filming. The script was written to complement the TOS tv series and movies and was suppose to pull things from the show. So yes, a bit fanwankery.
Probabably the biggest acheivement that is most over looked is getting over 15 former Star Trek cast or guest cast members together. Not bad for a production that was not officially from Paramount. Only PhaseII has come close with a few actors of the TOS cast or guest cast.
So love it, or hate it, it is what it is, if we had a bit more production funds it would have been even better.
Its being talked about and also new VFX so make a Special Edition version. We will see.
A
Amaris
Guest
I think the problem is more what was done with the talent rather than the sheer number of actors brought on board. It helped that Tim Russ was involved in the film's production, and probably had connections with actors from the various series'.
I mean no offense, but again, with the talent brought onboard the film should have been so much more, even with a small budget. I've seen amazing results from shoestring budget films. I didn't expect "amazing" from OGAM, but I expected good quality. Sometimes, all the right ingredients mean nothing if the preparation isn't done well. It makes all the difference between a banana souffle and banana soup.
To the actors end, they need to be commended, it was the middle of summer 2006 in a heat wave in upstate NY and the actors had to put up with Temperatures of almost 100 degrees on the New Voyages set. Only a part of the building in the front had any AC. The LA part of the shoots was much better weather wise.
A
Amaris
Guest
Oh, I enjoyed seeing the actors. I simply adore Ethan Phillips, love Nichelle Nichols, and the rest of the cast is a great group of people. I understand that actors go through unpleasant conditions. Hell, one of my favorite shows on TV (Hogan's Heroes) had the actors forever dressed in winter clothing, behaving like it was just above freezing in camp, even though it was usually 95/96' on the backlot where they filmed the show.
It's more on the editing/writing end that I get disappointed. They needed for me to connect with the proponents of the film, and they failed to do so. I saw it more as a curiosity rather than something in which to invest my emotions, and for me, that's the sad part. I really wanted to like the film, and I wanted to share it with friends.
Huh? Gary Lockwood and Keir Dullea featured at an Australian convention celebrating "2001: A Space Odyssey"" a few years ago... and both were recognisable as their 1968 "2001" astronaut roles - and Lockwood was only too happy to discuss his role in the second ST pilot.
Considering that Gary Mitchell was shown to be going grey in the sideburns in "Where No Man...", it's not such a stretch that his physical body had aged so much.
Agreed. Neither the budget nor the cast were the problem. The writing and the editing were the issue, at least to my mind.
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Unfortunate if you throw money at a low budget show that doesn't work because of a weak script and poor editing, what you'll have is a bigger budget show that doesn't work because of a weak script and poor editing. If anyone wants to see what can be done with a brilliant script, great editing, (not to mention superb actiing) on a very low budget go find Doctor Who? "Day of the Daleks"
Loken
Lieutenant Commander
I have to agree. The script was a mess. Another "Kitchen Sink" episode ala "In Harm's Way" from New Voyages. Just an awful story. Good acting, Koenig was amazing. And the special effects were so sub-par.
This was the most disappointing fan film yet. Not the "Independant Star Trek Film" promised.
Alec
This was the most disappointing fan film yet. Not the "Independant Star Trek Film" promised.
Alec
I found most of the FX to be good. Only a few stood out in my mind as needing improvement.
a. The "Omega" weapon, which seemed to take forever to hit Vulcan, could probably be made better with today's FX.
b. The shuttle chase, when alternate-Chekov is fleeing from Harriman's ship and gets caught in a tractor beam, was really wonky looking.
I do think that there were too many starships in the space battle scenes. Might be good to get rid of some of those ships and scale it back a bit. I think it would actually serve to increase the tension in those scenes.
Also, the final shot of the film at Vulcan, with dozens of Federation ships buzzing around in the background, was a bit distracting. I think it might have been more effective if it had just been the Enterprise in orbit of Vulcan (like in the opening credits of TOS).
From www.startrekofgodsandmen.com:
"The 40th anniversary of 'Star Trek' was coming up and it didn't appear at the time that Paramount was going to do anything about it," says Sky Conway, the film's producer. "This was a way of looking back ... to celebrate this modern mythology that Gene Roddenberry created."
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Agreed.
There was controversy at the time because some people thought that it could be construed as a "for profit" production, which could have opened a can of worms. There were also some other issues that don't need to be rehashed here.
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