So I've noticed that in fan films there are usually two distinct eras in the 23rd century that are used as the setting: either TOS era, including immediately before or after, or during what I call the "Enterprise-A years" which include Star Trek's V and VI up until Generations and even into the Lost Era. My question is, has any fan film ever attempted to cover the 15 year gap between Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, or what I refer to as the "Enterprise refit years"? Building a set for the bridge would be difficult due to the chairs having a unique custom shape and the walls being giant curved sections that form a dome, to say nothing of the uniforms of the early part of that era, which were, as far as fan consensus goes, the worst ever (though I myself disagree on that last point). But if someone managed to capture the look and feel of the first 3 or 4 Star Trek films in a fan production, it would IMHO be glorious. If this era has not been explored by ANY fan film before, I'd personally be very interested in seeing it, though I don't have the means to do it myself.
Farragut Forward (previously called Starship Farragut) has moved from the TOS era into the TWOK era. They are currently in production on their first film with the TWOK style uniforms and interior set design. They have a couple of preproduction videos out so far on youtube, and it looks very good. I can certainly say theyve perfected the monster maroon uniform.
George Takei was involved in this fan film production, which was actually only recently completed, but the location shooting was covered by "Starlog" in 1985(!), when it was begun. The uniforms are a deliberate TOS/TMP/ST II amalgam. The nacelles on the ships are similarly transitional. The bridge is a reuse of fan-made set pieces of the 2000s. https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/yor...official-thread-for-the-sulu-fan-film.143042/ https://fanlore.org/wiki/Yorktown:_A_Time_to_Heal Episodes 10/11, "To Boldly Go", of "Star Trek Continues" builds to TMP era: https://fanlore.org/wiki/Star_Trek_Continues_(fan_films)
As a purist of this era, it REALLY bugs me that Farragut Forward has picked the TWOK setting but decided to just build the Enterprise-A/Excelsior bridge from the latter films, replace the chairs with TMP-TWOK era chairs, and call it a day. Yes, it's impressive what they've done, but it isn't faithful at all to the film era I love most. How much harder would it have been to just build an accurate refit Enterprise Bridge from TMP or TWOK? Is it easier or cheaper to just build the latter film bridge? I doubt it. This one is also really well made, but it is technically part of what I mentioned as "TOS era or shortly after". I ADORE the look of the Yorktown refit though (it's like a 23rd century Galaxy-class!), and the slight changes to the TOS uniforms are really cool, to say nothing of the fact that it feels close enough to an early TMP era film due to the portrayal of Sulu and Admiral Nogura. As an aside, I have done an edit of "Yorktown: A Time to Heal" which adds Jerry Goldsmith's music from "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" to certain scenes. It currently exists only on my personal hard drive at home, and I will not share it publicly unless anyone from the team that made the film gives me their blessing.
yeah after I saw the promo short for whatever-con, I too was pretty disappointed they went with a STVI aesthetic. But for sure this was cheaper. Constructing the original refit bridge would have been a lot more work. All the stations trim, glare shields, slide out hidden consoles, and not to mention all the various buttons on each console surface. the STVI look is a lot of flat backlit panels with okudagrams, and lots and lots of flat surfaces making up each station. I understand why they did it, but it was a bit of a let down....
So I found a fan film set during the era I'm looking at, but let me give a fair warning: it's very, VERY rough. Not to mention the set design and uniforms are all over the place, continuity-wise. I myself couldn't make it through watching it (I skimmed past the overly long and not particularly well done opening credits, and it never got better), so be warned. I actually feel terrible giving such a negative review, in part because they were probably just having fun making a fan film and not taking it too seriously.