Are any of the fanmade Trek productions actually good?

[DCR]

I like both P2 and STC for different reasons. I think STC does the best job of capturing the visual "feel" of Star Trek, but I also get a strong 1st Season TNG vibe from the stories. It's hard to explain but it almost feels like someone took a TOS script rewritten for TNG, and rewrote it back to TOS.

James doesn't have quite the same mastery of Kirk's mannerisms as Vic, but the command style and character dynamic on P2 feels closer to the original than on STC.

Your mileage may vary, but that's what I get from these two shows.

 

[PattyW]

I'm not 100% sure, but I think P2 have dropped their adaptation of "Mind Sifter", along with their prequel story "Origins"

Nope, they just scrapped the existing footage and my script for Mind Sifter. James posted on FB that someone else was writing a new script and they planned to film it this June.

The footage for "Origins" has problems that won't allow them to finish it as written. Numerous other options have been discussed - including using it as a "flashback" in another episode, or just starting over again as with Mind Sifter. They haven't announced a decision as to what will ultimately happen with it.

 

[MikeH92467]

It really is a shame that they may have to scrap what seem like very promising episodes. That's an awful lot of work. Just one of the hazards of doing fan films I guess.

 

[Timewalker]

I'm not 100% sure, but I think P2 have dropped their adaptation of "Mind Sifter", along with their prequel story "Origins"

Nope, they just scrapped the existing footage and my script for Mind Sifter. James posted on FB that someone else was writing a new script and they planned to film it this June.

The footage for "Origins" has problems that won't allow them to finish it as written. Numerous other options have been discussed - including using it as a "flashback" in another episode, or just starting over again as with Mind Sifter. They haven't announced a decision as to what will ultimately happen with it.

That's great that you're still going to film it. I read the New Voyages version decades ago, the original version a few weeks ago, and the folks who write the Valjiir stories (see my sig) did their own take on "Mind-Sifter" with a story arc that delved into the events that happened on-ship during the year when Spock was the captain. No matter which version I've read, the core story is intense, and I'm very glad that someone decided to film it. I look forward to seeing the finished product when you folks are done.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I'm not 100% sure, but I think P2 have dropped their adaptation of "Mind Sifter", along with their prequel story "Origins"

Nope, they just scrapped the existing footage and my script for Mind Sifter. James posted on FB that someone else was writing a new script and they planned to film it this June.

The footage for "Origins" has problems that won't allow them to finish it as written. Numerous other options have been discussed - including using it as a "flashback" in another episode, or just starting over again as with Mind Sifter. They haven't announced a decision as to what will ultimately happen with it.

Understood, thanks for clarifying.

And if nothing can be salvaged, while I realize it was probably all beyond everyone's control, what a sad waste of time, effort and especially (fan donated?) money.

 

[PattyW]

I'm not 100% sure, but I think P2 have dropped their adaptation of "Mind Sifter", along with their prequel story "Origins"

Nope, they just scrapped the existing footage and my script for Mind Sifter. James posted on FB that someone else was writing a new script and they planned to film it this June.

The footage for "Origins" has problems that won't allow them to finish it as written. Numerous other options have been discussed - including using it as a "flashback" in another episode, or just starting over again as with Mind Sifter. They haven't announced a decision as to what will ultimately happen with it.

That's great that you're still going to film it. I read the New Voyages version decades ago, the original version a few weeks ago, and the folks who write the Valjiir stories (see my sig) did their own take on "Mind-Sifter" with a story arc that delved into the events that happened on-ship during the year when Spock was the captain. No matter which version I've read, the core story is intense, and I'm very glad that someone decided to film it. I look forward to seeing the finished product when you folks are done.

eh...I don't think it's great. There's some really powerful writing and acting that will never be seen. And a story that was very important to both John Carrigan and I will not involve either of us. What a waste!

hehe....we know each other! (I'm the Koenig/Chekov gal) Never saw the Valjiir version of the "on ship" goings on, I'll have to check it out and see how it compares with my own script!

you can check out a couple of the scenes here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzwNXLzu5Hw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQKsWtM927E

 

[PattyW]

Understood, thanks for clarifying.

And if nothing can be salvaged, while I realize it was probably all beyond everyone's control, what a sad waste of time, effort and especially (fan donated?) money.

They have publicly stated that they are missing footage from "The Protracted Man" (which is mistakenly referred to as "Origins" - my first script for that episode) that requires Vic Mignogna and Matthew Ewald. I think people accept that not being able to get them back to film those pieces is, in fact, out of Phase II's control.

Which is why they were bandying around ways to use the existing footage and not lose the use of it.

 

[Shaka Zulu]

For me, the only good ones are Phase II and Star Trek Aurora, and I want to see the latter show be used as a style-wise template for a future official professional Star Trek animated TV series or movie (that is, I want to see the same kind of character design be used in the movie or TV show-I don't give a flying fuck how crappy people think DAZ Studio or Poser is as CGI animation programs-it's high time for said programs to be used, 'uncanny valley' be dammed.)

 

[Barbreader]

On the subject of Aurora, I've heard a lot of snide remarks about the current Pro Cosmos series and how inferior the animation is to Aurora's.

 

[Timewalker]

Nope, they just scrapped the existing footage and my script for Mind Sifter. James posted on FB that someone else was writing a new script and they planned to film it this June.

The footage for "Origins" has problems that won't allow them to finish it as written. Numerous other options have been discussed - including using it as a "flashback" in another episode, or just starting over again as with Mind Sifter. They haven't announced a decision as to what will ultimately happen with it.

That's great that you're still going to film it. I read the New Voyages version decades ago, the original version a few weeks ago, and the folks who write the Valjiir stories (see my sig) did their own take on "Mind-Sifter" with a story arc that delved into the events that happened on-ship during the year when Spock was the captain. No matter which version I've read, the core story is intense, and I'm very glad that someone decided to film it. I look forward to seeing the finished product when you folks are done.

eh...I don't think it's great. There's some really powerful writing and acting that will never be seen. And a story that was very important to both John Carrigan and I will not involve either of us. What a waste!

hehe....we know each other! (I'm the Koenig/Chekov gal) Never saw the Valjiir version of the "on ship" goings on, I'll have to check it out and see how it compares with my own script!

you can check out a couple of the scenes here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzwNXLzu5Hw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQKsWtM927E

Sorry, looks like I've misunderstood a couple of things. To clarify, the story will still be filmed, but not the version you personally wrote?

Do I know you by another name on another site? Besides TrekBBS, the only other forum where I've ever discussed Valjiir is in a thread dedicated to it on the Alpha Centauri 2 gaming forum. The version of "Shadow Captain" online has been rewritten from the earlier version that I first read when these stories were in the print 'zine In a Different Reality (back in the '80s).

 

[Takeru]

I've only seen Blood and Fire of Star Trek Phase II, it was impressive how they managed to recreate the sets, costumes and feel of TOS but I also think they aped it too much, hardly anything was original, they even seemed to copy the acting style. The guy playing Kirk for example didn't really play Kirk, he played William Shatner playing Kirk. That's obviously intentional but I would have preferred if he had made the character his own.

The biggest problem I had with that episode was the script, I can see why it was rejected for TNG, it was awful. Hey, look at our gay guest stars, they're making out and want to get married and everyone is totally fine with it ... whoops, space slug AIDS! And the solution is to kill the infected, it's the only way to be sure. I was offended by that and didn't even finish the episode.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

Whoa... that is... ?

 

[Maurice]

I've only seen Blood and Fire ...

...The biggest problem I had with that episode was the script, I can see why it was rejected for TNG, it was awful. Hey, look at our gay guest stars, they're making out and want to get married and everyone is totally fine with it ... whoops, space slug AIDS! And the solution is to kill the infected, it's the only way to be sure. I was offended by that and didn't even finish the episode.

I hope this is just poor word choice on your part and not what it reads like.

 

[RCAM]

I've only seen Blood and Fire ...

...The biggest problem I had with that episode was the script, I can see why it was rejected for TNG, it was awful. Hey, look at our gay guest stars, they're making out and want to get married and everyone is totally fine with it ... whoops, space slug AIDS! And the solution is to kill the infected, it's the only way to be sure. I was offended by that and didn't even finish the episode.

I hope this is just poor word choice on your part and not what it reads like.

I think he means that he was offended that killing the infected was the solution, as if the show's implying that's what we should do to people with AIDS.

I really don't think that's the point the episode was making (it would be deplorable if that WAS the point). The script is bad and conveys its messages poorly, but saying it's expressing a negative sentiment against people with AIDS is a stretch.

 

[DCR]

I hope that was the point the poster was making.

I have my own issues with the episode, most of which revolve around pacing.

 

[MikeH92467]

My own personal feeling is that Blood and Fire was trying so hard to make a particular point that it overwhelmed everything else. To me, the best Trek stories are the ones that entertain first, but have a message that becomes clearer on reflection. B&F was very good on a number of levels and while I don't consider a great episode (combining parts 1 and 2) I do consider it an outstanding effort and the Phase II team is worthy of praise for taking a chance on a story that was bound to be controversial and certainly too risky for mainstream television.

 

[Maurice]

"Blood and Fire" might've been "risky" in 1987 or 1978, but not by the time Phase II made their version.

I think making the "gay" episode an AIDS metaphor was a poor choice because it's too on the nose. It shackles the theme too closely to real world clichés in a way which limits how the audience can see it. It's ham-fisted. The script is a mess (for a dozen reasons I won't repeat here).

 

[Mudd]

I read Gerrold's version of "Blood and Fire" as written for TNG back in the late '80s, and I think it would have been a better TV episode than all but one or two that were actually produced for the show in the first couple of years. Written before TNG premiered and perhaps before the pilot was filmed, it also defined several of the characters in somewhat more human, "down to earth" ways than the manner in which they were eventually depicted.

It was a very different script from the two-part version eventually produced by Phase II, of course.