Do fan films have a future?

[Steve Roby]

It’s 2019. Axanar got the fan film guidelines it asked for, and nobody was very happy with the answer. Star Trek is a going concern again on TV, with a variety of shows airing and in the works. So, there are constraints on the supply side, and alternatives on the demand side, and, quite possibly, a degree of cynicism as a result of years of Axanar not happening. Did fan films exist in a limited window of possibility? Will they fade away? Or will people work within the constraints, find the kinds of stories that work within them and fill gaps CBS isn’t, and bring about a renaissance of fan films?

Personally, as someone who’s watched maybe a couple dozen fan films, I think there’s room for short and fun ideas like Red Shirt Diaries, but not so much big events like Renegades or series like New Voyages and Continues. Maybe I’m wrong. And maybe this will be one of those unloved, undiscussed topics, but what the heck. If you want more discussions in a forum, all you have to do is start one.

 

[USS Intrepid]

Fan films are fine. They may not have access to the resources of the big budget ones like Continues but they’re still being made, and will continue to be so.

 

[jespah]

I think we'll see lower budget stuff (we already do). But the big budget stuff? To be honest, I'm glad it's gone. I know what people put into those productions, and they're grand, but to my mind it always felt like too much.

 

[Firebird]

I think we'll see lower budget stuff (we already do). But the big budget stuff? To be honest, I'm glad it's gone. I know what people put into those productions, and they're grand, but to my mind it always felt like too much.

I agree with this. The bigger budgeted fan films had their purpose during the long dryspell of no Trek on TV, but now it's better that the era has passed. One side-effect that I think is good from the bigger productions, however one might feel about them, is that it seems like they increased awareness of fanfilms in general. I certainly never paid attention or really knew about them until I became a fan of STC.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

I've seen some recently made stuff that I was quite entertained by, so I'd have to say that yes they do indeed have a future.

What was the one with two officers from different time periods meeting in a park and among other things comparing tricorder efficiencies? I enjoyed that one, just as an example.

 

[Maurice]

Fan films will wax and wane depending on the conditions of the moment. They flourished in the 15ish years when the only new Trek were the reboot films, in that perfect storm of digital video quality increasing as the cost decreased and the rise of crowdfunding platforms.

Frankly the arms race mostly resulted in a bunch of vaguely pro looking shows with sub-par scripts. I've said it many times: there's not a single Trek fanfilm that has a script I consider professional quality, even those written by the few pros that dabbled in it. At least the lower-budget efforts are earnest and not pretending to be equal to their inspiration.

I'm glad the pros are more or less out of it. It's more or less back to being fan love.

The few I actually recommend are:

• The Redshirt Diaries because they were a fun way of looking at TOS from this unexpected perspective
• Klingon Propaganda because it's a gas and a totally unique take of Star Trek.
• Intrepid's "Transposition" for being short and sweet and with a nice little twist
  
• Star Trix: The Flick for being the most ambitious claymation Trek film made in the days when filmmaking was hard!
• "Lolani" by STC, because it actually tries to be about something even if it stumbles in the execution in places.
• Exeter's "The Night Shift" because it was the first and goofiest "vignette" style film which was copied by other fanfim prductions...a lot
• Also, Exeter's "The Tressaurian Intersection" for getting the feel of a 60s show down more or less pat. NV and STC had pretensions towards this but couldn't resist going all TNG in awkward places, and for having a unique sci-fi plot gimmick. Yes, I worked on it, but I would have liked it as much even had I not.

There are a few other shorts I like, but I'm tired and they're not popping to mind. I'll update when all my memory banks are online.

I give Prelude to Axanar a nod for coming at the fanfilm from a novel angle, but the script is a big nothing and the nominal "lead" is outshone by every other member of the cast.

I think a really GOOD fanfilm could still make a splash, even if low budgetish, if the script were good enough that it was just a good film even if it wasn't specifically aping Star Trek.

In short, the salad days of big(gish) money pro fanfilms are gone...and good riddance.

 

[F. King Daniel]

, I think there’s room for short and fun ideas like Red Shirt Diaries, but not so much big events like Renegades or series like New Voyages and Continues.

That sounds about right to me. With occasional bigger-budget offerings like Pacific 201 and Interlude to Axanar's Uniform Budget and loads of smaller offerings.

The day of episode or feature length Trek fan films are done. Although I must admit I'd have loved to see more of Renegades' bootleg Trek universe, I imagine without a few BIG unTrekkifying changes they'd have been cut down by CBS (and those same original universe-establishing changes would have killed audience interest)

I still think Trek fan films are missing the point, and trying too hard to mimic episodes and movies and their format rather than exploring corners of the universe where TV/film Trek fears to tread.

 

[jespah]

...
I still think Trek fan films are missing the point, and trying too hard to mimic episodes and movies and their format rather than exploring corners of the universe where TV/film Trek fears to tread.

This is a super-valid point (I feel).

Ever seen a lady Tellarite? Ever heard more than a few seconds of Caecilian (sp?) opera? Ever follow a MU child to school? Seen a 24th century divorce?

 

[Professor Zoom]

This is a super-valid point (I feel).

Ever seen a lady Tellarite? Ever heard more than a few seconds of Caecilian (sp?) opera? Ever follow a MU child to school? Seen a 24th century divorce?

And those are just content... why not also mess with the form?

 

[Maurice]

And those are just content... why not also mess with the form?

Well, Klingon Propaganda does exactly that.

 

[Professor Zoom]

Well, Klingon Propaganda does exactly that.

Dammit, now I have to go look. Thanks, @Maurice. It's good I have things that I should be doing that I'm trying to avoid.

Edited to add: That was great. Very nicely done. "Liberate cargo..." lol.

Sigh.

Now, I have to do the things that I've been avoiding. Nutz.

 

[BillJ]

Ever follow a MU child to school? Seen a 24th century divorce?

24th century Mirror Universe custody battle!

 

[Bixby]

My greatest regret is not having a regular outlet to see the work from several talented CG artists anymore, such as Tobias Richter, Gabe Koerner and Pony Horton...