Sorry to revive an old dormant thread, but I thought instead of starting one that probably wouldn`t last more than a page at most (sorry, but unless it`s Continues, there just isn`t that much interest for many films), may as well continue an existing one... For now I`ll just say the FX is definitely better than for their previous outings, but they really need to work harder on their storytelling...
Ooof. 2:20 Big drama with Captain and the scene ends with a cutesy beat? God, tone people! 4:40 Warp 4 to hurry somewhere? 5:35 Big dramatic blast of music when Captain walks into briefing room. This is hilariously bad. 7:39 Chamberlain can't climb the ladder, undermining any drama. 9:30 Cut too early and the Captain goes from almost at his chair to standing stationary by his chair. 10:30 Klingons don't even have bushy eyebrows. 11:20 Immediately after a ship gets blown up the Captain heads to his quarters to review data. What the Living Fuck... 11:40 Romulans replay "Lucky shot, sir!" bit from ST3. 12:40 Eyelines. Cap looks screen left, guy replying looks screen left. And on and on. They don't understand when to use a dissolve instead of a cut. The editing is clumsy. Spoiler: The "payoff" The "payoff" at the end is a big "huh?" at first because we never saw the face of the Chamberlian earlier in the episode so until he says what happened we're going, "Wait, what? Who?"
Finally sat down to watch this. I`d really like to like this series but there are just so many obstacles. 1) Why is this ship a Dreadnought? Apart from having a third nacelle, it behaves exactly like all other Constitution-class ships from every other other fan series. I did a quick search on what the Dreadnought ship series is and it seemed to only refer to Peter Weller`s ship from Star Trek Beyond, but it seemed to imply the Dreadnoughts were warships that were much larger than the Constitutions, require less crew, etc. But everything about this series since the first installment is the same as all others. 2) Twice in this 20 minute film they detour into this comedy bit with Lt. Piper and the redshirt with the non-military ponytail. And this bit goes nowhere, apart from this meta winking at the audience as they acknowledge 'yes, we know he shouldn`t have a ponytail if he`s in 1960s Starfleet'' But there`s ZERO payoff to this bit. 3) There are too many characters jockeying for screentime in this short film, and still none of them have ANY personality. They are all ''generic avatars idealized by the cast of fans''. 4) I`ve watched it twice now and apart from generic right-wing version of Star Trek, this episode is really about nothing I can perceive. And again with the standard go-to Star Trek antagonists, the Klingons or the Romulans...For God`s sake the universe is infinite, come up with new villains!! (At least the Starship Valiant crew did it right in one of their episodes and created a brand new alien race to spar with). 5) Again with outer space dogfights...Star Trek was also about other sci-fi tropes, like body horror (like in Miri and Operation: Annihilate), transmogrified humans, and predatory animals. 6) You should have seen my eyes rolling straight back up into my skull when the bridge officers start rambling a ton of technobabble... 7) Directing: I know this is done by amateurs, but come on!! At the 3 minute mark there is a lo-ooooooooong bridge shot where nothing moves until finally the charisma-less Captain enters by the turbo-lift. At least have an ensign with a clipboard walking from station to station to make this more dynamic. Or do a pan!! And the multiple closer shots on the mute communications officer as she signs her dialogue (she is facing towards the center seat) then cut to the Captain sitting on said seat, but the comm officer is turned away facing back at her console. I want to enjoy this series since the creators obviously do, but using the ''we`re only fans so be gentle!'' defense will only work for so long before they need to step up. The Farragut and Valiant folks were also amateurs but theirs are still way more polished than this series...
At the risk of angering the celestial moderators here, I preferred to reawaken this thread rather than start a new one because apparently there will be a new installment released from this series tomorrow: First impression? Looks like this team got ambitious and decided to try a much more STAR TREK type of storyline this time out (meaning, no right-wing Trek with spaceship battles, Klingons, Borgs, Romulans and clichéd staples) I wish them luck And did we completely forget to mention THIS episode when it got released during the height of the pandemic 6 months ago?
Technically, their latest is looking MUCH better than their initial efforts (cinematography, FX space shots) but their lighting is still pretty harsh I'm going to say something mean, I know, because the people involved are fans and they're doing this to fulfill a dream...but it really is distracting that all or most of the cast are in their 50s and over...(I'm in that age bracket too but I wouldn't want to play a role that should be taken by people in their 20s or 30s)...They can still play in the sandbox, but maybe set the characters in age-appropriate roles? On the other hand, the team actually used a new type of setting, and didn't go the predictable route...Good going!!