The two most high-profile fan series going now both attempt to re-create the Enterprise crew, while other fan films give us the adventures of a different ship with a different, unfamiliar (at least at first) crew. Any thoughts on which you prefer? For me, while I enjoy both NV and STC immensely, I can never fully forget that I'm not watching Shatner, Nimoy, and Kelley. While some of the performances are great, it's always a nagging little tug at my brain that I'm not watching "real" Trek. I love the idea of other ships/other crews, even if the results of the various fan groups have been wildly uneven. Probably the most successful overall would be Starship Exeter's "The Tressaurian Intersection" -- I love Commander Cutty, and the rest of the crew have great promise as well. I'm bummed that this group most likely won't be producing any further episodes. I also dislike the notion that "interesting" things only happened to the Enterprise and her crew. There's plenty of room for robust adventures across the vast array of Federation ships.
Personally I prefer to watch new crews, as it gives the makers more flexibility and freedom with who their characters are, their backgrounds and how they'd react to situations.
I'm really torn on this. Given a choice, I'd rather watch something new but except for the stunning example of "The Tressaurian Intersection," I find that PII/NV and STC are generally better than most of the groups that run their own crews. Starship Farragut comes close, but to my eyes they still can't quite make it over the top. I have hopes for Valiant and Ajax/Barratis, but am still waiting for one of them to get enough of a catalog for a fair judgment. The one thing I would really like to see more of in new crew fan films is to have an alien on the crew. Exeter did it brilliantly with B'fuselek, but most of the others have stuck with strictly human crews so far.
I personally prefer to see fan productions focussing on new crews, but I enjoy the continuations as well. One of the things I really like about the Berman era shows is the focus on the broader universe, and seeing other crews. And I like to see the same in fan productions.
I'm sure Dennis Bailey will drop by to thank you personally. He also wrote two TNG episodes (pro ones, not fan films), "Tin Man" and (the episode, not the movie) "First Contact." He has also been developing a non-fan film (which is in post-production) Polaris. There are others here who can direct you to more of his work, I'm sure.
I prefer good quality story telling.... If that's on the Enterprise, so be it.... if it's off the Enterprise on another ship, so be it.... I do think, it's understandable why people are drawn to the Enterprise crew, they are familiar and don't require a lot of investment by the viewer to get to know the characters....
I love Star Trek Continues & Phase II, but I really prefer new shows with different crew. THe new actors do a wonderful job, but every time I see a new version of a classic character (even in the JJ films) all I can see are the differences. With another crew on another starship I can just sit back and accept things as presented with no baggage to try and ignore. (I also prefer movies with unknowns as cast members for a similar reason- when I see Tom Cruise in a film I also see every role he has also played)