Fan productions and why they all use the Guardian...

[Jimmy_C]

Fan productions have a different set of economics than the television shows. They can never hope to make money from their endeavor or even make back the costs of production! So their need to save money is even more like that of the original series. Another difference is that that have much more time to complete their work. While a television production team has a few weeks to finish their work, fan productions have no deadline.

So why the continual use of time travel, the Guardian of Forever, or the Mirror Universe? For one, everyone's fan production is their pet project almost by definition. Their movie has to be EPIC. Since these are some of the most popular plot devices from Star Trek, they are also in the minds of most fans.

Furthermore, they allow a clever writer to save money. They use the least amount of sets. Writers can time travel to the present day, allowing use of neighborhoods and every-day objects as props. The Mirror Universe allows them to reuse their sets props and actors for both the hero and enemy ships. A Guardian of Forever and Enterprise bridge were already built by New Voyages, so they can be reused by other productions.

Thinking about OGAM led me to these insights. It makes a lot of sense to me, where a show like Enterprise would probably take down and build new sets quickly as production demands changed. So judging the new productions based on the professional shows is not really fair.

That said, they really need to polish their scripts and editing skills especially. The need for commercial space often makes Star Trek episodes concise. E.G. "Deja vu" instead of "Deja vu... all over again." I know everything was paid for out of pocket, but not everything shot needs to be in the show.

 

[Maurice]

One thing I appreciated about the Exeter guys is that they just want to tell good stories about their characters, and they don't feel the need to indulge in excessive fanwankery, crossover characters, and (shudder) time-travel plots. Every time I see another time travel or alternate universe story in a fan film (or now on any pro Star Trek show) I can't help rolling my eyes. The results are rarely passable, let alone good.

Enough "what if" stories!

 

[Noname Given]

DS9Sega said:
One thing I appreciated about the Exeter guys is that they just want to tell good stories about their characters, and they don't feel the need to indulge in excessive fanwankery, crossover characters, and (shudder) time-travel plots. Every time I see another time travel or alternate universe story in a fan film (or now on any pro Star Trek show) I can't help rolling my eyes. The results are rarely passable, let alone good.

Enough "what if" stories!

BUT - They are using 'Tholians' (yet another fan favorite and a race that was seen ONCE in TOS); so even here there's a level a 'fanwankery'. NOW - I'm not saying that's a bad thing as I like the 'Exeter' production best overall of everything I've seen (including NV and OGaM) so far (if only they'd be able to finally complete it).

In the end, remember that this stuff is being made by fans; and (even in NV;s case); new 'episodes' are going to be very rare - thus why wouldn't you as a producer want to do something that expands on, or uses your favorite elements from Star Trek?

 

[Maurice]

The Tholians are like using the Romulans. In this case, they're appropriate to the story. It's the amount of this stuff that determines if it crosses the line from continuity to fanwankery. Having the Tholians AND the Gorns and Marina Sirtis playing Lawaxana Troi's cousin...that's wank central.

 

[Jimmy_C]

DS9Sega said:
The Tholians are like using the Romulans. In this case, they're appropriate to the story. It's the amount of this stuff that determines if it crosses the line from continuity to fanwankery. Having the Tholians AND the Gorns and Marina Sirtis playing Lawaxana Troi's cousin...that's wank central.

I agree 100%. Fanwankery is like sugar. A little is good, too much is disgusting!

Thanks DS9Sega! My spell checker didn't catch my error.

 

[Trekwatcher]

The time travel stuff is tedious. At least the Farragut folks did not have them coming to the year 2008, but took it to a different time period. To me, that was the saving grace of time travel in that story. Plus, they did a good job of making it 1776-the period actors all were terrific.

 

[Maurice]

Jimmy_C said:I agree 100%. Fanwankery is like sugar. A little is good, too much is discusting !

I agree. Also, that spelling is disgusting.

 

[Lindley]

I've enjoyed the way the Tholians were used on Hidden Frontier. Having them take center stage away from the Grey was a good move, IMO.

 

[GothTrek]

NV didn't make their own Guardian set. It was completely digital. OGaM built a life size Guardian for visual referene while shooting, then rotoscoped a CG Guardian over it.

How do I know? Because my company makes the FX for OGaM.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Noname Given said:

BUT - They are using 'Tholians' (yet another fan favorite and a race that was seen ONCE in TOS); so even here there's a level a 'fanwankery'.

No it's not. It means we're making a "Star Trek" fan film and that we're therefore going to be mentioning Starfleet, showing starbases, and occasionally including species that are part of the old TOS Universe.

If my Tholian had been "Loskene" and he or the other characters had felt it worthwhile to talk about his encounter with James Kirk or the Defiant that might have been a little "fanwanky."

There are in fact a couple of references to things in TOS that I put in there just because they were in TOS, but thus far I haven't seen anyone notice them at all.

Noname Given said:...why wouldn't you as a producer want to do something that expands on, or uses your favorite elements from Star Trek?

I'm only a co-producer or an associate producer or something (I forget) but my favorite elements from "Star Trek" are the spaceship and all those unvisited planets.

Also, the trousers.

 

[Jimmy_C]

GothTrek said:
NV didn't make their own Guardian set. It was completely digital. OGaM built a life size Guardian for visual referene while shooting, then rotoscoped a CG Guardian over it.

How do I know? Because my company makes the FX for OGaM.

I didn't know that. Cool!

 

[Tallguy]

There is a tremendous amount of fanwankery on OGAM. But, like it or not, that's kind of the point. I might be talking out of turn, but I'm pretty sure the writers and producer sat down, and the producer said "I can get that guy - how do we write him in?" (Charlie himself was only unable to join the production at the last minute. Hence the re-cast. Ooops.) For all the bases OGAM touches, you have to admire the gymnastics. (How's THAT for a mixed metaphor?)

For some people this is a dream come true. For others it's sand in their underwear.

Myself, I'm glad to see other productions "boldly going". I've always loved Exeter. And I'll be very excited to see New Voyages do an ep without a "very special guest star".