Fanfilms that almost made it!

[Bixby]

Some years ago Trek fanfilms dropped onto Youtube at a glorious rate, of various levels of craftmanship. As most of us know, the hammer came down quite hard on many people's ambitions to make Trek films, although some still keep appearing if you look hard enough for them.

But I'd like this thread to present some of them that were already filmed/partly filmed and were on their way through post-production.

Today's presentation is James Cawley's final ST: New Voyages production. A few others like torment of Destiny and The Protracted Man were released in incomplete form, yet still close enough to get a feel for the episode. For a long time I believed there was only one or two short clips for this episode that roamed out in Youtubeland, but the following bit seems to have gathered together a lot of this specific film`s content.

I'd like to dedicate this posting to the memory of the great Gregory L. Schnitzer, who was an awesome moderator and contributor for this fanfilm section specifically, also an associate producer for this Cawley Productions in upper NY state.

BREAD AND SAVAGERY was intended to be a sequel to the OG Trek episode BREAD & CIRCUSES...

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[Bixby]

Today's long lost fanfilm is the lesser-known EXETER TREK, a Cage-era production with, I presume, Atlanta-based actors (I recognize a few people that appeared on Starship Farragut episodes).

This production wasn't on my social media, so I have no idea what happened to all their footage, if they were close to airing, if they ever plan to release it...(if anyone knows, please share with us!)

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(oof, the effects are a bit dodgy...)

 

[Bixby]

About

By the mid-23rd century, the United Earth Space Probe Agency had ventured deep into known space. Now a new mission with twelve Starship class vessels. The task – reach further into the unchar…

exetertrek.com

Even 8 years later, their website is still active!

We even discussed their trailer back in 2016

Exeter Trek: "Our Dearest Blood".

Here is a preview of a new fan series called 'Exeter Trek'. The story is about the first crew of the 'USS Exeter 1672', long before the events seen in TOS episode “The Omega Glory”. Episode one is titled 'Our Dearest Blood'. I admit that I'm not too sure about the title music, but apart from...

www.trekbbs.com

Quite a few scenes in all those videos, yet we still don't really know what their film would have been about? I kinda get the feeling these Federation people beam down to a planet and everyone has become zombie types that can still fire a phaser weapon.
It's a bit jarring to see the redhead security guy 's phaser set on disintegrate when he could just as easily stun.
A few of the scenes are bizarre choices for a trailer, like the Captain being called by the whistle thing, punching the wall communicator, and chewing out someone without knowing who is at the end of the call...
I do like the old refinery setting they chose for their filming...

 

[Bixby]

Today's fanfilm has a bit of controversy behind it, or rather the man behind it has. This edition spotlights on STAR TREK: EXCALIBUR, with its creator/star/scriptwriter Joseph Kerezman. Joe has been involved in fanfilms since the early 80s at least, as he appeared in the finally-released YORKTOWN: A TIME TO HEAL as a non-speaking crewmember.

Joe became a wardrobe costumer for a number of American television series. He opened his own business of online costume recreations (notably Star Trek uniforms), though some former clients have had problems with his track record...

But anyway, in the early 2010s with New Voyages, Farragut and others releasing their Trek webisodes, Kerezman decided to try his own hand. At the time, only James Cawley had a standing Enterprise set, while the one used by the Johnson brothers for Exeter was disassembled and rotting. So he put up money to build his own set in the Las Vegas area.

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The sets were being built and assembled, then problems happened with the owner of the space he rented, and apparently all of his unfinished sets were destroyed. I remember reading about this at the time, and apparently he was looking into rebuilding them at a new site eventually, but this never happened.

Back to the project itself: Kerezman cast many of his main actors, though only one of them appeared in their first and last webisode. He chose to feature himself as the Captain for a rebuilt USS Excalibur which was badly damaged in The Ultimate Computer and all hands dead.

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Unfortunately the fannish obsession with tying characters or concepts back to OG Star Trek was too much to resist: Kirk had to be mentioned in the first vignette, the helmsman would be revealed as Commodore Mendez's brother (from Menagerie). He did a weekend shoot in early 2013, and to Kerezman's credit, all extras who made the trek to help with his filming were gifted with the tunics they wore.

They did release a series trailer that recapped the events from The Ultimate Computer that involved the Excalibur- the person who crafted the FX borrowed the same aesthetics he used while working on Battlestar Galactica.

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Some months later, their one and only vignette was uploaded to Youtube. They did confirm they were nearing completion on their first one-hour webisode script.

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Sadly, Kerezman and all mention of other Excalibur episodes seemed to disappear soon after. At one point their Facebook account boasted having 15 finished scripts (?!) they were champing at the bit to start production on...They did seem to have many uniforms and a decent amount of props all in the bank, but that was not meant to be...

 

[Maurice]

Finishing a film of any scale can be tough. There's a reason so many of these things got shot then never completed. Post-production is a slog, and lots of people who are excited to shoot a film lose interest when the rubber meets the road trying to get it edited, the VFX done, the audio mix, color grading, etc., etc.

 

[Danlav05]

i lament to this day this was filmed but will never reach post-production 'by the grace of God' apparantly

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[Bixby]

Finishing a film of any scale can be tough. There's a reason so many of these things got shot then never completed. Post-production is a slog, and lots of people who are excited to shoot a film lose interest when the rubber meets the road trying to get it edited, the VFX done, the audio mix, color grading, etc., etc.

That's true...filming and making costumes is like planning a big Halloween party, and everyone enjoys that...Post-production is like having a real job.
For some time many years ago, Starship Exeter could have been a part of this list since it was unreleased in a complete manner for about a decade.
I believe I understand what were the causes of the delays, such as missing scenes that needed pick-up shoots. When you are a multi-million dollar studio, those are easy to organize and return all of the actors, but for a no-budget production, this is never easy.
For amateurs with little film experience, figuring out alternate ways to solve storytelling problems would seem like an impossible task.

 

[drt]

Post-production is like having a real job.

It also requires real expertise that’s a lot more esoteric than having someone who knows some carpentry or how to sew.

 

[Maurice]

That's true...filming and making costumes is like planning a big Halloween party, and everyone enjoys that...Post-production is like having a real job.

Exactly. When the curtain comes down on a stage show, that's the end except for cleanup. Film is a different animal entirely.

For some time many years ago, Starship Exeter could have been a part of this list since it was unreleased in a complete manner for about a decade.
I believe I understand what were the causes of the delays, such as missing scenes that needed pick-up shoots.

In Exeter's TTI case, the pickups were all shot within a year or so of principal photography. The real issues were making the edits work and the sheer volume of effects work required for the 4th act.

When you are a multi-million dollar studio, those are easy to organize and return all of the actors, but for a no-budget production, this is never easy.

I dunno if I'd go as far as "easy," but certainly eas-ier.

For amateurs with little film experience, figuring out alternate ways to solve storytelling problems would seem like an impossible task.

Yes. You can't know what you don't know. That's why I did the Fan Filmmaker's Primer Thread, though that eventually got watered down by inexperienced dilettantes.

 

[Bixby]

i lament to this day this was filmed but will never reach post-production 'by the grace of God' apparantly

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I wish I understood more german to better follow this...Can you explain to us why this will never be finished? I feel bad because they spent 20 000 $ (USD , I assume) to build that really nice set...

 

[Akiraprise]

In Exeter's TTI case, the pickups were all shot within a year or so of principal photography. The real issues were making the edits work and the sheer volume of effects work required for the 4th act.

This took me down the rabbit hole of reading the "What Happened to Starship Exeter" thread. Pretty interesting.

 

[Danlav05]

I wish I understood more german to better follow this...Can you explain to us why this will never be finished? I feel bad because they spent 20 000 $ (USD , I assume) to build that really nice set...

I am not a German speaker either! But I spoke to the guy who played Spock over email, apparantly they finished production, but he literally said the Director thinks 'by the grace of God' it will never be finished. Post neevr happened.

Yeah. I wish I knew the plot although from the video and photos you can work bits out

Q visits NCC-1701
Kirk ends up in the future
Older Spock is there in a Movie era uniform
At the end I think Kirk is given amnesia
There was a bit on the Klingon bridge and Kirk and Picard fought in the woods!
Mosrt of the TNG crew are in it as well as all of TOS

SETS
NCC-1701 bridge
Enterprise-D bridge
TNG shuttle
forest
Klingon bridge
A Cave
Green Screen (transporter)

Main mystery is why Picard is so young!! (other than the fact that the Director cast himself, of course!)

 

[Bixby]

I am not a German speaker either! But I spoke to the guy who played Spock over email, apparantly they finished production, but he literally said the Director thinks 'by the grace of God' it will never be finished. Post never happened.

Maybe it's because english isn't my primary language, but does "by the grace of God it will never be finished" mean he's happy it will never be completed?
I was amused by the actor chosen to play LaForge. Jordi always came across as a thinker and not really a fighter, while the german actor looks like a pure asskicker