"Rare" Star Trek: Encarta Bridge Set Stills

[Picard Alpha]

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[Picard Alpha]

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[ares93]

^ Thanks, mate. I appreciate it.

 

[Picard Alpha]

^ Thanks, mate. I appreciate it.

No problem

 

[Andymator]

That's where the battle's been in my head since the last one was made. In many ways the story line did wrap up with the Encarta crew re-uniting and setting course for normal space. The viewer can always imagine the rest...Though the story we started developing for "Redemption" was unique and telling a side of the Star Trek universe that's never been seen before. I liked the thought of continuing to tell the story of what Starfleet would do to Lynch, the crew, and the ship. The remainder of the crew likely has serious post traumatic stress issues, they watched over a hundred of their collegues perish, then their beloved Captain marooned them on a planet for about a year...In my opinion 2 of Voyagers best episodes were Year Of Hell and Equinox, both of which I believe really fell short. There was a lot of story potential that was not utilized and that was one of the reasons I decided to do what I did with 'Dark Hope'.

Well, I can definitely see how you could have some interesting material for a fifth Encarta film, and it's not as if I wouldn't want to see it! Heheheh. Either way, I just want to see something entertaining! I wouldn't want you to be limited by not being able to assemble all the actors again to reprise their roles, or not being able to get appropriate costuming for whatever era your story needs to take place in, or any continuity stuff that really isn't important to the entertainment value of a good story. I'd love to hear more about whatever it is you've got cooking.

One of my minor criticisms of "Dark Hope" is that it didn't feel very accessible to a new viewer. It took me a little bit to figure out exactly what was going on and who these people were, what their relationships were to each other. I think maybe that had something to do with the structure of the film more so than the story itself, but whether you decide to do another Encarta sequel or something completely fresh it would be neat to have some time dedicated to easing the viewer into the world you're creating.

Sounds to me like you need to jump ahead five years to see where the members of the crew ended up. Of course, there's always the chance that something the Encarta encountered on the way home shows up in the Alpha Quadrant, which leads to the gang getting together again to prevent what happened in a whole 'nuther part of the universe from happening in the AQ.
Just a thought.

That's actually a pretty cool concept!

 

[Picard Alpha]

One of my minor criticisms of "Dark Hope" is that it didn't feel very accessible to a new viewer. It took me a little bit to figure out exactly what was going on and who these people were, what their relationships were to each other. I think maybe that had something to do with the structure of the film more so than the story itself, but whether you decide to do another Encarta sequel or something completely fresh it would be neat to have some time dedicated to easing the viewer into the world you're creating.

That was one of my own gripes with the film. I knew it would be difficult for a new audience to come strolling into E4, which is why we spent so much of the movie in flashback sequences. Personally, I hate flashbacks. It was really hard for me to include them in the movie, to me, as a film-maker I believe it only cheapens the story. I was convinced by my co-writer at the time that it was absolutely necessary, especially because our intent was to have such a massive change for the Encarta series, both in technology (sets, effects, etc) and in the sense of the film's overall pace and scale. EIII, to E4 was really like flipping a light switch in terms of how much has changed both behind the scenes and what played out on camera. E4 was also the hardest film for us as a group, the bts staff actually did commit mutiny during the production and shut it down. We've got a behind the scenes documentary of the film up on YouTube that explains all the crazy shenanigans that occurred. The events that unfolded behind the scenes really left a bad taste in my mouth.

 

[Picard Alpha]

Double Post.

 

[Picard Alpha]

VERY nice! I hope the set gets some new use one of these days.

My new business partner and I were recently toying around with an idea. We came up with a very clever concept for a fifth film or a brand new fan series. I've been hesitant to continue the Encarta story because I feel like standalone stories offer bigger potential; however it would be fun to make a number 5, which effectively would tie up the rift story that began in E:III and turn the story into a true trilogy. The biggest issue was finding believable FC/NEM era costumes, as you may remember the entire Encarta wardrobe was destroyed for the forth film (FYI, we never actualy had proper era costuming due to costs, the films utilized rather cheap TNG era costumes)...We also thought about designing something entirely new, but my attempts to find a costume designer at an affordable rate ended rather quickly...Around Halloween I almost purchased 8 of these:

I wasn't to sure the quality would be good enough for full HD at the price they wanted for them. My parent company, Bright Idea Pictures is now equipped with a full resolution Canon 5D. Maybe the folks at Intrepid would loan their wardrobe, fantastic costumes by the way

I actually made it as far as asking a few of the original players if they'd be interested in reprising their roles. However after the financial battle of doing another fan film, we opted to go another direction with an entirely new idea which is currently in pre-production. I made these films when I was a kid, and spent next to nothing on them. It's amazing to think that the only thing that threw up a red light for production was personally financing wardrobe! The rest of the film I can work on in my basement at or above the quality level of Dark Hope. Some might remember my recent "Q Who" blunder, I think I did all of those effects in less than 2 weeks. It really amazes me how much faster things render these days with the right equipment. Before the Q Who project, the last time I rendered Star Trek effects was in '07.

Update: A project I was working on with the working title "Encarta V: Redemption" looks to now be officially canceled.

I was also working on a new st fan film concept, however that has also been dropped. My business partner and I put a good deal of development into the concept, including a very interesting new uniform design I think fans would really have liked. I think the story was really unique, as well as the new ship I was in the process of building. Sadly, we've decided that the project was simply to costly to produce at this time. Hopefully some day, we can return to the idea.

Additionally, Encarta IV: Dark Hope - The Extended Recut looks to also be on the chopping block. The new cut was going to feature a higher quality internet release and an all new original sound track. Communication between me and the gentlemen producing the tracks seems to have fallen off. Maybe someday this project can be picked back up if he gets time to finish scoring the film.

I am however in the process of making a new feature length movie, outside the realm of science fiction/fan films. I'm also really enjoying playing Vulcan Engineer Ravek on "Star Trek: Mariner". http://mariner.gfcmedia.net/

 

[Andymator]

That's too bad! Sorry to hear about those things not working out man. Hopefully you'll pick them up again one day!

 

[DestinyCaptain]

Some of us would still like to see the best of both world test you did.

 

[doubleohfive]

Sorry to read about the postponement of the fifth Encarta and the other fan film. I do want to chime in (again) and say that your "Q-Who" remastering was far from a "blunder" as you put it. It was unpolished and needed some tweaking after the first cut, you know, like every other film that's ever been made.

That aside, I do hope you will be able to produce one (or both!) of these other projects soon.

 

[Picard Alpha]

It's more about hosting the file, such as youtube. I don't want my account deleted for hosting an entire episode.

 

[Andymator]

What about Vimeo? Or perhaps just showcasing some of the fx sequences? I know I'd love to check it out.

 

[DestinyCaptain]

There are a number of folks posting test FX sequences for WOK, TFF, and TOS. Moriarty here at the BBS is working on a long running project to do a version of The Doomsday Machine. His clips are just that, clips with a little text saying that Star trek belongs to CBS, Viacom, Paramount, Gulf-Western, Desilu or who the crap owns it this month. The Trek 5 project is quite kewl also. Again, Picard Alpha, there were a number of us that would like VERY MUCH to see what you did.

 

[doubleohfive]

It's more about hosting the file, such as youtube. I don't want my account deleted for hosting an entire episode.

Is setting up a "dummy" youtube account to host this film somehow out of the question? Worst case scenario, they tell you to take down your film/remove it themselves.