Stalled Trek: Amutt Time

[Mark R. Largent]

Hey everyone! Not sure if I'm posting this in the right place, but wanted to share my fan film with everybody.

It can be viewed (all 15 minutes of it) here on YouTube.

It's an animated puppet parody of the TOS episode Amok Time. The gag is that "Mr. Spott" is half Vulcanine, so he's a mutt. :-)

I originally wanted to make it as an animated cartoon back in 1996. It was pre-Flash and I had this idea that maybe I could do something using a series of animated gifs. :-) I had a Star Trek webpage at the time and so I started putting it up as a kind of early version of a webcomic. Graphics were so small back then that I would put up a tiny panel and then have the script next to it in text.

Over the years, I kept coming back to it. I made a PDF comic version in 2000 or 2001 and that was fun, but I always wanted to see it animated.

In 2004, I started trying to learn 3D animation with the end goal of doing this, but I became frustrated and went back to thinking I could do it in Flash or something else.

In 2007, I went back to the 3D, but decided to put Stalled Trek on the back burner until I felt better prepared to do it.

Finally, at the beginning of January in 2012, I decided to make it my resolution to finally do it and finish it in time for the Dallas Comic Con in late May. I'd come up with what I thought would be a means for me, as just one guy at a computer, could do it in a reasonable amount of time: 3D animated puppets!

I discovered to my great relief that going that route not only simplified the animation, but was funnier and gave me time to spend on making it look right. In fact, it almost immediately looked way better than I expected. :-)

So, it only took me 16 years, but I finally did it!

I was able to run a successful Kickstarter to complete it and the high point for me was when I got to watch it with an audience at a small sci-fi convention that year. To hear an audience laughing at a cartoon I'd made was a dream come true.

If you're a fan of TOS and have a sense of humor, please check it out!

 

[Maurice]

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That was pretty cute. It sure looks different than anything else I've ever seen as a fanfllm.

I liked the music and the look. I liked the "fleece" quality to the character textures. I caught The Rabbit of Seville joke. I love the Le-Matya gag.

My one main critique is that overall the pace is too languid and a lot of the humor falls flat because of it. The speed of the line delivery needs to be kicked up a notch, The slowness of the animation throughout makes some of the sight gags not quite work. Comedy is all about timing, and if there's one thing here which needs work, its the timing and tempo. Otherwise, well done!

P.S. You occasionally lost laughs because of the staging (I had to rewind and pause to read the picket sign). And I kept expecting Mr. Ba bum ba BUM to reappear!

 

[Mark R. Largent]

Thanks, Maurice! (And thanks for imbedding it!)

The music really helps and was a direct benefit of the Kickstarter. I have no musical abilities whatsoever and it really gave it more production value than it deserved. :-)

I lost my ability to be objective with this long ago. I only had about 3 and half months to do it and most of the jokes I'd written 16 years before and I just had to keep my fingers crossed that they would still be funny to somebody. But I will say in my defense that it was the first time I'd ever made a film. I'm hoping to improve as I go. Just have to force myself to get back on the horse.

You know, if I could change anything about it, I'd go back to the shot where McGruff says "oops" and have *him* do the "stinger" gag. I think it'd work coming out of nowhere and pay off the running joke. Incidentally, the "Lt. Stinger" gag originally came from me thinking I wasn't going to have music.

 

[Maurice]

Well, for a first film it's pretty terrific. Congrats!

 

[bbailey861]

Well, humour is subjective - and with that in mind, I loved it. I didn't find the pacing languid and I thought the humour played out very well. All that was primarily due to the puppet feel of the production. Because they were puppets, I found the pacing and pauses only added to the humour. I really enjoyed the 'Muppetiness' of the characters, too, and have to echo the comment from Maurice about their fleecy texture. Great detail. I do agree with the staging comment, though. I, too, had to rewind and pause the screen to read the 'Strike" sign properly. The music was a great addition to the film and added perfectly to the feel. This is one of the more enjoyable fan productions I have seen in a long while. For whatever reason, I didn't know you did a kickstarter on it. I do hope you make more...many more.

 

[Barbreader]

It's one of only two comedies or parodies I include in my "Quick Pick Treasures" list of recommended fan films at Star Trek Reviewed. I put it there as soon as you made it available on the web. (Stalled Trek: Amutt Time page at Star Trek Reviewed:
http://startrekreviewed.blogspot.com/2009/06/50.html )

IMHO, it's good enough to get people to try other comedies and parodies. I'm surprised it hasn't gotten more views.

 

[Mark R. Largent]

Thanks, Barbara, bbailey861 (and again, Maurice!)

Barbara, your review (or actually your friend's review) of Stalled Trek is one of my favorites. As to the low number of views, I know I haven't done enough to promote it.

I've gotten a few nice reviews, though.

The thing I get the biggest kick out of is that IMDB has a character page for Captain James T. Kirk that lists me as one of the people who played the character. How hilarious is that? :-)

Bbailey, I didn't really make a big deal out of the Kickstarter. I was doing it just so that I could have some DVDs made, so the goal was only $600 and I reached it on the second day. I had this fantasy that maybe I could sell DVDs at conventions and make a living working on them full time, but I mostly met young people at the conventions who (even if they were wearing Star Trek costumes) hadn't ever watched the show and felt like content should be free. Sales were really low and I didn't have the funds to get tables at the bigger cons.

I've got a list of parodies I'd love to do. "Balance of Terriers" (Sticking with the dog jokes, the Romulans would be Ruffulons in their Bird Dog of Prey) was the one I wanted to do next. "City on the Edge of Foreclosure" is high on the list. The big one I'd love to do is a double-feature parody of both Space Seed and STII:TWOK. I also toyed around with doing a parody of TNG's Best of Both Worlds.

I followed up Amutt Time with a parody of The Walking Dead, but I have to admit that my heart wasn't in it as much as it was with Star Trek. Even while working on it, I chose to model buildings from the old 40 Acres Desilu backlot just because I knew I'd be able to use them for future Star Trek parodies (especially "City.")

I've considered setting up a Patreon to raise funds for future ones, but I'm still on the fence. Using animated puppets did make it easier, but it's still a LOT of work.

 

[bbailey861]

They'll be good to see. I'd love to see "Spock's Brain" done. I don't have the hate on for this one, unlike so many others, but I do find it funny. You could take it over the top. Looking forward to your efforts.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Wow, this is really super-impressive. It had several laugh out loud moments and was obviously made with a deep appreciation of Star Trek. I agree with Maurice about picking up the pacing. I'd recommend tightening up the combat part, too. But, man, what an accomplishment. Very nice.

 

[Mark R. Largent]

Thanks, CorporalCaptain!

Bbailey, Spock's Brain would certainly provide plenty of material. I think the merchandisers have missed out by not making a remote-control Spock doll. :-)