Star Trek: Axanar

[BigJake]

That's not what ratification means, though, which is why I suggested at first that perhaps the wrong English words were used in translation.

Once a body has passed a resolution on to be ratified, it's out of their hands and in the hands of the body actually considering the ratification. Yet Soval continues to speak as if it's council that should change its mind. That's what doesn't make sense.

Sure it does. It would be rather like Canada's Governor-General declining royal assent to an Act of Parliament*. All that would be in their power is declining Parliament and telling them why; essentially it would put the ball back in their court, and it would then be up to Parliament to figure out a measure that would get assent. Basically that's the kind of decision that Soval and his companion seem to be talking about. If my guess that ratification is up to Soval is correct (it's just implied in the scene, not actually stated, so I'm speculating on that).

* This of course would be a radical act that would throw the whole political system into chaos and would take someone with extreme stones to do...

 

[Indysolo]

Quick bit of clarification: is this the first scene of Axanar or just the first completed scene?

Neil

 

[CorporalCaptain]

BigJake: Regardless of who would be considering ratification, it sounds like you're just supporting what I said. In the example you gave, the Governor-General of Canada is not a member of Parliament, so it fits what I was saying to a tee.

 

[BigJake]

BigJake: Regardless of who would be considering ratification, it sounds like you're just supporting what I said.

Well, actually what I said supports Terry's explanation, which seemed perfectly succinct to me and fits with the scene. I'm not seeing what the problem is meant to be, sorry. Are you saying the scene "doesn't make sense" because it's not explaining all these ins and outs and involved parties? Because I would call that kind of restraint a strength rather than a weakness; I can fill in some of the gaps organically as a viewer, I don't need the scene explained as long as it has explicability (which, to me, it clearly does).

 

[CorporalCaptain]

No worries!

 

[Mudd]

The notion that mainstream entertainment is less intelligent, imaginative and sophisticated than Star Trek is preposterous fannish nonsense.

Take it up with GR who, despite all his faults, worked hard to establish Trek as appealing to a bar set higher than the LCD entertainments of the day, a policy that was continued through all the modern Treks up to the 09 film.

Repeating his self-promoting nonsense endlessly doesn't make it so, but it does often seem to be the only arrow in the quiver of fans inclined to talk mainly to one another rather than paying attention to what actually is on the screen.

Would you like to throw in a line about how he's "spinning in his grave?" That doesn't make any sense either, but it seems to be a popular way of venting.

 

[Kruezerman]

Very nice!

My only quibble is that the music at the end of the dialog with Soval was too loud; it made it difficult to hear him.

 

[Mudd]

I also find it amusing that the recent Treks are defended by citing the less-than-impressive Trek episodes. Evidently they can't be defended by citing the episodes where Star Trek was at its best.

I find it amusing that you misread so completely.

People who like these movies have no problem with the proposition that they're not the absolute best hours of Star Trek ever. It's just that some fans ridiculously insist that oldTrek was a lot better than it was.

That some fans also can't see the difference in quality between even the best made fan films and the professionally produced oldTrek they like to associate it with is pretty funny, too. That really calls into question their competence to evaluate professional entertainment at all.

 

[Maurice]

The only thing missing from that scene was Natalie Portman and mention of the Trade Federation.

 

[TerryMcIntosh]

Overall, nice beginning.

However, the political jargon didn't make sense: the council has already cast their vote, but the council's decision will soon be final?!? All that's left is ratification, meaning that the council must ratify its own vote, given that the council still has something left to do??? No. The universal translator must be broken.

Anyway, I really like Ambassador Soval. He was one of my favorite ENT characters.

The Council (Senate) votes. The Administrator (President) signs in to law. Since there's no canon to say either way, the American system works well, since it's familiar.

Yeah, but the point is that the first thing stated was that the council had just cast their vote. Then it's about getting the council to change their mind before the process of secession concludes by ratification. Sorry, but it literally makes no sense. Either it's passed out of the council's hands or it hasn't. And if it hasn't, then why make the point that they've already cast their vote?

In the end it's JUST a film and what was shown is just a short clip of one scene that's out of context. A scene depicting alien politics on another planet is just fine, but a partial picture of their political structure is just over the top for possible OCD? =P

 

[TerryMcIntosh]

Quick bit of clarification: is this the first scene of Axanar or just the first completed scene?

Neil

It's the first scene to go before the cameras, but it's not the first scene chronologically in the completed film to come. We needed something that we could film inexpensively and with the resources that were on hand, since the sets are still being constructed (no 'on the ships' stuff quite yet). This was a green screen setup in the parking lot of the studio that includes just the actors going for a few hours with a-b roll and 20 or so crew.

 

[Amaris]

I liked that sneak preview. It looked good, sounded good, and the acting was solid, though I admit I'm biased because Gary Graham's "Soval" is one of my favorite characters from Enterprise.

It left me wanting to see more, which is a good thing.

 

[Indysolo]

It's the first scene to go before the cameras, but it's not the first scene chronologically in the completed film to come.

Thanks! A lot of the reporting on the internet didn't make that clear. Even Alec's blog post said, "We were supposed to premier the first scene clip there, but just as it gets through the intro, the Blu Ray fails!".

Neil

 

[BillJ]

The CGI has to get much better if they are competing with the Abrams films like so many of their fans like to claim. It didn't look very good on my 23", 1080p monitor. It definitely will suffer on my 50" TV.

It seemed okay, but why would the Vulcans be abandoning the humans yet again? They don't seem like a very worthy ally after abandoning them during the Xindi crisis and then threatening to abandon them again during a war with the Klingons.

Why was it snowing on Vulcan?

 

[TerryMcIntosh]

The CGI has to get much better if they are competing with the Abrams films like so many of their fans like to claim. It didn't look very good on my 23", 1080p monitor. It definitely will suffer on my 50" TV.

It seemed okay, but why would the Vulcans be abandoning the humans yet again? They don't seem like a very worthy ally after abandoning them during the Xindi crisis and then threatening to abandon them again during a war with the Klingons.

Why was it snowing on Vulcan?

Speaking only for Axanar, the only ones that we're competing with is ourselves. Fan films are not a race or a competition, even though there might be a few in the game that feel otherwise. Although, competition in any market does drive up quality. Whether a person has a budget of what's in their wallet at the time, or a successfully crowdsourced production, in the end the most important thing is that -- despite the ups and downs and stresses and kudos -- the folks investing the time and effort have fun doing it.

I wasn't much of a fan film person personally before becoming involved with Axanar, but, speaking only for myself, I've come to appreciate them far more, because I now know how much butt busting it takes to even complete a modest effort.

Maybe you have a bad stream on YouTube re: quality? I've played it on my 90" LED in the living room from the 1920x1080 stream and it's gorgeous -- and I'm not one to throw a word like that around unless I thought it was. =P

Also, that's not snow. Vulcan is a geologically active planet and that's particulates.

 

[fireproof78]

Watched the clip and here are my initial thoughts:

First of all, I love seeing the Vulcan ships in action. I never had a full appreciation of their design until seeing them moving through atmosphere.

Secondly, the performances are good, and far more character centric, which I prefer. I'm hoping the larger film will provide a little more context, as it took me a couple of mullings over the lines to understand the reference to "the Council." I'm not sure I follow all the political points (yet).

Finally, the audio was inconsistent, which I can understand. Just, I'm hoping it will balance out more. If it is helpful, I can provide time stamps to areas that seemed unbalanced.

Thank you for sharing, and looking forward to more.

The CGI has to get much better if they are competing with the Abrams films like so many of their fans like to claim. It didn't look very good on my 23", 1080p monitor. It definitely will suffer on my 50" TV.

It seemed okay, but why would the Vulcans be abandoning the humans yet again? They don't seem like a very worthy ally after abandoning them during the Xindi crisis and then threatening to abandon them again during a war with the Klingons.

Why was it snowing on Vulcan?

Speaking only for Axanar, the only ones that we're competing with is ourselves. Fan films are not a race or a competition, even though there might be a few in the game that feel otherwise. Whether a person has a budget of what's in their wallet at the time, or a successfully crowdsourced production, in the end the most important thing is that -- despite the ups and downs and stresses and kudos -- the folks investing the time and effort have fun doing it.

I wasn't much of a fan film person personally before becoming involved with Axanar, but, speaking only for myself, I've come to appreciate them far more, because I now know how much butt busting it takes to even complete a modest effort.

Having been a part of 4 failed fan film attempts, all I can say is YES!

Keep up the good work.

 

[BillJ]

The CGI has to get much better if they are competing with the Abrams films like so many of their fans like to claim. It didn't look very good on my 23", 1080p monitor. It definitely will suffer on my 50" TV.

It seemed okay, but why would the Vulcans be abandoning the humans yet again? They don't seem like a very worthy ally after abandoning them during the Xindi crisis and then threatening to abandon them again during a war with the Klingons.

Why was it snowing on Vulcan?

Speaking only for Axanar, the only ones that we're competing with is ourselves. Fan films are not a race or a competition, even though there might be a few in the game that feel otherwise. Whether a person has a budget of what's in their wallet at the time, or a successfully crowdsourced production, in the end the most important thing is that -- despite the ups and downs and stresses and kudos -- the folks investing the time and effort have fun doing it.

I wasn't much of a fan film person personally before becoming involved with Axanar, but, speaking only for myself, I've come to appreciate them far more, because I now know how much butt busting it takes to even complete a modest effort.

The first part of my post wasn't really a criticism of the Axanar group. Just some ball busting at some people who overemphasize what you guys can accomplish.

I think you guys have done a pretty solid job with what you've produced so far. Outside a few nitpicks.

 

[Warped9]

I also find it amusing that the recent Treks are defended by citing the less-than-impressive Trek episodes. Evidently they can't be defended by citing the episodes where Star Trek was at its best.

I find it amusing that you misread so completely.

People who like these movies have no problem with the proposition that they're not the absolute best hours of Star Trek ever. It's just that some fans ridiculously insist that oldTrek was a lot better than it was.

That some fans also can't see the difference in quality between even the best made fan films and the professionally produced oldTrek they like to associate it with is pretty funny, too. That really calls into question their competence to evaluate professional entertainment at all.

I didn't miss anything. I know an excuse when I see one.

I also recognize when someone postures as somehow being above it all.

 

[TerryMcIntosh]

Finally, the audio was inconsistent, which I can understand. Just, I'm hoping it will balance out more. If it is helpful, I can provide time stamps to areas that seemed unbalanced.

I agree and that will be fixed for the proper premiere. The team was a bit under the gun to knock this out in time for SDCC, but the ADR could use a few tweaks and polish. =)

 

[Treadwell]

It's good to now be able to see a teaser in the style of the final film. For the LONGEST time, I thought the whole thing was going to be in Prelude's talking head format.