Things You Do / Don't Want in a Fan Film

[FalTorPan]

The creative folks who make fan films are free to do what they like -- and more power to them for that! Having said that, what are some things that we as viewers would like to see -- or would like NOT to see -- in a Star Trek fan film?

Eras?
Governments?
Characters?
Ships?
Premises?
Locations?
Technologies?
Species?
Other things?

 

[FalTorPan]

Okay, I'll start.

Things I'd like to see, some of which have been shown:

* A non-Starfleet, non-Klingon cast of characters
* More references to elements of the animated series
* Elements designed by Franz Joseph

Things I'd rather not see:

* Mirror universe
* Time travel
* Guardian of Forever
* Relatives of established Trek characters in a film with a cast consisting of mostly non-established Trek characters (It's a big universe after all)

None of the above would prevent me from either watching or enjoying a fan film. After all, it's all fun!

 

[Arlo]

I would, in all seriousness, prefer a fan film with excellent acting and a compelling script done with a pair of folding chairs in an empty room to a one with fancy CGI and costuming.

 

[Trekwatcher]

I would like to see more original episodes (i.e like what the Exeter folks have done) and fewer things that are derivative of TOS episodes. I.e. I am sure the crew of the Lexington, etc, do not spend their days talking about Jim Kirk's adventures or just having follow-up excursions to meet races and characters we saw in TOS. While it is fun for a few minutes to see old TOS conceps revisited, it cannot sustain a whole episode, and the creators of these fan films should feel free to make new races and situations to fit their storylines. It forces them to go in new directions and not just lean on what has been done (and redone) before.

Also, enough with the time travel.

 

[FalTorPan]

You know... speaking of TOS, a fun story idea might be a first encounter between the Feds and the Sheliak Corporate from TNG's "The Survivors." So little is known about them that they practically are a "new" species.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

FalTorPan said:
You know... speaking of TOS, a fun story idea might be a first encounter between the Feds and the Sheliak Corporate from TNG's "The Survivors." So little is known about them that they practically are a "new" species.

The Sheliak Corporate actually appeared in the third season episode, "The Ensigns of Command."

I wouldn't mind seeing them in a fan film.

Also, I'd like to see more attention to the details of a "lived-in" future that was captured well in the early first season episodes of TOS. While I do enjoy New Voyages, especially their recent outings, things seem almost TNG clean when it comes to the look of the sets. In the early TOS episodes, there were microtapes that littered the conference table, empty cups of coffee, Kirk getting in a 'quick bite' on the bridge before beaming down, people drinking coffee while on duty (just like in the real Navy), crewmen working on panels in the corridor and not merely traversing them, and double-doors on the turbolift. In certain episodes of TOS, like "Balance of Terror" and "The Corbomite Maneuver," you could practically feel the sweet and fatigue of the crew as they downed cups of coffee and repaired equipment as they faced the danger-of-the-week.

Exeter has some of these details in their incomplete episode. I'd like to see more of this in NV and other producitons as well.

 

[FalTorPan]

middyseafort said:

FalTorPan said:
You know... speaking of TOS, a fun story idea might be a first encounter between the Feds and the Sheliak Corporate from TNG's "The Survivors." So little is known about them that they practically are a "new" species.

The Sheliak Corporate actually appeared in the third season episode, "The Ensigns of Command."

Oops. I guess my memory isn't perfect after all.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

^Neither is mine, but for some reason bits of minute like that stick more than what I was doing at this time last year.

 

[Data Holmes]

middyseafort said:

FalTorPan said:
You know... speaking of TOS, a fun story idea might be a first encounter between the Feds and the Sheliak Corporate from TNG's "The Survivors." So little is known about them that they practically are a "new" species.

The Sheliak Corporate actually appeared in the third season episode, "The Ensigns of Command."

I wouldn't mind seeing them in a fan film.

Also, I'd like to see more attention to the details of a "lived-in" future that was captured well in the early first season episodes of TOS. While I do enjoy New Voyages, especially their recent outings, things seem almost TNG clean when it comes to the look of the sets. In the early TOS episodes, there were microtapes that littered the conference table, empty cups of coffee, Kirk getting in a 'quick bite' on the bridge before beaming down, people drinking coffee while on duty (just like in the real Navy), crewmen working on panels in the corridor and not merely traversing them, and double-doors on the turbolift. In certain episodes of TOS, like "Balance of Terror" and "The Corbomite Maneuver," you could practically feel the sweet and fatigue of the crew as they downed cups of coffee and repaired equipment as they faced the danger-of-the-week.

Exeter has some of these details in their incomplete episode. I'd like to see more of this in NV and other producitons as well.

This post bears repeating... I to want it to feel real.


I'd like to see a little more political elements brought in. And everyone not being perfect, all knowing, over the top charecters...

No quick "technobable" fixes. Unless it's absolutly nescary to say, all the technology should almost be taken for granted. You don't here people go all technobable now a days...

Oh, and I'd like to see starfleet (or star fleet depending) treated more as a military/uniformed organization...

 

[AJBryant]

For me, a lot of good can be done with decent camera work. I understand the budget issues that force green-screen productions, but still too many shots are static two-person shots with no CUs, no cutting back and forth, etc.

Actually, I generally hate the green-screen shows -- they just don't look good (the entire universe exists only from the waist up! and no one can actually touch the right button on a screen!).

Another thing annoying -- all the "out of shape" people in Star Fleet. Yeah, we're fans, and many of us are chubby. But come ON already.

As has been mentioned -- acting is rather critical, and often rather ignored because we're FANS (and we want to do this!) rather than actors. But I'd HOPE that someone making a fan film would try to get the best possible actors rather than let the filmmakers act POORLY in films as ego and fanboy-wannabeism override common sense.

Oh, and starships that FLY like huge starships, rather than fighter jets.

Tony

 

[USS Intrepid]

As the producer of one of those "greenscreen shows", I can attest to the fact that we used a wide variety of angles and shots on our first effort, and continue to do so for our next one. Sure, there were a bucketload of areas we fell down, but this wasn't one of them.

AJBryant said:
For me, a lot of good can be done with decent camera work. I understand the budget issues that force green-screen productions, but still too many shots are static two-person shots with no CUs, no cutting back and forth, etc.

Actually, I generally hate the green-screen shows -- they just don't look good (the entire universe exists only from the waist up! and no one can actually touch the right button on a screen!).

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

USS Intrepid said:
As the producer of one of those "greenscreen shows", I can attest to the fact that we used a wide variety of angles and shots on our first effort, and continue to do so for our next one. Sure, there were a bucketload of areas we fell down, but this wasn't one of them.

AJBryant said:
For me, a lot of good can be done with decent camera work. I understand the budget issues that force green-screen productions, but still too many shots are static two-person shots with no CUs, no cutting back and forth, etc.

Actually, I generally hate the green-screen shows -- they just don't look good (the entire universe exists only from the waist up! and no one can actually touch the right button on a screen!).

Intrepid actually does a good job with green screen; there is an attempt to give those scenes depth with one person closer to camera than another, as opposed to on Hidden Frontier where two characters are side-by-side and then there are cuts to close-up of other characters.

 

[Data Holmes]

I've thought about it and I've got two more things to add to my list...


One, score. Music makes a difference.

Two, the whole "Only one ship" "Only one crew" deal... It gets annoying after a while.

 

[Data Holmes]

AJBryant said:

Oh, and starships that FLY like huge starships, rather than fighter jets.

Tony

Yes. Yes yes yes!

 

[Maurice]

What I want are stories with well developed THEMES. Stories that about something. There's a big difference between plot (the sequence of events in a story) and theme (what the story is about).

 

[Thalek]

AJBryant said:
Another thing annoying -- all the "out of shape" people in Star Fleet. Yeah, we're fans, and many of us are chubby. But come ON already.

Tony

Given that we're usually limited to using fans as actors, where are we going to find all of these "in-shape" people that you want? The pool of available talent is limited enough as it is without adding "And use only pretty people".

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

DS9Sega said:
What I want are stories with well developed THEMES. Stories that about something. There's a big difference between plot (the sequence of events in a story) and theme (what the story is about).

Going along with that thought, I'd also like to see stories that affect the characters rather than the characters being dropped into the story and functioning because of necessity and not from character. The latest Farragut episode is a good example. While I enjoyed the story and the situation, the characters seemed to just function in the story with the story not really affecting them emotionally. Say if George Washington was Carter's childhood hero and he turned out in a way that Carter didn't expect and wasn't what was in the history books, that might've been more powerful.

The recent NV episode WEaT is a good example of the plot and theme affecting the characters of both Sulu and Kirk. It had emotion, but not the Soap Opera emotion that sometimes is prevalent in fan productions like "Hidden Frontier." Starship Exeter has also done a good job at presenting a story that matters to its characters, especially Captain Garrovick.

Since these fan productions operate outside of a studio and network, they have more opportunities to challenge the characters and have events alter them rather then having them function in the story to the point where they can be interchanged with another character and the story wouldn't alter at all (which was at times a symptom of Modern Trek).

 

[Wil has a posse]

AJBryant said:
Oh, and starships that FLY like huge starships, rather than fighter jets.

YES.

Talk about taking me out of the story. The minute I saw the Enterprise zipping around like a bumblebee in a New Voyages episode, I clicked STOP because I knew it would be nothing more than fanboy wank.

Also, while I've taken issue with people who are supposed to be playing Starfleet officers who've undergone rigorous physical training, yet look like they've never eaten a vegetable in their life, I've learned to overlook it since diversity is a good thing. Casting skinny, pretty faces leads to nonsense like Laguna Beach, and there's quite enough of that already, thank you.

The key, and I cannot stress this enough, is good characters played by capable actors. (You don't have to be Olivier, just don't sound like you're reading off a prompter.)

And to those that write fan productions: stop worrying so much about technobabble! Just create characters the audience will care about and develop them.

 

[Trekwatcher]

Although, to give the NV folks credit, they did stop using the Enterprise like a fighter jet in the more recent shows.

The Enterprise is a huge vessel, and when it moves it should give the viewer a tremendous sense of mass. I recently saw, in real life, the USS Ronald Reagan- a modern, nuclear powered aircraft carrier. It was imposing, looked enormously heavy, and looked SERIOUS, yet it seemed to still move through the water gracefully. THAT is how they should have the Enterprise move in these fan films.

 

[Johnny]

When was the last time I saw a fanfilm space-scape that made me go WOW!?

...

...

...

No, can't remember...