Ten years ago, Kenny Smith wrote a rough draft for a Star Trek fan film that he wanted to direct. It focused on Captain Robert April, the first person to command the USS Enterprise NCC-1701.
Smith wanted to tell the story of the USS Enterprise’s initial mission, to see her being built in spacedock—along with the fleet of twelve sister ships in Earth orbit—and to watch her launch for the first time towards indescribable adventure.
Smith owned the sci-fi convention company I-Con and recently, at one of Smith’s conventions, he met a film producer who was looking for a project to work on. Smith told the producer about his idea for a Captain April fan film, and he loved it. Knowing that the fiftieth anniversary of Star Trek was quickly approaching, they set to work on the script.
They also managed to convince Emmy-nominated Lee Stringer (who worked on numerous science fiction projects including Star Trek: Voyager, Battlestar Galactica, and Firefly, to name just a few) to join their team. And to make their visual effects look true to the original series, rather than just creating computer-generated 3D effects, the team went on to build an 11-foot physical model of the original Enterprise…along with sets as close to those in the original pilot as possible.
Also notable about this fan film is the way it was funded. In March of 2015, Smith began a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter with a goal of $130,000. But after two months, he’d raised only $30,000 from just 67 backers. Instead of letting the campaign end in failure, Smith canceled the Kickstarter and announced that he would self-fund the project.
Although they missed their original target release date of September of 2016 (to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Star Trek), they’re still making impressive progress. How impressive? Take a look at this:
Looks awesome.
You can do a lot with love and skill, that money just can’t buy.
I wish the team and cast the very best of luck and fortune.
Its a shame that it can only be 2 x 15 minutes long.
Well, at least now it won’t be long and boring. 🙂
(And any detractor who sends a comment saying “Yeah, now it’ll be short and boring!” will immediately win this week’s UNCREATIVE PREDICTABILITY AWARD.)
Yeah, it’s a real shame CBS has no real vision and/or understanding of how to better handle their Star Trek property… :/
Nice!
I hope they take advantage of the implied “grandfather” clause in the “guidelines”. it would be awesome to see the adventures of the first captain of the Enterprise 😀
Doug
I think that’s the plan.
Let’s see at April’s face, at April’s eyes. It is direct reference to the Picard’s “Let’s see what’s out there.” in the “Encounter at Farpoint’s” finale:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOZFUu4XxrA
Yep, I caught that, too.
I don’t know how picky CBS is going to be about this, but I already see a guideline violation – I thought that “Star Trek” couldn’t be in the title, no? – Still pretty curious about this one though, regardless… 🙂
They’re going for the “grandfathered in” option.
Indeed – Well, we’ll see what we see with this fan piece, eh Jonathan?
I really appreciate this. It’s very kind.
I just wanted to feel that old feeling again, the one I had when I was a kid and Star Trek came on. I really think we got pretty close.
It is feature length. I should know I built the sets including the bridge you see in the teaser.
And an amazing job you did! I want those sets! Granted, I have o place to put them, and my wife would divorce me, but man…those sets look awesome!
Good luck ! Can’t wait to see the movie !!!!
As someone who started watching Star Trek at the tender age of five (in 1966) I think this is going to be an incredible opportunity to delve back to the beginning of the original Enterprise! The fact that they are paying homage to the animated series (which many of us Trekkers considered to be the fourth season of Star Trek) is even better! Live long and prosper my fellow Trekkers!