VOYAGER CONTINUES releases its latest short episode “DERELICT”!

In the genre of Star Trek fan films, the universe (quadrant?) of the series Voyager is a rare setting.  But one stalwart fan believes that the indomitable Intrepid-class starship, lost for seven years in the Delta Quadrant, is the perfect subject matter for a Trek fan production.

I interviewed David Whitney of STARFLEET STUDIOS as he was completing post-production on his first VOYAGER CONTINUES project: STAR TREK: RAVEN, which debuted last October as a 32-minute fan film.  That film concentrated on events in the Alpha Quadrant during the time that Voyager was missing but ended with a scene on Voyager itself.

Now, half a year later, David just released his second effort, a 9-minute short film titled “Derelict.”  This one focuses on two members of the crew—Harry Kim and Seven-of-Nine—on board a, you guessed it, derelict spacecraft. And while Raven used mostly green screen sequences where actors were composited against virtual backgrounds created in CGI, “Derelict” uses practical (physical) sets with consoles that had originally been created for and used by the television series Stargate Atlantis!  (Those were provided to David Whitney by Glen L. Wolfe of the Trek fan series The Federation Files.)

“Derelict” a relatively small production, with only two actors who appear on screen along with two brief voice-over sequences.  One of the voice-overs is a captain’s log from Kathryn Janeway that will stop you in your tracks wondering if a fan film somehow managed to convince Kate Mulgrew to appear!  But in fact, it’s actually the voice of a male actor named Liam Holwarth-Mulgrew (he legally changed his name to add the “Mulgrew”) who does one of the best Janeway impressions you’ve ever heard.

Starfleet Studios is based in Iowa and doesn’t have the resources that some other fan productions do—like elaborate studios and professional or semi-professional actors and production crew.  In fact, “Derelict” was filmed almost entirely in a garage!  That said, if you celebrate fan films as I do, then you view projects like this for all that they DO accomplish, often with very limited budgets and resources.

So take a look…

12 thoughts on “VOYAGER CONTINUES releases its latest short episode “DERELICT”!”

  2. Derelict was filmed on a tight schedule, 5 hours, entirely in a garage. Not a lot of time for retakes. The budget was small. I funded the whole shoot myself. No donations. The crew really helped me out, and “Seven’s” boyfriend even took up camera 2. Incidentally, in Voyager, Harry Kim had a nephew named Andrew Kim. The same as our camera operator 2. Even with the small cast and crew scheduling this shoot was more difficult than any other shoot I’ve done to date. Rather than make a trailer for another fundraiser, we made “Derelict”. I think it was worth it. It’s an entirely Voyager episode. I keep waiting for someone to comment about Seven having brown hair and not blonde but so far nothing…I have ordered OUR Seven a new silver suit…..

        1. She did do a really good job, I will admit. But after Raven, you’ve shown that you’re not afraid to use a wig (for an actress, that is). 🙂

  3. 7of9 not blond, you know. 7of9 suit to be rubber and more tight, you know 😉
    Well, there is just one thing with the position of characters on screen. Faces should not be centered in the frame; the look must be allowed cleared space, sometimes used to place the counterpart. I.e. if the person looks right, the head should be on the left of the screen. One some occasions, you did it perfectly.
    2 camera filming is time saving, you handled it well, lighting seems consistent. But please, use tripods for your cameras !
    Considering your working conditions, well done !
    Thanks for your efforts and for sharing the result.

    1. Yep, a tripod might be a good idea in the future…or at least not as much “drift” if you’re doing “unsteady cam” style. But I realize it was a 5-hour shoot with limited time for multiple takes…so it’s a trade-off. Still a very strong effort from Starfleet Studios!

  4. Thanks for the comments gentlemen. I agree. There will be much improvement for EP03. We will have more time than the last two VC films for framing shots and re-takes.

Comments are closed.