Do you have nine minutes to spare? If so, you can watch THREE full fans films from Australian filmmaker AARON VANDERKLEY. I last interviewed Aaron back in September after the release of the first of three planned SHORT VOYAGES, “UNAVOIDABLE DELAYS.” Aaron had already made quite a name for himself with the release of five full-length NX-01 era fan films…
Then Aaron leapfrogged a century to release a trio of full-length Voyager-era fan films under the banner THESE ARE THE VOYAGES…
Each of the above fan films is truly excellent and absolutely worth watching. But Aaron still had a bit of fan filmmaking left in him. Inspired by the challenge of the TREKS IN 90 SECS contest, Aaron set out to see how short a runtime he could give his own Voyager-era films. And while he wasn’t quite able to shave his times down as far as 90 seconds or two minutes, he did come impressively close. Indeed, as I mentioned at the top of this blog, you can watch all three of his Short Voyages in less than nine minutes total. Check ’em out…
As you can see, each film is unique. The first is comedic, the second quiet and introspective, and the third is full of drama and suspense. That is NOT easy to do when your runtime is three minutes or less!
I also couldn’t help but notice the amazing subdued lighting and shadow-play in “Renaissance.” Since most fan filmmakers aren’t trained or experienced in cinematography, fan films don’t usually feature anything but the most basic, rudimentary lightning—and there’s nothing wrong with that. Fan films are intended to allow fans to play in the sandbox, not to construct an elaborate beach house. That said, it is nice, every so often, to be treated to this level of craftsmanship in a fan film.
The latter two vignettes were released in mid-November and mid-December, just five weeks apart and too quickly for me to cover “Renaissance” and “Desperate Measures” each in its own blog. So I’ll be asking Aaron about both fan films together (with behind-the-scenes photos, as usual, at the bottom of the blog)…
JONATHAN – Okay, let’s start with “Renaissance.” How did that fan film come to be?
AARON – “Renaissance” was intended as our second entry for Fan Film Factor’s Treks in 90 Secs competition, and inspiration for the story came from the original version of our previous, long-form film “Resistance”. It was our intention to have that film open in 15th-century Italy, where the Captain was trying to retrieve a piece of Borg technology from the great Leonardo da Vinci. During their exchange, the device would have activated and assimilated her in the presence of the Sam character, beaming back to take over the USS Explorer, and the story would have continued from there.
Whilst we began set designing and buying props for Leonardo’s workshop, changes in our circumstances with the pandemic restricted the number of actors on-set, leading to the Leonardo character and arc being dropped from the story and the opening scene relocated to an empty cave.
This opportunity really enabled us to revisit this concept, again in a single set specially constructed for this story.
JONATHAN – As usual, your production design was magnificent. Was the creation of an early Renaissance-era set easier or more difficult than constructing something from nearly a millennium in the future?
AARON – Leonardo’s workshop proved an interesting challenge for us, as nearly all our production design work in the past has a sci-fi element to it. We started by looking at various museum recreations of Leonardo’s workspaces and chose elements which we could re-create. Existing flats from “Unavoidable Delays” were lined with textured wallpapers to give the effect of brick and sandstone render, and a wooden door from stock was hung to the existing doorway. The only large set piece built specifically for this story was the window – which ironically barely appears in the finished film. We used a clear acrylic sheet as glass, covered in a trellis film, with a wood-stained frame to give a 15th century look. For the wall damaged by the Borg device, we created 3D bricks to give the hole some depth, and positioned both fake and real plants outside to give the illusion of a garden beyond.
With the barebones up, the rest of the work was done through set dressing from stock and also specifically purchased pieces to cover the various aspects of Leonardo’s interests – in drawing, painting, sculpting, nature, anatomy and technology. One of our real workbenches stood in as the centrepiece of the room.
JONATHAN – How about the one futuristic prop? I’m assuming you guys made your own Borg cybernetic arm attachment.
AARON – I was a bit unhappy with the Borg device we made for “Resistance”, so the opportunity to come up with something different was welcome. The Borg arm was made with a few PVC pipes and fittings, covered with textured foam, leftover electronics and parts from model kits, and finished off with LEDs.
JONATHAN – What can you tell us about the two actors in this film?
AARON – Returning to her role as the USS Explorer’s Captain is KATE ELDER. Kate first appeared in our 2021 film “Beyond the Sun”, then for a quick cameo in “Outbreak”, and rounded off the trifecta in 2022’s “Resistance”. We really enjoy working with Kate and what she brings to the character, so there was no substitute if she wasn’t available. It seemed appropriate that, after the Captain’s past experiences with the Borg, she would personally be involved with tracking down and safeguarding further pieces of their harmful technology. It was also nice to explore her diplomatic side, last seen in “Beyond the Sun”, as to how she approaches and reasons with Leonardo’s larger than life personality. Kate played that all really well.
Alongside Kate, as Leonardo da Vinci himself, was DANIEL BUCKLE, whose name may sound familiar, as he played the Vulcan Ambassador in our 2018 film “The Fall of Starbase One”. An excellent character actor and improviser, this role was always meant for Daniel—even back when we were considering Leonardo’s inclusion into “Resistance”—and I knew he would do a great job in the role and provide a perfect foil opposite Kate’s Captain.
Daniel was a bit concerned that he might have to match the performance of JOHN RHYS-DAVIES in Star Trek: Voyager. However, I quickly reassured him that not only was this a younger version of Leonardo, but I was quite happy for him to make the role his own. It was also incredibly fortunate that Dan had grown out his hair during the period we shot so there was no wig or beard requirement on us!
JONATHAN – How long did it take to build the set, shoot “Renaissance”, and then complete the finished vignette?
AARON – The gap between the previous short and “Renaissance” was two weeks, so that was quite a narrow timeframe to get an utterly different set turned around in. We only filmed across one 8-hour shoot day. While it was fairly quick to edit, we had a fair wait before our visual effects producer and composer both had a slot in their busy schedules to complete work on this story.
JONATHAN – All right, let’s shift gears to discuss “Desperate Measures”. So how did this fan film come to be?
AARON – Unlike the previous two stories that were written and entered pre-production in quick succession, the inspiration for “Desperate Measures” took a little while to arrive. I was determined to shoot three films to make the time, money, and effort worthwhile, and there were several options, including writing a prelude for a potential third series of These Are The Voyages set during a Phase II era, or a scene from an as-yet-unmade one-off special featuring the Chakotay character. However, numerous production/casting challenges meant those ideas were not so viable. There was also a thought to revisit the Enterprise NX-01 era from the first series of These Are The Voyages. Ultimately, it was decided to follow the theme of revisiting each story from Series 2, which left “Outbreak”.
As “Outbreak” was based on a campaign from the Star Trek Adventures roleplaying game, I revisited the original source material, which included a side mission on the planet involving the characters restarting a water treatment facility. This was removed from “Outbreak” due to the added location and characters being unnecessary to the short film adaptation.
However, having two characters trapped inside a pump room seemed an appropriate setting, matching the duologue/single set theme of the previous two films.
JONATHAN – What can you tell us about the main actors in this vignette film?
AARON – “Desperate Measures” introduced two new actors to our Star Trek fan film family. The first was AMY FORTNUM, who we most recently worked with on The Might of the Daleks. I knew Amy would be able to portray anything I could throw at her during this highly dramatic and tense scene. The character needed to be panicked, desperate, empathetic, frustrated, curious, hopeful, shattered and heroic within the space of about three minutes, and Amy delivered on every beat. Add on top, Amy was quite unwell on the shoot day, but as the true professional she is, pushed through and gave a terrific performance.
Rounding off this two-man away team was CALEB MacCAULEY, who was another actor recommendation from fellow actor MAXIMILLIANO LAFFONT (who also recommended his co-star TAMARA CREASEY for “Unavoidable Delays”, and that worked out really well). Aside from being a talented, professional, and a really nice guy, it was Maxim who best described Caleb as “so exceedingly handsome that (he) might break your camera.” And its true! Caleb just has ‘the look’ and could wear anything—even a Starfleet uniform. This role had a lot of exposition and technobabble, so I am looking forward to a future project where I can work with Caleb on a real meat and potatoes character.
We weren’t able to secure background artists to perform as the infected Adiyans, so AARON CHAPPELL reprised his role from “Outbreak” (could it be the same person? could it be his twin?) and was joined by our new production assistant KARA ALLEN. During the filming of “Renaissance”, we also had our comeback queen Kate Elder record her voice-over as the Captain. As it turns out, Kate ended up making some form of appearance in all our Voyager-era stories, and that probably makes her our longest reoccurring character.
JONATHAN – As for sets, “Desperate Measures” took you and us back to the future. We these sets more or less challenging to design and build than the “Renaissance” ones?
AARON – Based on feedback on the set design for “Outbreak”, the colour scheme of the ImmuniCorp Pump Room was changed from white to grey, which also made it easier to light. The elongated, hexagonal voids within the walls were re-created from scratch and dressed with backlit displays, PVC pipes and plastic pallets (a Sci-Fi tradition). To help fill out the set, plastic soak wells were lined up two of the walls.
The biggest challenge during “Desperate Measures” was the water scenes, which ultimately were not up to scratch on the initial day of filming. So our crew very kindly came back for a reshoot where we could have another go at getting what I wanted. A ‘pen’ was built around a reduced set, lined with black plastic and then covered with foam flooring. We constructed a narrow ‘tank’ behind the window in the door, filled with water in the hopes that we could achieve a powerful closing shot of a single communicator badge floating or sinking in the water. Unfortunately, we just could not crack this, so an equally moving alternative of a single hand reaching out at the window was staged instead.
JONATHAN – And how long did pre-production, production, and post-production take on this film?
AARON – There was a three-week gap between shooting “Renaissance” and “Desperate Measures”, enabling us to return the wall and door flats to their more sci-fi configurations before another single 8-hour shoot day was ahead of us. It was about a month later when we reconvened to complete the water shots, reassembling and recreating part of the set. Again, we had to wait to fit into the schedule of our composer before “Desperate Measures” could be released to the world.
JONATHAN – Looking back at all three Short Voyages films, what stood out most when you compare producing brief vignettes versus full-length fan films?
AARON – Overall, what ended up as the Short Voyages project was quite a different experience to work on. While it was still a narrow timeframe, it was fun to create three distinct sets and have more time on-set to tell each story. It was nice to revisit the worlds of the previous three films and take what we’d learned to add something new.
We had an excellent team behind the scenes, including first-timers on These Are The Voyages JOE HENDERSON, DIEGO ESPINOZA, Kara Allen, and our ol’faithfuls Aaron Chappell, BLAKE THOMSON, and SAM COCKINGS—not to mention my parents—who all came together to bring you three brand new adventures, rounded off with amazing scores by NICOLAS GARDINER.
JONATHAN – So what comes next for you all in terms of Star Trek fan films?
AARON – who knows? We’ll all have to wait and see what 2025…or the future…might bring. Until then, thank you for supporting These Are The Voyages.
JONATHAN – Always and forever, my friend! You keep making ’em, and I’ll keep covering ’em!
And as promised, here are some awesome behind-the-scenes photos of Aaron’s tiny filming studio in Perth, Australia where all the magic is made (click on any photo to enlarge it)…
