Just before the start of the new year, the anthology series THE FEDERATION FILES released its third full episode: “Extraction.” Produced by GLEN L. WOLFE and DAN REYNOLDS, this episode was written by Glen and features Dan as the captain of the USS Nikita, a dreadnought-class starship. Glen also appears briefly as a shuttlecraft pilot.
But the cast is much more extensive than that. The 12-minute fan film features Romulans, a Starfleet bridge crew, shuttlecraft pilots, and a team of TOS-era MACOs. The episode also features a Starfleet shuttlecraft interior set that took about four weeks to build. The control console, front view ports, and one panel on the the left side were supplied by JAMES CAWLEY and were used previously for one of the episodes of Star Trek: New Voyages, “The Holiest Thing.” Glen and Dan built out the rest or the interior, including the iconic lightbox ceiling, and the electronics were custom made by Glen. The shuttle interior remains standing at Dan’s WARP TV studio in Harrison, Arkansas, available to use in future fan films.
The rest of the episode was filmed both at STARBASE STUDIOS (mostly before the recent controversy) and by a second unit in a rock quarry close to the Harrison studio during a few hours while Romulan make-up was being applied to JIM VON DOLTEREN and ALLYSON MARX back at the studio. In total, about four days were spent filming all the scenes, mainly during July of last year.
The Federation Files has already released two previous episodes: “His Name Is Mudd” and “Walking Bear, Running Wolf.”
Dan reports that he and Glen will soon be choosing one of the remaining ten scripts that Glen has already written to film as their fourth production in The Federation Files anthology series. Now that Glen has moved to Arkansas, Dan expects them to have a lot more time to brainstorm, write, create, and produce new Star Trek. .
How quickly the next episode gets started and produced depends on the resolution of the current lawsuit regarding the Starbase Studios sets. From what I understand, there is some hopeful progress happening in that situation. I’ll report more as soon as I’m cleared to.
In the meantime, enjoy “Extraction”…
As long as its not a wisdom tooth extraction. I still have flashbacks of them not putting in the numbing agent right.
A very enjoyable episode! My only quibble would be about the MACO uniforms – they seemed out of place to me. Too “late 20th Century”. I think a better option would have been to have the entire team dressed in black – black long sleeve pullover shirts and black slacks or jeans.
Excellent make up job on the Centurion/Spy.
Overall, good job by all involved.
Actually, considering the terrain, I would have gone with either a sand or jungle color scheme. 🙂
Agreed that this vid is well made and fun to watch. I enjoyed the retro aspect of the military uniforms, although I would certainly agree that black uniforms would convey an image of a special unit inside of Starfleet (Marines, or the black badge types aboard USS Discovery). I also liked the battleship’s design with the multiple sensor arrays.
Good points, George J. I love the idea you have about “All Black”. That would separate and tie in the “Macos” as a separate unit but tie in with a TOS style uniform.