Exploring the world of Star Trek fan films.
Here’s all my best photos from the 50th Anniversary convention in Las Vegas (along with clever captions–read ’em; they’re funny!). Click on any photo to enlarge it, then click the “back” button to return to this page…
Continue reading “Photos from the Las Vegas STAR TREK 50th Anniversary CREATION Con”
Bryan Fuller, showrunner for the new CBS All Access TV series Star Trek: Discovery (or DSC, for short), just announced the time-frame for the highly-anticipated new series. It’s already been reported that DSC will take place in the prime universe (not the Kelvin timeline), but now we know when:
TEN YEARS before the original series!
Fans of the Axanar project nearly had a collective heart attack (including yours truly), until we realized that this time period is actually ten years AFTER the Four Years War depicted in the 20-minute 2014 fan film Prelude to Axanar.
Reported in this BREAKING NEWS article on Trekmovie.com, Fuller helped to calm Axanar panickers…at least somewhat: Continue reading “Will STAR TREK: DISCOVERY coincide with AXANAR?”
When the new fan film guidelines were announced by CBS and Paramount, one of the biggest concerns was what would happen to Star Trek Continues. This celebrated fan series now violated most of the guidelines, including a run time of more than 15 minutes per episode, the fact it was a continuing series in the first place, their recent $200,000 crowd-funding campaign (the new limit is $50,000), the distribution of perks, their use of professional actors and crew (including some who have previously worked on Star Trek films and/or licensed products), and of course, the words “Star Trek” in the title.
Of course, fans didn’t mind any of this. In fact, Star Trek Continues remains one of the most popular and successful of all the fan series…with a passionate and devoted following (including myself, a proud donor). And that’s why we were so concerned that these new guidelines would spell the end of Star Trek Continues (as they had already claimed another beloved fan series, Star Trek: New Voyages).
Continue reading “STAR TREK CONTINUES plans to make FOUR more full episodes…hopefully”
Before I begin, I’d just like to go on record that I’ve had the time of my life here in Las Vegas for the last five days. And CREATION ENTERTAINMENT founders Adam Malin and Gary Berman (and their many employees, volunteers, and celebrity guests) have outdone themselves in putting on a superb 50th anniversary tribute to Star Trek. I laughed, I cried, I kissed about $250 goodbye in the dealers room. It was the best of times; it was an incredible gift to the 6,000 fans who could afford to make it to Las Vegas and ordered their tickets before they sold out. So well done, I say to all of Creation!
And then came the “but.”
On Friday morning at the CREATION 50th Anniversary Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas, I learned of a troubling new policy: fan films are apparently a forbidden topic!
The first indication I had of this new policy came at the end of the panel discussion with Tim Russ, Ethan Phillips, and Garrett Wang (who were each hilarious and not to be missed on stage if you ever get the chance). As their talk moved into the questions-from-the-audience stage, I wandered to the front of the room to get in line to ask my question.
Continue reading “CREATION puts a GAG ORDER on discussion of FAN FILMS by celebrity guests!”
Okay, this was kinda my fault. Back last December, Aron Eisenbeg (who played the Ferengi “Nog” on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) needed a kidney transplant. He’d found a willing donor, but there was still a problem. It would take both Aron and his donor about three months to fully recuperate, during which time neither of them could work. Aron’s partner, Malissa Longo, would need to be his primary caregiver and would not be able to work herself while also taking care of Aron. Unfortunately, these are the sorts of expenses that insurance doesn’t typically cover (lost wages), leaving all three of them in a bind.
Continue reading “ARON “NOG” EISENBERG gets choked up answering a question”
Hey there, folks. I’m in Las Vegas this week (though there won’t be a lot of long Fan Film Factor posts). But I had to share this photo from Day One of the 50th anniversary Creation con. I’d only just met these two fun strangers (who had only met each other a few hours earlier) and I offered to take their photo together in the faux-to (photo) bridge are in Quark’s Bar. They were nice enough to stay up there long enough so I could sneak in for a photo op of my own. This McCoy is uncanny in his similarity to the late, great De Kelley. His name is Frank Jenks and you can find him on Facebook.
Other photos from day one appear below…
If you feel the way most Trekkers do about the new fan film guidelines, take a look at what writer/director/steadicam operator (who also did camera work on Renegades) Scotty Baker put together…
Back in May (a month before the new fan film guidelines were announced by CBS and Paramount), a fan production out of the United Kingdom set out to raise $2,500 in a Kickstarter campaign to fund a short Star Trek fan film called Chance Encounter. They were successful and immediately began to build their one set (the interior of a Type-15 TNG-era shuttlepod), create costumes, and hire cast.
Then the fan film guidelines came out. Would it be a problem for this production? Well, the production is already intended to be a short one-shot film, so the first guideline limiting run-time to 15 minutes and forbidding a continuing series won’t be a problem. The title Chance Encounter doesn’t have Star Trek in it, so guideline #2 is safe. In fact, nearly all of the guidelines have been followed, including a Kickstarter that raised less than $50,000 (significantly less)…although perks were distributed. Of course, the Kickstarter happened before the guidelines were released, so it’s probably okay.
The only problem they might run into comes from this quote from their Kickstarter page: Continue reading “CHANCE ENCOUNTER, a Star Trek short film, begins shooting TODAY!”
Fan Film Factor founder (and the guy typing this right now), JONATHAN LANE, had the pleasure of doing a podcast interview alongside co-moderator DAVID HEAGNEY, JR. discussing the SMALL ACCESS protest campaign and the new fan film guidelines released by CBS and Paramount.
We were interviewed by super-fan and live radio podcaster Shane Stacks for an hour. In the first half-hour, Shane covered recent sci-fi news and releases, and starting at the 30-minute mark, we dive into discussion about the guidelines and the SMALL ACCESS campaign. Among the questions we answer: what are we hoping to accomplish, will the studios even take us seriously, and is Alec Peters hiding behind the curtain pulling our strings?
Take a listen…