Blog Entries – Fan Film Factor

Please HELP SANTA CLAUS this Christmas by buying his book…

Ho, ho, ho, everybody! I realize that this blog isn’t Star Trek or fan film related—other than “SANTA” SAL LIZARD having been the president of STARFLEET, The International Star Trek Fan Association from 2008-2011—but I’d still like to take a few moments for a special message to all of you.

In case you ween’t aware, I helped Santa Sal write a book full of his wonderful memoirs of having been a professional, real-bearded Santa Claus for (at the time) more than two decades. BEING SANTA CLAUS was first published in 2012 by Gotham Books, a division of Penguin Publishing. A few years ago, Sal and I reacquired the rights to the book and published a new expanded edition, with additional heartwarming true stories and photos, available in hardcover, paperback, kindle, and even audiobook formats. (I narrated the audio version.)

It was a happy and exciting time for both of us as the world was emerging from lockdown. But then Sal’s wife Linda passed away suddenly from brain cancer around the same time that Sal himself had a trio of mini-strokes that left his left side too weak to support children on his lap. Sal’s days of being Santa Claus were effectively over.

With the passing of Sal’s wife, whose job as a nurse administrator was their primarily source of income beyond Sal’s annual Santa gigs and the occasional Ubering, Sal has been reduced to living solely on social security, barely enough to get by. The one thing he has to look forward to are royalties on book sales…which aren’t much. The books clear about $4-5/purchase (depending on the format sold), with monthly royalties in the dozens of dollars at best. So, sadly, not too much.

But this is the one time of year when the book sells a little bit better—hence, this blog. I’m trying to help my friend-in-need by encouraging my other friends to purchase Being Santa Claus in any format. If you order now, the book will likely arrive by Christmas (or instantaneously if you order the Kindle or Audible version).

It’s a great stocking stuffer or just something to listen to in the car if you want a break from holiday music without losing the feeling of the season. If you’d like to hear a sample what the book sounds like, here is short snippet of one chapter…

Every little bit helps out this wonderful, good-natured, generous, and caring man get something nice for his daughter and granddaughter for Christmas. And even if all you can afford right now is goodwill toward men (and women and others), please consider passing along the following link to the Amazon page on your social media feeds. Merry Christmas to all…!

CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOU COPY AND HELP SANTA SAL

CONSTAR: THE MOTION PICTURE brings FATHER and SON together for a very special Star Trek fan film! (interview with ROYCE LEONARD MAJOR…and his DAD)

When I was seven years old (waaaaaay back in 1974), I literally used to dream of walking around the U.S.S. Enterprise and serving in Starfleet. But for ROYCE LEONARD MAJOR, son of fan filmmaker VANCE MAJOR of Kansas, my dream is his reality…and has been for as long as Royce can remember. That’s because Royce has appeared in several of Vance’s Star Trek fan films—many of them with scenes shot on TOS sets in Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Georgia—since he was an infant (and repeatedly in the years thereafter).

Vance himself has produced and appeared in well over 160 different Star Trek fan films, including 146 episodes of his various CONSTAR fan series as well as in other productions like STARSHIP VALIANT and THE AVALON UNIVERSE. Back in the summer of 2022, Vance announced his long-planned retirement from producing fan films, intending to focus more on his role as a father and less on playing Star Trek.

But then the two pursuits locked onto a collision course.

“Royce and I were watching STAR TREK: PICARD season 3 and seeing a bit of nostalgia,” Vance told me. “Then I started talking to Royce about filmmaking and showing him more and more. Within a month, he was working on his own films and getting the hang of my studio and how to light a green screen, understanding why we do things the way we do for the editor. After I felt he could follow through, I began reaching out to a few friends to see if they would be interested in doing a special Constar sequel.”

Vance continued, “It had been a long time since I had seen most of the classic Constar characters, and I wondered where they would be in the Picard era. That excited me. And it would be something I could take my time doing and show Royce how to do properly. And it just grew from there.”

The sequel, titled CONSTAR: THE MOTION PICTURE, was shot in part on high-quality fan-made sets at WARP 66 STUDIOS in Arkansas as well as FILK FERRET STUDIOS in North Carolina. But the majority was filmed in what Vance and Royce call MAJOR STUDIOS, which is primarily a green screen that Vance and Royce set up a few years ago in the den of their home. “That’s where Royce learned how to light and set up shots all on his own.” said Vance. “My kid could film an entire movie on his own, and he wasn’t even seven yet! It was very fun.”

Vance began working on Constar: The Motion Picture when Royce was still six, and the project itself took more than a year just to film, uniting three dozen Constar alumni, including such notables from other fan series like JOSH IRWIN, FRANK PARKER, JR., JOSE CEPEDA, SAMUEL COCKINGS, NICK COOK, MIKE LONGO, DAVID CHENG, PAUL JACQUES, LEZLIE SAWYER, RAY MYERS, GLEN WOLFE, and DAN REYNOLDS (just to name a few). It’s quite a full cast!

Check out the finished production here…

FARRAGUT is back for a SEQUEL next year, and it’s CROWD-FUNDING right now! (video interview with JOHN BROUGHTON and MIKE BEDNAR)

Last month, I posted a video interview with JOHNNY K. and PAUL R. SIEBER about the just-released FARRAGUT FORWARD. If you haven’t had a chance to watch it yet, this is about as MUST SEE of a fan film as you are ever likely to find…

The quality of this production is mind-blowing, even considering that they raised more than $45,000 on Indiegogo. The movie-era sets, costumes, props, make-up, direction, cinematography, lighting, editing, music, sound-mixing, etc…all were flawless. And after viewing Farragut Forward, fans only wanted more.

And now, it looks like they are going to get it!

Showrunner JOHN BROUGHTON just launched a new Indiegogo with the same initial $30,000 goal as the previous campaign. The money will go towards building new sets (including, apparently, a movie-era TRANSPORTER!), more amazing costumes, and various other expenses like food for the cast and crew, travel and lodging for those who can’t afford to make the trip to and stay in Washington, DC but are still essential to the production (like director JOSHUA IRWIN, who lives in northwestern Arkansas and will be directing the next Farragut film). The full budget is closer to $50,000, but since even the first film didn’t raise that much, best to start with a more manageable goal and try to attain InDemand status to keep the campaign live in order to raise more.

So what is the plot for this new fan film going to be? According to the following informational video, it will be a time-travel story much like Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home but without any whales. And instead of traveling to San Francisco, the Farragut crew will be taking a trip to America’s capital city….

I just chipped in fifty bucks myself, and after four days, they’re above $2K in donations from 55 backers and are already 6% of the way to their goal. But every little bit helps, and ’tis the season of giving, right? So please consider contributing at least a little something to these extremely talented folks who want to give fans yet another spectacular movie-era film…

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/farragut-2024-a-star-trek-fan-production

A few weeks ago, I recorded a Zoom interview with John and his longtime friend and fellow Farragut filmmaker MICHAEL BEDNAR. The two men provide even more behind-the-scenes background and stories from the sets of Farragut Forward along with some more information about the sequel, FARRAGUT 2024, and what else is being planned for the future. Check it out…

So you’ve seen 765874: UNIFICATION…but what did it MEAN???

By now, a vast swath of Star Trek fans have viewed the new A.I.-enhanced “fan film” 765874: UNIFICATION released by OTOY, THE RODDENBERRY ARCHIVE, WILLIAM SHATNER, and the LEONARD NIMOY estate. It’s already had half a million views in just two and a half days. If you haven’t seen it yet, take a look…

Timed to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the 1994 release of Star Trek Generations, 765874: Unification premiered at the Star Trek Original Series Set Tour in Ticonderoga, NY with WILLIAM (Kirk) SHATNER and ROBIN (Saavik) CURTIS both in attendance. Also present were LAWRENCE SELLECK, who is the stand-in for the A.I.-generated Spock, and MAHÉ THAISSA, who is the stand-in for J.M. Colt from the first TOS pilot, “The Cage.”

For more information on the making of this ambitious production, there is a wonderful article on TrekMovie.com based on information presented on the OTOY website. So I won’t get too into the weeds today discussing how they did it (although I have reached out to OTOY to try to get an interview with someone involved in the project). Instead, I’m going to look at the content of the film itself.

Fan reaction has generally been extremely positive with a few complainers here and there. If nothing else, the quality of the A.I. on both Kirk and Spock (as well as Gary Mitchell) is pretty spectacular, and the musical score by MICHAEL GIACCHINO (recorded at the famed Abbey Road Studios in London) is flawless and emotionally mesmerizing. The costumes, props, make-up, and green screen compositing are all amazing, and it’s obvious that no expense was spared in creating this content that OTOY will be using to demonstrate what their cutting-edge technology can do.

But amidst all the “I had tears in my eyes!” and “This was so beautiful!” plaudits posted to social media were a fair amount of “What the heck was that???” comments from the head-scratchers…which, admittedly, included myself. With only one piece of dialog (an original re-recording of Kirk’s final log from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan) the rest of the presentation was essentially silent but for the music. Indeed, I got a very 2001: A Space Oddessey feeling of déjà vu. And just as sci-fi fans are generally confounded trying to figure out what was going on with Dave Bowman at the end of STANLEY KUBRICK’s 1968 masterpiece (I think he was mirroring the evolution of man himself), Trekkers are being left to their own devices to interpret 765874: Unification.

Having now read a wide range of postings on social media, I think I can clear up at least a few things about this film. Some items I’ll be sharing are straight-up facts and pieces of established Star Trek canon. Others require a little more open-mindedness about things that may or may not be canon. And then, of course, I’ve got some theories that could be right or wrong…and we may just never know for certain.

Okay, you ready…?

Did an Indiana Jones FAN FILM just win an EMMY AWARD??? YES!!! (video interview with KEVIN CROXTON)

An Emmy? A real Emmy?? For a FAN FILM??? Yep! Awarded by the National Association of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS)…the same folks who give out awards for the best TV series and specials and soap operas and news programs and all the rest just gave an award to an Indiana Jones fan film! And not only that, it was a fan film starring fourth and fifth grader kids playing nearly all of the parts! Take a look…

How the heck did this happen???

The answer is revealed in the video interview at the bottom of this blog, but first, a little background about the fellow I’ll be talking to. I first met KEVIN CROXTON shortly after the premiere of his first fan film, the Star Trek-themed THE BUNNY INCIDENT, back in 2018. Filmed at the now defunct Starbase Studios in Arkansas, this fan film featured 33 of Kevin’s fourth and fifth grade students playing Starfleet and Klingon roles, singing, dancing, and acting. It was adorable.

Kevin, a composer by trade and training, was also an elementary school music teacher in western Arkansas, and the kids in his fan films were all members of his extracurricular music club at his school. Shortly thereafter, I asked Kevin if we would agree to create the score for my own Star Trek fan film INTERLUDE, which he happily agreed to do.

The following year, Kevin and his music club produced and released their second fan film, BATMAN: THE SCHEME IS SOUND. At 12 minutes, it was twice the run-time as their previous effort, this one featuring elaborate costumes for Batman, Robin, Joker, Catwoman, Penguin, and Riddler…along with an actual, drivable BATMOBILE replica! Seriously, how much would you have given to have this guy as your teacher growing up??

Two years later in 2021, Kevin posted his third themed fan film to YouTube. Shot mostly before the lockdown and edited and scored after, the 12-minute IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE was a James Bond adventure with fancy cars, tuxedos, and a cameo appearance by GEORGE LAZENBY, the second actor to portray the character in the single feature film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service in 1969. How on earth does Kevin keep managing to top himself? It’s certainly a mystery!

But top himself he does! As you can see if you watched the film above, INDIANA JONES AND THE TREASURE OF THE AZTECS has a cast of dozens and dozens of kids; very impressive performances; amazing costumes, props, and music; and numerous “exotic” filming locations. It also has an incredible stunt of Indiana Jones (well, a stunt double) jumping from the back of a galloping horse into a speeding jeep. It even has a cameo voice-over from actress KAREN ALLEN, who played Indiana’s girlfriend/wife in three of the franchise films!

The film was definitely worthy of an award, and it has won many. But an EMMY??? There has to be a story behind that, and Kevin explains it all and more in the following fun interview…

HURRY! This is the FINAL WEEKEND to see STALLED TREK: THE DUMBSDAY MACHINE before next October!

MARK LARGENT has a brilliantly warped mind…or is it warpedly brilliant mind? Whichever the case, his hilarious 3D-animated puppet parody Star Trek fan films have been making Trekkers laugh hysterically since 2012 with the release of STALLED TREK: AMUTT TIME. This adorable reimagining of the classic TOS episode “Amok Time” featured Mr Spott, a Vulcanine, going through heat and needing to return to his home planet to, y’know, do da nasty with his betrothed T’Pomeranian. In an ancient ceremony overseen by the Vulcanine high priestess T’Poodle, Spott and Captain Krock must battle to the death…which doesn’t bode well for the one of them who isn’t super-strong and out of his mind with rage. You can watch it here…

Nearly a decade later—after a fun little detour that included the release of a parody of the AXANAR lawsuit, PRELUDE TO AX’D-WE ARE (co-written and co-produced by yours truly) along with the humorous 3-minute Stalled Trek vignette ALL AHEAD FULL—Mark completed his second full-length parody adaptation of a TOS episode, this time “The City on the Edge of Forever” became STALLED TREK: “THE CITY ON THE EDGE OF FORECLOSURE. As the Starship Secondprize investigates mysterious time waves, Dr. McGruff accidentally injects himself with a dozen hypos of the most dangerous drug in the galaxy. You know the story, now watch the puppet parody version…

Although completed in 2021, this uproarious fan film was not posted to YouTube until it had finished touring the film festival circuit for the next two years, winning around 47 million awards during that time.

And now Mark has completed his third and final (yes, folks, he’s exhausted) parody adaptation of a fan-favorite TOS episode, STALLED TREK: THE DUMBSDAY MACHINE. You can watch a trailer for it here…

It premiered at a Star Trek convention in Dallas on Friday night. However, like its predecessor, The Dumbsday Machine will NOT be released immediately onto the Internet. The plan is to post it to YouTube on October 20 of next year, which is the 58th anniversary of the first airing of the original “The Doomsday Machine” episode of Star Trek.

But YOU don’t have to wait till October 2025 to see this labor of lunacy. You can view it on your very own Blu-ray (likely shipped sometime in January). But you must act now!

Now, I say!!

NOW!!!

NOWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!

By “Now!” I mean before the end of this weekend. Mark has created an Indiegogo page for fans to order copies of all three Stalled Trek releases on a single Blu-Ray disc for $55 (parody is fair use, so yes, he can sell them). Or, if you also want cool retro swag, for a mere $105, you can get the Blu-Ray disc PLUS a printed comic book adaptation of The Dumbsday Machine AND an exclusive View Master reel with seven specially-created 3D renderings of iconic moments from the Stalled Trek series.

So don’t wait! Click on the link below to order your copy while you still can…

www.stalledtrek.com

The Fan Film DIRECTORS CHOICE Awards are back for a FOURTH year…with TWO new categories!

Is this really the FOURTH year for the DIRECTORS CHOICE AWARDS???? You bet your warp core it is! GLEN L. WOLFE and DAN REYNOLDS, co-owners of WARP 66 STUDIOS in northern Arkansas, are once again hosting one of the two annual fan film competitions where the judges are a panel of fan filmmakers themselves. (The other contest is the SHOWRUNNER AWARDS, but they don’t happen for another six months.)

The call for entries begins today (November 1, 2024) and continues through January 11, 2025. Fan filmmakers can submit their film(s)—a maximum of three fan films per director—for a cost of $10 per film entered. Here’s the entry form link:

https://thefederationfiles.com/?page_id=1407

The Directors Choice Awards are open to any fan film from any genre (NOT limited to only Star Trek) that was released onto YouTube or any public media for the first time in calendar year 2024. The $10 entry fee includes submitting the film for consideration in up to seven of the following specialty categories in addition to being considered for Best in Fest (which carries a $250 cash prize). The categories are…

Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Director
Best Original Costuming
Best Make-up/Hairstyling
Best Cinematography
Best Original Music
Best Audio Mixing
Best Lighting
Best FX Make-Up
Best CGI FX
Best Green Screen
Best Composite Shot
Best Screenplay
Best Parody/Comedy
Best Portrayal of an Existing Character
Best Animated Fan Film
Best Editing
Most Canon Award
Best Ensemble
Best On-Location Scene
Best Plot Twist
Best Use of Improvised Sets
Best Choreography
Best Trailer
Best Poster

The last two categories are brand new for this year’s awards. Glen asked me to clarify that the poster must be for a fan film that premiered in calendar year 2024. However, the trailer can be for a fan film that hasn’t been released yet. The only requirement is that the trailer itself must have been publicly posted for the first time during 2024.

As with the three previous years (and in line with the name of the contest), the fan films will be judged by the directors themselves. Each director will be e-mailed a ballot for each film they submitted . A director cannot vote for any fan film they themselves directed, and all ballots will be due no later than March 15. If a judge fails to return their completed ballot in time, their film submission(s) will be disqualified.

Once again, here is the link to enter, with the final deadline for submissions being January 15, 2024…

https://thefederationfiles.com/?page_id=1407

Winners will be announced on First Contact Day: April 5, 2025.

EUDERION – INFINITY from GERMANY is one of the LONGEST ongoing Star Trek fan series! (video interview with TOM ERDMANN, SEBASTIAN BITTINS, and MIRI LUX)

If you think Star Trek is big here in America, you ain’t seen nuthin’ until you check out Germany! The German fans LOVE their Star Trek, and their annual convention FEDCON in the city of Bonn blows away most of the Trek-themed events you’ll find in the United States.

So it’s no surprise that Germany is one of the non-U.S. countries producing its own Star Trek fan series. In fact, the Germans have multiple productions at present. But as Fan Film Factor hasn’t featured any German fan filmmakers yet, I decided to begin with Germany’s oldest ongoing Trek fan series, EUDERION – INFINITY.

The cast and crew of EUDERION – INFINITY

Based out of Germany’s capital, Berlin, Euderion began filming their first project back in 2008, releasing STAR TREK: EUDERION‘s initial episode “After the War Is Before the War” in 2009. Since then, the group has released a total of fourteen Star Trek fan films (you can view them all from this YouTube playlist). The episodes are entirely in German, but the closed-caption subtitling is excellent—not the auto-translate that YouTube offers—and they are absolutely worth checking out. Set during the 24th century in the late Deep Space Nine era, their episodes have featured a wide variety of themes and emotional tones, from light and amusing to dark and tragic, and from serious and thoughtful to adventurous and suspenseful. And they have pulled off each kind of story very successfully.

Their runtimes have covered everything from short vignettes of only a few minutes to full-length productions of a half hour or longer. Indeed, their latest effort, “The Legacy of the Archein,” was more than 45 minutes in length with an additional 6 and a half minutes of bloopers tacked onto the end. You can watch the episode below…

I was recently able to interview three of the warm and jovial individuals behind this excellent fan series: TOM ERDMANN, SEBASTIAN BITTINS, and MIRI LUX…all of whom speak wonderful English (infinitely better than my minuscule amount of German!). Also appearing in the interview is C.A.R.L. the exobot—not to be confused with Peanut Hamper!—who has joined the cast of the series taken the fan film world by storm with his friendly personality and meticulous craftsmanship.

Let’s give a warm Fan Film Factor willkommen to these fine folks and learn about the long-running Star Trek fan series Euderion – Infinity…

Where in the world is NEUTRAL ZONE STUDIOS moving to??? (video interview with RAY TESI)

NEUTRAL ZONE STUDIOS is finally on the move…to a new location! The home of the amazing Star Trek TOS set recreations—originally constructed beginning back in 2009 by Farragut Films—has lived in the small town of Kingsland, GA since moving there from the nearby coastal hamlet of St. Marys, GA in 2012. The sets were initially used for shooting episodes of the STARSHIP FARRAGUT fan series and, later, STAR TREK CONTINUES.

In 2018, Boca Raton, FL resident RAY TESI purchased the sets from STC showrunner VIC MIGNOGNA. A fan film showrunner, Ray had previously released the short fan film STARSHIP REPUBLIC: SERPENT OF YESTERDAY in 2017. Ray used his retirement savings to not only purchase the sets but to pay thousands of dollars a month in rent and utilities for the facility that housed them. Crowd-funders and an ongoing Patreon helped to offset some of those monthly costs, but Ray’s savings have been steadily drained for the past six years.

Ray decided to open up the sets to any fan production that wanted to shoot there in exchange for a low day-use fee to cover the costs of electricity and maintenance. This allowed a parade of several dozen fan productions to use these amazing set recreations that included the bridge, sickbay, transporter, briefing room, quarters, auxiliary control, corridors, a two-story engineering set, and even a Jeffries tube that one could actually film inside. Ray himself launched a fanthology series called TALES FROM THE NEUTRAL ZONE that has released seven fan films so far.

But it wasn’t only fan films that got to experience these sets. Ray would regularly open the renamed Neutral Zone Studios to the general public for free walkthroughs and photo-ops, with optional donations collected but not required. Over the years, thousands of fans came to admire the sets, often getting guided walktthroughs from Ray and members of the STC cast, including Vic Mignogna himself.

Unfortunately, the building began to fall into a state of disrepair, with issues like burst pipes and leaky roofs requiring ever-more-expensive remediation efforts. Ray himself had to cover the costs of a team to remove and replace drywall that had developed mold from exposure to power-washing from the egg-roll manufacturer that spent years occupying the other half of the building.

Earlier this year, the landlord informed Ray that he, the owner, needed to finally sell the building instead of continuing to repair it. Rather than abandoning the sets to the dumpster and being thankful for “a good run,” Ray decided to look for another location.

Many fans expected a move to central Florida—so Ray himself wouldn’t need to make the 350-mile, 5-hour drive each way from his home to the sets. This past July, fan filmmaker JOSH IRWIN gave a 2-part interview where he discussed the impending move. But at the time, it wasn’t known where Neutral Zone Studios would be moving to.

But now, for the first time, Ray Tesi publicly reveals the new location…

You can donate to help Ray cover moving expenses here:

https://igg.me/at/tnz-migration

FARRAGUT FORWARD finally fascinates and fires up fans with a FEAST of fancy fan filmmaking at its FINEST! (video interview with JOHNNY K. and PAUL R. SIEBER)

The wait is over, and I think it’s fair to say that it was very much worth it!

In some ways, the “wait began back in 2016 when the long-running fan series STARSHIP FARRAGUT wrapped filming on its series finale, “HOMECOMING,” and announced a sequel fan production set during the TOS movie-era to be titled FARRAGUT FORWARD. But five years would pass before fans heard anything more about this proposed project.

In 2021, showrunner and series star JOHN BROUGHTON invited his friend JOHNNY K. of KAOTICA STUDIOS to direct the Farragut Forward fan film. Johnny had already directed a growing number of independent short films and agreed to join the team. The next step was crowd-funding the project, as John Broughton wanted this to be a top-quality production with elaborate movie-era sets and impeccably-reproduced costumes.

Of course, few things are as effective when crowd-funding than showing potential donors what you’re capable of creating. So John and Johnny proceeded to create a 3-minute PROLOGUE teaser-trailer that really blew away fans…

The following weeks and months were filled with numerous behind-the-scenes photos and videos, each more exciting and enticing than the last. You can view three of those videos at the bottom of this blog.

The strategy worked amazingly well, as a 60-day Indiegogo exceeded its $30K goal by more than $3K! This allowed the campaign to attain InDemand status and continue to raise funds, ultimately wrapping up last month with a final total in excess of $45!!!

The money was put to good use, as the costumes and sets that were created nailed the look and feel of movie-era TOS Star Trek beyond what any fan film had ever been able to achieve before. A cast and crew of nearly (perhaps more than—I lost count tallying all the names in the credits!) a hundred people worked diligently to produce what can only be called a masterpiece. Farragut Forward debuted on October 1, and in just eight days has already gotten more than 65K views on YouTube. And now you can view it, too, below…

I had initially hoped to interview John Broughton and Johnny K. along with PAUL R. SIEBER, who plays the evil villain Prescott from the Mirror Universe. Unfortunately, a few hours before our scheduled Zoom call, something unexpected came up for John Broughton, and he wasn’t able to make it. But John has offered to do a one-on-one interview with me in the near future.

In the meantime, Johnny K. and Paul Sieber were still able to do the video interview, providing some eye-opening insights and fun stories about the planning and work that went into the making of this 3-year project. I thoroughly enjoyed talking to both of them, taking a look back at Farragut Forward…