Fan Film Features – Page 58

RELEASE DATE finally announced for a well-known, LONG-AWAITED Trek fan film!

Fans have been waiting YEARS for this announcement! Back in 2015, this eagerly anticipated Star Trek fan film held a very successful Kickstarter campaign, followed up by a separate Indiegogo campaign that raised additional funding for the production. I donated to this project myself and have been an active and enthusiastic supporter of it for years.

Nestled between the end of the Romulan War and the start of Captain Kirk’s historic 5-year-mission, this fan production was described as tackling an “entirely unseen era of Star Trek history.” New Starfleet vessels were designed in CGI, bridging the gap between the NX-01 Enterprise tech and the design of the starships like the Constitution-class. The visual FX looked amazing!

Sets were built, costumes made, and scenes were even shot. In fact, a short teaser was released to give a taste of what would be seen in the final production. The VFX looked fantastic, and even though the brief 3-minute “vignette” mainly showed two characters talking to each other in front of a green screen-composited background, fans still got even more excited to see the finished project.

Donors were initially expecting this promising fan film to be completed and released in 2016, but circumstances intervened and made that impossible. Eventually, the biggest challenge became trimming what was to be a feature-length Star Trek fan film down to just two 15-minute episodes…showing just the barest bones of the full story.

Unfortunately, money began to run out, many perks were not fulfilled because the final film wasn’t completed, and eventually there weren’t enough funds left to pay to store the sets in the studio where they had been built. This meant moving them elsewhere and delayed things even more.

The planned 2016 debut was pushed back to 2017 and then 2018. Some donors began to fear that the final film would never be completed. But now, finally, there comes a definitive announcement from the show-runner that the completed production will be ready next year in spring 2019!

You’ve probably already guessed what fan project I’m talking about. If you haven’t, here’s another hint. The show-runner (who also wrote the script) has a four-letter first name that starts with a vowel and ends with the letter “c”. His last name is two syllables and is really just another first name.

Aw, you know who I’m talking about by now!

Continue reading “RELEASE DATE finally announced for a well-known, LONG-AWAITED Trek fan film!”

STARSHIP DEIMOS releases their eighth episode: “The Deimos Factor”!

Two weeks after releasing their sixth and seventh episodes just one day apart, the production team for STARSHIP DEIMOS just debuted their eighth episode, “The Deimos Factor.” If it seems like Deimos is pushing its production warp engines to ludicrous speed, it’s actually much simpler than that. All of the fan series from POTEMKIN PICTURES ran into a many-months-long delay last year when show-runner and main editor RANDY LANDERS (who also directed each of the latest releases) had quadruple bypass surgery last August. He’s fine now, by the way.

Randy’s ultimate goal is to release one fan film per month under the Potemkin Pictures label, and it looks like he’s rapidly getting back on schedule. With seven different fan “series” in active production, plus the 36 episodes of the completed Project: Potemkin, Randy has released a jaw-dropping 62 separate fan films in 8 years, ranging in length from a couple of minutes to nearly an hour. That’s an amazing accomplishment.

I’ve heard a small number of fans recently disparaging Randy and his fan films, claiming there is weak writing or minimal character development or just complaining about the low production values. I say: “Nonsense!!! Malarkey!!! Horse pooey!!!” What Potemkin Pictures has done is to assemble separate casts of people over five dozen times, get them to perform and complete enough full scenes to create finished productions, edit those scenes together, add VFX and music, and release those completed episodes on a very consistent schedule fro nearly a decade. Along the way, they built home-made sets, got inexpensive costumes to look like Starfleet officers and assorted aliens, and even had some make-up.

As for the scripts, while not every one is a cinematic masterpiece, they have all managed to be unique and non-repetitive. They focus on different characters and different scenarios…just like Star Trek. There are episodes with lots of cast members and ones with just two or three. There’s first contacts, prime directive dilemmas, space battles, mind control, alien rituals, medical emergencies, diplomatic missions, Starfleet bureaucracy and intrigue, personal crises, spatial anomalies, drama, humor, triumph, and tragedy. It’s never the same thing twice.

You try to do that 62 times and see how diverse your scripts are!

Anyway, you can watch all 62 productions here on the Potemkin Pictures website. And you can watch their 63rd release, “The Deimos Factor,” right here, right now…

Time to GO FUND the new fan film THE LEXINGTON ADVENTURES! (interview with JOSEPH BONICE and VANCE MAJOR)

Yep, it’s another crowd-funder, folks! But this one’s only trying to reach $1,350…and they’re already about a third of the way there ($420) in just one week! So congratulations to THE LEXINGTON ADVENTURES! If you want to make a donation yourself, here’s the link. It’s a GoFundMe campaign, meaning there’s no perks. But there’s also no time limit and no requirement to meet a goal in order to collect the money raised.

This year actually didn’t start out so well on the fan film funding front. A Kickstarter back in March for The Holy Core failed to get even halfway to their $12K goal, despite being run by the same folks who wrote and directed the highly popular Chance Encounter fan film. Fortunately, an angel donor can through and funded the entire production, so The Holy Core will be made, after all. Yay!

Things were still looking sluggish in April when a $10K Indiegogo for The Romulan War stalled about halfway to its goal. But after extending the campaign out an additional thirty days, The Romulan War not only fully funded but surpassed the goal with nearly $12K, allowing them to cover the overhead cost of using Indiegogo in the first place.

Also wrapping up last week and going over their Indiegogo goal was the non-Trek fan film (but edited by Axanar and Free Enterprise‘s own Robert Meyer Burnett) Sky Fighter, which blew past its $25K goal to finish at $31,284.

So things seem to be looking up for fan film crowd-funding…at least for now. Can The Lexington Adventures continue this trend and reach THEIR goal, as well? To do that, they need support from fans like you. Is Lexington worth your donation dollar?

For the answer to this question, I went right to the source: show-runner JOSEPH “JOEY” BONICE and VANCE MAJOR, who will be a producer on this fan film. Joey works for the U.S. government and is currently stationed in Germany. But he’ll be moving back to the U.S. soon and and will be diving right into working on The Lexington Adventures, currently scheduled for filming during the third week of September. Vance is known to most fans as the face of Erick Minard of Starship Valiant and about 30 other fan films that Vance wrote and directed.

Let’s see what the guys had to say…

Continue reading “Time to GO FUND the new fan film THE LEXINGTON ADVENTURES! (interview with JOSEPH BONICE and VANCE MAJOR)”

THE ROMULAN WAR Indiegogo ends TOMORROW!

It’s been a long road getting from there to here…nearly sixty days! A month ago, having raised just under $6,000 of their $10,000 goal, show-runner MARK NACCARTO extended the Indiegogo for THE ROMULAN WAR for another 30 days. And it paid off. Now, with less than 48 hours left, The Romulan War is only $335 (3%) away from being FULLY funded. If you haven’t donated yet, then to quote Pavel Chekov: “Now vould be a good time!”

With a final push for donations, Mark has just posted the last of his Mission Briefing videos: “Final Countdown.” In it, he announces that the donation threshold for a contributor to appear in The Romulan War (as a voice-over) is now only $40 with the new “Comms Officer Access” perk. Perviously, it took a $100 “Captain Access” donation to get a speaking role. That perk is still available, but the $40 option is a less expensive alternative with fewer additional items. With either perk, your name will appear in the credits. Also, there are still 3 remaining “Commodore Access” perks for $250 each which allow you to be seen, not just heard, in the finished film.

Mark also shows off some of the ultra-cool posters that are available at multiple donation levels. So the reasons to contribute are many. If you haven’t donated already, or if you want to be the one to push them over the $10,000 goal …

CLLICK HERE TO DONATE!

And take a look at the “Final Countdown” video below…

The SGT. PEPPER version of STAR WARS?

It was 50 years ago today…that Sgt. Pepper blew the world away!

Actually, it’s been 51 years plus a week—May 26, 1967 saw the debut of THE BEATLES’ eighth studio album SGT. PEPPER’S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND. Professor Kevin J. Dettmar called it “…the most important and influential rock and roll album ever recorded” in the Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature. Sgt. Pepper changed popular music forever.

Ten years later (almost to the day!) on May 25, 1977, GEORGE LUCAS released a little film he’d been working on called STAR WARS. (You may have heard of it.) This movie changed Hollywood forever.

Like the chocolate and peanut butter in the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, The Beatles and Star Wars don’t seem to have much else connecting them. And yet, if somehow combined, might they not become something totally mind-blowing???

Well, guess what: someone did just that…and knocked it out of the galaxy!

Get ready for PRINCESS LEIA’S STOLEN DEATH STAR PLANS, a full 13-track musical album (from a duo calling themselves PALETTE-SWAP NINJA) that merges Star Wars: A New Hope with the full Sgt. Pepper album in a way that is indescribably amazing. (Yeah, I know this is supposed to be a blog site about Star TREK fan films, but Solo: A Star Wars Story is still the #1 movie in theaters right now, so I’m making an exception.)

The two genius musicians behind this mash-up masterpiece are San Francisco-based guitarist/singer DAN AMRICH and Boston-based keyboard player and digital drummer JUDE KELLEY. The two met back in 2003 playing an 80’s cover band in the Bay Area. And even though Jude moved to the east coast a few years later, they still collaborated.

It took them FIVE YEARS to complete the full Princess Leia’s Stolen Death Star Plans album, and it debuted one year ago on the 50th anniversary of Sgt. Pepper and the 40th anniversary of Star Wars. Video editor KATRIN AUCH masterfully matched scenes from A New Hope to the music to create a series of MUST SEE videos that, combined, have millions of views on YouTube.

Take a look and then come back for some more background information about this project and what happened when it first debuted on the Internet…

Continue reading “The SGT. PEPPER version of STAR WARS?”

THE ROMULAN WAR releases a GAME-CHANGER!

Yesterday I mentioned that the SKY FIGHTER Indiegogo only needed 10% more to reach their goal of $25,000. And—poof!—they had done it by late afternoon!

So now I’m mentioning the the Indiegogo for THE ROMULAN WAR, which is only $1,705 short of its $10,000 goal with just FOUR days left. Yeah, it would’ve been cooler to say $1,701 dollars short, but either way, they’re knocking on the door of being completely funded.

I asked show-runner MARK NACCARATO what this final $1,705 will cover. What if they don’t make it? What won’t be in the final version that otherwise would have if you (yeah, I’m talking to YOU, Mr./Ms. reader!) had just donated ten or twenty bucks.

Here’s what Mark told me…

That final amount is going to allow us to properly visualize the legendary BATTLE OF CHERON. Those of you who know your Trek history know that Cheron was the final battle of the war where Earth marshaled its forces for one last desperate assault to stave off complete annihilation by the Romulans. This sequence will be everything you think it should be. In a word, it will be EPIC!

So do it for Cheron, folks! Do it for jaw-dropping visual FX! Do it for Starfleet so we can win this war!

To give fans a taste of what this battle might look like, Mark just released a final trailer for the campaign, titled “Game Changer.” The video introduces fans to the character of Admiral Matthias Jefferies, who is an expert on the weapons and tactics used by Earth during the Romulan War of the 22nd century. Although the visual FX are still only early renderings and will look MUCH better in the finished fan production, they still look pretty darn awesome and also introduce the new Yorktown-class starship.

Take a look and then click here to donate while there’s still time!

Have the new GUIDELINES really hindered the production of STAR TREK FAN FILMS? (panel video from Treklanta)

The annual TREKLANTA con in Atlanta, GA is not a particularly huge convention, but it is one of the most fan-film-friendly cons you’re likely to find anywhere. This is thanks in large part to Chairman ERIC L. WATTS, who organizes the convention along with Treklanta’s annual BJO AWARDS for the best Star Trek fan films from the previous year. And there’s usually at least a panel or two dedicated to a particular fan film or fan films in general.

This year, the most notable fan film panel was being led by RANDY LANDERS, show-runner for POTEMKIN PICTURES in Pelham, AL, which has produced about five dozen Trek fan films over the past eight years! The title of the panel: “Have the new guidelines really hindered the production of Star Trek fan films?”

Good question!

To help answer this, Randy invited five additional noted Star Trek fan filmmakers to join him for a lively panel discussion:

JOSE E. CEPEDA -Show-runner and lead actor on the long-running STAR TREK: NATURES HUNGER web series.

GREG TEFT – Cast member of STARSHIP: REPUBLIC, which will soon be filming more fan productions on the former Star Trek Continues “Stage 9” sets in GA.

GLEN L. WOLFE – Co-owner of the STARBASE STUDIOS sets in AR and the show-runner of THE FEDERATION FILES anthology series.

MARK NACCARATO – Show-runner for the upcoming Trek fan project THE ROMULAN WAR, which is crowd-funding right now! (Have you donated yet???)

ALEC PETERS – Head of Axanar Productions and Executive Producer of PRELUDE TO AXANAR.

Interestingly , when Alec’s participation on the panel was announced, even though the panelists were all fine with it, apparently a number of detractors weren’t. Eric L. Watts was berated with e-mails and criticism in detractor social media groups. (I’ve invited Eric to comment on that separately as a guest blogger later this week.)

The panel discussion was really enlightening and fun to watch. And thanks to a video shot by LEE DREW (and posted here with the blessing of both Lee and Eric), you get to watch it, as well (in two parts)…

BJO FAN FILM AWARD WINNERS for 2018 announced!

For the past four years, the annual TREKLANTA Convention has hosted an awards ceremony for the best Star Trek fan films released during the previous year. Initially called the “Independent Star Trek Film Awards,” the name was shorted to “The Bjo Awards” last year in honor of Bjo Trimble, the woman credited with saving Star Trek from an early cancellation by NBC by coordinating the great letter-writing campaign back in 1968.

The Bjo’s for 2018 were awarded this past weekend in a variety of categories (see the full entry rules here). Each category had four-to-six finalists selected from the following list of 21 nominees:

Release Date	Run Time	Series Name	Episode

1/1/17	0:14:58	Star Trek: Natures Hunger	“Sting of the Prosecution“
1/4/17	0:30:05	Starship Tristan	“Between Two Worlds“
1/11/17	0:08:26	Starship Intrepid	“Duty of Care“
1/13/17	0:11:33	Starship Deimos	“No Greater Love“
2/1/17	0:20:42	Chance Encounter
2/10/17	0:07:49	Starship Tristan	“Seeing Red“
2/20/17	0:57:20	Quark’s Space Station	“Too Much Traffic“
4/2/17	0:54:11	Star Trek Continues	“Still Treads the Shadow“
4/4/17	0:14:17	Starship Tristan	“Departures“
4/29/17	0:15:00	Survivors
5/26/17	0:14:09	Starship Deimos	“The Archive“
7/30/17	0:49:13	Star Trek Continues	“What Ships Are For“
7/31/17	0:14:31	Starship Tristan	“The Monsters Are With Us“
8/13/17	0:07:56	Starship Tristan	“The Voice of Your Blood“
8/18/17	0:28:20	The Federation Files	“Extraction“
9/8/17	0:12:18	The Derelict
10/18/17	0:46:34	Star Trek Continues	“To Boldly Go, Part I“
11/13/17	0:58:10	Star Trek Continues	“To Boldly Go, Part II“
12/14/17	0:05:47	Starship Triton	“New Orders“
12/29/17	0:10:13	Star Trek: The Mirror Frontier
12/30/17	0:13:35	The Federation Files	“Walking Bear, Running Wolf“

You might have noticed that all four Star Trek Continues episodes from 2017 are on this list, meaning that there was definitely an 800-pound mugato to contend with this past year (four mugatos, in fact!). As such, many of the results below might not seem all that unexpected. That said, there were still a couple of surprises.

Also, I’d like to add, on a personal note, that who won isn’t as important as who participated and, most of all, that these awards are given out annually in the first place. All Star Trek fan films are worthy of our respect and celebration because, whether slick and polished or just grass roots with some soil showing, these productions each resulted from hard work, dedication, and love Star Trek.

So if you haven’t seen some of the nominees above, think about clicking on a few of the links. You just might be pleasantly surprised!

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The former STAR TREK CONTINUES sets are now OPEN for FAN FILMING!

Back in February, the fan film community was ecstatic to hear that RAY TESI of Florida had purchased the TOS sets that had been previously used by the fan series STAR TREK CONTINUES and STARSHIP FARRAGUT.

Prior to that, fans had been very worried since these incredible sets—used for nearly two dozen fan productions—were costing VIC MIGNOGNA a reported $5,000/month in rent to house and maintain. Nobody wanted the sets tossed into a dumpster, but with a price-tag of $60K per year and no way to monetize them because there’s already a licensed Star Trek Set Tour in upstate New York, it was unrealistically expensive to keep these sets around.

Enter Ray Tesi, who had funded and produced a fan film vignette called STARSHIP REPUBLIC “Serpent of Yesterday“back in 2017. Ray bought the sets, and will be using his retirement savings to pay the rent (Ray tells the behind-the-scenes story in this audio interview). Keeping the name STAGE 9 STUDIOS (previously used by Star Trek Continues for the Kingsland, GA facility), Ray has announced his intention to open the sets up to other fan filmmakers in much the same way that STARBASE STUDIOS had been doing since 2011.

There were, however, a couple of big unknowns. The first was a reaction by JAMES CAWLEY reported on Trekzone Spotlight (at the 18:10 mark) that James was concerned that Ray’s offering the Stage 9 TOS sets for fan use would compete with James’ exclusive set tour license. The second unknown was how CBS would react. They are okay with Star Trek fan films as long as they follow the guidelines. And so far, CBS has been okay with Starbase Studios offering their TOS sets in exchange for fan productions paying only for the electricity they use while shooting there. But would CBS continue to look the other way for a second studio full of TOS sets? Ray didn’t want to take a chance, so he contacted CBS directly.

This weekend, Ray has taken a few of the set pieces to MegaCon in Orlando, FL to display publicly and announce that Stage 9 Studios is now open to fan projects. So what did CBS say? And what are the logistics for fan films to use these sets going forward?

Time for another Fan Film Factor interview with Ray…!

Continue reading “The former STAR TREK CONTINUES sets are now OPEN for FAN FILMING!”

Filming RESUMES at STARBASE STUDIOS (audio interview with KENT “WORDS” EDWARDS)

It was quiet…too quiet. At least, that’s the way it’s seemed lately when it came to STARBASE STUDIOS in Arkansas…an amazing fan film resource of TOS sets including the Trek community’s only 360-degree USS Enterprise bridge. Since 2011, Starbase Studios has been used to shoot scenes for literally dozens of various Star Trek fan projects.

Starbase Studios has had a rather turbulent nine months, beginning last August when a significant number of props and set pieces were removed from the warehouse where the sets were being stored. This was followed by a lawsuit where one of the owners, GLEN WOLFE, sued the other owners, SCOTT JOHNSON and KENT “WORDS” EDWARDS, for ownership and monetary compensation. Fan filming there all but screeched to a halt for several months while both sides tried to negotiate a compromise.

With some outside assistance, a settlement agreement was signed earlier this year, and the sets are now owned by Glen Wolfe (50%), Scott Johnson (25%), and GLENN MILLER (25%)…although many of the items removed have not yet been returned. With the exception of a one-day video shoot with Parkview Elementary School students this past January (which had been reserved six months earlier), no filming has happened on the Starbase Studios sets since the new year began.

That changed this past weekend when a “who’s who” of Starbase Studios personnel got together in Marble Falls, Arkansas for a very special video shoot. Among the participants were Glen Wolfe and Scott Johnson, seeing each other in person for only the second time since the lawsuit was settled. Would they find a way to get along? Would that old feeling of camaraderie from fan filming Star Trek rekindle their friendship? Or had things been pushed too far for healing to happen?

Needless to say, I was dying to find out! And fortunately, Kent “Words” Edwards, who organized the weekend production, was nice enough to call me from the road and do a quick audio interview.

So let’s check in on Starbase Studios and see what’s up and what went down this past weekend…