Fan Film Features – Page 65

DREADNOUGHT DOMINION launches new GOFUNDME with two vignettes! (interview, part 1)

One of those “hidden gems” of Star Trek fan films is the series DREADNOUGHT DOMINION. Not as fancy or polished as the “big guns” like Star Trek Continues or New Voyages, Dominion is one of those mid-tier productions that has benefited from using TOS sets from other productions (or faked it when they weren’t able to) and put a lot of heart and dedication into producing labors of love.

I also fancy this particular fan series because it’s the only one to feature the Federation-class dreadnought starship design from the Franz Joseph Starfleet Technical Manual from the 1970s. I always loved that 3-nacelled design with the hangar bay on the front!

Dreadnought Dominion release two episodes in 2015, each filmed on the sets used at the time by Starship Farragut and Star Trek Continues (the only other fan production to ever use those sets). Their third episode wouldn’t come out until the end of 2016 and was actually a crossover with Starship Valiant. You can read more about all of that in this blog. Ten months later, Dominion crossed over again withStarship Valiant but in the Mirror Universe as part of the MINARD saga from Vance Major. That’s covered in this blog.

Then last month, Dominon returned yet again…this time all on its own, once again using the STC sets in Georgia( now owned by Ray Tesi). They promptly released an amusing 10-minute vignette titled “Reality Check” that broke the “fourth wall”…

Then last week they released another new vignette, “Silent Acknowledgement” that focuses on a hearing-impaired communications officer (the first Trek fan series that I’m aware of to feature a deaf character)…

They also just launched a new GoFundMe campaign trying to raise $1,500 for their next production:

https://www.gofundme.com/dreadnought-dominion

By the way, “they” are show-runners GARY DAVIS and RANDY WRENN, who also play the new captain and first officer of the USS Dominion. And of course, I interviewed them (’cause that’s what I do)…

Continue reading “DREADNOUGHT DOMINION launches new GOFUNDME with two vignettes! (interview, part 1)”

THE FALL OF STARBASE ONE – the latest Trek Fan Film from AUSTRALIA!

AARON VANDERKLEY is a wonder from down under! When some fans began complaining that the guidelines‘ limit of 15 minutes for a fan film wasn’t long enough to tell a compelling story, Aaron proved them wrong by doing it in less than HALF that time!

Aaron’s first Trek fan film Needs of the Many, (only six and a half minutes long) actually came out six months before the guidelines were announced. And the following year, it won two “BJO” awards at Treklanta (including best short-form fan film).

His second short film, the 12-minute The Derelict, came out in late 2017 and was even more intense that its predecessor. Both films take place in the NX-era and feature amazingly accurate Starfleet uniforms and physical (practical) sets that look like something directly out of Star Trek: Enterprise. The acting, lighting, sound, editing, music…everything has a professional quality level that makes both films MUST-SEE. I interviewed Aaron about these two projects shortly after his second production debuted.

Aaron’s third fan film, Good Men, came out this past January with a length of nine minutes, again within the time limit and again telling a very engaging story…another MUST SEE effort. I decided to interview Aaron a second time about that one. Both interviews are worth a read.

Aaron has just released his fourth fan film in two years, THE FALL OF STARBASE ONE, his longest and ambitious yet…and another MUST SEE. After this, Aaron plans to do only one more “big finale”—likely sometime later this year. As of now, the final script isn’t written or even titled.

I asked Aaron about his decision wrap things up with his next fan film…

As I spoke about in our interviews, it was always my intention to do five – five was the golden number, and I think that’s enough from me.

There’s absolutely every temptation to keep making them (I really would have liked to adapt one of my original short films into a Star Trek story), but I don’t really want to be just known for (or stuck) making fan films. From a career perspective, that’s not very attractive.

I’ll admit I’m a little sad, but I truly appreciate all the care and effort that Aaron has put into all of his FANtastic films. And I certainly wish him all the best in his film career.

So please enjoy this fourth absolutely awesome Australian adventure from Aaron: The Fall of Starbase One…

SPACE COMMAND to debut first 30 minutes of their pilot at SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON!

Fan film supporters are no strangers to waiting—sometimes for years!—to see their donations finally reach fruition in the form of a finished release.

Take a look at this list of fan films (both Star Trek and sci-fi genre featuring Trek actors) that were successfully funded (either publicly or privately) and still have not been released…in order from earliest to most recent campaign:

Axanar (funded in 2014 and 2015)
Star Trek: First Frontier (unfunded in 2015 then privately financed)
Star Trek: New Voyages “Torment of Destiny” (funded in 2015)
Pacific 201 (funded in 2015 and 2016)
Captain Pike (funded in 2015 and 2016)
Starship Farragut “Homecoming” (funded in late 2015)
Blade of Honor (funded in 2016 and 2017)
The Circuit: Urbiessa (funded in 2017)

All of these fan projects have taken in at least five-figures in crowd-funding and often six-figures or more. And fans have been waiting for some of these films to be released for over three years!

But that’s nothing compared to SPACE COMMAND!

One of the earliest sci-fi Kickstarters to crack into six-figures, Space Command took in $221,267 way back in July of 2012! Then, five years later, Space Command pulled in another $108,671 in December of 2017!

Written and directed by MARK SCOTT ZICREE (who wrote episodes for ST:TNG and DS9 and wrote and directed the acclaimed Star Trek: New Voyages fan film “World Enough and Time” with George Takei) the Space Command pilot episode would feature an impressive cast of sci-fi notables—DOUG JONES, ROBERT PICARDO, BILL MUMY, and MIRA FURLAN—high production values, and what looked to be breathtaking VFX. It’s no wonder that fans contributed nearly a third of a million dollars to turn that homage to classic 1950s sci-fi into a fan film reality.

But, dude…it’s been six frickin’ years!!!

However, the wait looks like it is finally over for Space Command fans and donors. Marc Zicree has just announced that the first half hour of the 2-hour pilot episode will debut in just a few weeks at Comic-Con International in San Diego!

But that’s not all he announced! Let’s turn the microphone over to Marc…

Continue reading “SPACE COMMAND to debut first 30 minutes of their pilot at SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON!”

TREKYARDS and VIC MIGNOGNA go behind-the-scenes of STAR TREK CONTINUES!

TREKYARDS is a force of nature in Star Trek fandom. So is STAR TREK CONTINUES. Put the two of them together, and there’s something really special in store for Trekkers!

Trekyards, for those who don’t know, is the brainchild of STUART FOLEY and SAMUEL COCKINGS. Together, these two uber-fans have produced more than 500 webshow videos spotlighting ships from Trek and other sci-fi franchises, interviewing actors and production people from Star Trek, doing video podcasts, and filling the Internet with enough smart, funny, and fascinating content to eat up as much of your free time as you desire!

Star Trek Continues, as you undoubtedly know, was a cutting edge fan series that presented the final two years of the USS Enterprise‘s 5-year mission under James T. Kirk. Using professional actors and technical crew, featuring noted sci-fi celebrities as guest stars, and displaying industry-level production quality on exact recreations of the TOS sets, STC set a standard of excellence seldom if ever matched in the realm of Trek fan films.

Although STC has completed its 11-episode run, fans still cherish this labor of love and the careful attention to detail that went into it. And while STC has released a few special features here and there focussing on things like the music scoring, editing, and VFX—and Fan Film Factor published this exhaustively-researched complete history of STC—there hasn’t been a real “deep dive” into all of the behind-the-scenes production secrets of this amazing series.

Until now, that is!

Trekyards is introducing a new webshow series spotlighting Star Trek Continues, hoping to cover EVERY fascinating detail of this beloved fan project with insight from those who produced it. Up first, in a 20-minute interview about their first episode, “Pilgrim of Eternity,” Captain Kirk himself, VIC MIGNOGANA, talks about finding and convincing retired actor Michael Forest to reprise his role of Apollo, Vic’s feelings about other Trek fan series, and what gravity has to do with the color of the walls on the set!

Here’s the first installment of this new MUST-SEE Trekyards series…

I spoke to Trekyards co-host and editor Samuel Cockings about this new offering and learned some very interesting things—including why fans really need to tune in and support it…

Continue reading “TREKYARDS and VIC MIGNOGNA go behind-the-scenes of STAR TREK CONTINUES!”

Major AXANAR news! (interview with ALEC PETERS, part 2)

Click here to read Part 1.

ALEC PETERS is pretty much a man who needs no introduction…at least in the fan community. But if you’ve only just landed on this planet, here’s a quick run-down. Alec has been the driving force behind the fan production AXANAR for half a decade, writing, producing, and appearing in the widely popular Prelude to Axanar fan film. He worked ceaselessly over three crowd-funding campaigns to raise more than $1.3 million in fan donations to build out a studio and sets and begin filming a 90-minute Star Trek fan film detailing the final battle of the Four Years War with the Klingons at the planet Axanar.

And then Alec got sued by CBS and Paramount for copyright infringement. He fought back, and after a year of legal proceedings, the lawsuit was settled just days before a trial was set to begin. While the specifics of Alec’s settlement with the studios aren’t public, we do know that Alec is now allowed to make two 15-minute Axanar fan films with his original cast (if they choose to return) as well as other entertainment industry professionals.

That settlement came nearly a year and a half ago, and still there is no completed follow-up Axanar fan film or films. With that in mind, let’s pick up where we left off yesterday as I ask Alec a question that both Axanar supporters AND detractors have certainly been wondering about… Continue reading “Major AXANAR news! (interview with ALEC PETERS, part 2)”

Major AXANAR news! (interview with ALEC PETERS, part 1)

“What’s happening with AXANAR?” “When is it coming out?” “Has the entire project just fallen apart?” “Who’s the director?” “Do they even have a production team?”

These questions and so many like them pour into comments, IMs, and emails to me almost weekly. (In fact, the “fallen apart” one came in just last week.) I’ve so wanted to share what I know, but I’ve been asked repeatedly by ALEC PETERS to please keep things under wraps for the time being.

A few weeks ago, I finally started asking Alec in earnest when we could do a proper interview and announce some of these big news items publicly. Believe it or not, it’s actually been well over a YEAR since my last full interview with him! Anyway, it took some prodding and nagging, but I finally convinced the man behind Axanar to sit down with me for an extended interview and update.

Let’s dive right in…

Continue reading “Major AXANAR news! (interview with ALEC PETERS, part 1)”

AXANAR fan comic releases THREE NEW PAGES…

Last month, AXANAR super-fan TREY McELWAIN released the cover and first page of his new Axanar fan comic “Arcanis IV”—part of his “Tip of the Spear” series focusing on some of the major battles of the Four Years War.

Nearly a year ago, Trey released the first-ever comic story based on the hugely-popular Prelude to Axanar Star Trek fan film: the four-page (including cover) “Trial By Fire.” Trey wrote the comic and his friend DANIEL FU illustrated the story, which looked at a space battle during the Four Years War with the Klingon Empire.

Originally, the plan for this new comic story was to release one new page each month for the next five months until all seven pages (plus cover) were completed and posted. Then Trey has another two chapters in the saga that will follow, also with one page released per month.

So you might be wondering how, if there’s only supposed to be ONE page released per month, why this blog says that THREE new pages have just been made available. I wondered that, too, and I asked Trey.

The answer is that Daniel found his professional workload lighter than normal this past month and had more time to illustrate pages. Initially, he delivered two pages to Trey, but a day later, he had a third one ready, as well. As you’ll see below, that additional page wasn’t quite as complex as the other two.

Trey isn’t certain how many more pages will be released next month yet, but it’ll be at least one. If it’s two, then the first chapter will be complete.

Just in case you missed the first page, I’ve included it (along with the cover) below. The story’s getting really exciting!

Continue reading “AXANAR fan comic releases THREE NEW PAGES…”

DREADNOUGHT DOMINION releases the first fan film shot at STAGE 9 STUDIOS in Georgia! (interview with RAY TESI)

Well, that didn’t take very long!

Less than a month after RAY TESI announced that the STAGE 9 STUDIOS Star Trek sets were open for fan filmmakers to shoot on, the long-running fan series DREADNOUGHT DOMINION released the six-and-a-half minute fan film “Reality Check.”

The TOS-era sets, originally constructed for the fan series STARSHIP FARRAGUT and STAR TREK CONTINUES, were purchased by Ray Tesi (show-runner for STARSHIP REPUBLIC) late last year from STC‘s VIC MIGNOGNA. After checking with CBS Legal and receiving guidance, Ray has opened up the Kingsland. GA sets to any Star Trek fan film project that agrees to follow the fan film guidelines and first submits their script for review and approval.

Although I’ve published a couple of recent interviews with Ray Tesi, things do seem to be moving quite quickly forward with this amazing fan film resource. So I had yet another brief chat with Ray, mainly curious about how Dreadnought Dominion got their project scheduled and filmed so quickly and how things are progressing with other fan productions at Stage 9.

Please note, I’ll also have an upcoming interview with GARY DAVIS and RANDY WREN of Dreadnought Dominion about “Reality Check” as well as other planned projects.

And speaking of “Reality Check,” before we start our brief interview today with Ray, I invite you to take a look at this unique, tongue-in-cheek fan film that cracks through the “fourth wall” and has some important things about why fans make these films in the first place…

And now, let’s hear what Ray has got to say today (yay!)…

Continue reading “DREADNOUGHT DOMINION releases the first fan film shot at STAGE 9 STUDIOS in Georgia! (interview with RAY TESI)”

Images from the upcoming PACIFIC 201

Yesterday, I shared the exciting news that the long-awaited PACIFIC 201 may not be awaited much longer. A new teaser promises a release in the spring of 2019!

Pacific 201 was initially crowd-funded with a Kickstarter back in 2015, with an Indiegogo campaign the following year, giving show-runner ERIC HENRY more than $50,000 to make his fan film. The principle photography wrapped up last year, and Eric has been deep into post production since then.

During that time, Eric has released some very nice-looking still imagery of his cast (the crew of the starship Pacific NCC-201), his sets, green screen, uniforms, patches, ship designs, and even a few visual FX. In some of the images, you can even see ways in which Eric has digitally “extended” the sets with things like adding ceilings (which were not initially part of the sets that were constructed).

Yesterday I told you about Pacific 201. Today, I’m gonna show you.

Continue reading “Images from the upcoming PACIFIC 201”

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!”