Blog Entries – Page 7 – Fan Film Factor

RANDY LANDERS tells me to no longer provide coverage of POTEMKIN PICTURES releases on FAN FILM FACTOR… (editorial)

The new year didn’t start off well for Star Trek fan films…or for me.

On the FAN FILM FORUM Facebook group, 2024 began with an early morning post (well, early for me waking up in Palm Desert, California) from RANDY LANDERS of POTEMKIN PICTURES. Over the past eight years, I’ve published a staggering 90-plus blogs on the numerous fan film releases from Potemkin‘s many, many creative groups. And I still wasn’t quite caught up! Their two most recent releases, “EMPYREAN” from STARSHIP CALIBORN and “HONOR AND TREACHERY” from SCOUTSHIP QAB’ELTH were both on deck for early 2024 coverage. In fact, Randy had just given me the names of the team members from Caliborn whom I should reach out to for the blog about “Empyrean.”

Randy’s post to the Fan Film Forum Facebook group started with him proudly announcing that Potemkin Pictures would NOT be crowd-funding in 2024. They had all of their expenses covered. Yay! A year ago, I had helped promote their previous campaign and even tossed in a few bucks myself. Granted, announcing that you’re not going to crowd-fund seemed, to me at least, like announcing that you’re not going to plant tomatoes in your garden this year. I mean, it’s good to know that you’re covered on tomatoes…is that the right reaction?

But then Randy also said something a little odd…and rather controversial, as it turned out. He suggested (somewhat forcefully and resentfully) that other fan productions shouldn’t crowd-fund either. In other words, “I’m not going to plant tomatoes in MY garden, so no one else should plant tomatoes in THEIR garden either!”

This was, to say the least, a bit shocking to some people. And not just people doing crowd-funding campaigns. As the day went on, folks from all over the fan community were IMing me with variations of “WTF?” and suggesting/demanding that I remove Randy’s post from the Fan Film Forum Facebook page.

Meet the new year…same as the old year?

2023 Star Trek Fan Film YEAR IN REVIEW…PODCAST!

In 2017, I began publishing an annual YEAR IN REVIEW blog of major news and events from the world of Star Trek fan films. And 2023 is no different…

…or is it?

This year, for the first time ever, there will be a fan film Year In Review PODCAST! And not just ANY podcast! Joining me today are three other prominent members of the Star Trek fan film community: JEFFERSON “BigJ” KELLEY from BEYOND TREK PODCAST, COUSIN CHEETO from the NERD TUBE YouTube Channel, and JOSHUA IRWIN, the showrunner of the AVALON UNIVERSE fan productions and director/DP-at-large for various fan series. We four have covered, interviewed, and in some cases even MADE Star Trek fan films for the past several years, and now we’re teaming up for the first (and hopefully not last!) time.

The ball started rolling on this idea back in November when Jefferson Kelley reached out to me to with some nice feedback on a blog I’d written about a fan filmmaker whom he’d just interviewed on his podcast, as well. Over the past year or so, Jefferson has been diving ever deeper and more frequently into the world of Trek fan films, and I’ve caught a number of his podcasts. They’re upbeat, positive, and enthusiastic…which is a must for fan films (at least in my opinion!). As we chatted, “BigJ” suggested that we do a podcast together at some point.

My mind started pondering what we could talk about and almost immediately landed on doing this December’s Year in Review as a co-produced podcast with Jefferson and myself co-hosting. “BigJ” loved the idea, and a few days later DM’d me back to ask if Cheeto from Nerd Tube could join us. I suddenly heard Worf’s voice in my head saying, “That would make it a threesome…” and thought: the more, the merrier!

Then Josh ended up getting involved due to the release of his latest Avalon fan film, CRISIS ON INFINITE EXCALIBURS (which I haven’t had a chance to cover yet). Along with being absolutely jaw-dropping in its production quality, Crisis also represents one of the most collaborative crossovers of fan series and filmmakers since the release of YORKTOWN: A TIME TO HEAL in 2022. Indeed, it was this growing trend of fan film “team-ups” that inspired our co-produced Year in Review podcast…which won’t be branded as either Fan Film Factor, Beyond Trek Podcast, Nerd Tube or Avalon but a true four-way collaboration.

I was telling Josh about the idea, and he volunteered to let us use his Streamyard account for recording the piece, to be our “roving reporter” to interview fan filmmakers, and even to edit the finished production. (As if Josh doesn’t have enough to do already!)

And that’s how Josh made it a foursome!

So please sit back and enjoy this special presentation of the 2023 Star Trek Fan Film Year in Review—with special guests, clips, commentary, and news from this crazy little corner of the Star Trek sandbox (oh, and check out my new “ugly” Star Trek Christmas sweater at the very end, as well)…

DREADNOUGHT DOMINION’s command torch is passed “IN OUR OWN TIME”… (interview with GARY DAVIS and RANDY WRENN)

Seven years. That’s how long DOMINION MEDIA co-showrunner GARY DAVIS has been playing Captain Jason Brousseau, commanding officer of the DREADNOUGHT DOMINION. And in the two years before that, Gary played Commander Brousseau, the ship’s first officer. So that’s NINE years in front of the camera on this long-running fan series.

DAVID “RANDY” WRENN, the other Dominion Media co-showrunner, has played his character, Chief Engineer Stephen Denson, for just as long, himself rising through the ranks to first officer and eventually captain of engineering. But as of September 29, 2023, both men performed those roles as leads for a final time in their swan song episode “IN OUR OWN TIME,” which saw them pass the command baton of the U.S.S. Dominion to Captain Maurine Farrell, played by popular fan film actress of multiple fan series, VICTORIA AVALON.

The episode was another strong offering from the team, with a fun, original, and engaging story and their typical mix of seriousness and humor. Take a look…

I plan to speak more with Victoria Avalon when Dominion‘s next episode premieres. But right now, I’ve decided to focus on Gary and Randy and their decisions to step away from the front of the camera to focus (no pun intended) more of their attention to efforts behind the scenes…

New CROSSOVER fan film “ORIGINAL PARTS” on tap for 2024, a UNITED KINGDOM collaboration between AMBUSH and INTREPID! (interview with GREG LOCK)

Back in 2022, after being in production since 2014(!!!), the long-awaited TOS-era fan film AMBUSH (out of the United Kingdom) was finally released by showrunner GREG LOCK and his team. This past year, Ambush won “Best Fan Film” in the 2023 Star Trek Fan Film SHOWRUNNER AWARDS…along with wins in a dozen other categories…making it the top award-winner overall.

Since then, fans have wondered if and when Greg Lock might return to Star Trek fan films and whether we might see the return of members of the crew of the U.S.S. Ambush someday. That question was answered the day before Christmas with the release of the following very unexpected trailer featuring none other than NICK COOK and DAVID REID from the fan series INTREPID wearing Pre-STAR TREK: PICARD-era uniforms. Check it out…

David Reid is returning to the role of the Intrepid‘s Romulan security officer S’Ceris, a character he hasn’t reprised in nearly a decade. And Nick Cook is, of course, playing Captain Daniel Hunter, a role he’s performed not only in episodes of Intrepid but also in other fan series like TREK SHORTS and CONSTAR.

Indeed, crossover collaborations like this are proliferating recently in the fan film world! In fact, one of the most recent examples, CRISIS ON INFINITE EXCALIBURS from the AVALON UNIVERSE (which I will be covering once I can schedule a Zoom interview with the very busy star of that release) was a major collaboration among nearly a DOZEN different showrunners and fan series!

Frankly, I think this trend of collaboration is awesome, as fan filmmakers can pool resources, knowledge, characters, filmmaking equipment, props and uniforms, and all sorts of other things to make more and even better productions.

But how did this particular collaboration between two of the U.K.’s most prominent Star Trek fan filmmakers (the other being the omnipresent SAMUEL COCKINGS…I wonder if he’ll be a part of this, too) come to happen? For the answers to this and other questions, I spoke to Greg Lock himself…

SANTA needs a new KIDNEY…

As some of you know, back in 2012, I helped a professional, real-bearded Santa Claus write his memoirs in a book titled BEING SANTA CLAUS, which is available on Amazon in hardcover, paperback, kindle, and audiobook versions. It recounts the heartwarming stories of Santa Sal’s then-20-year career wearing the red suit–from his first clueless mistakes to becoming one of the most believable and effective Santas you could ever meet.

Last year, Sal lost his beloved wife of 35 years, Linda, and this past November, Sal was placed on the kidney transplant list. He now lives with his daughter and granddaughter in Kentucky, and they struggle to make ends meet. You can help make Christmas for Sal and his family a little merrier in two ways:

1) You can buy a copy of the book in any version, and royalties from the sale go to Sal and his family. You can also spread the Amazon link to your friends and family and loved ones.

2) You can donate to the following GoFundMe campaign…
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-sal-lizard-aka-santa-aka-the-vampire-santa

I know that at at least one person out there in the Star Trek fan community has generated more than $18K crowd-funding his legal bills/debts for an upcoming lawsuit. Right now, Santa Sal (a Trekkie and former president of STARFLEET: the International Star Trek Fan Association, Inc.) has generated just $707 to help himself and his family survive a very challenging Christmas.

Whether or not you gave to that other campaign, please consider donating a little to help Santa Sal and his daughter and granddaughter. Or maybe buy a copy of the book. Sal’s stories are wonderful and will make you laugh, cry, cheer, and always smile. My friend Sal has given so much over the years, and I hope people can see their way to giving back at least a little.

Thank you and Merry Christmas.

STARSHIP DEIMOS releases their 22nd fan film “DREAM TIME” (interview with writer DAVID EVERSOLE and actors TUCK STEVENS and DASHAWN KELLEY)

It was March of 2016 when STARSHIP DEIMOS released their first episode, “THE LUCKY ONE.” Now, more than seven and a half years later, they released their 22nd completed fan film, “DREAM TIME,” this past September. As usual for releases from POTEMKIN PICTURES‘ numerous creative groups (there are currently six active teams), the story is intriguing. But even more intriguing is the story behind the story, which was conceived by the late HOMER WILLIAM EVERSOLE and then completed posthumously by his brother DAVID EVERSOLE, both of whom have written numerous fan film scripts for Potemkin Pictures.

Another interesting aspect to this latest release is that the starship Deimos has now seen its fourth captain take command, following stints by TERRY SELF as Captain Jeremy Quinn, TONY ANDERSON as Captain Mark Stone, and most recently VICTORIA AVALON as Captain Sian Gabriel. The newest captain, the recently-promoted Timothy Harper, is played by returning cast member TUCK STEVENS, who has served in various producer roles on Deimos throughout the last half-decade.

And finally, actor DASHAWN KELLEY is an actual working actor with nearly two dozen film credits on his IMDb page…only a handful of them fan films for Deimos. Up until now, his character of helm officer Daken has had relatively limited screen time. But in this latest release, Daken is the main character, and Dashawn gets ample opportunity to show fans his acting chops, which he does very impressively. In fact, let’s all take a look at “Dream Time“…

With these three individuals each contributing significantly to the success of this fan film, I’ve decided to give each of them his own interview segment, beginning with writer David Eversole…

My SON the FAN FILMMAKER!

Two weeks ago I blogged about, among other things, how VANCE MAJOR retired from fan films only to discover that his 7-year-old son ROYCE MAJOR wanted to make fan films! In fact, here’s one of Royce’s first projects.

Over the years, Vance and I have swapped “dad” stories and compared notes, as my 13-year-old son Jayden is very similar to Royce: Star Trek and sci-fi fans, very into computers, very creative, adorable, and way smarter than their dads (both Vance and I both are totally out of our league when it comes to our kids completely lapping us!). And as I was giving Vance some compliments on Royce’s latest efforts and praising his involvement as a father in encouraging Royce’s passions, I told Vance a little about what Jayden was up to these days.

“Y’know, Jonathan, I’d really like to read a blog about that,” Vance said to me. “I mean, it’s great reading about all these other fan filmmakers and their projects, but Jayden is the ‘next generation,’ and finding out what he’s been doing would be really interesting…to me, at least. You really should write a blog about Jayden and his latest projects.”

Okay, Vance, because you asked for it…!

Like many kids, Jayden has a lot of hobbies and interests. He builds competitive robots and takes karate. We watch Star Trek, Stargate, and other sci-fi together. He spends waaaaaaay too much time viewing YouTube videos, but welcome to Generation Alpha (the next one after Gen Z). He hangs out on Discord in a bunch of special interest group servers (he even has a server of his own), he has his own YouTube Channel, and has friends and followers all over the world (he says that people from other countries are nicer than Americans). And yes, Mommy and I feel completely overwhelmed trying to keep track of and monitor all of this online activity…heaven help us!

Fortunately, Jayden is at his core a “good kid”—kind, empathetic to others, and a bit of a prude. We’ve discussed online privacy and safety with him, and he gets it. Like many parents, we’re crossing our fingers that the genie doesn’t get too far out of the bottle, but eventually you just have to trust that you’ve raised your kid right.

One of the things that completely blows our minds—in addition to the robot-building—is Jayden’s ability to code video games. He creates his projects using the Scratch game engine (developed at MIT for kids) at a level that, frankly, most 13-year-olds aren’t even close to being able to do.

You’ve obviously heard of fan films, but did you know there are also fan GAMES? Jayden, along with possibly hundreds of others, has taken to creating video games based on a 2D online game released in 2015 called Undertale (read more about it here).

Here’s a short segment of one of literally dozens of fan games that Jayden was created based on Undertale…

R.I.P. – ARTHUR H. LANE (1932-2023)

My dad passed away early this morning. He was 91 and had Alzheimer’s. He and my mother were married for 58 wonderful years, having raised two loving sons with three wonderful grandchildren.

I know most eulogies start with a biography, but what I believe is far more important than where Arthur Lane grew up (New York City) and what he did for a living (stock broker) is the impact he had on those around him.

You see, my dad was one of the four “Lane boys” brothers. That term doesn’t mean much to most of you, but to my grandmother, mother, and three aunts, it meant the world. And that was because the “Lane boys” (and their father, my Grandpa Moe Lane), were the sweetest, most honest, loving, decent and dedicated men you could ever hope to meet.

You’ve probably heard some folks described as “absolutely the nicest person in the world.” In the case of my father and his three brothers and their father, that was almost an understatement! These five amazing men were all incredible husbands, loving and supportive fathers, and stand-out role models for their sons and daughters.

I know that some folks on Facebook try very hard to paint Jonathan as somehow nefarious or [insert random insult here]. Welcome to modern life. But those in the fan community who know me even a little are solidly aware that I am generous, supportive, encouraging, courteous, and always willing to help if I can. And let me assure you all: I got that from my father (and Mom, too!). I am a “Lane boy,” too…as is my brother David and all of my cousins, both male and female. We’re equally dedicated to our wives and children (and in a few cases, grandchildren), to helping friends, and just generally being nice and pleasant to people.

I thank my dad (and mom) for making me who I am today—and for making me in the first place! Dad showed me through a beautiful example, day after day of my entire life, how to be a wonderful father and husband…and ultimately a grandfather, too.

There’s an autobiographical song by the late singer/songwriter HARRY CHAPIN titled Shooting Star, and the chorus starts off with these two lines…

“Oh, he was the sun, burning bright and brittle,
And she was the moon, shining back his light a little.”

“ZERO HOUR” was supposed to be a one-minute PROMO, but it turned into a full seven-minute FAN FILM!

Next week, the eagerly-awaited CRISIS ON INFINITE EXCALIBURS, the latest fan film from THE AVALON UNIVERSE, will finally make its debut. And having seen an early cut, let me assure you that it will be a game-changer of a release, sure to be talked about excitedly by a LOT of fans for a very long time.

Avalon showrunner JOSHUA IRWIN and his team have poured a massive amount of time, effort, financial resources, and emotional commitment into getting this production perfect. And leading into its December premiere, Josh wanted to release a short promo “ad” on YouTube to tease the new film. But not just any ad, Josh had a clever idea.

As some folks know—and most others can very likely guess—Avalon‘s new fan film features a crossover of many different universes (one might say an infinite number!). And yes, one of those is the Star Trek “Mirror” Universe. VANCE MAJOR, who plays the character of Erick Minard across many fan films and series—including CONSTAR, VALIANT, DREADNOUGHT DOMINION, PROJECT GEMINI: CROSSROADS, ANTYLLUS, NATURE’S HUNGER, RAINCROSS, EAGLE, TASK FORCE 78, and of course, Avalon Universe, where that Minard is the chief engineer of the U.S.S. Excalibur.

But Minard also exists in the Mirror Universe as a villainous sociopath known as The Phantom, a character who will be appearing in the upcoming Crisis on Infinite Excaliburs. So Josh thought it might be cool to see The Phantom recording an ominous-sounding log entry for about a minute, hinting at some nefarious plan and ending with “A crisis is coming…” Josh tossed the log entry promo idea over to Vance, offering him complete creative control over whatever he would send back.

Now, technically, Vance officially “retired” from fan filmmaking last year, and this time he actually meant it. Well, mostly. He retired to spend more time with his son Royce, but now Royce wants to make fan films. So Vance is quietly working on CONSTAR: THE MOTION PICTURE, with Royce being the filmmaker in charge. But that’s more of a project done for sheer fun and father/son bonding time.

However, Vance is also available for friends in the fan film community who’d like his help either in front of or behind the camera. In fact, that’s how the “retired” Vance Major wound up appearing as various Minards in Crisis. So Vance was game to do the promo, as well.

But then, like Josh, Vance had a clever idea…

The Fan Film DIRECTORS CHOICE Awards are back for a THIRD year…with new categories! (interview with GLEN L. WOLFE and DAN REYNOLDS)

The future of fan film award shows remains in good hands! And right now, those hands belong to GLEN L. WOLFE and DAN REYNOLDS of WARP 66 STUDIOS in northern Arkansas. For the third straight year, submissions are being accepted for the annual Fan Film DIRECTORS CHOICE Awards. The call for entries begins today and continues through January 15, 2024. 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

This third running of the Fan Film Directors Choice Awards is open to any fan film of any genre (not just Star Trek) released during calendar year 2023. So it’s possible that some fan films that haven’t premiered yet could still make it in. The judges for the show will be the directors of the submitted fan films, who will each have until March 15 to submit their ballots. Each submission can be entered into a maximum of six of the following categories…

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

Just like last year, there will be a “Best in Fest” $250 cash award for the fan film which receives the greatest number of votes across all categories. Of the above two dozen categories, the last four were newly added as of this year. Dan Reynolds explains…

“We originally started this awards outlet so that those producing fan films could get the recognition they deserve. Going into our third year, we came up with some new categories that focus more on the unseen work and put a spotlight on more specific categories that are always overlooked in many awards offerings. It’s a way to spotlight the many great moments in fan films that are more based on recognizing their accomplishments rather than making it a competition.”

While Best On-Location Scene and Best Plot Twist seem fairly straightforward, I was curious to learn more about Best Use of Improvised Sets and Best Choreography. Dan tackled the former…