Category: Video/Audio Interviews

STARSHIP ANTYLLUS completes its 12-year, 30-episode mission! (video interview with GEORGE KAYAIAN)

They say nice guys finish last. Well, one very nice guy just finished a fan film journey that started 12 years ago…at last! However, that’s only his most recent fan film journey. For GEORGE KAYAIAN, his very first Star Trek fan film dates all the way back to the 1990s with THE INFINITE CHAIN, filmed literally in his parents’ basement and featuring his MOM as the captain! Now George himself is the father of a 16-year-old daughter.

The first of what would become 30 episodes (actually more than that, as several episodes were two-parters) of George’s latest magnum opus, STARSHIP ANTYLLUS, premiered on YouTube in September of 2013. It was never intended to look sleek or dazzling. The budget was barely enough to buy a Happy Meal, and the sets were constructed mostly of materials you would find in a typical crafting shop. But the actors all had experience, and George himself led the cast as Captain Holt Allen, a troubled but skilled starship commander who begins dying in the very first episode.

Yes, you read that right. Antyllus is the saga of one man’s race with his own mortality. As such, you can probably imagine that the feel and style of this fan series is pretty unique, focusing mainly on a single character. However, there is an extensive supporting cast, including George’s daughter Anya, who started working with her dad behind the scenes on his Antyllus at the age of four and began appearing as an alien crew member in the series six years later. With the Kayaians, Star Trek fan films is definitely a family thing.

While I invite you to watch the entire series (here is a YouTube playlist with every episode), please be aware that Antyllus is not for everyone’s taste. As I said, it doesn’t have many bells and whistles. And the episodes don’t move particularly fast. But the overall story is complex and engaging with fan actors and a writer/director who are truly committed to providing the best film-watching experience that they can. Like so many fan series, Antyllus‘ true strength lies in its heart and the love and dedication of the people who made it. If that’s not your thing, there are certainly plenty more Star Trek fan films and series out there for you to enjoy!

Below is the director’s cut of the Starship Antyllus finale…

As I alluded to at the beginning of this blog entry, George is one of the nicest guys in all of Star Trek fan films, and I always enjoy chatting with him. So I was looking very much forward to doing a video interview with George and Anya to discuss the end of this particular fan film journey for them both. Unfortunately, Anya wasn’t feeling well that night, and Christmas was rapidly approaching—making rescheduling problematic. So instead I had a lovely discussion with just “Captain Allen” himsrlf, and I am happy to share that with you now…

A very special fan film: SECOND STAR TO THE LEFT from TALES FROM THE NEUTRAL ZONE… (part 2 of a 2-part blog)

Last week, I discussed how I came to be the primary editor of the newest fan film from the “fanthology” series TALES FROM THE NEUTRAL ZONE. Titled SECOND STAR TO THE LEFT, the story begins as most TOS-era fan films do, with a captain and crew on a mission and then a mystery leading to a threat. But in this very special fan film, something unexpected happens halfway through to turn the story into something completely different. And if you haven’t seen it yet, it’s worth watching first without any spoilers…

Assuming you’ve just watched the above video, I can now share that the lead actress who stars as Captain Fairchild/Cathy, SARA McCARTNEY, is herself on the autism spectrum. Indeed, Sara’s mother, RUTH McCARTNEY, wrote the story as a quasi-biographical/autobiographical remembrance of the struggles that both she and her daughter have faced during their respective lifetimes. In both cases, Star Trek became a sanctuary, as it has for numerous fans over the decades. As such, this production has a very wide appeal.

Second Star to the LEFT was one of the final fan films to be shot at the Kingsland, GA location of NEUTRAL ZONE STUDIOS before their amazing TOS set recreations were packed up and moved 900 miles north to a new location in a shopping mall in Sandusky, OH. You can read more about that move here. Ruth, a long-time volunteer at the Kingsland location, asked set owner RAY TESI for permission to shoot Second Star before the sets were disassembled, and Ray happily agreed.

JOSHUA IRWIN of AVALON UNIVERSE Productions, who has directed multiple episodes of Tales from the Neutral Zone, agreed to drive down to Kingsland from his home in northwestern Arkansas (a trip he has made MANY times!) to direct not only Second Star but three different fan films all being shot during the same manic three-day weekend. Later, Josh asked me to help edit my choice of one of the multiple fan films he was working on, and I decided upon Second Star, as I discussed in part of of this blog feature.

I consider this fan film to be particularly important, as Sara’s performance shows what an individual with neurodivergence can accomplish. At a time when autism is being stigmatized by divisive rhetoric and wild theories as to its causes, Second Star to the LEFT humbly reminds us that being on the spectrum isn’t a disability so much a simply a different ability.

When Second Star debuted on the Avalon Universe YouTube channel, Josh hosted a livestream discussion with several people who were involved with the production, including Ruth and Sara, myself, Ray, Tesi, KEITH HAMILTON (who did some of the VFX), and MICHAEL SEAN CARTER, who is one of the volunteers coordinating the studio move to Sandusky. With Josh’s permission, I’m including that video below to finish off this 2-part spotlight on the film.

The first segment of the video deals with the latest news from Avalon Universe. So I’ve queued up the video to begin at the 20-minute mark when the topic shifts to Second Star. Feel free to back it up to the beginning if you’re curious about other current and future Avalon projects…

UNFINISHED BUSINESS and UNDERCOVER show off California’s wilderness and much more! (video interview with MATTHEW BLACKBURN)

I’ve got UNFINISHED BUSINESS to discuss with California fan filmmaker MATTHEW BLACKBURN. I’ve also got UNDERCOVER to cover. I am referring, of course, to Matthew’s latest two Star Trek fan films in what I used to call the “Survivor” saga because his first three releases all had the word “Survivor” in them…

But then Matthew threw me a curve, as the next two releases (like the third one) started with the letter “L” but didn’t have “Survivor” in the title…

However, then we were back to the “Survivor” concept with Matthew’s next fan film…

Matthew tends to release approximately one Star Trek fan film per year, but I missed his 2023 production, titled appropriately enough Unfinished Business. Take a look…

And then late last year, Matthew came out with Undercover, which you can watch here…

So I guess that means we’re now doing “U” titles, right? Well, not exactly. About three months later at the very end of 2024, Matthew released a second Star Trek-related fan film, although this one was a mash-up with Indiana Jones titled RAIDERS OF THE LOST TREK…

As you can see, Matthew’s fan films aren’t exactly high-budget. But he is yet another filmmaker who does a lot with a little. Most times, Matthew just goes out on location with enthusiastic friends, his wife and camera operator Katie, and occasionally one or more of his students (Matthew is a high school teacher). Indeed, in Unfinished Business, Matthew actually let one of his students—dressed in a Gorn mask—trash Matt’s classroom!

And when Matthew does go out on location, he has a wealth of “alien” terrains to choose from. This is because Matthew lives in the Mojave Desert near Edwards Air Force Base. This puts him within fairly easy driving distance of both desert and rock formation locations as well as lush forest land in the mountains north and south of the Antelope Valley. And as an added bonus, in the springtime when there’s been enough rain in southern California, areas of the Antelope valley can fill with a kaleidoscopic blanket of wildflowers, which have actually appeared in a couple of Matthew’s previous fan films.

In fact, during a super-bloom back in 2023, I invited Matthew to come along with my son Jayden and me on a wildflower trip through Matthew’s neck of the woods, and he brought along his Starfleet uniform. At multiple stops, Matthew would change into his DS9-era tunic and jacket, and I would film clips of him performing scenes amongst the colorful scenery. Matt was also the reason I was able to get this awesome shot of Jayden and me (one of the last times I was still taller than my son!)…

I’ve been looking forward to doing a video interview with Matthew because he’s just so much fun and really interesting. And here it is…

BOMBER GIRL from STAR TREK: NATURE’S HUNGER gets over 110K views! (video interview with JOSE CEPEDA and the gang)

I hadn’t even checked the number of views on YouTube when I went to interview JOSE CEPEDA and members of the cast and crew of “BOMBER GIRL,” the latest release from the long-running STAR TREK: NATURE’S HUNGER fan series. Even their previous release, “FIGHTING CHANCE: ROARING THUNDER,” has only about 7K views, and their most-viewed (prior to “Bomber Girl”) was “RAZOR’S EDGE” from three years ago with 31K views.

But as I went to get the link to post the video on this blog (below), I discovered that “Bomber Girl,” which debuted on November 28, 2024, has already generated 111K views in just four months! And my first thought was: “Well, this kind of success couldn’t have happened to a nicer group of people.”

And indeed, if you were making a list of the nicest folks in the Star Trek fan filmmaking community, you’d need to reserve at least a half-dozen to dozen spots at the top for Jose and his fellow Nature’s Hungerers (if that’s even a word!). And that’s not just my opinion. Most of the creators whom I talk to who have traveled to Atlanta to shoot on Jose’s incredible TOS set recreations in his basement or who have simply dealt with Jose and his peeps all tell me how warm, friendly, and awesome to work with they all are. Indeed, I know this from personal experience, as I myself have worked with Jose, actress LEZLIE SAWYER, and very recently, musical composer DAVID McHENRY and find all of them to be the nicest of nice people.

Of course, if you were instead making a list of the quirkiest Star Trek fan film series out there, you would definitely need to reserve a prominent slot for Nature’s Hunger. While set firmly in the Star Trek prime universe, the series also accepts magic and sorcery as existing (as does the Federation itself). Indeed, it is not unheard of to see witches, enchantresses, and dragons during a typical episode…or for matter, talking simians from The Planet of the Apes. And if that weren’t enough, Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz has joined Starfleet and is a recurring character!

When it comes to Nature’s Hunger, there are no rules beyond having fun and keeping your tongue firmly in your cheek. Fans seeking more “polished” Star Trek fan films might want to consider clicking on a different YouTube video. But for Trekkies who appreciate a group of fans trying their best, working hard, and producing a labor of love, it’s certainly worth giving these folks a chance.

Their latest offering clocks in at more than two hours of runtime! And lest you worry that violates the time limit imposed by the fan film guidelines, only about 15 minutes of “Bomber Girl” is a framing Star Trek sequence. The rest occurs during World War II. Take a look…

Once again, I had the pleasure of hosting a video interview with the folks involved, and as usual, they were a delightful group to chat with…

THE FEDERATION FILES’ “SLIPSTREAM” tells the story of the ill-fated U.S.S. INTREPID…and more! (video interview with GLEN L. WOLFE)

Well, folks, this makes it fourteen…fourteen fan films from THE FEDERATION FILES fanthology series, run by GLEN L. WOLFE and DAN REYNOLDS, the co-owners of WARP 66 STUDIOS in northern Arkansas. Beginning in 2016, they have used their TOS set recreations plus other custom-built sets to tell stories in the Prime Star Trek Universe spanning the 20th century all the way through to the 24th.

Here’s a complete list of their previous thirteen releases and the blogs that spotlighted each of them…

As I only just discovered in the video interview with Glen Wolfe that appears below, the initial intention for The Federation Files was to have each episode focus on a different one of the twelve (or was it fifteen?) original Constitution-class heavy cruiser starships. However, this plan has strayed a bit from the expected path, as multiple storylines haven’t included any starships (since they took place in the distant past…at least from a 23rd century perspective). Nevertheless, Glen would still like to eventually complete the full set of starships with at least one story for each.

And that brings us to the latest release: “SLIPSTREAM.” It was time to bring the U.S.S. Intrepid into The Federation Files‘ spotlight. Fans of TOS will recall that the Intrepid was manned by a crew made up entirely of Vulcans, and it was destroyed off-camera by a giant space amoeba during the teaser to the second season episode “The Immunity Syndrome.” Spock senses the mass extinguishment of the crew, even though we viewers never see it with our own eyes.

Glen felt that the natural tale to tell for the ill-fated Intrepid was her final mission, this time ON-camera. And that’s how we got the latest release from The Federation Files. Take a look…

While I normally ask showrunners about production and/or insights from behind-the-scenes, this time I decided to go in a somewhat different and unique direction. You see, not only is Glen the showrunner and director of this particular fan film, he also wrote the script.

I’m certain that many fan film script-writers (and aspiring script-writers) would be curious how someone comes up with their story and puts it all together in script form. How long does it take to write a fan film script? How many pages should it be…and how detailed in stage direction? What software do they use? Is formatting important? How many iterations does a script go through, and who is consulted for feedback and potential changes? How “locked” is a script once filming begins, and who decides which changes, if any, get made on the fly?

Glen answers these questions and many more in this enlightening video interview…

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…

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…

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…

PROJECT: RUNABOUT – “IT’S ALL DONE WITH MIRRORS” begins a 3-fan series CROSSOVER!

Fans are about to see a true rarity in the world of Star Trek fan films: a crossover of multiple fan series to create a three-part story! The closest fan films came to something like this previously was a couple of years ago when two of the creative groups from POTEMKIN PICTURES got together to present a crossover of fan-series STARSHIP DEIMOS and KLINGON SCOUTSHIP QAB’ELTH. In that “tag-team,” the two episodes actually intersected, featuring the same sequences seen from different points of view.

But now we have something entire new and different, thanks to GARY DAVIS, RANDY WRENN, and the folks at DOMINION MEDIA. For the past decade, DREADNOUGHT DOMINION has entertained fans with the exploits of that titular starship and her gallant crew. More recently, Gary constructed a full set of a TOS-era runabout craft in his basement and launched the spin-off series PROJECT: RUNABOUT, which released its “PILOT” episode in 2021 followed by its second episode, “YORKTOWN,” a year later.

However, there was no new Project: Runabout released during the following year, in part because Gary and Randy were busy launching their third Dominion Media fan series, WARBIRD VALDORE, set aboard a Romulan vessel and told from the point of view of her captain and crew.

With three separate fan series now in active development, it didn’t take Gary and Randy very long to decide to run a single storyline through all of them for a special crossover fan film event. Of course, the fan film guidelines can be a little persnickety on multi-part stories, so the guys set up the three films to each tell a self-contained story without any “cliffhanger” endings. However, a larger plot line will link the productions together for fans who decide to view all three releases in order.

And that order begins with the third installment of Project: Runabout, an episode entitled “IT’S ALL DONE WITH MIRRORS.” Take a look…

Having already interviewed Gary and Randy more times than I can count (not that I don’t absolutely love those two guys!), I asked them if perhaps we could do a video interview with the cast of the series and get to know those actors a little better. Nearly everyone was more than happy to oblige, and we had a really fun time chatting together. I invite you to join the (landing) party…

A fresh quartet of ANNA KELLEY episodes of TREK SHORTS! (video interview with NIMRAN SAUND and SAM COCKINGS)

SAMUEL COCKINGS, the British bastion of fan film fabrication, continues to pop out new releases of his TREK SHORTS fanthology series with the speed of tribbles on fertility drugs! And four of Sam’s most recent five offerings have starred the very talented NIMRAN SAUND as the fan favorite character of Anna Keeley.

What makes Keeley so wildly popular is a combination of Nimran’s captivating performances along with the fact that, thanks to Trek Shorts having no specific setting or time frame, the stories can and do jump around to various points in Keeley’s Starfleet career. We’ve seen this character at every rank from ensign to captain, growing and evolving as an officer and a person. And with the most recent Trek Shorts vignettes, we can add Cadet Anna Keeley (in her first year at Starfleet Academy) to the mix.

Speaking of the most recent three releases, they’ve come out in concert with the launch of Sam’s latest GoFundMe crowd-funding campaign, which is already nearly 3/4 of the way to its  £4,000 goal (about $5,100). You can donate at the link below, and even just a little contribution will get Sam that much closer to his target…

https://www.gofundme.com/f/helps-us-make-more-trek-short-fan-films-in-2024

The three most recent Trek Shorts each focus on a story from THE LEGACY OF one of the starships Enterprise—THE NX-01…

THE NCC-1701-A…

And THE NCC 1701-C…

And all feature Sam’s typically gorgeous CGI effects shots.

The fourth recent Trek Short premiered back in March of this year and takes place mainly on Deep Space Nine, an unusual location for a Trek fan film due to the challenge of creating sets, even using CGI. But Sam and his team took on the challenge with some very impressive results. Take a look at LIVING THE DREAM…

By the way, you can watch more than two dozen Trek Shorts fan films on this playlist. They are all visually spectacular and form a complex, tapestry storyline across the entire series.

While I’ve interviewed Nimran Saund before, it was a in written text format, which is fine but doesn’t typically provide a true flavor of a person’s energy and presence. I’ve been wanting to get Nim in front of a Zoom camera for an in-person video interview for years, and now I’ve finally gotten the opportunity—along with Sam Cockings himself, of course. But this interview is primarily focused on Nim and the unique challenges of playing the same character at different points of a decades-long Starfleet career.

Nim is simply delightful, and this interview is absolutely worth checking out in its entirety…