News – Page 58 – Fan Film Factor

CONSTAR CHRONICLES premieres in a crossover with Dreadnought Dominion: “TIME’S ECHO”

I like to call VANCE MAJOR the “Where’s Waldo of Star Trek fan films.” He seems to be all over the place, listed in the credits of Starship Valiant, Melbourne, The Lexington Adventures, Dreadnought Dominion, The Romulan Wars, and Outlaws. He’s also one of the two people running Starbase Studios, LLC at the moment, helping Trek fan filmmakers find resources and sets to shoot on.

And of course, Vance has played the character of Erick Minard in nearly three dozen fan films, including Starship Valiant, Melbourne, Chain of Command, Command and Conquer, and about 30 fan films in the MINARD saga spanning multiple eras of Star Trek.

Those Minard films came to a conclusion his past February. And in multiple interviews, Vance confirmed over and over again that this was it for him making fan films! He was willing to step in and help behind the scenes if asked, but he was done making his own fan films.

Well, that New Years resolution didn’t even make it past summer…

A couple of months ago, Vance announced that he would be returning to fan films with a new series titled CONSTAR CHRONICLES, about the heavy cruiser class starship that Minard commanded in the later part of his long career. The debut episode of that new series just premiered a few weeks ago as a 5-minute crossover with Dreadnought Dominion featuring Vance’s friend GARY DAVIS playing Captain Jason Brousseau. It’s a fun little vignette, and I must say that it’s about time! You’ll get that joke after you watch it…

Of course, the big question on my mind for Vance was: “What part of ‘I’m done with making fan films!’ isn’t he understanding???” But seriously, I was really curious what made Vance change his mind so quickly…and what his plans are for this new fan series. Will it go another 30 episodes like the Minard saga? How will it be different than what we’ve seen before? How soon until we see more episodes?

I asked Vance these questions and more in yet another audio interview (below). It feels like I have this guy as a guest on my blog almost monthly! (Maybe I should just rent him my guest bedroom…)

VANCE MAJOR (front) and the crew of the USS Constar

Fan Film BJO AWARDS Wikipedia page almost gets deleted!

Whew! We fan film Trekkers just dodged a bullet! Well, maybe not a bullet, per se, but certainly a bit of bird poop heading straight for our windshield!

Many of you might not be aware that there is actually a Wikipedia page for the BJO Awards, which are given out each year in multiple categories to the best Star Trek fan films. Presented each year at the annual TREKLANTA convention in Georgia, the BJOs were first called the The Independent Star Trek Fan Film Awards and began in 2015. The awards were renamed “The Bjo’s” the following year when Bjo Trimble (the fan credited with saving Star Trek from cancelation with the great letter-writing campaign back in 1968) and her husband John were in attendance in announce the winners.

With four years of nominees and winning films/actors/directors/etc., plus coverage on Trek Today, Trekmovie.com, Treksphere, and here on Fan Film Factor, I wasn’t surprised to discover a few weeks ago that a fan film aficionado calling himself “Leo Walsh” had created a very nicely laid out and thorough Wikipedia page for the Bjo Awards. (And no, it wasn’t me. I don’t have nearly enough time to do that much work!)

Yesterday, I discovered through the grapevine that the Bjo Awards Wikipedia entry had been anonymously nominated for DELETION by a Wiki non-admin going by the name of “ShadowOwl.” I was sent this link to the challenge and the response. Apparently, ShadowOwl’s problem was stated as simply: “Non-notable award only sourced to IMDB.”

Huh?

The original entry was extensively sourced to numerous outlets (including my blog and others), and Mr. Walsh responded with a very passionate and well-presented counter-argument.

I was quickly preparing a “RED ALERT!” blog asking if there might be any reader(s) who operate as a Wikipedia author or editor—or who might know one—and could help out in the discussion to resolve the issue.

But before I could even finish writing the blog (let alone publish it), the nomination for deletion was withdrawn. Yay! However, not wanting to waste a well-written introduction, and figuring that most of you might not even be aware that there even is a Wikipedia entry for the Bjo Awards, I decided to post this blog anyway. Check out the wiki-page—it’s REALLY well done!

J.G. HERTZLER suspends his campaign for Congress and talks about AXANAR! (audio interview)

In June of 2017, when I saw the headline that a former Star Trek actor was planning to run for the U.S. Congress, I wasn’t at all surprised to find out that it was J.G. HERTZER.

Even though his character of General Martok from Deep Space Nine (who eventually became Chancellor Martok, leader of the Klingon Empire) loathed politics, J.G. always seemed drawn to it. The few times I’d seen and spoken with him at conventions, J.G. would invariably share his strongly-held progressive views on political issues and politicians in general.

So it kinda made sense that J.G. would combine his two passions—theater and politics—into his campaign to represent the 23rd Congressional District of New York State. That said, I still scratched my head a little at J.G.’s choice to run simultaneously as himself and also as his “spokesman” Mark Twain (pen name of noted American author Samuel Clemens). Clemens spent a portion of his adult life living and writing in J.G.’s upstate New York district, and the author’s humorous and straight-spoken approach to life seemed a perfect way to comment on the state of our union and the challenges facing it.

JG HERTZLER as 19th Century author Mark Twain

Unfortunately for the fan film AXANAR, however, J.G.’s choice to campaign as Mark Twain included a decision to also look the part, which meant letting his hair grow long and wavy (like the author). This precluded J.G. from filming any scenes of the upcoming Axanar fan film sequels until after the U.S. midterm elections in November, as his character of Admiral Sam Travis had a distinctively short military-style haircut.

So naturally, as an Axanar supporter myself, I took notice when I learned last week that J.G. Hertzler was SUSPENDING his Congressional campaign! Did this mean he was now free to cut his hair and do Axanar sooner? Was he even going to do Axanar at all? (He hadn’t been officially confirmed yet.) And why would J.G. suddenly suspend his campaign less than three months before the midterm elections?

Continue reading “J.G. HERTZLER suspends his campaign for Congress and talks about AXANAR! (audio interview)”

AXACON adds more guests – TICKETS now available!

Things are beginning to get very exciting when it comes to AXACON, the “con-within-a-con” that is happening during the first weekend of November in Atlanta, GA.

In the last few weeks, some major new guests were added, and last week, tickets finally went on sale. The guest list now includes GARY GRAHAM (who plays Ambassador Soval in AXANAR) and J.G. HERTZLER (who plays the surly Admiral Sam Travis in AXANAR)—both of whom are veteran television Star Trek actors—along with tribbles creator DAVID GERROLD.

Other announced guests include director/co-writer of the upcoming Axanar sequel fan films PAUL JENKINS, editor/sound designer MARK EDWARD LEWIS, art directors LESS QUESSENBERRY and ALEXANDER RICHARDSON, STEVEN JEPSON (Admiral Slater from Prelude to Axanar), and of course, writer/executive producer/Garth of Izar himself ALEC PETERS. There’s also a growing number of notables from the fan film community including Stalled Trek creator MARK LARGENT, Chasing the Infinite Sky creator ALBERT J. MARTINEZ, Axanar fan artist MARK PAYTON, and your favorite Fan Film Factor blogger JONATHAN LANE.

Also announced is that Axacon ticket holders will be invited for a Friday tour of OWC Studios in Lawrenceville, GA, where the Ares bridge set is located. Guests need to provide their own transportation to and from the studio, which is about 40 minutes from the hotel.

Tickets for the event can now be purchased. Note that these are “add-on” tickets, meaning that a ticket for Axacon (either $25 or $50) can only be purchased AFTER you first buy a ticket for SphinxCon (which is a separate $50 ticket). SphinxCon, a convention celebrating the Honor Harrington book series, is happening at the same location and is acting as the “host” convention (meaning they are paying the main expenses for the hotel facilities). Axacon is happening in a special area of the convention open only to Axacon ticket holders.

The event will be taking place at the Crowne Plaza – Atlanta Airport (free shuttle from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport) on November 2-4, 2018.

Click here to purchase tickets for Axacon.

And come back tomorrow for a surprisingly candid interview with J.G. Hertzler discussing his recent political campaign, his haircut, and whether or not he’ll be appearing in the Axanar sequel films!

THE ROMULAN WAR’s new “War Stories” introduces ENHANCED audio dramas!

One of my favorite things about Star Trek is that there are so many stories still waiting to be told…not only about the crews of the USS Enterprise or Voyager or Deep Space Nine but all over Starfleet, the Federation, the Klingon Empire…the entire Milky Way Galaxy! It’s one of the reasons I love fan films so much, as they explore that special universe that I cherish.

I also find myself truly intrigued with how we get/got/will get from here to there…not just the triumphs that built the Federation but also the struggles and even the failures. It’s why I’m such a fan of Axanar, and why I’m so looking forward to the upcoming Pacific 201 and First Frontier, both filling in some of the missing details about major turning points in the history of the United Federation of Planets.

And it’s why I can’t wait to see the new fan production THE ROMULAN WAR.

War stories, if done right, can be very compelling. They test the characters, twist them into unrecognizable shapes, and spit them out…sometimes for the better but all-too-often for the worse. How do we survive war? How do we fight? What decisions do we make that might have been unimaginable to us during peacetime?

There are just some of the questions that are asked in a fascinating new “enhanced” audio drama just released in the lead-up to the debut of The Romulan War fan film series.

I don’t usually cover audio dramas—not because I don’t enjoy them but simply because I don’t have the time to cover both audio dramas AND fan films. But in this case, I’m making an exception because 1) The Romulan War will be a fan film soon, and 2) this isn’t “just” an audio drama.

While some audio dramas feature still images in a slide-show format over the dialog, The Romulan War series “WAR STORIES” goes a step farther. Rather than try to explain it, let me just show you their first 2-part audio episode: “Sleep Is Hard To Find”…

Continue reading “THE ROMULAN WAR’s new “War Stories” introduces ENHANCED audio dramas!”

SPACE COMMAND: “REDEMPTION” (part 1) is now available to the public!

Fans have been waiting for six years to finally see SPACE COMMAND…ever since the initial Kickstarter back in 2012 took in $221,000 from more than 2000 donors. During that time, show-runner MARC ZICREE created a studio, built sets (no, not all by himself), cast actors like ROBERT PICARDO, DOUG JONES, MIRA FURLAN, BILL MUMY, and a host of other noted sci-fi and Hollywood veterans, filmed scenes, sold shares to investors, and planned out post-production.

Then, last November, a second Kickstarter raised an additional $108,000 from 1,126 backers…enough to fund post-production on the first hour of the two-hour pilot “Redemption.” Post-production includes things like editing, VFX, sound, music, compositing, and a host of other tasks that take a bit of time. But finally, last month at San Diego Comic Con, Marc debuted the first half-hour of Space Command: “Redemption” to a live audience.

Shortly thereafter, Marc shared a special video link so that donors could also see that first half-hour segment. It was really well done—especially considering that the budget was the merest fraction of what gets spent on shows like Discovery or The Expanse.

I expected, when the newest Kickstarter campaign launched late last month (to fund post production on the remaining hour of the pilot), that the link to the completed Part 1 would be shared with the general public.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t.

Yesterday, I interviewed Marc (great interview, by the way; it’ll be posted tomorrow) and asked him about that. It turns out that Marc was just waiting for a few last-minute tweaks. Apparently, the version that had been posted to donors was rushed out to be ready for Comic Con, and now Marc wanted to fix a few things before showing it to everyone else.

But now those fixes are in (and apparently, a few more are still to come), and the video is available for the public to see. HOORAY! There’s a short 5-minute introduction by Marc—which you’re welcome to watch or skip—followed by the complete first half hour of “Redemption.” Enjoy…

And remember that you can donate to their latest Kickstarter up through August 27 by clicking here:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/58936338/space-command-redemption-chapters-3-and-4

GARY GRAHAM’S “Sons of Kirk” KICKSTARTER enters its final TWO-DAY push!

It took Star Trek and sci-fi actor GARY GRAHAM just 33 hours to hit his $5,000 goal on a Kickstarter to help fund the first official studio album and music video for his rock band THE SONS OF KIRK. Gary’s band plays songs with Star Trek and sci-fi themed lyrics inspired by Gary’s own personal experiences playing various characters not only on Star Trek: Enterprise and Voyager but also in Alien Nation and in the Trek fan films Of Gods and Men, Renegades, and Prelude to Axanar.

The real goal for this Kickstarter was actually more ambitious: $15,000 to produce an extended album and multiple music videos. The $5,000 goal was set simply to make certain they reached their goal and didn’t miss out on the money entirely (as Kickstarter gives you nothing if you fail to reach your goal).

But Gary and the band needn’t have worried. Less than a day and a half after going live, they blasted past that $5,000 goal. They’d now be able to produce an album with at least six full songs. So they next set a series of stretch goals, each upping the total a little bit more in increasingly larger chunks:

$7,000 – Song #7 (unlocked)
$8,000 – Song #8 (unlocked)
$10,000 – Songs #9 and 10 (unlocked)
$13,000 – A second music video (unlocked)
$16,000 – A third music video of an unoffical bonus acoustic jam (unlocked)
$19,000 – A final video of the band rocking out live at Star Trek Las Vegas

The $16,000 stretch goal was reached late Sunday afternoon, and that leaves only the last stretch goal to achieve. The Sons of Kirk just performed as the house band at Creation’s 2018 Star Trek convention in Las Vegas a week ago. I’m guessing they shot footage. The question is: will we fans get to see it?

We’ll know in just about 58 hours (as I type this). Right now, they’re at $16,288 from 213 backers. If you haven’t donated yet, or if you want to up your donation to send them over the top, click here.

STALLED TREK is back with a brand new KICKSTARTER! (interview with MARK LARGENT, part 2)

Yesterday, I turned the spotlight on a brand new Kickstarter campaign for STALLED TREK: “CITY ON THE EDGE OF FORECLOSURE.” The Kickstarter had an initial goal of $600 to cover the cost of pressing 250 Blu-ray discs to be used as perks. In an amazing show of immediate support, dozens of backers blew through that $600 goal in less that 8 hours!

This wildly hilarious Star Trek parody fan film will feature 3D animated puppets of the TOS crew and is the sequel to the 2012 fan parody, Stalled Trek: “Amutt Time.” If you haven’t watched it yet, take a few minutes to enjoy this MUST-SEE fan film below…

Now at more than double that initial goal, creator / writer / director / animator / jokester MARK LARGENT has announced stretch goals, including a special behind-the-scenes feature at the $2,000 level, and HD remasters of “Amutt Time” and his “The Wobbling Dead” parodies at the $4,000 and $6,000 levels.

Those extras will be added to the Blu-ray perks that will be sent out to all donors at $25 or above. Supporters contributing less will get access to those extras (and “City…” of course) as HD digital download files. In the first part of my interview, Mark explained that the distribution of Star Trek parodies via Blu-ray perks is totally kosher since parodies qualify for Fair Use protection under copyright law.

And speaking of interviews, let’s get back to our discussion with Mark…

Continue reading “STALLED TREK is back with a brand new KICKSTARTER! (interview with MARK LARGENT, part 2)”

STALLED TREK is back with a brand new KICKSTARTER! (interview with MARK LARGENT, part 1)

STALLED TREK. The name alone is enough to induce waves of confused ignorance and disinterested apathy to all but the most hard-core fan film aficionados.

But to those who know, those who have seen, heard, and experienced this Star Trek parody masterpiece, the name Stalled Trek is enough to bring outbursts of laughter and cries of “MORE! MORE! MORE!”

The Stalled Trek characters are all 3D animated puppet versions of the TOS crew, and writer/director/animator MARK LARGENT squeezes every drop of humor from each gag he presents. The first episode of Stalled Trek, “Amutt Time,” was crowd-funded in one of the first Star Trek fan film Kickstarters with 106 supporters donating $2,200. Rather than just reading about it, why don’t you just take a look for yourself at this MUST-SEE parody fan film…

Pretty hilarious, right? Well, that was all way back in 2012. And while Mark Largent did do another Stalled Trek short film in 2016, Prelude to Ax’d-We-Are (along with some blogger named Lane co-writing and co-producing), that was a parody of Prelude to Axanar and the infringement lawsuit filed by CBS and Paramount. It featured all new animated puppet characters rather than the original TOS crew of the USS Second Prize.

But some of us wanted to see the original crew again.

It’s been six years, but Stalled Trek is back with a Kickstarter for an all-new episode: “The City on the Edge of Foreclosure.” With an initial goal of $600, Mark blasted through that total in less than 8 hours! He’s now up to about $1,400 (as I type this), and has set stretch goals at $2,000 (for a new director’s commentary video pointing out all of the inside jokes and giving behind-the-scenes info), $4,000 (remastering “Amutt Time” in HD and adding it as a digital download and also to the Blu-ray for donors at the $25 level and above), and $6,000 (adding a remastered copy of “The Wobbling Dead,” which was Mark’s other puppet parody).

So let’s check in with the puppet-master himself…

Continue reading “STALLED TREK is back with a brand new KICKSTARTER! (interview with MARK LARGENT, part 1)”

Some troubling news from STARBASE STUDIOS (audio interview with KENT “WORDS” EDWARDS and VANCE MAJOR)

Starting in 2010, when Trek fans heard the words STARBASE STUDIOS, they thought of the 360-degree TOS bridge set (originally used for the second Starship Exeter fan film), rescued from a barn in Texas, brought to Oklahoma City, and restored for fans to use essentially for free. Over the years, countless fan films were shot on that bridge and, later, on the transporter, sickbay, briefing room, and other sets added into that small Oklahoma warehouse.

In 2017, however, everything changed…and not necessarily for the better. Forced to relocated when their free-rent warehouse was sold to a new owner, the sets were moved to Arkansas. An ownership struggle ensued that eventually gave way to a lawsuit and many months of discussions. When the dust settled, an agreement was signed between GLEN WOLFE (50% ownership) and SCOTT JOHNSON and GLENN MILLER (25% ownership each).

A previous owner, KENT “WORDS” EDWARDS, divested himself of any ownership of the sets but continued to operate a business entity known as Starbase Studios, LLC. Kent brought on VANCE MAJOR to help run the company, which was (and is) now acting to help fan filmmakers find resources to produce their projects…including sources of props, costumes, equipment, production team members, and sets to shoot on.

No longer limiting themselves simply to the TOS sets in Arkansas, Starbase Studios, LLC now works with a number of different set owners, including RAY TESI who owns the Stage 9 Studios TOS sets (formerly used by Star Trek Continues) in Georgia and RANDY LANDERS who built modified movie-era sets for Potemkin Pictures in Alabama.

Starbase Studios, LLC had fully intended to keep working with the owners of the Arkansas TOS sets…even shooting a commercial for their services there a back in May. However, last month, “Words” and Vance announced that they would no longer be referring fan filmmakers to the Arkansas sets.

Naturally, with such a major (and troubling) development, I reached out to “Words” and Vance and asked if they would care to go on the record to explain what had happened to trigger this significant decision on their part. You can listen to our 3-way discussion below…