News – Page 73 – Fan Film Factor

LEAKED scripted scene from the season two premiere of STAR TREK: DISCOVERY!

BIG, HUGE, ENORMOUS, GIGANTIC SPOILER ALERT!!!

Now THIS is exciting! I don’t know whether the producers of STAR TREK: DISCOVERY
intentionally leaked this snippet of the script for the first episode of season two or if it just “sneaked” out the door somehow. But it provides an intriguing look at the direction the creative team will be taking going into the second season.

As has been reported elsewhere, the writing team for Discovery re-assembled at the beginning of last month to begin breaking down season two. Co-creator Alex Kurtzman, who will be directing the first episode of season two, recently explained, “Breaking story is, in some ways, the easier and faster thing; it’s the ability to execute on it that’s much harder. We want to take the right amount of time and don’t want to rush.”

But with production on the first episode set to kick off later this month, the first script needed to be completed quickly. Jonathan Frakes, who just confirmed that he will be directing an episode later in season two, commented, “I just read the first script of the second season and the outline for the second script and it’s on fire now.”

Indeed! And from this leaked scene, I think he’s right.

Granted, there’s no guarantee that the following snippet from the season two premiere script will make it into the actual episode exactly as initially written. Dialog can get changed, segments added and cut, etc. But if this leaked scene does make it into the finished episode, I think we’ll all be very surprised and even enthusiastic about the new direction of the series now that the Klingon War is over.

Naturally, the most exciting thing about this leaked snippet is that fans get a glimpse into how the series will be handing the character of Captain Christopher Pike of the USS Enterprise who, like Sarek, Amanda, and Harry Mudd, has already been seen in canonical Star Trek history. Will Captain Pike hew closely to his original version (like Sarek does), or will he be a radical departure (like Harry Mudd)?

Wonder no more!

I’m not sure if I’m even allowed to post this, so read it fast before I get an e-mail on Monday morning from someone with the initials of “C.B.S.” telling me to immediately take it down.

Enjoy this sneak peek into season two…

Continue reading “LEAKED scripted scene from the season two premiere of STAR TREK: DISCOVERY!”

CBS contacts and delays the STAR TREK: TEMPORAL ANOMALY fan film!

Okay, no one panic! CBS isn’t going all lawsuit-happy again. In fact, it’s possible that their experience in the Axanar lawsuit has resulted in a new approach to dealing with Star Trek fan films that concern them: Ask questions first, shoot later.

The first time post-lawsuit that CBS contacted a fan filmmaker with concerns was early in 2016 when Tommy Kraft was trying to raise $250,000 for Star Trek: Federation Rising, his sequel to Star Trek: Horizon. CBS requested strongly (but politely) that Tommy shut down the project, and he complied.

CBS has been pretty quiet since then when it comes to fan films, until now. SAMUEL COCKINGS recently released his trailer for STAR TREK: TEMPORAL ANOMALY, a fan production he has been working on for five years. I interviewed him about that project here. For reasons that will likely become super-obvious when you view the trailer, this planned fan film raised some red flags with CBS for not following a few of the announced guidelines.

Star Trek: Temporal Anomaly was supposed to premiere today on YouTube. Instead, apparently CBS has asked for (apparently, again, politely) for some changes before it gets released. Samuel Cockings just posted this announcement to the Temporal Anomaly Facebook page:

Hello Everyone,

While the intent was to release Temporal Anomaly today we were contacted by CBS and are now delaying release of the film until those discussions are concluded and resolved. These have been polite communications and we thank CBS for their approach in dealing with these concerns.

We had hoped to release the project in its pre-guideline state as Temporal Anomaly was written in 2013 and filmed in 2013/2014 however a public release of this now dubbed “Directors Cut” is no longer possible.

A public altered edit of the film may be able to be produced but we are in the early stages of that.

Thank you for the support and interest you have shown, there will be an update on Kickstarter for our backers shortly.

Samuel Cockings

More news as it becomes available…

STAR TREK: DISCOVERY’S “Secret Scene”! (editorial)

Over this past weekend, at WonderCon in Anaheim, CA, STAR TREK: DISCOVERY show-runner AARON HARBERTS released what he referred to as a “secret scene. ” He told the audience, in what I thought was a strange comment, that they decided to cut the scene out of the season one finale because it would be “…more exciting to bring it to a place like [WonderCon].”

Um, yeah.

By now, many of you have probably viewed the two and a half-minute “secret scene” (complete with a full minute and a half of credits…which seemed odd and unnecessary to me). If you’re in the U.S., you can view the clip below…

And in a case of international legalistic inconvenience, those folks in Canada can only watch it here, and the rest of the world can see it here.

Almost immediately, fans started talking excitedly about this “new” scene and what it means for season two. And not surprisingly, a whole bunch of folks e-mailed and/or IM’d me to ask what I thought about it. I guess all those Discovery blogs I’ve written have marked me as some kind of fan barometer or something…or maybe they were just hoping I had some interesting insight or that maybe I’d find some fun way to trash the scene. Who knows?

But since I’ve had a bunch of people ask for my opinion, I thought it best to just write it once. Obviously, I’m not going to put any spoiler warnings here, as the season ended last month and the “secret scene” is right here on this blog.

So here we go…

Continue reading “STAR TREK: DISCOVERY’S “Secret Scene”! (editorial)”

HOLY CORE, BATMAN! This TREK fan film KICKSTARTER has only 5 DAYS LEFT!

Lately, some of my readers have complained that the fan film guidelines have essentially ended quality Star Trek fan films. “You can’t make a decent Trek fan film in just 15 or 30 minutes,” they say, “and limiting crowd-funding to just $50,000 is ridiculously constraining.”

To them I reply, “Watch CHANCE ENCOUNTER!” This 20-minute TNG-era fan film out of the U.K. had real actors, real sets, a fantastic script, wonderful directing, emotional music, great effects…you name it! And it was made for just a few thousand dollars (or rather, pounds, since they’re all British).

Now these guys want to make another fan film…and they’re struggling to reach their Kickstarter goal of $12K. They’re nearly halfway there, have raised an impressive $5, 345 from 74 backers (including me)…

…BUT THEY HAVE ONLY FIVE DAYS LEFT!!!

And the problem with Kickstarter is that, if they don’t reach their goal, they get ZERO! Show-runner GARY O’BRIEN and co-writer PAUL LAIGHT are trying very hard to reach out to fans. They’ve produced multiple spotlight videos, have been living on Facebook, and even did a podcast. But so far, they’ve only made it half way…and time is running out!

Please help.

This is the kind of quality Star Trek fan film you’ve been wanting to see, folks. But without donations, you won’t see it. That’s why I’m pushing so hard to assist these guys…because I really want to see it, too!

Here’s the link to donate:

Please consider making a pledge. But whether or not you do, at least share that link on Facebook, Twitter, in chat-rooms, forums, e-mail lists, skywriting, smoke-signals, semaphore…whatever you’ve got!

And just to get you a teensy bit more excited, here’s their latest spotlight video with a look at their LCARS…

The complete HISTORY OF STAR TREK CONTINUES…in a single PDF!

Just as STAR TREK CONTINUES was releasing their series finale last October, I was publishing an ambitious 6-part weekly blog feature covering the half-decade history of this beloved fan-made production.

The blog series was, without a doubt, my most ambitious endeavor to date, researched and compiled from several dozen sources—articles, interviews, features, reviews, Facebook posts, updates from STC itself, and even video recorded live by yours truly. The six parts took me months to complete, and in the end, a few thousand people came to Fan Film Factor to enjoy reading about this fan series and the people who produced it.

I kinda figured that was it for STC on FFF. The series wrapped up, the blogs were done…time to move on to other fan films both old and new. But one of my readers, BRYAN LEECH from Melbourne, Australia, posted a comment on Part 3 of the blog:

Is there any possibility that, when completed, you could make your work available as a complete downloadable entity?

Man, did that sound like extra work! I politely declined, explaining that I was pretty busy writing new blogs. But then Bryan offered to create a PDF himself. He’d assemble all of the text, add the graphics, and even include and test all of the hyperlinks that I’d included in the original blog.

Bryan got started in December and would send me versions to review every so often. We’d discuss designs and fonts choices; whether to use italics, bold, and/or ALL CAPS in certain places; where to place images and how large to make them, and whether to have the text by completely justified on the right or not. We troubleshooted bad hyperlinks, and Bryan even fixed some of my ultra-rare typos.

It took a few months and a lot of hard work on Bryan’s part to get things perfect, but in the end, the finished product is something we’re both very proud of. SO big thanks to Bryan!

In addition to the link below, I’ve also posted the PDF file to my new “PDFs” section here on Fan Film Factor. You can find that menu option in the middle of the top nav bar. Check it out, as there’s some other fun PDFs there for download as well.

And now for your reading pleasure, here it is: the complete HISTORY OF STAR TREK CONTINUES…

Click here to view the History of Star Trek Continues PDF.

My 500TH published blog!!!!!

When I started FAN FILM FACTOR on January 10, 2016, it was suggested that I try to write at least one or two new blogs per week so I’d stay relevant and keep readers coming back. Instead, I’ve written and published, on average, between four and five blogs per week for over two years. Some were short—just a few hundred words—while other blogs went 1,000 or 2,000 words (occasionally even longer). I calculated recently that I’ve written way more than HALF A MILLION WORDS about fan films…sheesh!!!

I wondered how I might mark this 500th blog milestone, and then I had an idea. Have you ever wondered how I manage to keep all of these blogs coming week after week, month after month, year after year? If you haven’t, then feel free to stop reading now.

But if you’re curious the learn how the Fan Film Factor sausage is made, this’ll be a fun read for you…

Continue reading “My 500TH published blog!!!!!”

Today is a good day to PLEDGE…to “The Holy Core” Kickstarter!

Hey, folks. Just a friendly reminder that the Kickstarter for THE HOLY CORE, a new Star Trek fan project from the folks who brought us CHANCE ENCOUNTER, has only 13 days left to go! There’s already 53 backers, and they’re up to nearly 1/3 of the $12,000 they need to raise. But remember that if they don’t make it to their goal, they get nothing…zero, zip, zilch, nada. And that would be such a shame.

The key right now is to help SPREAD THE WORD (and donate, if you haven’t already)! Send out and share links to their Kickstarter campaign page:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1512203744/the-holy-core-a-star-trek-fan-film

They’ve already shared a few cool videos of some of what they’re planning for this TNG-era fan film. This video spotlighting their transporter effect was just released:

Then there was this one from last week showing the design for the Vitan satellites, which will play an important role in the planned 30-minute fan film:

And here’s the Kickstarter campaign video for the overall project:

Please consider making a donation, or at least helping to spread the Kickstarter link:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1512203744/the-holy-core-a-star-trek-fan-film

Thank you.

STARSHIP TRISTAN Creative Group releases their 12th fan film: “PRIDE AND PREJUDICE”!

Last week, I announced the release of the eleventh fan film, “Sepulchre,” from the STARSHIP TRISTAN Creative Group from POTEMKIN PICTURES. I noted that the previous tenth release had come out seven months earlier. But now, the new twelfth release, “Pride and Prejudice,” has followed only ONE WEEK after the eleventh. What gives?

I decided to go to the source and ask show-runner RANDY LANDERS. I was quite surprised to learn the answer:

Back in August, I had a quadruple bypass which delayed post production on a number of our short films. We have never before held back releases, in fact, but we actually are this time. We released “Sepulchre” as soon as it was ready, then released the follow-up “Pride and Prejudice” a week later. “Pride and Prejudice” was actually ready for release in January. For the same reason, we’re holding up the release of “Shattered Sky” (a Deimos film) until we finish up and release “Prodigal Daughter.”

It’s quite possible we will have four releases in March!

I asked Randy how he was doing after the bypass. (My own father had a double bypass about three years ago and is still going strong).

I’m doing great. You can quote me, and report that two productions were filmed without me (“New Orders,” which was directed by Jason Furman, and “Sepulchre” which was directed by Lee Drew). And “Pride and Prejudice” was directed by Christin Woods [who plays T’Noshi -Jonathan] relieving me of that concern as well. I’m very proud of the work they did to get these productions completed.

I should also mention that this latest episode from the Tristan folk was written by WILLIAM C. SEARCY, who plays the fan-favorite character of the half-Vulcan Dr. Skep Anderson.

So please enjoy the second Potemkin Pictures fan film release in two weeks, “Pride and Prejudice”…

R.I.P. – STEPHEN HAWKING (1942 -2018)

I suppose I could cite the Star Trek connection: PROFESSOR STEPHEN WILLIAM HAWKING was the only person to ever play himself on an episode of any Star Trek series when he appeared in a Holodeck simulation at the beginning of TNG‘s “Descent, Part 1” in 1993.

But I would have dimmed the lights of Fan Film Factor regardless of Hawking’s appearance on Trek because…well…because we was Stephen Frickin’ Hawking, dammit! He was cool. He was a rock star. He was almost impossible.

What I mean by that is Stephen Hawking should never have happened. His disease—amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)—is a cruel killer. It takes away your body while it leaves your mind trapped inside. By all predictions of his doctors back in 1963 when he was first diagnosed, Hawking’s expected lifespan was optimistically two years. By all rights, Stephen Hawking should have been long dead before the first episode of Star Trek ever aired in 1966. But as we all know, that never happened.

Instead, this hyper-brilliant man found a way to live on for more than FIVE decades beyond his original death sentence. But he didn’t just live—that would have certainly been miracle enough—but he thrived. He taught, researched, wrote books, toured and lectured, and became quite the media celebrity. Hawking opened up the wonders of the universe and science to so many who—like me—had absolutely no idea whatsoever what the heck he was taking about! (Yeah, I tried to read a Brief History of Time. I even began my time at Cornell University in 1985 as a physics major. That didn’t last. But my love and respect for science lived on.)

Hawking made science and nerdiness seem somehow cool…which was really odd, if you think about it. Even without the wheelchair and the debilitating motor neurone disease, Hawking still looked like a complete Poindexter…the kind of guy who would have his lunch money taken on a regular basis by bullies who would leave his underwear stretched up to his shoulders. Add in the monotone computer-synthesized voice, and this guy was sure to be picked on relentlessly by the knuckle-draggers of the world.

Except he wasn’t.

Continue reading “R.I.P. – STEPHEN HAWKING (1942 -2018)”

STARSHIP TRISTAN Creative Group releases their 11th fan film: “SEPULCHRE”!

The nice folks at POTEMKIN PICTURES now have five different Trek fan production teams producing new fan films, two teams with new series in post-production, and of course the completed series that started it all: PROJECT: POTEMKIN (with three dozen episodes). You can watch everything from Potemkin Pictures on their website.

The first fan series to spin off from Project: Potemkin was STARSHIP TRISTAN, filmed in Pelham, Alabama where show-runner RANDY LANDERS is based. It debuted in December of 2015, but six months later, the fan film guidelines prohibited ongoing fan series. So Starship Tristan simply dropped their fan series name and began naming each new release with the title of that particular “episode.”

Their latest offering is a fan film called “Sepulchre” which runs ten and a half minutes. Set in the post-TOS-movie-era, the series has built its own somewhat cramped bridge set and uses simplified long-sleeve shirts for uniforms. But if you’re watching these productions for their big-budget quality, then you probably want Star Trek Continues down the hall. These folks are more about the story, and this latest story is pretty decent. In fact, if lengthened out and developed a little more, I could imagine “Sepulchre” easily being an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Although the first ten episodes of this fan-series-that-is-not-to-be-called-a-fan-series were released about once every 1 to 3 months, it’s actually been 7 months since the last new Tristan fan film. However, in that time, there has been an interesting change that I noted. Previously, all new releases were credited to the “Tristan Production Crew” or the “Potemkin Creative Team”—not really wanting to call too much undue attention to the previous fan series name. Now the opening credits say “Produced by the STARSHIP TRISTAN Creative Group.” Big step forward, in my opinion. With luck, CBS won’t bat an eyelash.

And now, please enjoy Tristan’s latest fan production, “Sepulchre”…