No use crying over spilled water – FFF down for a few days

12Late on Thursday night, I accidentally spilled water all over my keyboard. As you can probably guess, this was not appreciated by my computer all that much, and I won’t see the trusty ol’ gal again until late Monday or Tuesday at the earliest…along with a $500 repair bill.

For those commenting on the Friday legal filings in the AXANAR case and the bombshells contained in them–like Paramount not providing ANY emails for discovery or the late news that CBS does, apparently, own Star Trek (oh, well)–yes, I’ve seen all three filings.  And I plan to write up a blog on them just as soon as I have a decent keyboard again.  I just can’t whip out a 2,000-word article on an iPad keyboard!

In the meantime, I’m researching what I can (what does President Gerald Ford have to do with AXANAR???) and getting ready for our next dive into the legal swimming pool.

AXANAR LAWSUIT discovery phase heats up! (Part 2)

Axaanr splash image2I’m going to save some time and instead of summarizing Part 1, I recommend you read it, if you haven’t already.  You can also link to the 60-page Joint Stipulation document that contains both  Axanar‘s Motion to Compel the studios to deliver the remainder of the documentation they initially asked for, and also the studios’ responses to those requests.

When last we left off, we were up to the third category of documentation requested by the defense (and not fully provided by the plaintiff)…

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AXANAR LAWSUIT discovery phase heats up! (Part 1)

Axaanr splash imageIt’s “High Noon” in the Axanar lawsuit…and we haven’t even gotten to trial yet!  But that ominous background music is playing, and the two gunfighters are facing off for a showdown in the middle of a dusty street in a western town.  More specifically, the CBS and Paramount lawyers at Loeb & Loeb are facing down the Axanar lawyers at Winston & Strawn (and vice-versa!), and the entire case could be won or lost right now by either side–months before trial even begins–and both teams of lawyers know it!

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STONE TREK (interview with BRIAN MATTHEWS and WALLY FIELDS, part 2)

kirkstone-and-kirkstoneLast time, we featured the first part of our interview with Brian Matthews, the creator of the hilarious parody STONE TREK, and his amazing voice-over artist, Wally Fields.  Stone Trek is one of the most inspired, creative, and well-executed of all the Star Trek fan film mash-ups, a series of nine cartoon shorts created by Brian Mathews and released online using Adobe’s Flash software between 2000 and 2007.  Merging the two distinct television franchises into a completely fresh hybrid, Brian and his team took us where no caveman had gone before…

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STONE TREK (interview with BRIAN MATTHEWS and WALLY FIELDS, part 1)

cover-2When it comes to fan films, Star Trek is no stranger to mash-ups.  Fans have taken Star Trek into the Star Wars universe and vice versa. Kirk and Spock have met the 1960s TV Batman and Robin.  Heck, the Enterprise has even picked up Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz!  (I’ve already done a feature on Star Trek vs. Batman.  The others are coming.)

But by far (at least in my opinion) the most inspired, creative, and well-executed of all the Star Trek fan film mash-ups is Stone Trek, a series of nine cartoon shorts created by Brian Mathews and released online using Adobe’s Flash software between 2000 and 2007.

Stone Trek is NOT some silly crossover where the USS Enterprise travels back in time to Bedrock and Fred Flintstone beams up to meet Captain Kirk. Instead, it’s a complete hybrid of the two shows, an entirely new entity combining recognizable elements of both but ultimately emerging as something totally unique and original.

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TREK: ISOLATION spins off from STARSHIP FARRAGUT and releases its first series episode “Out of the Fire”!

trek-isolationTREK ISOLATION, the long-awaited spin-off fan series to the long-running and celebrated Starship Farragut, is finally here with its first series episode “Out of the Fire.“

Technically, Trek Isolation has been “here” for a couple of years already.  The series first debuted in late 2014 with a short prelude vignette titled “Change in Command.”  During the 5-minute fan film, Captain Jack Carter (played by co-writer and Starship Farragut show-runner/star John Broughton) informs his chief of security (played by co-writer Eric Moran) that the lieutenant commander will be getting a promotion and reassignment as first officer and science officer aboard the USS Babylon.

Six months later, the Trek Isolation team SHOCKED fans when it released its second prelude vignette “A Great Responsibility“ featuring none other than Marvel Comics legend STAN LEE as a Starfleet Admiral!  And it wasn’t just a brief cameo, as happens in so many Marvel movies.  Instead, Stan does a two and a half minute scene as part of this four and a half minute fan production as he assigns Captain Hawkins (played by co-writer Dave Turner) as the new commander of the USS Babylon.

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PROJECT: POTEMKIN releases its SERIES FINALE (but it’s NOT ending because of the GUIDELINES)!

In 2011, a new Star Trek fan series based in the movie-era released its first episode, and the world of fan films was introduced to PROJECT: POTEMKIN.

Five years and thirty-four episodes later, Project: Potemkin has just released its series finale, “Destinies.”  No spoilers except to say that this seven-minute episode wraps up the series nicely and ties in with three other fan series also being produced by Potemkin Pictures: Starship Tristan, Starship Deimos, and Starship Endeavour.

Some fans have been wondering whether Project: Potemkin is yet another victim of the fan film guidelines released by CBS and Paramount.  Not so, says series show-runner RANDY LANDERS:

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Take a tour of James Cawley’s STAR TREK SETS with comedian TOM KELLY

set-tour“I’m just takin’ a Greyhound on the Hudson River line…”

Billy Joel first sang those lyrics back in 1976.  Forty years later, you can take a Greyhound up alongside the majestic Hudson River from New York City four hours north to Ticonderoga, New York (a very scenic drive, I might add!)–or you can fly into Burlington, VT and meander over across Lake Champlain in about 90 minutes–and live the dream of every Trekkie.  You can walk around the original USS Enterprise NCC-1701, lovingly recreated by uber-fan and Elvis impersonator extraordinaire James Cawley and his team at Star Trek: New Voyages.

Originally used to film nearly a dozen episodes of Cawley’s amazing fan series, the sets were recently converted into an officially licensed Star Trek Set Tour open to the public six days a week (closed Mondays).  For less than 25 bucks a head, er, body, you can walk where few fans have gone before, take all of the pictures and videos you want, and brag to your friends that you got to visit this one-of-a-kind exhibit.  (Yeah, I know there’s one just like it in Georgia, too, but Star Trek Continues‘ sets aren’t open to the public nor are they officially licensed.)

One fan who braved the four-hour trek (sorry, pun couldn’t be helped) from Manhattan to Ticonderoga is New York City-based comedian Tom Kelly.  So just in case you don’t think you’ll be able to make it up there yourself–or if you’re looking for a reason to actually go–just take a look at this very entertaining and fun video…

PROJECT: ENTERPRISE jumps from Kickstarter to Indiegogo!

Project Enterprise-1Recently, I featured a 2-part interview with Paul Olsen, the man responsible for the breathtaking opalescent paint job of the refit Enterprise from Star Trek: The Motion Picture.  Together with the designer and builder of the original model, Paul is trying to raise $3 million to recreate that model, bigger, more sturdy, and with all modern electronics within a custom 4D viewing chamber.  The model would travel around the world to be enjoyed by Star Trek fans everywhere.

But $3 million is a lot of money, and way beyond way could be raised from simple crowd-funding.  So Paul is planning to do a concerted public relations campaign, coordinated by a major PR company, targeted at bringing in major corporate sponsors like Enterprise Rent-a-Car, SpaceX, Boeing, and many others.  So instead of needing $3 million, Paul just needs $50,000 to fund the PR effort.  In fact, the PR effort is only intended to raise the first $450,000 to get them started.  Then, with the studio and materials in place, Paul can negotiate documentary rights to bring in the completion funding of $3+ million over the two years of the rebuild.

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RENEGADES posts an awesome (but now unusable) VFX sequence!

renegades-new-logoWhen STAR TREK: RENEGADES became RENEGADES: THE SERIES, all overt or even quasi-overt references to Star Trek had to be surgically amputated.  This included this like changing the character of Chekov to simply “The Admiral” and “Tuvok” to “Kovok,” calling it the “Confederation of Planets,” ditching comm badges from the uniforms (“We don’t need no stinkin’ badges!”), making sure that Aron Eisenberg’s alien make-up looked nothing like a Ferengi, and a host of other tweaks.

Unfortunately, those tweaks also impacted the visual effects, some of which had already been completed and delivered.  Y’see, no Star Trek means no recognizable space vessels either…including Romulan warbirds.  And that meant that a gorgeous 10-second space battle sequence rendered out by AtomicBrain SFX would never be seen by fans.  Or would it…?

Renegades just posted on YouTube this short tracking shot for everyone to enjoy.  We might not ever see it in a fan film (it would have been glorious…), but we can at least see it here: