Star Trek fan films remain alive and well “Down Under” thanks to the glorious efforts of Australian fan filmmaker AARON VANDERKLEY and his team. Aaron has recently released his seventh Star Trek fan film, the entirety of which are now collected under the umbrella THESE ARE THE VOYAGES…
A professional freelance filmmaker, Aaron began his fan film “trek” back in January of 2016 with the release of the amazingly powerful 6-minute NX-era fan film NEEDS OF THE MANY. Strong acting, impressive sets, and spot-on uniforms marked his debut.
Then in mid 2017, Aaron released the 12-minute THE DERELICT, an intensely dark and haunting NX-era horror/thriller (very unique for a Star Trek fan film). Again, the acting was top-notch, the uniforms amazing, and now there was even action, suspense, and a few stunts thrown in. It really felt like part of an episode of Star Trek: Enterprise.
By the beginning of 2018, Aaron treated fans to a third superbly-crafted NX-era film, GOOD MEN, this one only 9 minutes long. Six months later, Aaron released his most ambitious fan film so far, the 14-minute THE FALL OF STARBASE ONE. And in the summer of 2019, Aaron completed what turned out to be a 5-film NX-era story arc with the 20-minute LINE OF DUTY, blowing away fans with a touching and emotional story marked yet again by a top-notch level of acting, production quality, lighting, make-up, sets, costumes, props, sound…the works. In fact, Line of Duty won SEVEN of the categories in the 2020 BJO AWARDS!
Aaron told me in a 2-part interview that he had only ever intended to make five NX-era fan films, and he had no plans to produce anything further in the genre. One of our community’s most impressive fan filmmakers was moving on…the bittersweet end of a short but truly impressive run.
But then, in May of 2021, Aaron surprised the community (in a very good way) by releasing a sixth Star Trek fan film titled BEYOND THE SUN…perhaps his strongest effort thus far! No longer content to linger in the 22nd century or even the 23rd, Aaron leapfrogged into the 24th century with Voyager-style uniforms and a Nova-class starship. It was shortly after this that he branded his releases with the These Are the Voyages… monicker and promised to make more Star Trek fan films.
And Aaron kept his promise with the release in April of OUTBREAK, a brand new Voyager-era story featuring the same ship and crew as his previous production. Once again, the result was a cinematic masterpiece of fan filmmaking. Take a look…
Aaron is always fascinating to chat with because he approaches his productions in a very organized, methodical, and even professional way. For those out there wanting to make fan films of their own, I would consider interviews with Aaron “required reading.”
And here is today’s lesson…
Continue reading “Another triumph from AUSTRALIA’s finest Trekkers…OUTBREAK! (interview with AARON VANDERKLEY)”