Constar Chronicles – Fan Film Factor

“ZERO HOUR” was supposed to be a one-minute PROMO, but it turned into a full seven-minute FAN FILM!

Next week, the eagerly-awaited CRISIS ON INFINITE EXCALIBURS, the latest fan film from THE AVALON UNIVERSE, will finally make its debut. And having seen an early cut, let me assure you that it will be a game-changer of a release, sure to be talked about excitedly by a LOT of fans for a very long time.

Avalon showrunner JOSHUA IRWIN and his team have poured a massive amount of time, effort, financial resources, and emotional commitment into getting this production perfect. And leading into its December premiere, Josh wanted to release a short promo “ad” on YouTube to tease the new film. But not just any ad, Josh had a clever idea.

As some folks know—and most others can very likely guess—Avalon‘s new fan film features a crossover of many different universes (one might say an infinite number!). And yes, one of those is the Star Trek “Mirror” Universe. VANCE MAJOR, who plays the character of Erick Minard across many fan films and series—including CONSTAR, VALIANT, DREADNOUGHT DOMINION, PROJECT GEMINI: CROSSROADS, ANTYLLUS, NATURE’S HUNGER, RAINCROSS, EAGLE, TASK FORCE 78, and of course, Avalon Universe, where that Minard is the chief engineer of the U.S.S. Excalibur.

But Minard also exists in the Mirror Universe as a villainous sociopath known as The Phantom, a character who will be appearing in the upcoming Crisis on Infinite Excaliburs. So Josh thought it might be cool to see The Phantom recording an ominous-sounding log entry for about a minute, hinting at some nefarious plan and ending with “A crisis is coming…” Josh tossed the log entry promo idea over to Vance, offering him complete creative control over whatever he would send back.

Now, technically, Vance officially “retired” from fan filmmaking last year, and this time he actually meant it. Well, mostly. He retired to spend more time with his son Royce, but now Royce wants to make fan films. So Vance is quietly working on CONSTAR: THE MOTION PICTURE, with Royce being the filmmaker in charge. But that’s more of a project done for sheer fun and father/son bonding time.

However, Vance is also available for friends in the fan film community who’d like his help either in front of or behind the camera. In fact, that’s how the “retired” Vance Major wound up appearing as various Minards in Crisis. So Vance was game to do the promo, as well.

But then, like Josh, Vance had a clever idea…

R.I.P. – STEVE “KORATH” ATWELL (1967-2023)

It is always a sad moment for the Star Trek fan film community when one of our own embarks on a final journey to what Shakespeare called “…the undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler returns.” Earlier this week, cosplayer STEVE ATWELL, who played the role of the Klingon Korath in multiple episodes of VANCE MAJOR’s CONSTAR CHRONICLES saga, passed away at the too-young age of 56 after battling an illness that he could not defeat.

Vance contacted me yesterday to ask if I would write a blog about Steve and noting his passing. Unfortunately, I did not know Steve and never even met him, and aside from watching his performances as Korath and occasional appearances on the CRITICAL NOT CYNICAL video podcast, I knew nothing about this unique man. So I suggested that Vance, who was quite close to Steve as both director and friend, write Steve’s eulogy, and I would publish it here.

I now turn the blog over to Vance Major…

My loyalty is to my house, as your loyalty is….

– Krorath (“Much Afraid”)

How do you sum up the life of one man into a few paragraphs? You can’t. Something is going to be overlooked. All I can tell you is what Steve Atwell meant to me and his impact on this community. He is known by so many of us as “Fan Films’ Greatest Klingon” for a reason: he lived the part so much.

I met Steve a few years ago at TOPCON when STARBASE STUDIOS had been part of the event, and I was asked to help out with the bridge there. As people from every fanbase walked by, I noticed this cosplay of a Klingon that was so detailed that I had to know who guy was.

I followed Steve around for a while before approaching him, as he is a pretty intimidating guy…especially in Klingon garb! But he was so warm and receptive to me and my questions. We discussed what I was doing in fan films and his involvement in cosplay and exchanged information.

It was a little over a year before I actually was able to get him into a film, as I was still new to creating my films at the time. But he took to it really well, and we became fast friends. I trusted him to change dialog if it didn’t fit what a Klingon would say, as he was not just an actor, he was a guy with experience with Klingon culture. It stemmed from cosplaying for years as the character of Krorath. He lived this. When I brought Steve on, it was not me making the character of Krorath for him, it was more like we were bringing his character of Krorath from cosplay into the fan films, and it worked. We had a trust that I began to put on screen that was very much behind our characters…a bond, if you will.

AVALON UNIVERSE releases THE TRUTH WITHIN and then shoots THREE new fan films SIMULTANEOUSLY! (video interview with JOSH IRWIN, TYLER DUNIVAN, and VANCE MAJOR)

if showrunner JOSHUA IRWIN and his team from THE AVALON UNIVERSE can shoot three different and highly complex fan films simultaneously, then I can definitely do a blog that covers two things at the same time, right?

Those two things are 1) the release late last year of a new Avalon Universe fan film THE TRUTH WITHIN, starring CHUCK MERÉ as Captain Lance Ramirez and VANCE MAJOR as Engineer Erick Minard, and 2) Team Avalon’s current efforts to wrap up their fan series by tackling not one, not two, but THREE ambitious fan films all at once!

First, let me show you their latest fan film…

For those unfamiliar with the Avalon Universe, Chuck Meré joined the cast for their second episode, AVALON LOST, which also marked the departure of series lead TYLER DUNIVAN. Chuck stayed for two additional episodes, DEMONS and AIR AND DARKNESS, before departing the series along with co-star VICTORIA FOX. Tyler Dunivan returned to the series shortly thereafter with the episode COSMIC STREAM.

Meanwhile, Vance Major is a bit of a legend of Star Trek fan films, having written, produced,edited, directed, and/or starred in a total of 146(!!!) Star Trek fan films featuring his character of Erick Minard and the U.S.S. Constar. Many of his fan films feature interstellar “Facetime calls” between two or more characters, which are pretty easy to shoot (just record your lines into your computer or camera phone at home!). And indeed, The Truth Within looks more like a Minard/CONSTAR CHRONICLES fan film than a typical Avalon production.

Lots of questions abound, like why that simplified format, and does this mean that Chuck Meré is returning to Avalon or just making a cameo appearance? I ask both of those questions during this blog’s video interview below.

The second thing we chat about is something that I personally find even more intriguing. As some Avalon fans know (and are a little saddened by), the series will soon be coming to an end. The Truth Within marks the eleventh Avalon fan film (watch them all on this playlist), and only three more episodes remain: KNIGHTS OF THE VOID, CRISIS ON INFINITE EXCALBURS, and THE ONCE AND FUTURE CAPTAIN. (Dontcha just love the Arthurian titles?)

And these aren’t “little” episodes!

Knights is full of action and adventure. Crisis is a huge undertaking crossing realities with the same actors playing multiple characters from different universes and sci-fi franchises. (And thanks to Josh for letting me add a couple of fun characters to the script, including a “Space Elvis” tribute to STAR TREK: NEW VOYAGES‘s show-runner JAMES CAWLEY. You’re all going to love this character!) And Once and Future Captain is a gripping and poignant series finale with a huge cast.

But rather than shooting these three films one at a time, Josh has decided to produce them all simultaneously. And we’re not talking about taking a long weekend to work on the first film Friday, the second on Saturday, and the third on Sunday. No, sir!

VANCE MAJOR concludes CONSTAR! (some final thoughts from me)

It’s the end of an era.

Granted, that “era” has only been going on since 2016 or thereabouts, but it seems like so much longer! And maybe that’s because, over the past seven years, VANCE MAJOR (Owen is his middle name) has produced and released a total of 146(!!!) Star Trek fan films featuring his character of Erick Minard (in all its many iterations!) as well as a bevy of recurring characters, cameos by a who’s who of other fan filmmakers (including myself), and even his own 5-year-old son Royce…who has been appearing in Vance’s films literally since infancy.

And that doesn’t include Vance’s appearances in other fan series like STARSHIP VALIANT and THE AVALON UNIVERSE. Vance has been a staple of our fan film community this entire time, and his parade of new releases—sometimes coming almost weekly!—provided a recurring reminder that Star Trek fan films come as much from the heart as from the camera.

Of course, Vance’s stuff isn’t to everyone’s taste, and I totally get that. His production budgets are ridiculously humble (like, “Buddy, can ya spare some change?” humble), the quality modest at best, and the acting as likely to be hit as miss. More often than not, there’s limited if any “action,” and the more recent films (especially since COVID) have been little more than a series of interstellar Skype calls as two people have a conversation. “The Best of Both Worlds” or “Sacrifice of Angels” these fan films are most assuredly not!

But what they are, in my opinion, is a form of poetry. Vance presents his thoughts, feelings, observations, perspectives, concerns, triumphs, frustrations, dreams, and passions through his films. Most poets don’t need much more than a pen and paper (or keyboard). For Vance, it also means a camera phone, Starfleet uniform, and video editing software. But the idea and the goal is the same: to share a part of himself with others.

Some of us enjoy that sharing and don’t mind seeing the cord in the doorway or not being able to hear bits of the dialog because of the wind. We don’t mind seeing 20th and 21st century cars and trucks, or clothes and baseball caps that look like they were bought at Target, appearing in a story set centuries in the future. That’s never been what Vance’s poetry has been about. Instead, it was always about using Star Trek to speak his truth…for those interested in listening.

And even though it was never Vance’s primary intention, his fan films also served as inspiration for others for make fan films of their own. If Vance didn’t care about top-tier production quality or jaw-dropping sizzle, then how important was it really? If you have a story you want to tell, then hey, just do do it.

A ONE-OF-KIND documentary celebrates VANCE MAJOR and his 9-YEAR mission in FAN FILMMAKING!

My first reaction was, “FOUR HOURS???? Vance, are you kidding me?” He wasn’t kidding.

And as I began watching a courtesy viewing copy of the documentary CONSTAR: BOLDLY GOING, I began to understand why. I’d sat through over an hour before taking my first break and finished it off in its entirety over the next few days. The behind-the-scenes film is surprisingly watchable, but more importantly, it represents the very heart of what makes our “little” fan film community so unique and special.

And the reason for that is that VANCE MAJOR also represents the heart of our fan film community. At a time when Star Trek fan films were getting bigger, bolder, and much more expensive—so much so that CBS and Paramount instituted a set of guidelines to curtail the “space race,” as they called it—Vance came out just as boldly and went both small and cheap! He wasn’t trying to compete with the big guys or even to send some kind of message to them to spend less on their productions.

No, instead Vance was simply saying, “Hey, I’d like to show you my stories, too, but I don’t have any money. So I’m just going to do my best, and if you like what I make, great. And if you don’t, that’s fine, too. I’m doing it for me.”

And that was about 150 fan films ago!

In the years since Vance first portrayed the character of Erick Minard, Chief Engineer of the STARSHIP VALIANT, he’s worked with nearly every fan filmmaker in the community, having inspired many of them to “just go for it.” If Vance didn’t care if there was a cord visible in the doorway in the background of a shot, or if half the lights on the bridge were out, or the sound was bad or the uniforms didn’t quite fit the actors, why should anyone else be bothered by it? These are FAN films, and they’re made for FUN.

Now, as Vance prepares to pull the U.S.S. Constar into space dock one final time and complete his career creating Star Trek fan films, he’s decided to once again go where no fan has gone before and produce a documentary about not just one or two fan films but an entire MAGNUM OPUS of work…viewed not solely through Vance’s own eyes but through the thoughts, memories, and experiences of those he has worked with over the years…including me and dozens of others.

I thought about interviewing Vance as he brings this epoch of his life in for a landing. But anything we discuss would only pall in comparison to the release of his 4-hour documentary, which will premiere on Sunday, July 3rd at noon central time. Here is the link…

MINARD joins the AVALON UNIVERSE in “NEW ORDERS” (interview with VANCE MAJOR and JOSH IRWIN)

There’s a lot of love and camaraderie in the fan film community. That’s one of the reasons that I enjoy creating and maintaining this blog. Oh, sure, there’s also some trolls and drama and silly “feuds,” but honestly, I don’t really pay much attention to all of that anymore because it’s pretty meaningless.

What is meaningful—with the emphasis on the FULL part—is all the positivity that Star Trek fan films bring…because when it comes right down to it, we’re FANS. It’s what got me involved in the world of Star Trek to begin with, knowing there was this group of people who loved something that I loved, too, that we could share and bond over…no matter our backgrounds or location or anything else that might separate us. Star Trek brought us TOGETHER!

And that’s why I cheered when I saw this new vignette from the AVALON UNIVERSE…

NEW ORDERS might not seem like much. There’s minimal VFX, and only two characters are talking to each other via subspace for most of it, with a third popping up at the very end. But for me, it was so much more—it was a chance for me to watch two dear friends come together to make a fan film.

JOSHUA IRWIN and VANCE MAJOR have worked together before this. Josh (as well as his Avalon Universe collaborator VICTORIA FOX) has appeared in some of Vance’s CONSTAR productions, like “SHAKEDOWN.” And Vance made a very brief cameo in the Avalon Universe episode DEMONS. But this time felt different. New Orders wasn’t simply one of them appearing briefly in the other’s film. It was two fan filmmakers who have become “legends” in our small-but-close-knit community, coming together as equals, and teasing the arrival of an awesome fan-favorite character into a fresh, new universe.

The fun thing about the Avalon Universe is that it’s Star Trek–ish but without five decades of canon weighing it down…kinda like what Star Trek: Discovery coulda/shoulda been had they just told us from the beginning that it was a parallel Trek universe (then most of us would have forgiven the different-looking Klingons and shiny uniforms and super-advanced tech). So characters from “standard” Star Trek fan films can pop up in the Avalon Universe in completely new ways. In fact, Captain Jakande, who died in my AXANAR Universe fan film INTERLUDE, will be making an appearance in an upcoming Avalon fan film, alive and healthy and played by actor WARREN HAWK.

As most of you probably know, Josh and Victoria were my directors on Interlude, and I consider both to be good friends. We often spend hours on the phone. The same is true for Vance, for whom a “short” call between the two of us is defined as anything under an hour!

So when I saw Josh and Vance having their own subspace “call” in New Orders, I decided to ask them both to say a few words about this new project…

A tale of two CONSTAR Gregs, Part 2: GREG MITCHELL (audio interview)

Last week, I shined the Fan Film Factor on one of the two Gregs who went from being an actor in VANCE MAJOR’s CONSTAR CHRONICLES to being a writer/director/editor of a full episode. This week, we shift over to the other Constar Greg, GREG MITCHELL.

Greg Mitchell, as you’ll see from the audio interview below, had a slightly different journey. He was an editor on various Constar fan films throughout 2019, and like GREG TEFT (the “other” Greg), Vance offered him the opportunity to move beyond editor and “take the con” on Constar.

Greg Mitchell actually wrote and directed two Constar episodes, but one wasn’t really a Constar production. “Splashdown” was a fan film produced by Greg back in 2014, which he directed and co-wrote featuring the crew of the U.S.S. Splashdown journeying to a backwater planet that looks mostly like a house and backyard. But hey, that’s the fun of do-it-yourself fan films! A Constar Chronicles framing sequence was added around the original fan film and unveiled as part of Vance’s 40-episode release last December.

Take a look…

Also included in the mass-release was a brand new Constar Chronicles episode, again directed by Greg Mitchell and co-written by Greg and Vance together. Greg edited it, of course. The fan film is a classic “stranger in the house” scenario with an unexpected twist. Greg stars in this 17-minute production along with MARY JANE BLYSTONE, who does a fabulous job and makes the film very enjoyable to watch…

Again, I had a very nice chat with Greg, discussing his filmmaking history, editing in particular, and his experiences working with both Vance and members of the Constar cast. Have a listen…

And if you listened to the entire interview and are curious to see my cameo at the end of the Constar Chronicles episode “The Phantom,” click here to view it.

A tale of two CONSTAR Gregs, Part 1: GREG TEFT (audio interview)

When you hear the word “Constar”—at least if you’re a member of the Star Trek fan film community—you’ll probably think of VANCE MAJOR. Between his MINARD saga fan films, his CONSTAR CHRONICLES and CONSTAR CONTINUES fan series, and his brand new CONSTAR COMPLETED fan productions, Vance is responsible for rouglyh a hundred different Star Trek fan films!

But Vance isn’t SOLELY responsible for them, and he’ll be the first to tell you that. In fact, shortly after his Constar Chronicles fan series dropped forty new fan films at the end of 2019 and his Constar Continues was about to kick off in early 2020, I asked Vance if he wanted to do a Fan Film Factor interview to discuss his newest series. And that was when Vance suggested, rather than yet another interview where he was the center of attention, why not shift the focus to some of the other important people who help make the U.S.S. Constar fly…both literally and figuratively.

Specifically, he suggested two fellows named Greg: GREG TEFT and GREG MITCHELL. Both of these fellows acted in some of Vance’s productions, but recently, each of them got the opportunity to write, direct, and edit his own episode of Constar Chronicles. The two episodes were very different, as were the circumstances that led to each of these two fans getting to “take the helm,” as it were. So I decided to interview each Greg individually.

First up is Greg Teft, who has appeared, thus far, in a dozen different Vance Major Star Trek fan films—mostly as the character of Timoteo Russo—between 2017 and 2019. And while you can watch all of Vance’s many, many Constar Chronicles fan films here in this playlist and his Constar Continues here in this playlist, we’re going to focus on one Constar Continues in particular: “Shakedown,” the episode that Greg Teft wrote, directed, edited, and starred in. Take a look…

And now, let’s have a chat with Greg…

Next week, the other Greg, Greg Mitchell, gets his turn in the spotlight.

A tragic COVID death hits the fan film / cosplay community…

SOPHIA NEROVNAYA is a very well-known cosplayer from St. Petersburg, Russia who looks amazingly like T’Pol from Star Trek: Enterprise. On her Facebook page are nearly 800 photos of Sophia throughout Russia and Europe and at home, always in makeup and often in costume, looking nearly identical to her fictional Vulcan counterpart. The only difference is Sophia’s wonderful smile that seems to convey sheer happiness and enthusiasm with Star Trek and with life itself.

All of that was shattered on Sunday with this single post to Facebook:

My loving husband and father of my two sons
died today at 4 pm, of COVID-19.

Sophia and Vadim were married in 2006. The illness apparent came upon him quickly, as Sophia was making typical Facebook posts up though Friday, and then Saturday saw a message that Vadim was urgently hospitalized and in intensive care, under ventilation.

As I type this, there have already been more than 650 comments conveying sympathy. I can’t begin to imagine her grief and loss…and that of her two children. Obviously, Sophia has my condolences, as well my wife’s, even though she has no idea who we are.

Sophia’s connection to the fan film community—in addition to being a huge fan of AXANAR because of the appearance of GARY GRAHAM reprising his role of Ambassador Soval—came about three months ago when VANCE MAJOR reached out to her from across the planet with a request for her to make a cameo or two as T’Pol in his newest CONSTAR COMPLETED fan series. Vance was one of Sophia’s thousands of Facebook friends, but they have communicated a bit over the years through the Star Trek Cosplay Facebook group.

Sophia happily agreed to help Vance out and sent him takes of T’Pol composited in front of an Enterprise NX-01 background which have already appeared in the episode “The Stuff of Legend” alongside her good friend, DAVID FRANCOEUR…

Sophia will also appear in Vance’s new release “1000 Dirty Tricks” in a few weeks.

VANCE MAJOR needs uniforms (again) to complete CONSTAR…new GoFundMe campaign launched!

VANCE MAJOR has produced about a billion Star Trek fan films (or it seems like a billion!)…and he’s not finished yet. With a new batch of about 20 episodes of CONSTAR CONTINUES set for release early next year, Vance still has a bunch more fan films in him! So he’s already planning for his NEXT fan series.

The new project will be titled CONSTAR COMPLETED, and Vance needs some new uniforms to put on his actors. If this sounds kinda déjà vuish to you, you’re not imagining things. Vance has sought out the financial assistance of the fan film community for uniform funding a few times before…and he usually gets there within the first day or two…a week tops! In fact, there’s been a couple of instances when I haven’t even had time to get a blog posted announcing the new Constar crowd-funder before Vance reached his goal.

So this time, I’m rushing as fast as I can to get this blog written and published! Indeed, it’s been less than a day already, and Vance is already nearly a third of the way to his $1,100 goal (including a little sumthin’-sumthin’ from yours truly). That’s the way it goes in this community…even during a pandemic with an economic slowdown.

However, it is still a pandemic with an economic slowdown, so it never hurts to spread the word (rather than the virus!) to fellow fans and friends. So here is the link to Vance Major’s new Constar Completed crowd-funding campaign on GoFundMe:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/constar-completed

If you have a little sumthin’-sumthin’ yourself to give, I guarantee you’ll get a fan film out of it—maybe even one or two DOZEN fan films! And even if you can’t afford to donate at the moment, please help get the word out by sharing the above link. And as always, thanks from both Vance and me.