Tag: Funny

Never let a pandemic ruin an opportunity to take a pot-shot at STAR TREK: DISCOVERY…or so it seems for SCOTT BAKER, a writer, director, and Steadicam operator from Los Angeles. His independent film, 5th Passenger, featured Star Trek alumni TIM RUSS, MARINA SIRTIS, ARMIN SHIMERMAN, MANU INTIRAYMI, HANA HATAE, and DOUG JONES. In his spare time, Scott is also a decent cartoonist, and his first Trek-themed parody short from 2016, CEASE AND DESIST, lampooned the just-announced CBS fan film guidelines. Nearly four years later—with the help of fan film actors RYAN T. HUSK and RICO E. ANDERSON, along with MALÍSSA LONGO (widow of the recently passed and sorely missed ARON “Nog” EISENBERG)—Scott sets his parody sights on both the global quarantine and the most controversial canon changes in Discovery, with hilarious results…

KATIE ANNE NICOLAOU is a weather forecaster on KMEG Weekday Morning News in Sioux City, IA. She’s cute, perky, and does a really good presentation of the weather (which is MUCH harder than you think, folks!) Recently, just for fun, she began doing short videos of weather forecasts for various franchises that she’s a fan of…including Pokemon, Ducktails, Survivor, Star Wars, and Star Trek. You can watch all of her releases via this playlist, but I found the Star Trek one (presented by Katie wearing a blue TNG-era tunic) to be particularly entertaining. And it just goes to show that fans can be anyone, anywhere, doing anything. Go, Katie…!

Back when he was filming the Yosemite scenes for Star Trek V, WILLIAM SHATNER recorded a behind-the-scenes segment providing his insights as writer and director. Specifically, “The Shat” discussed Kirk’s free-climb of El Capitan and why he decides to put his life at risk climbing that mountain. This deeply contemplative commentary was included when the Blu-ray for Trek V was released in 2009 along with a collection of the other five TOS feature films to coincide with the theatrical release of J.J. Abram’s first Star Trek reboot movie. Shortly thereafter, an audio and music studio in Hollywood and Brooklyn called Fall On Your Sword spliced together a surreal edit (quite brilliantly, I must say) of Shatner’s mountain musings and added in a musical soundtrack. Many of you have probably seen the result…

But it didn’t end there. A year later, Fall On Your Sword Studio produced an elaborate parody of their previous parody! And this time, not only did they get their own actor to play Shatner, they actually cast the mountain, too…along with adding in a bunch of dancers, a hot tub, a plate on donuts—oh, just watch it already…!

In 2012, Star Trek Conitnues‘ VIC MIGNOGNA did his own take on the concept…

And since this is the Internet, folks, anything that can be done can be done again…and again. So before we leave Captain Kirk to climb and make love to his mountain, let’s take a quick listen to the 8-bit Nintendo Mario Bros. version…

Director/Producer DYLAN SIDES called this tongue-in-cheek vignette “The Most EPIC SUPER LEGIT fan film of all time!” Is it? Well, watch the thing and find out for yourself…it’s only three and a half minutes! Sheesh! But be careful what you say because you just might have to take some shirt for it…

It’s not quite Christmas carols, but it’s close!  And I do love a good Acapella group.  For nearly a decade, five very talented geeks calling themselves WARP ZONE have produced short YouTube videos (withl millions of views each!) covering the theme songs from sci-fi, fantasy, superhero, action cartoon, and related-genre movies, video games, and TV shows.  From Star Wars, Doctor Who, and Harry Potter to Stranger Things, Westworld, and Game of Thrones to The Simpsons, Cowboy Beebop, and Ducktails—they cover dozens of theme songs we know so well…and all of them while wearing elaborate costumes!  You’ll lose time watching them all on this playlist, and even more of their hilarious videos here, but you won’t want to stop (I sure didn’t)!  And of course, they did Star Trek (all five Paramount series), which I share with you now…

Oh, and if you do want some Christmas carols, they did those back in 2015.  Just click here.

Back in September of 2010, author KEVIN DAVID ANDERSON saw his novel NIGHT OF THE LIVING TREKKIES (still available in hardcover, paperback, kindle, and audio format) published by Quirk Books.  A brilliant  mash-up of a Star Trek convention and zombie movies, the book was filled with hilarious and clever jokes and references that Trek fans would get in a nanosecond (including giving all of the chapters TOS episode titles).  And to help market the book, a 3-minute trailer was created that, as far as I’m concerned, is one of the top MUST SEE funny fan film shorts ever!  See if you agree…

As fan-made Star Trek parody music videos go, this one is right up there with some of the best.  RANDY TURNBOW from Maricopa, Arizona has some amazing costumes from various sci-fi and related franchises, and he’s not afraid to wear them…in front of green screens!  Most of his parodies over the past three years have been Star WARS (including a MUST SEE Frozen/Star Wars parody that is NOT a version of “Let It Go”).  But today, let’s take a look at his one (so far) Star TREK music video, a very well produced and hilarious parody of “All About that Bass” by Meghan Trainor…

Happy STAR WARS DAYS, everybody…MAY THE FOURTH be with you!  Now, I realize that this is a blog site primarily about Star TREK, and some of my readers might not have heard of this Star WARS thing.  I understand.  Until recently, I, too, was confused.  But no more!  Star Trek: Voyager‘s TIM “Tuvok” RUSS, an expert in science fiction if ever there was one, has now explained what this whole “May the Fourth” thing means…

Yeah, I know you’ve probably seen a TON of “Star Wars versus Star Trek” fan films, but this one is totally MENTAL…and I mean that literally!  The creators have recently released a series of humorous short films focusing on the fictional (at least, I hope it’s fictional!) TOTAL REHAB MEDIA CLINIC for addictions to Star Trek, Star Wars, Minecraft, Skyrim—you name the fan addiction, they treat it.  You can view their other recent releases here.  But their funniest and most ambitious production yet is an inspired “field trip” where the patients from the Star Trek and Star Wars therapy groups —usually separated—are dropped off together to stretch their legs  for a short bit while the clinic director goes off to make a quick phone call.  What follows is hilariously brilliant and a MUST SEE funny video…

When wild rumors tuned into inescapable and mind-blowing reality, Trek fans were suddenly faced with a new concept to process: (in)famous Hollywood director QUENTIN TARANTINO will be in charge of the next Star Trek movie!   Yes, the man who brought us such family-friendly films as Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, Reservoir Dogs, Inglorious Bastards, and Django Unchained (to name but a few!) will be at the helm of the USS Enterprise for the fourth Star Trek film in the rebooted franchise.  And leave it to the geniuses at THE NERDIST to come up with a brilliant way to visualize what we’re all now kinda expecting (and dreading?—perhaps)…