Marc Scott Zicree – Page 2

MARC ZICREE talks about SPACE COMMAND! (audio interview)

Yesterday I promised you all a really awesome interview with MARC SCOTT ZICREE. And now it’s time to deliver!

Marc has written hundreds of hours of television for dozens of different shows, including episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Babylon 5, M.A.N.T.I.S. and Sliders. He also wrote, directed, and produced the excellent Star Trek: New Voyages fan film “World Enough and Time” with George Takei.

And now Marc’s passion project is the independently crowd-funded epic fan series SPACE COMMAND. The initial Kickstarter raised over $220K back in 2012. Since then, it’s been a long journey, with two additional Kickstarters, the latest going on right now! As I type this it’s up over $66K (far past the original goal of $45K), with 12 days still to go. Already, post-production has been funded for the first 90 minutes of the two-hour pilot, “Redemption.” But if this current campaign can reach $100K, there will be enough to complete all 1,900 visual FX and the rest of post production on the entire two hours of the pilot.

The cast is a veritable who’s who of Star Trek and sci-fi veteran actors, including:

Robert Picardo (Star Trek: Voyager)
Doug Jones (Pan’s Labyrinth, The Shape of Water, and Star Trek: Discovery)
Bruce Boxleitner (Babylon 5)
Mira Furlan (Babylon 5)
Bill Mumy (Babylon 5 and Lost In Space)
Faran Tahir (Star Trek 2009…he was the captain of the USS Kelvin)
James Hong (Big Trouble in Little China)

And new actors are being added for later episodes, including the most recent announcements: Ethan Philips (Voyager) and Armin Shimerman (Deep Space Nine).

Marc is a fascinating person to talk to with loads of stories and unique perspectives—and he always gives a really great interview. Today is no exception…

Continue reading “MARC ZICREE talks about SPACE COMMAND! (audio interview)”

SPACE COMMAND: “REDEMPTION” (part 1) is now available to the public!

Fans have been waiting for six years to finally see SPACE COMMAND…ever since the initial Kickstarter back in 2012 took in $221,000 from more than 2000 donors. During that time, show-runner MARC ZICREE created a studio, built sets (no, not all by himself), cast actors like ROBERT PICARDO, DOUG JONES, MIRA FURLAN, BILL MUMY, and a host of other noted sci-fi and Hollywood veterans, filmed scenes, sold shares to investors, and planned out post-production.

Then, last November, a second Kickstarter raised an additional $108,000 from 1,126 backers…enough to fund post-production on the first hour of the two-hour pilot “Redemption.” Post-production includes things like editing, VFX, sound, music, compositing, and a host of other tasks that take a bit of time. But finally, last month at San Diego Comic Con, Marc debuted the first half-hour of Space Command: “Redemption” to a live audience.

Shortly thereafter, Marc shared a special video link so that donors could also see that first half-hour segment. It was really well done—especially considering that the budget was the merest fraction of what gets spent on shows like Discovery or The Expanse.

I expected, when the newest Kickstarter campaign launched late last month (to fund post production on the remaining hour of the pilot), that the link to the completed Part 1 would be shared with the general public.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t.

Yesterday, I interviewed Marc (great interview, by the way; it’ll be posted tomorrow) and asked him about that. It turns out that Marc was just waiting for a few last-minute tweaks. Apparently, the version that had been posted to donors was rushed out to be ready for Comic Con, and now Marc wanted to fix a few things before showing it to everyone else.

But now those fixes are in (and apparently, a few more are still to come), and the video is available for the public to see. HOORAY! There’s a short 5-minute introduction by Marc—which you’re welcome to watch or skip—followed by the complete first half hour of “Redemption.” Enjoy…

And remember that you can donate to their latest Kickstarter up through August 27 by clicking here:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/58936338/space-command-redemption-chapters-3-and-4

SPACE COMMAND Kickstarter takes in $33K before it even STARTS!

Wow, that was quick!

The latest Kickstarter for the long-awaited fan film SPACE COMMAND hadn’t even launched to the general public yet when it took in more than $33K of its $45K goal in barely 24 hours earlier this week!

How did they manage this feat? Easy…they had an “early bird special” for existing donors to have first crack at some limited-item perks, and over 500 of those prior donors pledged even more money to this latest campaign.

Why all the excitement? To answer that question, you need to understand the history of this not-so-little endeavor.

Imagine a major fan film project with Star Trek and sci-fi veteran actors cast in it, and a team of Hollywood professionals lined up as the production crew. Imagine one of the earliest Kickstarter campaigns bringing in six figures in donations, and then a second crowd-funder bringing in another six figures. Now imagine those funds going into not only set construction and filming but also the creation of an actual studio intended to be used not only for this production but also to be rented out to other fan film projects.

Now imagine years and years going by with no finished fan film delivered. Oh, there’s been some short scenes released, some VFX, lots of updates by the show-runner assuring donors that, yes, this project is still on track. But no actual film. In fact, to finish the film, donors were informed that it’s going to take even more contributions from fans.

You’re imagining Axanar, aren’t you? Well, stop it! This is the history of Space Command, folks…

Continue reading “SPACE COMMAND Kickstarter takes in $33K before it even STARTS!”

SPACE COMMAND to debut first 30 minutes of their pilot at SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON!

Fan film supporters are no strangers to waiting—sometimes for years!—to see their donations finally reach fruition in the form of a finished release.

Take a look at this list of fan films (both Star Trek and sci-fi genre featuring Trek actors) that were successfully funded (either publicly or privately) and still have not been released…in order from earliest to most recent campaign:

Axanar (funded in 2014 and 2015)
Star Trek: First Frontier (unfunded in 2015 then privately financed)
Star Trek: New Voyages “Torment of Destiny” (funded in 2015)
Pacific 201 (funded in 2015 and 2016)
Captain Pike (funded in 2015 and 2016)
Starship Farragut “Homecoming” (funded in late 2015)
Blade of Honor (funded in 2016 and 2017)
The Circuit: Urbiessa (funded in 2017)

All of these fan projects have taken in at least five-figures in crowd-funding and often six-figures or more. And fans have been waiting for some of these films to be released for over three years!

But that’s nothing compared to SPACE COMMAND!

One of the earliest sci-fi Kickstarters to crack into six-figures, Space Command took in $221,267 way back in July of 2012! Then, five years later, Space Command pulled in another $108,671 in December of 2017!

Written and directed by MARK SCOTT ZICREE (who wrote episodes for ST:TNG and DS9 and wrote and directed the acclaimed Star Trek: New Voyages fan film “World Enough and Time” with George Takei) the Space Command pilot episode would feature an impressive cast of sci-fi notables—DOUG JONES, ROBERT PICARDO, BILL MUMY, and MIRA FURLAN—high production values, and what looked to be breathtaking VFX. It’s no wonder that fans contributed nearly a third of a million dollars to turn that homage to classic 1950s sci-fi into a fan film reality.

But, dude…it’s been six frickin’ years!!!

However, the wait looks like it is finally over for Space Command fans and donors. Marc Zicree has just announced that the first half hour of the 2-hour pilot episode will debut in just a few weeks at Comic-Con International in San Diego!

But that’s not all he announced! Let’s turn the microphone over to Marc…

Continue reading “SPACE COMMAND to debut first 30 minutes of their pilot at SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON!”

SPACE COMMAND Kickstarter reaches $100,000!

Yep! Just six days ago, I was asking if the SPACE COMMAND Kickstarter could make it over $80,000 (they were less than $7,000 away from that second stretch goal). Now, with only 11 hours left, they’ve just crossed the $100,000 mark.

This means that fans now get to see a third trailer for the project (see below), and that the project will fund at least HALF of the 2-hour pilot episode…with funds to spare! And if they manage to hit $130,000 before the end of the Kickstarter tonight, that’ll fund post production for an additional half hour.

Already, scenes have been filmed for the first SIX HOURS of Space Command, which is half of the complete initial season. Those three 2-hour stories—“Redemption,” “Forgiveness,” and “The Great Solar War”—feature such notable genre actors as Doug Jones, Bob Picardo, Mira Furlan, Bill Mumy, Bruce Boxleitner, John Hennigan, Faran Tahir, James Hong, Mike Harney…as well as their worldwide talent search winners Ethan McDowell and Bryan McClure!

And now, here’s a few words from show-runner MARC SCOTT ZICREE…

We’re now moving full speed with our line producer, VFX artists and the rest of our team working on AMAZING scenes and sequences.

Within the next few months, you’ll have the first half-hour of our two-hour pilot in hand, and then it’s on to the rest!

If you want to see a FULL SCENE, here’s a wonderful encounter between Synthetic human Dor Neven (Doug Jones) and mining foreman Yusef Sekander (Robert Picardo) in Yusef’s quarters in the mining facility on Ceres in the asteroid belt!

The entire time with Space Command, there’s never been a network or studio making it happen – it’s been all of us willing this into existence and making it happen.

As I say often, compassion and love can be a counterweight to all the hatred and chaos in the world; they can make a present a future worth living in for ourselves and our children and our grandchildren.

It’s up to us to make that world, and that universe.

That’s what Space Command is all about, and it’s what I’ve dedicated my life to, in my work and in my life. Thanks for your faith and for staying the course.

The next few months will be simply phenomenal.

All good thoughts your way, as ever,

Marc

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO DONATE

(You’ve got until 10:00 pm PST tonight!)

And now, here is the third trailer, and the first to feature a look at the characters played by Faran Tahir (the captain of the USS Kelvin) and James Hong (Big Trouble in Little China)…

Can the SPACE COMMAND Kickstarter make it to $80,000?

They need $6,000 in 6 days. Can they make it???

Four weeks ago, the fan film project SPACE COMMAND, written and directed by MARC ZICREE, set out to generate $39,000 for post-production on the first 30-minute part of their 2-hour long pilot “Redemption.” That goal was reached in just 9 days. Their next goal is now $80,000 to fund post-production for the entire first hour. As I write this, they are at $73,890. Will they be able to make it across the stretch finish line?

I hope so!

The series draws inspiration from the classic sci-fi films, TV shows, and literature of the 1950s and 1960s…with a look and style that is both modern and retro at the same time. Space Command will feel like what classic sci-fi would be were it produced today.

The pilot features a cast that includes notables from Star Trek and other well-known sci-fi franchises:

Robert Picardo (Star Trek: Voyager)
Doug Jones (Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy, and now Star Trek: Discovery’s Saru)
Bruce Boxleitner (Babylon 5)
Mira Furlan (Babylon 5)
Bill Mumy (Babylon 5 and Lost In Space)
Faran Tahir (Star Trek 2009…he was the captain of the USS Kelvin)
James Hong (Big Trouble in Little China)
And more!

When the Kickstarter passed $65K on November 22, the Space Command team released the second of their new trailer videos. If you haven’t seen it yet, take a look…

There’s still time to throw a few dollars their way (or a few more dollars, if you’ve already pledged something). It’s an exciting project, and it would be FANtastic if they could bring in enough to complete a full hour of their project.

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO DONATE!

If you can’t afford to donate, that’s fine. But please consider sharing a link either to this blog page or directly to their Kickstarter to spread the word.

And for a great interview with show-runner MARC ZICREE, take a listen to this:

SPACE COMMAND Kickstarter nears $65,000 – releases NEW TRAILER!

Probably the most exciting (and successful) sci-fi fan film Kickstarter to come recently is the one for SPACE COMMAND. Although Space Command was originally funded through Kickstarter with more than $200K back in 2012 and all the sets were built and all scenes filmed for its pilot 2-hour episode, post-production (visual FX, music, color adjustment, etc.) still needs a bit more funding to be completed.

Two weeks ago, a new Kickstarter was launched with a goal of $39K for post-production for the first half-hour of the pilot, and that was quickly met and surpassed. A stretch goal of $55K was set with a promise of a new trailer if that number was reached. This happened last week, and this exciting video was released shortly thereafter…

As of this writing, they are just $568 short of their new stretch goal of $65K, when they will release a SECOND new trailer! If you want to help them reach that number or even get to $80,000 to fund the second half hour of the pilot, then…

CLICK HERE TO DONATE!

The pilot episode, “Redemption,” features a cast that included notables from Star Trek and other well-known sci-fi franchises:

Robert Picardo (Star Trek: Voyager)
Doug Jones (Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy, and now Star Trek: Discovery’s Saru)
Bruce Boxleitner (Babylon 5)
Mira Furlan (Babylon 5)
Bill Mumy (Babylon 5 and Lost In Space)
Faran Tahir (Star Trek 2009…he was the captain of the USS Kelvin)
James Hong (Big Trouble in Little China)

For a great interview with writer and show-runner MARC ZICREE, where he explains why it’s taken five years to get this far and why Space Command will be worthy your donation, take listen to this:

And remember to visit their Kickstarter page for more information!

Marc Zicree discusses his episode of Star Trek: New Voyages and professionals working on fan films (part 2)

Last time: Marc Scott Zicree discussed the first professional fan film, “World Enough and Time,” the fourth episode release from Star Trek: New Voyages back in 2007. Roughly 200-300 people worked on the production (235 names appear in the credits plus another 50 on the “Special thanks” list. A number of team members were actually Hollywood industry professionals…including George Takei himself reprising his role of Sulu, plus Marc and his co-writer Michael Reaves, his editor Chris Cronin, many of the department heads, the visual effects team, and the production unit who shot the USS Excelsior scenes in Los Angeles (the majority of the episode was filmed in upstate New York on the New Voyages TOS sets).

Even today, nearly a decade later, “World Enough and Time” remains high up on the list of MUST SEE fan films. And it provides a magnificent example of the kind of engaging, emotional, and dramatically satisfying production that can be achieved using a mixture of fan amateurs and industry professionals working together to create a true labor of love.

Of course, such a fan film would now be impossible to create and release under the new guidelines issued by CBS and Paramount. Industry professionals are barred from working on a fan film, although this particular guideline may violate California’s Business and Professions Code: Section 16600. Even if it does, however, fan films are now limited to 15-minute episodes or, at most, two 15-minute parts totaling no more than 30 minutes. The depth of character development and story complexity required for “World Enough and Time” could never be squeezed into such a constrained time limitation…nor should it, say many fans.

Marc Zicree is a rabid Star Trek and science fiction fan who has written and produced hundreds of hours of network television over a career spanning decades…including episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine.

As our 2-part interview with Marc concludes, he finishes discussing “World Enough and Time” and then dives head-first into what he thinks about those darn guidelines…

Continue reading “Marc Zicree discusses his episode of Star Trek: New Voyages and professionals working on fan films (part 2)”

Marc Zicree discusses his episode of Star Trek: New Voyages and professionals working on fan films (part 1)

Some fans believe that Axanar was the first fan film to use professionals or, at the very least, the first to pay them. Both of those assumptions are incorrect by nearly a decade.

The first fan film to feature a known Star Trek professional in their credits was the debut episode of Star Trek: New Voyages in early 2004, “Come What May,” which featured Doug Drexler as visual effects artist (under the pseudonym “Max Rem”) while Doug was also actively working doing the digital FX for Star Trek: Enterprise and also for the new Battlestar Galactica.

New Voyages’ next episode, “In Harm’s Way,” likewise included Doug Drexler…this time as an executive producer. It also featured veteran Star Trek TOS guest stars William Windom (reprising his role as an older, time-displaced Commodore Matt Decker), BarBara Luna, and Malachi Thorne (also voicing his former role as Commodore Jose Mendez as well as playing a Klingon).

Continue reading “Marc Zicree discusses his episode of Star Trek: New Voyages and professionals working on fan films (part 1)”