Now here is an idea. There is a Star Trek “fan film” in the works right now… but I’m not really sure it can be called a “fan film”. You see… it’s being made by Tim Russ (the guy who played Tuvok on Star Trek Voyager) and has the following people in it:
the upcoming fan film Star Trek Of Gods and Men. The picture shows actors Alan Ruck as Captain John Harriman of the Enterprise-B, Nichelle Nichols as Commander Uhura, Star Trek New Voyages’ James Cawley and Walter Koenig as Commander Pavel Chekov.
I think this is a hilarious idea… but the question remains… is it REALLY a fan film if it has a bunch of actual cast members in it? Maybe it’s something else entirely. I’m really interested in seeing how this thing turns out.
You can see a bigger version of the picture here.
For a Firefly fanfilm, check out http://www.intotheblack.ca
Nevertheless, I wish them all the luck. Now someone do Firefly like this…I’d donate.
“Tim Russ, like some of his fellow Trek actors, have directed episodes of varied Trek episodes or movies.”
This is one of those things that kind of grates. TV series tend to have different directors all the time yet most of them remain fairly consistent from episode to episode. Usually that’s because of a line producer that’s there throughout the season. He doesn’t take on the day-to-day chores of a director, but maintains a level of “quality control” that keeps most series from running off the rails every time a new director walks in the door. I’m of the opinion that you could almost let a monkey direct for a week and it wouldn’t lead to an abnormally bad episode of any given series. So, while I defer to the possible skills of Tim Russ as a director, I don’t think anyone should jump to any conclusions about how much skill he actually has at the job just yet.
I’m not sure this can be called a “fan film” as they’re usually made by fans and this is stars of the show. However, I know that many a fan film would love to get this sort of support from the franchise. I think this could be fun and it’s definately a way to get people talking positively about the possibility of another Star Trek film.
I think this does set aside some ‘fan film’ norms.
*Tim Russ, like some of his fellow Trek actors, have directed episodes of varied Trek episodes or movies. So Russ, aside from an actor, could also be a little seasoned as a director. Very few who make ‘Fan films’ are seasoned directors. By seasoned I mean something done on a professional level and not an amatuer one.
*Russ, as noted, is an actor, but also has made good friends with Trek actors on the Festival and convention circuits; sometimes reaching out to aquaintences/friends isn’t too far out. Especially if they don’t have the phone ringing all the time.
*The film will most likely be shown at such conventions, but…given the talent involved, could is it canon or unofficial (great question, John! Stumped me!)
Now as for basics:
*Costumes? If actors don’t have the old moth eaten uniform stacked away or donated, anyone can go to the fan stores and stock up.
*Sets? This would pose the biggest challege, although there are two possiblities. One is that Russ +friends pooled money together and rented out a stage or warehouse to make a stage. Two is CGI stages like Sky Captain or Sin City.
Nowm if a certain studio we know and love closes you down for an hour and fifteen minutes, you know that they reached out to Russ, threw 20 million in his lap and instruct him to keep filming, as Trek does not big name actors, but just enough to turn a quick profit. And make no mistake- this short film IS in my opinion, a reach out from Russ to Paramount: consider this!
Message from space
– Sealer.
With all praise that i can give to star wars – revelations as far as the effects and compositing work that went into it, it was still VERY obviously a fan-film. The acting was god awful, and the script could have used some serious reworking. Though I will say again, the effects work was incredible for a more or less ” no – budget ” production.
Revelations would have been much better served by finding and hiring people possibly out of a local theatre group than using just friends and family. Though im glad to see that a lot of the effects staff who did work on revelations actually got jobs with ILM and Lucasfilm.
Its one of the possible futures of movies.
I listen to the Howard Stern show and George Tekai (youngest cast member) is a guest host on his show. But he’s been busy filming this movie as of late. He said it was well financed and he spoke highly of it. I visited the site a few weeks ago this sould be good. And for those who dont have faith in fan films (like john) try this..http://www.panicstruckpro.com/revelations/revelations_movie.html
This is a very good Star Wars fan film. Darth Vader or the Emperor is even in it, I think.
I love The Movie Blog.
its more like a Rogue filme like Never Say Never Again….it is a franchise film outside of the franchise…especially when you have so many reprisals
Wow look Cameron Frye grew up and now hes captaining a starship ;) Seriously though, this has the possibility of being really cool. I always wondered about the adventures of the Enterprise-B after I saw Star Trek Generations. I thought that would have actually made for a better film, especially because of the way they killed off Kirk. You dont kill off your most popular character by having a bridge fall on him on some out of the way desert planet. Just my opinion.
Considering a Trek alumnus is actually at the helm, this could get some good support from effects houses willing to donate a little time to work on this, and since there are actual trek actors involved (albeit not the fan favorites) this could actually get some main-stream support. I hope the script is good, because to date I dont think I’ve seen even one marginally passable Trek Fan Film, other than that Finnish trek-spoof one, Star Wreck, thats pretty funny.
Wow…as a long time fan of Star Trek (minus voyager and the first couple seasons of DS9 – and please dont confuse me with a Trekkie or Treker, I’m just a casual fan), this kind of stumped me. I mean, everyone is claiming ST is dead, and I kind of admit that too. It’s had its run. But to see something like this pop up really boggles my mind. Wow is all I can say right now. Maybe these “fan films” are going to be picked up as the new Star Trek. Who knows?