Rants & Raves: Star Trek

Rants & Raves is an opportunity for writers to express opinions, wax poetic and share thoughts about entertainment, politics, life, or whatever else they feel like talking about. These are strictly writer opinions and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of INFLUX Magazine, but rather provide an outlet to express one’s ideas.

by Martin Hafer

I recently completed a very strange task. I have now finally finished re-watching and reviewing every single Star Trek television episode as well as their official movies on IMDb. This is no small feat, since the TV shows add up to over 29 seasons worth of shows! In total, I reviewed all the shows from the original show, the horrible animated series from the 1970s (don’t get me started about this one…yuck!), Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space 9, Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise, plus the many movies created by Paramount!

Surely this is everything and I have no more opportunities to fulfill my geeky Trek-quest…right?! Nope. It turns out that there are quite a few fan films out there waiting to be seen. I only know of a few (hint: I would love to know about others), but they are awfully amazing in their own right.

Starship Exeter is a strange project from around 2000, as some really dedicated fans decided to make a series much like the original Star Trek and so they constructed their own sets to duplicate the ones Kirk, Spock and McCoy used! These were all non-professional actors and considering its humble origins, it’s really quite amazing to watch online. But then there are projects like Star Trek: Phase II. It was much like the Exeter series — a fan-sponsored project. But, unlike this earlier series, Phase II managed to secure the services of the likes of Walter Koenig (Chekov) and George Takei (Sulu) from the original Trek TV show! Wow! These new shows are beginning to have a more professional look to them.

Now there are some new projects that blow the old fan films out of the water–fan films which have casts made up of MANY old Trek actors and an even more professional look. With ever cheaper and better graphics programs, Star Trek Renegades and Star Trek: Captain Pike are films that look much like the old shows–and are sometimes even better! Renegades is coming out later this year and is directed by Tim Russ (Tuvok from Star Trek: Voyager) and stars actors like Walter Koenig, Robert Picardo (the Doctor from Star Trek: Voyager), as well as Gary Graham (Star Trek: Enterprise), Sean Young and other professional actors. Captain Pike is a prequel–a show about the captain of Enterprise just before Kirk. It is slated to come out next year and bosts an impressive cast as well, including: Walter Koenig, Robert Picardo, Bruce Davidson and Ray Wise (as Pike’s father, the Admiral).

Renegades and Captain Pike are professional looking productions of fan fiction, however the programs are definitely in need of your love and support. You can go to both sites and see clips, promo materials and very nice looking pleas for money to complete the films. Try going to both sites to see just how nice these films are as well as information about how such ambitious projects are being made. It’s a very strange yet exciting opportunity for fans–one which I wasn’t even aware of until quite recently. Also, if you know of any other entertaining fan films like these, let me know or post the information here on Influx. I’d really appreciate it. Plus, I haven’t even talked about all the Star Wars fan films!!

startrekrenegades.com

www.indiegogo.com for Captain Pike