Jul
31
2010

Star Trek: New Voyages – Come What May

Star Trek: New Voyages - Come What MayStardate 6010.1: No sooner has the Enterprise emerged from spacedock following a refit than a distress call is received from a cantankerous Starbase commander, who later sends another message: the emergency is over, thanks to the intervention of someone named Onabi. A suspicious Captain Kirk orders the Enterprise to proceed there anyway, where he and the Enterprise crew meet Onabi for themselves, and discover that she has a closer connection to the unknown alien threat than the Starbase personnel suspect.

Watch Itwritten by Jack Marshall
directed by Jack Marshall

Cast: James Cawley (Captain Kirk), Jeffery Quinn (Mr. Spock), John Kelley (Dr. McCoy), Jack Marshall (Scott), Jay Storey (Kyle), Julienne Irons (Uhura), Meghan King Johnson (Rand), Ron Boyd (DeSalle), Jasen Tucker (Chekov), Jay Storey (Kyle), Larry Nemecek (Cal Strickland), John Winston (Captain Jefferies), Eddie Paskey (Admiral Leslie), Andrea Ajemian (Onabi), Mark Strock (Ohn), Shawn David (Security Officer), Pearl Marshall (Security Officer), Jeff Mailhote (Security Officer), Ed Kaczmarek (Mr. Leslie), Ed Abbate (Crewman), Timothy Sheffield (Crewman), Michel Anderson (Crewman), Anthony Laviano (Crewman), Jerry Yuen (Crewman)

Review: At the time this first effort by James Cawley and the determined Star Trek: New Voyages crew hit the internet, it was a revelation for most folks who weren’t on the inside curve when it came to fan films. Arguably, the media interest in their efforts not only put New Voyages and other Trek fan films on the map, but drew more attention to fan-made continuations of existing “universes” in general. In the minds of some diehard Trek fans, it was also a ballsy, defiant gesture to Paramount: if you don’t make the Star Trek we want to watch (a vocal faction of fandom was disappointed in the then-current series Star Trek: Enterprise), we’ll make it ourselves. (more…)

May
25
2010

Starship Farragut: The Animated Episodes – The Needs Of The Many

Starship Farragut: The Needs Of The ManyStardate 6047.1: Captain Carter and the Farragut receive secret sealed orders to proceed at once to the planet Cestus III, the site of a Federation outpost attacked by the Gorn. A Federation science station near the planet, which escaped the Gorn’s wrath before, is sending a distress signal; before warping in to help, Carter and his crew receive a classified briefing which explains the original Gorn attack. The science station is studying a recently discovered wormhole which allows travel not only through space, but through time as well – a strategic hotspot for anyone wishing to simply slip into the past and attack their enemies. The Farragut arrives just in time to see the Gorn fire a weapon into the wormhole, which has unintended consequences: both ships are surrounded by “bubbles” of time which are temporarily warding off massive changes to history. But when the bubbles dissipate, the Farragut will cease to exist as a result of those changes. A woman from the past appears, with a personal connection to Chief Engineer Smithfield, but Smithfield’s ancestor may have to be sent back in time to meet her doom to set history straight. Is this really her fate?

Watch Itwritten by Michael Struck and Jack Trevino
adapted from a story by Michael Struck
directed by Michael Struck
music by Yvette Blais & Jeff Michael
Farragut theme by Hetoreyn

Voice Cast: John Broughton (Captain John T. Carter), Michael Bednar (Commander Robert Tacket), Holly Bednar (Lt. Commander Michelle Smithfield), Paul R. Sieber (Lt. Prescott), Tonya Bacon (Lt. Moretti), Amy McDonough (Dr. Holley), Bob McDonough (Galway)

Special Guest Voices: Chris Doohan, Hetoreyn, Jason LeBlanc, Chase Masterson, Vic Mognogna, Ralph M. Miller, Lou Scheimer

Notes: Scotty pays the Farragut a visit, voiced by Chris Doohan, the son of the late James Doohan, while the Romulan commander is voiced by Lou Scheimer, producer of the original Filmation Star Trek animated series, who did an uncredited turn as the voice of the same Romulan in the animated episode The Practical Joker in 1974.

Review: Another winner of an animated episode from the Farragut team and Neo F/X, The Needs Of The Many seems a little bit familiar – playing off of the same “restore history by sending this person back in time to their death” premise as Yesterday’s Enterprise, among others – but it’s interesting to see it play out in animation. Clocking in at almost the same running time as a standard live-action Star Trek episode, and dealing with more mature themes (and yet somehow not being heavy-handed with it), Needs would be a good show as either live action or a cartoon. (more…)

Dec
04
2009

Star Trek: Phase II – Blood And Fire, Part II

Star Trek: Phase II - Blood And Fire, Part IIStardate not given: A boarding party from the Enterprise is trapped aboard the derelict Copernicus, which is infested with Regulan bloodworms – an infestation which demands the immediate destruction of the Copernicus and the sacrifice of anyone left aboard her, per Starfleet regulations. But the boarding party includes Spock, Rand, DeSalle and Captain Kirk’s nephew Peter, so he’s in no hurry to execute the mandatory order to destroy Copernicus. Scotty tries a last-ditch maneuver, beaming the boarding party to another deck of the Copernicus – one where, amazingly, Spock’s team finds survivors, including Dr. Jenna Yar and the secretive Commander Blodgett. Dr. Yar claims to be working on a cure for the plague spread by the bloodworms, but McCoy dismisses her proposed treatment as impossibly dangerous for any patients subjected to the process. With time running out, McCoy comes up with his own alternative to Yar’s treatment, and insists on beaming himself to the Copernicus to administer it; if it doesn’t work, he’ll be sentencing himself to death along with the boarding party. In the midst of this already-bleak scenario a Klingon ship arrives, commanded by Kirk’s nemesis Commander Kargh, who is ready to destroy the Copernicus and all aboard if Kirk won’t.

Watch Itwritten by Carlos Pedraza & David Gerrold
directed by David Gerrold
music by Fred Steiner

Cast: James Cawley (Captain Kirk), Ben Toplin (Mr. Spock), John Kelley (Dr. McCoy), Bobby Quinn Rice (Ensign Peter Kirk), Evan Fowler (Alex Freeman), Denise Crosby (Dr. Jenna Yar), Bill Blair (Commander Blodgett), John Carrigan (Commander Kargh), Charles Root (Scott), Jay Storey (Kyle), Kim Stinger (Uhura), Ron Boyd (DeSalle), Andy Bray (Chekov), Meghan King Johnson (Rand), Nick Cook (Hodel), Paul R. Sieber (Agrens), Patrick Bell (Xon), Debbie Huth (Fontana), Jeff Mailhotte (Sentell), Joel Bellucci (Bren), Anne Carrigan (Le’ak), James Avalon (Klaar)

Notes: Dr. Jenna Yar (full name: Jenna Natasha Yar) is the grandmother of Lt. Tasha Yar from Star Trek: The Next Generation; by this stage she has already had a daughter, presumably Tasha’s mother, who is safe on Earth and isn’t seen in this story. Section 31 is retroactively worked into the classic Trek timeline here; it was actually first mentioned in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in the 1990s, and later in Star Trek: Enterprise.

Review: The long-awaited second half of this Trek cliffhanger arrived more than a year after the first part hit the web, and even so, I’m writing this review based on a mostly-complete pre-release edit whose final two acts are still in the “temp edit” stage. (more…)

Sep
13
2009

Starship Farragut: The Animated Episodes – Power Source

Starship Farragut: Power SourceStardate 6050.5: The Farragut is dispatched to the vicinity of an enormous gas giant, the last known location of the Federation starship U.S.S. Azrael, which was initially sent to study it. The Azrael is discovered intact, but it fires torpedoes at the Farragut with surgical precision: the ship’s ability to move and fight are damaged, but that’s all. Smithfield and her engineering crew begin repairs, while Captain Carter quizzes Prescott about the service record of the Azrael’s Captain Glenn, under whom Prescott served on a training mission. Tacket and Carter find an interesting mention in the log entries transmitted to Starfleet from the Azrael before the ship fell silent: alien devices are surrounding the gas planet and gradually sapping it of its energy. They may also be behind the behavior of the Azrael’s captain and crew…but how can Carter stop the same from happening to his own ship?

Watch Itwritten by Thomas J. Scott
directed by Michael Struck
music by Yvette Blais & Jeff Michael
Farragut theme by Hetoreyn

Voice Cast: John Broughton (Captain John T. Carter), Michael Bednar (Commander Robert Tacket), Holly Bednar (Lt. Commander Michelle Smithfield), Paul R. Sieber (Lt. Prescott), Tonya Bacon (Lt. Moretti), Amy McDonough (Dr. Holley), Bob McDonough (Galway)

Special Guest Voices: Chris Doohan, Hetoreyn, Jason LeBlanc, Chase Masterson, Vic Mognogna, Ralph M. Miller, Lou Scheimer

Review: A first of its kind in the world of Star Trek fan films, Power Source takes the already well-regarded (and deservedly so) fan series Starship Farragut and turns it into an homage to Filmation’s early ’70s Saturday morning Star Trek cartoon. The result is more than an homage – not only does it look like Filmation’s animated Trek, it even sounds like it, thanks to Filmation producer Lou Scheimer giving the production access to the actual background music and even some artwork elements used in the ’70s. (more…)

Feb
16
2009

Star Trek: Phase II – Blood And Fire, Part I

Star Trek: Phase II - Blood And Fire, Part IStardate not given: After a pitched battle with a Klingon cruiser, the Enterprise is left battered, but a distress call from the U.S.S. Copernicus prevents Kirk from putting in for repairs. The Enterprise limps to the Copernicus’ aid at a low warp speed as a result of the damage, but what the crew finds is almost beyond explanation: the Copernicus is adrift, only a few hours away from sliding into a stream of matter connecting a binary star system. The Copernicus will be destroyed, but it appears that something has already killed the crew. As Kirk selects a boarding party to find out what happened on the Copernicus, he carefully omits his nephew, the recently-arrived Ensign Peter Kirk, from the mission. This draws a note of caution from Spock, and an anguished protest from Peter: if the crew feels that he’s receiving preferential treatment keeping him out of harm’s way, Peter will have to request reassignment. Peter wants to be treated as just another member of the crew – and that includes requesting that Captain Kirk officiate his upcoming wedding to another crewman, medic Alex Freeman. Kirk accedes to both requests, assigning both Peter and Freeman to the Copernicus mission. Soon after arriving, they both wish they’d stayed on the Enterprise: the Copernicus is infested with Regulan bloodworms, a life form so fast-speading and deadly that Starfleet has only one protocol for dealing with them – the immediate destruction of any ship found to be infested. With both his nephew and Spock aboard the Copernicus, Kirk has no plans to follow that order, but it may be too late to save his boarding party anyway, as they’re surrounded by swarming bloodworms.

Watch Itwritten by Carlos Pedraza & David Gerrold
directed by David Gerrold
music by Fred Steiner

Cast: James Cawley (Captain Kirk), Ben Toplin (Mr. Spock), John Kelley (Dr. McCoy), Bobby Quinn Rice (Ensign Peter Kirk), Evan Fowler (Alex Freeman), Charles Root (Scotty), Jay Storey (Kyle), Kim Stinger (Uhura), Ron Boyd (DeSalle), Andy Bray (Chekov), Megan King Johnson (Rand), Nick Cook (Hodel), Paul R. Sieber (Ahrens), Patrick Bell (Xon), Debbie Huth (Fontana), Jeff Mailhotte (Sentell), Joel Belucci (Bren), Phil Koeghen (Admiral Koeghen), Scott Danni, Rich Lundy, George Wilhelm, Gwen Wilkins, Rick Bruns, Danielle Porter, Robert Mauro, Dan Wright, Melissa Wright, Elizabeth Peterson, Mabel Vilagro, Greg Schnitzer, Betsy Durkee, Jeff Collingsworth, Brian Holloway, Pat Heward, Amanda Root, Ralph M. Miller, Joe Nazzarro, John Hermann, Jessica Mailhotte, Glenn Smith, Ed Abbatte, Giovana Contini, Ron Gates, Ryan Storey, Jerry Storey, Paula Bailey, Erik Goodrich, Tom Brown, Howard Huth, Riva Gijanto, Carol Mazur, Howard Miller (Extras), Majel Barrett Roddenberry (Computer Voice)

Notes: Blood And Fire was originally written by David Gerrold (writer of the classic Trek favorite The Trouble With Tribbles) as an episode for the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, allegorically dealing with AIDS, the search for a cure, and its effect on the gay community. In many an interview and convention appearance, Gerrold has said that Gene Roddenberry verbally agreed to pursue these issues in the then-new show, but would never approve Blood And Fire for production, which eventually lead to Gerrold’s departure from the writing staff. It has also been adapted into a non-Star Trek novel. Fan writer Carlos Pedraza, previously a writer on the fan series Star Trek: Hidden Frontier (which prominently featured gay characters in a way that Paramount’s officially produced episodes and series never addressed), adapted Gerrold’s original script for the Kirk era. This is the first episode to carry the “Star Trek: Phase II” banner, though the opening titles still display “New Voyages” before “beaming” in “Phase II.” (Phase II was a semi-official subtitle applied to the aborted late ’70s TV revival of classic Trek, as chronicled in the excellent book of the same name by Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens.) Early publicity indicated that Blood And Fire would feature an original score by Neil Norman, the producer behind many Star Trek soundtracks released on CD in the 1990s by his father’s GNP Crescendo label, as well as a composer in his own right, but the finished episode instead features original series music by composer Fred Steiner.

Review: For years we’ve been hearing about Blood And Fire and how great it would’ve been in the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and after a while it’s natural to wonder how much of the hype is warranted. But after seeing the episode itself, and finding that about 2/3 of the way in I was on the edge of my seat, I think it’s safe to say that this is New Voyages/Phase II firing on all cylinders with no casting gimmicks to use as a crutch. It’s just a good story, told and acted well, with one hell of a cliffhanger. (more…)

Jan
19
2009

Starship Farragut Crew Logs: A Rock And A Hard Place

Starship Farragut Crew Logs: A Rock And A Hard PlaceStardate 4901.2: Investigating dilithium readings on an otherwise unremarkable planet, Captain Carter and geologist Dr. Bishop find indications of vast mineral wealth both promising and dangerous – not only is starship-powering dilithium abundant, but so is tricobalt, an ingredient for destructive weaponry. And it turns out that the planet’s mineral riches haven’t gone unnoticed by the Klingons…a fact that almost escapes Carter as he and Bishop – who were an item earlier in their Starfleet careers – enjoy a romantic moment. Not only are the Klingons killing the mood, but they might kill a Starfleet captain as well.

Watch Itscreenplay by John Broughton
directed by Mark Hildebrand
music by Hetoreyn

Cast: John Broughton (Captain Jack Carter), Michael Bednar (Commander Tacket), Holly Bednar (Lt. Commander Smithfield), D.D. Hatcher (Dr. Angela Bishop), Jamie Hanna (Klingon Commander), Eddie Lao (Borok), Jake Azachi (Akiva), David Sepan (Baker)

Review: A bite-sized 17-minute chunk of adventure that requires a little less investment of time than a full episode, with slightly less story as a result, Rock And A Hard Place is a neat little adventure, highlighting both the strengths and weaknesses of the Starship Farragut project as a whole. (more…)

Sep
15
2008

Star Trek: Of Gods And Men, Part 3

Star Trek: Of Gods And MenStardate not given: Convinced to join Uhura and Kitrick (a man whose real name, before his freedom fighter days, was Pavel Chekov) on the planet surface, Harriman is branded a traitor by the crew of the Conqueror and sentenced to execution…as soon as he returns to the ship. But for now, he and the others have encountered a different version of Charlie Evans, one whose destiny was not interrupted by James T. Kirk. Convinced to set history back on its original path, Charlie discovers that there’s an obstacle in his way – another being with godlike powers. Harriman and Kitrick know him as the ruler of the empire; Uhura somehow recognizes the same man as Gary Mitchell. Harriman and the others are beamed back to the Conqueror, and they’re only able to escape with one last act of heroism by Ragnar and his shape-shifting ability. Harriman and Kitrick commandeer the bridge and take on the forces of the empire with just a single ship, but the two men’s fierce cunning and skill allows them to inflict more damage in the ensuing battle than anyone expects. Charlie makes one last sacrifice to stop Mitchell, but it will cost him everything.

Watch Itstory by Sky Conway & Tim Russ and Jack Trevino & Ethan H. Calk
teleplay by Ethan H. Calk, Sky Conway & Jack Trevino
directed by Tim Russ
music by Justin R. Durban

Cast: Walter Koenig (Capt. Pavel Chekov), Nichelle Nichols (Capt. Nyota Uhura), Alan Ruck (Capt. John Harriman), Garrett Wang (Commander Garan), William Wellman Jr. (Charlie Evans), J.G. Hertzler (Koval), Gary Graham (Ragnar), Tim Russ (Tuvok), Chase Masterson (Xela), Daamen Krall (Gary Mitchell), Crystal Allen (Conqueror Navigator Yara), Ethan Phillips (Data Clerk), Cirroc Lofton (Sevar), Lawrence Montaigne (Stonn), Ralph M. Miller (Computer voice), James Cawley (Commander Kirk), John Carrigan (Klingon Officer Kel’mag), Jeff Quinn (Conqueror Helmsman), Grace Lee Whitney (Janice Rand), Janet Po (Destroyer Tactical Officer), Herbert Jefferson (Captain Galt), Seth Shostak (Enterprise Communications Officer), Arlene Martel (Vulcan Priestess), Shawn Shelton (voice of the Guardian of Forever), Crystal Conway (Grandchild), Madison Russ (Grandchild), Keith Batt (Navigator), Patrick Bell (Enterprise Helmsman), Giovanna Contini, David deFrane, Ronald Gates, Deborah Huth, Danielle Porter (Enterprise Bridge Crew), Sky Conway, Travis Sentell (Enterprise Security Officers), Jeanine Camargo, Heather C. Harris, Mindy Iden, Luke McRoberts, Moses Shepard (Vulcan Initiates), Elizabeth Cortez (T’Liel), Amy Ulen (Teacher), Rob Leslie, Joanna Mendoza, Linda Zaruches (Vulcan Citizens), Stewart Lucas, Scott Nakada (Conqueror Klingon Officers), Joel Bellucci, Tony Pavone (Conqueror Romulan Officers), Giovanna Contini (Conqueror Science Officer), Jack Donner, Tania Lemani, Celeste Yarnall (Special Wedding Guests)

Review: In the FAQ for theLogBook.com’s Fan Film Reviews, I set out very early that I will attempt to be constructive in my criticisms, and I really intend to stick to that where fan-made productions are concerned. But Gods is obviously at least a semi-pro production, so I’m inclined to be a bit more direct with my criticsm rather than dancing around it verbally. Simply put, having gotten to the end of Gods, I’m having a hard time believing that the fan film community has embraced this thing so whole-heartedly, giving it plaudits over and above what New Voyages, Starship Farragut, Odyssey and Exeter have gotten. Have I been watching the same thing as the rest of fandom? (more…)

Jun
02
2008

Star Trek: Of Gods And Men, Part 2

Star Trek: Of Gods And MenStardate not given: The G.S.S. Conqueror captures a shuttle fleeing from the rubble that was the planet Vulcan, and its crew of two – Tuvok and Uhura – are thrown into a cell with the freedom fighters Kitrick and Ragnar. Though Uhura condemns Kitrick’s track record of death and mayhem, saying he’s no better than the Galactic Order itself, she finds herself remembering him as well, though the two have never met. Tuvok performs a mind-meld on Uhura, and stumbles across parallel memories – memories in which she has lived on Vulcan for so long, and memories in which she served aboard a starship with the man who appears to be Kitrick. She calls him Pavel, a name that Kitrick says he hasn’t used in years, and tries to convince him that they should work together – but she runs into trouble when she tries to convince him that they’ll also need Harriman, who she also remembers.

Watch Itstory by Sky Conway & Tim Russ and Jack Trevino & Ethan H. Calk
teleplay by Ethan H. Calk, Sky Conway & Jack Trevino
directed by Tim Russ
music by Justin R. Durban

Cast: Walter Koenig (Capt. Pavel Chekov), Nichelle Nichols (Capt. Nyota Uhura), Alan Ruck (Capt. John Harriman), Garrett Wang (Commander Garan), William Wellman Jr. (Charlie Evans), J.G. Hertzler (Koval), Gary Graham (Ragnar), Tim Russ (Tuvok), Chase Masterson (Xela), Crystal Allen (Conqueror Navigator Yara), Ethan Phillips (Data Clerk), Cirroc Lofton (Sevar), Lawrence Montaigne (Stonn), James Cawley (Commander Kirk), Jeff Quinn (Conqueror Helmsman), Seth Shostak (Enterprise Communications Officer), Shawn Shelton (voice of the Guardian of Forever), Crystal Conway (Grandchild), Madison Russ (Grandchild), Keith Batt (Navigator), Patrick Bell (Enterprise Helmsman), Giovanna Contini, David deFrane, Ronald Gates, Deborah Huth, Danielle Porter (Enterprise Bridge Crew), Sky Conway, Travis Sentell (Enterprise Security Officers), Jeanine Camargo, Heather C. Harris, Mindy Iden, Luke McRoberts, Moses Shepard (Vulcan Initiates), Elizabeth Cortez (T’Liel), Amy Ulen (Teacher), Rob Leslie, Joanna Mendoza, Linda Zaruches (Vulcan Citizens), Stewart Lucas, Scott Nakada (Conqueror Klingon Officers), Joel Bellucci, Tony Pavone (Conqueror Romulan Officers), Giovanna Contini (Conqueror Science Officer)

Review: Sometimes I shouldn’t open my big mouth. Remember how I was praising the first part of Of Gods And Men for not “doing a Guinan” and giving us someone who mystically remembers that history has been put out of joint and needs to be fixed? Not even ten minutes into the second segment, Gods did a Guinan. (more…)

Feb
11
2008

Star Trek: Of Gods And Men, Part 1

Star Trek: Of Gods And MenStardate 6712.4: Captains Uhura, Chekov and Harriman convene for the dedication of the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-M – a museum aboard a fully functional replica of the Constitution-class Enterprise – 12 years after the death of Captain Kirk aboard Harriman’s first command, the Enterprise-B. Echoing that tragic incident, a priority one distress call is received, and the Enterprise-M is the only ship capable of responding. As the museum’s Commander Kirk – the legendary captain’s nephew – remains aboard his ship, the three visiting captains beam down, discovering two reminders of the Enterprise’s past that they would rather have forgotten: the Guardian of Forever, and an adult Charlie Evans, who was left in the less-than-gentle care of the Thasians by Captain Kirk decades ago. Charlie sets out to change his own history, and starts by making sure that James T. Kirk will never be born.

Stardate not given: Captain John Harriman of the G.S.S. Conqueror captures two terrorists whose names are at the top of the Galactic Order’s most wanted list. With his mixed crew of humans, Klingons and Romulans, Harriman moves on to his next assignment: to deliver a message to the pacifistic secessionists of Vulcan. On Vulcan, Nyota Uhura feels an unusual twinge of worry about the planet’s secession from the Galactic Order, and after Vulcan’s orbital defenses are wiped out, it seems she has good reason to worry. The Conqueror is about to launch the devastating Omega Device to make an object lesson of the Vulcans: defy the Order at your own peril…

Watch Itstory by Sky Conway & Tim Russ and Jack Trevino & Ethan H. Calk
teleplay by Ethan H. Calk, Sky Conway & Jack Trevino
directed by Tim Russ
music by Justin R. Durban

Cast: Walter Koenig (Capt. Pavel Chekov), Nichelle Nichols (Capt. Nyota Uhura), Alan Ruck (Capt. John Harriman), Garrett Wang (Commander Garan), William Wellman Jr. (Charlie Evans), J.G. Hertzler (Koval), Gary Graham (Ragnar), Tim Russ (Tuvok), Chase Masterson (Xela), Crystal Allen (Conqueror Navigator Yara), Ethan Phillips (Data Clerk), Cirroc Lofton (Sevar), Lawrence Montaigne (Stonn), James Cawley (Commander Kirk), Jeff Quinn (Conqueror Helmsman), Seth Shostak (Enterprise Communications Officer), Shawn Shelton (voice of the Guardian of Forever), Crystal Conway (Grandchild), Madison Russ (Grandchild), Keith Batt (Navigator), Patrick Bell (Enterprise Helmsman), Giovanna Contini, David deFrane, Ronald Gates, Deborah Huth, Danielle Porter (Enterprise Bridge Crew), Sky Conway, Travis Sentell (Enterprise Security Officers), Jeanine Camargo, Heather C. Harris, Mindy Iden, Luke McRoberts, Moses Shepard (Vulcan Initiates), Elizabeth Cortez (T’Liel), Amy Ulen (Teacher), Rob Leslie, Joanna Mendoza, Linda Zaruches (Vulcan Citizens), Stewart Lucas, Scott Nakada (Conqueror Klingon Officers), Joel Bellucci, Tony Pavone (Conqueror Romulan Officers), Giovanna Contini (Conqueror Science Officer)

Review: Possibly the most eagerly anticipated Star Trek fan film project since New Voyages started welcoming top-line guests from the original series, Of Gods And Men is the brainchild of Tim “Tuvok” Russ, convention promoter/organizer Sky Conway, and two former DS9 scriptwriters, Ethan Calk and Jack Trevino. As with a great many Trek tributes centered around the Kirk era, Gods – or at least this first part of it – pivots on plot points introduced, but never resolved, by the original series. In this case, it’s the Guardian of Forever – which surely has to rank as the most imagination-stirring element to emerge from classic Trek, considering the number of books, fan films and other fiction that has revisited it – and Charlie X himself. (more…)

Dec
17
2007

Starship Farragut – For Want Of A Nail

Starship Farragut - For Want Of A NailStardate 4847.3: Farragut arrives in the Solon system, home to a society where scholarship and the study of history have attained a level of importance beyond anything in the Federation. The Solonai are now making diplomatic overtures toward the Federation, and Captain Carter and his crew have the honor of making first contact – despite Science Officer Tacket’s misgivings about unusual background radiation near the planet. When they go to beam down, though, Carter and his small landing party find themselves not on an alien world, but on Earth, specifically Pennsylvania, 1776, on the eve of Washington’s crossing of the Delaware River. Their attempts to stay out of history’s way are thwarted when a member of the landing party is shot by a revolutionary’s musket; now, contrary to staying out of history’s way, Carter now has an audience with General Washington himself, and worries that anything he says could alter history. In orbit, Tacket and Chief Engineer Smithfield grow increasingly suspicious of the Solonai’s lack of concern about their missing landing party…and their lack of knowledge of how to get them back.

Watch Itstory by John Broughton
screenplay by John Broughton & Mark Hildebrand
directed by Mark Hildebrand
music by Hetoreyn

Cast: John Broughton (Captain John T. Carter), Michael Bednar (Commander Robert Tacket), Holly Bednar (Lt. Commander Michelle Smithfield), Paul R. Sieber (Lt. Prescott), Amy Sepan (Dr. Holley), Mark Hildebrand (General George Washington), Sean Mullin (Washington’s Aide), Jamie Hanna (Caleb), John Kirby (Alondar), Trey Thomas (Batarus), David Sepan (Baker), Bob McDonough (Galway), Jake Azachi (Akiva), Bruce Dennis (Hayes), Eric Lund (Michaels), Case Aiken (Anderson), Ron Gates (Gates), Dean Rogers (Morris), John Lenwell (Adams), Robin Madel (Solonai Tech 1), Richard Sprague (Fowler / Solonai Tech 2), Kevin Barber, Paula Barber, Adam Beal, Sue Gilmour, Christian Huet, Jim Rockwell, Anna Schlueter, Dan Schlueter, Julia Selwyn, Michael Steen, Helen Wheeler, Jeanette Wheeler, Nathan Yessler (Colonial Re-enactors)

Review: Another confident entry from the Starship Farragut team, it’s hard to look at For Want Of A Nail and spot anything major that screams “only the second episode produced”. There are minor issues, sure – it wouldn’t be a fan production without them – but the degree of polish here is impressive. The script demonstrates a sophisticated knowledge of the era of history being recreated, and the production makes a wise move by involving people who recreate that time period on their own time. Even if you’re not crazy about a “historical” adventure, you have to admire the shrewdness of that move – you instantly get performers, period costumes and props, a certain degree of authenticity, and a real feel of local color that you just don’t get in Hollywood. (more…)

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