Day 08 - Fan Films

The start of a new year has brought new promise of releases, filming and new series but it has also brought with it the possibility that the fan film community might be saturating their pool of potential supporters. Audience expectations are rising of acting, story and production levels and, whilst many young and Trek alumni professionals have given their support freely, there are some things that can only be obtained by loan, donation or purchase. Sets, costume and props have always been a visible investment, but there are dozens of less visible costs that need to be addressed: cameras, lighting, computer memory, transportation and storage...

Only time will tell! As things stand, 2013 looks to be a bumper year for Star Trek fan films and on behalf of Star Trek fans everywhere I wish all fan production groups a happy, prosperous and creative New Year.

December saw the release of Five Late News, the first Australian-made Star Trek fan film, the first season finale of Eternal Night, the Star Trek multimedia fan series from of Matt Miller, whose website, Trekzone.org, celebrates ten years online this year. Trek fans will recognise 21st century canon characters and situations bleed into a plotline that is a topical as... todays news! Whilst you are on his website, check out the audio drama shorts that Matt has done over the past year that build up a back-story for Eternal Night set in Star Trek's 25th century as his protagonist, Evie Cunningham, enters her fourth, and final, year at Starfleet Academy.

Star Trek: Axanar, the brain child of Alec Peters, recently announced that BattleStar Gallactica star Richard Hatch will play the main Klingon antagonist in this new series, telling the back-story behind Garth of Izor, slated to be produced and released over the next two years.

Star Trek Continues Fb have made great strides in twelve months with three vignettes released, Turnabout Intruder, which segues from the last aired canon episode, You've Got the Conn and Happy Birthday, Scotty.  Shooting of the first full episode, which stars Vic Mignona as Captain Kirk, is reported to be in January.

Star Trek: Intrepid Fb have put back their latest release, The Stone Unturned, until early in the new year and are still working on their vignette, Nemo Me Impune Lacessit.

Star Trek: Phase II Fb - as one would expect! - have been very active in 2012 ...

• Released The Child on Apr 5, originally written by Jon Povill for Gene Roddenberry's Phase II series
• Released the nine minute short Going Boldly with their new Kirk, Brian Goss.
• Probably their next release will be Kitumba which has been delayed by some final edits.
• They've been working steadily on their upcoming episode, Bread and Savagery, and have released a sneak peek! 
• They have The Protracted Man and Mind-Sifter in production and Troublesome Minds in pre-preoduction.
• Phase II members have been cross-fertilising with other productions such as Star Trek: Axanar

Star Trek: Phoenix Fb, who have not released anything since their first, very impressive episode in 2010, Cloak & Dagger Part I, continue to try to gather backing to continue.

Star Trek: Renegades Fb is another new series from the makers of Star Trek; Of Gods And Men, have passed their goal on Kickstarter. This is another professional level fan film with some big names slated to appear!

Star Trek: The Romulan Wars uploaded their latest episode, The Wounded, to YouTube in February

Star Trek: Secret Voyage Fb This professional quality fan film might have closed its doors! According to a Facebook post on Dec 16th, exec. producer Craig Sheeler cited competition for funding between the rather large number of fan film projects around at the moment for an inability to complete the second episode that was 80% in the can! I would like to add my voice to their supporters in the fan film community who are urging them to consider alternatives that could allow them to continue in a different format or media: vignettes, graphic novels or audio dramas spring to mind.

Starship Ajax Fb is still working on the mammoth task of building their bridge set - you can help on FundRazr - costuming and rehearsing.

Starship Farragut Fb released their latest episode, The Price of Anything, in December and are set for more quality production to come, Conspiracy of Innocence written by Bobby Nash, crossovers with Star Trek Continues and the involvement of Jack Marshall.

K