Bueatiful CGI effects (note the "NX" nacelles on the freighter by Frans Joseph's Spacedock) Then the horror begins.....
Here's the trailer link: L I N K Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
The CGI of the Enterprise warping past that station is pretty darn cool. Well, all the CGI is.
Recreating TOS? Uh ...
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Oh, that. Found that about a week ago, thought about posting a link but had a feeling someone had already done so. . .
Posted by Mountain Man (Member # 1114) on :
I saw that trailer last a few days ago. Its just fanfilm. They deserve an 'E' for effort. Don't expect "Gone With The Wind" from kids having fun. If you like Batman heres a link to a really well made short. Now these boys have got their act together. http://www.theforce.net/theater/shortfilms/batman_deadend/ Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
An E for effort? What, you been playing with your Speak-and-Spell again? Giving them an E for effort rates them at about "they hardly fucking bothered at all" when they've obviously put a lot of work into their creation, however misguided. 8)
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
The effects are very nice (except where the E does a banking turn... hello - why would it need to bank - no gravity. Looks awkward.
That cast was just... NO.
And that 'freighter' with the NX nacelles was the Conestoga!! Why would they put a 200 year old ship there? I suppose there was also a DY class ship... 300 yo?
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
I might've taken a look, but seeing as how they're publishing in Windows Media format for some insane reason, I'm not going to bother downloading extra software just to watch it.
Based on the photos, the space-based CGI looks very good, but so what? After all the effort fans have put into CGI these past few years, that's nothing extraordinary. The sets look interesting... they may be the most impressive part, IMO. But the actors? Forget it. The poorly tailored uniforms and bad haircuts reveal it as just another fan film with a somewhat higher production budget.
Posted by Mountain Man (Member # 1114) on :
The set looked very good. A lot of work went into all this. I doubt even William Shatner ever had such a bad hair day though. The Crew will have a hard time of it. They simply do not look the part. The old Khan type Freighter, DY I guess,was still used as an automated ore hauler in TOS times. Space Ships are built to last in TOS. TOS Klingon Cruisers showed up in DS9.
Posted by Spike (Member # 322) on :
I think the uniforms look surprisingly good for a fan production.
Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
Right..
The CGI is okay, except for the choice of ships (what's a 21st century one-of-a-kind colony ship doing there? And a DY-100?). Enterprise warping away from the station was a really nice, though.
But since when was Kirk played by The Fonz and Spock by a young Boy George?
I bet it has the same problem as all fan-productions.. crap cast and crap stories. They can reproduce all the sets perfectly well, but it all comes down on convincing actors. And Trekkies are usually not great actors.
Posted by TheWoozle (Member # 929) on :
When your talented fans that can't afford real look-alike actors, you take what you can get (wasn't Checkov more russian?) I think it would have helped A LOT to have the cameos with voice overs. I'll wait until I get the writing and acting. Don't be to harsh on the old ships being used, who said that the space-frames couldn't last a century? B52s are supposed to.
Posted by Mountain Man (Member # 1114) on :
http://www.neutralzone.de/database/indexfra.htm This link tells a little more about the DY-100 series. The DY-100 was also used as the robot ore freighter 'Wodan' in the M-5 episode "The Ultimate Computer". There is Also A DY-750 series sleeper ship,that looks like a more advanced colony ship based on the DY 100 design.
Posted by Griffworks (Member # 1014) on :
Until you detractors can afford to do up the series yourself, I'd suggest you be a bit more charitable. It's not like they're laying claim to a realistic recreation of the show, after all. They quite clearly state up front that it's a fan produced production w/an almost non-existant budget....
Posted by Mountain Man (Member # 1114) on :
Personally I'm not detracting from the work these guys have done here on this film. One thing to remember about fan films though is that they must not step over the line when it comes to copyright material. The best way to avoid this is to do a parody. If they try to do a real series of films they are cruising for a bruising from the people that hold the rights to Star Trek.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
I guess they didn't have any Japanese friends, since Sulu turned into a French guy.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Couldn't they have done their own characters?
How did that Exeter 'film' go?
Fans should do shorter films like those Star Wars fan films!
I mean a DS9 'short' would be great - and you wouldn't have to have the main cast - just set in/on/around or at the same time as DS9!
Posted by Griffworks (Member # 1014) on :
quote:Originally posted by Mountain Man: Personally I'm not detracting from the work these guys have done here on this film. One thing to remember about fan films though is that they must not step over the line when it comes to copyright material. The best way to avoid this is to do a parody. If they try to do a real series of films they are cruising for a bruising from the people that hold the rights to Star Trek.
Yeah, that's a pretty valid point. Plus, it opens them up for all kinds of ugly criticism, as we see here. As AndrewR says, it's a real shame they didn't follow suit w/the "Starship Exeter" folks and do an whole new crew on another starship.
Oh, well. At least they've seem to have a great deal of respect for Trek, unlike the current IIC/Executive Producers of the franchise.... Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
quote:Originally posted by TSN: I guess they didn't have any Japanese friends, since Sulu turned into a French guy.
Sulu was Japanese? WIth a names pronounced "soo-loo" I thought he was a Lovecraft crature thrown in for diversity...
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Well I think Sulu was born in San Fransisco. Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
I meant "Japanese" in the same sense that I am "various western European".
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
So you have a cowboy hat? Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
"Fans should do shorter films like those Star Wars fan films!"
Oh yes, because the world is in dire need of more Jedi Kids.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
LOL! - not that... things like Troops for example.
Posted by Mountain Man (Member # 1114) on :
Yeah "Troops" and "Trooper Clerks" are very well done parodies and are much easier to watch than attempts to do serious films. Still I would like to see how well these guys carry off the idea they have. Maybe it won't be so bad after all. P.S. Have you heard about Viacom shooting Eugene Roddenbury out of the saddle at Roddenbury.com . Thats not very nice of them at all.
Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
Big companies don't need to be nice. Which sucks.
And while me might have the Canary Worf, we need our own Star Wars Kid, damn it!
Posted by Wee Bairns (Member # 724) on :
I'm hoping for the best from this production, and I don't think it's fair to criticize the stories yet..we need to see them performed before we pass judgement. Then we can say it sucks. Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
quote:Originally posted by Mountain Man: P.S. Have you heard about Viacom shooting Eugene Roddenbury out of the saddle at Roddenbury.com . Thats not very nice of them at all.
What about Eugene Roddenberry and Roddenberry.com?
Posted by CaptainMike20X6 (Member # 709) on :
quote:Originally posted by TSN: I guess they didn't have any Japanese friends, since Sulu turned into a French guy.
who looks nothing like the real Lt. DeSalle, but that is probably the least of their crimes. Like turning Rand into a corpse.
But then again, Chekov has already transferred to security at this point.. good continuity[/sarcasm]
although as ridiculous as it sounds, when i watch "Exeter" a little part of me is temped to add entries for B'Fuselek to the Galactopedia.. *shudders*
[ September 28, 2003, 05:04 PM: Message edited by: Capped in Mic ]
Posted by newark (Member # 888) on :
The character DeSalle was of the first year of TOS and happened to be of French ancestry. ("The Squire of Gothos")
I am struck by the idea that fans who were raised on the later incarnations of Trek would be willing to produce a film based on the first Trek. I think this says something about the perceptions people have on this series.
Posted by Axeman 3D (Member # 1050) on :
I don't know if it's peoples 'perceptions' of the original series, so much as practicalities. I realise that TNG has pretty much replaced TOS in the reruns stakes so many young people grow up not being familiar with Kirk and his cronies, but there's the fact that home computers these days can churn out better special effects for a fraction of what they used to cost in the 60's TV worlds. No amatuer's seriously going to better TNGs effects or acting for the moment, but it's very do-able with TOS.
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
Their Rand looks like a brainless one....
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
quote:Originally posted by Wee Bairns: I'm hoping for the best from this production, and I don't think it's fair to criticize the stories yet..we need to see them performed before we pass judgement. Then we can say it sucks.
LOL! If they want to do a Star Trek show - then they should expect such things - why we do it for all the other Treks!! It'd be in good company.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
quote:Originally posted by Axeman 3D: No amatuer's seriously going to better TNGs effects or acting for the moment, but it's very do-able with TOS.
But that wasn't the strength of TOS - it was the scripts. And the chemistry between the characters - well the Big Three at least. I wonder what it would have been like to have Uhura episodes etc.
Andrew
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
quote:Originally posted by AndrewR: I wonder what it would have been like to have Uhura episodes etc.
Just as "good" as TNG's seventh season, I'm sure. Posted by MrNeutron (Member # 524) on :
Boy, these guys are just asking for a Cease & Desist letter from Paramount...
I don't think the effects are all that impressive. Hell, that nebula effect is the first shot is clearly a flat stuck at an angle with a texture map on it. And the way the Enterprise moves...ugh.
As others have mentioned here, I think what sucks most about these fan productions are the writing and the acting. The acting's the toughest thing to fix, because chances are you have to rely on friends to do it, and people who act even semi-professionally are probably not going to be interested in doing a frebie. (I recently shot a short film, but I have a lot of actor friends and one agreed to do it for fun...lucky me!)
The scripts...oy. I watched the Exeter film "The Savage Empire" and I then read their online draft for another episode "The Mighty Galvanaut", and both exhibit all the signs of amateur writing. No understanding of basic story construction. No understanding of conflict or theme. Characters who talk at each other rather than to each other, and bad sitcom level "banter" passing for characterization.
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)