'Star Trek' Fans, Deprived of a Show,
Recreate the Franchise on Digital Video

This is not a drill; repeat, this is not a drill. From the New York Times courtesy of AlterNet:

From these Virginia woods to the Scottish Highlands, "Star Trek" fans are filling the void left by a galaxy that has lost "Star Trek." For the first time in nearly two decades, television spinoffs from the original 1960's "Star Trek" series have ended, so fans are banding together to make their own episodes.

Fan films have been around for years, particularly those related to the "Star Wars" movies. But now they can be downloaded from the Web, and modern computer graphics technology has lent them surprising special effects. And as long as no one is profiting from the work, Paramount, which owns the rights to "Star Trek," has been tolerant. (Its executives declined to comment.)

And

And viewers are responding. One series, at www.newvoyages.com, and based in Ticonderoga, N.Y., boasts of 30 million downloads. It has become so popular that Walter Koenig, the actor who played Chekov in the original "Star Trek," is guest starring in an episode, and George Takei, who played Sulu, is slated to shoot another one later this year. D. C. Fontana, a writer from the original "Star Trek" series, has written a script.

Click here for the rest.

Oh my god, this is nuts!!! So, of course, I've checked some of this out, and it's exactly as the article describes. If you discount the piss-poor acting, this stuff is good. These people have done a marvelous job recreating the look and feel of 1960s Star Trek--I'll be checking out the later-era groups tomorrow, but nothing does it for me like the original approach. There's even one group shooting 60s style episodes in Austin. I hope my Austinite pal and fellow Trekkie Shane is reading this: he needs to hook up with these people like right now; he'd make a kickass Vulcan. Hell, I'm tempted to move to Austin for a few months after I finish grad school next year myself. Maybe I can help them develop some talent once I've become a MASTER of fine arts.

At any rate, I don't have much more to say about this. Actually, I'm close to speechless. This is the stuff of childhood fantasies for me. Wow.

Go check this shit out:

Star Trek: New Voyages

Star Trek: Intrepid

Star Trek: Hidden Frontier

Starship Exeter

Starship Farragut


Photo by Bill Crandall

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