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Media Sci-Fi Television

Behind the Scenes With the Star Trek Fan Reboot 106

Posted by Soulskill from the excellent-work dept.
A reader writes: The original Starship Enterprise was on a 5-year mission, but the original series was canceled after the third year. A continuation of Star Trek:TOS is being created by a dedicated cast and crew intent on keeping true to the spirit of Gene Roddenberry's television show. From recreating the original sets with incredible accuracy and attention to details, staying faithful to original storylines has been a true labor of love for all involved. Here are a series of videos showing the progress being made on recreating the iconic series. (And if you missed it last time, here's the first episode they produced.)
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Behind the Scenes With the Star Trek Fan Reboot More

Behind the Scenes With the Star Trek Fan Reboot

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  • Great show (Score:4, Interesting)

    by The Real Dr John ( 716876 ) on Saturday December 20, 2014 @07:11PM (#48643531) Homepage
    I chipped in for their funding campaign, and I am glad I did. So far the first 3 episodes are great. Mignogna and crew have really done a wonderful job on Star Trek Continues.
    • I've watched everything they've made so far, it really is well done. I like how the stories flow from the original episodes on which they are rooted.
      • It's cool that everytime the actors move, they pull down their shirt to neaten it up . . . just like in the original series.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by WindSword ( 596780 )
      I did the same after watching The Pilgrims of Eternity and I'm glad I did. Lolani was a true Trek episode, it was a "thinker". Fairest of Them All was a good follow up to Mirror, Mirror - much better than Enterprise managed.

      What makes these shows so good is not only the very faithful recreation of the Enterprise and all that goes with it, but the effort that goes into the scripts. If you haven't watched them, do so and enjoy.

      I felt the same joy as when I was a child in the 60s watching these for th

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      My expectations were very low, but after watching Pilgrims of Eternity I was *very* impressed. Excellent production, well-written. Very well done.

  • I use to love this show as a teenager. In college, I stopped watching television. Afterwards, it just struck me as stupid and self righteous, but maybe that was a reflection of society as a whole. The dialogs were campy and the situations so contrived. Everything was just so fortuitous. Kirk would make a silly gamble and win. Just did not strike me as real. Especially when others would make the same gamble and lose. I think "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy " made fun of this in the improbability dr

    • Re:rehab fan (Score:5, Insightful)

      by LordKronos ( 470910 ) on Saturday December 20, 2014 @07:31PM (#48643613)

      In college, I stopped watching television. Afterwards, it just struck me as stupid and self righteous, but maybe that was a reflection of society as a whole.

      No, it's not a reflection of society as a whole. You were right the first time....it was stupid and self righteous. But that's just what happens why you are young and stupid and get caught up in that whole "I'm too smart for anything on television, so I won't even own a TV" meme.

      • I think the simplest explanation is that when you're at college you're just too busy studying to keep tabs on what's on TV. After college, you have more leisure time and you start watching again.

        • I think the simplest explanation is that when you're at college you're just too busy studying to keep tabs on what's on TV.

          Busy doing what?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ihtoit ( 3393327 )

      Twilight Zone, "A Little Peace And Quiet": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A... [wikipedia.org] my favourite episode of the "New", loosely based on my favourite classic episode "Time Enough At Last". Both horribly, horribly pessimistic. As for TOL, you've got the Light Brigade arc (with Wil Wheaton, Nicole DeBoer and Robert Patrick in early roles!), The Deprogrammers (with Brent Spiner), the absolutely cracking "The Voyage Home" (Michael Dorn), both versions of "I, Robot" which both starred Leonard Nimoy, the latter version d

  • The bane of fan made series - the acting (Score:4, Insightful)

    by wiggles ( 30088 ) on Saturday December 20, 2014 @07:23PM (#48643565)

    I've watched a few of these fan made series - I have yet to find one that was actually watchable. The sets can be great, the lighting, the CGI effects - but what always kills these series is the acting. It's awful. Always. I have yet to find a fan series with passable acting. If they could get decent actors, they could use cardboard boxes for sets and it would at least be watchable.

    • Re:The bane of fan made series - the acting (Score:4, Informative)

      by ITRambo ( 1467509 ) on Saturday December 20, 2014 @07:27PM (#48643591)
      The acting is on par with the original series. That's what makes Star Trek Continues great. Good stories, decent special effects and cheesy acting, which I believe is being done intentionally. I like it.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by TWX ( 665546 )
        Heh. Larry Nemecek was apparently hung over during the one he was in; don't know if that helped his portrayal of McCoy or hurt it...

      • Surprisingly, much of the casting works really well.

        (Exceptions are that Bones seems miscast and Grant just sucks as Sulu. Grant isn't just hammy overacting, but doing an exaggerated comedic impersonation of hammy-overacting. I guess the producers get cheap props that way, so... the needs of the many...)

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by markmay ( 557326 )

        The acting is on par with the original series.

        I was hoping for better than that.

      • Vic Mignogna actually has very intentionally made his Kirk rendition as close to Shatner's as he could, down to the way Kirk walks.

      • I don't agree with respect to this first episode anyway. Maybe over time they'll all get there. My biggest beef though is with 'Scottie'. I've heard the Scottie here is James Doohan's son. Regardless, his 'Scottish accent' is just horrible. Doohan's wasn't exactly a real Scottish accent, but it was consistent and at least believable in the context of the show. But on this reboot, this Scottie's accent is the one thing that forced me to stop watching.
    • So pretty much like the original, then?

    • Nostalgia blinders are a big issue. TOS wasn't that good. These fan shows do tend to get most of it the same. But it has been close to half century sence TOS.
      Of course the big issue that happens is the urge to bring in TNG universe into the mix. There seems to be this crazy attempt to tie cannon together.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by hawk ( 1151 )

        Anyone who refers to Star Trek by a three letter acronym is just plain not the target audience.

        (Unless, perhaps, it's TRO, for "The Real One")

        Star Trek and its spinoffs have a minimal amount in common.

        hawk

    • The bane of fan made series - the acting (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Well there's only been three episodes of this so far, and you can see them improve in each one, at least in my opinion. They're certainly improving more than the first three episodes of most official Star Trek series, which are generally guaranteed to be pretty awful.

  • Yet Another Fan Made TOS? Here's the first group I heard of: http://www.startreknewvoyages.... [startreknewvoyages.com] They actually got Sulu. What's this new one got?

    • Actors who can copy the wooden acting faithfully. And Scotty's son playing Scotty with the same crappy fake Scottish accent.

  • whatever floats your boat. make as much as possible. don't blame nobody.

  • ...the problem is they can't act! They make Shatner look like Brando by comparison.

    It's a terrible shame, but bad acting is bad acting.

    • Have you seen Brando in Oklahoma!?

    • Agreed. Acting is a lot like coding. A lot of people think they can do it, but if you compare the typical amateur production vs. a professional one, it's like night and day.

      btw I dunno where people get the idea that Shatner was a bad actor. Yes he sounds wooden in some of the 60's TOS episodes, but it was mostly the lame script/dialogue. Give Shatner a decent script (e.g. Wrath of Khan) and he shines.

      Hell even Natalie Portman -- award-winning first rate actress by anyone's estimation -- sounds bad when give

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by ihtoit ( 3393327 )

        good example of poor writing, SW killed Jake Lloyd's career to the point where he won't even talk about it.

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Saturday December 20, 2014 @07:38PM (#48643655)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • I'm not really interested in fan-made anything, for the usual reasons. This team's version of Pilgrim of Eternity is however nothing less than remarkable and deserving of much credit.

  • The official website with all episodes... (Score:4, Informative)

    by bswarm ( 2540294 ) on Saturday December 20, 2014 @07:40PM (#48643669)
    http://www.startrekcontinues.c... [startrekcontinues.com]

  • Must have been under a rock, had not heard of "Star Trek Continues" before, so I am watching the first episode right now. Although I can certainly understand keeping the same sets, characters, props, and sound effects, I can't for the life of me understand why they would intentionally want to use the 4:3 aspect ratio. Hmm

    • I bet you think lomography is a poncey faux-retro hipster fad too.

      [Adjusts beret & flounces off on fixie]

    • Re:Neat (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Pikoro ( 844299 ) <{hs.tini} {ta} {tini}> on Saturday December 20, 2014 @10:13PM (#48644381) Homepage Journal

      It would seem that all of their sets are based on the original set plans which were designed for the 4:3 aspect ratio. Trying to shoot in a widescreen format would likely show parts of the set which weren't intended. I mean, check out how much of that bridge set is open plywood. That set requires some strictly framed shots to work right.

      • It would seem that all of their sets are based on the original set plans which were designed for the 4:3 aspect ratio.

        I posted earlier about my own growing weariness with fan remakes of Star Trek: TOS.

        This slavish obsession with recreating the original sets with all their flaws and limitations being one of the reasons.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Greyfox ( 87712 )
      Foo! 16:9 isn't invented until 2337!

  • You have no copyright... this stuff belongs to the Chris Pine as Kirk team. This can't make any money and will be assimilated into Paramount.

  • Lesson for Hollywood (Score:4, Interesting)

    by mrsam ( 12205 ) on Saturday December 20, 2014 @08:08PM (#48643789) Homepage

    This fan fic already has a few episodes in the can. And it's so good, that even the most horrible episode in the bunch (the one with the Orion slavegirl), is simultaneously unwatchable, and completely watchable on its merits as a very faithful recreation of a typically bad episode from the original series. These guys have got it down pat. They know exactly how to faithfully remake an honest homage to an average bad episode from the original series. And it's certainly doesn't hurt that the episode's guest star was none other than Lou "The Incredible Hulk" Ferrigno. As an Orion slave trader. In full body green makeup!

    It's eery watching Chris Doohan in this series. The guy is a spitting image of his old man. Looks like a younger Scotty. Close your eyes, and you can't tell it's not Scotty. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the episodes as they came out. They were far more entertaining than either of the two terrible reboots. I refused, on principle, to pay money to watch the crap reboots in the theaters. But if these folks ever manage to crank out a reel, and it makes it down to my local megaplex, I'll be the first in line to buy a ticket.

  • I can appreciate the energy and enthusiasm that goes into these projects.

    But with 85 years of modern science fiction to explore, with excellent examples available to draw upon in from all media, you would think even the die-hard fan would have grown a little weary of gearing up to prduce yet another retread of Star Trek: TOS.

    • You can't get hundreds of people to agree on a single new project to collaborate and donate their time and money to. Sure something original would be nice, but you'd never get enough people enthusiastic about to reach the same production quality without the instant brand recognition of something like Star Trek.

  • I've watched the two episodes that have been produced, and liked them quite a bit, worth watching and worth supporting.

  • There are three things about Star Trek which are unbearable to me:
    1. The Holodeck, which is just one massive plothole
    2. Badly done time travel, which is yet another massive plothole
    3. Badly done aliens, with a lame explanation.

    That episode made by the fans just utterly obliterated any interest I might have had by starting right with big mistake no. 1.

    • 3. Badly done aliens, with a lame explanation.

      After watching the Japanese "Fafner" TV animation, I was quite intrigued by the whole "assimilation" idea. Tried to watch the Star Trek version of it - and was largely disappointed.

      The "Q" are one hell of a plothole - but still pretty much the only "true" aliens in the Start Trek.

  • intent on keeping true to the spirit of Gene Roddenberry's television show.

    That's just another way of saying "more of the same".

    I can understand why the entertainment industry is so obsessed with the canons: to not dilute value of the original.

    But I still can't grasp the why the fans are so obsessed with the "more of the same"?

    P.S. I like how Japanese animes often parody and make fun of themselves. I like how they sometimes shuffle the roles and characters. Occasionally the shenanigans are way too transparent and shallow - but sometimes very brilliant and deeps ideas come ou

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • But I still can't grasp the why the fans are so obsessed with the "more of the same"?

      Why not? Let's say I like a game or a TV show. I watch/play it until I have completed it. If I still like it by the time I complete it, I will want "more of the same" hopefully with some annoyances of the previous instance fixed. I personally do not understand why would a fan of a TV show (or a game) would not want "more of the same" but something different. If I like the original, I want more of the same, if I want different, that means I did not really like the original, did I?

      Take a game like the Borderl

  • I loved ST:OS when I was a kid, and these remake/homages definitely capture the fun and a lot of the spirit [and a bunch of the cheese] of the original. Definitely worthwhile.

    Kids nowadays....you can't understand how groundbreaking and exciting Star Trek was back in the '60's.

    • I agree, cultural context is important when considering TV series from any time-period. The idea of space travel series was exceptional and brilliant at the 60's.

  • There have only been three episodes since, like, forever. They're ok, but is that all there's going to be?

  • CRAP!!! (Score:3)

    by WillyWanker ( 1502057 ) on Sunday December 21, 2014 @01:14AM (#48645037)

    You want the real continuation of the 5 year voyage? Go with the guys that have been making episodes for over 10 years.

    www.startreknewvoyages.com

    Vic and his crew are no where near the level of accuracy and faithfulness to TOS as the New Voyages team is, and their latest episode, Mind-Sifter is all the proof you need.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Well there are other things that are important as well as the story -- the acting, casting, staying faithful to the canon -- all things that Continues fails. Vic does a horrible Shatner impersonation and both he and Haberkorn sound like they're on helium. Not to mention Vic being about 15 years too old to be playing TOS Kirk. And instead of using the Kirk, Spock, McCoy dynamic that dominated TOS and made it special they have chosen to push McCoy into the wings and introduce the canon-breaking character of D

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by MrL0G1C ( 867445 )

      Slashdotted apparently.

  • ...it's because he is portrayed by James Doohan's son.

  • We're going to need a bigger basement.

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