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Have any of you seen "Star Trek: The New Voyages"? http://www.startreknewvoyages.com/ It's a non-profit fan-based series that started off using garage studio equipment and found objects but quickly grew to include volunteer work by professionals involved in the various official Trek shows and even appearances by original Trek series actors. (Both George Takai and Walter Koenig appear as aged versions of their characters, while their younger parts are played by fans.)

There's also a number of other Trek fandom films out there of varying degrees of quality--some pretty impressive for their limited budgets. Sure, some might argue that the acting can be a bit flat, and in a few I can really wish that somebody would spring for a boom mike, but they've got a lot of heart, and they're pretty inspirational to watch none-the-less, to show what you can do with things readily available.

But, if you're a stickler for quality in fan-films, the one to see is the most recent New Voyages episodes, the ones with Walter Koenig and George Takai. The latter and most recent on many levels out-performs a lot of official episodes, both visually and in terms of character development.

Given the blossoming growth of YouTube, it could very well be that fan-films become a major venue in the coming years. Right now, my Kodak EasyShare has enough camcorder-like features that I've started contemplating using it to film a werewolf documentary. (The idea actually came about around the beginning of the year but has been shelved because of all the stuff going on in my life. But, I haven't given up on it.) At least one or two of you out there have already done something similar.

Scott Gardener wrote:Right now, my Kodak EasyShare has enough camcorder-like features that I've started contemplating using it to film a werewolf documentary. (The idea actually came about around the beginning of the year but has been shelved because of all the stuff going on in my life. But, I haven't given up on it.) At least one or two of you out there have already done something similar.

How could you do that on a budget and still make it look good. I'm guessing that stop-motion would be the way to go. It's never been used in werewolf films before, but it would work.

I don't even have the motivation ta watch the original.

Yep I've seen this. It's an exellent example of production work in every aspect. Great visuals. Not so fond of the acting and writing though. The captain seems too spaz out in front of the crew too much. It's also a good example of how low a budget can be, and still create a great looking film.

Well, William Shatner's acting was rather notorious, so it actually kind of works. The New Voyages crew are starting to gain some skill; there's a noticable improvement between the first episodes and the new one.

Scott Gardener wrote:Well, William Shatner's acting was rather notorious, so it actually kind of works. The New Voyages crew are starting to gain some skill; there's a noticable improvement between the first episodes and the new one.

William Shatner's acting was notorious for being hammy. This acting seems kinda flat and dull, and the emotion seems forced.

However, the visuals are excellent (almost too good for a segway between the show and the films, but that's just me), the sets look a lot like the originals (although clashing with the other visuals... again, just me), and the effort put into a fan project like this is rather amazing.