Saturday, April 30th – Sunday, May 1st, 2016
So often I am asked why the different fan films don’t get along. And there are two answers to that.
The first answer is some do. A lot of the smaller fan films work together and help each other out. Starbase Studios in Oklahoma, run by my good friend and all around super guy Scott Johnson and his partner Richard Wells, is the best example. Their whole goal is to get different fan films up and running and so far he has incubated three projects, including Starship Valiant, which was one of the best fan film projects of 2014. They have their own bridge, transporter and sick bay.
Richard Wells and Scott Johnson helm Starbase Studios!
And here are the projects they have done or are working on!
And it all resides here!
If you haven’t checked these guys out yet, you need to. They are AWESOME.
Starbase Studios website | Starbase Studios on Facebook
And read Jonathan Lanes great article on Starbase Studios in the Fan Film Friday blog on this website. Here are links to Part 1 and Part 2.
So then, what is the other answer? Well, some don’t.
There are simply a lot of very big egos in fan films (I won’t exclude myself from that list!), but also some personality issues. The feud between Star Trek: New Voyages and Star Trek Continues is well know, as is my feud with Vic Mignogna. James Cawley is an awesome and amazingly talented guy on many levels (and one of the best Elvis impersonators in the country), but he and I go in and out of our friendship. Sometimes two captains is just one captain too many. And while James has graciously helped a bunch of people (especially me!) with their own fan film projects, Vic refuses to help anyone. Different strokes for different folks.
But then you have guys like Nick Cook of Starship Intrepid, who is as nice as guy as there is. Or Sky Conway of Star Trek: Renegades and Of Gods and Men who opened his arms to me when Axanar hadn’t even started. Or Randy Landers who keeps pumping out episodes of Potemkin with his all volunteer crew and shoestring budget.
I guess there are just as many different people in fan films as there are in real life. NO, we cannot all just get along, even though we wish we could. The best we can do is find the people we like working with and try and express our love for Star Trek with them. Ultimately, Harry Kim will be right one day: it IS about the journey!
To the journey!
Alec
Alec, I am sure that a lot of it has to do with the fact you have to have a lot of personal drive and ego to get something done to the level that some of these shows are at. It seems to me there is a whole book of material here “The Politics of Trek” that could go into a lot of the history and issues that you talk about. It might seem like gossip but the fact all these shows are still trying to work means there must be a lot of good stories, of people persevering in their dreams and Trek. A lot like todays politics, it takes the outsiders to come in and shake up the established order, when that order has lost sight of it’s original premise.
Alex – Thank you so much for this information. I now have a long list of ST businesses that understand science and space technology, themes, and equipment, be it fictional or not! I’m looking forward to the day that the civil suit comes to an end, the infighting stops between ST’s, and buying a ticket (many for my friends) to watch Axanar. With respect to those who started the infighting, do they realize how many awards they have won? STC alone has won more awards in the last three years then Paramount has ever won with ST TV. Vic should focus on that fact! The same is true for James. Focus James focus on your successes. Finally, do they understand the importance to all Trekkies on producing a top quality film, be it a motion picture or TV show? Thank you for listening.
To the Trek, be it Star Trek or human adventure Trek to the stars