=====< Star Trek Fan Made Video Productions:
[Link]
>Lawsuit against fan productions:
The attitude of the Star Trek copyright and trademark holders toward fan works has
varied over time. Under threat of legal action, many websites shut down. Star Trek
fan productions have largely ceased due to the lawsuit against the Star Trek Axanar
production. On December 29, 2015 (weeks after announcing Star Trek:Discovery) the
Axanar project was hit by a lawsuit from CBS and Paramount Pictures filed in
Central California federal court, stating the Axanar works infringed upon their
intellectual property. On June 26, 2016, during the Axanar lawsuit, CBS and
Paramount released a set of guidelines for Star Trek fan films to follow. Notably,
these restrictions require films to:
--Fan-made productions must be original stories and must be short (less than 30
minutes in total for a single storyline).
--Actors and other creative talent must be amateurs; they cannot be compensated for
their work nor be previous employees of official Star Trek productions.
--The productions must be non-commercial. Crowd-sourced fundraising is permitted up
to US$50,000, but distribution of fan-made works must be on a no-cost basis and
must not generate revenue.
--Fan-made productions may not use bootleg props: on-screen props must be other
fan-made or be official Star Trek merchandise.
--Fan-made productions must be family friendly; they may not include profanity,
nudity, obscenity, pornography, or depictions of harmful or illegal activities such
as use of illegal drugs.
--Fan-made productions must provide a disclaimer indicating that Star Trek
intellectual property is owned solely by CBS Studios. Further, the guidelines
restrict how the name Star Trek may be used in titling the production.
=====< Video Production List:
1974: Paragon's Paragon [Movie]
Star Trek fan films have been made since the 1960s by individuals and various fan
groups but, before the advent of inexpensive digital cameras, editing and effects
in the 1990s, most were on a simple home movie level. An early effort to achieve
something more was John Cosentino's Paragon's Paragon, which was an unofficial
adaptation of James Blish's Spock Must Die!, an early Star Trek spinoff novel. The
film ran for an hour and was shot on 16mm film using a full-size recreation of the
Bridge set. It also used a wide variety of film special effects techniques on a
budget of over $2,000 ($13,000 in 2024 dollars) and received considerable coverage
in Don Dohler's Cinemagic magazine for low budget filmmakers. Dohler subsequently
used its crew to make his first feature film, The Alien Factor (1978).
Originally shot on Super-8 film, the film was shown at conventions for a few years
and ultimately transferred to a limited number of VHS tapes. But as the years
passed, this important piece of Star Trek fan film history passed into oblivion.
Back in April of 2012, a fan with a VHS copy of the film posted 8 minutes and 39
seconds of Paragon’s Paragon on YouTube, but the voice dialog was gone, apparently
lost over time. Instead, a bed of background Star Trek music accompanied the
limited visuals. And that was all that remained of Paragon’s Paragon for fans to
view…until this spring of 2021 when that same fan, ROBERT LONG II, unexpectedly
posted two 15-minute videos with restored audio! It’s still not the complete film,
containing only the first 25 minutes plus 5 minutes of “coming attractions.” But
it’s a darn sight (and sound!) more than we had before. The story itself was
loosely based on the first-ever original Star Trek novel “Spock Must Die!” by James
Blish. To avoid ripping off Star Trek completely, though, the starship name was
changed to the USS Paragon (hence, the title of the film: Paragon’s Paragon), the
captain was now Richard Kirk, the first officer Mr. Sellek, Doctor Costa, Helmsman
Tokato, etc. Without going into too much detail, the Kligons find a way to project
an energy field around the planet Organia, cutting off the Organians’ powers and
allowing the Klingons to start an interstellar war. In trying to beam Mr. Spock,
er, Mr. Sellek through the field, he is split in two: one good and one evil. But
unlike “The Enemy Within,” they both appear identical in temperament and logic,
each explaining why he alone is the true Vulcan first officer. Ultimately, Kirk can
only allow one to live, but how does he choose?
Part 1:
[Link]
Part 2:
[Link]
2000: Digital Ghost [Movie]
Digital Ghost was a German-language Star Trek fan film set within the continuity of
the Star Trek: The Next Generation movies. It is the story of two (previously
unseen) Starfleet officers from USS Enterprise-E (played by Erich Redman and German
Big Brother star Kerstin Klinz) delegated to test the next, completely automated
starship, the Enterprise-HC. The film was directed by Thomas Wolff, produced by
Joost van Wingerden, with CGI from Tobias Richter (later involved in production of
ST New Voyages and Axanar).
Digital Ghost was just a one-shot with no additional episodes. It was never mass-
distributed online through mirrored website hosts containing digital video files
free for download. Oh, and Digital Ghost was entirely in German. One of the
world’s largest Star Trek conventions, FedCon, takes place each year in Germany and
attracts thousands of Trekkers from around the world. Tobias approached his
contacts at FedCon to sponsor the film, promising to have it ready to show by the
time of their convention in May of 2000. The script was tweaked slightly to add a
reference to FedCon 8 at the end. Tobias remembers the project: “We shot the actors
in two days in a small studio near Luxemburg. “I think we filmed sometime during
autumn or winter, and then had around 4-5 months of post production.”
[Link]
2000-2007: Star Trek: Hidden Frontier [Series]
A series with fifty produced episodes, the series is set shortly after the end of
the Dominion War and centers on the starship Excelsior and its home base, Deep
Space 12, as they mediate disputes between various races and fend off attacks from
a powerful new alien race, the Grey. Fan Films Quarterly listed Hidden Frontier as
one of the ten most pivotal moments in fan film history in its Summer 2006 issue.
The BBC in 2006 called the series "the most prominent" Star Trek fan film following
Star Trek: Enterprise's cancellation. Hidden Frontier spawned several spinoffs:
four live-actions series (Voyages of the USS Angeles- prequel, Star Trek: Odyssey,
The Helena Chronicles, and Federation One), the 23rd-century movie era audio series
Star Trek: Grissom, two 24th-century audio series (Henglaar, M.D. and Diplomatic
Relations), and three videos made jointly with Starship Intrepid Productions.
[Link]
2002-2014: Starship Exeter [Web Series]
An online series produced by Jimm and Joshua Johnson that focuses on the adventures
of the Constitution-class starship USS Exeter (NCC-1706), a sister ship of the USS
Enterprise (NCC-1701) in the original series era, with production design matching
the era. It has been mentioned by The New York Times and Register-Guard (Oregon).
Two episodes were released. "The Savage Empire," written and co-directed by the
Johnson brothers, was released as downloadable video files via the internet on
December 19, 2002. Production and post-production took several years, with shooting
in Minnesota and Texas (and an insert scene recorded in Sydney). The second, a far
more ambitious production titled "The Tressaurian Intersection", with a script by
Nebula Award nominee Dennis Russell Bailey (who co-wrote the Star Trek: The Next
Generation episode "Tin Man"), was shot in mid-2004. Played primarily aboard the
titular starship and a wrecked sister ship, the film featured elaborate sets, some
elements of which were "dumpster dived" from the Mike Judge film Idiocracy that was
shooting on the same Austin Studios lot. In addition to CGI effects, the film also
used elaborate miniatures to realize the interiors of both a shuttle and ruined
starship courtesy of Minneapolis-based MNFX, and to portray wreckage both on a
planet and in space as built by Thomas Sasser (not all of whose work made the final
episode). Released in segments, "The Tressaurian Intersection" film suffered a
protracted post–production process, with the final complete episode being released
via YouTube on May 1, 2014, just months shy of 10 years from the start of principal
photography. A third episode, "The Atlantis Invaders," was to have shipboard scenes
shot during principal photography of the "Tressaurian" episode, but budget and
scheduling problems caused it be postponed, and ultimately abandoned. A third
episode, "The Atlantis Invaders," was to have shipboard scenes shot during
principal photography of the "Tressaurian" episode, but budget and scheduling
problems caused it be postponed, and ultimately abandoned.
The Exeter was one of several starships undergoing repairs at Starbase 11 in 2267,
when the Enterprise arrived for her own repairs. (TOS episode: "Court Martial").
2004-2016: Star Trek: New Voyages (Star Trek: Phase II) [Series]
Co-creators James Cawley and Jack Marshall aimed to complete the original series'
five-year mission, with actors cast as Kirk, Spock and the rest of the Enterprise
crew on an exact replica of the original bridge set. One episode, "To Serve All My
Days," was written by D. C. Fontana, story editor on the original Star Trek series,
and featured Walter Koenig guest-starring as an older version of Pavel Chekov, his
character from the original series. Several other actors from the original Trek
series have also now signed on to appear in future episodes. George Takei reprised
his role of Hikaru Sulu in the third episode, "World Enough and Time", joining the
original Yeoman Janice Rand, Grace Lee Whitney. Fan Films Quarterly listed New
Voyages as one of the ten most pivotal moments in fan film history in its Summer
2006 issue, and it has been reported on by National Public Radio. New Voyages also
won TV Guide's 2007 Online Video Award for best sci-fi Webisode. On February 16,
2008, during an appearance at the Farpoint Science Fiction Media Convention in
Baltimore, Maryland, James Cawley announced that the series would shed the New
Voyages moniker and become known as Star Trek: Phase II to reflect the transition
between the original series and Star Trek: The Motion Picture. 10 episodes and 3
short vignettes have been released by 2015.
2006-2016: Star Trek: Dark Armada [Series]
The first episode of Dark Armada takes place ten years after the events in Star
Trek: Nemesis on board the USS Batavia, named after the famous 17th-century Dutch
ship, when Capt Richardson and his crew make a shocking discovery which will
determine the fate of life on Earth and throughout the Federation. It was started
in March 2005 by an energetic group of young film-makers gathered from Star Trek
fan clubs in the Netherlands and Belgium. Filming began in Jan 2006, a test/pilot
episode was released that September, and three short episodes were released in 2009
and 2010.
[Link]
2007-2008: Star Trek: Of Gods and Men [Mini-series Movie]
Described by the producers as a "40th-anniversary gift" from Star Trek actors to
their fans, it is a three-part mini-series directed by Tim Russ and starring
several original Star Trek stars, including Nichelle Nichols and Walter Koenig. The
first part was released in December 2007; parts 2 and 3 were released in 2008. In
2305, a mysterious man (William Wellman Jr.) appears at a run-down outpost
demanding the location of Captain James T. Kirk, only to find from the terrified
data clerk (Ethan Phillips) that he was presumed dead saving the USS Enterprise-B
12 years earlier (at the opening of Star Trek Generations). Near the end of the
movie, Uhura marries Stonn on Vulcan and Chekov is at last promoted to admiral.
2007-2011: Star Trek: Odyssey [Series]
A spin-off from the Hidden Frontier team with its first episode "Illiad" launched
in September 2007. It is the story of the USS Odyssey, a Federation ship which has
become trapped in the distant Andromeda Galaxy. With Odyssey's captain and first
officer dead, along with most of the command staff, Lt. Commander Ro Nevin is
forced to take command in order to get the remaining crew home.
S1-S2:
[Link]
Audio S3E0:
[Link]
Finale S3:
[Link]
2007-2016: Starship Farragut [Series]
Launched in July 2005, this series takes place during the original-series era, and
tells the story of the crew of the USS Farragut (NCC-1647), sister ship of the
Enterprise. Farragut stars John Broughton as Captain John Carter, Michael Bednar as
Commander Robert Tacket, and Holly Bednar as Chief Engineer Michelle Smithfield
with an ensemble cast. The premise is simply put, "New Ship, New Crew, New
Adventures". The episodes "For Want of a Nail" and "A Rock and a Hard Place" won
the award for Best Fan Film at the Wrath of Con Film Festival in Panama City,
Florida in 2008 and 2009 respectively. As of April 2020 seven episodes had been
released. The eighth and series finale "Homecoming" was released in 2021. In 2022,
production on a follow-up project entitled Farragut Forward began production in
conjunction with Kaotica Studios, moving the storyline forward into the "Movie
Era", putting members of the crew aboard the Miranda-class (similar to the USS
Defiant seen in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan) USS Farragut (NCC-1941).
By 2254, the Farragut was under the command of Captain Garrovick. Garrovick's crew
included notable officers James T. Kirk and Androvar Drake. During Garrovick's
command, the Farragut made contact with numerous races and charted hundreds of
planets, including Modala and Neural. (TOS episode: "A Private Little War").In
2257, the Farragut was surveying planet Tycho IV, when they were attacked by a
dikironium cloud creature. The creature was impervious to phaser fire and
overwhelmed the ship's defenses, leaving a third of the crew dead, including
Captain Garrovick. Lieutenant Kirk assumed temporary command and set a course for
the nearest starbase. (TOS episode: "Obsession").
The stardates of episodes are listed online and stated at the start of the episodes
as: E1 (4625.1), E2 (4847.3), E3 (5133.4), E4(6594.3), V02 (4901.2). These
stardates place Farragut way in the future, even after S3 & S4 of Star Trek
Discovery. However, the actual timeline overlaps Star Trek Phase II/New Voyages
because the same characters/actors from Phase II visit the Farragut. Furthermore,
Farragut is produced using TOS style uniforms, ships, technology, etc.
2007-2018: Star Trek: Intrepid [Series]
A U.K. based fanfilm, and the first such production from Scotland, Intrepid is set
in the 24th century, several years after Star Trek: Nemesis, and revolves around
the effort to colonise a distant and largely unexplored sector of the galaxy. Star
Trek: Intrepid was filmed entirely in Scotland and was released on May 26, 2007.
GMTV presenter Lorraine Kelly has a brief appearance in Intrepid and the production
has received extensive coverage in both national and international media, such as
CNN, BBC Radio Scotland The Guardian, and The Scotsman. Intrepid was featured on
the UK Sci Fi Channel's Sci Fi 360 video podcast. Executive Producer and cast
member Nick Cook has also collaborated with the Hidden Frontier crew several times,
including the joint episodes Orphans of War and Operation Beta Shield, as well as
the finale of Odyssey.
[Link]
[Link]
2008: Star Trek: Chains of Betrayal [Movie]
A fan-fiction comedy film written and directed by Derek Howard and Racan Souiedan,
the film is an episode of approximately forty minutes in length that takes place
during season five of Star Trek: The Next Generation, soon after the events in
"Unification". The script was written during the summer months of 2005. The film is
non-profit in nature and was meant as a tribute.
[Link]
2008: Star Trek: Osiris [Series]
ST Osiris takes place before Star Trek Nemesis, where the first voyage of the ship
Osiris gets interrupted by a crew mutiny. The series was filmed entirely on a green
screen in Detroit and ended after just four episodes. It was criticized for poor
writing and the mutineers being portrayed as personal opportunists rather than
being committed to a noble cause.
2010: Star Trek: Phoenix [Series]
Star Trek: Phoenix is a fan-film series that is set 42 years after the events of
the motion picture Star Trek: Nemesis, in the year 2421, but the storyline includes
time travel to pivotal moments in history. The pilot episode, "Cloak & Dagger",
premiered on the Internet May 2, 2010.
[Link]
2010-TBD: Potemkin Pictures [Series]
80+ Episodes and spin-offs: Project Potemkin, Starship Tristan, Starship Deimos,
Starship Endeavour, Battlecruiser Kupok, Starship Triton, Hospital Ship Marie
Curie, Starship Alexander, Starship Webster. Set at the TOS movies timeline.
2013-2017: Star Trek Continues [Web Series]
American fan-made web series with 11 episodes. It is an unofficial direct
continuation of Star Trek: The Original Series, and tries to emulate visual and
storytelling features to achieve the same look and feel as the official series.
First produced in 2013 by the Starship Farragut team, this series looks to
chronicle the "lost seasons" of Star Trek: The Original Series in similar fashion
to Star Trek: Phase II-New Voyages. The series features voice actors Vic Mignogna
and Todd Haberkorn as Kirk and Spock, respectively. Other notable cast include
Chris Doohan (son of James Doohan) as Scotty, author-producer Larry Nemecek as
McCoy, and concurrently by voice actor Chuck Huber. It also co-stars Grant Imahara
(MythBusters) as Sulu. The first episode, "Pilgrim of Eternity" (with Michael
Forest reprising his role as Apollo from the original series episode "Who Mourns
for Adonais?") was released in 2013. The second episode, "Lolani" (featuring guest
star Lou Ferrigno), was released in February 2014, and a third episode, "Fairest of
Them All" was released in June 2014 and won a Burbank International Film Festival
award for "Best New Media – Drama". Star Trek Continues also won a Geekie Award for
"Best Web Series". On June 19, 2015, Episode 4 of the series was posted and titled
"White Iris". All eleven full episodes have been released as of December 2017.
2014: Star Trek: Axanar [Movie]
In 2014, fans and former cast members organized a fan-made short film called
Prelude to Axanar, setting up a Kickstarter project with a target of $10,000, but
which raised well over $100,000 instead. This short film was to be followed by a
full-length feature film called Star Trek: Axanar, funded by a much larger
Kickstarter project. Both films were to star Richard Hatch, J. G. Hertzler, Kate
Vernon, Gary Graham, Michael Hogan, and Tony Todd, all mainstream actors who were
veterans of Paramount's Star Trek franchise and the rebooted Battlestar Galactica.
Prelude to Axanar featured both new and familiar characters from the Star Trek
universe. The short film for Prelude to Axanar was released in June 2014. The film
is presented as one episode of a Federation documentary pertaining to a "Four Years
War" (a supplement of FASA's Star Trek: The Role Playing Game in the 1980s) with
the Klingon Empire. The events depicted reportedly precede Star Trek: The Original
Series by two decades, with the war's opening battle at Arcanis IV, a prosperous
Federation colony along the Klingon border. The Klingons, who did not consider the
Federation to be a worthy adversary, maintained the initiative for the first six
months of the war, with a number of victories under the leadership of their supreme
commander, Kharn. The Vulcan diplomatic delegation under Ambassador Soval (who
appeared on Star Trek: Enterprise), overseeing negotiations with the Klingons, are
left with little room to maneuver.
In August 2014, the production raised $638,000 on Kickstarter, and writer-
producer Alec Peters went into pre-production for the feature film Star Trek:
Axanar. On December 29, 2015 the project was hit by a lawsuit from CBS and
Paramount Pictures filed in Central California federal court, stating the Axanar
works infringed upon their intellectual property by making use of "innumerable
copyrighted elements of Star Trek, including its settings, characters, species, and
themes." In March 2016, Peters' Axanar Productions filed a motion to dismiss or
strike Paramount and CBS's claims, saying the elements mentioned in the court
filing are not protected by copyright and is seeking premature relief from a work,
the Axanar feature film, that does not exist. The motion to dismiss or strike was
denied by the court and the case went to a jury trial in January 2017. On January
21, 2017, the lawsuit was settled. On June 26, 2016, during the Axanar lawsuit, CBS
and Paramount released a set of guidelines for Star Trek fan films to follow.
Notably, these restrictions require films to: be no more than 15 minutes long and
have no stories longer than two installments (for a total of 30 minutes); play on
YouTube without commercials; and all participants are required to be amateurs who
have never worked on Star Trek or another licensee of CBS or Paramount Pictures.
The creation and release of Axanar would only be allowed on these terms.
2014-2021: Starship Valiant [Series]
Starship Valiant is based on the original star trek series starting approximately
during the latter half of the third season of that show. The series has the
distinction of being the first fan series to star an African American first officer
and then promoted to captain of the USS Valiant. There has been three full episodes
running at 24–26 minutes and a special preview of a proposed episode that would
have been feature length but the CBS guidelines prevented the feature length
episode from being made.
[Link]
2015: Star Trek: Renegades [Movie]
A fan-created project to create a pilot for a new Star Trek series. CBS declined to
pick up the show. Several former Star Trek actors appear, including Walter Koenig,
Robert Picardo, Manu Intiraymi, and Tim Russ. It is set 10 years after Voyager's
return from the Delta Quadrant. Plans have been announced for a Renegades web based
series. In June 2016, the team announced that in response to new requirements on
Star Trek fan films issued by CBS and Paramount Pictures, their upcoming film
Requiem would remove all references to Star Trek. The series itself was renamed
Renegades. Set 10 years after the starship Voyager's return from the Delta Quadrant
when the Federation is in a crisis. The Federation's main suppliers of dilithium
crystals (the primary catalyst for the fuel used in faster-than-light travel) are
disappearing. Space and time have folded around several planets, isolating them
from outside contact. The phenomenon is unnatural – someone or something is causing
it to happen. The need to stop this necessitates drastic measures, some of which
are outside the Federation’s normal jurisdiction. Admiral Pavel Chekov, head of
Starfleet Intelligence, turns to Commander Tuvok, Voyager's former security officer
and current head of the newly reorganized Section 31, Starfleet's autonomous
intelligence and defense organization. Tuvok must put together a new covert,
renegade crew – mostly outcasts and rogues, and even criminals. This new crew is
tasked with finding out what is causing the folding of time and space, and stopping
it at all costs.
2015-2022: Dreadnought Dominion [Series]
Created by Frank Parker Jr who portrayed the original Commodore Samuel Grissom was
launched in April 2015, this series takes place during the original-series era, and
tells the story of the crew of the USS Dominion (NCC-2115[66]), Dreadnought
Dominion is the only fan film or series to feature the Dreadnought class Star ship
designed by Franz Joseph (artist) Schnaubelt and published in the Star Trek Star
Fleet Technical Manual 1975. Dreadnought Dominion stars Gary Davis as Captain Jason
Brousseau, Randy Wrenn as Chief Engineer Commander Stephen Denson and Tracey Davis
as Communications officer LCmdr Paula Tompkins with an ensemble cast. As of
November 2022 16 episodes had been released. The 17th episode is planned to be shot
in early 2023.
2016: Star Trek: Horizon [Movie]
The story is set in the Star Trek: Enterprise era, directly after the 4th season of
the series. The film is about the Romulan War. The Kickstarter campaign launched on
April 19, 2014. The film was released February 25, 2016 to backers and was also on
the internet. In April 2016, co-producer Tommy Kraft issued a statement regarding a
proposed Star Trek - Horizon sequel, Federation Rising, was shut down due to the
new requirements on Star Trek fan films issued by CBS and Paramount Pictues. Star
Trek: Horizon won four of twelve categories in the 2017 Independent Star Trek Fan
Film Awards (Best Special & Visual Effects; Best Original Music; Best Original
Story or Screenplay; and Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form), presented at and
by Treklanta.
[Link]
fzZjk5Is&list=PLMX2N4gGdshVkmuyFfhJgIbASo_T6_niG&index=1
[Link]
2016: Starship Grissom [Episode]
Starship Grissom is an educational fan film based on the original Star Trek by Gene
Roddenberry. The episode is approximately 15 minutes with Common Core and STEM
subjects.
This series is written by a group of teachers from Highland East Junior High School
in Moore, Oklahoma and is designed so educators anywhere can download and use it in
the classroom.
[Link]
2016-TBD: The Federation Files [Series]
Created by Glen L Wolfe and launched in 2016, this anthology series primarily takes
place in the prime TOS timeline. Along with Dan R Reynolds, this award winning
series features different ships, Constitution Class, Dreadnaught, Galaxy Class and
Destroyer just to name a few. As of July 7, 2023, 13 live action episodes and 8
animated shorts have been released.
2017-2019: Star Trek: These Are The Voyages [Series]
After the positive reception to their first short film, the filmmakers of the award
winning 'Needs of the Many' set about to produce an anthology of five short films
set during the Star Trek: Enterprise era of the franchise. "The Derelict" was
released in 2017, followed by "Good Men" and "The Fall of Starbase One" in 2018.
The final production "Line of Duty" was released July 27, 2019.
2019: What We Left Behind [Documentary]
In 2017, eighteen years after the Deep Space Nine finale, What You Leave Behind,
aired, Ira Steven Behr announced a crowdfunded documentary named What We Left
Behind, deriving its title from the name of this episode (which itself is based on
the Pericles quote, "What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone
monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others"), which met its goal of
$150,000 within 24 hours. The documentary reflects on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's
legacy, featuring interviews with the cast and crew of the series and speculating
on what would have happened had there been an eighth season. It was released in
2019. Cast includes Alexander Siddig, Avery Brooks, Colm Meaney, Michael Dorn, Nana
Visitor, Rene Auberjonois, and Terry Farrell.
2019: Blood of Tiberius [Series]
Blood of Tiberius is a fan series set 50 years after the events of Star Trek: The
Original Series and is derived from the episode "Bread and Circuses". The 3-D
animated series takes place in the year 2319 and follows Livia Avitus, the
granddaughter of the Captain James Kirk, as a Special Agent for the Federation of
Planets.
2022: The Truth Within [Movie]
Captain Lance Ramirez considers the burden and challenges of command, and questions
if commanding a starship is the right life for him.
[Link]
