mutagenrocks
This movie/miniseries is firing on all cylinders... all except one, FX. Some of the CG is OK, some looks about like Veggie Tales quality. On the other hand, the cast, the sets (which I believe they mostly got from New Voyages), and the subject matter/script are all wonderful classic trek. So yes it's a homemade project, so the CG is bad, but it's full of heart. I kind of wish they'd do a special edition and re-render those fx with more detail, maybe get people who liked this project and can do FX. I also wish it had been filmed in HD. That aside let's talk about what they got right... everything else. It's an engaging story, filled with many actual trek stars of yesteryear giving up there time and energy just because of there love of trek. Just for a little present to the fans. In fact everyone cast to crew did that, nobody made any money and for putting this together, giving these actors a final chance to play there roles (and in some cases alternate roles), giving us a final go with a cast spanning several of the shows, an interesting story and a chance for the captain of the Enterprise Alan Ruck a chance to be an actual captain and not a jackass (like they made him out to be in Generations). I'm a huge trek fan for decades of all the series, in fact the only trek I don't like is The Next Gen movies and a few scattered episodes (like the Tuvix episode). I find it strange that both this movie and the 2009 star trek blew up Vulcan... man everyone wants to blow up Vulcan, hahaha (and yes I think the JJ trek movies are excellent, after the next gen movies there a welcome change). Great job guys, please consider a special edition/directors cut in anamorphic widescreen with better fx. However, since that probably won't happen, it's still a masterpiece, great job everyone, thanks for giving so much of your time and effort for trek fans. I'd choose this fan made trek movie over Generations any day (Kirk dies punching an old man and falling off a bridge, gimme a break).
iroquoisjoe
Here is what I found fun It was just fun to see Chekhov and Uhura carry the show. They get most of the lines, (but even then it is an ensemble cast). Koenig got to do more dramatic lines and action. Nichelle probably got more plot point lines. I would have preferred to see Miss Nichols do more of the action, but that may have not been physically possible for her...as seen by the fact where she was walking in a scene where everyone else was running.It was good seeing a full grown Cirroc Lofton again , who played Captain Sisko's son in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. In homage to his TV father he sported a bald head and goatee. His acting was just okay...but then he really didn't have any exciting lines to deliver.Herbert Jefferson Jr or Boomer from the original Battlestar Galactica shows up with some mean looking facial hair. He commands some starship and strike force and at some point tells "Blue Squadron" to go on the attack...which of course was his squadron on the old BSG show. Cool seeing him again. A good nod of the head to 'old-school' sci-fi.It was good to see original Star Trek's Yeoman Rand show up...although I don't know if she even said any lines. She does get to practice her tribble puppetry skills though and that is cool.We get to find out what happened to Charlie Evans, from the old series episode Charlie X. Hint: he's bitter.We also get to find out what happened to Gary Mitchell who although left dead in the second Star Trek pilot shot...is alive and kicking due to the machinations of Charlie. Hint: the universe was better with him dead.For me the the special effects were great. If you are geeky enough to be aware of different designs that were planned for the Enterprise then you will see how those would have turned out in action. In fact you get to see lots of Romulan Warbirds, Klingon Cruisers, Klingon Birds of Prey, Klingon Super-Battleships, several designs (and paint schemes) of Starfleet warship and just a bunch of crazy starship designs all duking it out with phaser blasts and photon torpedo firings. Oh...the sound effects were fun too.It was cool seeing Tuvok again, and cool knowing he was directing this film.There are many things that make this enjoyable but, obviously, you have to have more than a passing familiarity with Trek to really appreciate them.For example...as a final note, it was cool seeing Arlene Martel as the vulcan priestess maximizing her facial expressions (something Miss Martel is a master at) as she watches Uhura kiss Stonn. But to really appreciate that you have to recognize her as Spock's fiancée T'Pring and remember that she dumped Spock for Stonn...hence her discomfort at not JUST the blatant show of emotions.All in all...much fun for Trekkers.
Lee Sanderson
This is a fantastic story. Yes the production is a bit rough and nothing like the Paramount standard but all the veteran actors manage to pull off a reasonably good performance. Walter Koenig also turns to his Bester character from Babylon 5 to give depth to the alternate Pavel Chekov. It's absolutely amazing how you're actually drawn into the story within 10 minutes and you begin to forgive the low budget just for the sake of burning curiosity to find out how the story progresses and when it gets to the end, you're left with a feeling of satisfaction and the hope that it will get remade like the Sanctuary series has been. It might have been a good idea to at least have gone to the Babylon 5 production team to polish off the CGI since they were good at low budget production. There's even a kind of blooper reel at the end credits that are extremely amusing.
rgcustomer
I had high hopes for this film, but they were pretty quickly dashed. Reading Calk's plot summary that IMDb currently has for this movie, I wonder if I even saw the same one. I must have dozed off in the beginning, because I don't remember most of that stuff happening.What I do remember is that one of the moments that was supposed to be one of the big climaxes of the film, when Gary dies, was a laugh-out-loud cliché to me. "KITTRICK!!!!!" ROFL.Again, maybe I missed it, but no reason seemed to be given for Gary suddenly losing his powers. Or why he seemingly couldn't kill people, despite all the electro-rific effects. And what about Charlie's sudden change of heart? We didn't even see that happen. Why wouldn't that have been a key scene in the movie? AND, on reading this, do YOU even know who Gary and Charlie are? They were referred to by name so infrequently and their backstory was so weak that I had to look it up online.Star Trek isn't supposed to be about the effects. First and foremost, it's about the story and the characters. But that seems to have been forgotten here, as you see fancy ships randomly shooting each other out of space with new weapons. None of the characters are particularly interesting, and the plot just sort of happens for no reason at all. And of course it all happens in an alternative timeline. As usual.Anyway, this is the last fan film I'll be wasting my time on. I've learned my lesson.