Review: Starship Exeter
If you don’t have any interest in the original TV Star Trek, or low-budget film-making, you can skip this. A couple months ago, I was reading a back issue of Star Trek Communicator and I found a link to a Trek fan film called Starship Exeter. rattrap posted a similar link not long afterward, and this weekend I got around to downloading and watching this 2002 production.
Let’s start with what they did wrong. The script has a few “well why didn’t the characters do X?” moments. The aliens are a bit oddly acted in places, and the production crew admits to regretting a certain monster model.
That’s all. Everything else is freaking perfect. The costumes are right. The sets are right. The props are right, the sound effects are right, the characters are right out of 2270’s Starfleet. They even made their gorgeous CGI Constitution-class starship wobble at the same place the Enterprise used to wobble in certain shots. I was completely transported (no pun intended) back to a time when a determined humanity was making its mark in the Trek universe, whether alien races liked it or not.
This brings me to another point. Say all you want about certain cheesy aspects of classic Trek, it was one of the most high-budget TV shows of the 60’s – nobody did anything with better production values back then. Starship Exeter is so well-done that if it was showing on cable right now, it could fool you for a moment into thinking that you were watching another Roddenberry spin-off pilot. Low-budget film-making is catching up to Hollywood faster and faster – one reviewer stated that he’d rather watch Exeter than Nemesis.
This was a joy to watch, not just for the nostalgia overload, but as the herald of what’s to come for those of us with DV cameras and a few thousand bucks. I highly recommend it.
Another good one that pointed me toward is 5 Year Mission (http://www.5yearmission.com). By the way, that wasn’t a CG Enterprise, it was done the old fashioned way with an AMT model kit. Of course, said model was built by Thomas Sasser, the guy who sculpts the masters for Polar Lights, but still… 5 Year Mission is done with CGI, and that’s really cool, because they use all those neat old Franz Joseph ships as well.
I also downloaded the most recent episode of a Scottish-produced series that takes place in the Next-Gen era. The thing that really strikes me about this series (though I’m a little disappointed it takes place on a Super-D) is that the story is actually a very Classic-Roddenberry idea. It deals with the tensions created when a crewmember deals with having broken off a relationship with one shipmate and becoming involved with another. The thing that makes it a good Classic-Roddenberry story is that it’s simply accepted that all three of them are male…
I also downloaded one recently that dealt with the idea that someone finally manages to kill the Batman, and after many years of retirement, Dick Grayson dons the red-and-green once again to seek justice for his former partner and mentor. It’s another one of those trailers that makes you wish Warner would hand them a check and get away from people like McG.
Films like that one and “World’s Finest” show us what Hollywood could and should be doing. “Five Year Mission” and “Starship Exeter” show us what Star Trek could be, and, hopefully, with Manny Coto at the helm, might still manage to be, in spite of itself.
Fortunately, I’m burning CDs like a madman, and handing them off to Ron. The Independent Film Fest should really be something this year.
Speaking of which, sort of, Ron mentioned that “Low Bandwidth Theater” went over quite well last year, and that we ought to throw it into the schedule again (hint, hint). Of course, we have to have “Badger, Badger”, “Kenya”, and “Cows with Guns”.
Ooh, maybe this year I can remember to get him a copy of “Heroes” as well. 😀
I gotta wonder why Paramount hasn’t gone after these projects, (Or have they?). Outside of worries of the predictable massive fan-backlash this seems the likely thing hollywood would do.
Consider it thrown. I’ll have some more good stuff this year, including the breakdancing Soundwave and Magical Trevor. I thought I’d bring Foamy’s A-Kon rant too 🙂
I think you may have nailed it – right now, Paramount can’t afford to lose a single fan. Some companies are taking lessons from the Japanese anime and manga company who have learned that, in the long run, fan activity makes them more money than it costs them. Every fan who’s given up on Enterprise might be moved to give it one more try after getting the warm fuzzies of a fan project like this.
I’ve been very sorely lacking in the Trek department for years, not really by choice, the places I’ve been living don’t get UPN and it’s highly annoying.
Yay! Found it!
http://www.majordamage.org/heroes.html
Another one that’s gotten good reception in the SF circuit out here is Hidden Frontier. I haven’t seen any of it yet myself, but now it’s joined in my list of things to see by 5 year and Exeter.
That’s the one I was thinking of! It’s set in the post- Dominion War TNG period. Good stuff.
Hidden Frontier
I’ve seen Hidden Frontier. While their hearts are in the right place, they don’t seem to have the expertise with backgrounds or props. Most of their interior scenes are green-screen static shots. I’m no expert. Still, at least they are trying to make do with what they have, and I’ll give them an A for their effort.