At long last... the conclusion is online! Starship Exeter: The Tressaurian Intersection

Starship Exeter: The Tressaurian Intersection

And the first episode, with a cameo by moi...

Welcome back, Arex

Fan film producer, James Cawley, has released a test shot of a new cast member for his "Star Trek: Phase II" series. Check out the whole article on TrekMovie.com!

I did read, on James' Facebook page, that the new Arex has lost his tripodal features. (I guess the CGI would have cost an arm and a leg.)

Haw haw haw!


Arex in "The Practical Joker" episode of Filmation's TAS.


My M'Ress and Arex customised action figures.




Arex features in IDW Publishing's "Year Four" comics!

Grayson!

Although I'd heard of this amazing fan film trailer, I'd never bothered to seek it out, and here it was on Youtube.



I love it. For fans of Robin the Boy Wonder, "Grayson" (2004) is an alternate, Batman-less future, where Dick Grayson decides to come out of retirement, threatening his happy family life with Barbara Gordon (Batgirl). The costuming and makeups are excellent. Some fun cameos by various DC Comics' heroes and villains. It is written and directed by a guy named John Fiorella, who also stars in the trailer as Dick Grayson and Robin.

Enjoy!

Still waiting it out: Starship Exeter

Still no word on the release of the oft-delayed finale of "The Tressaurian Intersection", the second "Starship Exeter" fanfilm episode, but in the meantime, the underlings had some fun with this:

Starship Exeter: The Night Shift

Meanwhile, here's Episode #1, with a cameo from moi:

Fun to have with your pants on... perhaps

Okay, this is utterly disgusting school kid humour, and I followed the link intending, and expecting, to be mildly outraged.

I ended up with tears streaming from my eyes and having a good few hearty belly laughs. Someone's been very creative here, and it's a cut above most of the fart fanfilm mashups that have been seemingly mass-producing themselves on Youtube in recent years. In fact, I think it was the homage to the 1960s "Batman" TV show that gave me the most smiles.

Ladies and gentlemen, here is the future of the Internet:


"STAR TREK: LETHAL ATMOSPHERE II: Return to Flatulon III"

"Banned from Argo": the music videos

Continuing yesterday's theme, I found two fan-made music videos, on Youtube, which use Leslie Fish's "Banned from Argo" filk song.

They are both very cleverly put together. The Star Trek one makes very efficient use of the popular Star Trek blooper reels, plus other Trek and science fiction footage, including the rec room "jam session" with the hippies of "The Way to Eden".

STAR TREK BLOOPERS (& "THE WAY TO EDEN") VERSION

"Banned from Argo", sung by Leslie Fish; 5 min 17 sec version

And here's one featuring a slower version of the song, set to scenes from the more adult "Doctor Who" spin-off, "Torchwood":

TORCHWOOD VERSION

"Banned from Argo", sung by the DeHorn Crew with Leslie Fish; 3 min 23 sec version

According to the cover of Vince Emery's "Star Trek Comedy: The Unofficial Album" LP, the DeHorn Crew also included Carol Shuttleworth, Kathleen Taylor, Robin Oye and Mary Frohman.

Free Maltz!

As I mentioned recently, I've uncovered a cache of old and fading videotapes from my ASTREX Star Trek club days. I've been without a VHS recorder/player for some years now - in this DVD age, when the VHS breaks doown one just... ignores it - but I bought a new VHS machine, hoping to find the time to make DVD copies. One day?

Meanwhile, here are some quick freeze frame images of me from the "Free Maltz" Star Trek fan film, as created, directed and produced by Ian McLean (and the Harpic Productions team) for the "Galactic Senate Elections" campaign at "Eccentricon", 5th National Australian Science Fiction Media Convention (3rd - 6th July, 1987). Maltz, of course, was originally portrayed by John Larroquette in "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock" (pictured left in the trio below), and was the only Klingon left alive at the end of that movie.



At the same time, I was studying for a university media course in a graduate diploma program, and we had to submit a short film to pass the course. I received permission to make this film instead, while my teaching colleagues did something more suited to primary (elementary) teaching. I also had to develop a script and storyboard. For a separate assignment, I did an illustrated procedure on how to make a life-mask out of plaster, which I had to do "for real" to make the Maltz latex forehead appliance.

My premise for this film, and to fit with Eccentricon's theme of the "Galactic Senate elections" being taken over by the anti-heroes, was that Maltz escaped from his Vulcan detention cell, ran away as fast as possible, hitched a ride back to the 20th century with Kirk and his crew ("Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home"), ran into an Eccentricon flier (advertising the Senate elections), caught a jet to Sydney, ran past various Sydney landmarks, and ran all the way to the convention. In other words, Maltz was running for election. It was the ultimate running gag:



Maltz behind bars on Vulcan. He is a Klingon of destiny...



... Saavik slips him a phaser; stock footage from ST IV on rear projection follow's Maltz's
escape to Earth and the 20th century, where a stray convention flier is found.



In the post-9/11 world, one could never get away with filming a rogue Klingon in a convict uniform in an International Air Cargo Terminal, but it was easy in 1987. (We asked permission and they just shrugged, "Sure!") Note the tiny figure, who has just emerged from inside the building, as indicated by the blue arrow. Thus, Maltz is "running" for the Galactic Senate.



Maltz is still running for the Galactic Senate. The yellow arrow indicates
an Eccentricon convention flier taped to the college sign.



Now Maltz runs into trouble with a 20th automobile - note the angry driver's
hand gestures; soon Maltz is again running for the Galactic Senate.



Maltz collapsed with exhaustion (not shown) as we fade to a promotional slide for the campaign; Maltz as Eccentricon compere, in footage of the convention coverage on the Nine Network's "Today" (6th July, 1987).



Maltz meets showbiz reporter Bob de la Lande from the "Today" morning show.

Maltz: I was a prisoner for three months in a Vulcan detention cell, but they let me out..."

Bob de la Lande: Ah, why?

Note that Maltz's unique calling card is a "Malt" cookie. We added the "Z" in black Texta.
People received them with all the "free maltz" (ie. malted milkshakes) they ordered/made donations to obtain.

So, did Maltz win the election? Nah, he came in third. But he did pronounce himself "Charity Queen" after raising the most money - by a huge margin - thanks to his hard-working election team's highly successful milkshake-making operation.

Creators' commentary! - "Starship Exeter"

What a cool surprise! Today I accidentally stumbled across a five-part presentation of the Star Trek fan film, "Starship Exeter: The Savage Empire", that included a creators' commentary track! Producers Jimm and Josh Johnson recorded this commentary in December 2005, exactly ten years after the film was conceived. The fan film itself burst onto the Internet - at www.starshipexeter.com - in December 2002. I knew the commentary existed but I had no idea it was available through Youtube.

Now, if you're only interested in seeing my scene (as Senator Therin of the Andorian Planetary Council), you'll need to scroll down to Part 5. Otherwise, enjoy the full commentary using these Youtube links.

THE SAVAGE EMPIRE

Part One of Five - with creators' commentary!


Part Two of Five


Part Three of Five


Part Four of Five


Part Five of Five,
featuring my cameo scene, which was videotaped
here in Sydney and airmailed to Jimm in the US
to be edited into the footage as a special effect.

And here's the whole thing without commentary...

Viva the fan film

In the 2000s, science fiction media fandom has (mostly) moved to the World Wide Web. Many SF fans tend to be tech and gadgetry savvy, anyway, so the thought of using Amazon to buy books, eBay to buy and sell tie-in merchandise, iPods and PDAs to download podcasts (such as bonus audio commentaries for DVDs) and eBooks, and web pages to publish newsletters, fan stories, fan art and zines, wasn't particularly wild. And the new tech has saved fans much in monthly meeting fees and printing costs.

And we also now have the online fan film phenomenon, with the likes of Youtube taking off beyond anyone's predictions. But there were Star Trek and other science fiction media fan films in the 70s, 80s and 90s.

The first Australian Super 8 fan film I saw was from the Melbourne Star Trek Club, Austrek, called "City on the Edge of the Yarra" (as in Yarra River) and it had some rather bizarre "Rocky Horror Picture Show" influences when Kirk and Spock stumble across a science fiction convention. There was also a film made - but never finished? - by Sydney fan John Parks. It featured some "Star Wars" parodies, such as robots C-Me-P.O.Q. and RU-One-Two, and a life-size Dalek race, if I recall correctly. I did eventually see snippets of the raw footage, and it was fun recognising the early work of several fan colleagues, performed years before I'd met all these people (and discovered active fandom) in 1980.

My local Star Trek fan club, Astrex, in Sydney, had one group of enthusiastic members who made some fan films with me in the 80s. I mentioned several of them over on my web site. Mostly, our fan films were videoed parodies of then-contemporary television game shows, as performed live at fan gatherings. These were then edited, given opening credits, and sometimes reshoots added. Some of our efforts were made as proper short films, though, and had scripted dialogue and even storyboards, etc.

As the time rolls on, I'll keep editing in details, such as release dates, but our fan films included:

* The Australian Science Fiction Media Award-winning "Sale of the 23rd Century" (1985), hosted by Therin and Tharrah the Andorians, and Tackee the green Orion slave girl. (This was many years before Senator Therin Sr cameoed in "Starship Exeter: The Savage Empire".)


Tackee zaps herself with a Klingon agonizer
on "Sale of the 23rd Century" at Con Amore.

* "Starfleet Blankety Blanks" (1985), hosted by Grol the Tellarite and Tackee.



* "Timewarped" (1986) - Doug and Tony of "The Time Tunnel" arrive in Sydney, Australia, just in time for a science fiction media convention. Ann twiddles some knobs but is unable to assist them.



* The Australian Science Fiction Media Award-winning "Perfect Botch" (1986), hosted by Reed, Sue and Johnny of "The Fantastic Four", complete with an inserted segment about Spock and T'Pring's romantic date, which they'd supposedly won in the (phantom) previous episode. Segment had Therin and Tharrah as chaperones. Live "mystery guest" contestants were Tackee and The Thing.



* "Cometcon Blankety Blanks" (1986), hosted by Strop the Visitor and Tackee.

* "Free Maltz" (1987), the post-"Star Trek III" story of Maltz's escape from a Vulcan prison cell. A standalone short, but also used as introduction to:

* "The Nearly-Wed Game" (1987), hosted by Maltz and guest-starring pro actor Brian Croucher of "Blake's Seven" as Travis!



* "Star Trek 5.5" (1990) - the making of the film they were never game to let William Shatner actually direct, and on a shoestring budget even less than "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier".

* "The Naked Never" (1990) - a Season One TNG skit videoed on a full-size TNG bridge (mocked up in one weekend out of huge sheets of corrugated cardboard).

I'm not sure if the parody game shows "It's in the Beg" (performed live in New Zealand, 1988, hosted by The Flash) or the previous "Tribble Lotto" (at TimeWarped, 1986, below) which involved Walter Koenig and his wife, Judy Levitt, were actually preserved for posterity, beyond a few snapshots.



Our production team was known as Harpic Productions. Yep, flushed with success, our films made us blue in the face. (And had some toilet humour.)

I also once participated, as script contributor and makeup artist, on a great film short made by a group of Macquarie University film students in the 90s. It was called "Lost in Fantasy" and is perhaps closer to a docu-drama than a true fan film.


Therin and Tharrah: "Perfect Botch" chaperones.
(Note the phaser!)

Remember to come back often, as I'm sure to update this page fairly regularly, and will post links to more pics. Meanwhile, here's my cameo in "Starship Exeter: The Savage Empire"...

Kirk's Bastards

I accidentally came across this very funny Star Trek fan film today, "Bastards of Kirk", a very funny send up of TV's "Sixty Minutes" and "Star Trek". There are so many clever things about this parody. The costuming is often quite inspired, and the acting performances very appealing. There's some typically fannish fastidious attention to detail, and the script even acknowledges the concept of four-gendered Andorians, hinted at by Data in "The Next Generation", and extrapolated by the Pocket Books' Star Trek novels set after "Deep Space Nine".



I particularly loved: the introduction of Kirk's Andorian half-breed son, Rhan (Erick Fournier, above centre); the hilarious interview with Apollo (previously of "Who Mourns for Adonais"), for which even the interviewer dresses the part; Nurse Chapel trying out a Rand-inspired hairstyle and explaining why Spock couldn't commit to her; Spock avoiding his interview in the most logical way; and the handsome but troubled young twins from Cheron (Clint Maguire as Elbe and Erick Fournier, again, as Zokai), only one of whom has inherited his Dad's unique speech patterns.

Enjoy all six parts!


PART 1


PART 2


PART 3


PART 4


PART 5


PART 6

Well done Red Fort Films and Bright Anvil Studios! (And there's a blog of the production, written as it happened.)

Variations on a theme

I had a cameo role in the first Starship Exeter fan film pilot, "The Savage Empire", in which the Johnson brothers, Jimm and Josh, re-used the original Star Trek theme to accompany their opening credits.

But here's the all-new, fantastic opening theme, wonderfully reminiscent, a score specially written for episode #2, "The Tressaurian Intersection"! The episode's fourth segment has been long delayed, and some fans waiting to download it are way beyond antsy, but meanwhile... enjoy:

Props, costumes and auctions, oh my!

Over recent weeks, my monitoring of the It's a Wrap! auctions of Star Trek props and costumes led me to a great online bulletin board (BBS) for collectors of Star Trek props and costumes. I can highly recommend it as a place where questions are answered, answers are questioned (always in a friendly, helpful manner), and the members display amazing access to encyclopedic knowledge of ST trivia.


Star Trek Props, Costumes and Auctions BBS

As for my own journey as a SF media costumier - and authentic Star Trek prop collector - I cobbled together my first TOS redshirt in 1980, from an old red velour sweater. Coincidentally, this favourite velour top had some tiny holes right where the insignia and rank stripes should be.

Over the years, my Andorian persona, Therin, got to wear a homemade beige TMP costume, a ST II-style uniform, and a formal tailcoat, depending on the occasion, be it convention or movie premiere night. A friend made me the TNG outfit in which I played Data several times. My mother helped me to make a Robin the Boy Wonder costume (from TV's "Batman" series), a David Marcus shirt, and a "Greatest American Hero" costume. Our Star Trek club once spent a weekend casting plaster moulds of each other, and making latex appliances, which is when I made my Maltz (the Klingon from ST III) head! After growing a beard for a few years, I also began to play a Tellarite named Grol.

Owning an actual screen-used costume is going to be a very different type of satisfaction and excitement, as making replica costumes was a wonderful challenge, and perhaps something I've really missed since so much of interactive ST fandom vanished from Sydney in the 90s.

Performing in a costume parade (when not actually hosting or judging them) was also very fulfilling. It's not just wearing a good replica, or choosing something that suits your personality and/or physical dimensions, it's staying in character. And that clever one-line quip during the performance can really make a costume, and can definitely tip the voting in your favour.

A few examples:

I was in my Robin the Boy Wonder costume, with friends dressed as Batgirl and Lois Lane. Our Batman failed to turn up at the convention. The theme of the convention was "V: The Series" and the guest was Judson Scott (aka Lt James). As we came out, Lois pretended to be taking notes and I exclaimed to Batgirl, "Holy indigestion! Batman's been eaten by a Visitor!" (We won best group in that costume parade.)

My friend Karen and I came out dressed as Andorians - at a science fiction literary convention, no less - and I presented her to Guest of Honour, Harlan Ellison, and said, "Isn't she blue-tiful?" (We won best couple, even though Harlan has his infamous love/hate relationship with Star Trek.)

Bjo Trimble - "the woman who saved Star Trek" in the 60s - once told a convention audience about a very shy girl in a costume parade, who came out dressed as a female version of Luke Skywalker ("Star Wars"), with a life-sized Yoda doll/backpack on her shoulders (as per "The Empire Strikes Back"). She asked the Yoda doll, "How can I prove my Jedi powers, Master Yoda?" Yoda replied, "Levitate audience you will." She simply closed her eyes and wiggled her fingers a bit. When she opened her eyes again, the entire audience had stood, as one. Spectacular!

Bjo also mentioned one of the poorest efforts she'd seen at costuming. A beautiful young girl, wearing a stunningly brief slave girl Leia "Return of the Jedi" outfit, but she walked out "as if going to the shop to get a milkshake". As I said the other night, clothes maketh the alien - but so, it seems, does performance.

Raiding my old photo albums for some fun stuff to put on Flickr!, here are some scenes from Sale of the 23rd Century. This was a parody game show, performed and videoed live at Brisbane's Con Amore in 1985. The edited footage, with titles, a few newly-shot insert sequences, plus some special effects, became the first fan film of Harpic Productions. As a lark, I nominated the fan film for an Australian Science Fiction Media Award, and it ended up winning in the category of "Best Audiovisual Production". No doubt we were helped by the fact that many fans voting had seen the live version at the previous national convention.


Therin of Andor and Tackee the Orion slave girl (left); Therin and Tharrah see Tackee get shocked (centre); the contestants resolve a tied score (right). Photos by John Tipper, 1985.

Propwise, I own one of the very last large two-toned, screen-used 60s tribbles (from "The Trouble With Tribbles") that David Gerrold found in his garage a few years ago. I also have: a security clearance set pass from TMP; a patch of artificial Genesis Cave grass from Stage 5 (ST II); Majel Barrett and Michael Berryman cue cards (from ST IV); an unfinished breathing mask prop from ST V; a security clearance set pass from TNG; two "Starfleet Materiel Supply Command 01" cargo deck decals (one red; one blue); and a "baggie full of Star Trek" - bits of carpet, decking, wood and wire from ST: TNG - collected from the set by Bjo Trimble.




My favourite item might just be: a little clay tabletop-model house from the Old Bandi City of "Encounter at Farpoint", which were once attached to dozens of Christmas cards given out by the SPFX guys to the cast and crew.


Originally located on Deneb IV, somehow this little cottage was transported backwards through time and space - and is now situated on a plot of grass from the Genesis Planet. Yes, it's my Little Bandi House on the Prairie.


And my apologies to my niece, Beckie, who likes all my blog posts except the Star Trek ones. Sorry, Beck, it's been a big Star Trek week!

Starship Exeter: The Savage Empire Down Under

Yesterday I was asked to prepare a panel thingie about "Star Trek" fandom and the "Starship Exeter" fan films for presenting at the 25th annual ConQuest convention in Brisbane, Australia, on the weekend of 30 Sept/1 Oct.

They'll be dedicating an hour in the program, including my chat and a screening of "The Savage Empire", which we assume many Aussie fans have never seen.

It's also been suggested that I cut up and auction off autographed swatches of my family room curtains (as featured in the tag of SE: TSE), but no promises.

It's funny. I'd just started working in a new school, and then "The Savage Empire" premiered on the Internet in the Australian December/January school holidays. When Term 1, 2003, started back, one teacher (who had previously worked out that I was an avid Star Trek fan) raced up to me and exclaimed, "Did you see the Sydney Morning Herald article about some wacky American Star Trek fans? They spent over $20 000 of their own money to make a Star Trek episode - they wrote it, acted in it, made their own costumes, special effects - everything - then they put it up on the Internet. It was so popular it crashed the Mac web server for several days!"

"Yeah, I know," I said with a smirk. "I'm in it."


Therin's Dad, Senator Therin Sr, cameos in The Savage Empire,
the pilot episode of the Starship Exeter fan film series.

Guests-of-honour at the convention include Richard Arnold (former "Star Trek" Archivist), Katy Manning ("Doctor Who"), Gary Lockwood ("2001" and "Star Trek") and Keir Dullea ("2001"; "2010").

I hope to catch up with lots of ST and SF acquaintances.