Renegades: Rubbish or Revelation?

I'm finally putting finger to keyboard about this one but it did take me until the eve of Star Trek's 49th birthday to do so.

There have already been a ton of reviews of Renegades out there especially since it's more public release on YouTube a couple of weeks ago, but with September's anniversary coming along I thought; "OK, what would Gene have thought of this? Is this truly what Star Trek is now and will be in the future?"

Flashback; it's taken around two years and then some to bring Renegades to reality and there have been some sizeable breaks between pre-production, then filming and finally the good old post-production polish but is it living up to the hype that the stellar Star Trek cast and co. have brought whether it was wanted or not? 

At a surface level it looks great. Renegades is a really shiny production that takes the Star Trek universe beyond Nemesis and into much darker times for the Federation. There's a ton of action, phaser battles, CG space combat and some seriously gorgeous ship sequences that rival anything we ever saw in Voyager and Enterprise. You certainly won't get bored watching it as the journey to the credits is one event after another with lots to keep you occupied visually. However it's when you start to get past the screen gloss and look into the heart of the movie that my appreciation begins to waiver. 

Let's handle the plot itself just to get us all on the same page. Renegades sees still-active 147 year old Admiral Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig) and apparent Section 31 chief Commander Tuvok (Tim Russ who also pulls directorial duties) releasing genetic super-person Lexxa Singh (played by Adrienne Wilkinson and yes, a relation to Khan) from an Orion prison so she can lead her "motley crew" and stop a deadly super force from wreaking havoc on the galaxy. That's basically it in a nutshell aside from the array of set pieces which drop in to make this last more than 15 minutes. 

Koenig's involvement will certainly have bolstered interest but his scenes are very, very average and he's playing Chekov in his sleep here albeit carrying some big troubles on his experienced shoulders. When I watch his performance and compare it to something that I might see in Valiant, Continues or Dreadnought Dominion there's a passion that I see in those productions which I don't see within Walter's eyes or many others for that instance. I just don't believe in the characters nor in the desire of some actors to do this. 

On that note, what was with the great-granddaughter element in this? I wasn't sure where that was going but there is a moment which actually did shock me and was totally unexpected. Again, the acting is OK from this younger actress and I suspect we will see - and I would like to see - her story expanded in future episodes of Renegades.

Aiding Chekov is Andorian hacker Shree (Courtney Peldon) and Romulan assassin T'Leah (Larissa Gomez). Their appearance might seem like window-dressing to some degree but they are fairly important to protecting the admiral and uncovering some of the darker plot elements. The problem with both characters is that due to the other events and the cast size they really don't get a lot to do once they've had their "moment".

The Syphon, just to fill that in, is a race attacking planets, including ones which provide vital dilithium for the Federation, and  are therefore threatening the survival of the inter-planetary organisation. Since the activities of the Syphon are happening outside of Federation jurisdiction and they are not controlled by Federation laws the situation will need to be handled by someone else so if you can find them and no-body else can help maybe you can hire the - sorry slipped into another show there for a second but I'm sure you get the drift. They get shockingly little time here and the concluding events of the movie seem rushed and I didn't have any strong desire for the Syphon to be defeated. Their motives seemed lacklustre and they received little to work with. 

So let's look at the renegades themselves. Enter Lexxa; driven by the possibility that her mother, killed by Section 31, might still be around(?) and lots of angst all built up ready to let fly at the first opportunity. She's also the (deposed) captain of the renegade vessel, Icarus and is certainly keep to reacquire her position from it's Nausicaan encumbant. Lexxa's feisty, ass-kicking leader you'd expect to lead such a band and it gives Adrienne Wilkinson the chance to snarl at the camera and do some slow-mo walking. You know she's important because no-one else gets that treatment and her return to the bridge of the Icarus is fairly swift after a brief punch-up in an Orion prison and Tuvok letting her out. Adrienne Wilkinson does a fine job to work with what she gets and her story is at least interesting. I pray she gets better material to work with in the future of the series as once the prison fight had gone I didn't think her supposed superior skills were utilised to any degree.

There's an impressive ensemble just in the crew itself; Sean Young, probably most memorable for her performance as the Replicant Rachel in Bladerunner is Doctor Lucien an expert in holographic technology and typically on the run it seems although she has regular contact with guest-starring Robert Picardo's Lewis Zimmerman. The Young/Picardo scenes are probably the best pairing in the movie and are certainly played with a little more emotion and care.  Seeing Picardo back is a pleasure and he does genuinely look like he's enjoying being on the screen and back in Star Trek. Mind you, the Zimmerman we see here is nothing at all like the grouch we became familiar with in Voyager. 

We also get introduced to Chasty Ballasteros as Betazoid Ronara. Not quite what you might expect, Ronara can't do that whole empathic emotional bit that Troi was so good at in The Next Generation, rather she can manipulate people using her mental abilities. Nice trick and a nice twist on an established trope but it doesn't make her character any more memorable. Y'see, there are a lot of people in this production, a lot of main and guest characters and the 90 minute duration only just gives them all time to get a few lines and some shoe-horned character exposition. Given that these guys are supposed to have known each other for a while they spend a lot of the movie talking about basic information you would assume they already know. It's obviously for the audience but perhaps they didn't need to do as much and leave a lot of stuff unsaid to be explained in future installments? I actually felt this detracted from the pace of Renegades and stalled the motion of the story.

Also on board is Edward "Terminator 2" Furlong as Fixer. Seemingly the Icarus chief engineer, Furlong only really comes into his own towards the last 15 minutes of the film. He's OK but the performance is fairly forgettable except for that key section of the movie. At least he fares better than Manu Intiraymi as Icheb. While it's great to see a second Voyager character back in the fray and for Manu to be onboard, the Icheb character betrays a lot about what is critically wrong with Renegades. 

Gone is the intelligent, slightly withdrawn teenager from Voyager replaced by an almost vengeful soldier. Ok I get the whole Section 31 piece surrounding his evolution since Endgame but it seems a bit too far and nothing like the person we knew. Intiraymi does the best with the material he's given - in fact having spoken to him about Renegades I understand some of the issues a lot more and seriously feel that his character is underused and under-explored. He should be a major player but is at times relegated to a background role.

Same goes for Tuvok in that Russ seems to be playing him by rote and forgetting all the nuances that made him interesting particularly towards the end of the show. These character changes feel forced and likewise this movie feels forced. I enjoyed it but I couldn't buy into the nature of the renegade force or their very existence. Nor do I feel that anyone was done full justice or written properly given the numerous returning characters we had here. The whole point of Section 31 I thought was to deal with these kind of problems so that the Federation could deny all knowledge should anything go wrong. I'm really not sure if the writers got to grips with their source material properly here as it's much more a guns-blazing action piece than anything else. 

What they have attempted with Renegades is admirable but the cast is wasted on a basic action flick. Vic Mignogna's Cardassian is killed off early and could have been a fairly interesting character but now we'll never know.  Worst is that it's also taken me this long through the cast to remember that Gary Graham is in here as Ragnar, some form of mercenary type. I have a feeling he's going to be better treated as a character in Axanar than he does here. Truth be told both Ragnar and Sean Penn's Doctor Lucien benefit the most when they are alone aboard the Icarus evading the Archer. Again, a bit of a token character with not enough screen time to be fully developed in this installment.

From the very opening this feels like a 90's episode of Babylon 5 in the style of filming, the low tech sets and the amount of very evident green-screen really made this feel a little bit raw and retro. It's not a complaint because, hey, they have to reduce costs and this is never going to have quite the same feel as a TV episode but it's very telling what an independent production can complete versus the power of somewhere like CBS. Nor am I a great fan of the Syphon. The make-up is not that great, as an enemy I didn't buy into them and all we seemed to get was a lot of grunts and snorts through the monkey-esque mouthpieces. Borrada, their leader played by Bruce Young, could have been much better developed than just the archetypical villain role. I know he could have brought more depth to the role but the script, once again, is just as unforgiving and inflexible as his excessive makeup.

The plot point surrounding the use of portals to collapse planets into space and time is a really neat concept. It's not exactly new but the idea of encasing or destroying planets using it was fairly cool to see and did enhance the sense of danger especially when it turned to Earth as a potential target. The effects with this part were a bit iffy and some of the tension build up seemed to drag on a little longer than necessary. That's actually one of the directional points that did grate since it happened a few times - an angle lingered too long, a scene could have cut earlier or started just a fraction later.

There's a lot of blasting and battles but there doesn't feel like any form of Star Trek core; no morality, no deeper meaning that you would expect. It's almost as though Renegades is attempting the fast, visual gratification that modern blockbuster movies attempt, possibly aiming for a younger newer audience a la JJ's movies? I just found it lacking anything substantial. Many other popular fan series chose to stay in The Original Series era because it can be done less expensively and still look pretty good which is where Renegades vision and ability come into conflict quite drastically. With Renegades the intention is to make it look 24th Century but given the budget it just doesn't hit the mark. I'm sorry but unless you've got the millions that produced The Next Generation and the rest it's always going to look like a cheap knock-off however hard you try. Walls are a bit plain and shaky, sets look empty and there's a lot of obvious green-screen however, a lot of the visual effects added in post-production look great especially the tech on Icheb, some of the clear padd devices and the intensity of the ground battles.

Costuming too really bugged me. Not so much the renegades attire but the production's take on Starfleet's uniform which,  in every case be it Corin Nemec on the Archer,  Tuvok or Chekov looks like something you would buy from a fancy dress shop. It seems strangely oversized and in comparison to the clothes the main renegade characters receive they look really shoddy and poorly made. Sorry,  just an opinion but they aren't the best. The bridge set for the Archer too was very cramped, oddly shot and felt like it had been constructed in about five minutes. Sorry, I have major gripes with this as you can see....

Renegades is a heck of a lot darker and much less Starfleet than you will have experienced with even the conflict-filled world of Deep Space Nine. The appearance of the USS Archer with it's oddly wide deflector dish, as well as the inclusion of admirals Chekov and Paris (Richard Herd) keep a tag that we are still in the same Star Trek universe but I can't shake the feeling that this isn't quite Star Trek. Indeed as I asked at the start, would Gene have approved? I'm not sure he would have.

We know from interviews Roddenberry gave that he wanted other people to take on the franchise, to add their twist to it but the hopeful future he spoke of and believed in which in turn brought life to the Star Trek universe does not seem to exist in Renegades. The universe seems to have gone Bad (purposeful capital "B" there) and is only getting worse. Even Starfleet seems less optimistic and after the Dominion War, the multiple Borg attacks and the rest you'd probably not blame them but it there was always a sense of hope that seems to have been sapped from Renegades. If I was to understand the universe from this perspective I'd assume that s**t happens and deal with it.

We always knew that Renegades would not look as good as the TV show but I personally expected better given the time, effort and names associated with the project. It may not be the Star Trek we could have expected nor will it ever be canon but fans deserved something much more in keeping with the feel of the franchise. It's all well and good taking the idea in different directions but at its core anything Star Trek still needs to remain true to its founding principles to be truly considered Star Trek and I think that Renegades falls short of the mark with its desire for action over genuine character interaction and development.

I'll be the first to admit that I didn't donate to the project. OK, say what you will, I didn't and regretted it to the point where I did donate to Axanar. My problem is that I'm not sure how all the cash really was spent here. The cast is incredible but it just seems bloated in comparison to the plot needs, development (written that word A LOT here) and pacing. Less characters would have given more exposure to the necessary ones and potentially helped thicken out the story with something more meaningful. I know this comes across as an utter slating but it is still an improvement on productions from the 00's however while Renegades has been in production other units have caught up and passed what this movie has attempted to do in so many ways. 

Admittedly there's no-one trying to do post-Nemesis Star Trek so they do get a gold star for that and for effort but without the backing of a proper studio it's never going to hit the heights it needs to. Yes, yes, I know that's the point of the web-pilot to get that interest but so far I've not heard anything to suggest it's going to get that. Even more concerning is that the cast is going to be increased with the recent announcement that Terry (Jadzia Dax) Farrell will be boarding ship for the next episode - even less time for the existing crew to blossom?!

Renegades may well not be the optimistic future that Gene Roddenberry envisaged and brought to the screen on September 8th 1966 but it is still a vehicle to carry the name and keep the franchise alive in some form. While we are getting numerous series expanding the tales in the era of The Original Series, Renegades has been brave enough to move forward into new, uncharted visual territory and stake a claim. 

I look forward to the next phase of it's evolution and expect that a lot of lessons will be learned from the production of this movie. I have felt this has been a huge disappointment given all the factors that have gone into making a "new" Star Trek but I am hopefully confident that Renegades II will certainly be a step forward from here. Heck, we can't go backwards can we? 

How did you feel about Renegades? Was it as "miss" as I felt it was or am I being unjustly critical on something that's keeping Star Trek alive?

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The Stories We Never Saw: The Potential of Captain Pike

Just when you thought it was safe to get ready for some New Voyages, a bit of Axanar or the long-anticipated Renegades, one more massive Star Trek fan project manages to slap you in the face and demands attention.

That's not a bad thing either since the project we're talking about is Captain Pike and unless you've been living with a Horta for the last few months, you'll already be aware that it could be the next Big Thing as far as fan productions go.

The brains behind the operation is writer/director/producer Todd Shawn through his production company, Rigel VII (wonder where that name came from...?!) and I have to say, the scope looks mouth-wateringly good - even CG legend Tobias Richter is on board!

"I came up with the idea because it was something I wanted to see." said producer/writer Todd Shawn. "We never saw him [Pike] in The Original Series. We saw The Cage and that the mission [to Rigel] was something that affected him but we never got a chance to really explore that character. 

"I thought that at some point in The Original Series they would go back and show something with  him, maybe a flashback but we didn't. I can see from our Facebook page and the Kickstarter campaign that I'm not the only person who thought this way and people really wanted to see more Pike, see his history and when he first takes command of the Enterprise.

"Everybody wanted to know more about Pike and there really has never been anything in film explored about this man's story or who he was, the missions he went on, the people he encountered and how he paved the way for Captain Kirk."

Walter Doty, a good friend of Todd has been helping to bring the characters and story to life through the script; "I came up with the story and knew Walter was a writer and asked him to take a look at it." continued Todd, "We came up with something great and once we got the script out to the actors  they were hooked and really liked where the story was going. They thought it was original and loved the whole feel of the film. They felt it was original that had not been done and that was important to me."

For us fans that cast alone is dynamite with some major heavyweights on board. For starters there are former Star Trek main cast actors Robert Picardo and Linda Park from Voyager and Enterprise respectively. Add in there recurring Star Trek guests Dwight "Barclay" Schultz and Chase "Leeta" Masterson and you can already start to see the heights that this production is aiming for. But then there's even more to come with Ray Wise (Arturis from Hope and Fear), Bruce Davison (Jareth in Voyager's Remember and Menos in Enterprise's The Seventh), Sean Kenney (Lieutenant DePaul and the scarred Captain Pike in The Original Series) and finally Jorge Pallo (from The Secret Life of the American Teenager, Sons of Anarchy and many more) all taking up roles onscreen.

But how do you get such names to sign up to your Star Trek project? "It comes down to the script." noted Todd, "One person gives it to another if they like it and so on. I've already worked with Ray Wise and showed him the script. If one actor has connections with another actor who then gives it to another or mentions someone who could be involved it goes from there."

"It also helps if they are interested and it excites them!" added Walter with the pair also revealing that seven months work went into the script before they campaign to make the pilot even came into existence.

In relation to the vision of Captain Pike, Todd has very specific ideas on where his production will be heading; "We're not doing a reboot as far as the new movies we will be much more based on The Original Series ideas. We're just doing it in a different look and a different tone. It will be a darker tone and something that has more of an edgy feel than you saw so it won't be the same music, the same lighting. 

"It won't be a duplicate of The Original Series because there are so many series that do that now and do it well. We don't want to copy that we want to do something new and exciting that people haven't seen before.

That story is the one we only saw and heard glimpses of during The Cage and would flesh out the back story of the Enterprise's second commanding officer - but before that, the production team want to show fans and backers what they can do with the 45 minute pilot that will take us even further back into Star Trek history and the first time Captain Pike took command of the USS Enterprise. This pilot will introduce both Pike and Spock, see start of their friendship; their differences as well as show a younger Spock coming to terms with his emotional side. This Spock is less experienced, less confident and not the First Officer. The Captain Pike writers will be illustrating how he's trying to fit in and find his place in Starfleet especially as he's the first Vulcan to join the ranks.

Said Walter; "You think of Kirk and Spock being so close but yet Spock was willing to go against Kirk and the Federation to help Captain Pike (in The Menagerie) by putting his career and his life on the line but yet we didn't know anything about this guy. Why would you be that loyal to someone? There has to be a reason. He has to be a very strong character in your life if you're willing to betray Kirk....As a fan of Mr Spock a lot of people want to know why he made these emotional choices, who he was and his relationship to Kirk and the Enterprise."

"You'll also get to see Number One who is a very strong female officer and first officer. We get a chance to explore her character and who she is. We'll get to meet a lot of new and established crewmembers in the pilot and to explore some of the captains we met in The Original Series and find out what they've done and who they were. We will address that."

To the sets and costumes, everything will be as seen in the original pilot so expect the gold and blue velour as well as some amazing finishing touches. For example, the patches on the uniforms are all being custom-made. Captain Pike will also be making use of the Phase II bridge set thanks to show executive producer James Cawley. James has also said they will help to redress the sets to replicate The Cage with black railings and silver doors which will help provide that feel of the earlier era.

While they will be utilising the standing sets from Phase II, the episode is also set to feature an away mission and a space battle providing a fair bit of variety and making sure not everything happens within the confines of the USS Enterprise.

If the campaign to get this 45 minute episode is successful then we can expect a lot more from the team as they are writing a Captain Pike saga which goes well beyond their pilot and has the involvement of Walter Koenig. The Chekov actor was impressed with the project, coming in to both write and also play a unique role in the film.

However, all these plans could be totally scuppered if the Kickstarter target isn't met and time is rapidly evaporating. So far over 500 fans have donated but of the $112,000 target only around $62,000 has been raised. If funding isn't reached there will be no production.

"We really need people to help and give as much as can or even if they can only give a little to give that." explained Todd, "If you can't give anything please tweet and share the project because that doesn't cost anything but time and if you can help in any way you will get to see an epic film.

If we get the funding we'll be filming in September, produce a teaser by Thanksgiving, a trailer by Christmas and then work on everything from the music to effects after that but we can't do anything without the funding."

Remember that if you don't hit your target with Kickstarter you get nothing and if that's the case it would be back to square one almost for Todd. "We'd be looking at promoting at conventions, trying to keep everyone involved and do another Kickstarter to get funding in the future but we have the opportunity to do it now and if people want it, please support us any way you can. We've had a lot of support and we can't thank everyone enough for their help."


Perks for the campaign are in four tiers ranging from $10 to $130 and offering everything from your name on the donors' page of the website through to PDF scripts, ship patches, exclusive making-of downloads and even specially produced clothing items as well as blu-ray copies of the completed movie.

So now is definitely time to get behind this production. The players are available, the script is done - now all that needs to happen is for filming to begin and it's us, the fans who can make that a reality.

You can donate to the Captain Pike Kickstarter right now by clicking HERE or visit their website HERE

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Familiar Faces Star Alongside The 5th Passenger

Heard of it?

The answer is "Probably" as 5th Passenger stars four (count'em) FOUR Star Trek luminaries in the form of Tim Russ (Tuvok), Marina Sirtis (Troi), Robert Picardo (The Doctor) and Manu Intiraymi (Icheb) plus some Hellboy actor Doug Jones and even more faces from the sci-fi universe to boot.

Ok, here's the spiel in a couple of lines - Four crew, one escape pod, a pregnant officer, a lack of air and a mysterious fifth passenger who gradually picks off our well-known cast one by one. It can only mean it's going to be a race against time to get it before it gets them mixed in with a spadeful of conflict. Pre-production is well underway and the Kickstarter project is in full swing with just two weeks left to run.  $41,000 of the $65,000 has now been raised to make the movie viable and full pre-production can begin once the target has been met which looks like a real possibility.

"The fundraising is going well but we will definitely need more support if we are realistically going to make this initial goal." said cast member and writer, Morgan Lariah, "We really believe in this story and we know this film is something our audience is to enjoy."

With perks such as PDF scripts, access to donor-only groups, exclusive content, digital movie downloads, DVDs, lunches with crew and cast, names on end credits, costumes, miniatures (running out of breath...) and more and more, it's one of the more fan-friendly productions ensuring that backers are getting a lot of bang for their buck.

Explained writer/director Scott Baker, "I always have little seeds of ideas jumping around in my head. I really love The Twilight Zone and the way Rod Serling would tell stories and the core of this film is very much inspired by all the episodes of that show that I have watched."

"My friend Philip and I were chatting up ideas and bouncing different things back and forth when one of the little seeds came out. I wrote up a few scenes from it and took it to a table read session and the others really liked them, so I set in to flesh out the entire story."

Morgan was hooked very early on; "He approached me one day, told me the premise and how I would be great for the role of Miller. I was hooked!"

The big thing that will attract Star Trek fans to this project and certainly caught our eye was the unmistakable cast. "Scott met Manu Intiraymi on the set of another production and they chatted." recalled Morgan. "Scott mentioned 5th Passenger and how Manu is perfect for the role of Thompson."

Manu, who is also starring in the Tim Russ web-series "pilot" for Star Trek: Renegades loved the script and suggested the Tuvok actor for another of the parts in the movie, that of Franklin. "Tim joined us for the filming of the trailer. He recently helped to get Marina Sirtis and Robert Picardo on board as well." enthused Morgan,  "Having iconic Star Trek actors wasn't something that Scott and I initially planned but knowing these actors and their work we couldn't be happier with the cast we have. I can’t wait to see how they bring these roles to life."

Morgan herself was always slated for the key role of Eve Miller and recently started writing and producing her own projects such as the short film, 2-Star (which she co-wrote, produced and starred in) at the East End Film Festival in London and then went on to several other festivals internationally and in the United States. 

"I think we are so lucky to be living in this era where we have access to the equipment and technology that others before us could only dream of. Being on set with Tim Russ and Manu Intiraymi to film the trailer was such an incredible experience. They are such amazing actors and I loved watching their process. I can only imagine what acting alongside Doug Jones, Robert Picardo, Marina Sirtis and Hana (Molly O'Brien) Hatae (recently added to the cast) will be like but I am greatly looking forward to collaborating with them."

But it's not just about the wonderful world of Star Trek and while that is our main focus here(!) there are cast and crew who have been associated with films such as Captain America, Tron Legacy, Donnie Darko and series including Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It certainly looks like something which has brought together a bundle of experience from all corners of the sci-fi genre. Among those luminaries is visual magician Tobias Richter who has been seen bringing something amazing to the Axanar project in recent months.

The trailer itself is dark, brooding and atmospheric. If you're looking for a comedy element or a nice easy diversion then this won't float your boat but for those of you who like your sci-fi in the gritty tone rather than light and fluffy it'll be on your must-see list from this moment onwards. Seeing Star Trek actors facing off against each other rather than being all pally-pally makes a refreshing change and is out of the comfort zone in which we fans would usually see them. As trailers go there's not a lot given away but we go get to understand the filming style, a sense of the narrative and dialogue and a few shots both internal and exernal activity to keep you locked into your seats and more importantly helping fund this imaginative project.

Initially planned as a one-off ("You never know what will happen," said Scott), original movie, this was envisaged partly as a break from the explosion of superhero movies we've experienced in recent years; "Studios don't want to take chances on something new and I get that. They want safety. But that's where we come in. We are not beholden to men in suits who only see numbers." said producer Scott,  "We are looking to the fans of sci-fi and horror who want really new content. People vote everyday on what they want by where they spend their money. We're asking people to look at what we're doing, and if they like it, vote for us. We will deliver something amazing and NEW."

And on that one-off possibility, Morgan also wasn't sure if this would be the characters' only outing; "It’s funny because Scott and I know these characters so well. We know their past like our own and have mapped out their future. 5th Passenger only explores a sliver of their lives. We get to see and experience them just for this particular moment in time. If this first film is successful, we certainly can explore more of this universe with these characters."

It is still early days for the project but the Star Trek community is sure to be onboard with such a headline cast and knowing that in the background are some of the great heavyweights of the sci-fi movie industry itching to get started. I can only imagine that these characters will be worlds away from Icheb, Molly, The Doctor, Troi and Tuvok and will make compelling viewing in every sense.

Closed Morgan; "I think those who believe in the importance of strong female leads, diversity in casting and a captivating story will want to fund this project. I believe so strongly in making films that portray different aspects of the human condition, this is one of them."

Wanting to find out a bit more? Try out the 5th Passenger website or head onto their Kickstarter campaign and help fund the project.

What are your thoughts on 5th Passenger? Will you be joining their voyage? How about letting us know below or dropping by one of our (many) social media platforms...

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In the Middle of an Ambush: Trek Lives in the UK

There's a UK-made fan film? Seriously???

I couldn't have been more excited - I nearly fell out of my hand-forged captain's chair at SKoST Towers.

For as long as I can remember (which limits it somewhat due to my shocking memory) all of the major fan films and web-series have been born out of the States. I won't insult your intelligence but already you've come up with a list of at least six that are still in production now. Having one made on the shores of this Fair Isle is a real turn up for the books and we just had to find out more.

Already in production, Star Trek: Ambush is the brainchild of Greg Lock and sets a new crew right amongst the events of The Original Series or more specifically, just after the incident featured in Balance of Terror.

Now you're already wanting to know what makes this unique in the ever expanding library of Star Trek films and I think it has some great points which do stand it out from the field aside from being made in the UK (hurrah!). Already the Kickstarter fundraiser has amassed over $4000 which hit target (four times over) which means they aren't looking for the millions you might have seen elsewhere or expected. 

The crew of the USS Ambush seem to be be much more of an elite "damage limitation" team than the explorers we find on Kirk's Enterprise. Explained Greg: "There's a scene in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country that only appears on some versions of the film. It's really weird, it's on my two-disc DVD of it, but not on my Blu-ray of it. Anyways, the scene is just after Kirk and McCoy have been sentenced to prison on Ruthe Penthe set in the UFP President's Office.

Major West (played by Rene Auberjonois) comes with a flip chart and proposes a military operation to extract Kirk and McCoy from Ruthe Penthe, from the heart of the Klingon Empire. The President refuses to sanction the operation, and of course Kirk and McCoy got out anyway. But that scene always got me thinking, who would Major West have sent if such a dangerous and risky plan was authorised? The USS Ambush maybe?"

Running at just 20 minutes this production points a tight spotlight on a single mission to rescue a captured Starfleet commander from the newly rediscovered Romulans but while that might not pique your interest it's how they're doing this that really intrigues.

"An awful lot of work is involved in making any decent film and even a film that's only 20 minutes is no different. So as everyone is working in their free time, making a film that's 20 minutes long is a more realistic target." said Greg.

"The general saying with short films that we've come to appreciate is that there's two types of short films. Ones that are too long and ones that are way to long! In the past we've found that 15 to 20 minutes is an ideal run time for a short film; that way we can get right to the core of our material, without it being saturated with filler and we don't outstay our welcome with the audience."

It's certainly a clearly thought out project with the time constraint there to assist rather than hinder the creation of this short film. But is that all we're ever going to get? We asked Greg if there were any plans to take Ambush beyond this initial foray.

"The main purpose of Star Trek: Ambush is to introduce the audience to our new crew, to give you an idea of what they represent and let you see them in action. We hope that 20 minutes will be enough to get that covered.

It is something different and in my opinion hasn't been properly shown in Star Trek before. So even though I have plenty of ideas, I'd like to see how audiences take to Star Trek: Ambush first. Making a Star Trek film is something that I didn't think would be possible for me, so I'm focusing on getting this film done first.

But to tease you with a couple of ideas, I do have ideas in my head for a direct sequel. I also have ideas for a prequel that is set exactly 50 years after Enterprise and 50 years before The Original Series. That is when the assignment USS Ambush was created, so I'm really keen to explore the story and why such a offensive assignment was created in the first place. But for now, I'm trying not to get ahead of myself and get this film done first.

I'm also open to the idea of others taking the characters we give them in Star Trek: Ambush and incorporating them into their own original pieces of fiction. If someone likes the crew so much and wants to put them into their own stories, I'd probably be pretty cool with that (if they asked me). That's something I really like about Star Trek is how people take these great established characters and events, then do their own thing with them. It's like taking the ingredients and making your own unique dish."

For one it looks as though Ambush is going to be set largely on location rather than relying on standing starship interiors which will certainly mark it out against some of the more popular and well-known US productions. At the time we talked to Greg those location shoots were in the can and the next step of the project - building and filming interiors was the focus of his time.

"We have filmed approximately 50% of Star Trek: Ambush, which consists of mainly all our exterior scenes. It was important to us to get those scenes filmed just before the summer as an overcast day is in our opinion the best to film on. We get a nice soft natural lighting on the action and no harsh lighting that a clear summer's day can give us. Also as filming outside poses risks such as public interference and weather problems, we felt those scenes would be the better ones to get wrapped first.

Now our main task is to get the sets built and our plan is to work our team around the clock and build our 2 main sets together simultaneously. This way we can bring all our actors and crew down for the second part of the shoot and wrap them all in a solid block shoot like we did for the first part of production."

That's a fair chunk completed already however there is a lot more to come - interior filming and then the probably longer task, post-production to get all that phaser fire and those transport beam-outs looking just right.

"Shooting films on location is something that I'm used to and have done many times." continued Greg Lock. "From the start I wanted Star Trek: Ambush to take place over an away mission and I didn't want that away mission to look like it was taking place in a studio. The UK has loads of great natural locations and I really wanted to be able to take advantage of that and show the world that the UK can hold it's own in the world of Sci-Fi. We've even managed to film in a location that was used for Doctor Who back in the Tom Baker era.

Although most independent Star Trek films are mainly ship based, they're either filmed on a large set that stays up for months or they use blue/green screen. I didn't want to be restricted with a green screen, I want my actors to feel like they're there in the action and in turn I want my audience to feel that. 

Also I'm very keen to show that some of the more traditional methods of making films still have a lot going for them. Which is why we're also using models for the majority of our ships. Then onto large sets, if I was to build a set of a starship I would want it to be as grand as the sets of the Enterprise. The truth is making films is an expensive trade and getting the space to build these sets and have them up for the whole duration is a very expensive enterprise, pun intended! Particularly in the UK and in the aftermath of a national recession.

You just have to look at projects like Axanar, Phase II and Continues, they have the majority of their Kickstarters going towards renting warehouse units to keep their sets up there. It is an expensive thing to do and their very successful Kickstarter's reflect the money thats involved in that. I have nothing but the upmost respect for those projects, the sets for Phase II and Continues are flawless and very very impressive. The concept for the Axanar sets looks amazing and I can't wait to see them. As this is my first Star Trek film, I didn't want to get into that league just yet, particularly by myself. We're starting small and realistic, then we'll see where we can go from there."

And what of the cast - it's all good us talking about locations, spaceships and effects but Star Trek has always relied on a good set of characters and people to play them onscreen. Greg's been all over that factor too so there's no concerns here: "Our cast consists of 11 main characters, who are played by a number of professionals that myself and friends have befriended over the years. Also a lot of them have done other work within the film industry so when they're not acting, they're doing another job on the shoot. No one sits around waiting on our sets, this way we were able to save a considerable amount by having actors moonlight as crew.

Since my time at film school I've been very privileged to be included in a great entourage of actors and crew, and between us we have near enough every job covered, we're always helping each other out on various independent projects.

As for the characters, well we like to think that we're keeping Roddenberry's vision of a utopian future in mind. We only get to meet 5 crew members of the USS Ambush, but those 5 do cover a range of different cultures and personalities. We've got them covered from the number cruncher to the shoot first ask questions later type. When we're a bit closer to being able to release the trailer for Ambush, I'm hoping to be able to launch the Ambush website, which will have a very insightful interactive feature profiling the crew members.

The main challenge is getting everyone involved free at the same time. We all have full time jobs, some in the film industry, some not. But these full time jobs is how we pay our bills so that always takes priority. All our cast and crew and volunteering their free time to work on Ambush, so we can only work in that free time. Roughly half of us work weekdays the other half work weekends. We're based all over South England, covering over 200 miles roughly, so being able to get everyone together for a decent film shoot is a very big challenge in itself.

This does have an impact on the finished product in the sense that we can't have scenes right now involving hundreds of extras. The story was written with this small scale in mind though, so that can be said to influence the finished project."

Excellent news I'm sure you'll agree and we had to ask - when will we get to see some more of Ambush aside from the few shots and bits that are out on the Kickstarter page and social media sites?

"Concept art for the shuttle's will be coming soon, as for the ship, that's different." declared Greg, keeping his cards close; "I want a big reveal for the USS Ambush in the finished film, so that's going to be the first glimpse of the ship."

Dropping over to their Kickstarter page there's a wealth of info on what they have within the Ambush arsenal to make the movie a reality including studio space to build a shuttlecraft (looking forward to seeing that!), workshop space to build props as well as up to date camera and sound equipment to get the action on film.

Greg continued with news of how we, the fans, will get to see this new chapter in fan films; "As soon as we've finished our second part of the shoot, we're going to be working on a trailer. After that we'll still have many VFX shots to composite, models to build and then to shoot. We're still hoping for sometime around December for the finished film.

Star Trek: Ambush will initially be released online, exclusively to our Kickstarter backers. It will be eventually released online with public access, more than likely after all the perks have been received by our backers. Everyone will in the end get to see it somehow."

Though still in early days, there is a possibility of Star Trek: Ambush being shown as part of a Star Trek Fan Film Festival that Alec Peters of Axanar and Phase II is putting together. But I'm not going to get into that just yet, I need to finish the film first!"

You can follow Star Trek: Ambush on Twitter as well as getting up to date and seeing their promo trailer on the Kickstarter page.

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