I’m on the mailing list for startrekofgodsandmen.com. This project was mentioned at the bottom of a article on Star Trek: Phase II.
Hold on, I think I’m getting ahead of myself here. The email stoic Merbrat, a fellow SF fan from years gone by, sent me an article a month ago concerning Star Trek: Phase II: the First Professional Fan Film? Reading through it, I was intrigued.
Filmed with high resolution digital cameras on authentic looking replica sets, Star Trek: Phase II (previously known as New Voyages) takes over where the original Star Trek ended – co-opting the name that Gene Roddenbury chose for his failed attempt to revive the original series on the small screen. Playing out the archetypal fan fantasy, a plucky bunch of Trek-nerds recast themselves as their Sci-Fi heroes, facing the same jeopardy, saying the same lines, wearing the same velour jerseys and ill-fitting trousers as the original Kirk, Spock and McCoy.
Den of Geek
At the bottom of the Article were a few listings for futher viewing. The author was less than complimentary of Star Trek: Of Gods and Men.
Another fan film full of former Trek actors is Star Trek: Of Gods and Men. Directed by Tim “Tuvok” Russ and starring Nichelle Nichols, Walter Koenig and Alan Ruck, it should be more “professional” than New Voyages. It’s lovely to see so many Trek alumni on screen, but awful to hear them spout such truly terrible dialogue. And the plot? We’ve already seen Yesterday’s Enterprise, Mirror Mirror, Charlie X and City on the Edge of Forever. Great episodes on their own, but unpalatable when put in a blender and whizzed up into a fan-wank smoothie. Still, worth a look for curiosity value. Link here.
Former Star Trek actors participating in a fan film? I figured it was worth checking out. So I signed up and forgot about it. Well, Part 2 came out the other day and I thought I’d give the first part a quick look. Only I couldn’t just go look at it; I had to click the link, give them an email address, and wait for an invite.
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: <mailer@startrekofgodsandmen.com>
Date: Mon, Mar 31, 2008 at 10:19 PM
Subject: Watch Star Trek Of Gods and Men Part 2
To: ranthonysteele@gmail.comThank you for your interest Star Trek: Of Gods And Men. The reason we are collecting your email address is so that we can notify you when part 3 is available.
IMPORTANT: Please save the below link, or this email, if you want to go back and watch Part 2 or Part 1 again.
http://scifi.dragonfly.com/renegade/stogamst448/
If, at anytime, you experience any issues you can always reply back to this email for assistance (depending on volume, emails can take up to 24 hours to respond to).
To talk about this film, please visit our forums: http://www.renegade-studios.com/forum
Since I failed to complete the task the first day, procrastination took over and I still haven’t watched a minute of the film. However, if you go to the Renegade Studios site, you’ll discover several other projects that might be of interest.
And then the newsletter shows up today.
http://www.startrekofgodsandmen
My Dear Friends,
My new suspense-comedy feature film Lady Magdalene’s is having its Los Angeles-area premiere at the auspicious Backlot Film Festival. I’d love you to join me. During my introduction I’ll be singing one of the two songs I wrote for the movie and following the film will join writer/director/producer J. Neil Schulman for Q&A.
When:
Thursday, April 3rd, 7:00 PMWhere:
Backlot Film Festival
Veterans Memorial Auditorium
4117 Overland Avenue
Culver City, CA 90230Cost $5.00 – $3.00 Senior/Student
Buy Tickets at the Door or Online at
http://www.backlotfilmfestival.com/tickets.htm
Official Movie Website: http://www.ladymagdalenes.comFor our printable flyer click here:
http://www.dujpepperman.com/jesulu/ladymagdalenes/invitati on/ It’s going to be a wonderful evening.
Be there!
Blessings,
Nichelle
Nichelle Nichols is starring in a film by J. Neil Schulman? The same J. Neil Schulman who wrote Stopping Power? When did he start doing film? The universe is indeed weirder than we can know.
Star Trek fans probably have no idea who J. Neil Schulman is, but those of us who are reasonably informed in Libertarian circles have become well acquainted with the name, even if we haven’t quite gotten around to reading his books.
I guess I’ll have to make time to watch Nichelle perform in a film by J. Neil schulman. I’m in a quandary though as to whether to invite my Libertarian friends or my SF friends. If I invite both groups and they both show up there could well be a causality inversion.
Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light.
Egon
Might be interesting.
Postscript
Star Trek: Of Gods and Men was pretty cheesy. That’s a hard pass for me. The Wife has bought copies of the first two parts of the series, the second one being Star Trek: Renegades. There is supposedly a third part out. I haven’t seen it. I’m sure the Wife will buy it if she hasn’t already. She can stomach more cheese than I can.
The Wife and I tried watching Lady Magdalene’s several times and we couldn’t get past fifteen minutes without bailing out on the thing. Too cringe. Too jarringly unreal to ever be more than a fluffy, gun-toting distraction from the carnage outside the window. Sorry Nichelle. You probably should have passed on this project.
J. Neil Schulman is already not speaking to me anymore. Ditto for that other libertarian armaphile, L. Neil Smith. This is fine by me. Neither party is capable of being persuaded of the legitimacy of the other party’s concerns. It will either come to a shooting standoff or they will surrender their guns peacefully when the time comes. They’ve already proven their unsuitability to have them just by insisting I want to take their guns. The only guns I want confiscated are those in the hands of dangers to my fellow human beings. Ipso facto, they shouldn’t have guns. They can moderate their beliefs any time they like. Totally up to them.
What a Trek libertarian might look like remains a mystery to me. American libertarians would probably be Ferengi unless they change their ways. Starfleet could well be libertarian socialist given what has been said about it. Maybe our great-great-great-grandchildren will find out what the answer to that question is. Will they even know what Star Trek was by that point?
Anthony,
Bring both your s-f and libertarian friends. We’ll seat the s-f people on the left and the libertarians on the right and the bi-polars in the middle.
I’ll give you a whip to keep them away from each other and off the stage.
Hope to see you tonight!
Neil
Anthony,
I’m certainly open to invitations from any film festivals you have access to to play Lady Magdalene’s there. Especially if the invitation covers travel expenses.
Cheers!
Neil
Here’s hoping it comes to a festival somewhere closer to home. California is a bit out of driving range, and I just don’t fly these days.
Since South by Southwest has already come and gone this year, perhaps Austin Film Festival might be a possibility…?
Or one of the other film festivals in and around central Texas?