Starship Exeter

January 13, 2003 10:51 PM

These are the voyages of the Starship Exeter, its seven year production mission: to authenticate 1960s Star Trek, to build their own props and sets, and to boldly go where no fan flick has gone before. "We were sitting around my dad's office, and I said, 'We should try to make our own episode,' " Jimm Johnson recalls. "My brother said, 'Yeah, and we should have an Andorian in it.' "
posted by Stan Chin (27 comments total)

P.S. : NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRDDDDDDDDDS!!!!!!!!!
posted by Stan Chin at 10:53 PM on January 13, 2003

Yeah, that's an idea, we should make another sequel to Revenge of the Nerds.
posted by nyxxxx at 11:10 PM on January 13, 2003

Count me in as a nerd. That is too freakin' cool. I want a command chair now.
posted by AstroGuy at 11:15 PM on January 13, 2003

I've been remaking episodes of the Huntley Brinkely Report in my basement, with my next door neighbor Frank. We write, produce, film & then destroy them.
posted by jonson at 11:22 PM on January 13, 2003

That was pretty freaking cool. The only complaint I have is that it doesn't stay true to the original series with its outdoor scenes. They were actually shot outdoors in this. Otherwise, impressive.
posted by askheaves at 11:41 PM on January 13, 2003

I'm at work so I can't watch the movie, but anyone who went to Phillips Exeter Academy, a prestigious secondary school in New Hampshire, would instantly recognize the Blue Andorians as students of our rival (sister) school Phillips Andover.


Just thought this (pretty conspicuous) theme was worth mentioning... can't believe it's not either on his page or in the article.
posted by zekinskia at 2:04 PM on January 14, 2003

Wow. Isn't that something.

Askheaves, some original epsiodes do have outdoor scenes actually shot outdoors. I would have enjoyed seeing these outdoor scenes indoors so we could see the real color of that planet's sky. ;)

I still watch the old Treks when I run across them (not very often since I do not have a TV in France nor cable in America).
posted by Dick Paris at 2:05 PM on January 14, 2003

I've seen it. It's on par with stuff like troops
posted by Dillenger69 at 2:14 PM on January 14, 2003

Crazy Watto is kind of nice too.
posted by moonbiter at 7:09 PM on January 14, 2003

Seriously, a friend and I watched this in awe. It captures the spirit, if not the professionality, of the original series. If Enterprise was produced more like this I would watch it every week without fail.
posted by BartFargo at 7:28 PM on January 14, 2003

I love this unofficial episode. They got so much of it 'right' in respect to the old series -- from the interesting and convoluted basis for the story to the cheesy overacting by some of the aliens.

Oh, and it's nice to see a few red shirts taking a few for the team again, too. "Ensign Matthews! Check out that hallway! Matthews? Matthews?!"
posted by Kikkoman at 8:05 PM on January 14, 2003

The script is awkwardly written, the "Space..." preamble is corny, the acting is poor, the effects mediocre, and young General Chang sounds like an all-star wrestler.

I loved it. Every second of it. Loved it loved it loved it. Speaking as a die-hard classic series Trekker, Starship Exeter beats an episode of Enterprise any day. The production may be amateur, but the passion for faithfulness to that campy-classic feel gets me more excited than any "official" technical manual can. The red-shirt gags and the "Fighting Kirk" music are equally classic. Only one thing was missing: hot dancing green-skinned alien girls from Orion.

And anyone get a load of that purple dinosaur? Ha!
posted by brownpau at 8:14 PM on January 14, 2003

ARGH! It seems my version of mplayer doesn't know how to play the video for this (I'm going to download them all anyway for the day that it does). I never cared much for Trek (or Star Wars for that matter) but I love that it has fans that take it to this level.
posted by wobh at 8:22 PM on January 14, 2003

I'm watching the downloads at impulse speed (dialup modem). The first two problems which struck me were the un trek-like sound equalization (too much high end to the voices) and hallway lighting which is too bright....and everyone is walking to fast...and the captain jerked/shifted too much when he was summoned to the bridge....
posted by ParisParamus at 8:33 PM on January 14, 2003

This has awe-inspiring implications for the entertainment industry; okay, maybe not this film in particular--but the fact that two kids with a G4 and a copy of FinalCut Pro were able to piece this thing together by themselves implies that the technology for creating such things is truly in the hands of the common man.

Maybe now I can go make more episodes of Firefly. . .
posted by vraxoin at 8:38 PM on January 14, 2003

That said, this is amazing, wonderful stuff. And yes, Enterprise does pretty much disappoint.
posted by ParisParamus at 8:40 PM on January 14, 2003

fun, cheesy stuff, Stan Chin - loved it!
posted by madamjujujive at 9:57 PM on January 14, 2003

This has ... implications for the entertainment industry; ... the fact that two kids with a G4 and a copy of FinalCut Pro were able to piece this thing together by themselves implies that the technology for creating such things is truly in the hands of the common man.

That's the first thing I thought of too. But it still takes a lot of folks to put forth even this effort.
posted by piskycritter at 3:42 AM on January 15, 2003

// the fact that two kids with a G4 and a copy of FinalCut Pro were able to piece this thing together by themselves implies that the technology for creating such things is truly in the hands of the common man. //

People who can shell out the $2000 for the G4 and the $999 for Final Cut Pro count as "the common man"?
posted by eustacescrubb at 6:05 AM on January 15, 2003

A few years ago the video board in our AVID cost $10K. The cost of equipment to produce desktop video is much more affordable today.
posted by Stuart_R at 6:53 AM on January 15, 2003

[this is good]
posted by thewittyname at 7:23 AM on January 15, 2003

Yeah, it's nice to see the world catching up to the Amiga and the Video Toaster. It only took, what, 15 years?
posted by NortonDC at 7:26 AM on January 15, 2003

People who can shell out the $2000 for the G4 and the $999 for Final Cut Pro count as "the common man"?

Hey, if the common man/woman can afford a car, a microwave and a television set, surely he/she can afford a desktop computer--and you can steal the software. Normally I wouldn't advocate software piracy, but we're talking about putting the means of production in the hands of the proletariat here.
posted by vraxoin at 7:32 AM on January 15, 2003

All this effort, yet the movement to produce fan episodes of Manimal languishes in pre-production.
posted by UncleFes at 7:37 AM on January 15, 2003

The script is awkwardly written, the "Space..." preamble is corny, the acting is poor, the effects mediocre, and young General Chang sounds like an all-star wrestler.

So how is it different from the original, exactly?
posted by Vidiot at 8:55 AM on January 15, 2003

So how is it different from the original, exactly?

It's not. That's why I loved it. Captain Garrovick even gets his shirt torn.

By the way, wasn't Garrovick the name of the captain of the USS Farragut, on which a young James Kirk served when he was just a lieutenant?
posted by brownpau at 2:31 PM on January 15, 2003

These downloads make me think about getting broadband for the first time. Particularly since I would like to see it all before a cease and desist order is issued by Federation....er....Federal Court. This is great stuff!
posted by ParisParamus at 3:21 PM on January 15, 2003