Monday, June 12th, 2006 - 06/13/06 03:35 AM
Hi Folks,
So last night I was finishing up the Middle Eastern Category round 3 work and was surfing around the web. I usually do that because when you're working with music tracks as many hours a day as I am you have to give your mind little breaks to focus on other things every hour or so or you burn totally out. I first turned on the TV (this was probably 2 or 3am.. not really sure) and there was this horrible Sci Fi channel movie on with William Shatner. It made me wonder what year it was from and so I went on to my favorite time waster site (I can spend hours clicking around there before I realize it) www.imdb.com. It's the Internet Movie Data Base. It's own by Amazon, and it's the best info resource on any movie or TV show that is available. So I looked up to see what Bill was up to (not much really) and then decided to check out what others were doing. I saw that the guy who played Chekov was actually in a new series called Star Trek: The New Voyages. I was thinking what in the heck was this? So I checked it out. I am really glad I did.
Now this is about being a sci fi nerd (I wouldn't qualify) or even a rabid Star Trek fan (I'm not). BUT.. what I found out is that a group of fans have banded together to produce BRAND NEW Star Trek Episodes with the same original cast of characters. Now keep in mind it's totally non commercial. In fact, they have the blessing of Paramount Studios (the actual studio, not the scam artist recording service) to use all the licensed stuff as long as they make ZERO money doing it. So what is left when you subtract all financial incentive from a creative project? Well.. in most cases, and certainly in THIS case, you get something excellent.
Now, the thing is shot in indie film low budget quality (though the graphics, computer generated are far better than you'd ever imagine). The acting is also low budget indie level, but you start getting used to these interlopers playing James T. Kirk and the gang fairly quickly because the plot/script writing is so true to the spirit of the orginal and aside from a few wooden acting lines, actually very good. Shockingly good actually when you consider these are all "amateur" actors, production people and so on. It's just a bunch of extremely passionate Star Trek geeks who are doing something that so many of us have forgotten all about.. they are creating for the sake of creating.. not to make a buck. God.. it's such a breath of fresh air that it's contagious. I finished watching this full length, 1 hour episode so pumped up that perhaps.. just perhaps.. there IS hope outside of major multinational corporations dominating all creative efforts. If these folks can find a way to work for free, and produce something that is so enjoyable and amusing and with so much potential as they get more comfortable as actors, directors, writers and producers then anything is possible. They are also being broadcast on the Internet, which is something I have been predicting and talking about for a decade. I've not understood why the big money people didn't already have an entire network on the web for developing ideas, actors, writers etc. The cost of broadcast, even on a large scale, is reasonable and there's no limit to who you can reach. And since so much can easily be time shifted via links to files, it's a better way to do it than on line anyway. I watched this via a streaming Windows Media file (sorry.. the Mac options are far more limited) and at full screen it was not much different than watching TV.
For about 2 years I've been thinking of setting up a studio in the basement of our house and doing a JPF talk show featuring touring artists and industry interviews. Of course we haven't had the time to even do it.. but after the awards this fall, I think we're going to make time and do it. And perhaps as JPF expands into Film/Theater, we can broadcast JPF member videos (like MTV used to be) and also archives of our showcases and events and some original programs like a talk show etc.
If you have an hour and a high speed connection, here's where you can find the Star Trek New Voyages Stuff:
www.newvoyages.com
Also, once there, the episode I recommend is NOT the pilot, but their first real episode "In Harms Way"
Here's a link to a site that will stream it via windows media: http://scifi.chanz.tv/
Click the #300 just under the "In Harms Way Special Edition" photo in the middle. (I had a bit of trouble figuring it out at first).
Now, the acting is a bit amateur, and some scenes are awkward. You can tell they are just learning as they go. But if you enjoy Star Trek or creative efforts, you'll like this if you spend the hour to check it out. And more exciting is just the potential all of this ground breaking work is doing. I remember how terrible ALL the "pro" videos were early on with MTV. This is certainly better than that stuff was.
So how could we all work together to create our own broadcast channel for videos and concerts and music related shows outside of all the networks?
Any ideas?
Brian
So last night I was finishing up the Middle Eastern Category round 3 work and was surfing around the web. I usually do that because when you're working with music tracks as many hours a day as I am you have to give your mind little breaks to focus on other things every hour or so or you burn totally out. I first turned on the TV (this was probably 2 or 3am.. not really sure) and there was this horrible Sci Fi channel movie on with William Shatner. It made me wonder what year it was from and so I went on to my favorite time waster site (I can spend hours clicking around there before I realize it) www.imdb.com. It's the Internet Movie Data Base. It's own by Amazon, and it's the best info resource on any movie or TV show that is available. So I looked up to see what Bill was up to (not much really) and then decided to check out what others were doing. I saw that the guy who played Chekov was actually in a new series called Star Trek: The New Voyages. I was thinking what in the heck was this? So I checked it out. I am really glad I did.
Now this is about being a sci fi nerd (I wouldn't qualify) or even a rabid Star Trek fan (I'm not). BUT.. what I found out is that a group of fans have banded together to produce BRAND NEW Star Trek Episodes with the same original cast of characters. Now keep in mind it's totally non commercial. In fact, they have the blessing of Paramount Studios (the actual studio, not the scam artist recording service) to use all the licensed stuff as long as they make ZERO money doing it. So what is left when you subtract all financial incentive from a creative project? Well.. in most cases, and certainly in THIS case, you get something excellent.
Now, the thing is shot in indie film low budget quality (though the graphics, computer generated are far better than you'd ever imagine). The acting is also low budget indie level, but you start getting used to these interlopers playing James T. Kirk and the gang fairly quickly because the plot/script writing is so true to the spirit of the orginal and aside from a few wooden acting lines, actually very good. Shockingly good actually when you consider these are all "amateur" actors, production people and so on. It's just a bunch of extremely passionate Star Trek geeks who are doing something that so many of us have forgotten all about.. they are creating for the sake of creating.. not to make a buck. God.. it's such a breath of fresh air that it's contagious. I finished watching this full length, 1 hour episode so pumped up that perhaps.. just perhaps.. there IS hope outside of major multinational corporations dominating all creative efforts. If these folks can find a way to work for free, and produce something that is so enjoyable and amusing and with so much potential as they get more comfortable as actors, directors, writers and producers then anything is possible. They are also being broadcast on the Internet, which is something I have been predicting and talking about for a decade. I've not understood why the big money people didn't already have an entire network on the web for developing ideas, actors, writers etc. The cost of broadcast, even on a large scale, is reasonable and there's no limit to who you can reach. And since so much can easily be time shifted via links to files, it's a better way to do it than on line anyway. I watched this via a streaming Windows Media file (sorry.. the Mac options are far more limited) and at full screen it was not much different than watching TV.
For about 2 years I've been thinking of setting up a studio in the basement of our house and doing a JPF talk show featuring touring artists and industry interviews. Of course we haven't had the time to even do it.. but after the awards this fall, I think we're going to make time and do it. And perhaps as JPF expands into Film/Theater, we can broadcast JPF member videos (like MTV used to be) and also archives of our showcases and events and some original programs like a talk show etc.
If you have an hour and a high speed connection, here's where you can find the Star Trek New Voyages Stuff:
www.newvoyages.com
Also, once there, the episode I recommend is NOT the pilot, but their first real episode "In Harms Way"
Here's a link to a site that will stream it via windows media: http://scifi.chanz.tv/
Click the #300 just under the "In Harms Way Special Edition" photo in the middle. (I had a bit of trouble figuring it out at first).
Now, the acting is a bit amateur, and some scenes are awkward. You can tell they are just learning as they go. But if you enjoy Star Trek or creative efforts, you'll like this if you spend the hour to check it out. And more exciting is just the potential all of this ground breaking work is doing. I remember how terrible ALL the "pro" videos were early on with MTV. This is certainly better than that stuff was.
So how could we all work together to create our own broadcast channel for videos and concerts and music related shows outside of all the networks?
Any ideas?
Brian