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Fan-Made Star Trek Episode Available for Download

Posted by chrisd on from the better-than-nemesis dept.

Minnesota trekker writes "Two Minnesota fans of the original "Star Trek" series spent seven years, off and on, creating an all-new episode in the 1960s style using their own actors, sets and props. Behold, the U.S.S. Exeter (www.starshipexeter.com). The episode's look and feel is amazingly authentic. The story is inventive and the acting surprisingly good. The damn thing, dubbed "The Savage Empire," is actually watchable. The site gives lots of details on how the episode was created, and even more background is available on the Pioneer Press site."

15 of 627 comments (clear)

  1. Impressive... by Schnapple · · Score: 5, Informative
    ...the mac.com server appears to be holding up quite well against our Slashdot attacks - I'm getting over 300K/s.

    My apologies if this does it in, but here are some direct links to the portions of the movies (i.e., not framed in HTML pages)

    Teaser
    Act One
    Act Two
    Act Three
    Tag/End Credits

    I think the episode would be better if the dialouge and video sound quality was as bad as the shots and sound effects of the original, but man - this is impressive ambition to say the least.

    --

    Schnapple

  2. Re:sounds like trouble by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 5, Informative

    Most likely, it was named after this Exeter. Here's an account of how the Japanese sunk her in WWII.

    Chris Mattern

  3. Re:Why EMBED? by JohnFluxx · · Score: 5, Informative

    Agreed.
    The url's for the mov files are:


    http://homepage.mac.com/starshipexeter/teaser.mo v



    http://homepage.mac.com/starshipexeter/actone.mo v



    http://homepage.mac.com/starshipexeter/acttwo.mo v



    http://homepage.mac.com/starshipexeter/actthree. mo v



    http://homepage.mac.com/starshipexeter/tag.mov


    And btw mplayer can play these if you have compiled it right and have the proper codecs. Which also means that you can reencode them to something else.

  4. Direct download the vids... by Randolpho · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here are links to directly download the vids, in case anyone hates using a stupid browser plugin:

    http://homepage.mac.com/starshipexeter/teaser.mov
    http://homepage.mac.com/starshipexeter/actone.mov
    http://homepage.mac.com/starshipexeter/acttwo.mov
    http://homepage.mac.com/starshipexeter/actthree.mo v
    http://homepage.mac.com/starshipexeter/tag.mov

    --
    "Times have not become more violent. They have just become more televised."
    -Marilyn Manson
  5. Re:7 year production? by LordKronos · · Score: 5, Informative

    I imagine a large portion of the 7 years was prep work. Building sets, creating props, sewing outfits, writing scripts, etc. Then there is the post production editing and stuff. I didn't see the site mention anywhere how much time was actually spent filming, but I suspect it was only a small fraction of that (1 or maybe 2 years).

  6. Trek history... by ConceptJunkie · · Score: 5, Informative

    Long time Trek fans will recall that the Exeter was one of the original 12 Constitution-class starships. Others included Constitution (obviously), Enterprise (duh!), York, Potempkin, Hood... that's all I recall off-hand.

    The old AMC U.S.S. Enterprise I built with my Dad when I was a bout 8 or so had decals for all twelve ships with appropriate call numbers (NCC-1700, etc).

    I'm sure the classic, original Technical Reference Guide, with its silly "20th century equivalent" electronic components probably has a listing, but mine's in a box somehwhere.

    p.s. I live in a subdivision called "Exeter".

    --
    You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
    1. Re:Trek history... by pomakis · · Score: 5, Informative
      According to this site, this is the complete list of Constitution-class starships during the original Star Trek Series:

      • USS Constellation (NCC-1017)
      • USS Constitution (NCC-1700)
      • USS Defiant (NCC-1764)
      • USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)
      • USS Excalibur (NCC-1664)
      • USS Exeter (NCC-1672)
      • USS Farragut (NCC-1647)
      • USS Hood (NCC-1703)
      • USS Intrepid (NCC-1831)
      • USS Lexington (NCC-1709)
      • USS Potemkin (NCC-1657)
      • USS Republic (NCC-1371)
      • USS Yorktown (NCC-1717)

      The site also gives episode references for each of these ships. This is what it says about the Exeter:

      NCC-1672 Encyc., TOS "Court Martial"
      (identified by wall status display)
      Captain Ronald Tracey TOS "The Omega Glory"
      Abandoned in orbit around Omega I
      It's interesting that in this list the USS Exeter is given the NCC number 1672, but the guys who wrote "Starship Exeter" gave it the number 1706. This was either an oversight on their part, or it's supposed to be a different Exeter.

    2. Re:Trek history... by ConceptJunkie · · Score: 5, Informative

      Depends on your source, I think. IIRC, the old Tech Ref Manual listed them as 1700-1711. I don't suppose the contract numbers are canon, even if (at least some of) the names are.

      The TRM goes on to list later generations including dozens more Constitution-class ships as well as several other versions from scouts and tugs to my fave, the "Dreadnought", with 3 warp nacelles.

      Those starship types don't show up in the later "Star Trek History of Space Flight" (or whatever it was called) book. I don't know how rigidly Paramount managed that sort of thing, so finding contradictory info might be easy.

      I don't want to get into the whole "what is canon and what isn't" thing, it's just a freakin' TV show. However, I do think the idea of making new episodes in the vein of TOS is really cool, especially if there's good continuity with established history (like "Federation", which was the best Star Trek book I ever read).

      I'm DL'ing the episode by modem, so I'll get to enjoy it tomorrow.

      --
      You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
  7. Re:Recipe for a flash fried server by digerata · · Score: 3, Informative
    The site is slowing down, here is a mirror site until things get back to normal.

    --

    1;
  8. Re:sounds like trouble by ConceptJunkie · · Score: 3, Informative

    All the Constitution-class starships are from Earth (i.e., real) history.

    Others include the Farragut and Constellation, as well as others I mentioned above.

    --
    You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
  9. Re:7 year production? by operagost · · Score: 3, Informative

    It says they started shooting on SVHS in 1996, but obviously they couldn't be using any of that footage because of the inferior quality compared to the digital cameras they used in the last year. Not to mention the degradation of the media over time.

    --

    Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
  10. NCC: What does it stand for? Absolutely nothing.. by Mad+Man · · Score: 4, Informative
    IMO, a CC is closer to "NCC" than a CV-ish name like "Enterprise." What the heck does the N stand for, anyway?


    Although commonly believed to stand for "Naval Construction Contract", NCC doesn't stand for anything at all, according to the StarTrek.com FAQ at http://www.startrek.com/information/faq.asp?ID=136 5
    (there should not be a space in "1365")


    What does the starship registry prefix "NCC" mean?
    The Starfleet starship registry prefix "NCC" doesn't officially mean anything other than it is the standard prefix for starships in service. There have been other prefixes, notably "NX," denoting a prototype, or experimental vessel. The two most famous ships with this prefix would be the U.S.S. Excelsior NX-2000 and the U.S.S. Defiant NX-74205. Once the U.S.S. Excelsior was rendered operational, the prefix changed to the standard NCC.

    When Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry was asked this question, he replied that there was no significance to the letters and numbers comprising the registry of the U.S.S. Enterprise. At the time Star Trek first aired, airplanes commonly had "NC" on them, and adding the extra "C" updated the look. Original series art director (and avid pilot) Matt Jefferies has commented that he chose the "1701" combination of numbers because it was legible from a distance and the numbers wouldn't be confused. Other numbers, like 3, 2 and 5, were not used for this very reason. Also, the extra "C" in "NCC" was a nod to the Russian abbreviation for the old Soviet Union, "CCCP." According to Jefferies, "If we do anything in space, we (Americans and Russians) have to do it together."
  11. P2P mirrors by Phaser777 · · Score: 5, Informative

    I'm now sharing all 5 files on the Gnutella and WinMX networks. In a minute I'll have them on Kazaa too. They're named starshipexeter_actone.mov, starshipexeter_acttwo.mov, etc. I'll leave them up until sometime tomorrow.

    And once you've downloaded them, make sure you share them too (if your DL and shared directories aren't the same)!

  12. Use the mirror .... ;-) by fastlink · · Score: 5, Informative

    Hi /. crowd,

    I mirrored the movies so everybody can have a look. The mirror is at a site with a 1 Gigabit Uplink and powerfull ZEUS web servers, almost unsinkable ;-)

    Click here to download the stuff.

    Have fun!

    fastlink

  13. P2P download by mlinksva · · Score: 4, Informative
    MAGNET (some gnutella clients), ED2K and FastTrack links cataloged below: