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Star Trek: Renegades Working On Episodes 2 and 3 (kickstarter.com)

Posted by Soulskill on from the competition-for-CBS-to-consider dept.

JoSch1337 writes: The last time Star Trek: Renegades was on Slashdot was in 2013. It's an independent, canon-faithful Trek series with high production values and some of the actors from the TV shows. Since their original campaign, the team has produced an amazing pilot episode 1 and is now gathering support to produce episode 2, and even episode 3 if they reach their stretch goal. From the Kickstarter page: "Star Trek Renegades is an independent, fan-funded and supported Internet television series, executive produced by Sky Conway. Renegades features a combination of familiar Star Trek character and actors, plus a collection of hot, new rising actors. Set a decade after Voyager's return from Delta Quadrant, ST: Renegades focuses on a team of fugitives, who are on the run from the Federation while secretly working for the head of Starfleet intelligence, Admiral Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig) and Tuvok (Tim Russ, who also directs) to root out internal corruption within the Federation as well as external threats."

35 comments

  1. First Post by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Where no man has gone boldly before

    1. Re:First Post by NotDrWho · · Score: 0

      Except Star Trek New Voyages.

      --
      SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
    2. Re:First Post by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      the team has produced an amazing pilot episode 1

      Amazing? More like pure shit.

      The cast was crap, the cast was too large, the actors were all terrible (including Tim Russ), the story was stupid and they tried way too hard to be "dark" and "edgy".

      The only Star Trek I'm looking forward to now is Axanar because Prelude to Axanar was at least passable.

    3. Re: First Post by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Crap? Updated section 31 Files.

  2. So how many is this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Aren't there like 3 or 4 fanmade Star Trek shows to choose from? Oh wait, looking on Wikipedia, it might be closer to 18 counting the audio productions.

    Damn.

    How can CBS compete with that?

    1. Re:So how many is this? by hey! · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Some of those fan productions have been quite good; not as good as the very best of any of the series, but a hell of a lot better than you'd think if you imagine them by the standards of typical fan fic. These are labors of love, and they're genuinely entertaining -- although I admit to being a little prejudiced in favor anything that someone obviously put so much care into.

      As for competition, well one of the big difference between a pro and a dedicated amateur is that a pro can work a lot faster. These fan productions put out an episode every year or two; the official series churned out 25-30 episodes per year. In a way this was te franchise's artistic downfall; for the entire run of Deep Space 9 there were TWO Star Trek series in production; TNG in 94 and Voyager from 95 on. That meant they were putting out something like 50 episodes a year, and toward the end of the DS9 run it began to feel like they had more episodes on the broadcast schedule to fill than they had stories to tell. There were a number of episodes in DS9 and Voyager which damaged the franchise's reputation, which is a shame because both series at their best could be quite good.

      The problem with these amateur productions is that even when they're surprisingly good they don't produce enough product; the problem with the series has consistently been that they've produced *too much* product. What I'd like to see is something like the old Columbo TV series, which put out a half dozen "movie of the week" episodes per year: less quantity (although not too much less), more quality.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    2. Re:So how many is this? by Cramer · · Score: 2

      That was two mostly independent production teams. DS9 started falling apart because they couldn't leave it to it's own cannon; they had to keep lacing it back into TNG, and Voyager. The entire basis of Voyager was lost somewhere around episode 2, it seems... 70 THOUSAND lightyears from the federation, so they have ZERO contact. Yet, not a season went by that didn't string them back to the alpha quadrant somehow.

      (That was the downfall of Stargate atlantis AND universe, too.)

    3. Re:So how many is this? by hey! · · Score: 1

      It seemed to me that both DS9 and Voyager ran out of story ideas at the same time; perhaps it was a coincidence.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    4. Re:So how many is this? by DarkOx · · Score: 2

      Voyager was a fundamentally broken concept. The idea of course was to get out of the Alpha quadrant and free the writers to do new things without having to deal with all the built up cannon. What they forgot is that Star Trek is always a interstellar soap opera or western, its about the people.

      What would people do in Voyagers situation either A) give up on the idea of ever getting home and find a place to start a new life, or B) Do little else but try to get home.

      The writers went with (B) so rather than free themselves to do 'new things' within the Universe of Star Trek they bound themselves from episode 2 on into having to cram everything into the context of an inescapable over arching plot arc, which they could never resolve either without basically ending the series. It could never been anything more them mediocre for those reasons.

      DS9 was far and away the best. It was actually the most exploitative of the real problems we face today and even somewhat forward looking. The story got a lot more interesting because being in a relatively fixed location they had to continue to deal with slow back burner type problems and conflicts. They could not just warp off to some new system and start telling a different story the next week. Where DS9 went wrong was making the Profits a little to real and actually having them interfere. The show was better when they were more a religious myth that appeared to be based on actual events from interaction with a long gone alien race. When they myth and reality could not be separated the show was more interesting.

      --
      Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
  3. WTH by Ichijo · · Score: 1

    I backed the original campaign, but they never sent a link to the video. I feel cheated by getting it from Slashdot.

    --
    Any sufficiently unpopular but cohesive argument is indistinguishable from trolling.
    1. Re:WTH by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Consider yourself lucky. Though the cast, special effects, photography and wordrobe is impressive, the writers need a shit ton more experience. Its not bad writing per se, its just incredibly boring and chunky, poorly paced. It cannot be easy to make such a thing with such a low budget and with recognized names and personalities donating screen time. If they can't afford to pamper stars even when they're free, which I am assuming they could not really afford even one star off set, how could they afford to staff decent writers or directors? The project is too ambitious for the budget. In a low budget project, everything depends on the writing and pacing, and they didn't come close to getting it the way we expect. It would be more tolerable as a slide show with voiceovers.

  4. Worthy of pick-up by CBS by transfire · · Score: 2

    I watched the pilot and the overall plot is very cool. The effects are great too. The dialog can be a bit flat but given the production level its probably about as good as one can ask. I really wish CBS would pick this series up. I know that they plan a new show in 2017, but is it enough to get me buy into CBS All Access? Maybe. But give me two new Star Trek shows, and yeah, I'm definitely in! I bet a lot of fans would feel the same way.

    1. Re:Worthy of pick-up by CBS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The chances of this being picked up by any network are pretty remote. The main reasons are the wooden acting and the lazy writing, which taken together made for a kind of dull film.
      Visually, most of it was very slick, although I've got a few quibbles here and there, like how the layout of some of the sets make them appear too much like set pieces and not enough like real places, or how the bad cinematography of the fights. But a superficially slick film which is bad at its core is still a bad film. The actors were all just kind of standing around wondering what they were doing on the set. When I cannot bring myself to care for what happens to the characters, why would I care for the plot? And maybe that's just as well in this case since the writing was unoriginal, devoid of surprises, filled with stuff straight from How Not to Write a Novel and bad fan fiction, boring, unintelligent... There's nothing interesting there, and the plot felt like it was rolling on rails, so why would I finish it? I think I already know where it's going and seeing it happen won't be a rewarding experience.
      Unless one is a *very* dyed-in-the-wool trekkie, who watches it mainly to see the ships and costumes and such, and who doesn't need things like plot because that isn't why he's watching in the first place, there's very little here to enjoy. In short, this film doesn't have an audience.

    2. Re:Worthy of pick-up by CBS by freeze128 · · Score: 1

      The thing that I noticed was the uniforms didn't seem to fit the actors properly. It's like they made one-size-fits-all uniforms for everyone. Hell, even DS9 had a tailor!

    3. Re:Worthy of pick-up by CBS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The thing that I noticed was the uniforms didn't seem to fit the actors properly. It's like they made one-size-fits-all uniforms for everyone. Hell, even DS9 had a tailor!

      Glad it wasn't just me that thought that as well.

      Whilst I quite liked the first episode, the uniforms/costumes were absolutely terrible, as if they'd been been made from some shabby burlap sack they'd found in a back alley somewhere.
      I'm guessing they had some legal issues about using any of the TNG/DS9/Voyager costumes, but what they did use was just terrible.

  5. Corruption fighting corruption? by MacTO · · Score: 3, Funny

    Pavel Chekov, also known as Alfred Bester, fighting corruption in the Federation? Ha! The Alfred Bester and his corrupt Psi Cops were no match for John Sheridan, and were hoping to find a much weaker opponent in the Federation.

  6. CG ships could look alot better by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Its 2016 and their using CG that was horrible in the 90's let alone now. How hard is it for them to model and texture a couple ships and use a proper raytraced render? Next Generations ships were lightyears more realistic than what i see on this trailer. And they used Lightwave. A program built in the 80's.

    1. Re:CG ships could look alot better by fatboy · · Score: 1

      The Next Generation ships were models.

      --
      --fatboy
    2. Re:CG ships could look alot better by ITRambo · · Score: 1

      I see that you traveled back in time to make this post. I trust that your journey from 2016 went well. And kindly PM me with some stock tips.

    3. Re:CG ships could look alot better by newcastlejon · · Score: 1

      How hard is it for them to model and texture a couple ships and use a proper raytraced render?

      How hard is it for you to look past it? When I go back to Babylon 5 things look pretty ropey, but I'm not watching for the special effects.

      --
      If God forks the Universe every time you roll a die, he'd better have a damned good memory.
    4. Re:CG ships could look alot better by Cramer · · Score: 1

      B5's gfx were rather impressive for the era -- and the Amiga used to make them :-)

      Renegades makes me think I'm watching someone play a video game. And not a top of the line game. The open part in the mines gave me the impression of an oil rig lit with some walmart desk lamps.

      And a word on audio... execute whomever handled sound. I have my speakers turned to max. The sound card turned to max. And youtube turned to max. And most dialog is still too soft.

    5. Re:CG ships could look alot better by Lagmo · · Score: 1

      As much as I'm an Amiga fanboy 4ever, that rumor needs to DIE, they used a wide mix of SGI workstations, Pentium & DEC Alpha renderfarms and even Macs for compositing for the actual series, only the pilot episode mostly had effects created on Commodore HW.
      http://www.atarimagazines.com/...
      http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/...
      Sorry for being pedantic, but this IS Slashdot after all ;)

    6. Re:CG ships could look alot better by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Video Toaster -- which is hardware that plugged in to an amiga -- did post processing and mixing. (Or so the company that sold that stuff always claimed.)

  7. Trek continues by The+Grim+Reefer · · Score: 3, Informative

    I watched the three episodes of Trek continues a while back. There were only three back then.I haven't had a chance to watch the latest two. Some of the actors could have been better, and it takes a little bit of getting used to them not being the same people as were in TOS. But the stories were pretty good, and the sets, wardrobe and effects were spot on. While you could make better special effects on most home PC's, they kept all of the CGI looking pretty damn close to the original series. I enjoyed it enough that I re-watched the original series again afterward.

    1. Re:Trek continues by flargleblarg · · Score: 4, Informative

      I agree! Star Trek Continues is miles better than other fan shows.
      You should watch episodes 4 & 5... they're good as well (especially 5).

  8. Love for Renegades by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I do hope that Eiposdes 2 & 3 are better than 1... 1 was all over the map ... some of it was amazing ( the ship space scenes ) and some was horrible.
    Actually in all areas, there was horrible and great mixed together... acting, makeup, script, models, effects... never seen something so uneven. It means there's a ton of potential here. I t helps that these people are used to working in the industry. I suppose it just shows what not having a budget means when you're dealing with professional people on a timeline

  9. Another One... by Nexzus · · Score: 2
    Star Trek: Axenar.

    It's about the final battle in the war with the Klingons, set just before TOS.

    They have a documentary-style leadup to it, called Prelude to Axenar. It's got decent production values, some good and logical story telling, and shows promise for what they want to do. Also some Trek alumni - Tony Todd, John Hertzler and Gary Graham, reprising his Enterprise role Ambassador Soval.

    --
    Karma: Can only be portioned out by the Cosmos.
  10. Everyone running it down sucks. by towermac · · Score: 2

    I am pleased to fucking death. That's been out and I missed it?

    And Jonas fucking Quinn as a starship captain. Holy crap I am geeking out.

    Wooden acting? Compared to what, Enterprise? (The Archer, nice irony there) The sucky thing called Voyager perhaps? Two good things about Voyager though: Seven of Nine (Elaborate.) and Tuvok. Nimoy is my childhood idol, but Tim Russ plays the best Vulcan, sorry, and he's in it too. And Checkov is an old man. Cool.

    Thin plot? Whatever. It's a fucking science fiction show. Bad guys are going to end the Earth, and our gallant crew saves it. Yeah it's been done before. It's a good one for doing a pilot and introducing the cast. Bite me.

    And they're going to make two more. Holy crap I love the internet!

    1. Re:Everyone running it down sucks. by Cramer · · Score: 1

      Yeah. Parker Lewis doesn't belong on a starship.

    2. Re: Everyone running it down sucks. by Hussman32 · · Score: 1

      Two words that will ruin Voyager forever for you: Janeway whispers...

      --
      "Who are you?" "No one of consequence." "I must know." "Get used to disappointment."
  11. Hold on... by ericloewe · · Score: 1

    Having seen the first episode, I have serious reservations regarding the writing.
    The whole thing was a bit too rapid fire - they desperately tried to shoehorn in as many characters and plot devices, leading to a somewhat confusing plot. I can understand some confusion as a metaphor for the federation's condition, but I fear that is just an overanalysis of writing that is... let's say it could use some improvements.
    Given the smorgasbord of planned returning characters (Just about half of DS9's cast, by my estimate), I'm not holding my breath for any big improvements. Also, two/three episodes in and they're already bringing people back from the dead in some way (Alternate reality, time travel, Bajoran prophets/wormhole aliens (ugh...), lost sibling, transporter clone... Take your pick. I'm betting on the prophets.).

    I also submit that any character whose name is spelled with double Xs is automatically a Mary Sue. Silly inner monologues don't help. In fact, I just realized that the captain's logs were a convenient way of doing an inner monologue-esque segment without adding too much disbelief that needs to be suspended.

    tl;dr - Don't expect the world, but it's still better than Season 2 of TNG.

  12. Not impressed by fullgandoo · · Score: 1

    I saw the first episode and while I'm not a Star Trek fan, but I've watched every episode from all the series and most of them multiple times, I couldn't watch more than about 20 minutes of this. I'm not particularly picky (e.g., I liked Voyager and even the first two seasons of TNG and all of Enterprise) but this was unbearable. And I thought my threshold for science fiction movies in general is rather high. I'm still willing to give it a try if someone thinks otherwise.

    1. Re:Not impressed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Pretty much the same here. Not a trekkie, but just enjoyed watching the various series. I thought Renegades was simply disappointing. Sure, it had some good points, but overall it just wasn't that good, imho.

  13. ayyyyy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    i feel extremely horribly conflicted about this!!!!

    on the one hand i am really glad that they are going to get a chance to recover from the shit that was star trek renegades

    on the other hand, can they really salvage it? i guess the first TNG was bad but this was.. kinda very bad. i mean where the fuck was TUVOK!? i mean fucking if tuvok was in even 50% of the footage or 40% i could understand and maybe deal with it but all these plasticy newcommers couldn't even come up to snuff.

    i really, really wanted to like it, and i do, like it, in the sense that I really want to like it and watch it again and again.. but for me thats what good trek is

    the ability to watch something again and again and enjoy it multiple times. i have not been very tempted to rewatch it :( i liked it but.. i didnt love it. i just.. there was something wrong with it lol

    My favorites personally are TNG, VOY, DS9 and ENT. not jokeing. all Tos Movies were pretty good but could never get into the original that much, im also saving a few episodes for later in life but they just were so slow compared to the new ones, i know some of you older gents are like, oh the new ones were crap but it is what it is. i guess i need to go watch all the TOS while i still have time. god speed vulcans