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We're In a Golden Age of Star Trek Webseries Right Now 71

Posted by Soulskill from the living-long-and-prospering dept.
New submitter DakotaSmith writes: io9 has an article explaining why We're Living In The Golden Age Of Star Trek Webseries Right Now. If you're a true geek, you probably already know about Star Trek Continues and Star Trek: Phase II. (If you're a true geek and you don't know about them, run — do not walk, run — to watch "Lolani." Your brain— and more importantly, your heart — will love you for the rest of your life.)

But there's more to it than that. A lot more. How about the years'-long wait for Act IV of Starship Exeter : "The Tressaurian Intersection"? Or Yorktown: "A Time to Heal" — an attempt to resurrect an aborted fan film from 1978 starring George Takei? For fans of old-school Star Trek (the ones who pre-date "Trekker" and wear "Trekkie" as a badge of honor), not since 1969 has there been a better time to watch Star Trek: The Original Series.

(Oh, and there's plenty content out there for you "Trekkers" and NextGen-era fans. It all varies in quality, but it doesn't take much effort to find them. This is truly a Golden Age. Recognize it and enjoy it while it lasts.)
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We're In a Golden Age of Star Trek Webseries Right Now More

We're In a Golden Age of Star Trek Webseries Right Now

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  • How about the years'-long wait for Act IV of Starship Exeter : "The Tressaurian Intersection"

    In the ending, they encounter Duke Nukem.

  • Good material, but dark (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 31, 2015 @07:20PM (#49382797)

    There is some good material out there, but it tends to be darker and more action-y than the original Trek. For example, the Lolani episode the original post mentions has a plot which revolves around the Federation supporting slavery, which seems way out of line with the original series. In fact, all the Continues episodes have been dark, dealing a lot with death or dark parallel universe or slavery, etc.

    Perhaps this is Trek for a modern age, a more cynical age, but it leaves me feeling cold. I liked the opitimism of the original series. They did some dark stuff, but on the whole it was a brighter vision of the future. I miss that.

  • "Lolani" is flawed, I canna watch Captain! (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Why are Tellarites transporting slaves? Tellar is a founding member of the Federation, making Tellarites citizens by default, and slavery is illegal in the Federation. Why are Federation citizens transporting slaves?

  • THIS is a "golden age"? Yikes. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by realmolo ( 574068 ) on Tuesday March 31, 2015 @07:38PM (#49382897)

    I'm sorry, the fan-made "Star Trek" stuff is terrible, because the actors are terrible. It's as simple as that. They get pretty much everything right, otherwise, but without decent actors, it doesn't matter. I mean, the acting is high-school-level bad.

    Good actors are rare. It's an ability you're born with, I think. You have to have "presence", and the right voice, and the right mannerisms...none of the actors on these shows have ANY of that.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Marful ( 861873 )
      Have you heard of "Prelude to Axanar"?

      It basically contradicts all of your objections.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P... [wikipedia.org]

    • I found it be hit-or-miss.

      Star Trek Continues is decent -- it embodies the spirit of TOS. They even got Marina Sirtis and Michael Dorn to play the voice of the computer.

      But I agree about the others. Holy crap is "Starship Exeter: The Tressaurian Intersection" ever terrible!! i.e. Having Spock being replaced with a woman trying not to portray any emotion when her eyebrows give her away is god awful.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by deodiaus2 ( 980169 )
      Shatner was a lousy actor, egotist, and greedy bastard who would steal smaller actors lines, according to Takei, Doohan, and others. I didn't realize this until I was 17. I re-watched my favorite episode, "City on the Edge of Forever" when I just realized how campy and overdone was his acting style. Stuff that appealed to me when I was 14 just fell out of favor later on in life.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by hawk ( 1151 )

      I'm sorry, the fan-made "Star Trek" stuff is terrible, because the actors are terrible. It's as simple as that. They get pretty much everything right, otherwise, but without decent actors, it doesn't matter. I mean, the acting is high-school-level bad.

      Err . . . how would this make it any different than Star Trek???

      hawk

    • Re:THIS is a "golden age"? Yikes. (Score:4, Interesting)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) * on Wednesday April 01, 2015 @07:47AM (#49385385) Homepage Journal

      The guy who plays Kirk in Continues is a better Shatner than Shatner is. He has all the mannerisms and speech patterns down perfectly. I could believe it was the same character, the same person. Only, he's actually slightly better, slightly less camp and with a more expressive face.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I don't really have an opinion with the quality. My problem is "webseries". Why don't we call it what it is, fan-fiction? Did fan-fiction become a dirty word or something?

  • Lies, damn lies and half-truths. (Score:3, Funny)

    by wbr1 ( 2538558 ) on Tuesday March 31, 2015 @07:38PM (#49382899)
    We are not in a golden age, but a dilithuim age. It is not sluggish and gilded, but moving a warp speed! Where is it moving.. well, sensors are down right now.

    • I'm holding out for the gold-pressed latinum age.

      I remember that TOS was so cool because it was showing what the world could be like if we somehow were able to get past the major crises of that day. Which were (in descending order of impact on a white middle class male teen): 1) women entrusted with chain of command positions; 2) tolerance of the rights of people who did not look like everyone in my home town; 3) resolving major disagreements with foreigners without throwing nukes around.

      How could Star Tr

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        " I can't imagine a Star Trek episode with Spock and Kirk, or even Data and Picard, dealing rationally with terrorism."

        The dealing rationally, or more often irrationally, with terrorism, oozes out from many bad episodes:
        * A Horta is dissolving Miners, (Think of the Children!), in defense of "Horta Rights". At least they cemented that relationship.
        * Wesley Takes A Walk, and rather than face the consequences, Picard organizes a Raiding Party, which cripples the Authority of the Government.
        * Spock disguises h

      • So, the Maquis storyline didn't happen then?

        • Point taken. I think of the Maquis as DS9, and had forgotten there was some bleed over from there into TNG. DS9, Voyager, and Enterprise seemed to be working more with interpersonal relationship issues than with the mythic reinterpretations of TOS and TNG.

          These post-Trek, meta-Trek phenomena are intriguing to me. Is the field broad enough and deep enough to support a three year thesis project on the emergence of contemporary myths? Probably not without taking on the Marvel myths as well.... and that would

  • Oh geeeee..... The only good thing about "Lolani" is that it is a perfect remake of a classically terrible, awful, ST:TOS episode. It's a perfect homage to "Spock's Brain", and "Savage Curtain".

    So from that viewpoint, it's a great episode. And I really enjoyed watching it, but only for its artistic value of a faithful recreation of a botched ST:TOS time filler. Really, I'll take "Fairest Of Them All", or even "Pilgrim of Eternity", over "Lolani", any time. And I do appreciate seeing The Incredible Hulk hims

  • Get over yourself.

  • The only real problem with Star Trek Continues is that... it hasn't.

  • As a proud Trekkie! (Score:3)

    by stox ( 131684 ) on Tuesday March 31, 2015 @08:45PM (#49383199) Homepage

    The attention to detail in Star Trek Continues is remarkable. The acting can be a bit stilted, but maybe you all have forgotten the first season of TOS. It will be more difficult for STC due to the changing cast. Even then, I think the roles will mature and develop more fully.

    And no, it is NOT a Golden Age, it is just the beginning!

    • The acting can be a bit stilted, but maybe you all have forgotten the first season of TOS.

      There is a 50 year difference in expectations between TOS and today.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by stox ( 131684 )

        Special effects, etc. have evolved enormously over that time period. Acting has not.

  • The dissenting voice, (Score:3)

    by westlake ( 615356 ) on Tuesday March 31, 2015 @09:00PM (#49383253)
    The geek whines that Hollywood produces nothing but remakes and sequels; but when given the chance to show us what he can do on his own, what do we get?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) *

      It's not so much sequels, it's a desire to see the story played out to conclusion and then ended without pointless cash-ins. Trek was cancelled too early, many of the sequel/remake movies are pointless.

    • The problem is that the Hollywood remakes aren't very good: they fail to include what made the original so great in the first place. We can see this perfectly with JJ Abram's Star Trek movies: lots of great effects, but a crappy story and over-the-top action without any of the philosophy or character development that made the original Star Trek special.

  • Just watched Lolani... (Score:3)

    by plazman30 ( 531348 ) on Tuesday March 31, 2015 @10:16PM (#49383589) Homepage
    It was actually quite good. The script was well written and the attention to detail was top notch. The acting was kind of hit or miss at times. Though seeing Lou Ferrigno and Erin Grey again was definitely nostalgic. I think it's worth watching.

  • For the last decade or so, the Trek novel universe has been well-maintained, followed its own continuity, and has featured a lot of very good stories (and a few bad ones, but so it goes with all things Star Trek). If you're a fan that's looking to continue the stories and feel of Star Trek now that it's off the air, look at the novels (and check out http://www.thetrekcollective.c... [thetrekcollective.com] for a guide to where to start).

  • "Your brain— and more importantly, your heart — will love you for the rest of your life."

    What does that mean?

  • I've loved, and have been following Star Trek fan films since the second episode of New Voyages, over a decade ago. Yes, of course the acting is amateur. If you can't handle them, don't watch them. Subbie didn't even mention Hidden Frontier, which ran for 7 seasons! Also left out Of Gods and Men! I watched part one of a Star Trek: Aurora two-parter last week -- it was great, but a Harry Mudd episode so it was rather silly.

    But it's so interesting how this one franchise, out of them all, has so many simultaneous fan productions. It's like, in the 60s, when all the traditional ideologies and authorities were being torn down there was a vacuum introduced into the Western psyche. And then some random TV show with an idealistic premise was sucked in to fill the void. Now, like schismatic sects of a religion, each fan film does Star Trek the "right" way, in it's creators own interpretation. Lots of gay characters in many fan films, for instance, something real Star Trek almost never touched.

    If you would only ever watch one episode, watch Fairest of Them All, the "part two" to Mirror, Mirror.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Dr. Evil ( 3501 )

      ..."traditional ideologies and authorities were being torn down there "

      They were experimental and short-lived ideologies that were torn down. 20 years earlier it was war era, 30 : depression, 40: hedonism, 50: another war then the industrial revolution and agrarian society.

      The nuclear family, single income post-industrial home was an ideal which nobody liked. Feminism cites it a lot, but I think it's only because boomers own the bookshelves, the experiences of their mothers is strong and the boomers

  • " It all varies in quality, but it doesn't take much effort to find them."

    But it does take much effort to watch them. While the intentions are laudable, quality is important. Even a good story can be mightily ruined by too simplistic rendition and/or unskilled acting and/or unskilled filming/camwork. And they usually are.

  • I really enjoyed all the Star Trek series that followed TOS. I loved Voyager and even Enterprise was entertaining to watch. I really wish a new "official" Star Trek series starts again soon.

  • Golden Age of Star Trek Webseries

    If that's not a contradiction in terms I don't know what is.

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