The big fan film news this week isn’t about something that happened, but rather something that didn’t happen: The mega-production, Star Trek: Of Gods And Men has been postponed yet again. Originally expected to debut around Christmas, 2006, part of the three-part, 90-minute feature was re-scheduled to be made available for download from the ST:OGAM site starting on tax day, April 15. That didn’t happen.
Plenty of fan films get delayed, but the fact that this particular flick has been bumped back is especially disappointing when you consider that it sports a cast plucked straight out of a Trekkie Trekker fever dream: Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols (Uhura and Chekov of the original series); Alan Ruck (Captain John Harriman of Star Trek Generations); Grace Lee Whitney (Janice Rand of the original series); Garrett Wang and Ethan Phillips (Star Trek: Voyager); Cirroc Lofton, Chase Masterson and JG Hertzler (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine); Gary Graham and Crystal Allen (Star Trek: Enterprise); and Herb Jefferson (Battlestar Galactica). The whole shebang is directed by Tim Russ (Tuvok from Voyager), who also recreates his role in the film as well.
On the upside, the first three minutes of the movie have been made available on the website, whetting appetites for more to come. [For those curious as to who the mysterious attacker is, there's a clue in the middle of this article, covering the film's production.]
Also, the site itself has seen a major revamp, going from essentially an internet billboard to a full-fledged effort, complete with trailers, forums, behind-the-scenes videos and more. While the film’s producers won’t divulge a new release date, the improved web destination should increase awareness and support for the film.
Whether something of this magnitude qualifies as a fan film, however, is a matter of debate—one that will likely only intensify within the fan production community when it eventually premieres.
I had high hopes for this production, not necessarily in the are of quality, but more in the area of holding themselves to the commitments they made.
The biggest problem with the fan films is making promises they obviously cannot keep. I think the simple act of sticking to a release date that’s been announced months in advance would make more of an impact on fans that a mindblowing episode.
These guys obviously knew way ahead of time that the release was going to be delayed yest waited till the previusly announced relaease date and time to announce. Would mean alot more to me and go a long way towards garnering fan respect if they had made the announcement shortly after they decided to push the release back. In my book, making promises that there’s no intention to keep is bad mojo.
Just to correct a false statement, we did not know until dangerously recently that we were going to have to delay release. We have never made any promises of release as we have always stated that release dates are tentative. The item that prevented us from Act I release in April was something that came up suddenly, unavoidably and unexpectedly and was of quite a personal nature to one of our crew persons. I guess you could say we knew ahead of time as it took us a week to decide how to present the delays to the fans.
Speaking of the fans, thanks to everyone for thier continuing and miraculous level of support. Fine examples of true Star Trek fans.
Peter Christian
Associate Producer
Regardless…the professional status of those involved is totally irrelevent when the actions are themselves not professional. There was a golden opportunity to stand above the crowd by being forthcoming with the fans who have patiently waited and spent months staring at an unchanged website.
It’s become clear that your efforts are NOT for the fans.
Jeez, give these guys a break! So what if it’s a few days late or even several weeks or more. They want to get out a quality product, one that represents the months of blood, sweat and tears they have put into this. If that doesn’t meet with YOUR needs, well so be it.
Have any of you whiners ever tried to marshall a huge project with many people involved and large amounts of technology?? With such a complex multi-variable equation, any number of things can go wrong. Cut them some slack. Certainly none of you have ever, ever missed a deadline…
I myself have occassionally delayed the submission of a project to make sure that the quality of the final product was excellent, and that approach has NEVER hurt me.
If this were some big-budget movie, they could paper over all problems with cost-overruns and bloated budgets. Clearly that’s not an option here.
If anyone from STOGM is reading this, some of us are deeply appreciative of your efforts, and mature enough to patiently wait for your best efforts.
OK, so the release date is floating around the calander again. It’s no big deal. I would rather have the release date pushed back a little if makes the final product better.
From what I have seen so far, it looks like you folks on the STOGM project are tring to make a movie to rival Hollywood. It works for me. So I will patienly wait until the release date, knowing it will be the best fan film yet.
Thanks for caring to do it right.
Craig Burridge
I Hope that after such a long wait, the end result is worth it.
I too hope that you guys will release the episodes in the “ISO” format as a bonus for making us wait.
That way, we could download it to DVD and atleast enjoy the film on the TV.
Maybe then the wait will be worth it.
Lord, I agree! Give the people at STOGM a break. I’ve worked in the recording industry and I can tell you that producing an artist, even with a healthy $70,000 budget from a label is no easy task. Dead lines are at the mercy of creative energy and human limitations. Sometimes an artist simply cannot perform. Sometimes your software crashes, sometimes a major player in the field has a death in the family and the whole project goes into “neutral” for a couple of months. Anything can happen, and thats with a budget and an Executive Producer making a profit!! Give these people at STOGM a break!! Or better yet, try just filming 5minutes of dialogue with 30sec of special effects, at a proper screen aspect ratio and see how long it takes you to get those 5 min correct let alone a 3part mini series with no backing from a studio!!
Rest assured, the same people who are so impatient with dead lines would be the same ones to complain of an inferior project…
Come on people, be human, and in the nature of Star Trek and Gene R’s memory, show some human compassion..
peace