Star Trek fan productions areproductions made byfans using elements of theStar Trekfranchise.Paramount Pictures,CBS, and theirlicensees are the only organizations legally allowed to create commercial products with theStar Trek name andtrademark. Thefan film community has received some coverage from the mainstream media.[1][2][3]
Star Trek fan films have been made since the 1960s by individuals and various fan groups but, before the advent of inexpensive digital cameras, editing and effects in the 1990s, most were on a simple home movie level. An early effort to achieve something more was John Cosentino'sParagon's Paragon, which was an unofficial adaptation of James Blish'sSpock Must Die!, an earlyStar Trek spinoff novel. The film ran for an hour and was shot on16mm film using a full-size recreation of the Bridge set. It also used a wide variety of filmspecial effects techniques on a budget of over $2,000 ($13,000 in 2024 dollars) and received considerable coverage inDon Dohler's Cinemagic magazine for low budget filmmakers. Dohler subsequently used its crew to make his first feature film,The Alien Factor (1978).
A three-part mini-series directed byTim Russ and starring several originalStar Trek stars, includingNichelle Nichols andWalter Koenig.[4] The first part was released in December 2007; parts 2 and 3 were released in 2008.[5][6]
In 2014, fans and former cast members organized a fan-made short film calledPrelude to Axanar, setting up aKickstarter project with a target of $10,000, but which raised well over $100,000 instead. This short film was to be followed by a full-length feature film calledStar Trek: Axanar, funded by a much larger Kickstarter project. Both films were to starRichard Hatch,J. G. Hertzler,Kate Vernon,Gary Graham,Michael Hogan, andTony Todd, all mainstream actors who were veterans ofParamount'sStar Trek franchise and the rebootedBattlestar Galactica.[7]Prelude to Axanar featured both new and familiar characters from theStar Trek universe:
The short film forPrelude to Axanar was released in June 2014.[8] In August 2014, the production raised $638,000 on Kickstarter, and writer-producer Alec Peters went into pre-production for the feature filmStar Trek: Axanar.[9]
On December 29, 2015 the project was hit by a lawsuit fromCBS and Paramount Pictures filed in Central California federal court, stating theAxanar works infringed upon their intellectual property by making use of "innumerable copyrighted elements ofStar Trek, including its settings, characters, species, and themes."[10] In March 2016, Peters' Axanar Productions filed amotion to dismiss orstrike Paramount and CBS's claims, saying the elements mentioned in the court filing are not protected by copyright and is seeking premature relief from a work, theAxanar feature film, that does not exist.[11] The motion to dismiss or strike was denied by the court and the case went to a jury trial in January 2017.[12] On January 21, 2017, the lawsuit was settled.
On June 26, 2016, during theAxanar lawsuit, CBS and Paramount released a set of guidelines forStar Trek fan films to follow. Notably, these restrictions require films to: be no more than 15 minutes long and have no stories longer than two installments (for a total of 30 minutes); play onYouTube without commercials; and all participants are required to be amateurs who have never worked onStar Trek or another licensee of CBS or Paramount Pictures.[13] The creation and release ofAxanar would only be allowed on these terms.[14][15][16]
Star Trek: Renegades is afan-created project to create a pilot for a newStar Trek series. CBS declined to pick up the show.[17] Several formerStar Trek actors appear, includingWalter Koenig,Robert Picardo, Manu Intiraymi, andTim Russ. It is set 10 years afterVoyager's return from the Delta Quadrant.[18] Plans have been announced for aRenegadesweb based series.[19] In June 2016, the team announced that in response to new requirements onStar Trek fan films issued by CBS and Paramount Pictures, their upcoming filmRequiem would remove all references toStar Trek. The series itself was renamedRenegades.[20]
Star Trek: Horizon is set inStar Trek: Enterprise era, directly after the 4th season of the series. The film is about theRomulan War.[21] The Kickstarter campaign launched on April 19, 2014. The film was released February 25, 2016 to backers and was also on the internet.[1]
"Earlier today, executives from CBS reached out to me and advised me that their legal team strongly suggested that we do not move forward with plans to create a sequel to Horizon. While this is a sign of the current climate that we find ourselves in with Star Trek fan films, I want to personally thank CBS for reaching out to me, rather than including us in their ongoing lawsuit against Axanar.
"It was conveyed that the reason CBS was reaching out to me was due to the legal troubles stemming from the Axanar case. Again, CBS did not have to reach out personally. The message I received felt more like they were giving me a heads up before we got too involved in another project, rather than a group of angry executives swinging a hammer.
"On behalf of myself and Ryan Webber, my co-writer and co-producer on Federation Rising, we appreciate your initial support and are saddened that we cannot bring you what we believe was a fantastic feature film. However, rest assured that Ryan and I are committed to continuing our storytelling partnership with an original project. We also welcome other fan productions and fan film lovers to join us on this new venture.
"While we initially planned to debut our Kickstarter for Federation Rising this Saturday, we hope that you will instead stand with us as we announce an original sci-fi project that Ryan and I have been co-developing in addition to Federation Rising. We’re incredibly excited to tell you about this completely original story that follows the ideals set forth by Star Trek that Ryan and I have been such huge fans and admirers of our entire lives."
- Tommy Kraft,Star Trek: Horizon creator[22]
Star Trek: Horizon won four of twelve categories in the 2017Independent Star Trek Fan Film Awards (Best Special & Visual Effects; Best Original Music; Best Original Story or Screenplay; and Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form), presented at and byTreklanta.[23][24][25][26]
In 2017, eighteen years after the airing of theDeep Space Nine finale, "What You Leave Behind," Ira Steven Behr announced acrowdfunded documentary namedWhat We Left Behind, deriving its title from the name of this episode (which itself is based on thePericles quote, "What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others").[27] The documentary, which met its goal of $150,000 within 24 hours, reflects onStar Trek: Deep Space Nine's legacy, featuring interviews with the cast and crew of the series and speculating on what would have happened had there been an eighth season.[28][29] It was released in 2019.[30] The cast includes Alexander Siddig, Avery Brooks, Colm Meaney, Michael Dorn, Nana Visitor, Rene Auberjonois, and Terry Farrell.
A series with fifty produced episodes, the series is set shortly after the end of theDominion War and centers on the starshipExcelsior and its home base, Deep Space 12, as they mediate disputes between various races and fend off attacks from a powerful new alien race, the Grey. Fan Films Quarterly listedHidden Frontier as one of the ten most pivotal moments in fan film history in its Summer 2006 issue.[citation needed] TheBBC in 2006 called the series "the most prominent"Star Trek fan film followingStar Trek: Enterprise's cancellation.[31]Hidden Frontierspawned several spinoffs: four live-actions series (Voyages of the USS Angeles- prequel,Star Trek: Odyssey,The Helena Chronicles, andFederation One), the 23rd-century movie era audio seriesStar Trek: Grissom, two 24th-century audio series (Henglaar, M.D. andDiplomatic Relations), and three videos made jointly with Starship Intrepid Productions.
An online series produced by Jimm and Joshua Johnson that focuses on the adventures of theConstitution-class starship USSExeter (NCC-1706[32]), a sister ship of the USSEnterprise (NCC-1701) in theoriginal series era, with production design matching the era. It has been mentioned byThe New York Times andRegister-Guard (Oregon).[3][33] Two episodes were released.
(formerly known asStar Trek: Phase II)
Co-creators James Cawley and Jack Marshall aimed to complete the original series' five-year mission, with actors cast as Kirk, Spock and the rest of theEnterprise crew on an exact replica of the original bridge set. One episode, "To Serve All My Days," was written byD. C. Fontana, story editor on the originalStar Trek series, and featuredWalter Koenig guest-starring as an older version ofPavel Chekov, his character from the original series. Several other actors from the originalTrek series have also now signed on to appear in future episodes.George Takei reprised his role ofHikaru Sulu in the third episode, "World Enough and Time," joining the original YeomanJanice Rand,Grace Lee Whitney.Fan Films Quarterly listedNew Voyages as one of the ten most pivotal moments in fan film history in its Summer 2006 issue, and it has been reported on byNational Public Radio.[34] New Voyages also won TV Guide's 2007 Online Video Award for best sci-fi Webisode.[35] On February 16, 2008, during an appearance at theFarpoint Science Fiction Media Convention in Baltimore, Maryland, James Cawley announced that the series would shed theNew Voyages moniker and become known asStar Trek: Phase II to reflect the transition between the original series andStar Trek: The Motion Picture.[36] 10 episodes and 3 short vignettes have been released by 2015.
Aspin-off from theHidden Frontier team with its first episode "Illiad" launched in September 2007. It is the story of the USSOdyssey, a Federation ship which has become trapped in the distantAndromeda Galaxy. WithOdyssey's captain and first officer dead, along with most of the command staff, Lt. Commander Ro Nevin is forced to take command in order to get the remaining crew home.[37]
AU.K. based fanfilm, and the first such production fromScotland,Intrepid is set in the 24th century, several years afterStar Trek: Nemesis, and revolves around the effort to colonise a distant and largely unexplored sector of the galaxy.Star Trek: Intrepid was filmed entirely in Scotland and was released on May 26, 2007.GMTV presenterLorraine Kelly has a brief appearance in Intrepid[38] and the production has received extensive coverage in both national and international media, such asCNN,[39]BBC Radio Scotland[40]The Guardian,[41] andThe Scotsman.[42]Intrepid was featured on theUK Sci Fi Channel's Sci Fi 360 video podcast.[43] Executive Producer and cast member Nick Cook has also collaborated with theHidden Frontier crew several times, including the joint episodesOrphans of War andOperation Beta Shield, as well as the finale ofOdyssey.
First produced in 2013 by the Starship Farragut team, this series looks to chronicle the "lost seasons" ofStar Trek: The Original Series (in similar fashion toStar Trek: Phase II; see below). The series features voice actorsVic Mignogna andTodd Haberkorn as Kirk and Spock, respectively. Other notable cast includeChris Doohan (son ofJames Doohan) as Scotty, as well as both author-producerLarry Nemecek and voice actorChuck Huber as McCoy. It also co-starsGrant Imahara (MythBusters) as Sulu. The first episode, "Pilgrim of Eternity" (withMichael Forest reprising his role as Apollo from the original series episode "Who Mourns for Adonais?"), was released in 2013. The second episode, "Lolani" (featuring guest starLou Ferrigno), was released in February 2014, and a third episode, "Fairest of Them All," was released in June 2014 and won aBurbank International Film Festival award for "Best New Media – Drama."[44][45][46]Star Trek Continues also won a Geekie Award for "Best Web Series."[47] On June 19, 2015, Episode 4 of the series was posted and titled "White Iris." All eleven full episodes have been released as of December 2017.
This independent production is the story of the USSMontana, a ship from the end of the era of "cowboy diplomacy" that travels seventy years into the future—into the new world of careful steps and slow deliberation. Flung to a new time and into a new culture, the crew of theMontana is forced to adapt—but this hardly stops them from facing new adventures in the 24th century. The pilot episode, "Ghost Ship," was released in December 2007,[48] and since then seven more episodes have been released, that last was "Cathedral in the Void" on May 10, 2014.
Starship Excelsior has twice been nominated for theParsec Awards for speculative fiction podcasting. The series concerns the 24th century adventures of the crew of the U.S.S.Excelsior (NCC-2000-C - the "fourth starship to bear the name") in theDelta Quadrant.[49][50] Executive Producer James Heaney started the audio drama in 2007 as a means of recruiting players to aStar Trek play-by-forumrole-playing game (RPG) set on the USSExcelsior-C.[50][51] According to the show's website, "episodes are recorded in more than two dozen places on three continents," and by July 2010 voice actors in the US lived in nine different states while one resided in Australia and another in New Zealand.[50][51][52] Original theme music was composed by Sam Gillis.Starship Excelsior was a Parsec Award nominee in 2010 and a finalist in 2011 for Best Speculative Fiction Audio Drama (Long Form).[53]
David Rogers' film presents the tale of a space weary security officer on theEnterprise who is sick of Kirk, the ship, and thered shirt he must wear every day. While on patrol, he meets another redshirt on his first assignment and to whom he reveals the truth about redshirts. This film was screened on theSci Fi Channel'sExposure in 2001.[54]
A 16-minute film written by Ryan K. Johnson and Darrell Bratz, with Johnson producing and directing. It primarily parodiesStar Trek: The Next Generation, although it also pokes fun atMax Headroom,Doctor Who,William Shatner, andHarlan Ellison. The film premiered at theNorwescon science fiction convention in March 1988, and won best film at the convention's film festival.
In this 1988 film, the "Ferrari" have stolen all of the Pepsi from Starbase Seven-Up, and it is up to the crew of theEnterprise to rescue it. Captain Picard, along with Doodah the android, Ya Har, Jordashe, Rigor Mortis, Sexx Toii (the Betamax counselor), Ensign Expendable, and Weasley Crushme all leap into action. Along the way, viewers meet the harriedStar Trek writing crew and the Ferrari's fearsome leader.[55]
On August 26, 1996, theBBC aired a documentary onStar Trek parodies, andStar Trek: The Pepsi Generation was one of the featured films.[56][57][58][59]
AFlash animated series that presents episodes ofStar Trek as it might have appeared on television in the universe ofThe Flintstones. The series was created by Brian Matthews with assistance of Jim Jenkins as writer and Wally Fields as voice talent and takes place aboard the stoneship USSMagnetize. Characters include Captain James T. Kirkstone, the Vulcano first officer Mr. Sprock, and ship's doctor Leonard "Fossils" RcKoy. The series also includes a running count ofredshirts killed in each episode, and fans could write in to nominate themselves to becaricatured as a redshirt in future episodes. The production's website was a Sci-Fi.com "Site of the Week" in May 2001.[60]
A silent film showing aStar Trek episode as might have been made by François Méliès. Produced in 1994 and set in 1980, "hundreds of miles" out in space, a crisis besets the ship when it runs low on coal.
The attitude of theStar Trekcopyright andtrademark holders toward fan works has varied over time. In early 1996,Viacom (which purchased Paramount in 1994) sentcease and desist letters to webmasters ofStar Trek fan sites that contained copyrighted film clips, sounds, insignia, or other copyrighted material.[61][62] In the lead-up to the release ofStar Trek: First Contact, then-president of Paramount Digital Entertainment David Wertheimer stated that Viacom was targeting sites that were "selling ads, collecting fees, selling illegal merchandise or posting copyrighted materials."[63] Under threat of legal action, many websites shut down.[63]
Jennifer Granick, aSan Francisco criminallawyer who went on to championcyber rights, felt that the unofficial sites should be covered by thefair use doctrine inU.S. copyright law.[61] In 1998, then-UCLA associate professorHoward Besser claimed the entertainment industry as a whole was, and cited Viacom's actions towardStar Trek site webmasters as an example of, "exploiting concerns over digitization and attempting to reshape the law by strengthening protection for copyrights holders and weakening public rights to access and use material."[64]
Star Trek fan films operated in an informational vacuum, since Paramount has made few official statements regarding their existence. Fan filmmakers have generally kept a low profile, hoping not to draw attention to themselves. However, with the demise ofStar Trek: Enterprise in 2005, the fan film community began drawing more attention in the media,[65][66] and even a certain amount of recognition[67] from the entertainment industry.
Star Trek: Phase II, one fan series, has established an understanding that Paramount must be properly credited as the owner ofStar Trek-related intellectual property.[68]
On December 29, 2015 (weeks after announcingStar Trek: Discovery) CBS and Paramount Pictures filed a lawsuit in California federal court againstStar Trek: Axanar stating theAxanar works infringed upon their intellectual property by making use of "innumerable copyrighted elements ofStar Trek, including its settings, characters, species, and themes."[10] In June 2016 Paramount issued guidelines to assist fan-made productions from litigation; in summary:
Because of the guidelines issued by Paramount as a result of theAxanar case,Star Trek: Renegades made changes to the script of their upcoming filmRequiem to remove all references toStar Trek. The series itself was renamedRenegades.[20]
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