Star Trek Geek Nirvana
It may come as something of a surprise to some people, but The Milk Brother was once considered to be something of a Star Trek Geek in his youth. Well, OK, he was a complete Star Trek Geek, full stop. There are photos, now well hidden, of many non-Halloween occasions when he was caught dressed in full Original Series (ST:TOS to us geeks) regalia, fighting Klingons and ordering Mr. Spock to take a Number 2.
But those days are long gone. The Milk Brother has gone on to adopt and abandon many passions (what some unkind observers might term obsessions). But he still has a soft spot for Star Trek, particularly the Original Series he knew and loved when he was a wee Milk Lad. (He can still recall the utter terror he felt when he first viewed the episode where Captain Kirk engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the Gorn, the giant lizard-man with insect eyes and the growl/hiss language. It is said that he ran to hide in the other room while the episode was on, asking his mother when it was safe to return.)
This article in the New York Times caused The Milk Brother to indulge in a bit of nostalgia. Apparently a number of fans around the US have been writing and producing their own Star Trek spin-off video series and distributing them over the Internets. These days, a digital video camera and a decent computer provide all the capability needed to produce credible-looking Internet movies and TV series. The Milk Brother took advantage of his reasonably fat pipe to download a sampling of some these efforts and was rather surprised and impressed by the quality. OK, so the acting is, erm, suspect, and the scripts, erm, suspect, but the special effects were surprisingly good (i.e. no worse than Stargate: SG-1), and the loving attention to props, sets, and costumes was very apparent.
The longest running fan series is Star Trek: New Frontier, set in the Star Trek: The Next Generation/Deep Space 9 universe. The look is a little cheesy, as apparently the producers filmed their actors against blue screens and then superimposed them over backgrounds from the actual TV series. There are lots of new digital exterior special effects, with new ships, alien ships, space battles, locales, etc. What's most interesting is the acting, which is generally good for amateurs, and the plotting. Two of the major subplots in the episode I reviewed involved relationships between gay characters. One of those featured a full-on male Bajoran/male Klingon kiss! Even more surprising was the matter-of-fact portrayal of a non-sexual friendship between one of the gay characters and his straight friend, involving none of the cloying, ironic, or comedic stereotypes Hollywood usually employs. Latent homoeroticism has always been noted in the Star Trek universe, and it is only logical that Gene Roddenberry's vision of an enlightened future would include full acceptance of gay relationships. So, maybe there is hope for the Internets after all.
Since The Milk Brother is a genuine fan of the ST:TOS, he found the fan series Star Trek: New Voyages to be even better. These folks have recast themselves in the roles from the Original Series, portraying Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Uhura, and so on. The net result is something between parody and genuine fan adoration. The producers are obviously frighteningly well-versed in the ST:TOS universe, as well as the arcania of the spin-offs. Unlike the New Frontier folks, the New Voyages producers built actual sets. In the episode previewed, sets were used for the Enterprise bridge, a shuttlecraft, and for interiors of a scientific outpost and a Starbase. The Milk Brother defies critics to differentiate them from the ones used on ST:TOS. The verisimilitude is nothing short of astonishing. While the quality of the acting varied (the new Spock looks nothing like Nimoy, but does a good job of creating his own version of the character. The new Kirk has a most amusing pompadour, and the new McCoy was just plain annoying. The guest actors were much better than most of the regular new cast, acting-wise), the script was genuinely clever. Like the series finale of The Next Generation, the episode incorporated elements from different parts of the Star Trek timeline in a time-traveling adventure involving everyone's favorite, The Doomsday Machine! Now how cool is that?! And we get to see stuff we always dreamed of, like seeing the Enterprise enter a planetary atmosphere, do a barrel roll, and use the main deflector array for something.
The Milk Brother heartily recommends that anyone with at least a passing interest in Star Trek go check these shows out. He gives them two thumbs up and promises that they are worth your precious time. Here are the links:
Star Trek: New Frontier
Star Trek: New Voyages
Starship Exeter
Starship Farragut
Live long, and prosper!
But those days are long gone. The Milk Brother has gone on to adopt and abandon many passions (what some unkind observers might term obsessions). But he still has a soft spot for Star Trek, particularly the Original Series he knew and loved when he was a wee Milk Lad. (He can still recall the utter terror he felt when he first viewed the episode where Captain Kirk engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the Gorn, the giant lizard-man with insect eyes and the growl/hiss language. It is said that he ran to hide in the other room while the episode was on, asking his mother when it was safe to return.)
This article in the New York Times caused The Milk Brother to indulge in a bit of nostalgia. Apparently a number of fans around the US have been writing and producing their own Star Trek spin-off video series and distributing them over the Internets. These days, a digital video camera and a decent computer provide all the capability needed to produce credible-looking Internet movies and TV series. The Milk Brother took advantage of his reasonably fat pipe to download a sampling of some these efforts and was rather surprised and impressed by the quality. OK, so the acting is, erm, suspect, and the scripts, erm, suspect, but the special effects were surprisingly good (i.e. no worse than Stargate: SG-1), and the loving attention to props, sets, and costumes was very apparent.
The longest running fan series is Star Trek: New Frontier, set in the Star Trek: The Next Generation/Deep Space 9 universe. The look is a little cheesy, as apparently the producers filmed their actors against blue screens and then superimposed them over backgrounds from the actual TV series. There are lots of new digital exterior special effects, with new ships, alien ships, space battles, locales, etc. What's most interesting is the acting, which is generally good for amateurs, and the plotting. Two of the major subplots in the episode I reviewed involved relationships between gay characters. One of those featured a full-on male Bajoran/male Klingon kiss! Even more surprising was the matter-of-fact portrayal of a non-sexual friendship between one of the gay characters and his straight friend, involving none of the cloying, ironic, or comedic stereotypes Hollywood usually employs. Latent homoeroticism has always been noted in the Star Trek universe, and it is only logical that Gene Roddenberry's vision of an enlightened future would include full acceptance of gay relationships. So, maybe there is hope for the Internets after all.
Since The Milk Brother is a genuine fan of the ST:TOS, he found the fan series Star Trek: New Voyages to be even better. These folks have recast themselves in the roles from the Original Series, portraying Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Uhura, and so on. The net result is something between parody and genuine fan adoration. The producers are obviously frighteningly well-versed in the ST:TOS universe, as well as the arcania of the spin-offs. Unlike the New Frontier folks, the New Voyages producers built actual sets. In the episode previewed, sets were used for the Enterprise bridge, a shuttlecraft, and for interiors of a scientific outpost and a Starbase. The Milk Brother defies critics to differentiate them from the ones used on ST:TOS. The verisimilitude is nothing short of astonishing. While the quality of the acting varied (the new Spock looks nothing like Nimoy, but does a good job of creating his own version of the character. The new Kirk has a most amusing pompadour, and the new McCoy was just plain annoying. The guest actors were much better than most of the regular new cast, acting-wise), the script was genuinely clever. Like the series finale of The Next Generation, the episode incorporated elements from different parts of the Star Trek timeline in a time-traveling adventure involving everyone's favorite, The Doomsday Machine! Now how cool is that?! And we get to see stuff we always dreamed of, like seeing the Enterprise enter a planetary atmosphere, do a barrel roll, and use the main deflector array for something.
The Milk Brother heartily recommends that anyone with at least a passing interest in Star Trek go check these shows out. He gives them two thumbs up and promises that they are worth your precious time. Here are the links:
Star Trek: New Frontier
Star Trek: New Voyages
Starship Exeter
Starship Farragut
Live long, and prosper!