Star Trek Continues

Star Trek: The Re-Reboot

Who needs big budget reboots when you've got fans? While J.J. Abrams' 2009 reboot of the original Star Trek breathed new life into this venerable 60s television property, fan remakes, created with arguably more authenticity and unquestionably more love, have have been circulating the internet for years now. For hardcore Trekkers and casual fans alike, these independent remakes, such as Starship Exeter and Star Trek: New Voyages (later renamed Star Trek: Phase II), have provided new windows into creator Gene Roddenberry's futuristic world, which franchise-owner, Paramount Studios, would never consider producing due to their potentially limited appeal. The more successful of these fan-made series nearly always hark back to the original 1960s incarnation of the show, closely mimicking its style by employing more subtle special effects and exploring social, political and philosophical themes.

The latest entry into this sci-fi sub-genre is titled Star Trek Continues, an off-Hollywood but fairly professional attempt to continue the original five-year mission of the starship Enterprise and her loyal crew. Featuring one of James Doohan's own sons, Christopher, reprising his father's role as Scotty, the ship's hard-drinking, fist-throwing engineer, Star Trek Continues does an admirable job of emulating the Crayola-color lighting, the oddball camera angles and the quirky TV dialogue of those late-1960s Desilu productions and even manages to make you forget you're watching a fan-flick, most of the time. Although I'd say the casting could use some tweaking, and some of the acting is, well, bad, the impressive attention to detail and the bonus inclusion of original series guest star, Michael Forest, who played Apollo in the episode Who Mourns for Adonais?, makes the whole affair a worthy homage to an American science fiction classic. Check the video below for a look at the very first episode, Pilgrim of Eternity -- and to you mega-geeks out there, make sure to watch (and listen) for some quick but notable cameos by some space-opera royalty including Marina Sirtis from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Go ahead, watch it. What else you doing on a cold-ass Saturday afternoon?

CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE HOME OF STAR TREK CONTINUES


Star Trek Continues E01 "Pilgrim of Eternity" from Star Trek Continues on Vimeo.

The Empire Strikes Back Uncut

A few years ago you may remember a little thing called the Star Wars Uncut project, which brought together amateur film makers from all over the world in an attempt to re-make the classic 1977 screen gem in little bits and pieces. After having chopped up the film into 15 second segments, fans were then invited by the producers to claim a piece and recreate it in anyway imaginable. Some folks used action figures, some acted the parts out in costume, some used crude animations. Once the 473 individual videos had been collected, the producers spliced together the various parts, added sound effects and music and the rest is history (you can watch the watch the entire film at the end of this post). Now, some two years after the successful premiere of Episode IV (or "Star Wars" as those of us over the age of 30 like to call it), the same group responsible has put out the call for their next project: The Empire Strikes Back (or "Episode V" for non-retros). You can head on over to www.starwarsuncut.com/empire to claim your scene and test your hand at low-budget movie-making, but you'd better hurry as there are just a few scenes left to choose from, and while your submission make it, its inclusion in the final film is not guaranteed since a number of applicants will be allowed to take a stab at any one scene. May the farce be with you.

CLICK HERE TO VISIT STARWARS UNCUT: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

BONUS VIDEO - THE ENTIRE STAR WARS UNCUT MOVIE!


Star Wars Uncut: Director's Cut from Casey Pugh on Vimeo.

Attack of the Princess Bride Jedi!

Yeah, it's Saturday and I'm feeling lazy, how about you? So instead of the usual witty pop-culture examinations I spew forth daily, here's a cool video clip of the fight scene between Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin) and the Dread Pirate Roberts (Cary Elwes) from the Princess Bride, directed by Rob "Meathead" Reiner, however their standard metal swords have been replaced with super-cool lightsabers. Enjoy and have a great Saturday. And if you haven't even seen this movie, it's a bit of chick-flick but a legitimately clever one, like Sliding Doors, except with more Monty Python-esque sensibilities. You should check it out.

The Princess Bride on iTunes (instant streaming)

The Princess Bride on Amazon (instant streaming)

The Princess Bride on Netflix (disc only, no streaming)