STAR TREK FAN FILM | |
Starship Exeter | |
Author(s): | Jimm & Josh Johnson |
Format: | QuickTime |
Starship Exeter is one of the earliest of the semi-professional fan film projects that have become an increasingly common fixture of the internet video scene. Although fan films have been produced for almost as long as there have been film fans, they were generally few and far between before the advent of home video. It is only with the two-pronged revolution of digital video production/editing and the advent of internet distribution that they have become something more than a curiosity to be shared by a few intimates.
In the chronology of modern Star Trek fan films, Exeter was one of the first in production, although not the first released (that credit goes to the Star Trek: Hidden Frontier series), and the first of the video era to make extensive use of practical sets and locations in place of chroma-keyed virtual settings.
Starship Exeter is set within the continuity of the original Star Trek series. It takes place on a sister to the famous USS Enterprise, the titular USS Exeter, which appeared in the episode "The Omega Glory". What makes the production notable is its fidelity to its source material: the show is produced to look and sound like a production circa 1969.
Produced by Jimm and Joshua Johnson for the non-profit Exeter Studio, there are two complete episodes and a vignette.
Central characters[]
The series features four central characters as well as several recurring ones.
- Captain John Quincy Garrovick (played by "James Culhane"/Jimm Johnson)
Garrovick is the cousin of Ensign Garrovick, who joined Captain Kirk in an attempt to destroy a mist-creature in the original Star Trek episode "Obsession". Both were nearly killed until Mr. Spock performed a brilliant transporter maneuver (cross-circuiting to "B") that saved both their lives.
- Commander Jo Harris (played by Holly Guess)
Harris is the executive officer as well as the science officer of the ship, following the pattern of Spock from the original series. Harris is a human from Great Britain on Earth.
- Commander Paul Cutty (played by Michael Buford)
The ship's chief security officer, he served with then-Commander Garrovick on the USS Kongo where the two became close friends. The Kongo was captained by an officer they both looked up to, Captain Kosnett (Garry Peters), who makes a cameo appearance in the second episode.
- Lieutenant B'fuselek (played by "Joshua Caleb"/Josh Johnson)
B'fuselek is the Exeter's Andorian communications officer. The makeup is patterned on designs seen in the original series episodes "Journey to Babel" and "Whom Gods Destroy". The character's background is derived from several Trek-based RPGs of the 1970s and 1980s.
Two other major characters appear in the second episode of the series, Doctor Vincent Azato (played by Joe Azzato) and Yeoman Vandi Richards (Elizabeth Wheat).
Episode listing[]
As of May 2014, two episodes of Starship Exeter have been produced.
- "The Savage Empire" (2002) The USS Exeter, freshly re-crewed and commanded by Captain John Garrovick, is on a mission to save a ship infected with the deadly Canopus plague. The Exeter must travel to the homeworld of Andorian Lieutenant B'fuselek to find the cure. But Andorian rebels have other plans... and so do the Klingons!
- "The Tressaurian Intersection" (2005–2014) - Starbase 16 is destroyed and Captain Garrovick's old ship, the USS Kongo, is missing. On a hunt for the perpetrators, the Exeter encounters a strange ghost out of Garrovick's past -- the Tressaurians: a savage race responsible for stranding Garrovick on planet Tangaro as a young cadet. Now, the Tressuarians are tampering with deadly new technology. Can the crew of the Exeter uncover its secrets in time, or will this discovery lead to an even greater threat?
- "The Tressaurian Intersection" was released in five segments, the first four (the teaser and Acts 1–3) in 2005–6 and the final segment in May 2014.
External links[]
- Starship Exeter official website
- Exeter Studio official website
- New York Times article which includes Starship Exeter
- Starship Exeter fan fiction
- Starship Exeter webpage at Star Trek Reviewed
- Starship Exeter group on Facebook
- Fan Film Friday: Starship Exeter Part 1
- Fan Film Friday: Starship Exeter Part 2