Star Trek: Renegades

Star Trek Renegades

There are some people out there seemingly disappointed about STG. They were expecting a TV/Film product.

What those people seem to forget: all of this was done on a budget. Not a movie or big TV budget. People put their hearts into these projects; people backed this up because they believe in it.

So what is my personal view?

First of all, I happy we finally have Star Trek back, the Real deal. Not something that wants to

annihilate what us Star Trek fans have known since 1966 (1964, counting the original pilot :)).

Some special effects could surely use some improvement. But special effects add to the story. Acting? As always some actors stand out more than others, quite normal.

Story? Could the story be better? Perhaps. Now there is room to elaborate on what's behind all.

Is there room for improvement? Sure, tell me, WHICH show does NOT have room for improvement?

Someone put it out there, let's show CBS we WANT Star Trek back! Let's backup this project.

Hopefully we'll see guest appearances from Star Trek actors, reprising their roles.

Let's go where no Trek has gone before...

Qa'p

To start with the negative, yes it is a low budget made movie, the acting could have been better, the characters should have been more developed (as it stands they are a bit 2 dimensional portrayed), no actor really stands out, the effects.. well the effects are like the old Galactica style TV series, funny but a bit distracting at times and to top it all of, the camera and editing were below par for serious work.

However:

If you are star trek fan, i would definitely recommend it to you. the style is more raw, the atmosphere is less politically correct and has more place for real human emotions instead of that "we have evolved" BS. I love G.R's vision, but I must admit, I think his vision is a bit outdated, maybe even a bit boring anyone at times anyone ?. For real, we have moved away from Kirk and Picard by now.

I see it as a low budget example of how star trek should be continued. The elements for success are there, I hope these guys can get there act together, improve on all the basic fields, camera, acting editing etc..

I will definitely watch the next version if\when it comes. In the mean time i kind of hope that the "big" guys take notice what a small little gem this crew has set. well done guys, well done.

I think that if you are a Star Trek fan, you owe it to yourself to watch it.

enjoy.

TBH, I wouldn't give this a lower score because I really want someone to pick up the ST thread and go with it. This seems as likely a place as any, and was better than I had expected of fan fiction.

So I loved seeing all the familiar faces (I probably need to watch it again just because I was distracted by trying to figure out which ST series each person came from), and I thought sfx were not bad for a low-budget attempt. Even the acting was decent on the part of the veterans.

Really, what's wrong is just in the early and mid-levels of production. Costumes looked like everyone had to make their own to be in the show, with varying degrees of success. Same with make-up and hair -- are split ends a problem in the future? Camera work was also inconsistent, again like everyone took turns.

Post production, tighter editing could have saved some performances and wordy scenes. What it couldn't save was the inconsistent writing, which needed tweaking by someone more experienced in transitions.

So the story line is interesting, and the casting is decent. I did not care for Wilkinson, who seemed more pouty than defiant and not capable of the respect / fear she apparently engendered. But then I remembered her last name and that she's probably an augment and I gave her the benefit of the doubt. I was irritated by Sean Young's performance as seeming out of place, but the scene with Robert Picardo was believable and endearing. I wish there'd been more of him.

Not something I'd pay to go the movies for, but this is a great pitch / pilot, people. Somebody needs to pick it up.

This a non-profit movie made through Kickstarter and Indiegogo campaigns, including several actors from the commercial Star Trek movies and series.

I'm not sure what to make of it. It's obviously much too good to be a "fan movie" but not good enough to be a Box Office Hit. Maybe it fits as a "Pilot" or "Pitch" for a TV-Series? The movie is very uneven. I would say ratings for different scenes range all they way from 3 to 9 out of 10. The transition between scenes could sometimes be smoother and some scenes also seem a bit "out of place".

The acting of the Star Trek alumni in the movie is generally good and I must say that the acting skills of Adrienne Wilkinson has improved from the clips seen in the supporter forums "exclusive clips area". It's actually quite good in the final movie. The casting of other characters is uneven with several persons fitting their roles and others obviously not.

I give Special FX 7/10. Most of the to times they are on par with commercial productions but the movie would for example have been better of without "the fire" in a few scenes in the beginning of the movie.

Background music is fitting most of the time, I would say 7/10. Sound FX are also good, as long as you can stand the sound of spaceships in outer space where there's no sound.

The concept behind the the movie is quite interesting and might, if pitched in the right way, be turned into a TV-series.

From an objective standpoint my overall rating ought to be a notch lower, but because I like the concept I give it 7/10 :-)

First off, I'm a backer and I would donate again to see a Star Trek movie made with recognizable Star Trek actors, in the hope that it will spark a good series and revive the franchise (and wrest it back from the hands of Jar-Jar Abrams).

But on to the movie itself:

The aspect that I already knew not to expect much from was production value, as this was a low- budget crowdfunded project. Surprisingly, this is where the movie made a good impression: I fully expected the set and prop quality to be pretty much like it turned out, but I didn't expect a bad-ass Borg hand-cannon animation. That was really good (though the damage done with that cannon in the actual fights was close to nonexistent).

But the aspects I had the most hope for and that this whole project hinged on, really - the script and the dialogues - were really abysmal. The whole thing, from start to finish, felt and sounded like something written by a high-schooler with distant dreams of going to college to study film and maybe, just maybe, become a passable screenwriter or director one day. The over- the-top lines trying to sound dramatic or deep or bad-ass, the perfectly ignorable intrigue, the ridiculous hand-to-hand combat, the ridiculous character development (direct, blatant and boring descriptions of their past), the ridiculous poem-and- flashback stuff... this movie was so boring I walked away from it to do other stuff around the house about 4 times until I finished it.

For the love of all that is Star Trek, please bring in someone who can write and direct next time you try something like this (Tim Russ, by the way, could've stayed behind the camera for all the impact his character had - he barely said anything during the whole thing, he could've easily been mistaken for Chekhov's Imaginary Friend That Only States the Obvious).

And also, since this is a Star Trek review, I feel compelled to add a reminder - because way too many people seem to have easily forgotten - of what true Star Trek is about: "Space -- the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before."

Not war, not spaceships shooting lasers and photon torpedoes at each other, not political intrigue, not special commando teams doing "dirty work" nobody else can or will do, none of this is the essence of Star Trek. These kinds of things can be done under any other random sci-fi title one could come up with. No, Star Trek is about new worlds and new civilizations and about a ship exploring uncharted regions of the universe. That's why they called it a "trek". That's what needs to be brought back to life, not just the "Star Trek" brand name and superficial visual style.