The fan-production Starship Farragut has released their fifth episode. Titled "Conspiracy of Innocence" the Star Trek TOS-era crew of the USS Farragut find themselves dealing with a strange new world and a new threat. Get all the details and watch it below, plus get an update on what’s next for Farragut, including an announcement for a new spin-off series.
Starship Farragut’s Launches 5th Mission
The Georgia-based Farragut Films team have been producing an original Star Trek era webseries for almost a decade. The series is based around the adventures of the crew of the Constitution-class USS Farragut. This week they have released their fifth episode "Conspiracy of Innocence." Here is the official episode description:
While on a mission to a strange new world, Captain Carter and crew face the ultimate challenge as a close friend gives their life to save others. Trapped in a world far below the surface of a dying planet, the inhabitants share a secret which could change the galaxy forever. While Captain Carter and the crew grieve, a threat emerges which could mean the end of the Farragut.
And here’s a trailer:
The episode was filmed last November and had two directors: Vic Mignogna of Star Trek: Continues (Farragut and Continues share the same stages) and Jack Marshall (Star Trek New Voyages/Phase II). Marshall also handled edited and coordinated post production, telling TrekMovie “This film is a different departure than what the fans usually expect of Star Trek fan films; we wanted to do something different and hope that fans like it.”
Behind the scenes with directors Jack Marshal (L) and Vic Mignogna (R)
Other Star Trek Continues alumni were involved in the production of the effort, such as Matt Bucy (Director of Photography), Ralph Miller (Sound), Sam Rooks (Gaffer), and Ginger Holley (Wardrobe) among others. Since 2012, Starship Farragut and Star Trek Continues has worked in partnership to support their productions by sharing resources (e.g., studio facility, sets, wardrobe, props).
The screenplay was written by Bobby Nash with original score by Hetoreyn. The regular Farragut cast was joined by newcomers Rakia May, Eve Gidion, Dan Collis, and Christine Jefferies – the niece of original Star Trek designer Matt Jefferies. John Broughton, Executive Producer of Starship Farragut added, “With Chris Doohan involved in Star Trek Continues reprising his father’s role, we’re also proud to have a ‘Jefferies’ onboard the Farragut. It’s great that the families of former Star Trek alumni want to be involved in new adventures of The Original Series and continue their family legacy.”
WATCH: CONSPIRACY OF INNOCENCE
You can watch the entire episode "Conspiracy of Innocence" below or on YouTube.
Next up: Launching Movie-era Spinoff "Farragut Forward"
Farragut’s next episode, "The Crossing" is set for filming this November. This time Farragut will be venturing into the Mirror Universe, so expect goatees, agonizers and all the rest. "The Crossing" was written by Paul Sieber, who also wrote the previous episode, "The Price of Anything."
After that the team is set to change gears, and change time setting, with the spinoff of Farragut Forward, a new spin-off series set in the TOS movie era (around the time of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan). The new spin-off will include the characters of Capt. Carter and Chief Engineer Smithfield, along with possibly other Farragut characters. Filming for the first Farragut Forward episode "The Present Moment" is scheduled to start next April with new TOS era sets being built in the Washington, DC area.
Logo for “Farragut Forward”
Broughton tells TrekMovie that he expects Starship Farragut (in the TOS era) and Farragut Forward (in the movie era) to run concurrently, with new episodes from each.
For more information On Farragut visit starshipfarragut.com. And if you want to visit the sets during the fifth annual open house on December 6-7 farragutfest.com.
It’s a fine piece of work but why doesn’t Trekmovie.com provide coverage of Starship Exeter: TTI? Nine years in the making better than a lot of fan films being made today.
@Daniel
So true! For me Exeter is still the best TOS fan-film.
Exeter has been covered in the past and TrekMovie is ramping up its fan production coverage as can be seen from the various articles. Expect to do update on Exeter in the future and others. If anyone from a fan production has something to talk to us about, send it in to tips@trekmovie.com
but for now this article is about Farragut
Super cool. Let’s talk Farragut now!
Clearly, a great deal of effort was put into this – and kudos to everyone on their work.
There are some rather odd edits and intercuts that in retrospect seem funny even if they’re not meant to be — why cut to a group of random bridge crew in the middle of a conversation — it seems like the classic comedy take where we cut to random person-on-the-street observing someone else acting weird, for the reaction shot. Why the amateurish cut to the navigator to deliver a lame joke that could, and should, have been edited out?
I feel Farragut is seriously let down by Broughton’s lack of acting ability. And I mean that with respect and kindness, because I want them to succeed, but someone has to say it.
If he’s supposed to be the center of the show, then the show is revolving around a vacuum of low energy… and it causes a massive imbalance in the way every scene plays out. Anyone else in a scene walks all over him. Carter seems charisma-free and in dire need of some coffee… and there’s very little connection with the other actors.
He delivers his lines as if he’s reading them off cards, with the stilted, plodding cadence of a middle school valedictorian. He seems to have very little vocal range, he makes no use of facial expressions, nothing to hint at what’s going on underneath. In short, he’s not acting at all.
As an audience member, it’s not engaging or fun to watch. It is not fun to feel an involuntary cringe of sympathy for a lead actor who is out of their depth. Volunteer or not (or to be honest, bankroller or not), the audience deserves better, and the rest of the crew and cast deserve better.
If everyone’s not at the same level, it really shows; it takes effort to develop rapport between cast members and writers, so that it feels seamless and organic. It doesn’t have to be Emmy-winning, but we expect a baseline level of confidence that makes us feel the show is in good hands, and that we can suspend our disbelief and enjoy it.
I think it would be much better for the show if Broughton were to step back into the role of producer; hire some talented directors and casting people, do a serious talent search and find someone to really embody Captain Carter. And be ruthless with paring down the scripts. Show, don’t tell, don’t sandwich in every “bit” you think you need.
I like Broughton as Captain Carter. Something about his “down-to-earth” presence works for me.
I look forward to watching tonight.
Anthony, it is really good to see your name on this site again. I was watching your First Contact round table with my son last week and wondered what you’d been up to. Great to know you’re back. LLAP.
Farragut are a great group producing great stories.
I am a HUUUGE movie era fan so ‘Farragut Forward’ is music to my ears. It’s a huge challenge but I trust with their pro output style they can pull it off.
It’ll be a nice change to all the 5YM era shows – maybe it could end with the Farragut going into a time vortex so ANOTHER spin-off could be ‘Farragut Further Forward’, a TNG show?! ;)
Before I turn into a total Trekkie and pick this apart, let me say that I applaud efforts such as this for taking their dreams to the screen. I do not to be mean in my critique:
Which is kinda mixed.
a) The bridge crew is largely SAWB’s. (Google SAWB and Andy Young.) There is one black guy, 2 women, and no non-Terrans on the bridge. A 2nd black guy and more women show up later in the ep.
b) For this budget range, the look is excellent! No, you don’t have JJ-bucks, but you are doing great.
c) The cast looks a tad old and heavy to be sporting the TOS groovy velour. It may have been best to find an excuse to give people more slimming styles.
d) The dialogue — just like TOS — is exposition-heavy. This is the same thing I would say about TOS: we need to see stuff, not hear characters talk about it. Of 32 minutes of screen time, at least 12 feels like standing around and talking.
e) The attention to canon is wonderful. LOVE seeing a real Romulan warbird again, complete with the submarine bridge. The dungeon looks very familiar as well from multiple eps.
f) At 17:00 in, I got the twist. Seriously, I’d fess up if I guessed wrong, but I saw it. Twists are hard to pull off these days. They’ve all been used.
g) Romulan attack knocks crewmen off their feet, but doesn’t knock the shotglass off Carter’s shelf.
g) Carries on the fine Trek tradition of ‘splodin’ moons n planets…
h) Love to hear new compositions, especially ones that fit with the original as nicely as these do.
On balance, it’s fun. I can see opportunities for improvement, but again it is nice to see the love of TOS on the screen.
Thanks!!
Oop. My alphabet use could stand some review.
Production values are pretty good, as one would expect – even though all the greenscreen stuff on the planet was a bit off, but that´s pretty hard to do convincingly.
What I found a big letdown was the story. The whole episode was just around 30 minutes – and even that felt like it dragged along forever – I almost looked for the fast forward button. The “twist” was seen a mile and a half away, there was no tension whatsoever, the only real nice gimmick was the sudden jump of the captain to that Romulan bridge – but unfortunately this also felt forced and tacked on to the script.
“we wanted to do something different ” – I wonder where that got lost. There really was not much new and nothing different then previous TOS shows – official or fan-based.
Very much looking forward to movie sets – will they build all the TMP/TWOK sets? I imagine those are much more complicated to build.
Maybe I’m just spoiled by now, but this is certainly no Star Trek Continues.
It’s wonderful to see people live their dream, and kinda fun to watch, but it remains the stereotype of the fan (underline FAN) film. The acting is just a huge weak spot, and not just on Broughton’s part. Most of the characterizations seem very stilted and wooden, as if they’re just trying so hard to project what Star Trek relationships are “supposed to be.” But it comes off as self conscious and more than a little amateurish. In STC, one suspends disbelief and is pulled into the Star Trek world almost immediately.
Here, it seems more like wonderful amateurs acting out Star Trek on a great set. These same folks are responsible for all the great behind the scenes work that make STC really work and seem incredibly talented. Perhaps that could be their greatest contribution to their dream, and allow more experienced actors to do the job in front of the camera
CmdrR, the fact that you inject race into this is annoying.
I enjoyed it very much, and news of the upcoming adventures sounds very cool too. Godspeed, Farragut. — Ken :)
I think it was well done. I especially liked the original soundtrack.
It seems that no fan film can get by without someone slamming the acting. I really didn’t have a problem with it.
And, yes… the cast is getting older. Sorry about that. It happens.
Besides, you don’t expect the senior staff of a starship to be kids right out of the third year of the academy.
Loved that last bit at the end of the credits!
“Besides, you don’t expect the senior staff of a starship to be kids right out of the third year of the academy.” You’d need a JJ Abrams budget for that.
How come no one has done a fan film set around the time of Star Trek : The Motion Picture?
Those sets can’t be any more difficult to make than the classic series :)
I like the enumerated list approach, so I’ll follow suit.
Firstly, the positive…
(1) The visual æsthetic has shown great improvement over the course of this series. This latest episode is the best-looking one yet and in the same ballpark as Continues (which is not surprising since it’s the same company producing both series). I appreciate that Farragut utilizes away missions as the setting, whereas Continues does stories on a ship. It’s good to see the two series differentiating themselves in the types of stories that they tell and in their narrative styles.
(2) The directing/editing has also shown steady improvement over the course of this series. This latest episode is the tightest yet, though, as has been mentioned, there is still room for improvement. The pacing dragged a bit in places (the convo between the two women on the bed didn’t have to be quite so long and mundane), but overall, I feel that this episode was an improvement over the previous 3 in terms of tightness.
(3) The music is great. The sound is good overall, but the music in this episode is really a pleasure, especially over the closing credits. (I looked for the composer, but didn’t see a credit listed.)
(4) The guest actors all turned in satisfactory performances. In fact, pretty much everyone except for the two leads was alright.
Which brings me to the negative…
(5) The lead actors. I’m afraid that I have to concur with
#5. LittleLebowski – August 6, 2014. Not only does Broughton not show improvement in this episode, but I think that it’s actually a step backward for his performance when compared with past episodes.
However, I do also see the point made by #6. Daniel – August 6, 2014.
Broughton does have a down-to-Earth, “everyman” sort of realism to his approach, and I can see the possibility of him honing and refining his performance into a minimalist style that would, at least, not distract and take the audience out of the moment as it does now. As of this episode, however, the lead performances are by far the area most in need of improvement in Starship Farragut.
(6) The story was a letdown in this episode. Here I agree with #11. northstar – August 6, 2014.
What I’ve most enjoyed about previous episodes of Farragut has been the stories and narrative style. For Want of a Nail and The Price of Anything were both much better stories than Conspiracy of Innocence and more enjoyable in terms of their narrative style.
This episode was very predictable and derivative. The premise of the protagonists being hooked up to a sort of dream-machine has been done in Trek at least a few times. TNG’s Frame of Mind was a particularly good variation on that premise.
And there’s really no theme in this episode; it relies on the concept/”twist”
of the dream-machine combined with the antagonists being sort-of Balok-like elders in young bodies to carry the episode in lieu of a theme, which results two strikes against it: (A) Even a very creative concept/twist wouldn’t fully make up for the lack of a theme, and; (B) The concept/twist in this episode was not creative.
To illustrate the point, the aforementioned TNG episode Frame of Mind had both a very creative concept/twist and the theme of intrapersonal struggle with insanity, trust and authority within a sort-of Stockholm Syndrome interpersonal dynamic. Yes, I know that TNG was a pro outfit, but I’m just illustrating the point with a clear example.
And, ending on a positive note…
Starship Farragut is definitely imbued with the spirit of TOS, though Conspiracy of Innocence was more along the lines of the less popular TOS episodes like And the Children Shall Lead. Still, Farragut has good potential and the stuff that was improved upon in this episode over the last one is impressive and certainly adds enjoyment to the overall viewing experience. I’m looking forward to the next one, and hoping that it will show some improvement over this one in the areas that have been mentioned so far in this thread.
I couldn’t get through the episode. For people that slam P2’s or Continues acting, this is just really, really bad. It was stiff and un-engaging. That took me totally out of the story. I couldn’t get past it. The effects are decent, but the green screen work was very evident as well. Since they are using the same sets as Continues, many of the set inaccuracies are also carried over to this series. It’s not terrible as far as a fan film goes, but it certainly reeks of fan film quality whereas P2 and to some extent Continues excel at coming off as more professional productions. The acid test for P2 will be Mindsifter which apparently is the first episode to come out of their new studio. Continues seems to keep cranking out episodes, but they don’t seem to be advancing the series. I like the way P2 is actually evolving with each episode. Now, if only P2 could release them consistently that would be great!
“Farragut Forward” hmmm,can they pull off playing the characters 12-15 odd years old?
er,OLDER
The acting is awful, characters have no personality or chemistry with each other. All dull looking, unattractive people playing the lead characters. Not a single interesting character there that you wouldnt care about if they were killed off… story line also stupid
TrekFan – What inaccuracies would those be? Farragut Films has tried to stay VERY true to the original sets in terms of layout, dimensions, etc. I’m curious as to what you mean.
13 – I said there is not enough diversity. I understand they have limited resources, but I saw the same white guy walk by Carter’s quarters 3 times. The crew is mostly white, with a few black guys and a few white women. No asians in sight. No others. It’s not the “U.N. in space” that TOS tried (with mixed results) to portray. SAWB is an affectionately derisive term for white guys, specifically white journalists, but it’s a fun story to tell.
This is just horrible. Sorta like watching a very slow train wreck. Good thing that this will “save” Trek from the likes of JJ!!!!!
Leave Trek to the pros.
Pass
I don’t get it, I really don’t….Great job on sets, effects and music, I’ll grant that…but just becuase you’re a fan and have the means to put on a production like this doesn’t necessarily mean that you should…being a fan doesn’t translate into being an actor anymore than having the ability to purr translates into you being a cat…the acting in all of these fan productions is painful at best and I want to be engaged and entertained, I’m not getting that….sets and effects are just icing, acting is the cake….unfortunately, these cakes are lacking their key ingredient….I’m sorry for being so critical and I know I’m due for the typical “fan boy” backlash as if I just thrust a knife in someone’s heart but let’s call it like it is…maybe if people didn’t kiss a$$ so much and, god forbid, offer some constructive criticism, these actors would take the time to master this craft and not recite dialoge as if they were middle school drama kids doing “Good Luck Charlie Brown”…Bring the acting up to the level of the background elements and I’ll be the first person to offer my hand in congratulations…until then, please keep it to yourselves…
@23 – The STC sets have glaring inaccuracies. Dimensions and heights are off, corridors and headers are wrong, the angles of the bridge consoles are wrong, quarters settings have inaccurate layouts and scale, etc. Yes, it’s a nitpick, but they claim to have the most accurate reproduction of the sets and it’s simply not true. It’s close enough to get by.
The thing that killed this effort for me was the acting. It was just really bad. I’m not taking away anything from the effort. They obviously have fun doing it and kudos to them for “living the dream”. It was just unwatchable in my opinion to me.
27. TrekFan – August 7, 2014
@23 – The STC sets have glaring inaccuracies. Dimensions and heights are off, corridors and headers are wrong, the angles of the bridge consoles are wrong, quarters settings have inaccurate layouts and scale, etc. Yes, it’s a nitpick, but they claim to have the most accurate reproduction of the sets and it’s simply not true.
“Glaring” inaccuracies? GLARING?
I think you’re bringing nitpicking to a whole new level with this criticism.
Name the production that has a more faithful TOS æsthetic and feel.
Just name it. Because I really would like to see it.
And I see no validity to your criticism of Continues not having progressed over its three episodes. It’s hard to believe that we could even be talking about the same series.
Not only does John Broughton lack charisma and acting ability, he also has sort of a slurred style of delivery. Articles and prepositions between words tend to merge together with syllables disappearing. I’ve heard enough people who speak this way to concede it may be some sort of regional dialect but it sounds like a speech-impediment.
Here’s some examples:
“Thissa” highly traveled system.
This is Captain Carter “uh-the” federation starship Farragut.
We apologise “fahthe” incursion.
Add to this a story that didn’t feel like it needed to be told, and it’s at best, a forgettable experience, which is a pity considering the overall production values.
The “Mirror Universe” again?
I haven’t seen the other Farragut episodes yet, but found this story a nice change of pace from the frenzied action of so many shows today. Loved the music! Appreciate the presence of mature actors and those who look like ordinary people instead of models. I think they lend credibility to the show.
Off to look up more episodes…
Just a couple of comments in no particular order.
As far as the sets and accuracy are to be considered, I thought I had read somewhere that the good folks over at Star Trek New Voyages/Star Trek Phase II were kind enough to allow other fan film productions to use their sets. If so, these would be the same sets.
We are, for the most part, not dealing with professional and/or trained actors in these productions. To criticize the acting performance of these people really is not fair.
I wish Starship Exeter had made more episodes. It took those poor folks nearly ten years to release their second episode! What I like best about this fan production is that they use practical effects. In other words, they filmed real models. This looks so much better than CGI.
Lastly, I hate blue screen sets.
Contrary to popular misconception, Phase II doesn’t have the only TOS sets. Farragut and Continues share standing sets in Georgia. Phase II’s are in upstate New York (I believe). The Exeter sets were in Austin, TX, but were demolished, save the bridge now resides in OKC. And just to clarify, while Exeter did utilize a lot of miniatures in both episodes, in “The Tressaurian Intersection” models were used for the wrecked starbase buildings, the crashed starship saucer, some debris, some wrecked starship interiors, the shuttlecraft interior, and the Tholian head. Models were not used for the spaceships in space in (as they were in the first episode); those are CGI effects designed to look like old 60s opticals. :)
@ 33 Maurice
I’ve often wondered what the results would be if someone tried to use miniatures for all the starship effects in a fan film. Especially now where there are lower cost motion-control systems available. Done right it could be really cool. I know STC looked into it. Hopefully it will happen some day.
32. DJ Stinky Pants, you wrote “We are, for the most part, not dealing with professional and/or trained actors in these productions. To criticize the acting performance of these people really is not fair.”
I’m sorry, but then what’s the point?
If these people want to spend their money on elaborate cosplay fantasies involving scripts, actors, sets, props and lighting, crew and production people, and then film it, edit it, commission CGI sequences and effects, do post-production and then put it on the Internet for other people to look at then it’s pretty clear they are not doing this as some sort of corporate retreat team-building exercise, never to be shown outside the confines of Microsoft Campus Building C’s HR department.
They’re making art and putting it out in public, to entertain the public, and the public gets to decide whether it’s good or not. A majority of comments on this thread seem to agree that it suffers from the curse of fan productions – too much time spent on the glossy surface, and much less time spent on the basics, the core.
This is the difference between Farragut and STC — STC focused on putting pro and semipro talent into the leads vs. putting their friends, donors and volunteers into roles. And whatever you think of Mignogna as a person, his performances are darned watchable and the rest of the cast do a yeoman effort.
When I was growing up, we didn’t give every kid an award regardless of performance because it might hurt their feelings. We rewarded merit and hard work and we pointed out where there was room for improvement.
Amateur theatre groups put on Shakespeare all the time, and some of them are just as good as “pros” because they dedicate time to their craft – they take criticism, they practice, they rehearse, they workshop, they read, they watch. And others are, as someone memorably said, still like a middle-school production of You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown.
Broughton served in the armed forces, so his bio says, so I think he’s familiar with the concept of performance reviews and practicing skills, and also about how success means assigning the right personnel with the right skills to the right roles.
I don’t want to dissuade him or anyone from pursuing a dream of acting, but grown-ups should be able to take honest evaluations and constructive criticism, and yeah, you have to put up with a fair bit of mean-spirited criticism too.
You have no control over that, but when you put work into the public arena, dems de breaks. You can take what you need from it or sulk about how “unfair” it is.
@ 18 Cygnus-X1
The music composer (me) actually had a HUGE credit right near the start of the end credits. It’s so big you apparently missed it :P .. Seriously look again, it’s massive with a big link to my website.
The score, will shortly be available to listen to on my soundcloud page (also where a lot of my music lives. I’ve just been trying to find time to record the CD version .. quite busy of late and there’s been no time to sort it out. Glad you all seemed to like it anyways.
I say bravo to the Farragut Folks – I enjoyed this episode and the music was outstanding and added much to the overall production. I enjoyed the fact that the Farragut episodes are all original ideas not a continuation of TOS series stories. To the folks that criticized the acting all the folks you saw on screen have “real day jobs” and are doing this for the love of star trek and nothing more. They are not professional actors as many now are in the other fan films. I am sure if you have constructive comments they would be glad to hear them :-) That being said – great job and keep them coming Farragut!
36. Hetoreyn – August 9, 2014
Ha! Hidden in plain sight!
I read all of the credits at the end when the scroll began with the cast list and missed you among the big credits before the scroll began. TWICE!
Anyway, thanks for the clue and I look forward to listening to more of your music.
I thought the episode was okay. I do feel that Farragut is getting left behind though, compared to what other productions are doing. I also share the sentiment that this wasn’t as good an episode as their previous one, which I thought was their best by far. I guess the gap between that episode and this affected their performances negatively.
As for comments on the sets, the only thing I notice is the upper screens on the bridge aren’t round enough at the corners. I compared them to a screenshot of TOS and they’re clearly not right. But that’s a small nitpick.
First of all Starship Farragut was the originator of the Farragut sets. Other productions have since shared the Farragut sets, including STC and others. Farragut maintains a high standard for set dimensions and construction. In addition to the look, they also build the sets to hold up. STC brought an increased attention to set dressing details to emulate the TOS Enterprise, something that wasn’t necessary for other ships of the class. If you want to nit-pick, well you shall. Just be fair in your comparisons vs others who used smaller transporter room sets, put the Captains Quarters in the Briefing Room sets, or even green-screened the entire bridge. Remember that telling the story well is more important than chasing nits. Applaud people who put their time, money, and effort into keeping Trek alive. It truly ain’t easy…
Commanding Officers and other crew vary greatly in real life. Not all are charismatic, most are competent and know their job. As seen in professional Trek, not every Captain, Commodore, or Admiral is a stand-out Kirk type. Farragut portrays a competent Captain Carter who does a great job on the frontiers of space. In many ways he speaks softly while showing wisdom.
Conspiracy of Innocence is an original plot that demonstrates another well done Farragut episode. IMO viewing the whole set of episodes shows a constant increase in quality. Someone commented “another Mirror episode”. My understanding is that this next script was written several years ago. It is something a bit differant. Can’t wait to see it…
“Commanding Officers and other crew vary greatly in real life.”
This isn’t a documentary. If you want a lead character, you have to make him or her watchable. Broughton seems to struggle just to purse his lips enough to fully articulate his dialogue, let alone impart any real emotional ups and downs on top. It’s a genuine problem. Honestly. If he had decided to stay behind the camera and were to evaluate someone else auditioning for the role who acts like he does, he wouldn’t pick that person. It’s only because he’s king of his own fiefdom does he feel entitled to sit in the chair. And based on what I’ve seen of Axanar, the same goes for Alec Peters, who comes across as a very soft-spoken and nerdy Garth.
Hi. I operate a Farragut mirror site and was not informed of the release of “Conspiracy of Innocence” until today – when a fan asked me why I didn’t have it up on my mirror site. I guess I must have missed the staff meeting (ahem). FWIW, only the NEO-FX mirror has the DVD file available … and none of the other mirrors (besides mine) has it up. Might want to pass the word along.
In any case, I’m downloading files as we speak and will have them up on my mirror as soon as possible (a few days from now at least).
With so many high quality fan series, the producers are in the unenviable position of having to explain why their show isn’t as good as the original.
It’s interesting that no one around now is trying to film the fan fic from the 1970s, which might be closer to the spirit that peopel are trying to reach.
Just a couple notes… THE CROSSING is NOT really a mirror universe episode, but contains elements of things from the mirror universe… can’t say more without spoilers…
It would be better considered as a sequel to FOR WANT OF A NAIL, and I recommend rewatching that one beforehand.
I would know, cause I wrote it. LOL
Plus, to quell rumors, yes… I will be making a guest appearance as my old character of Prescott. he’ll be revisiting his old comrades on the Farragut for a special reason… again… no spoilers!
As far as CONSPIRACY OF INNOCENCE goes… lets lay down the applause for Farragut to do something NEW and DIFFERENT than they have done before! They want to push the envelope, and see what new ground to tread! Kudos to that, and well done!
That is really where Farragut Forward will push even further! I hope to help out with that as much as I can!
Loved CONSPIRACY, and lookuing forward to working on CROSSING!
Nice episode, guys.
I think many have some preconceived expectations when viewing a Trek series. It was good to see this one from the Farragut crew.
For the Crew, There will always be things you want to change or upgrade, but, it’s really nice to see a Trek production actually finish a project.
I was happy to see what Trekkies should be doing – exploring new ideas and having alot of fun!
.
#44: There were rumors?
I was pleased with the episode–especially with Bednar’s hardcore nudity. :D
Seriously, there are only two things I disliked:
1. not enough of the Jack-RT-Mike triumvirate. I think that’s where the strongest character moments are. It would be interesting to explore more of them outside of the context of a big mission or outside the ship;
2. it seemed a bit short–rushed, perhaps. Especially towards the end, the dialogue was heavy on exposition and could have been paced better. Everyone seemed to just say what they needed to move the story along.
I liked Carter’s understated approach. It would be a massive mistake to try to channel Shatner’s Kirk or Picard’s eloquent diction. These characters need to be unique. I thought the death scene was wonderfully quiet–although why the security guard had to be there, I’m not sure. You’d think he’d have the sense to leave Carter and Smithfield to their private moment or that Jack and Mike would have waited if the clock was ticking.
I like when RT is minding the store; to me, it’s reminiscent of those episodes from TOS when Scotty was in charge–some of my favorites. Scotty was always an even-handed, competent commander who could have easily had his own ship. Dogged and practical.
Mike’s scenes were well-acted, but she probably had the most thankless role in this episode; she had the pithy interrogation and got knocked out again. The writers kind of treat her like Beckett from Castle in that they always have her get overpowered when they need to create a crisis.
I also think that some of the concerns about dialogue may be do to either recording or mixing in post–or maybe my laptop’s sound settings need to be fixed.
While I think you are almost there, I also think you are not there yet. The scripting needs to be rehearsed more, so it sounds more natural and spontaneous. It is also obvious that you are using only one camera. I suppose this is because the cameras are so expensive, but although you try to hide it, the awkwardness of recording one side of a conversation at a time, makes it painfully obvious what is happening. Please don’t take this wrong, I’m really excited to see this show. I sincerely hope it gets a Dr. Who type following if you can just polish it up a little bit.