Star Trek fan productions are productions made by fans using elements of the Star Trek franchise. Paramount Pictures, CBS, and their licensees are the only organizations legally allowed to create commercial products with the Star Trek name and trademark. The fan film community has received some coverage from the mainstream media.
Films Paragon's Paragon (1974) Star Trek fan films have been made since the 1960s by individuals and various fan groups but, before the advent of inexpensive digital cameras, editing and effects in the 1990s, most were on a simple home movie level. An early effort to achieve something more was John Cosentino's Paragon's Paragon, which was an unofficial adaptation of James Blish's Spock Must Die!, an early Star Trek spinoff novel. The film ran for an hour and was shot on 16mm film using a full-size recreation of the Bridge set. It also used a wide variety of film special effects techniques on a budget of over $2,000 ($ in dollars) and received considerable coverage in Don Dohler's Cinemagic magazine for low budget filmmakers. Dohler subsequently used its crew to make his first feature film, The Alien Factor (1978).
Star Trek: Of Gods and Men (2007–2008) A three-part mini-series directed by Tim Russ and starring several original Star Trek stars, including Nichelle Nichols and Walter Koenig. The first part was released in December 2007; parts 2 and 3 were released in 2008.
Star Trek: Axanar (2014)
In 2014, fans and former cast members organized a fan-made short film called Prelude to Axanar, setting up a Kickstarter project with a target of $10,000, but which raised well over $100,000 instead. This short film was to be followed by a full-length feature film called Star Trek: Axanar, funded by a much larger Kickstarter project. Both films were to star Richard Hatch, J. G. Hertzler, Kate Vernon, Gary Graham, Michael Hogan, and Tony Todd, all mainstream actors who were veterans of Paramount's Star Trek franchise and the rebooted Battlestar Galactica.Kickstarter Star Trek: Prelude to Axanar. Prelude to Axanar featured both new and familiar characters from the Star Trek universe: Richard Hatch as Kharn, the Klingon Supreme Commander Michael Hogan As Captain Robert April J. G. Hertzler as Captain Samuel Travis Gary Graham as Soval, Vulcan Ambassador to the Federation
The short film for Prelude to Axanar was released in June 2014. In August 2014, the production raised $638,000 on Kickstarter, and writer-producer Alec Peters went into pre-production for the feature film Star Trek: Axanar.
On December 29, 2015 the project was hit by a lawsuit from CBS and Paramount Pictures filed in Central California federal court, stating the Axanar works infringed upon their intellectual property by making use of "innumerable copyrighted elements of Star Trek, including its settings, characters, species, and themes." In March 2016, Peters' Axanar Productions filed a motion to dismiss or strike Paramount and CBS's claims, saying the elements mentioned in the court filing are not protected by copyright and is seeking premature relief from a work, the Axanar feature film, that does not exist.Copyright Does Not Protect the Klingon Language, Court Hears March 30, 2016. The motion to dismiss or strike was denied by the court and the case went to a jury trial in January 2017. On January 21, 2017, the lawsuit was settled.
On June 26, 2016, during the Axanar lawsuit, CBS and Paramount released a set of guidelines for Star Trek fan films to follow. Notably, these restrictions require films to: be no more than 15 minutes long and have no stories longer than two installments (for a total of 30 minutes); play on YouTube without commercials; and all participants are required to be amateurs who have never worked on Star Trek or another licensee of CBS or Paramount Pictures. The creation and release of Axanar would only be allowed on these terms.
Star Trek: Renegades (2015) Star Trek: Renegades is a fan-created project to create a pilot for a new Star Trek series. CBS declined to pick up the show. Several former Star Trek actors appear, including Walter Koenig, Robert Picardo, Manu Intiraymi, and Tim Russ. It is set 10 years after Voyagers return from the Delta Quadrant. Plans have been announced for a Renegades web based series. In June 2016, the team announced that in response to new requirements on Star Trek fan films issued by CBS and Paramount Pictures, their upcoming film Requiem would remove all references to Star Trek. The series itself was renamed Renegades.
Star Trek: Horizon (2016) Star Trek: Horizon is set in Star Trek: Enterprise era, directly after the 4th season of the series. The film is about the Romulan War. The Kickstarter campaign launched on April 19, 2014. The film was released February 25, 2016 to backers and was also on the internet. In April 2016, co-producer Tommy Kraft issued the following regarding a proposed follow up production. Star Trek - Horizon sequel, Federation Rising, shut down.
- Tommy Kraft, Star Trek: Horizon creator
Awards Star Trek: Horizon won four of twelve categories in the 2017 Independent Star Trek Fan Film Awards (Best Special & Visual Effects; Best Original Music; Best Original Story or Screenplay; and Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form), presented at and by Treklanta."The 2017 Independent Star Trek Fan Film Awards Winners" YouTube, 5/2/2017."And The 2017 Independent Star Trek Fan Film Award Goes to..." The Rogers Revue, 5/5/2017."2017 Independent Star Trek Film Awards (now the 'BJO's') WINNERS ANNOUNCED!" Fan Film Factor, 5/3/2017.
What We Left Behind (2019) In 2017, eighteen years after the airing of the Deep Space Nine finale, "What You Leave Behind," Ira Steven Behr announced a crowdfunded documentary named What We Left Behind, deriving its title from the name of this episode (which itself is based on the Pericles quote, "What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others"). The documentary, which met its goal of $150,000 within 24 hours, reflects on Star Trek: Deep Space Nines legacy, featuring interviews with the cast and crew of the series and speculating on what would have happened had there been an eighth season. It was released in 2019. The cast includes Alexander Siddig, Avery Brooks, Colm Meaney, Michael Dorn, Nana Visitor, Rene Auberjonois, and Terry Farrell.
Series Star Trek: Hidden Frontier (2000–2007) A series with fifty produced episodes, the series is set shortly after the end of the Dominion War and centers on the starship Excelsior and its home base, Deep Space 12, as they mediate disputes between various races and fend off attacks from a powerful new alien race, the Grey. Fan Films Quarterly listed Hidden Frontier as one of the ten most pivotal moments in fan film history in its Summer 2006 issue. The BBC in 2006 called the series "the most prominent" Star Trek fan film following Star Trek: Enterprise's cancellation. Hidden Frontier spawned several spinoffs: four live-actions series (Voyages of the USS Angeles- prequel, Star Trek: Odyssey, The Helena Chronicles, and Federation One), the 23rd-century movie era audio series Star Trek: Grissom, two 24th-century audio series (Henglaar, M.D. and Diplomatic Relations), and three videos made jointly with Starship Intrepid Productions.
Starship Exeter (2002–2014) An online series produced by Jimm and Joshua Johnson that focuses on the adventures of the Constitution-class starship USS Exeter (NCC-1706http://starshipexeter.com (episode "Starship Exeter: The Tressaurian Intersection," frame 0:01, retrieved April 8, 2017).), a sister ship of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) in the original series era, with production design matching the era. It has been mentioned by The New York Times and Register-Guard (Oregon). Two episodes were released.
Star Trek: New Voyages (2004–2016) (formerly known as Star Trek: Phase II)
Co-creators James Cawley and Jack Marshall aimed to complete the original series' five-year mission, with actors cast as Kirk, Spock and the rest of the Enterprise crew on an exact replica of the original bridge set. One episode, "To Serve All My Days," was written by D. C. Fontana, story editor on the original Star Trek series, and featured Walter Koenig guest-starring as an older version of Pavel Chekov, his character from the original series. Several other actors from the original Trek series have also now signed on to appear in future episodes. George Takei reprised his role of Hikaru Sulu in the third episode, "World Enough and Time," joining the original Yeoman Janice Rand, Grace Lee Whitney. Fan Films Quarterly listed New Voyages as one of the ten most pivotal moments in fan film history in its Summer 2006 issue, and it has been reported on by National Public Radio. New Voyages also won TV Guide's 2007 Online Video Award for best sci-fi Webisode. On February 16, 2008, during an appearance at the Farpoint Science Fiction Media Convention in Baltimore, Maryland, James Cawley announced that the series would shed the New Voyages moniker and become known as Star Trek: Phase II to reflect the transition between the original series and Star Trek: The Motion Picture. 10 episodes and 3 short vignettes have been released by 2015.
Star Trek: Odyssey (2007-2011) A spin-off from the Hidden Frontier team with its first episode "Illiad" launched in September 2007. It is the story of the USS Odyssey, a Federation ship which has become trapped in the distant Andromeda Galaxy. With Odyssey's captain and first officer dead, along with most of the command staff, Lt. Commander Ro Nevin is forced to take command in order to get the remaining crew home.
Star Trek: Intrepid (2007-2018)
A U.K. based fanfilm, and the first such production from Scotland, Intrepid is set in the 24th century, several years after Star Trek: Nemesis, and revolves around the effort to colonise a distant and largely unexplored sector of the galaxy. Star Trek: Intrepid was filmed entirely in Scotland and was released on May 26, 2007. GMTV presenter Lorraine Kelly has a brief appearance in Intrepid and the production has received extensive coverage in both national and international media, such as CNN, BBC Radio Scotland The Guardian, and The Scotsman. Intrepid was featured on the UK Sci Fi Channel's Sci Fi 360 video podcast. Executive Producer and cast member Nick Cook has also collaborated with the Hidden Frontier crew several times, including the joint episodes Orphans of War and Operation Beta Shield, as well as the finale of Odyssey.
Star Trek Continues (2013–2017)