For some Star Trek fans, J.J Abrams' cinematic reboot just doesn't quite cut it. So, what do you do when, to use a similar analogy (and please forgive me, Trekkies), you're a Star Wars fan that just can't pretend to abide by a preamble of a franchise follow-up wherein an atrocity like Jar-Jar Binks is allowed to exist?
If you're a super-fan like James Cawley of Ticonderoga, N.Y., the answer is this: make up a narrative featuring your particular beloved, fictive universe that you can actually get behind (and don't forget a personal studio and set out of the local old Family Dollar). Introducing Star Trek: New Voyages.
Cawley, of course, has not stated any sort of outspoken dislike of Abrams' movies, but it's clear that his vision for the future of Star Trek is quite different from that of the Lost show creator. Cawley's work for fan fiction mimics the show, which premiered on CBS in 1966, in everything from the 1960s retro-tech aesthetic, to populating the Starship Enterpise with crew characters from the original show, to utilizing the same style and tone.
Cawley describes it himself as a big "Star Trek fan club"; while professional actors are hired to bring the key players to life, the rest of the creative and behind-the-scenes roles are undertaken by locals and volunteers.
After a series of vignettes that were meant as prologuing testers for the concept of a fan-produced fourth season, the first episode of Star Trek: New Voyages was posted online by creator and executive producer Cawley in 2004, featuring an appearance by former crew members of the Starship Enterprise like BarBara Luna (Lieutenant Marlena Moreau in the episode "Mirror, Mirror"), Malachi Throne (Commodore José I. Mendez, as well as the voice of the Keeper in "The Cage" and "The Menagerie) and William Windom (Commodore Matt Decker in "The Doomsday Machine," for which he won an Emmy for Best Actor in a Comedy Series and reprised in New Voyages).
"It's basically a big Star Trek fan club," Cawley said in an interview with the New York Times. "It gives people a chance to work on the show and be on the show. Episodes are basically crowdfunded, crowdsourced for the fans, by the fans."
The show has even attracted the support of the original crew of the Starship Enterprise, with cameos from the likes of George Takei (the original Sulu) and creative support and contributions from Star Trek's former staff writer David Gerrod. The episodes themselves are posted on the show's fansite and are unburdened by copyright infringement suits due to their nonexistent cost. That's right: they can all be watched on their website (or YouTube) for free.
As for Cawley's plans regarding the show?
"It's a tomorrow we can all buy into," Cawley asserted. "We're going to go where no man has gone before. There are a lot of stories still to tell, always something that needs to be talked about. The universe is a pretty big place."
Check out the first episode of Star Trek: New Voyages in the video below.
Via: A.V. Club
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