Phasers On Nerd
I don’t pay for cable. I download what I need. Marvelous, heroic websites like alluc.org, peekvid.com and tv-links.co.uk make sure that no one need be fed the pablum of advertising again. With the decline of content-for-pay has come the need for new business models for content distribution. I don’t know what will arise, but the days of sitting in front of the TV at an appointed time to watch whatever the networks have deigned to offer are soon gone.
One of the new models is fan-produced shows. Franchises high on the geek scale, like and StarWars Star Trek are most ripe for this adventure. I’ve already plugged Star Trek: New Voyages on this site. It’s a completely fan-produced free series of shows based on the original Star Trek, sometimes starring actors from the original show, and definitely using writers and special effects dudes from the original. Paramount and CBS, which own the rights to all things Star Trek, let them get away with it because New Voyages makes no money from any of this. The stories are okay, the visuals are tremendous… but the acting really really sucks.
Now I’ve found the mother of all fan-produced Trek offerings, something called Star Trek: Of Gods and Men, a fan-produced full length motion picture, featuring many professional Hollywood actors previously associated with Trek: Tim Russ, Garret Wang, Nichelle Nichols, Alan Ruck, Walter Koenig, Gary Graham, Chase Masterson (yum! that’s her above), Cirroc Lofton, Ethan Phillips, etc. I make no predictions about the quality, except to say, good for them for trying. The first 3 minutes of the movie are now available on YouTube:
In case you’re wondering, most people believe the unseen stranger to be none other than Charlie X.
In other news, YouTube offers the following very important clip:
It appears to be protesters at the recent Bush-Harper-Fox summit at Montebello, Quebec, identifying three undercover cops in the crowd… and the three were armed with rocks, seemingly about to start a riot!