Those fans at it again.

A few years ago I blogged here about fan-made films. I believe that I was referring to a Star Wars film which was a huge hit on the web and even reported on some major news services.

Now I'm writing about a Star Trek fan series.

Star Trek: New Voyages has become a sensation, apparently, even spawning their own fan clubs. This series is set in the Original Series' universe and time, with amateur actors playing the roles of Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, etc. It's amusing to watch as some of the acting is even worse than Shatner's '60's performances. The attention to detail and the special effects have proven to be pretty incredible.

What has made this group of fans a bit more prominent, however, is their ability to draw interest from seasoned professionals! Bear in mind that to be a true fan film you can't be paying anyone for their work.

In their most recently released episode, George Takei (the actor who played Sulu in the original series) recreates his role of Sulu who has gone through a dimensional time warp and suddenly aged 30 years. And making a cameo is Grace lee Whitney, the woman who played Yeoman Janice Rand on the orginal series. The episode was written my Marc Scott Zicree, a professional author (I'm not sure he ever wrote for any Star Trek episodes, but I believe he was the lead writer for the new Twilight Zone series).

In the previously released episode, Walter Koenig (the original Chekov) recreated his role. Various original series guest stars have appeared, and an up-coming, two-part film was written by David Gerrold, who wrote the original series episodes with the "tribbles."

How do they do it? Talk about geeks with no life!

Still, it's been fun to watch. And based on their popularity, it shows that the fans out there really are more interested in the characters ... that they don't have to be played by Shatner, Nimoy, etc.

You can watch these on-line by clicking here.

Brilliant!

I was reading an article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (what an odd name for a paper) and saw an ad for the Seattle Symphony which is having two performances of symphonic recreation of video game music. I think this is absolutely brilliant! What a great way to get youth interested in attending an arts event. I wish someone in this area would do something similar.

YouTube and me.

Occassionally I do a Google search on my name and on the titles of my plays to see what might be being performed (with or without permissions). Today I decided to check YouTube to see if anyone might be posting a video of any of my plays and sure enough, I found my comedy "Burglars, Bunglers, and Neighborhood Thieves" filmed by high school students, as a movie (not staged as a play). It's about what you would expect from high schoolers ... clumsy, uneven, but it was still a bit of fun to see it. It's posted on YouTube in four parts. I'm imbedding them here. My only real complaint ... why don't I get better billing?!

PART ONE:


PART TWO:


PART THREE:


PART FOUR:

Good job, boys.

We finally finished opening our Christmas presents last night. It was the only time we were all together since returning from Christmas and it not being too late at night.

My wife and I gave the family a Wii -- an interactive video game. Very popular, hard to find this Christmas. It is the first video game we've purchased for the kids. Of course they've been complaining that they are the ONLY kids in town without a video game.

In any case, they've been very please and excited and have ejoyed a good many tennis matches, bowling games, and even boxing with this new game.

Last night the boys got their final presents from us. For my ten year old, there was a large set of "Mars Mission" LEGOS ® and for my eight year old there was a creepy crawly maker (you know, you pour goop into a metal mold and cook it until it's rubbery).

Despite the desire for the Wii, I think the boys were MUCH more excited about getting these last gifts. They spent the rest of the night making goopy spiders and bugs and building with Legos.

I'm glad to see them playing with these, hands-on activities!

2008

Another new year. How is it that this one seems to have caught me off guard? No prepared resolutions; no "best of" lists for 2007. I just go with the flow.

I think part of this was the fact that the holidays were spent with the wife's family and our own traditions that we've built up were foregone. Without the traditions, one seems somewhat adrift. I'm still looking for land, and a chance to get back into circulation.