Last week’s Lost in Translation featured a discussion about fan adaptations, including a rationale on what works would get analyzed.  This week, a look at a Star Trek fan audio productions.

Radio serials were the forerunner of today’s TV series.  Families would gather around the radio and tune in favourite series.  In the Thirties, ventriloquist Edgar Bergen had his own, live, show that had a large audience.  Orson Welles had Mercury Theatre on the Air, the production that scared the US with War of the Worlds.  The key is to engage the audience’s imagination.  Unlike theatre before, movies concurrent with radio, and television afterwards, radio relies on just one sense, hearing.  The cast and crew have to create an immersive setting while just using audio.  Sound effects become key.  The more real the situation sounds, the more the audience buys in.  Creative use of sound can also create the mood desired.  Welles’ War of the Worlds has a memorable scene where one plaintive voice calls out over radio, “Is there anyone out there?” over and over while the background sounds fade out one by one as the Martian advance, leaving the audience in horror of what’s happening even if they don’t realize why*.

Even with television ubiquitous these days, radio plays still abound.  National Public Radio (NPR) adapted the original Star Wars trilogy into radio serials shortly after each movie was released.  BBC Radio 4 still airs radio dramas on Saturdays.  With the proliferation of portable devices capable of playing .mp3 files, from dedicated .mp3 players to cell phones to tablets, audio plays join music and audio books as something to listen to when the eyes are busy elsewhere.

Fan works, however, exist at the forbearance of the person or company owning the original material.  Fan fiction tends to get overlooked; unless the fanfic is notorious, a blind eye is usually turned.  There is also no barrier to entry when it comes to fan fiction; all that is needed is a means to write, available with all computers or even pen and paper.  Some rights holders encourage fan fiction, with limitations, because of the creativity the endeavor encourages.  With original visual works, like TV series and movies, the closer a fan work is to matching, the closer the work gets to being an infringement.  Full video also has expenses; while the cost of professional-quality recording and editing equipment has dropped, creating sets and costumes still have material costs.  If the fan production charged a fee for viewing, the work becomes a copyright and trademark infringement and corporate attack lawyers will have cease-and-desist orders issued before the first payment can be processed.  There are ways around, including donation in kind, where a fan can help by providing equipment, costumes, or props that are needed.

Audio works don’t have the range of expenses a video would.  Where a video would need props, sets**, and costumes, audio just needs the sound effects of those elements.  The actors don’t even need to be in the same city or even continent, thanks to the Internet and cloud storage.  Each actor just needs a good microphone and a way to record, which even the Windows operating system had since version 3.1.  The audio production, though, needs to use sound to build the sets, so details that get taken for granted by audiences, such as subtle creaks in an old castle or the rumble of a starship’s main drive through the hull, have to be added to help the listener create the image in his or her mind.  One wrong detail, even if it’s just getting a sequence of beeps on a starship’s viewscreen out of order, can break the suspension of disbelief and lose listeners.

Strength of writing is also important.  Getting the audio details correct does go towards satisfying an audience, but if characters aren’t acting as expected or the plot is dull, listeners won’t tune in.  Some original works, including Star Trek, Star Wars, Firefly, and Harry Potter, have settings broad enough that new stories can be created in them without ever interacting with the original characters.  In the case of Star Trek, a fan work could focus on the crew of a different starship, exploring different sectors at any point in the history of the setting.  The precedent already exists with Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise.  With Harry Potter, the novels already show a glimpse of a larger wizarding world; setting an audio series at a different wizard school isn’t farfetched.  There’s room to play, and that sort of room allows for creative interpretations.  Let’s take a look at a fan-made Star Trek audio series.

Starship Excelsior began its first season in 2007.  Set on board the Sovereign-class starship, the USS Excelsior, hull code NCC-2000C, the series is in its fourth season.  The main plot of the first three seasons picks up to dangling plot threads from Star Trek: The Next Generation and ties them together as the crew of the Excelsior investigates an anomaly that leads into dark revelations that threaten the survival of not just the Federation, but the entire galaxy.  The fourth season starts a new arc as the Excelsior begins an exploration mission, with a mixture of lighter and darker episodes, though some still harken back to the earlier episodes.

The cast of characters consists of the Starfleet officers assigned to the Excelsior.  The ship’s captain, Alcar Dovan, received the command after the previous commander, Rachel Cortez, died in action.  Dovin joined Starfleet to explore, not to engage in military action, but he has excelled at surviving in battles, something he has grown to hate.  His first officer, Alecz Lorhrok, is an unjoined Trill, chosen to be the exec by Dovan.  The by-the-book operations manager, Neeva, is an Orion, dealing with the difficulties of being one of the few of her people in Starfleet.  The chief of security, Asuka Yubari, was severely wounded in the special forces, moved to intelligence, then was assigned to the Excelsior.  The helmsman, Bev Rol, also served in intelligence, where he lost his idealism.  The ship’s surgeon, Doctor Melissa Sharp, wanted to be a researcher, away from patients, but found her career stalled as a result of her beliefs before signing up on the Excelsior.  The characters all have their own motivations, from Dr. Sharp’s opposition to military engagements to Rol’s atonement for past misdeeds.  They clash, they argue, they laugh, they are fully formed, brought to life by actors who could easily get into professional voice work if they so choose.

The writing of the series is tight and takes into account Trek canon.  As mentioned about, the major plot of the first three seasons centred around two dangling plot threads from Star Trek: The Next Generation, one involving the Borg.  The first three seasons are also one continuous story, as opposed to being episodic.  Missing an episode means missing plot and character developments.  The fourth season has more single-story episodes, but still has an arc to it.  Listeners can easily get attached to the characters and worry about their survival and success.  There are times when the writers’ fannish tendencies*** show up; Dovan’s exclamations owe a lot to Battlestar Galactica and Star Wars, with a nod to Terry Pratchett’s Discworld with a colour that Bolian vision can see that humans can’t.

The audio sets are also built well.  The sounds that are expected from a Starfleet vessel are all there, from the rumbling of the engines to the beeps of consoles and PADDs to the alarm klaxons.  Even if someone was just tuning into the middle of an episode, the effects would be enough to tell them where the story was set.  The result is a series that is very much Star Trek, though in the darker realms of the franchise.

Of special note, Starship Excelsior ran a Kickstarter campaign to create an episode for the fiftieth anniversary of /Star Trek/’s first airing.  The campaign was more than successful, letting them rent a proper recording studio and fly their audio engineer in from Toronto.  More than that, the success allowed the series get Nichelle Nichols (Uhura), Walter Koenig (Chekov), Robin Curtis (Saavik, The Search for Spock), Joanne Linville (the Romulan Commander in “The Enterprise Incident”), and Jack Donner (Subcommander Tal, “The Enterprise Incident”) to reprise their original characters in a new story that still ties into the Starship Excelsior storyline.  “Tomorrow’s Excelsior” is a one hour, forty minute story where Uhura and Chekov must save Starfleet, the Federation, the galaxy, and the future while avoiding war with the Romulans, with a solution that fits well with their characters.  The series took care in emphasizing in the Kickstarter campaign that all money raised would be put into the production of the episode, with the main costs being getting the actors they wanted.  The episode is available for free from Starship Excelsior‘s website.

* Creative use of sound continues even today.  Alien, a science fiction horror movie, removed background music, leaving the audience no cues on what was about to happen.
** Even with green screening and CGI available, some physical elements are still needed, if only to give the actors something to play off.
*** To be fair, even professional works will have this sort of thing.  The Serenity from Firefly had a cameo in the Battlestar Galactica reboot, appearing overhead on Caprica.

With two exceptions, Lost in Translation has looked at professionally done work.  The first exception, The Four Players, was to show just how far off Super Mario Bros. was from the mark.  The second, Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning, demonstrated an eye to detail needed to maintain a parody of not one but two science fiction series, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Babylon 5.  The reason for analysing the professional work is two-fold.  The main reason is that hte professional work is more available to a general audience.  Movies get released to the silver screen, then is made available on DVD/Blu-Ray, digital streaming, video on demand, and other methods.  TV series get rerun via syndication and released much like movies.

The other reason is that fan work is variable.  Quality runs the gamut from rookies learning how to write and use the equipment to professional-level capabilities that may make the professional work look inadequate.  Sometimes, the fan work can lead to getting a paid position; a number of fan droid designers, inspired by R2-D2 in Star Wars were hired to develop build robots for The Force Awakens.  At the other end, fanfiction has a reputation for being barely comprehensible, whatever the truth of the matter is.

For the most part, the fans are creating because of a love of the original work.  Each fan brings in a different interpretation of the original, seeing different elements despite the shared experiences.  Sometimes the interpretation is brilliant, a new look at the original.  Other times, the interpretation comes out of left field and has almost no connection to the original at all.  it is easy to spot when something is mean-spirited; there’s almost no eye to detail, just characters wearing the names and acting so far out of character, it’s easier to find points that are related to the original work because they just stand out.

As mentioned, Lost in Translation has reviewed two fan adaptations.  However, the goal with fan production is to show either how well the adaptation works or to show how far a professional adaptation missed the mark.  There is little to gain by picking apart a lacking fan adaptation; there are too many issues and it’s just not fair to a potential budding fan to rip apart a work.  Few fans are deliberately trying to make a bad interpretation; lack of experience is a leading cause.  Thus, Lost in Translation will point out and analyze the fan adaptations that are a good reflection of original works.  It is a bias, but good adaptations do not necessarily mean for pay.  Professional quality can come from all quarters.

Since the series first aired in 1966, Star Trek has made inroad into not just geek culture but global culture.  It is rare to find anyone unfamiliar with the concepts of the series and unable to name at least one Captain.  The show’s prominence and tropes also make it ripe for parodies.  Each series and movie in the Trek franchise has been fodder for humourists.  The franchise even was featured as the first review here at Lost in Translation.

Fan films are getting less expensive to make.  With CGI, many effects that would be too expensive to do practically, like crashing a car or blowing up a model starship, now just needs a skilled artist.  The camera equipment needed has also fallen in price while becoming digital and smaller.  The Canadian low-budget horror movie Manborg was made for around Cdn$1000 and featured extensive green-screening and stop-motion animation.  The Four Players used limited sets and CGI in four separate shorts featuring the characters from Super Mario Bros.  Today, it is very possible to equal the effects of the big screen with inexpensive software coupled with skill and talent.

Star Wreck started as a series of shorts on YouTube.  Five friends in a two-room apartment used blue-screening technology to digitally add the sets needed.  Outdoor sets were found in the Finnish outdoors.  The sixth, Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning, received a budget sliightly under 14 000 Euros and a feature-length DVD release.  The version watched for this review was the Imperial Edition.  Star Wreck followed the exploits of the CPP Potkustartti, or as the subtitles call it, the CPP Kickstart*, her captain, James B. Pirk, and her crew, including Commander Info, an android, and Commander Dwarf, a Plingon.  The end of Star Wreck V saw Pirk, Info, and Dwarf stranded on Earth in the early 21st Century, trying not to change the course of history.

In the Pirkinning begins with Pirk drunk and tired of being stuck in a primitive era.  He reunites with Info and Dwarf and, armed with the knowledge of where the Vulgar (Vulcan) ship that made first contact is, starts working to build a new Kickstart.  Unfortunately, the man who contacted the Vulgars, Johnny Cochbrane (Zefram Cochrane), sold the ship to the Russians.  Pirk takes his crew, all two of them, to a Russian nuclear facility and convinces them to overthrow capitalism to bring back the Soviet Union.  Among those working at the facility is Sergey Fukov** (Chekov), an ancestor of one of Pirk’s former crewmen.  Sergey also worked at Chernobyl, where he had accidentally turned off the wrong cooling unit instead of the unit in his quarters.

With his newly Soviet Russian army, Pirk convinces President Ulyanov to assist in the building of the new CPP Kickstart.  With control of the Russian army and the new Kickstart and her sleds (shuttlecraft), Pirk overthrows Ulyanov, declares himself Emperor, invades Europe and then the United States.  No country can withstand the invasions, which is sold via propaganda as liberating the invaded nations.  The P-Fleet is built, with all vessels having twist drives (warp drives), shove engines (impulse drives), twinklers (phasers), and light balls (photon torpedoes).  Too bad the P-Fleet was built by the Russians; the maximum speed the ships can maintain is Twist Factor 2.

Another problem Emperor Pirk faces is the overpopulation of Earth.  He sends the P-Fleet out to scout for new worlds to colonize.  Most of the close ones aren’t suitable for human life, as the expendable redshirts would attest to if they hadn’t died demonstrating the lack of suitability.  However, the CPP Kalinka, commanded by Sergey Fukov, discovers a maggot hole (worm hole) from which an alien ship emerges.  Following Pirk’s General Order 3, the instant destruction of any alien vessel, Fukov orders the alien vessel destroyed.  After investigating the wreckage, though, it turns out the occupant was human.

The P-Fleet arrives at the maggot hole to investigate and, if needed, to conquer any worlds beyond for colonization.  The Kalinka is ordered into the maggot hole, Pirk figuring that the rust bucket and her captain would be no major loss to the P-Fleet.  Instead, Fukov reports back that the inside of the maggot hole changes colour.  The rest of the fleet enters the hole and spots two larger alien vessels that use a signal to exit.  Pirk’s crew figures out what the signal was and uses it to exit as well.

At this point, the breadth of science fiction knowledge of the creators is shown.  There’s a space station, the Babel 13 (Babylon 5), sitting near the hopgate (jump gate).  When negotiations break down with Commander Jonny Sherrypie (Commander John Sheridan), Pirk orders the P-Fleet to strike.  The resulting battle is something that many pre-CGI filmmakers could only dream about.  The P-Fleet has the early advantage, with their twinklers and light balls, but once ships like the Backgammon (Agamemnon) get in range, they open fire.  The ships from the Trek part of the parody have special effects similar to what was seen in The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine.  The Babylon 5 portion, though, use special effects that wouldn’t be out of place on the original series.  The resulting scene is one that should be studied as an example of how to get details right.

During the battle, the Excavator, commanded by Psy-Co (Psy Corp) officer Festerbester (Alfred Bester) appears and targets the P-Fleet’s flagship, mainly because Pirk’s ship is the only one with enough light balls to continue the battle.  Festerbester is portrayed by the same actor playing Fukov, just as Walter Koenig played both Chekov and Bester.  The battle is decided by a twist core split resulting in an explosion that destroys both the Kickstart and the Excavator.

The difficulty in reviewing In the Pirkinning is not just working out how well the parody captures the essence of both Star Trek and Babylon 5, but dealing with watching a foreign language film relying on subtitles.  There is a culture gap between Finland and Canada that Star Wreck demonstrates.  The treatment of Russians was the first indication of the difference between Finnish and Canadian humour.  The subtitles assisted; whenever a Russian spoke, ze subtitles bekame a form of accent as the Russians happily overthrew kapitalism to bring back kommunism.  The subtitles for the unintelligible Scottish engineer were just as unintelligible.

It was obvious while watching In the Pirkinning that the cast and crew knew their science fiction, that they had watched both Trek and B5.  Sherrypie’s penchant for long-winded speeches, the entire mirror universe vibe of Emperor Pirk’s P-Fleet, the dual role of Fukov and Festerbester, the exploding plasma consoles on the Kickstart all show the level of detail and knowledge.  The parody still respects the original works even while poking fun.  Only a fan could get both series well enough to parody without being mean-spirited.  Some of the details may have been lost in translation***, but, overall, the parody managed to pull together two distinct TV series and keep their tone while adding to the work.

Next week, Daredevil.

* For ease, I will stick to the English translation, mainly to keep the pun of the name.
** Pronounced exactly as you’re thinking.
*** So to speak. *cough*

May had a lot of news about upcoming adaptations and remakes.

Farscape movie in the works.
Rockne O’Bannon, creator of Farscape, has confirmed the rumours that a Farscape movie was in production, at least as far as the script.  The confirmation was announced at WonderCon.

Prequel to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in pre-production.
The movie brings back Michelle Yeoh and fight coordinator Yuen Woo-ping to present what Yu Shu Lien did before the events of the original movie.  Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon came out in 2000; the delay was caused by a rights conflict between the studio and the estate of Wang Du Lu, whose novels were the base of the movie.

Six issue Avengers mini-series coming from Boom!
John Steed and Emma Peel will be back in a comics mini-series called Steed and Mrs. Peel.  The cover art in the article really does suit the show.

Casting started for the Jem movie.
After seeing how crowdfunding worked with Veronica Mars, the director of the live-action Jem and the Holograms turned to YouTube and asked for fans to sumbit video auditions for online casting.

Twin Peaks returns in fan-made web sequel.
Fans of David Lynch’s TV series Twin Peaks have begun the 25th anniversary celebrations by having a third season done on Twitter.  The central repository for the fan series is Enter the Lodge, where the tweets are collected.

Hector and the search for a distributor.
Hector and the Search for Happiness, based on the book of the same name by Francois Lelord, has been picked up by Relativity.  The movie, starring Simon Pegg and Rosamund Pike, tells the story of a psychiatrist travelling the world in search of happiness.

JK Rowling novel to become TV series.
The Casual Vacancy, JK Rowling’s first novel after finishing the Harry Potter series, has been picked up as a BBC and HBO co-production.  The book will be turned into a mini-series, following the town of Pagford, England, after the local councilor dies.

More Jem casting news.
All the actresses have experience to some degree but aren’t major names.  Hayley Kiyoko, playing Aja, has an EP, “A Belle to Remember“, on her resume.   Aubrey Peeples, playing Jem, has performed as a singer, including on the TV series Nashville, but doesn’t have a release.  The live action adaptation still has some hurdles, especially with the original creator Christy Marx not involved, but the casting of the core allows the movie to be about Jem and the Holograms and not furthering the singing careers of the leads.

SyFy getting in on the adaptation train.
Four new series on SyFy, all of them are adaptations.  Letter 44, Pax Romana, and Ronin are all based on comics.  The fourth, The Magicians, is based on the novels by Lev Grossman.

Dad’s Army to hit the silver screen.
The BBC sitcom Dad’s Army is being adapted as a film.  Toby Jones will play Captain Mainwaring, portrayed by Arthur Lowe in the original.  Bill Nighy will be Sergeant Wilson.  The original TV series focused on a British Home Guard unit in World War II.  The writer of the original show, Jimmy Perry, added a provision when he signed over the rights that he wouldn’t have to write anything in the adaptation.

Sailor Moon cast announced.
More on the Sailor Moon news from last month.  The Sailor Senshi have been cast, with Kotono Mitsuishi is back as Usagi.  The character designs for the new series are based on their appearances in the manga.

Toy and snack movies ahead!
First, Barbie.  A live action Barbie comedy is in the works from Sony.  It’s not too surprising a move; the animated /Barbie/ features have done well and the online series /Life in the Dreamhouse/ has gone four seasons.  Mattel, like all toy companies except Hasbro, is also trying to recover from a drop in sales in the past year.
Next, Peeps.  The pink and yellow marshmallow candies are following in the footsteps of The LEGO Movie.  Adam Rifkin will helm the movie, basing it on the Peeps dioramas his niece and nephew made.

Another Disney ride gets tapped for a movie.
In celebration of the attraction’s 50th anniversary, It’s a Small World will be turned into a family movie.  The earworm generating song will be part of the movie.  Disney is batting .500 with rides turned into movies lately; while The Haunted Mansion stumbled a bit, Pirates of the Caribbean became a huge hit.  It’s a matter of finding the right team.  Or inserting a subliminal message into the song.

Minecraft, the movie.
The producers of The LEGO Movie will bring the digital version of playing with blocks to the big screen.  Warner Bros, the studio involved, will also work on a live-action tie-in for the movie.

Scarface to be remade, too.
The remake will bring the story into the today’s world.  The immigrant’s story will see Tony’s background change to Mexican from the original Italian as seen in the 1932 and 1983 versions.  The filmmakers are looking to cast a Latino in the role.

Marvel’s Peggy Carter to get her own series.
Peggy Carter, who first appeared in Captain America, is getting her own spin-off series on ABC in the fall.  The series will be set in 1946 following the events at the end of the movie.  This comes in the wake of the renewal of Agents of SHIELD.  Meanwhile, over at Warner, no news of a Wonder Woman movie.

Private Benjamin to be remade.
The Goldie Hawn movie about a spoiled rich girl who joins the Army is being remade, with Rebel Wilson in the title role.  The update will see a redneck join with the rich girl.

Animated Flintstones movie to be produced by Will Farrell and Adam McKay.
The Stone Age family will return to the big screen animated instead of live-action.  The movie will be the first animated film of the characters since the 1966 The Man Called Flintstone.

Go, go Power Rangers!
Lionsgate has licensed Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers from Saban for a reboot movie.

Didn’t see the Rosemary’s Baby remake?  You’re not alone.
Maybe Mother’s Day wasn’t the best day for the airing.  The remake was up against A Game of Thrones, the season finale of Once Upon a Time, and Cosmos.

Corner Gas movie being Kickstartered.
The Canadian sitcom about life in Dog River, Saskatchewan is being turned into a movie if the Kickstarter campaign is successful.

Blade Runner sequel may see Harrison Ford return as Deckard.
Ridley Scott may provide the answer to, “Is Deckard a replicant?” in the Blade Runner sequel.  Ford himself showed interest during an AMA on Reddit.

Infamous Chick tract being adapted as movie.
Dark Dungeons, Jack Chick’s infamous anti-Dungeons & Dragons comic tract, is getting the movie treatment.  Zombie Orpheus Entertainment will be treating the tract with the respect the company, staffed by gamers, think is due and will play it straight and accurate.