Not The 70s: STAR TREK CONTINUES (2014-15)

There are numerous fan-made Star Trek series online. Some of these ambitious non-profit productions chronicle new adventures of the original U.S.S. Enterprise, others create their own starships and crews. The quality ranges from the embarrassingly amateur to remarkably slick and professional.  James Cawley's Star Trek: New Voyages/Phase II is probably the best known of these, and over the years, his team have produced a number of reasonably enjoyable - if frustratingly uneven - Trek adventures . But, in my opinion, the very best at capturing the feel of the classic Gene Roddenberry series is Vic Mignogna's Star Trek Continues.

The talented cast includes James Doohan's son Chris Doohan as Scotty and Mythbuster's Grant Imahara as Sulu. The sets, costumes, photography, music and overall production values are uncannily accurate, and the visual effects are terrific! Vic Mignogna, an experienced actor with lots of voice work to his credit, personally plays James Kirk, and he does a remarkable job of channeling the great Bill Shatner, capturing the man's distinct delivery while somehow never lapsing into parody (something even Bill finds hard to do these days). It's uncanny how well he captures Shatner's swagger.

The first episode, "Pilgrim of Eternity," is a sequel to TOS' "Who Mourns For Adonais," with original guest actor Michael Forest reprising his role as Greek god Apollo (this one also includes a bit part by Battlestar Galactica Redux's Jamie "Apollo" Bamber.) The second episode, "Lolani," revolves around a fugitive Orion slave girl and her owner - played by Incredible Hulk Lou Ferrigno (in green body paint, of course)!

The third episode, "The Fairest Of Them All," is a very well written direct sequel to the classic TOS episode "Mirror, Mirror," and it's another winner. A fourth episode has just recently completed filming, and although the title hasn't been released yet, it has been revealed that it guest stars the Sixth Doctor Who, Colin Baker.

If, like me, you find the new Star Trek films by J.J. Abrams and company lacking the spirit and style of Gene Roddenberry's original show, I highly recommend that you check it out. In fact, the Star Trek Continues crew is midway through a "Kirkstarter" campaign to raise funding for additional episodes. They've already hit their initial production goal, but are now in the process of trying to raise enough money to build an authentic Engine Room set to complement their already astounding Enterprise sets.

Episodes can be found on the Star Trek Continues YouTube Channel, and you can check out their Kirkstarter funding campaign here.

Not The 70s: SPACE PRECINCT (1994)

Two New York City police officers get transferred to a new beat in Space Precinct (1994-95), a British science fiction police procedural created by producer Gerry Anderson (UFO, Space: 1999). Syndicated in the U.S. in the mid-90s, the show usually aired in late night/early morning slots and thus, failed to garner much of an audience. But it's a pretty interesting show, and even though it's not from the Seventies, it may be of interest to Space: 1970 readers - partly because it's a Gerry Anderson production, and partly because of the retro nature of the effects and storytelling.

Set in 2040 (a mere 30 years away!), Ted Shackleford (Dallas, Knot's Landing) plays Lieutenant Patrick Brogan, a married NYPD cop who is transferred to the Demeter City police force on the planet Altor. There, he and his human partner Jack Haldane (Rob Youngblood, Melrose Place), must work side-by-side with a variety of extraterrestrials to uphold the law and solve a wide range of crimes committed by rogue aliens and Earthmen alike.

It's a weird show, especially for the mid-90s. The many rubber-masked aliens, 70s-esque special effects (Miniatures! Yay!) and production design makes the show kinda look like it's for kids, but the scripts, direction and performances are almost completely cop show-serious. This confused a lot of American TV programmers in the 90s, who didn't know when to schedule the series, dooming it to late night slots between infomercials. This didn't exactly lead to high ratings, so the show only lasted one season - oddly, it was reportedly very popular in many European markets, though.

The performances are generally okay, and the quality of the scripts vary from the mundane to the pretty good. Every once in a while, the writers even manage to come up with some solid science fiction ideas, although the series is police procedural first, sci-fi second. The special effects are also inconsistent. There is some limited, low-budget 90s CGI here and there, but most of the FX utilize Old School-styled miniatures and on-set practical gags. Most of the miniature work is excellent (some great pyrotechnics in particular), but other model shots are all too obvious. The make-up and creature effects are also ingenious, if not always entirely convincing.

Sets are - understandably, considering the budget - cramped, but are fairly-well designed. Series directors included 007 veteran John Glen (For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, Licence To Kill), Alan Birkinshaw (Invaders Of The Lost Gold) and Piers Haggard (Blood On Satan's Claw).

Image Entertainment brings all 24 episodes of Space Precinct's one and only season to Region 1 DVD in a nice, if bare-bones, 5-disc set. The episodes are presented in their original, 1.33:1 "full-frame" aspect ratio with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio. The transfers are a bit soft and grainy, but I'm guessing that's more due to the fact that the show (like many other 90s adventure shows) appears to have been shot on 16mm film rather than any flaw in the transfers. There is no notable print damage, specks or other artifacts, and the episodes appear to be uncut, complete with original commercial "bumpers." There are no bonus features whatsoever.

Fans of Gerry Anderson's UFO and Space: 1999 - or anyone looking for 70's-styled sci-fi - may want to check it out. It's not a great sci-fi show, neither is it a great cop show, but it has its charms. It can be purchased from Amazon here: Space Precinct: The Complete Series

Not the 70s: HUNTER PREY (2010)

I generally don't write about modern sci-fi films here unless they are sequels/remakes/re-imaginings of genuine Space: 1970-era stuff, but after reading about Sandy Collora's Hunter Prey over on Retrospace, where blogger Gilligan praised it for its 70s sci-fi "feel," I decided to rent it from Netflix.

Wow.

A prisoner transport ship crashes on an uncharted desert planet, and the prisoner - the last of its species and possessor of a secret that could destroy a world - escapes.The three survivors of the ship's crew set out to recapture the alien as they await rescue. But their fugitive is cunning, resilient and ruthless, and before long, there are only two players left in the deadly game of extraterrestrial cat-and-mouse - one hunter and one prey... but which is which?

For a reported budget of less than a half-mil, shot on high-def RED digital cameras, Hunter Prey is a remarkable achievement, especially for its microscopic (in Hollywood terms) budget, 17-day shoot and less than 20-man crew. The basic premise is familiar, borrowing from John Boorman's Hell In The Pacific (or, in sci-fi terms, Enemy Mine), but the execution is exemplary. Director Sandy Collora, whose Batman fan-film, Dead End, was a Comic-Con and Internet sensation a few years back, has crafted a thoughtful, intelligent, character-driven science fiction adventure that harkens back to the SF flicks of the 1970s and early 80s.

With virtually no money, Collora and his collaborators make great use of some extraordinarily well-designed costumes & props, cool alien prosthetic make-ups, old-school miniature spaceship effects, deftly-executed & restrained CGI, remarkably otherworldly & masterfully-shot Mexican locations, and a handful of talented actors to assemble a visually striking and expensive-looking feature that deserves to be a lot better known.

The screenplay, by Collora and Nick Damon, is well structured, with a series of perfectly-placed revelations and twists that put a decidedly different spin on the otherwise familiar premise. The dialogue is smart and witty, and the script is peppered with clever in-jokes and references for fans of vintage sci-fi and comic books. The performances by Damion Poiter (an actor/stuntman) and Clark Bartram (another actor/stuntman, who portrayed the Caped Crusader himself in Dead End) are surprisingly good, making their characters sympathetic and engaging. Erin Gray (of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century) also provides a great voiceover job as a computer with a personality and pivotal role in the plot. The music by Christopher Hoag evokes the best of Jerry Goldsmith, and perfectly underscores the action and drama.

It's not perfect - how could it be? The story is a bit thin for a feature, and some of the dialogue (especially in the beginning) is a little repetitive, but Collora demonstrates a distinctive visual flair and a real love/appreciation for the genre, and that makes Hunter Prey especially worthwhile in this era of microbudget "sci-fi" that seems exclusively the domain of megafish and supersnakes.

The DVD from Maya Entertainment sports a crystal-clear and razor-sharp 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer and 5.1 Dolby sound. Bonus features include an informative and enthusiastic audio commentary by the director, and an entertaining, comprehensive behind-the-scenes documentary.

For fans of 70s-styled science fiction -and if you're reading this site, that's probably you - Hunter Prey is highly recommended.

BUY:  Hunter Prey

Gil Gerard & Erin Gray return to BUCK ROGERS

I don't usually post here about new sci-fi projects, but this one is special. Gil Gerard and Erin Gray return to the mythos as the parents of the young, future-hero Buck Rogers in the new, forthcoming webseries by the producers of the Star Trek: New Voyages online adventures.

I really love this clip; it's nice to see Gil and Erin together again, and actually given some real acting to do. I also like that the series looks like it'll be set in the period of the original comic strips. I can't wait.

Official website.

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: THE SECOND COMING (1999)

Most readers of this blog have probably already seen this, but I thought it was worth posting, and since it's directly tied to the 1978 Battlestar Galactica series, it seems appropriate to this site, as well.

Ten years ago, prior to Universal Studios' revamp/reimagining of Battlestar Galactica for the Sci-Fi Channel, actor Richard Hatch wrote and personally financed this four-minute promotional trailer for a proposed, straight-forward sequel series.

Taking place a couple of decades after the conclusion of the '78 show, Hatch's version had Apollo in charge of the Colonial fleet, having succeeded the now-deceased Adama. Starbuck is missing, and when Baltar returns, warning of a new, more-deadly generation of Cylons, Apollo must train a new force of young warriors to battle the threat.

Several original cast members - Terry Carter, Jack Stauffer, George Murdock, and the late John Colicos - joined Hatch's ambitious project (along with Galactica 1980 villain Richard Lynch), but I don't believe that Universal ever seriously considered going with the actor's proposed revival.

Hatch ultimately used many of his story concepts in a series of authorized Galactica novels co-written by Christopher Golden (and others). I have three of them, and they're actually pretty good.

Video Copyright 1999 by Su-Shann Productions.