Star Trek: Final Frontier - the animated web series that could have been

Near-final 'hammerhead' design for the USS Enterprise in Star Trek: Final Frontier

Star Trek: The Animated Series was Trek's first and (thus far) only foray into non-live-action TV. Produced several years after the cancellation of The Original Series, the show was the network's way of returning Kirk and the Enterprise to the silverscreen after seeing the huge success of TOS in syndication. Now jump forward to 2006. In the wake of Star Trek: Enterprise, CBS has garnered interest in a new web series concept, one that would take the franchise in a new, darker direction.

Project: Potemkin releases "We Few..."

The Star Trek fan series Project: Potemkin has released their latest vignette, entitled 'We Few..."

Continuing with their tradition of character-driven stories, a shuttlecraft from the Potemkin crash lands on an inhospitable world. Can Commander Delaney and the others survive until their rescue?

The episode can be seen on YouTube below:

Book Review: Frank Herbert's 'Dune'

Poster art from the 1984 film adaptation of 'Dune'

Dune is hailed by many as an unparalleled work of science fiction. I've recently finished reading the novel for the first time, and give my thoughts and observations about this epic story.

Star Trek's first pilot began filming 50 years ago this week

image courtesy of TrekCore

Star Trek's first pilot, a show deemed 'too cerebral' for TV, turned 50 this week.

New 'Star Wars' trailer released!

The much-anticipated trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens was released on the Web earlier this week, giving fans a look at the first film in the new Disney Star Wars trilogy.

Starship Farragut releases 'Conspiracy of Innocence'

Starship Farragut is a professionally-produced fan series set during the time of TOS. Since 2007, four full-length, live-action episodes have been released, as well as several vignettes, animated productions and comics.

Farragut's latest offering, 'Conspiracy of Innocence', takes us to an underground city where, during a first contact mission, the landing party finds their perceptions of reality challenged by a xenophobic race.

I have mixed feelings about 'Conspiracy'. One of my biggest issues with the show is that the mystery of what's going on is revealed way too early, making the rest of the episode a bit predictable. On the other hand, the story has a very TOS feel to it, which is complimented nicely by the modern widescreen aspect ratio and CG special effects.

The complete episode can be viewed on YouTube below:

Farragut's previous releases can be found on the show's YouTube channel.

'Prelude to Axanar' released!

Star Trek: Axanar is probably one of the most highly-anticipated, professionally-produced fan films currently in the works. After the release of an official trailer back in June, a short prelude film, Prelude to Axanar, come out earlier this week.

The docu-drama style short introduces us to the world of Axanar, which is set some 20 years prior to TOS during a time of war between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. It's a race for technological and space superiority, with the fate of the Federation itself hanging in the balance.

The film can currently be viewed as an embedded video on the Axanar Kickstarter page. Scroll down to the second video from the top.

UPDATE: the film is also now available in HD on the Axanar YouTube channel.