Fan Film Friday: Starship Farragut: For Want of a Nail
Written by Randy Hall on November 13, 2009 – 12:30 pm -
Before Starship Farragut began making independent productions inspired by Filmation’s animated Star Trek series, the group got its start producing live-action fan films. The most recent of these efforts was entitled “For Want of a Nail.”
In the first of several collaborations with NEO f/x, the Farragut’s initial fan film was called “The Captaincy,” and it introduced the “core four” characters: Captain Jack Carter (played by John Broughton), First Officer Robert “RT” Tacket (Michael Bednar), Chief Engineer Michelle “Mike” Smithfield (Holly Bednar) and Security Chief Henry Prescott III (played by Paul Sieber).
While “Captaincy” pitted the crew against a hidden Klingon super-weapon, “Nail” dealt with the difficulties inherent in time travel in the Star Trek universe.
As they were beaming down to make first contact with a race of reclusive scientists, Carter, Prescott, Doctor Christine Holley and two security guards suddenly found themselves in the midst of the American Revolutionary War. Despite their best efforts not to alter history, they ran into none other than General George Washington!
Back on the Farragut, Tacket and Smithfield had to work together in a race against time to rescue their missing comrades before they were lost forever.
Now, let’s see. Where did I leave my Clint Eastwood hat? Ah, here it is!
The Good: As with just about every successive Trek project by independent producers, “For Want of a Nail” is a quantum leap (oops, wrong universe) forward for the Farragut over its first outing. A lot of the credit for that has to go to Mark Hildebrand, who played Kruge in “The Captaincy” and appears in just about every third line of the closing credits for “Nail” as its writer, director, film editor, the actor portraying General Washington and pastry chef. (That last one was a joke, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s true.)
A trailer for the episode asks this question: If you had access to the past, would you be content just to watch it? Obviously, the answer is “No,” and that’s where the adventure comes in.
As you’d expect, the folks on the screen were more comfortable in their characters than in their first outing, which focused on Carter and Prescott. This time around, the sparks flew between Tacket and Smithfield as the engineer protected her ship with the same zeal Doctor McCoy shows while treating his patients on board the U.S.S. Enterprise. In addition, the crew made good use of Phase II ship sets, as well as the usual superlative props and costumes.
Speaking of that last item, I really liked the green-and-yellow Renaissance-style robes the snooty aliens wore, but every time I’ve tried to describe them as “choirboy outfits” or something like that, people have thought I’m putting them down. Nah. I thought they were cool.
I also liked the landing party jackets, which were black with grey shoulders. All I could think of was that they were the “first generation” of the outfits Kirk, McCoy and Saavik wore in The Wrath of Khan—even though they were actually worn because it was really cold when the cast was filming outside in the winter. It was also a kick to take in the setting of Revolutionary War America and several historical characters we’ve never seen before in Trek.
Again, the FX were terrific, even though “Nail” didn’t have any space battles to speak of. We’ll probably make up for that when the upcoming animated episode “The Needs of the Many” features a clash between the Farragut and the Gorn, Andorians, Romulans and Klingons, as seen in this trailer.
The Bad: Not much to complain about here. The only thing that bugged me a bit about “Nail” was the fact that one of the security guards sure knew a lot about chemistry when it was needed. I guess they had “extension courses” at Starfleet Academy during Classic Trek as well as Deep Space Nine.
The Ugly: And just to put the cherry on top, the episode had a somewhat controversial surprise at the end that I found very interesting. I don’t think it’s a bad thing to be left with something to contemplate after having watched Star Trek, though I’ve heard some folks were unhappy with the twist.
Starship Farragut‘s most recent production was the animated episode “Power Source,” which was reviewed here. As noted above, the next project is an ambitious animated story called “The Needs of the Many,” which is slated to be released soon.
For more information on Starship Farragut, go to http://www.starshipfarragut.com, and for those who are especially interested in the animation projects with NEO f/x, check out this site: http://www.farragut-animated.com/.
Related posts:
- Fan Film Friday: Starship Farragut: The Captaincy
- Fan Film Friday: Starship Farragut Animated: Power Source
- Starship Farragut Gets Animated
- Second Act of First Farragut Animated Episode Released On Time
- Fan Film Friday: Starship Exeter: The Savage Empire
Tags: For Want Of A Nail, John Broughton, Power Source, Starship Farragut, The Captaincy, The Needs of the Many
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