Last time, I showed how I used a combination of the AI tools of Google Gemini and Grok to turn this…

into this…

The above video clip is intended to be a part of one of MARK NACCARATO’s upcoming fan films that take place during THE ROMULAN WAR. It was the second time I used AI to help create a short scene for him. The first time was a couple of days earlier when I used a combination of those same two AI applications to produce this short clip of a young T’Pau giving a speech to the Vulcan Council…

Part 2 blog showed how many different prompts I had to go through to change the four fans in front of a green screen into a starting “seed” still image of the four Starfleet officers drinking in the 602 Club. And then I had to go through a few different video prompts and renderings to then turn that one seed image the 10-second toast scene that I wanted. AI takes patience, persistence, and an ability to try to figure out what went wrong with your previous prompt and then to write something more carefully to avoid the same problem again…and again. Lather, rinse, repeat—possibly dozens of times!

AI isn’t a mind-reader quite yet. In fact, it’s frustratingly literal most of the time and unpredictable much of the rest of the time. But it still does some mind-blowing things in just a minute or two—occasionally for free or for a relatively affordable cost considering what it’s able to do for you.

Today, I’m going to continue this 4-part series with the third challenge handed to me by Mark: turn a series of flatly-lit green screen takes of actor BRIAN HOLLOWAY into Captain Aaron Stiles of the USS Challenger NX-03, sending a series of subspace messages from his quarters to Captain Jonathan Archer of the USS Enterprise NX-01. (Brian had previously worked on fan films for STAR TREK: PHASE II, THE FEDERATION FILES, and DREADNOUGHT DOMINION.)

Just to help me do a proof of concept, Mark sent me the following clip of part of one of Stiles’ messages to Archer. It was a thank you for a recording Archer had made expressing his condolences on the death of one of Captain Stiles’ sons, Brandon, a tribute that was played during the funeral…

The main difference between this project and the previous one of the officers giving the toast was that with Stiles, we already had the audio, which Mark wanted to keep. For the toast, Grok’s AI just created new voices that said what I typed in. But this time, Brian’s voice needed to remain intact in the final video. Turns out that Grok doesn’t have that ability at this time. So I needed to find an AI application that could retain the initial sound and render a new video with lips that synced to it.

Once again, I asked the “AI Whisperer,” my good friend ADAM “MOJO” LEBOWITZ for the solution, and he quickly told me: Kling Omni…

It turned out that application was too problematic for me to use cost-effectively. If I didn’t want to pay for a second monthly subscription (I was already on the hook for $30/month for Grok), it would charge by the render—between $1.50 and $2 each time—meaning that a troublesome project with dozens of renders could start running up the price tag pretty darn quickly. That said, I did use it to create a really good first attempt!

Kling Omni allows the user to upload both images and videos from reference (Gemini and Grok allow only images). So here’s what I did. I once again started with Gemini to create a still image to base the video off of. I uploaded to Gemini the full NX-era Starfleet uniform design along with a still image of Brian Holloway. The I asked Gemini to create a 16×9 rectangular image of the man in the close-up shot (Brian) sitting in the Captain’s ready room from the television series Star Trek: Enterprise, wearing the full uniform from the first uploaded reference image. Oh, and make sure we see the earth out the window from a high orbit.

Got all that? Well, fortunately, AI can track complex instructions, and what I got looked amazingly good!

So I uploaded this image along with the 10-second video clip of Brian and asked for Kling Omni to have the man in the chair deliver the lines from the video with the same sound track. I asked for a few more flourishes (because I like being a director), like having him spin slightly in his chair to face the camera as he speaks, having a subtle camera zoom-in during the scene, and to have him give a little wink at the end. The first result was really good, albeit not quite perfect…

I had high hopes that I could fix the glitches in this video—just as I’d done with the four officers toasting in the 602 Club. But that first rendering turned out to be beginner’s luck, and the next ten renderings (costing me an additional twenty bucks!) got progressively worse. I don’t have any of them to share because Kling Omni doesn’t save renders if you’re not subscribed. You have to download them immediately or lose them forever.

I quickly decided that neither Mark’s nor my budget could handle the cost of my learning curve, and I would go back to Grok, where I was already paying $30/month for a subscription. But I wasn’t going back empty-handed. Thanks to that one good render, I was able to seed Grok with four anchoring images, and I used Photoshop to change the sleeve patch to the Challenger NX-03 design that Mark supplied me with…

This allowed me to set a nice zoom in while Captain Stiles is swiveling in his chair. The only thing missing was a desk. I also didn’t want him to hold on the wink, as he did in the previous video. I uploaded the four images (above) plus the establishing wide shot with the desk, and I typed the following prompt into Grok…

Using the first four images, create a shot of this character that slowly zooms out. As he turns toward the camera, he speaks the following dialog:

“Jon, I wish you could have been there to hear it in person.  He was somethin’ else.  Woulda made a Vulcan cry…even yours. “

Right after he finishes speaking, he gives a quick wink and smiles slightly. Then both eyes open again as he holds the smile for another second and a half.   In the background as ambient noise, have the ambient low hum sound of a starship engine from the television series “Star Trek: Enterprise.” Make certain his eyes are always looking toward the camera throughout the entire shot.   Using the last image for reference only, please place this character behind a desk similar to the one shown in the last image.

And this is the video I got…

Oh, uh…typo! I accidentally asked for a zoom OUT, not in. But that looked pretty decent for a first attempt. I corrected the typo and soon discovered that Grok does not handle winks well at all. Here are just two of about seven attempts that all completely screwed up the wink…

You’ll also notice that AI is like a box of chocolates: you never know what you’re gonna get. The same prompt resulted in completely different zoom amounts and speeds, completely different office furniture and backgrounds (including the second one that had weirdly shifting walls at the end), completely different orbital directions of earth, and a host of glitches in his speech. YUCK! Oh, and I realized I had another typo: the line is supposed to be, “It was something else,” not “He was something else.”

I decided to ditch the wink completely, and I corrected the second typo. It still took about a dozen more renders, which led me to discover a somewhat irritating limitation of Grok. As you probably know, AI processors require a lot of energy to operate, and that electricity costs money. So your $30/month covers only a certain number of 10-second renders at the higher quality 720p (the minimum standard for HD video). After that, the renders switch to the standard definition 480p quality. A subscriber then has to wait for the “reset” (usually about 12 hours or so) to regain the ability to generate videos at the higher 720 resolution.

Eventually, I did get a really good render. I even used the new “Generative Extend” tool in the Adobe Premiere video application on my computer (the software I use to edit videos) to extend the 10-second video slightly, and I sent it along to Mark…

I was so proud! Unfortunately, Mark assumed I knew that this was a subspace message being recorded into a computer viewer, not a cinematic shot with zooming motion. As much as he liked the way it turned out, in order to work in the ultimate fan film he’d be making, this needed to look like a recording of a message that Captain Stiles was sending to Captain Archer—it needed to be a static, close-up shot.

Also, Mark wasn’t crazy about the light levels and color saturation overall. Ah, directors! But he was right. Star Trek: Enterprise was filmed in low light, producing moody shadows and muted colors. So I adjusted the source images in Photoshop to darken and desaturate them. However, much to my frustration, I still kept getting rich, well-lit, vibrant renders. But I had a “Plan B” to fix that, too.

When I finally had a decent 10-second take of Stiles, I downloaded the video and opened it in Adobe Premiere. Then I used Premiere’s adjustments to dim the lighting, desaturate the colors, and even add a single spotlight just behind the captain’s head to light up the planet earth. And of course, I extended the video by a second (Premiere lets you add a maximum of two seconds to the end of a video, but the further along it gets the more it can drift into unwanted directions).

What I sent to Mark made me even prouder than the first clip I’d sent him (even though it was a less interesting static shot). Stiles’ delivery was one of the best yet…

Mark liked it, but it turned out that he’d sent me only the second half of Stiles’ message as a test to see how it would turn out. There was actually a beginning part, as well…

So I created a new 10-second video clip—minus the “Captain’s log” part, which Mark didn’t want included. Once again, I decided to “direct” the AI actor a little bit. Rather than just giving him the words, I inserted pauses and a brief look downward. I also needed to try to get the spinning earth to end at the same spot where the earth in the second part started. After a few miscues (including earths that spun way too fast), I adjusted the prompt to read like this…

Using the previous video, make something identical but with the following dialog…   “Jonathan, I just wanted to reach out and thank you for the message that you sent.” He pauses again, thinking about his son’s funeral. Then he continues, “…for the kind words about Brandon. We played it at the memorial service.” He looks down very slightly, sad again.   The shot should be static and framed close to the character, cropped slightly below the patch on his sleeve. Make sure the earth out the window matches the earth in the second photo above.   Have the character speak quickly enough to fit in all of the dialogue. The earth should be rotating VERY VERY VERY slowly and the position of the earth should end the scene in the same position as the earth out the window in last uploaded photo.

Again, it took several tries, but eventually I got this…

Obviously, I used Premiere’s Generative Extend tool to add two seconds to each rendered video to get the total run time to 24 seconds. Unfortunately, try as I might to match the backgrounds, the earth, the orbital speed and direction, and the window itself were noticeably different in the first and second segments of the video. Unless Mark inserted a cutaway shot to the funeral or something, the transition would be noticeable and jarring.

But then I discovered, quite by accident, that Grok had an “extend” feature of its own. You could take a 10-second clip and extend it another 6 or 10 seconds. And indeed, you could do so again and possibly an infinite number of times. The reason I don’t know for certain is because the extended video tends to “drift” in strange ways, with words and lip movements getting progressively more garbled.

I ultimately got this clip to be “perfect” by extending a good take and getting a decent extension…

I put “perfect” in quotation marks because there are still a couple of audio glitches and places where the lips don’t completely sync to the words. Also, Stiles’ voice does not match Brian Holloway’s voice because Grok had no idea what Brian sounded like, and Grok doesn’t match voices anyway. However, ElevenLabs (which I used to create AN ABSENT FRIEND two years ago) specializes in such things. And since I would be needing to create other Stiles video clips, it would be best to have a consistent voice (Brian’s) across all the AI-generated videos.

It was easy enough to sample Brian’s voice and then upload it to ElevenLabs. However, this application had gotten so much more powerful and complex in the two years I’d been away that I needed to use the site’s own AI assistant to help me. Their AI bot is unbelievably helpful and friendly and even offered to make the adjustments I needed for me. “Please do,” I’d say, and a few seconds later, the changes would be done. Honestly, folks, the AI was an absolute pleasure to use. It even realized I was working on a Star Trek fan film and said good night to me by calling me captain! Seriously, take a look…

(I hope that when the inevitable AI takeover of humanity happens that our new robot overlords keep that same charming sense of humor. It’ll make the dystopian future much more enjoyable!)

Anyway, with ElevenLabs’ voice-switching, I was able to correct those sound glitches—although the lip sync issues seem to be insurmountable at the moment. Take a look and a listen…

This blog is getting pretty long, so I’ll end with the second and final clip I rendered of Captain Stiles for Mark. Again, I provided “direction” for the AI actor including dramatic pauses and facial expressions. I also turned the background into a green screen, as Mark has an out-the-window CGI warp speed effect, which is easier than trying to explain the warp concept to AI and hoping it gets it correct during a good take.

As I said, the “extend” option on Grok is a bit of a crap shoot—with the emphasis on the word CRAP. While you can lock in a good first 10-second take, the extension can go horribly wrong a frustratingly frequent amount of the time. Take a look at just a small number of samples of how the AI would screw up the extensions of the first 10-second clip with some incredibly garbled 6-second extensions…

But persistence won out in the end! Here is the final clip of Stiles, including the switch-over of the voice to Brian’s…

Next week, I’ve got one final entry in this four-part feature series, and I think it’s the most exciting yet. Why? Well, first of all, I finally make the official transition from Grok to Kling even though the monthly subscription cost is higher, and I’ll let you know why. But second and more importantly, the video clips that I managed to render came out staggeringly incredible and mind-blowing! Trust me—you will NOT want to miss the conclusion!

Last time in Part 1, I discussed a little about how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming an increasingly common tool among fan filmmakers—especially Star Wars but also Star Trek and other genres—and I provided links to some recent examples in the Trek realm. Then I moved onto how MARK NACCARATO, who is finishing up work on the sequel to THE ROMULAN WAR, PART I and also releasing some new short films in the NX-era, asked me to help him create a still image of a young T’Pau giving a speech to the Vulcan Council.

Looking at an overwhelming amount of work in Photoshop, I asked Mark if he’d mind if I used AI to create the image. He was fine with the idea, and ultimately I was able to create not just a still image to go under a voice-over narration but an actual 13-second video of part of her speech. Take a look…

Although I had used AI two years ago to generate AI voices for Spock and Dr. McCoy for my animated fan film AN ABSENT FRIEND, and I had created some Facebook memes and some short music clips with AI tools previously, this was the first time that I’d used AI to generate a video from an AI still image. And it was a lot of fun!

It was also an amazing learning experience, and I wanted to learn more. There’s nothing like having a project to focus your efforts, and so I asked Mark if he had any other clips that he’d like to try to create using AI. I was certainly game!

Mark’s next request was simply for a still image. Four fans had gotten together to stage a “toast” in front of a green screen. Here’s a still image of them…

My mission, should I choose to accept it (and, of course, I did!), was to do the following:

1. Put all four of these fans into NX-era Starfleet uniforms like those from Enterprise.
2. Trim them down a little to look more like physically fit Starfleet officers.
3. Change the blue Romulan Ale to just beer (as this was taking place during the Romulan War—the Romulans were still mysterious—so Romulan Ale wouldn’t be an Earth beverage at the time).
4. Have them sitting in the 602 Club (from the Enterprise episode “First Flight”), and Mark supplied me with some reference photos…

There was a LOT to do to get from there to here with what I needed to change on the initial photo. With so many tasks on the list, I thought it might be best to tackle them one at a time. That way, the AI of Google Gemini could build on each new successful iteration.

Below are the text prompts that I used and the results I got from them. And, yes, you can make fun of me for actually saying “please” to the AI interface. But I suspect I’ll have the last laugh when the robot overlords eventually take over the planet and they’re nicer to those of us who were more polite to our AI apps.

Anyway, after uploading the original photo of the four fans around the table, I provided the following prompt:

Can you make these people look thinner?

And here’s what I got…

Most impressive! Okay, time to dress them in NX-era Starfleet uniforms. So I uploaded this graphic that I got off of the Internet to provide some reference…

This was my next prompt:

Now can you dress them all in these uniforms from Star Trek: Enterprise?

And I got this result…

AI often produces unexpected and occasionally strange results. In this case, without being prompted, it changed two of the four people from sitting to standing. I assume the reason was because the new reference image I uploaded showed full uniforms in a standing position, so maybe Gemini thought that was what I wanted and decided to split the difference, keeping two people seated and making two of them stand. I was also surprised that Gemini had taken the initiative to now have all four people looking slightly and/or directly at the camera.

And of course, it’s pretty obvious that the guy in the gold stripes had issues with his shoulder color. I really have no idea why Gemini did that, but when it comes to AI, one must be supremely patient. I typed in the following prompt to try to fix the issues before moving things forward to the next step…

Please adjust the shoulders of the man standing so that they are yellow stripes with blue on the shoulders to match the other uniforms. Also, please make the four people look even thinner and in better healthy shape. Oh, and change the drinks to beers for each of them.

You’ll notice that I started “over-explaining” things. Rather than just saying “match the shoulders to the uniforms in the reference photos,” I very specifically pointed out the problem and how I wanted it fixed (yellow stripes with blue on the shoulders). And for the next sentence, I wrote more than just “make them thinner” and added “…in better healthy shape.” The elaboration might ultimately have proven to be unnecessary, but I had nothing to lose by over-communicating what I wanted. Here was the next result…

Oh, AI, you mischievous little minx!

Like the genie who grants you exactly what you wished for rather than what you actually meant, Gemini took some liberties. Yes, the AI made the standing guy’s uniform match the others in removing the yellow shoulders, but remember that i said, “yellow stripes with blue on the shoulders.” YOU know what I meant: “keep the stripes yellow but change the area above the stripes on the shoulders from yellow to blue.” But all Gemini saw was that I wanted yellow stripes and I wanted blue on the shoulders. So it turned the yellow stripes from the previous image to blue stripes and then added new yellow stripes down on either side of his central zipper. Totally my fault that AI got it wrong. Also, I only asked for the drinks to be beer but not the decanter that was holding refills. Shame on me!

Time to fix this, and so I entered the following prompt, taking much greater pains to ask myself “what might Gemini misunderstand?” and then writing even more carefully and exactly what I wanted…

Please remove the vertical yellow stripes from the man who is standing. He should simply have a black sipper like the others. But make the stripes on his shoulders yellow and not blue. Change the bottle with the blue liquid in it to a large, half-filled pitcher of beer.

BINGO! Next prompt:

Please make them all look a little but happier.

Intriguingly, Gemini spontaneously (without being prompted) decided to change the direction of their gazes from looking at the camera to looking at the beer…and I have absolutely no clue as to why! Also, notice that I misspelled “bit” as “but” in my prompt. AI seems to generally ignore typos if you’re pretty clear about what you’re looking for (I also misspelled “zipper” in the previous prompt—did you catch that?). Anyway, now that these four people looked correct, it was now time to move them from standing in front of a green screen to sitting in the 602 Club lounge. So I uploaded the reference images (six in all) and typed in this prompt…

These are all images of the 602 Club from Star Trek Enterprise. Please take the four people from the previous image and place them inside of the 602 Club.

Nice! And again, without being asked to, Gemini decided to return the woman with the long straight hair to a seated position and have the standing guy pouring himself the final beer. And now they’re all looking at the pour. I kinda liked it, and the background looked especially good. Nearly there! Keeping in mind that this was going to be placed into a horizontally-oriented YouTube video, I typed in:

Can you please render the above image in a 16×9 aspect ratio?

Okay, just a few more things to tweak…

Zoom in on the four people a bit, showing slightly less background. Also, please fill the 602 club with other people dressed similarly in Starfleet uniforms from Star Trek Enterprise. And finally, remove the greenish reflection from the horizontal tabletop surfaces.

Well, two out of three ain’t bad. The framing remained the same…no zooming in. But lots of officers scattered around the background? Check. Removal of the green in the reflection? Kinda check. There was still some green reflection on the smaller table, but I could fix that in Photoshop—and I did, along with removing the greenish tinge from the hair of the strawberry blonde. And I was easily able to crop the image little tighter myself, which had the added benefit of removing the Gemini watermark (the gray star) from the bottom right.

This entire process took me maybe half an hour—most of that waiting for the renders, which each take a minute or two (which is itself amazing!). I e-mailed the image to Mark along with the following message:

No, seriously, give me something challenging. 

I can animate it, if you’d like.  I can also change the arm patches to any design you provide…

Mark’s response:

Wait.. what?!

Well now I feel stupid. I thought what I was asking you to do was a much heavier lift, but apparently I am even worse at Photoshop and AI than previous estimates indicated. This looks great.

So since you’re offering, yes I will pull together a patch design and get that to you asap.

And while I’m at it, I’ll just go ahead and ask (though this is probably a question I need to ask ChatGPT as well)… is there a way to keep the background and uniforms while they talk and deliver dialogue? Maybe even the dialogue they used on the original footage? I will go ahead and assume that will require multiple steps and programs/apps, but figured I’d pick your brain on it.

Mark emailed me the patch he wanted to use, since these officers were assigned to the U.S.S. Endeavor and not the Enterprise.

So with just one more minor adjustment, I would have the exact photo I needed from Gemini. I uploaded the patch graphic (above) and typed in the following simple prompt…

Please replace the patch that is on the left shoulder of the uniform with a patch that instead looks like the attached image.

And here’s what I got back…

WTF happened??? Seriously, that is the graphic Gemini spit back out at me. I mean, at least it did change the shoulder patches…although they were circular and not ovals and were now on both the left and right sleeves. I had a moment of exasperation as I wondering how to write prompts to get me out of this mess. Then I decided that the tweak was minor enough for me to just do myself in Photoshop. And indeed, I was starting to realize that the occasional manual Photoshop correction might often be the fastest solution to an AI rendering problem—rather than trying to write/prompt your way out of it.

So I went into Photoshop and swapped out the patches myself, keeping the tighter cropping. And while I was there, I also removed lingering greenish reflection on the table and in the strawberry blonde’s hair. This was my final Photoshopped still image…

Meanwhile, about a half hour later, Mark sent over a link to the fans’ entire toasting video clip…

Time to return to Grok. I had now discovered that you could choose to generate either a 6-second or 10-second clip. I would later discover that a user could “extend” a Grok-generated clip to be even longer than 10 seconds, but I didn’t know that just yet. However, simply discovering the 10-second option seemed like divine providence to someone who was struggling to fit his T’Pau speech into just 6 seconds!

With the above still image uploaded to Grok, I typed in the following prompt…

Create a 10-second video of the person standing pouring the final beer and then the four people at the table making a toast.   The toast is being started by the woman sitting on the right. She lifts her glass and says, “To giving those Romulan bastards hell.” And then the rest of the team raises their glasses, as well, and toast as one, “To giving them hell!”   There is no other dialog before the toast, but there is ambient background noise inside the club.

Now, before you watch the video clip that was generated, try to imagine what could possibly go wrong with those instructions I just wrote. It really does seem I thought of everything, doesn’t it? Well, take a look at what I got..

That guy with the pitcher sure does love beer!!! And what the heck happened to his glass halfway through the video? He’s a wizard, he is! Oh, well. We all know that AI isn’t perfect, and we need to be patient and understanding. After all, this was only the first attempt. I could fix this with a better, more thorough prompt. Also, I decided to try to “direct” the actors a little by keeping them happy and optimistic but dialing back their enthusiasm just a bit. Here’s what became my final prompt for this clip…

Create a 10 second video of the person standing pouring the final beer and then the four people at the table making a toast.   The toast is being started by the woman sitting on the right. She lifts her glass and says, “To giving those Romulan bastards hell.” And then the rest of the team raises their glasses, as well, and toast as one, “To giving them hell!”   There is no other dialog before the toast, but there is ambient background noise inside the club. The four officers are enthusiastic about their upcoming mission but still a little nervous becuase they will be heading into battle.   Make sure all four of these people are drinking from their glasses. The person holding the pitcher puts it down on the table first before picking up his glass.

I’ll take it! Granted, there isn’t really any ambient noise in the room, but that can always be added later by Mark during the editing process. And speaking of Mark, he was suitably impressed. He asked if I’d consider tackling another series of clips, this time of Captain Aaron Stiles of the U.S.S. Challenger NX-03. I was thrilled to take on another challenge!

Little did I realize that the time and number of renderings I would have to do in Grok was going to increase about a hundredfold!

Come back next time for the third installment of this AI journey as I focus on a video challenge that couldn’t be solved by simply writing better prompts. But it nevertheless resulted in what I believe is an absolute game-changer of a scene for Star Trek fan films.

Yeah, Artificial Intelligence (AI) will probably steal away jobs, destroy the environment, and eventually turn all humans on the planet into nothing but organic batteries while muscular cyborgs with Austrian accents hunt us down. But until then, AI is doing some truly unbelievable things! Many folks in the fan film community are beginning to use it in their projects. And a couple of months ago, I decided to jump down that rabbit hole. What I’ve managed to create since then is blowing my mind!

I originally began dabbling with AI two years ago when I produced the animated fan film AN ABSENT FRIEND and used AI to recreate the voices of the late LEONARD NIMOY and DeFOREST KELLEY as Spock and McCoy (I got a tacit thumbs up from the Nimoy estate, and Kelley’s voice is no longer owned as he had no children). What absolutely amazed me was that the AI-generated voices could actually act and take direction! And in the time since then, AI’s capabilities and quality have evolved even further. AI still hasn’t achieved “perfection” yet, but acceptance of it as a creative tool is spreading very quickly…even among some of those whose livelihoods were initially threatened by it.

Case in point: my longtime friend ADAM “MOJO” LEBOWITZ—two-time Emmy-winning CGI animator on Babylon 5, DS9, Voyager, and Battlestar Galactica—was staring down the AI “career abyss” a couple of years ago. But instead of just worrying and complaining about AI making his VFX skills obsolete, he decided that he would become an AI expert. He studied the expanding capabilities of countless different AI generators for images, video, audio, etc., applying his own knowledge and experience in the visual effects field to learn how to make AI do what a film producer or director actually wanted rather than what AI thought they wanted. Here’s a sample of some of what Mojo created as he was teaching himself AI. Since then, Mojo has found rewarding employment in the AI pre-viz VFX industry on an upcoming film from Lion’s Gate working as what I like to call the “AI Whisperer.”

And Mojo isn’t the only one. Many fan filmmakers have begun to use AI in their projects in various ways. Don’t even get me started on how many Star Wars fan films are being made entirely using AI—there aren’t enough minutes in the day to report on them all! But some of the Star Trek fan filmmakers who have begun to use AI in their projects include…

SAMUEL COCKINGS

• DESTINY CALLS – Aging and de-aging characters (Sam has done this trick in multiple releases of his TREK SHORTS series in the last couple of years).
• LEGACY RETURNS – When actress ALEXA BROWN wasn’t able to travel to Bedford, England to film her green screen scenes in person, she instead recorded her voice for Sam to combine with an AI avatar of her established character, Captain Joan Keller.
• A MIRROR WITHOUT MERCY – GEORGE KAYAIAN provided the voice of an Andorian tactical officer while AI created the character himself (see the screen-capped image above).

JOSE CEPEDA

CAPTAIN SIMIAN’S FIRST COMMAND not only features multiple live-action “apes” in its cast, but it also uses copious AI-rendered animations to fill out a run time of 2 hours and 15 minutes. These AI insert scenes would have been nearly impossible for a fan production to create in any other practical way.

MARK LARGENT

Mark’s previous 3D animated puppet parodies like THE DUMBSDAY MACHINE took years of work to model, animate, and render. The 4-minute STALLED TREK music video parody SPECIAL KIND OF FOOL, on the other hand, took Mark only 10 days to render with AI (plus a few days before that to have AI create the song based on lyrics that he wrote).

Other recent Star Trek fan films to be done entirely by AI include the hilarious AI MOCK TIME from CHRISTOPHER ROMANO, THROUGH THE IRON VEIL from ELVIS DEANE, and one of my all-time favorites so far, COMPLETELY UNAVOIDABLE, part of a parade of Trek parody musical videos featured on the Out of Context AI YouTube channel. And JOSHUA IRWIN reports that his two upcoming 24th century AVALON UNIVERSE releases will feature AI elements. He also told me: “I’m using Chat GPT as a sounding board to help me write my Avalon Universe ‘All Good Things’ script for 2028.”

And that brings us to me. After using ElevenLabs‘s AI speech generator to make the voices for my animated fan film, my use of AI for the next two years was minimal, at best. I asked ChatGPT a few questions here and there, I generated a few memes for Facebook, and I used it last year to create some background music for a few videos for my son’s robotics team. I knew that others were beginning to utilize AI for a growing number of truly impressive (and not so impressive) film projects, but starting that learning curve just didn’t seem worth it to me. I had other things to keep me busy.

Then I got a call from MARK NACCARATO of Tennessee. As some of you might remember, Mark is the showrunner, writer, and producer of THE ROMULAN WAR, PART I (and he’s still working to complete and release PART II).

Back in the days before COVID, I used to help Mark with some of his WAR STORIES short films. He’d ask me to do relatively quick favors for him by using my Photoshop skills to put one of his actor’s heads on a still image from Star Trek: Enterprise for him to use as a visual image over a log entry or narration for one of his mockumentaries. Here’s two examples of what I would do for him…

I assumed that Mark was now calling to ask me for more of the same—and indeed he was. But this time, the job was a bit more challenging. He needed a young T’Pau (from the Vulcan trilogy of Star Trek: Enterprise during season four) giving a speech to the Vulcan Council with Soval standing in the background.

¡Ay, carumba! That was certainly a tall order!!!

I looked at clips from those three Vulcan episodes, and the young T’Pau spends nearly all of her time wearing something very plain and somewhat ragged. Only at the very end of the final episode is she wearing anything even close to ornate and ceremonial. And the sole decent screen cap I could find wasn’t particularly conducive to creating a “giving a speech” image in Photoshop…

Beyond that, I started wondering how in heck I would add in a Vulcan Council chamber and dozens or more Vulcans to the shot. Maybe I could use the scene from the 2009 JJ Trek movie where Spock turns down admission to the Vulcan Science Academy, but I had no idea how to fill it with dozens or more Vulcans!

You can probably see where this is going, and so I asked Mark, “Would you have any objections if I used AI to generate something?” Some people do object to using AI for a creative project. When I was creating my animated short film with Spock and McCoy, the first person I approached to compose some music for it politely declined, as he didn’t want his name associated with a a project that used AI. And I completely understood his resistance.

However, Mark was fine giving it a shot, and so all I needed now was to figure out how to do it. So I reached out to the aforementioned Mojo to ask the “AI Whisperer” if he could give me some sage advice on where to begin my AI trek. Mojo recommended first generating a still image using Google Gemini and then, once I had something that I liked, taking that image into Grok to turn it into a video. Both have very simple, straightforward interfaces. (I should mention that Google “outsources” its image generating tasks to another AI engine called Nano Banana, but that’s deeper in the weeds than most of my readers will need to know about.)

So I fed a screen capture of young T’Pau into Gemini, another shot of Soval, and I asked it to render an image of this Vulcan woman (Gemini knows Vulcans have pointed ears and eyebrows) wearing a formal Vulcan robe adorned with Vulcan lettering down the front, giving a speech to a council of Vulcan dignitaries in a chamber on the planet Vulcan with Ambassador Soval standing by her side. AI, I was told, prefers a lot of specifics and details.

Gemini went through a several render iterations and produced some interesting angles, including the front, side, and back (if you don’t tell AI exactly what you want, it kinda does its own thing). One of my biggest frustrations was the ornamental Vulcan lettering on T’Pau’s robe. While the symbols looked Vulcan enough, they appeared on a diagonal sash like a Klingon would wear, but a Vulcan wouldn’t. Then, when I told it to make the letters go straight down, I got something that looked like this…

It took about half a dozen prompts to finally get the sash and letters to go straight down (well, mostly straight down…see video below).

Then I uploaded a series of those AI-generated images from various different angles into Grok and asked it to create a video clip panning around the Vulcan woman delivering a speech warning about the dangers posed by the mysterious Romulan Empire while the male Vulcan Soval is standing beside her.

After about two dozen renderings that included multiple versions of T’Pau speaking an AI-generated speech that I did not write (I didn’t even realize there would be sound if I didn’t ask for it!), I combined two of the best 6-second takes into this 13-second clip…

Despite working on this project over the course of a couple of days with many frustrating results along the way, this was actually pretty fun! And while I worried that the voices during the two segments didn’t quite match, Mark said there would be a voice-over narration playing during these clips in the eventual fan film, so no one will hear T’Pau’s actual voice in the finished product.

The only bummer to this otherwise-exciting exercise is that Grok requires a monthly minimum subscription of $30 (and options go higher from there—their next tier is $300/month!!!). On the other hand, considering the unbelievable things that this technology is capable of, thirty bucks seems like an amazing bargain!

With a few weeks still left on the $30 subscription (which Mark reimbursed me for), I suggested he try to get his money’s worth and give me another clip to generate. And that’s when things started getting really interesting…!

Come back next time for part 2 where I’ll show you another video clip that I created with the help of AI and tell you, step by step, exactly how I generated it. Whether or not you’ve used AI tools yet, it’s really fascinating to see how these projects can be done and the sometimes-unexpected results you get.

It was during San Diego Comic-Con back in 2014 when Star Trek fans first got to see PRELUDE TO AXANAR. Now in 2026, twelve years later(!!!), the first of the two Axanar sequels, THE GATHERING STORM, will make its debut with a special press screening in San Diego on July 26, the Sunday of this year’s Comic-Con!

The venue will be the Digital Gym Cinema—one of the only nearby theaters available for rental—which is located less than a mile from the San Diego Convention Center where Comic-Con happens. The first press screening will start around 2pm (and yes, I plan to be there!) with additional screenings taking place afterwards to allow more people into the 54-seat auditorium. Showings of Prelude to Axanar and The Gathering Storm will run continuously between 2pm and 6pm and will be free for anyone who shows up. Members of the cast and production crew will be in attendance, as well, hanging out to talk with donors, supporters, fans, or anyone who decides to show up.

Back in January of this year, after attending a sound-mixing session for The Gathering Storm in Encino, CA (northwest of L.A.), I confidently blogged that the first of the completed Axanar sequels would finally be released before springtime. The observant amongst you may have realized that July 26 is not the beginning of spring. So what the heck happened?

I decided to ask Alec Peters directly…

JONATHAN – Alec, you told me that the release of The Gathering Storm would happen in early March. I saw the entire fan film completed during the audio mixing session. It was frickin’ DONE, Alec! Why the extra four-month delay?

ALEC – We had some delays in the color correction process, which should have been two weeks, and it turned into three months!  Our post-production pipeline wasn’t really efficient, and so we basically started over. And thankfully, DANA WAGNER once again came through for us and took over the color correction, and it worked out great in the end.  

JONATHAN: And it’s really, really done, right? It’s a two-hour drive from L.A. down to San Diego—and there’s gonna be ridiculous traffic because of Comic-Con. Each way! This could be 6-7 hours in my car that day! Please tell me I’m not gonna make that drive just to be disappointed…

ALEC – Oh, trust me, you will NOT be disappointed. Yes, The Gathering Storm is completely done. And yes, the theater has been rented and the contracts signed. 

JONATHAN – Yay…finally!!! But I heard there might be some issues with releasing The Gathering Storm onto YouTube. I thought you had a legal settlement with CBS and Paramount. What’s the issue?

ALEC – I don’t want to go into too much detail because there are lawyers involved, but those lawyers are being a-holes. And yes, we have a settlement agreement. And it looks like Paramount is happy to honor that agreement, but certain people on the CBS side are deciding to be pricks.

JONATHAN – Are you trying to resolve it?

ALEC – Yes, but I can’t go into specifics just yet.

JONATHAN – What if you can’t get permission to post The Gathering Storm on YouTube or Vimeo or the other online video platforms by July 26? How will fans and supporters and donors be able to finally see it?

ALEC – We will be uploading The Gathering Storm and give it away as a free download to EVERYONE.  We are starting to do that with the two other films CBS illegally had taken down last year: THE ICARUS MANEUVER and DAEDALUS. CBS can’t remove it from a site that we ourselves own.

Don’t worry, fans will be able to see this amazing film online. It just might take a little extra time for it to get to YouTube.

JONATHAN – Speaking of time, what about the second of the two sequels? What’s that one going to be called, and when will fans have an opportunity to see it?

ALEC – The final installment in the Axanar trilogy will be calle CRUCIBLE. Prelude to Axanar was episode 3 of “The Four Years War”; The Gathering Storm is episode 4; and this final one will be episode 5. And before anyone asks, there is no episode 1 or 2. When we made Prelude, it was supposed to be a proof-of-concept one-off. So we pretended it was one of a series of documentaries detailing the events of the Four Years War between the Federation and the Klingons, which culminated with the Battle of Axanar. But since we’re only allowed to make two more Axanar fan films, we decided that episodes 1 and 2 will just have to be left to people’s imaginations.

As for a date of release, we’re hoping for December of this year. But nothing is set in stone yet. I will say that all of the actor footage for that film is in the can, but we’re still working on compositing and the VFX shots. That finale is going to blow people away with how much VFX is in it!

JONATHAN – Will you be having a special theatrical premiere for that release, as well?

ALEC – Yes, but we’re not sure where yet. It’s possible it won’t even be in the U.S. As you know, Axanar fans are international. But we’ll see.

JONATHAN – You mentioned in a recent podcast that the incredible USS Ares bridge set will finally be coming down after nearly a decade. Why now?

ALEC – Over the last twelve years, I’ve put hundreds of thousands of dollars of my own money into this project on top of what we raised from fans. And we’ve had our amazing angel producers, DAVE LANYON and GUDNI GUDNASON generously helping Axanar get over the finish line. But the studio itself still has monthly rent in the thousands that I have to pay out of pocket, and with the project finally completed, I just can’t justify the ongoing expense of keeping Ares Studios open.

JONATHAN – So what will happen to these awesome set pieces? Is there any way to save them? Or are they all going into the dumpster or some big bonfire?

ALEC – I’m not sure yet, honestly. Maybe someone wants to take them off my hands and will pay to transport them somewhere they can store them. Maybe I’ll try to keep just a small portion of the set pieces so fans can film the helm, captain’s chair, and a few of the back consoles and turbolift. But we won’t have space to keep an entire 360-degree bridge set intact, I’m sorry to say. All good things…

JONATHAN – Okay, to finish up, from inception in 2010 until now, this project has has taken up nearly one-quarter of your 65-year life, Alec. With all of the emotions that I’m sure you’ve felt over these past dozen years, how does it feel to finally be able to say to everyone, “Yeah, it’s finally done…”?

ALEC – Short answer: it feels great. As you said, this has been like a mythical quest for the last twelve years, with mountains to climb, dragons to slay, and two Fortune 500 corporations suing us for a full year trying to kill our production. We had to deal with a move across the country, finishing construction on the bridge set, a COVID shutdown, two fired directors, and more obstacles than I can count. But through it all, I never gave up on the dream, and neither did you or thousands of fans and supporters all over the world. And now, all of that patience and dedication and hard work is coming to a completion.

Prelude to Axanar set the Star Trek world on fire in 2014 when there was no official Star Trek on TV anymore.  With the end of the divisive ALEX KURTZMAN era at hand, I think the next two installments of Axanar are coming out at the perfect time. I truly believe that people will watch these two sequel films and be reminded of how good Star Trek can be.

And that, to me, is the thing that matters the most at the end of this long journey.

The Star Trek fan film guidelines specify the maximum length of a Star Trek fan film to be at most two 15-minute shorts. Oh, yeah, Paramount and CBS??? Well, you’ve never dealt with a talking monkey sitting the center seat of a starship!

CAPTAIN SIMIAN’S FIRST COMMAND from the fine and friendly folks at NATURE’S HUNGER is a whopping two hours and fifteen minutes long! That’s an even higher run time than their two hour and five minute release BOMBER GIRL from last year. But while that previous fan film crossed over Star Trek with a World War II storyline, Captain Simian goes in an entirely different direction taking Star Trek on a collision course with The Planet of the Apes franchise.

I know…it’s bananas!!!

But that’s just how showrunner JOSE CEPEDA and his gang roll. Nature’s Hunger has always been a quirky fan series, having previously mashed up Star Trek and The Wizard of Oz, of all things (Dorothy joins Starfleet!). But throughout it all, Jose and his team bring passion, dedication, and love of both Star Trek and filmmaking to each of their productions.

This latest release breaks new ground not only in terms of make-up (the ape masks are really well done) but also for bringing in an extensive amount of AI (Artificial Intelligence) to generate footage that would have been impractical or even impossible to create on a humble fan film budget. Granted, the AI is animated while the rest of the film is live-action, so you kinda have to adjust your brain when you watch those parts. But it’s still a very ambitious fan film project to undertake. My congratulations to the entire team.

Take a look at what they produced…

And speaking of the entire team, I had the opportunity to interview a full gaggle of them recently, and it was a lot of fun. These folks from Atlanta, GA are some of the nicest people in our community and have a bunch of really great stories to tell. After you watch the two-plus hours of Captain Simian (above), take another 90 minutes out of your life to watch this great interview. You’ve got four hours of your life to spare, right…?

Submissions for the 2026 Star Trek Fan Film SHOWRUNNER AWARDS are now complete. The window of eligibility to enter this year was any Trek fan film released between January 1, 2023 and December 31, 2025—although the majority of our submissions were released last year. The longer window allows fan films that didn’t win previously due to stiff competition a “second chance” and even a third one to take home an award—although once an entry wins in a category, it is no longer eligible to earn an additional award in that same category.

This year, we have 23 entries combining for a total of just under 10 hours of viewing for our 12 showrunner judges. For comparison, last year we had 24 entries and the year before there were 27 entires, each with a combined runtime of just under 9 hours. So we decreased by one submission but increased by an entire hour! If you’re curious as to why, spoiler alert: one of our submissions has a run time of 2 hours and 15 minutes just by itself!)

As we’ve done for the previous two years, the winners will be announced on Star Trek‘s anniversary of September 8, 2026. There are 22 categories with three winners in each category: Admiral, Captain, and Commander level. I salute all of our 23 entrants for 2026, and I wish each of them the best of luck. (Honestly, I wish they ALL could win!)

I realize that I say this every year, but once again, we have some really amazing Star Trek fan films this time—of all different runtimes—that cover the gamut from comedic to dramatic to suspenseful to thoughtful to parody/farce. Some are episodes of ongoing fan or fanthology series, others are stand-alone releases. There are fan films shot on sets, on location, on green screens, some with heavy VFX, some light on VFX, a few with elaborate make-up and costuming, cool props, and several really standout acting performances and even original music. We truly have some of the best of the best that the world of Star Trek fan films has to offer this year!

So I strongly encourage you to watch as many of these marvelous productions as you can. Here are all of our entries for 2026 alphabetically by title (with the fan series indicated where applicable)…

BROKEN MIRROR (DREADNOUGHT DOMINION)

CAPTAIN SIMIAN’S FIRST COMMAND (NATURE’S HUNGER)

THE CASSANDRA EFFECT (USS CASSANDRA)

THE DUMBSDAY MACHINE (STALLED TREK)

FARRAGUT 2024

FIGHT FOR THE FUTURE (TREK SHORTS)

THE GREAT EXPERIMENT (TREK SHORTS)

THE HIVE

THE ICARUS MANEUVER (AXANAR UNIVERSE)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Rs5nKJ4RHMo1mQIvj_BcAoQOoYZox-Q_/view?usp=sharing

TO KNOW THINE ENEMY (TREK SHORTS)

LORELEY – PART III: ERSTKONKT (FIRST CONTACT)

MIND LEECH (THE FEDERATION FILES)

REALITY BURNS (TREK SHORTS)

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN – PRODIGY RECKONING (EPISODE 4)

SECOND STAR TO THE LEFT (TALES FROM THE NEUTRAL ZONE)

SLIPSTREAM (THE FEDERATION FILES)

SMOKE AND MIRRORS (WARBIRD VALDORE)

STARCHILD, BUT EVERYONE IS TYLER DUNIVAN

TASK FORCE 78: CAPTAIN ROTH IS IN DEEP MUDD

TASK FORCE 78: WHERE DO YOU GO?

TASK FORCE 78 – PHASE II: DR. TODD’S DECISION

TIME AND TIME AGAIN (STAR TREK FAN PRODUCTIONS INTERNATIONAL)

WHAT’S NEXT (SCI-FI SHORTS)

The submission window for the 2026 Star Trek Fan Film SHOWRUNNER AWARDS is now open and will remain so until midnight Pacific Time on May 31, 2025. Any Star Trek fan film released publicly between January 1, 2023 and December 31, 2025 is eligible for entry regardless of the person or team producing it.

The online entry form is located here…

https://www.cognitoforms.com/JonathanLane1/_2026StarTrekFanFilmSHOWRUNNERAWARDS

As usual, our judging panel remains at twelve, made up of people who have, themselves, served as showrunners on one or more fan films or series. This provides each judge a unique and personal perspective on what goes into making a fan production in our nearly two-dozen categories. In other words, our judges are knowledgeable and experienced in filmmaking which, I truly believe, brings a high level of expertise to our competition—along with our sister contest, the DIRECTORS CHOICE AWARDS, which just wrapped up earlier this month.

And it is for this reason that, each year, I publish a blog spotlighting our judging panel and what they have accomplished in the world of Star Trek fan films specifically. We’ve got two new judges this year plus one “swap.” The swap is GLEN L. WOLFE for DAN REYNOLDS. They are the co-owners of WARP 66 STUDIOS in northern Arkansas and the co-showrunners of THE FEDERATION FILES fanthology series. Each year, one of the two of them “tags out” to give the other a turn. So in 20256, Glen will be taking over Dan’s spot, who in turn took over Glen’s spot in last year’s competition.

Our two new judges are both from “across the pond” in Europe. One is relatively new to being a showrunner, although he’s already had a multi-year career in Star Trek fan films. The other is a bit of a legend and someone whom I’ve been trying to talk into being a Showrunner Awards judge since we first launched this endeavor five years ago…

THOMAS ARGANTE – USS CASSANDRA

The first of our two new judges this year is THOMAS ARGANTE from The Netherlands. Over the past half-decade, he has made multiple guest appearances in fan series productions from DREADNOUGHT DOMINION, PROJECT: RUNABOUT, and THE CONSTAR CHRONICLES. But within the past year, he and a team of Dutch Trekkers have begun building a number of TOS-era sets, and they’ve released the first two episodes of Holland’s newest Star Trek fan series, USS CASSANDRA. Thomas brings a fresh pair of eyes to the showrunner awards with a European perspective, and we’re really looking forward to having his as a judge.

JOSE CEPEDA – NATURE’S HUNGER

Returning for a third year, JOSE CEPEDA lives near Atlanta, GA and is the showrunner of the wild ‘n’ whacky NATURE’S HUNGER fan series, which has been going non-stop since 2010 with dozens of releases…the more recent ones shot in Jose’s basement, which is filled with amazing TOS set recreations. Jose has also made cameo appearances as his character of Captain Ramses of the U.S.S. Crusader in a whole slew of different fan series. This year, Jose’s two-plus hour mega-project  CAPTAIN SIMIAN’S FIRST COMMAND will likely be in consideration as a Showrunner Awards entry. And while Jose can’t vote for his own submission in any of the top three-of-five ranked spots on his ballot, I anticipate this unique fan production will nevertheless be a tough competitor.

SAMUEL COCKINGS – TREK SHORTS and TEMPORAL ANOMALY

A returning judge for a fifth year, SAM COCKINGS from the U.K. is a fan film factory! To list all the projects that Sam has created CGI animations for (both his own and for others) would take up far too many electrons for a single blog. Focusing simply on Sam’s own projects, he wrote and directed (and did almost everything else for but act in) the 52-minute TEMPORAL ANOMALY, which premiered in 2019. More recently, Sam’s fanthology series TREK SHORTS (which he also occasionally acts in) has topped THIRTY total releases over the past five years! And all of them feature Sam’s signature jaw-dropping CGI visual effects. Some of those films will likely be in contention this year. And in addition to all of the above, Sam is also the co-host of the TREKYARDS podcast. Sam is one busy Brit!

NICK COOK – INTREPID

Our second brand new judge is anything but new when it comes to producing Star Trek fan films. Indeed, Scotland-based NICK COOK and his team began production on the first episode of STAR TREK: INTREPID way back in 2003, although it was not completed and released until 2007. But since then, Intrepid has released more than a dozen episodes, plus an additional three crossover fan films with STAR TREK: HIDDEN FRONTIER. Add to all of this multiple appearances by Nick’s character of Daniel Hunter at various points in his long Starfleet career as part of releases from Samuel Cockings’ aforementioned Trek Shorts fanthology series. If anyone knows what it means to be a showrunner and produce complex Star Trek fan films, it’s this bloke!

JOSHUA IRWIN – THE AVALON UNIVERSE

Back for a fifth year and based in northwest Arkansas, judge JOSHUA IRWIN actually went to film school and has worked in the entertainment industry for decades…which is why his AVALON UNIVERSE fan films look so polished and professional. With more than a dozen Avalon Universe fan films completed and released in less than six years, Josh also has the footage for a final release already “in the can” that will wrap up the expansive Avalon saga…at least in the 23rd century. And he’s already gotten deep into a 24th century Avalon Universe sequel series! In addition, Josh has helped out MANY other fan filmmakers with their projects (directing, editing, cinematography, etc.), including myself on INTERLUDE, VANCE MAJOR on CONSTAR, and most recently RAY TESI on numerous TALES FROM THE NEUTRAL ZONE. This year, Josh has quite a few new fan films that are eligible. It’ll be interesting to see which are entered and how they do!

JONATHAN LANE – INTERLUDE and AN ABSENT FRIEND

Based in Los Angeles, California, JONATHAN LANE (that’s me) began blogging about Star Trek fan films in 2015 on the AXANAR website and started FAN FILM FACTOR at the beginning of 2016. But it would be three more years before I decided to write and produce a fan film of my own. INTERLUDE was actually a fan film of a fan film, a sequel to PRELUDE TO AXANAR. But my real goal was always to learn more about the process of creating a fan film and to blog about it. With a cast and crew of more than 55 people, Interlude debuted in 2021 and inspired dozens of behind-the-scenes blogs covering everything from crowd-funding to pre-production, production, and post-production. My second Star Trek fan film, the Filmation animation-style AN ABSENT FRIEND, was released in 2024 and used A.I. to recreate the voices of beloved late actors LEONARD NIMOY and DeFOREST KELLEY in their iconic roles of Spock and McCoy.

MARK LARGENT – STALLED TREK

Based in Dallas, Texas, returning judge MARK LARGENT is the brilliant and incredibly talented mind behind the STALLED TREK series of 3D animated puppet parodies that began with “AMUTT TIME” back in 2012. Four years later, Mark and I collaborated to create a Stalled Trek parody of the Axanar lawsuit titled PRELUDE TO AX’D-WE-ARE. In late 2019, Mark released a Stalled Trek short titled “ALL AHEAD FULL.” Most recently, Mark released his hilarious and award-winning crowd-funded puppet parody, “THE CITY ON THE EDGE OF FORECLOSURE.” And if you haven’t had enough of those parody puppets, last year Mark released his latest masterpiece, “THE DUMBSDAY MACHINE,” which has won numerous film festival awards and will probably be entered into the Showrunner Awards this year…right, Mark?

VANCE MAJOR – CONSTAR

Returning to our judging panel, Kansas-based VANCE MAJOR revolutionized the world of Star Trek fan films by boldly making grassroots-quality productions with little more than a script, a cell phone camera, and (maybe) a uniform…or a hoodie. Sometimes Vance would luck out and shoot on a TOS set in Oklahoma, Arkansas, or Georgia. But more often than not, it was just a room in his house or a park in his town—with the story being the most important element. Vance produced and/or was involved in nearly 150 CONSTAR saga fan films telling the story of his character Erick Minard, and he has cameoed in countless other fan films and series. Vance has been an inspiration to innumerable fan filmmakers for his “just do it and let the critics be damned” attitude toward creating his projects.

BRIAN W. PETERSON – THE LOST STARSHIP

Returning for a third year as a showrunner judge, Kansas-based BRIAN W. PETERSON made his debut in 2023 with the excellent THE LOST STARSHIP, which he wrote, produced, and appeared in as an extra. That project was so successful that it won an ultra-impressive THIRTEEN different awards in 2024’s Showrunner Awards competition (second only to Josh Irwin’s CRISIS ON INFINITE EXCALIBURS with 18 wins at various tiers). Released under the banner of the fanthology series TALES FROM THE NEUTRAL ZONE, The Lost Starship film was produced as a collaboration between NEUTRAL ZONE STUDIOS and AVALON UNIVERSE. Brian is also a published author with five novels under his belt (two of them sci-fi). Brian is planning to write and produce more fan films going forward, which is good news for fans!

BENJAMIN SCHULZ – LORELEY

If you’re one of those Trekkers who doesn’t watch fan films that require subtitle translations, then you’re really missing out when it comes to the LORELEY fan series. This German production debuted their first full-length fan film in early 2022, and their latest release, Loreley – A STAR TREK Fan Production “PART III: ERSTKONTAKT” from last year, just took the BEST STAR TREK FAN FILM Award, at this year’s Director’s Choice Awards. Multiple Lorely releases are eligible for the 2026 Showrunner Awards. Their costumes, lighting, camera work, make-up, green screen compositing, and visual effects are simply spectacular and certainly worth checking out. Benjamin, along with his filmmaking partner HEIKO THIES, oversees most of this well-oiled operation, so he certainly knows what goes into making a quality Star Trek fan film.

GLEN L. WOLFE – THE FEDERATION FILES and WARP 66 STUDIOS

Returning to judge after taking a sabbatical last year, GLEN L. WOLFE lives in northern Arkansas and is the co-owner of WARP 66 STUDIOS, a collection of TOS-era starship sets that have been used for numerous Star Trek fan films. Along with his showrunning partner DAN REYNOLDS, Glen has helped create more than a dozen episodes of their fanthology series, THE FEDERATION FILES. Glen is affectionately known (by me, at least) as the “Where’s Waldo of Star Trek fan films,” having appeared in and/or helped other filmmakers make countless fan films and series over the last couple of decades.

RANDY WRENN – DREADNOUGHT DOMINION (and more!)

While his production partner GARY DAVIS is busy helping to get NEUTRAL ZONE STUDIOS back up an running in Gary’s home state of Ohio, North Carolina-based RANDY WRENN is retuning for a fifth year as a judge. Both men have been the co-showrunners, writers, directors, and stars of DREADNOUGHT DOMINION for a decade…although they have now both stepped behind the camera for the foreseeable future (well, except in the Mirror Universe, that is). They have also spun off the new fan series PROJECT: RUNABOUT and WARBIRD VALDORE, the latter being the first (that I know of) fan series to be produced entirely from the point of view of the crew of a Romulan vessel and crew. I fully expect entries from all three series in this year’s Showrunner Awards.

And that’s our twelve judges, all looking forward to viewing some really FANtastic Star Trek fan films! Once again, here’s the link to the submission page…

https://www.cognitoforms.com/JonathanLane1/_2026StarTrekFanFilmSHOWRUNNERAWARDS

Earlier this month, the winners of this year’s DIRECTORS CHOICE AWARDS were announced. Now it’s time for fan filmmakers to submit their work for the other major award competition dedicated exclusively to productions judged by their peers—the annual SHOWRUNNER AWARDS.

Unlike the Directors Choice Awards, which are open to fan films from any genre, the Showrunner Awards focus EXCLUSIVELY on Star Trek fan films…allowing our little niche of a niche of a niche to shine as well as providing a friendly venue for Star Trek fan filmmakers to compete directly against each other.

As the name implies, the judging panel for the Showrunner Awards is made up of a dozen volunteer fan film showrunners, and I’ll spotlight them in an upcoming blog. Another unique aspect of the Showrunner Awards is that each of our nearly two-dozen categories recognizes THREE winners, with the top film in that category earning an Admiral Award, the second-place finisher receiving a Captain Award, and the third highest judged film winning a Commander Award. Each award is personalized for that fan film and sent to the entrant as a digital printable certificate.

A final element that distinguishes the Showrunner Awards is that the eligibility window for submission is more than just a single year. Last go-around, we reduced that window from five years down to three. So this time, any Star Trek fan film released between January 1, 2023 and December 31, 2025 is eligible to be entered. This allows for a fan film that may not have won in a previous year (because of strong competition) additional chances to earn an award—although no film is allowed to win twice in the same category. Also, the multi-year window allows a fan filmmaker who wasn’t previously aware of the Showrunner Awards to enter a slightly older project rather than missing out completely.

As always, the cost is $10 per entry plus $1 for each category beyond Best Fan Film that the submitter wishes to enter—things like Best Director, Best Actor/Actress, Best VFX, Best Music, etc.

The submission period is open from today through May 31, 2025. After that, judges will have until the middle of August to view and vote for their top five fan films in each category, with the most points going to each judge’s top choices. (A showrunner judge is not allowed to vote for any of their own fan films in any of their top three slots.) Winners will be announced, as usual, on September 8, the anniversary of the first airing of Star Trek on NBC back in 1966.

Anyone can submit a nomination using the following form page:

https://www.cognitoforms.com/JonathanLane1/_2026StarTrekFanFilmSHOWRUNNERAWARDS

Good luck!

The annual DIRECTORS CHOICE AWARDS have returned for a fifth year to announce their winners for fan films released during calendar year 2025. If you’re a fan filmmaker and want your production judged by a jury of your peers, there are currently two options. One is the Directors Choice Awards, and the other show, the SHOWRUNNER AWARDS, is limited exclusively to Star Trek fan films.

However, the Directors Choice Awards, hosted and organized by GLEN L. WOLFE and DAN REYNOLDS, co-owners of WARP 66 STUDIOS in northern Arkansas, are open to fan films from all genres of sci-fi, fantasy, superhero, and horror. And that makes for a pretty extensive list of entries.

This year, the competition had 40 fan film submissions from around the world, a slight drop from last year’s 55 entries. As usual, the judges for the Directors Choice Awards were the directors of the fan films that were entered. All judges were expected to watch each of the submitted fan films before voting, which—I can tell you from personal experience as a judge myself last year—can be a commitment of many, many hours of viewing!

Genres this year included the old familiar standards like Star Trek, Star Wars, superhero, horror, Indiana Jones, Alien, and the original Battlestar Galactica…plus some newcomers we haven’t seen before like Logan’s Run, Blade Runner, Transformers, Max Payne, Jaws, and The Hunger Games. For a list of all the fan films that were entered, all of the nominees in each category, and all the winners, you can watch their presentation video.

Below is a list that was announced yesterday of all the winners and runners up in each of the categories, along with YouTube links to those specific fan films…

BEST DIRECTOR

Winner:
Farragut 2024
Joshua Irwin

Runner Up:
Echoes of Darkness: A Star Wars Fan Film
Gary Scullion

BEST ACTOR

Winner:
Blind Faith
Tucker Vaughn as Matt Murdock

Runner Up:
Max Payne: Perdition
Daniel D. Lopez as Max Payne

BEST ACTRESS

Winner:
Alien Lost Transmission
Gabriela Fuentes

Runner Up:
Power Girl (a Fan Film)
Elissa Strange as Power Girl

BEST HAIR/ MAKE-UP

Winner:
Logan’s Legacy
Faith Lymburner

Runner Up:
What’s Next
Candace Lambert

BEST AUDIO MIXING

Winner:
Loreley – A STAR TREK Fan Production “PART III: ERSTKONTAKT”

Runners Up:
Task Force 78 – Phase II: Dr. Todd’s Decision
Steve “Hairy” Harris

Star Wars: The Battle of Takodana Revisited
Ty Baker

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Winner:
Blind Faith
Bryson Sams

Runner Up:
Echoes of Darkness: A Star Wars Fan Film

BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC

Winner:
Blind Faith
Sam Cannon

Runner Up:
Loreley – A STAR TREK Fan Production “PART III: ERSTKONTAKT”
Michael Donner

BEST F/X MAKE-UP

Winner:
Batman Beyond

Runner Up:
Captain Simian’s First Command
Clay Sayre

BEST ORIGINAL COSTUMING

Winner:
The Stranded Warrior

Runner Up:
Farragut 2024

BEST ANIMATED

Winner:
Cybertron Falls: Till All Are One

Runner Up:
Mad Max Apocolypse

BEST SETS

Winner:
Farragut 2024

Runner Up:
Alien Lost Transmission

BEST CGI

Winner:
Echoes of Darkness: A Star Wars Fan Film

Runner Up:
Loreley – A STAR TREK Fan Production “PART III: ERSTKONTAKT”

BEST GREEN SCREEN

Winner:
Loreley – A STAR TREK Fan Production “PART III: ERSTKONTAKT”

Runner Up:
To Know Thine Enemy – A Star Trek Fan Production

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY

Winner
Power Girl (a Fan Film)

Runner Up:
The 51st Hunger Games

BEST LIGHTING

Winner:
Alien Lost Transmission

Runner Up:
Mindleech
Joshua Irwin

BEST COMEDY/PARODY

Winner:
Dirty Santa

Runner Up:
Batman & Robin: Day of Justice – A Batman Fan Film

BEST HORROR

Winner:
Halloween Descends

Runner Up:
El Coco de Haddonfield (Halloween Fan- Film) Short

BEST SCREENPLAY

Winner:
Echoes of Darkness: A Star Wars Fan Film

Runner Up:
Second Star to the LEFT
Ruth McCartney

MOST CANON

Winner:
Judged By

Runner Up:
Alien Lost Transmission

BEST ENSEMBLE

Winner:
Echoes of Darkness: A Star Wars Fan Film

Runner Up:
Dawn of the Clone Wars: A Star Wars Fan Film – Official Teaser

BEST EDITING

Winner:
Echoes of Darkness: A Star Wars Fan Film

Runner Up:
What’s Next
Dan R. Reynolds

BEST PORTRAYAL OF EXISTING CHARACTER

Winner:
Blind Faith
Tucker Vaughn as Matt Murdock

Runner Up:
Jaws (2025) Feature Fan Film
Tim Baker as Quint

BEST ON-LOCATION SCENE

Winner:
Batman: Masks
Garage Set – Brooklyn Optics in Brooklyn, NY

Runner Up:
Dawn of the Clone Wars: A Star Wars Fan Film – Official Teaser
Goblin Valley, UT

BEST PLOT TWIST

Winner:
Second Star to the LEFT

Runner Up:
Batman Beyond

BEST TRAILER

Winner:
Dawn of the Clone Wars: A Star Wars Fan Film – Official Teaser

Runner Up:
Do Androids Dream? A Blade Runner Fan Film

BEST POSTER

Winner:
El Coco de Haddonfield (Halloween Fan- Film) Short

Runner Up:
Batman & Robin: Day of Justice – A Batman Fan Film

BEST DOMESTIC FILM

Winner:
Alien Lost Transmission

BEST FOREIGN FILM

Winner:
Echoes of Darkness: A Star Wars Fan Film

BEST ALIEN FAN FILM

Winner:
Alien Lost Transmission

BEST BAD SANTA FAN FILM

Winner:
Dirty Santa

BEST BATMAN FAN FILM

Winner:
Batman Beyond

BEST BATTLESTAR GALACTICA FAN FILM

Winner:
The Stranded Warrior

BEST BLADE RUNNER FAN FILM

Winner:
Do Androids Dream? A Blade Runner Fan Film

BEST DAREDEVIL FAN FILM

Winner:
Blind Faith

BEST HALLOWEEN FAN FILM

Winner:
Halloween Descends

BEST HUNGER GAMES FAN FILM

Winner:
The 51st Hunger Games

BEST INDIANA JONES FAN FILM

Indiana Jones Fan Film (2025)

BEST JAWS FAN FILM

Winner:
Jaws (2025) Feature Fan Film

BEST JUDGE DREDD FAN FILM

Winner:
Judged By

BEST MAX PAYNE FAN FILM

Winner:
Max Payne: Perdition

BEST POWER GIRL FAN FILM

Winner:
Power Girl (a Fan Film)

BEST STAR TREK FAN FILM

Winner:
Loreley – A STAR TREK Fan Production “PART III: ERSTKONTAKT”

BEST STAR WARS FAN FILM

Winner:
Echoes of Darkness: A Star Wars Fan Film

BEST TRANSFORMERS FILM

Winner:
Cybertron Falls: Till All Are One

BEST IN FEST

Winner of a $250 prize:
Echoes of Darkness: A Star Wars Fan Film

It was nearly twelve years ago when ALEC PETERS, MARK EDWARD LEWIS, and a bunch of members of the production team of PRELUDE TO AXANAR sat together inside a the SOL 7 sound studio in Encino, CA while the sound levels of that groundbreaking fan film were mixed together and equalized.

It is now 2026, and the sequel that fans have been waiting a dozen years to see is now mere weeks from release! Oh, I know what some of yoou are thinking: We’ve heard THAT one before! “Thirty days out…yeah, right!” was the frequent taunt from detractors as the release date of the two AXANAR sequels (permitted by the 2017 legal settlement with CBS and Paramount) slipped later and later and later still—years later, in fact!

So what makes this time different? Why am I confident enough to state on this blog that I firmly believe that AXANAR: THE GATHERING STORM (the first of the two sequels) will be released to fans before the seasons change from winter to spring in 2026?

Because I’ve just watched the entire thing!!!

With the exception of a handful of shots of two of the actors that haven’t been composited yet to replace the green screen with a CGI-generated digital background (maybe a total of less than 3% of entire film), it’s done. All of the incredible VFX shots, every sound effect, all of the digital readout display animations, the opening credits, the closing credits, the voice-over narration of John Gil, and most of all, the sumptuous musical score composed by the identical twin LIVESAY brothers, JASON and NOLAN. (These guys have worked on and orchestrated multiple big-name Hollywood film, TV, and video projects—including STAR TREK: PICARD, DISCOVERY, STRANGE NEW WORLDS, THE ORVILLE, DAREDEVIL, X-MEN, and a host of others. And now they’ve given Axanar one of the greatest soundtracks in fan film history, at least in my opinion.)

I’ll be honest with you, when I first saw a rough cut of Axanar: The Gathering Storm last year, I wasn’t nearly as impressed as I’d hoped to be. The acting was certainly quite decent, and those VFX shots that had been completed looked spectacular. But it all felt kinda flat and exposition-heavy. I feared that, once the long-anticipated sequels were finally released, fans (especially the more cynical and negative ones) would complain, “We waited twelve years and donated a million and a half dollars for this????”

Oh, me of little faith!

Now that I’ve had a chance to hear the sound mix—a combination of dialog, music, and sound effects—I can truthfully say I was absolutely bowled over! This fan film now feels so ALIVE! Now, granted, I was seeing this on a big screen with 35,000 watts playing through 11 cinema-quality speakers! It felt very much like watching a movie in a theater. And indeed, Mark Lewis (who co-directed, edited, and is doing the sound design) told me he would be creating three different soundtracks for this fan film.

The first sound mix will be intended for the private screenings that Alec is planning at rented theaters in Los Angeles, Atlanta, and ultimately (when the second of the two sequels is released during the summer) at San Diego Comic Con and later at Dragon*Con in Georgia. The second mix will be encoded onto the Blu-Rays distributed to Axanar donors. Those who own decent home entertainment sound systems with quality speakers and sub-woofers will be able to at least get close to a movie theater experience, although still not quite the same richness and range of sound. And finally, there will be a third mix for YouTube, compressing the Empire State Building down to the size of a townhouse in terms of digital sound information conveyed, so the film won’t sound nearly as awesome on YouTube. But Mark is still trying to make that version sound as good as possible. Personally, I’ve now been totally spoiled!

And I will say that the amount of meticulous subtleties that have gone into engineering the sound of this fan film is nothing short of staggering. I mean, of course the subtle “spit clicks” that happen when an actor is speaking have been removed, but that’s just the start. Each character’s voice has certain distinct filters applied. For example, the Klingon voices sound deeper and more gravelly with a slight hint of reverb. Garth (Alec) sounds different than Travis (JG Hertzler) not only because they have different voices but because they also have a certain audio “presence” that distinguishes them from other characters. It’s possible that most fans won’t be able to perceive the differences coming through the standard speakers on their computers, but they are definitely there.

Another example of the attention to detail is the sound of the ships themselves. Obviously, the Klingon engines make different noises than the Federation starships. But as I learned yesterday, each class of starship has its own distinctive sound. There’s one VHX shot where a half dozen starships of different classes are coming out of warp, and each one sounds different as it whooshes to impulse.

It’s these subtle, almost imperceptible sound engineering flourishes on things like voices, engines, weapons fire, explosions, and ambient background noises when people are speaking that will make Axanar not just look like an entirely different kind of fan film but FEEL like one, as well.

So what happens in a sound mixing session? Well, if you’re not the sound engineer sitting at the control console or the mentor advising him, the answer is “not all that much!” There’s a LOT of sitting around quietly (talking distracts the sound guys!) and watching them discuss the same few seconds of film over and over and over and over and over again. You hear the same snippet of music and dialog and sound effects repeated enough times that some (most?) people would start tearing their hair out. Not me, though, as I like to edit video (although I know little about adjusting sound levels), and I’m used to the ridiculous amount of repetition of short clips that’s required. So for me, I found the whole day fascinating!

You, however, might think I’m crazy after watching the following video. Alec told me not to record any of the actors’ faces, as some of them are still secret and will be quite a surprise to many fans when they discover who is in the next two episode sequels. So instead, I recorded a few minutes of Mark working on a VFX sequence. Sadly, my iPhone video can’t really convey the subtle differences in the sound and music as tweaks were made. But if you watch, you’ll at least get a taste of the process…

Granted, not every 10 seconds of film required this much adjustment. But many times, close attention is paid to when certain sounds trigger and end, fade in, fade out, etc. Also, there aren’t simply three sound elements (dialog, music, effects). Often, multiple sound effects are layered over each other, and certain instruments in the music can be increased or decreased in intensity without adjusting others, often allowing a certain word or phrase to be more clearly heard without lowering the volume of the entire piece of music.

The man interacting with and helping Mark in the above video is legendary Hollywood composer and musician MICHAEL BODDICKER, the owner of the Sol 7 Sound Studio that we were in. How legendary is Michael? Well, he has his own Wikipedia page, but take a look at that list of credits—including one of my all-time favorite cult classics, Buckaroo Banzai—and you’ll see he’s had quite a busy Hollywood career!

Ultimately, I was at the studio for around six and a half hours yesterday, including having lunch there with the other guests who’d come: both Axanar composers the Livesay brothers, Mark’s son JOSEPH and brother JOHN-PAUL, Mark’s business partner STERLING, Axanar associate producer DAVE HERNANDEZ (who drove up from San Diego), and JOSH BISHOP, a documentary filmmaker who is planning to make a feature length film about the loooooong and complex history of the Axanar fan film project. There was also Michael Boddicker’s assistant Casper in the room with us as well as Michael’s wife and adult son in the adjacent house. Mark himself flew in from Tennessee and Alec, of course, traveled to L.A. from Georgia. I only had to drive 30 minutes on the 405 and 101 Freeways.

Anyway, folks, it looks like our 12-year mission of waiting is finally nearing its endgame. In the meantime, here’s some more photos that were taken during yesterday’s session…