Ghost Ship
- Thread starter 9gs
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Here's part 2
I really enjoyed this. A little heavy on technobabble, but good chemistry between the characters.
I really enjoyed this. A little heavy on technobabble, but good chemistry between the characters.
A very enjoyable production! Highly recommended!
I'll give it 4 out of 5 stars. The attempt at humor fell flat. Pancake flat. Delivery of some of the lines was pretty stilted, especially when it came to the technobabble. However, comma, it was a cool plot and overall well told, so I'll forgive those minor flaws. I liked it.
One line review
A fun idea nicely photographed (if a bit static) with mostly good sound (dial back a few of those SFX a tad guys) that ought to be great but is hurt by poorly executed tonal shifts and an inability to fully embrace its genre-busting by wallowing in too many stereotypical fanfilm gimmicks.
Deeper Dive
I was excited at the idea of a genre mash-up, then disappointed that even when trying "for something completely different" they went back to the same dry well: Admiral chats, how the captain gets his command... I swear these scripts are like Mad Libs.
Relatively well photographed, if a tad static. The lighting is good. The sets are good (for obvious reasons).
The main three actors are fine except for the odd choice of having the engineer "strike a pose" Vogue-ing and her struggles with the technobabble (a sure sign that it ought to be reworded and simplified). They're not great at the comedy, and the writing of same does them no favors.
What really hurts it is it's tonally all over the place and doesn't seem to know what it's about or what notes to strike when. You can switch between drama and comedy, but you have to know how to do it. In a horror genre the comedy lands when it's the release valve on the tension: the higher the stakes, the bigger the release (the laugh). Here the switching back and forth is too haphazard for that to work. I can see how to re-edit this to make the horror scarier and the laughs bigger.
TNG dialog in TOS...again. Too much meaningless technobabble. C'mon guys... watch the show you're aping, and have mercy on the poor actors, who look bad as a result. As Harrison Ford supposedly said to Lucas, "You can write this shit but you sure as hell can't say it."
Hanging a lantern on the "poor communication kills" trope just points out how stupid it is, and since the comedy doesn't play well, the manner in which it's dismissed isn't funny, it's just lame.
The dénouement is endless, in large part because tedious admiral chat scene. The final "out there thataway" scene is tonally incongruent in tone to what precedes it.
So, an A for effort but a C because script.
A fun idea nicely photographed (if a bit static) with mostly good sound (dial back a few of those SFX a tad guys) that ought to be great but is hurt by poorly executed tonal shifts and an inability to fully embrace its genre-busting by wallowing in too many stereotypical fanfilm gimmicks.
Deeper Dive
I was excited at the idea of a genre mash-up, then disappointed that even when trying "for something completely different" they went back to the same dry well: Admiral chats, how the captain gets his command... I swear these scripts are like Mad Libs.
"Admiral/Commodore _______ (last name) gives Commander _______ (last name) a talking to and an assignment to do an _______ (adjective) mission that will prove their ability to lead.
Relatively well photographed, if a tad static. The lighting is good. The sets are good (for obvious reasons).
The main three actors are fine except for the odd choice of having the engineer "strike a pose" Vogue-ing and her struggles with the technobabble (a sure sign that it ought to be reworded and simplified). They're not great at the comedy, and the writing of same does them no favors.
What really hurts it is it's tonally all over the place and doesn't seem to know what it's about or what notes to strike when. You can switch between drama and comedy, but you have to know how to do it. In a horror genre the comedy lands when it's the release valve on the tension: the higher the stakes, the bigger the release (the laugh). Here the switching back and forth is too haphazard for that to work. I can see how to re-edit this to make the horror scarier and the laughs bigger.
TNG dialog in TOS...again. Too much meaningless technobabble. C'mon guys... watch the show you're aping, and have mercy on the poor actors, who look bad as a result. As Harrison Ford supposedly said to Lucas, "You can write this shit but you sure as hell can't say it."
Hanging a lantern on the "poor communication kills" trope just points out how stupid it is, and since the comedy doesn't play well, the manner in which it's dismissed isn't funny, it's just lame.
The dénouement is endless, in large part because tedious admiral chat scene. The final "out there thataway" scene is tonally incongruent in tone to what precedes it.
So, an A for effort but a C because script.
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This episode is a paradox. It is one of the best fan films I have ever seen whilst at the same time being one of the worst fan films I have ever seen.
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Ok great production values interesting concept ( I always loved the Excalibur) but I found the snark factor too annoying and too modern, I agree the jokes fell flat. My personal nitpick just pick a universe costume and stay consistent - I hated the costume changes throughout Generations, and I found it annoying in this fan film -
Should have phased 2 the ship for the final scene
The Beyond uniforms with the Discovery badges, actually looked pretty good. The different uniforms reminds of the Navy with wash khakis/CNT khakis, cotton working whites/CNT whites, poopy-suits (coveralls), dungarees/utilities, etc. Different uniforms, some more similar than others, and such. If everyone had the Discovery badge, including the TOS shirts, that may have helped gel the look better. But overall, I didn't mind.
The epitome of a first-class, limited-budget fan film! Very personable cast, lines professionally delivered, direction passable for a layman. Got a serious "Get Smart" vibe from the lead. Maybe a bit too many Orville-esque winks, but again, a fan film. The score was the weakest link to me, no punctuation of dramatic moments with commensurate musical notes and bombast. A non-Hollywood A+ overall, though--nicely done!
Have to agree with most of the comments here... I applaud their ambition, and a novel solution to a "ship-bound" story -- crossing Trek with zombies is a great idea for a mash-up. But this is wildly erratic, and most of the humor not only doesn't work, but is in serious "what the hell were you thinking??" territory. WAY too much yakking-with-the-admiral stuff, and the pacing in general was off. Two of the leads were quite good, but the red-dress engineer lady -- while obviously gorgeous -- was just terrible, fumbling almost all of the technobabble. Some scenes, like the cargo bay bit in episode one, were screaming for coverage, with too many long static shots. Bits of the plot made no sense (why did the phasers have so little energy, and what's the point in "conserving" it if you end up firing multiple blasts that have little to no effect?), and overall it felt like it needed to be a lot shorter to get what's exciting about this idea across. I also didn't like the mixing of Kelvin-verse uniforms with TOS ship designs, and the mixing of different styles of uniform seemed more like "we couldn't afford to be consistent" rather than the Federation being mid-change. In general, I enjoyed it, but I was literally shaking my head at some bits of it.
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Since the Beyond unis and Discovery USS Enterprise ones are so similar, I just took it more as the film mixing updated unis with the old sets.
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