The most interesting panel I attended today at Westercon was one on Star Trek New Voyages. This is fan film on a grand scale. These people have complete sets, high quality special effects, and a lot of dedicated volunteers. It’s pulling in even more interesting people, like … well just take a look at this set of faces. Episode 3 will have Walter Koenig as Chekov.
All run on a shoestring, for the love of it. Paramount has given them a non-profit loophole, just like Lucas did with all the Star Wars fan films. I’m downloading the episodes as I type. The preview I saw in the panel made it look very worthwhile.