Star Trek: Phase II

Regular readers will know that I'm a bit of a Star Trek fan, and that includes the thriving "fan film" scene, headed by Starship Exeter, Star Trek - Of Gods And Men, and of course Star Trek - New Voyages.

I've got to admit that New Voyages is a personal favorite of mine, and in my opinion has been improving from episode to episode. I've long been of the opinion that New Voyages has moved beyond merely being a fan film, especially in the light of them shooting genuine Star Trek scripts, including those that would have been destined for Star Trek: Phase II had it ever been produced.

It looks like they are also of a similar mind, as they have just announced that they are changing their name to Star Trek: Phase II.

From the press release:

On Saturday, February 16th, Executive Producer James Cawley announced to fans during an appearance at the 2008 Farpoint Science Fiction Media Convention in Baltimore, Maryland, that Star Trek: New Voyages would shed the “New Voyages” moniker and become Star Trek: Phase II. Cawley assured fans that the change would be more than just the name, promising that the production will have access to new people, new materials, and a new direction, but will remain focused on his original vision for the show.

“Make no mistake about it, this is a new beginning for our production. This will be the next step in our effort to provide the quality show fans have come to expect, with commitment and dedication to keeping the original series look and feel that fans have come to enjoy,” said Cawley, “As before, we will strive to involve familiar faces from Star Trek’s 40-year legacy in our episodes, as well as actors from other classic SciFi shows when we can. You will see the changes taking place over the next few weeks, but you will really appreciate the changes when we release our future episodes.”

I'm certainly looking forward to the new eposides, and to seeing what changes are made. I do wonder if they are going to write out Spock to make way for his replacement Xon (see the Wikipedia entry for details).

The only issue I've had with New Voyages, or Phase II as it is now, is the ever-changing cast. Every episode seems to bring a change in the main cast. So far we have had two Scotties, two Uhuras and two Chekovs (three if you count Walter Koenig reprising his role) and the news is in that we are about to move to a second Spock, a second Sulu (not including George Takai's reprised role) and a third (!) Chekov.

I can understand why the cast changes happen - but it would be nice to have a more stable cast for a couple of episodes.

Head over to http://www.startreknewvoyages.com for the latest news and, of course, for the episode downloads.