[Captain_Hair]

A landmark announcement has just been made of a collaboration, spearheaded by the cutting edge cgi production house, NEO f/x and the dramatic talents of the live action fan film, Starship Farragut, which will see the first Star Trek cell animation since the demise of Star Trek: The Animated Series in 1974! This is ground-breaking not only because of the scope of the project but because of the amazing array of fan and professional names that have been gathered to make it happen, led by Chase Masterson, Tim Russ, and Vic Mignogna.

As reported in the article on Starship Farragut here at TrekUnited on March 27, NEO f/x and Farragut Films announced back in December last year that they were working on two "Special Editions", scored by their composer from "For Want Of A Nail", Hetoreyn, and written by Michael Struck, manager of NEO f/x and Jack Treviño, a professional writer who has previously worked on Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Phase II. Described only as "short films ... produced by NEO f/x in cooperation with Farragut Films", the details have been kept a closely guarded secret until the announcement at Creation convention in Hollywood last weekend.

The wait is now over with the public launch the new website for Starship Farragut: The Animated Episodes, where you can view a video teaser trailer, read the full text of their press release and browse some eyebrow-raising FAQ's. The new episodes are going to be as close as possible to the feel of the original animated Star Trek series produced by Filmation which debuted in September, 1973. However, as the term "special edition" implies, the two episodes are currently considered to be a special project with no immediate plans for a series. They will be further adventures of the U.S.S. Farragut, the subject of the live action fan film, over the same time period as the projected fourth season of Star Trek.

Read more here.

[Kirok]

I'm going to be following this very closely! I'm fascinated by the idea of emulating a traditional "cell' animation on the computer - how will they do that? Traditional animation is labour intensive, time consuming work requiring skill and talent. Now this is not to say that Kail Tescar is not talented but from what i've read drawing a traditional cartoon episode takes a team of artists, each doing specific parts: backgrounds, characters and all the bits in between! Will it be similar to the setup that Pheon is talking about using in Star Trek: Enterprise, Season Five?

[hudson]

Looking forward to seeing this, sounds like a challenge but the trailer looks very good.

[Thomas Scott]

If plans hold up, the first episode of this will appear before Abram's STar Trek. I think everyone is going to be very pleased with the result. The rough cuts are looking really good.

[Kirok]

Playing catch-up with Starship Farragut: The Animated Adventures ...

• March 1, 2009 – "NEO f/x and Farragut Films today opened their new web site [www.farragut-animated.com] for the special, 2-episode release of Starship Farragut, The Animated Episodes ... The new web site complements the animated episodes with special downloads and biographies on the actors involved with this production,” explained Michael Struck, manager of the NEO f/x team. “In addition, when the episodes are released, the web site will act as a central location to download and watch the individual acts.” [Source: farragut-animated.com]
  
• 06 April, 2009 - "NEO f/x (in association with Farragut Films) has released a trailer for "Power Source", written by Thomas J. Scott. This is the first installment of a special, 2-episode release of Starship Farragut, The Animated Episodes. These new episodes are the first animated Star Trek to be produced since Filmation wrapped production of the original series in 1974. About the episode: Captain Carter and the USS Farragut (NCC-1647) are dispatched to search for the USS Azrael (NCC-517) under the command of Captain Glenn, only to find that they may be the ones being searched for.
  The trailer is available for viewing and/or download in the "extras" section of the farragut-animated.com web site. [Source: Starship Farragut]
  
• The Extras section of farragut-animated.com is updated most Mondays and includes some well designed images and DVD labels of the major characters ... DVD labels? According to the FAQ section, "the internet release will include ISO data files and DVD artwork for downloading so you may make your own DVDs". But will they still be computer files or will we be able to play them on our TVs?

The latest info is that "Power Source" is slated to be released by the end May 2009, they decided against releasing it to coincide with the Star Trek movie, with the comic book (by Kail Tescar of startrekanimated.com) and second episode being released by the end of 2009.

Cheers

K

[Kirok]

On 14/07/09 NEO f/x and Farragut Films announced ...

The first act of "Power Source" will be released at 8:00 am PST on July 20th, 2009, to commemorate the first moon landing by Neil Armstrong in 1969. Acts 2 and 3 will follow in August, with the entire episode available to download by August 31, 2009

K

[Aussie Trekkie]

pretty interesting work so far but will wait until the next two Acts are out before passing judgement

[Bill]

It is, animation is dead on with original ST:TAS, looking forward to acts 2 + 3.

[Tom]

Looks good! as with there other, stuff I'm helping them mirror it at my scifitube.com site.

http://www.scifitube...ed/powersource/