[smiler]

I suspect the internet doesn't have the server capacity to deal with the huge demand of putting that up for grabs!

But hey it's worth crashing it for Captain Sulu!



(Perhaps Chase could be part of his bridge crew)

[T'Saavik]

I like the idea very much.

Go for it.

Barb

[SebastianPierce]

I have always loved Capt. Sulu and the Excelsior! I think it would be awesome to have a series that takes place during the turmoil and changes after Star Trek VI! I actually got to meet George Takei last year at Archon in Illinois. He was great! This could be a cool series, in my opinion.

Ron

[smiler]

Perhaps if we have any 3D animators onboard they could get together and whip up a trailer?

It may peak Mr Takei's curiousity.

[USS_Oberon]

Sorry to pick up a dead thread, but my interest has recently been caught by the Excelsior campain. It seems I'm about 5 years too late...DOH!

As anyone who's looked into this probably knows Russ Haslage was the guy in charge of lifting this off the ground. He went so far as organise a huge rally back in 2000 to get people behind the project. In many US states, there was a huge turn-out of support but where is mattered (outside the Paramount lot in LA) little more than a handfull of people showed up. After that, 'Enterprise' was announced and the rest is history...

Anyway now that Trek seems dead, the fan-made movies seem to be the only source of action us fans are gonna get, and some of them look truly amazing. I recently found an email address to write to Russ at, and posted the very idea of a fan-made Excelsior movie to him. If anyone cares to read it, here it is:



"I think I'm about 5 years too late for to ask this, but what ever became of the Excelsior campaign? I have researched thoroughly into this and it seems that after the dismal people-count at the LA rally things seemed to have trailed off. I know that Rick Berman (sorry, I hate using foul language) and co, came out with 'Enterprise' which seemed to be the final nail in Excelsior's coffin (and Star Treks as a whole, I'm afraid to say).



However, now that Enterprise has finished a massive void remains to be filled in the Star Trek universe. You seemed so determined a few years ago about bringing Trek back to Gene's true vision of the future. Paramount's ears may be closed to the fans, but we as the fans seem to be making leaps and bounds in producing our own web-based fan movies. Is there perhaps an opportunity to rally together enough people to produce a one-off Excelsior fan movie? I have been keeping up with George Takei's website and he still seems spritely enough to do at least a few hour-long 'specials'. The sets of Excelsior's bridge etc must be sitting SOMEWHERE in the Paramount lot, gathering dust. Surely they would consider selling them? Otherwise the magic of blue-screen special effects seems to work so well with other fan-movies, maybe there is some chance of producing an episode this way?

Anyway, thanks again for taking the time to read this. I want you to know that I've read as many transcripts of your Excelsior Campaign interviews as I could find and I have found your passionate enthusiasm to be both inspiring and infectious!

Please tell me that there is some spark of life in Excelsior yet?"

Perhaps other people could also write to Russ to hound him to revive the old Excelsior project? His email address seems to be based at IFTcommand.com, but as it's freely available on the net anyway, I'll post it here; ops@iftcommand.com It may not be his direct email, but if everyone clearly marks their mail for his attention, hopefully a few will get through and he'll realise that there's still plenty of support for his dream...

[USS_Oberon]

Well all,

Sadly for us all Excelsior fans out there, it looks as if the Excelsior revival project is truly dead. As mentioned in my last post, I sent a letter to Russ Haslage, President of the International Federation of Trekkers to ask him about the fate of the series. He very kindly took time out to reply to me and this is what he had to say:

Thanks for your note,




Right after Paramount chose ENTERPRISE as the show at the time, George Takei STRONGLY requested that we halt the campaign. We came very close to being chosen and when the other show was picked, George took it very hard. He was saddened by the poor turnout at the rallies and the inability to raise the funds needed for the ads in Variety and other trade publications. Then when ENTERPRISE was chosen, he asked me to shut it down.



Why don’t we revive the idea? Because George is now 67, Paramount is looking to give STAR TREK a rest (which most fans agree…after the Berman treatment, it needs time for the stink to dissipate) and because we don’t want Berman to lay a finger on anything and ruin it. It is hoped that when his contract comes up for renewal next year, Paramount will strongly consider not renewing. The man has no successes under his belt and shouldn’t be running anything. I think Paramount is starting to notice that.



Thanks for getting in touch with me. If the atmosphere changes, you can be sure the Federation will come back and launch another idea. Perhaps they’ll consider bringing our Star Trek: New Voyages to the air once Berman is long gone.



Russ Haslage, President

International Federation of Trekkers

So there you have it. Looks like the only way we're gonna get an Excelsior series is if we go out there and do it ourselves. I know that one fan-made movie in particular has re-cast the roles of Kirk & co to other (younger) actors. Perhaps the same may happen for Excelsior. We can only wait and see...

[Trek-Rider]

I bet if a fan movie were actually made based on Excelsior, George couldn't help ... take notice? I can only wonder if he'd like to participate.

~Sarah/TR

[Shlomi of Vulcan]

I would faithfully watch anything George was in, especially if its TREK. He is one of my favorite all-time actors.

[USS_Oberon]

Trek-Rider, on Oct 26 2005, 08:48 AM, said:

I bet if a fan movie were actually made based on Excelsior, George couldn't help ... take notice? I can only wonder if he'd like to participate.

~Sarah/TR

He very well might do! What touched me was the fact that he took the rejection of the last series pretty hard. I had no idea about that until I heard it from Russ Haslage. I know it sounds silly but I almost feel as though we let him down somehow...

[Trek-Rider]

I think fans should make an Excelsior film. I'm in! "Let's go get George and Gracie!" -- Scotty, ST:IV

~Sarah/TR

[USS_Oberon]

Trek-Rider, on Oct 26 2005, 08:52 PM, said:

I think fans should make an Excelsior film. I'm in! "Let's go get George and Gracie!" -- Scotty, ST:IV

~Sarah/TR

Man, I can't tell you how much I'd love to get involved in a project like that...Everyone in life has a dream. That's mine.

[Trek-Rider]

Well, that's TWO people. Anybody else? Really. Sound off if you are reading this thread and want to -do something-.

~Sarah/TR

[USS_Oberon]

Trek-Rider, on Oct 26 2005, 09:20 PM, said:

Well, that's TWO people. Anybody else? Really. Sound off if you are reading this thread and want to -do something-.

~Sarah/TR

I've just read Space Nomad's original statement and what he said sounds class. I wonder if he would be interested?

[Trek-Rider]

LOL. Yeah. Somewhat. Forget about NV though... they got their own productions to worry on.

~Sarah/TR

[Space Nomad]

Hello USS Oberon

Yeah, it is sad. I liked Enterprise (well, a lot of it). But I would have really liked to see George Takei back in the chair, even though back then I was completely ignorant of the possibility. Paramount should have at least given it a Miniseries since the idea was so popular. It's really too bad.

You may have read all of the posts in this thread, but just in case you didn't, there are a couple of tiny gems of hope from others that I would like to make sure you didn't overlook.

Quote

Chase interviewed him yesterday, and this is part of the summary:

Before "Enterprise" premiered, Paramount requested that fans submit ideas for new Star Trek shows, and The Excelsior with Captain Sulu commanding was one of the concepts. Even now, George would love to do the series if ever offered the script.

This interview took place only last May and he was still interested then! You might still be able to find it on TheFandom.com in the archives.

Quote

He was as of December 2004: http://www.trektoday.com/news/081204_01.shtml

In this article found by Captain Hair, Takei briefly mentions that he may do another Captain Sulu audio book. So if you like audio books, then there's at least that to look forward to.


I would be delighted if he made a fan film appearance like Walter Koenig has done in the upcoming episode of New Voyages and I think Trek fans that have been wanting more Captain Sulu would absolutely love it. However, the fan film would have to be up to or better than the quality of New Voyages. Anything less than the very best fan film might be kind of insulting to Takei. And there simply aren't many groups that could pull off that level of quality. I posted this idea here back in May when Tim was talking about the possibility of Trek United doing a fan film on a big level. I believed that TU might just be able to marshal the resources needed to pull off such a crazy idea, but it looks like the TU gang has ambitiously decided to pursue an animated season of Enterprise, which I am also interested in seeing.

But if any other group should aspire to try, I'd totally give them my support, even though I'm pretty much powerless to help out

I hope Takei would do it but I don't know. Most professional actors would never do something like that, but George Takei seems to be a man of the fans, so who knows.

Anyway it's good to hear from others who are interested in this.

Quote

Well, that's TWO people. Anybody else? Really. Sound off if you are reading this thread and want to -do something-.

Well, count me too, so that three. I counted 16 people in this thread who said they'd watch it.
This thread has been viewed 725 times, not sure what that means though.

[Trek-Rider]

Hey Space Nomad,

I'm never opposed to trying! I propose we create a team of folks and see what -if anything- we can pull together. If we can't get it together, then it wasn't meant to be.

~Sarah/TR

[USS_Oberon]

Space Nomad, on Oct 26 2005, 10:43 PM, said:

Well, count me too, so that three. I counted 16 people in this thread who said they'd watch it.
This thread has been viewed 725 times, not sure what that means though.

I think the main problem with trying to get anything like this off the ground is the logistics. You need a group of people who live very close to one another to even think about a project this big. When recruiting on the web, you're always going to find enough people who want to help out and who would probably be perfect for the role but if they're all located in opposite corners of the world, that's no use to man or beast! I think thats why a lot of university students have a good chance of putting something like this together. They have skilled friends on their doorstep who have the means of meeting regularly to plan, build, film, edit and promote their work. There's no doubt about it, it's a tricky premise, but if other people can do it, why not?

[Trek-Rider]

I wouldn't worry about casting or where the studio is at this early stage in the game. LOL.

~Sarah/TR

[USS_Oberon]

Trek-Rider, on Oct 26 2005, 11:51 PM, said:

I wouldn't worry about casting or where the studio is at this early stage in the game. LOL.

~Sarah/TR

LOL! True, I'm getting ahead of myself....I get a bit overexited...

[USS_Oberon]

Quote

Well, that's TWO people. Anybody else? Really. Sound off if you are reading this thread and want to -do something-.

I did manage to spread word about this onto the Trek section of 'Art Asylum.com'. The was a chap called AdyCarter who was interested in giving his support. I wonder if he's gonna log on here and have a word...

Anyway that's possibly THREE people! This thing is in the bag! LOL!