Jack of Harts

I recently watched Star Trek: Renegades. Much like Horizon, it is a fan film, though there are a great many differences between the two. Horizon was made by talented amateurs who did an amazing job while being limited to digital sets that were sometimes very noticeable. Renegades was made by professionals, though they were similarly limited to digital sets or very limited physical sets. Much like Horizon, the space scenes were nearly perfect, while many of the “dungeon” scenes…showed their lack of budget.

Tim Russ appeared as Vulcan Commander Tuvok in Star Trek: Voyager and has appeared in various roles on TNG, DS9, and Star Trek: Generations. He has written stories, directed shows, featured in games, and created other Star Trek fan films over the years. He is a life long Trekker who has walked the walk and talked the talk. And he brought many other Star Trek veterans with him to make Renegades. I had to smile while watching the movie as I played a game of “guess that character” as actor after actor showed up and my mind cast about for who I remembered them as.

But all through that, I didn’t enjoy Renegades because I got to see familiar faces. I enjoyed it because it was an interesting story, and it was told well. Yes, there are some examples of wooden acting, and not all of the special effects were as good as I would like, but I have to say that I enjoyed the performance overall. It was a good Star Trek story, and one I think fans of Star Trek should watch. It is a worthy telling.

And that of course is its downfall in some ways. The new Star Trek fan film guidelines make it against the rules to make any more Renegades stories. So much like the crew of Horizon, Renegades has gone their own separate way. They are making new stories, in a universe of their own creation. I suppose that is good in some ways. I certainly hope they are successful and make money doing it. But the Star Trek fan in me recognizes how much they love Star Trek. Star Trek is a world many of us want to live in, and writing or making stories in it is a way for us to do that. And the new fan film guidelines make that difficult, if not impossible. And so, whatever the team of Renegades makes, I will always be sad that we won’t see more of the characters and world that we each independently love.

I will watch the new Renegades stuff. They have earned that with this outing, and I hope to see more of them in the future. Even as I grieve over the lack of new Star Trek I will see because they can no longer do that.

You can find Star Trek: Renegades on youtube.

Or you can see what they are working on now.
Renegades: The Series