Lower Decks

It took almost a month but I finally sat down and watched the first act of the first episode of Starship Farragut: The Animated Episodes, titled “Power Source.” I wrote about the series on July 28th in a post about fan films/fan series in general, explaining that I didn’t have much experience with fan films, but expressing interest in watching Starship Farragut: The Animated Episodes and Star Trek: Aurora, a CG-animated project.

Some of the comments in response to my post rightly suggested that using the term “fan” implies that such productions are amateurish, when in fact many are incredibly professional and involve — in the case of some Star Trek projects — actors and writers from various television incarnations. Still, the fact remains that even the best fan films are still produced by fans, so until someone comes up with a better term I think we’re stuck with fan film, fan production or fan series. But enough about that. On to the review.

I mentioned in my earlier post that the trailer for Starship Farragut: The Animated Episodes was impressive. The first act of “Power Source” was equally remarkable. The animation was first rate. I’ve only seen one episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series, so I’m no expert, but this first act seemed to recreate it perfectly. The sound effects and background music were wonderful. The voice acting ranged from adequate to excellent, but if the worst I can say about the episode so far is that some of the voices were a little wooden, I think that’s pretty darn good.

As for the story, it involves the Farragut attempting to locate another starship, the USS Azrael, only to be attacked by the Azrael. Apparently, the ship’s captain has become obsessed with a mysterious power source and doesn’t want the Farragut around. I’m reminded of several episodes of Star Trek, including “Whom Gods Destroy” and “The Omega Glory,” but only superficially in that they all involve starship captains off their rockers.

The rest of the episode could veer off in a totally different direction in the final two acts. Act II is available right now and Act III should be online by the end of the month. I am eagerly awaiting the second episode, “The Needs of the Many,” because it will involve the Gorn! Watch the first two acts of “Power Source” here.