The original Star Trek had a huge impact on creating fan culture as we know it today. The amazing, widespread devotion the series generated spawned unofficial newsletters, thousands of pages of fan fiction—including the popular sub-genre involving homosexual pairings known as slash—and dozens, if not hundreds, of amateur recreations of the original Enterprise and its crew in the form of fan films. Of these, very few show the level of polish and dedication of Star Trek Continues, a project which began posting “new” episodes designed to continue the adventures of Jim Kirk and his crew on Vimeo last year.
Star, director, and executive producer Vic Mignogna’s efforts to recreate the look and feel of the original series are the subject of “Obsessed,” a new web series from Wired, detailing the behind the scenes work on Star Trek Continues. The series discusses Mignogna’s motivations for pouring so much of his life into the project, as well as nitty-gritty details of the production, such as the time and energy it takes to find just the right goatee to slap on Mirror Universe Spock.
The first two episodes of the web series can be found below. When more are posted, you’ll be able to find them on Wired’s YouTube channel. Star Trek Continues itself can be found at www.startrekcontinues.com.
Episode 1:
Episode 2: