Star Trek: Operation Beta Shield

USA / UK • 2008 • 67m •

• Directed by: Jennifer Cole. • Starring: Risha Denney, Nick Cook, Karl Puder, Rivkah Raven Wood, Wayne Webb, Jim Davis, Joni Bovill, Tyler Bosserman, Lucie Faria-Cook, Julia Morizawa, Carol Soldo, Jacques Freydont, Rick Corbett. • Music by: David Beukes, Andrew J. Ceperley.

Fear of another invasion by the mysterious Archein Empire from the Andromeda Galaxy is running high. In order to setup a line of defense against impending invasion, a shield of allied power must be forged in the Beta Quadrant. Can the allies work together in defense of the Beta Quadrant or will old hostilities re-emerge and shatter the chances for peace and co-operation?

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2:09

Review:

Image from: Star Trek: Operation Beta Shield (2008)

All fan made videos usually have most of the same limitations; low budget and lack of cast and crew knowledge & talents. What makes some better than others is how the different producers either succeed or fail in what's on screen for the viewer's to enjoy. On the Internet people will tune-in to watch mega car crashes. Repeatedly making the same mediocre video attempts like this for years does not qualify you for video maker of the year. That just shows ignorance and arrogance. It is not even a spoof. Nor is it a parody, satire, send-up, mash-up, lampoon, or pastiche. It has been presented as real Star Trek and most watchers will likely go into viewing this as expecting a send-up, and the makers of the video should have set out to produce a spoof. It has a pro-liberal political message like most 'satires'. And, then add to this, when you wait for a LONG download time, and the video is still very rough! This 'whatever' video's has little watcher "reality or watchabilty, sorry.

I have several thoughts about production problems with viewing Rob Caves attempts at entertainment.

1. Weak and unbelievable main character casting....Overuse of wrong physical "type" casting of performers, I.E. too young, grossly obese and unbelievably other miscast performers.

2. Weak acting.....enough said, don't use weak performers for anything. Many people blatantly look right into the camera or are obviously reading their lines from scripts held off camera.

3. A Weak Middle- This is pacing or NO-pacing more accurately. You must start off great and not weaken in the middle or end. Because it causes boredom or drudgery for your viewers. If the story isn't compelling the weak script will damage the film.

4. A Weak Third Act- Many bad stories just sink towards the end. Looks all too familiar here. Either the story is hasty or unsatisfactory resolved, or it has several endings. The writer shows he doesn't know when to end the story.

5. Too much reliance on non-original video media essentials....Cave's heavy "re-use" of a LOT of non-original media or 3rd party owned production elements for ease.

6. Weak writing.....Your project will suffer if the dialog is full of plot exposition or just doesn't sound like the way normal people speak to each other. If the script doesn't have anything new or original about them. A lack or originality in film plots is something you can't get away with as a newcomer. Scripts about esotericoddball subjects will only interest a few people, not the masses of film goers. "Small stories" does not capture the attention of people to spend their time by viewing the film. At best a producer might get a film into a tiny niche of the art house film. Scripts must be good. And be VERY WARY of a writer that wants the "good" acting parts in their own stories.

7. Weak characters- The three Rules. "Characters must be FULL & people have many interesting facets." The fans in this video while having good wishes are not believable and are cartoons of TV roles, actors can be full and real. All good scripts are driven by conflict and stand or fall about the drama between a hero and opponent. The villain must be able to competently oppose the hero. An easy to beat villain takes away from he beneficial suspense and drama. The bad writers and bad actors will neglect their characters. That makes viewers feel they don't know the main character roles. It seems that they are only doing things for the odd sake of the story only---things that inconsistent with actions only minutes before. They contradict themselves and their story actions. It's confusing to the viewers. Their changes should be done because of who that become, not just arbitrarily for the writer wants in the story plot.

8. Green Screen Backgrounds for all scenery- Cave's GFX backgrounds are lazy, boringly static, bad & unwatchable.

9. CGI & Electronic computer EFX- Caves should use this sparingly. Don't overuse these tools in hopes they will save a story or overshadow other project weaknesses. Story is driven by good plots, themes, characters and NOT EFX.

10. Accept criticism. When people say that Caves show is not impressive, listen to them and figure out why. Don't ignore them in favor of people who say the show is glowingly great. No growthlearning is stagnation and gives us more bad episodes.

Review by oscar-35 from the Internet Movie Database.

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