Hollywood Takes On Fan Fiction
Reason magazine|November 2016

A Star Trek lover’s new film is making the studios unhappy.

Zach Weissmueller
Hollywood Takes On Fan Fiction

Since its launch in 1966, Star Trek has inspired creativity among its fans. Besides the soon-to-be six live action television series and 13 feature films that make up the official canon, outsiders have invested time and treasure to produce myriad unofficial creations.

Early on it was mostly short stories, comic books, and art. But those outlets soon evolved into fan-made film and video productions. In 1974 a carpet layer from Michigan spent $2,000 to build a replica of the Starship Enterprise bridge and made Paragon’s Paragon, one of the first serious Star Trek fan movies. In 1985, a fan convinced George Takei, who played Sulu on the original series, to reprise the role in Yorktown: A Time to Heal. In subsequent years, putting original cast members in fan productions became increasingly common, with Walter Koenig (Chekov) and Nichelle Nichols (Uhura) starring in the feature-length Star Trek: Of Gods and Men in 2007.

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