Star Trek: Of Gods and Men (2007 Video) User Reviews

I was willing to go past the bad direction

[WilliamCQ · 6/10 · 2 April 2011]

Seeing the trailer, it's obvious that the direction is lacking but other elements could be entertaining. Even as the film is ongoing the special effects isn't up to mainstream features but still enjoyable if you consider that most people couldn't do any better. The acting was good but the bad direction had a toll on it. I thought it deserved 7 by then.

What drew the line is the story: It's bad at best and confusing most of the time. One shouldn't have to connect the dots through any other thing than than the current story. If there's references to anther story, there should be a hint or flashback to it. But most importantly, the story should be a journey for the viewer either in emotions or knowledge (albeit some is only useful in fandom). In this production, it seem various short stories were put together ; some relating to the film progress while others are filling time and would need reference to be more than the most basic of entertainment.

Overall the non-cohesive story blew it. I thought the film deserved 5, maybe 4, but I felt sympathy toward their attempt at the great Star Trek franchise.

attempt at nostalgia

[a666333 · 5/10 · 7 September 2008]

It was interesting that they were able to pull so many of the old bit characters back into the story and in many cases with the original actors. The story was basically stitched together from loose ends lying around and the old alternate reality gambit.

The dialogue is tongue-in-cheek much of the time and the directing dragged noticeably in a few places. The acting ranges from very good to forced and pain inducing.

Despite the many flaws, it compares favourably with a lot of the stuff that has been put out by the full budget Paramount crew (which says something about the inconsistent efforts by Paramount). I am sure this crowd of amateurs had fun making it and it is clear they really want to make a good product that captures the feeling of the original series. All power to them. too bad that nothing that is done now can recover the lost opportunity when the original series was cancelled.

Disappointing, but campy and kinda fun

[savagesteve13 · 5/10 · 22 May 2010]

The plot is rather complex, which is unusual for the simplistic ones of TOS. As an older Trek fan, its great to see a veritable tour de force of actors coming back to reprise their roles from past movies and series, with only a few exceptions. This is unusual in that it is "Uhura-centric", where she plays a core character and of course handles it in a different more female way of doing things. There's still plenty of phaser action and explosions for the guys though, and who doesn't like a green skin slave girl character. Low production values detract immensely, and the CGI is absolutely terrible. I've seen much better stuff from Babylon V and they were using Amiga 2000 computers back in 1994. Pyrotechnics were also missing. Actors didn't have squibs when they got hit by phasers so they just jumped backwards and fell. Going on the cheap. The dialogue also was kind of stilted and forced. Nobody felt comfortable which is usually the hallmark of STTNG. The only one that seemed relaxed was good old Walter Koenig, though his lines were not well written.

It could have been much better. To have been graced with so many veteran Sci-Fi actors and then to nuke the production with cheap CGI and a poor script, well its makes you feel that it could have been great if done right.

Bad production qualities, good movie!

[siderite · 7/10 · 8 June 2013]

I had expected something really bad, with cardboard sets and ridiculous dialogue. You know, like the original Star Trek. The production values were very low, with inferior computer graphics, bad montage, actors that looked like they were volunteers, but the dialogue was not that bad, the story was OK and the people working were clearly enjoying themselves.

So, in fact, this was exactly what I didn't expect: a good movie! I can easily overlook low budget constraints when the story is nice enough and the actors are making the effort.

Bottom line: this is more related to Star Trek the original series than with other Star Trek movies or incarnations and therefore must be seen as a continuation of TOS and not something to rival Next Generation. The plot was not brilliant, but it did the job and was consistent with what one would expect from a Star Trek movie. Overall I was pleasantly surprised and I enjoyed watching it.

Not for the uninitiated, But a fun ride.

[steveshouseofinvention · 7/10 · 21 August 2008]

Nichols (no relation) carried the lead well. She reminded me how much I wished that they had done more with her character back in the day, but the politics of the time wouldn't allow.

Possible Spoilage Follows

A tad heavy on the "geek stuff", but as they said, it was dedicated to the fans. (I wonder if the whole idea started with two geeks arguing about who would win in a fight between Gary Mitchell and Charlie X.) Still, when it comes to geeky nit-picking I should be the last to throw stones.

I thought Uhura and Mitchell never met, but I guess you could fudge it (as with Chekhov and Khan,) and say that they were aboard the Enterprise but had yet to be promoted to bridge crew. Still, I shouldn't have to work that hard.

And that thing about the Guardian failing to insulate our heroes from the time line change, had they been able to follow Charlie through the gateway they still would have been powerless to stop him and we would have no story. Did the Guardian know this and let them be transposed, but protect their memories?

The FX were amateurish, decent models but they didn't move right and the rendering was poor, Still the climactic battle was a guilty pleasure for anybody who played "Star Fleet Battles" way back when.

Koenig was great as always, but the rest were uneven, the two exceptions being the deliciously unreformed Klingon XO and the Green Chick. At least we got some eye candy, both Harriman and Mitchell both had great taste in helmsmen too(maybe thats where the FX budget went.)

With all it's flaws It still mops the floor with many "official" episodes and almost all the odd numbered movies. It will have to hold me over 'till the new movie comes out. I am a little disappointed that Abrams isn't geeky enough to have a before-the-transformation "good guy" Gary Mitchell riding along with Kirk, but hopefully Uhura will finally get her due. She was the reason I knew that I was straight at the age of 5.

Peace and long life

Mummm... I like it!

[katyzone · 7/10 · 19 June 2008]

Done lovingly and so wonderful to see a few of the old faces some of us knew so well. I actually liked the CGI used, it was crisp and clean and relied on the person watching it rather than making the person a subjective viewer, kinda put the viewer in league with the movie, it is up to the viewer to decide how much they will enjoy it.

Heck, the graphics reminded me when computer games were about the puzzles, tactics and maneuvers inherent rather than the gee whiz blow you away factor with a hollow center in most I run across- simply human nature I guess- "a beautiful person need not be as deep as one plain"- not that I buy that, I don't, it's just, unfortunately it is just that way betimes.

SPOILER

If you can get past the first scene, it gets better. "Charlie X" doesn't get his "acting shoes" quite laced till his next scene.

To me, overall, I like this addition to the universe of Star Trek, heck, better than Nemesis IMHO anyway. The acting is good. Think BBC (Doctor Who, Blake's 7, "bad" effects and all are easy to ignore, but actually the effects in this are a tad better than the older BBC stuff, which I love BTW).

I give it a 7/10, but I am biased!

Please... make it stop!

[rgcustomer · 5/10 · 27 December 2008]

I had high hopes for this film, but they were pretty quickly dashed. Reading Calk's plot summary that IMDb currently has for this movie, I wonder if I even saw the same one. I must have dozed off in the beginning, because I don't remember most of that stuff happening.

What I do remember is that one of the moments that was supposed to be one of the big climaxes of the film, when Gary dies, was a laugh-out-loud cliché to me. "KITTRICK!!!!!" ROFL.

Again, maybe I missed it, but no reason seemed to be given for Gary suddenly losing his powers. Or why he seemingly couldn't kill people, despite all the electro-rific effects. And what about Charlie's sudden change of heart? We didn't even see that happen. Why wouldn't that have been a key scene in the movie? AND, on reading this, do YOU even know who Gary and Charlie are? They were referred to by name so infrequently and their backstory was so weak that I had to look it up online.

Star Trek isn't supposed to be about the effects. First and foremost, it's about the story and the characters. But that seems to have been forgotten here, as you see fancy ships randomly shooting each other out of space with new weapons. None of the characters are particularly interesting, and the plot just sort of happens for no reason at all. And of course it all happens in an alternative timeline. As usual.

Anyway, this is the last fan film I'll be wasting my time on. I've learned my lesson.

Proves That The Trek Universe Has Nothing to Do With FX

[dmkalman · 8/10 · 19 April 2008]

When you get right down to it, Star Trek is about characters. Not CGI. This production offers downright primitive FX, but the characterizations are riveting. Walter Koenig gives a devastating performance -- his best ever -- that actually made me irate when I considered how his immense talent was squandered for so long in corporate Trek. Likewise with Garrett Wang. In Voyager, his Harry Kim was, like many corporate Star Trek characters, bland and generally uninteresting. (That's why alternate time line/universe Trek stories are always superior.) Nichelle Nichols' performance here outshines anything she's done in any of the TOS feature films. Alan Ruck as Harriman oscillates between menacing and hysterical. And JG Hertzler as Koval sets a new standard for menacing Klingons. Chase Masterson (call me!) as the Orion slave girl continues to be the hottest flame in the Star Trek universe. It was great to see Lawrence Montaigne reprise the role of the Vulcan Stonn, and Gary Graham rounds out a truly professional acting ensemble. I'd rather watch cheap productions like this one -- with twisty plots and interesting, passionate characters -- over the slick, simplistic, corporate dreck. Let's see if the upcoming Star Trek prequel -- with its $150 MILLION budget -- can deliver this kind of intense, emotionally engaging adventure. I doubt it.

**UPDATE** OK. I enjoyed Star Trek (2009). It was slick, fast, and fun...and it had two great Spock performances. But I also found the story strained (lacking a coherent plot-line) and derivative (in a bad way). It echoed (strangely) the abysmal Star Trek: Nemesis with its monstrous death-ship and Romulan bad-a$$ baldy. (Maybe in the next film the young Kirk and Spock will go back in time and save some whales.) So, I'd give the big budget flick a 7.9 on its flash and on the strength of Zachary Quinto's performance, but the movie as a whole doesn't hold up well under multiple viewings. I still enjoyed Of Gods and Men more.

Finally, the whole movie can be reviewed

[blackhawk66 · 30 June 2008]

It has been a long time getting here, but at last the third and concluding chapter is available for viewing. I had made a deliberate choice to not view the parts released earlier until now so that I could see the whole movie at once. I'm glad I did.

This is a curious production that is very pleasing on the one hand and frustrating on the other. It is great to see all of these actors working in a Star Trek story, again. Many of them get to do more than they ever did in their original appearances, and they generally rise to the occasion with solid and even occasionally superior performances. I especially liked Alan Ruck, whose original appearance in Star Trek: Generations was not much more than a cameo. Here, he really seems to care about the character of Captain Harriman and makes him real. Nichelle Nichols overacts a bit but also gives believable emotion to her character. Walter Koenig had already shown what a talented actor he is on Babylon 5 but I enjoyed his performance here, too. There were plenty of other good and enjoyable performances from many familiar and a few unfamiliar faces.

The story works, though it is very derivative. For the hard-core Trek fan, and I am one, it was fun to see all the plot threads and elements from the earlier series tied together in a functioning story. There are not a lot of surprises, though. And I was a bit disappointed in the way that, at the end of the story, all has been reset. We do get one unexpected result from the actions of the story, though, that was an amusing twist.

The frustrating part of this movie is that for all the professionals involved, it is surprising inept in the technical production. The lighting and photography are uneven and often distracting. I was surprised at the amount of grain in some of the scenes. The audio is just off. Apparently, many scenes shot on the Enterprise sets required ADR to replace unusable audio, but it is not done well. As others have commented, the visual effects are adequate but not much more. I have seen considerably better in pure fan films like New Voyages, Starship Farragut and the Hidden Frontier spin-offs (yes, I've seen all these fan films which means I am a real trekkie). The battle scenes, in particular, were not well designed and seemed a bit haphazard.

Still, I do recommend this to any Star Trek fan. The faults are out weighed by the things done well and it is hard for me to see how any but the most cynical and jaded fan boy could not enjoy this. I don't think I can recommend it to non-Trek fans, however. It relies so heavily on the vast continuity established in prior Trek works that I'm not sure it would all make sense without some knowledge of the canon. But if you're not a Trek fan, you'll probably never hear of it, anyway.

If you really love Trek...it's a fun ride.

[iroquoisjoe · 7/10 · 23 July 2012]

Here is what I found fun It was just fun to see Chekhov and Uhura carry the show. They get most of the lines, (but even then it is an ensemble cast). Koenig got to do more dramatic lines and action. Nichelle probably got more plot point lines. I would have preferred to see Miss Nichols do more of the action, but that may have not been physically possible for her...as seen by the fact where she was walking in a scene where everyone else was running.

It was good seeing a full grown Cirroc Lofton again , who played Captain Sisko's son in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. In homage to his TV father he sported a bald head and goatee. His acting was just okay...but then he really didn't have any exciting lines to deliver.

Herbert Jefferson Jr or Boomer from the original Battlestar Galactica shows up with some mean looking facial hair. He commands some starship and strike force and at some point tells "Blue Squadron" to go on the attack...which of course was his squadron on the old BSG show. Cool seeing him again. A good nod of the head to 'old-school' sci-fi.

It was good to see original Star Trek's Yeoman Rand show up...although I don't know if she even said any lines. She does get to practice her tribble puppetry skills though and that is cool.

We get to find out what happened to Charlie Evans, from the old series episode Charlie X. Hint: he's bitter.

We also get to find out what happened to Gary Mitchell who although left dead in the second Star Trek pilot shot...is alive and kicking due to the machinations of Charlie. Hint: the universe was better with him dead.

For me the the special effects were great. If you are geeky enough to be aware of different designs that were planned for the Enterprise then you will see how those would have turned out in action. In fact you get to see lots of Romulan Warbirds, Klingon Cruisers, Klingon Birds of Prey, Klingon Super-Battleships, several designs (and paint schemes) of Starfleet warship and just a bunch of crazy starship designs all duking it out with phaser blasts and photon torpedo firings. Oh...the sound effects were fun too.

It was cool seeing Tuvok again, and cool knowing he was directing this film.

There are many things that make this enjoyable but, obviously, you have to have more than a passing familiarity with Trek to really appreciate them.

For example...as a final note, it was cool seeing Arlene Martel as the vulcan priestess maximizing her facial expressions (something Miss Martel is a master at) as she watches Uhura kiss Stonn. But to really appreciate that you have to recognize her as Spock's fiancée T'Pring and remember that she dumped Spock for Stonn...hence her discomfort at not JUST the blatant show of emotions.

All in all...much fun for Trekkers.

Corny performances but If you love Star Trek - it's almost worth it

[channelsurfer98 · 5/10 · 26 December 2011]

Overall this film was terrible although many trekkies will love it.

I have to disagree with some of the other reviews regarding the performances of Nichelle and Walter. A few scenes were good but the performances were generally wooden and hollow. Alan Ruck as a Star Ship captain was abysmal. When the ship is about to self destruct he asks Chekov casually "what do you want?" .. like he's taking a pizza order. As he is about to confront Chekov he is warned that it could be a trap. "Really?" he says sarcastically. Terrible.

The one shining star of the film was the performance by J.G. Herzler as Koval. He has performed previously as the Klingon Martok in the DS9 series. If the rest of the performances had been this solid and believable this would have been a terrific movie.

Interesting concept.

[nm17750 · 8/10 · 26 December 2007]

Very good idea and it does move along but at a lesser pace than i would like. The direction shows the smaller budget as does the special effects. But it begs to be asked why it took so long and why did Tim Russ let the actors be so boring for the most part. But again great concept and just a tad shy of what it could be in this reunion made for video. definitely a Trekky flick But with a huge Star Wars influence. The special effects takes me back to the first trek movie but without the gloss. Again it shows the low budget. But the rawness does capture the feel. Seeing the actor who played Jake Sisko was nice. As another put it where is Sulu? it would have been nice to see him there. I look forward to seeing the next part and how they can repair the time space continuim that gets destroyed at the beginning

So bad it's pretty good.

[mrglenngrant · 7/10 · 23 August 2023]

As a lifelong Trekkie, I'd seen some other Star Trek based stuff floating around and it was always unwatchable. However, this was mentioned on the Delta Flyers podcast and it intrigued me because it was directed by Tuvok and 'starred' Kim ... along with a whole host of other famous Star Trek alumni from the past (and the very past).

Having watched it now, it's ... well ... let's say not great, but above average. Pretty good.

The story has promise but lets itself down - for example, I struggled a bit with the alternate timeline story and what exactly Chekov was up to with his team of renegades. Also, the direction was very amateur, I think - with lots of weird hand-held shots and close-ups.

The sets, costumes and effects were all surprisingly good though. And it was genuinely really nice to spot all the old cast members and guest stars. That easily gives it an added 10 marks. :)

Also liked the blooper reel at the end. Why don't all films do that...?

67/100.

So so bad

[sisidyr · 3/10 · 25 December 2020]

Yup, it's got the names to it but it's probably one of the worst films, both from production values and cheesiness of the story, I've ever seen.

Sure it gives some classic phrases and nods to the originals but they are all done just for the sake of it and feel very forced.

Shame, they could've made a good story of it if they just made it a story without trying to position the nostalgia.

Seriously, avoid it.

This is what they came up with?

[Faena · 1/10 · 1 June 2009]

What we have here is an extended, unbearable New Voyages episode, complete with James Cawley (AKA Elvis Kirk), who evidently bartered use of his sets for a cameo appearance as Captain Kirk's nephew and a comfy seat at the conn for pal Jeffery Quinn. Too bad he didn't farm out his CG team either, because the outer space visuals in this production would make the "Space Rangers" (1993) effects crew snicker. Fidelity to Trek vessels aside, these shots are the computer age equivalent of a third grader with A.D.D. nearly puncturing the margins of notebook paper with ballpoint blue lasers and whirly explosions to depict spaceship wars.

Here's what happens when the typical fanboy script with hackneyed dialogue is actually produced, but somehow attracts an array of Star Trek luminaries: Nichelle Nichols and Walter Koenig must have realized this could be their last stab at committing their iconic characters to the screen. Tuvok directs and brings on Voyager chums Ethan Phillips and Garrett Wang. Alan Ruck is the one I felt the worst for; he's the canon likeness of the USS Enterprise-B captain with one on-screen appearance to his credit, but a clear grasp of Paramount's non-existent desire to produce new Captain Harriman material. As such it's easy to figure why he would volunteer his time to a fan production; an opportunity to insert himself once more, however unofficial, into Trek lore. Unfortunately instead of a straight Enterprise-B adventure (which this should have been with his participation, period), he's mired in a barely watchable stageplay with no character development whatsoever. By the end of the movie, we have no clearer impression of who Captain Harriman is than we did at the end of his scenes in STAR TREK: GENERATIONS. What a waste. I really thought it was going to be something special to rival the official Star Trek movies as "the one just for the fans" that Paramount never quite pulled off. Not the case. In fact now I understand why this sorta "came and went" with barely a whisper. All the ship drama occurs on the New Voyages Constitution-class Enterprise. One scene even drags out in the transporter room for what seemed like twenty full minutes! The wooden direction casts professional actors like Walter Koenig and Alan Ruck in an amateurish flare, akin to deer in headlights. To its credit, there are some nice location shoots like Vazquez Rocks and a couple of gardens that serve as the planet Vulcan. Initially I was impressed when Charlie X showed up and I thought they'd gotten the original actor, but he isn't.

The DVD case is interesting. One quote describes this as the "... most intelligent and thought provoking Star Trek movie ever created." I don't know about intelligent, but it definitely provoked my thoughts, as evidenced by this review. I suppose if the only Star Trek one has ever seen is the TNG eps where Ro and Guinan turn into kids and quell a Ferengi takeover of the ship, and the one where Dr. Crusher's dead grandmother's Scottish boyfriend's ghost shows up, OGaM could seem like the most intelligent Trek ever, but sadly this is one disc that will sit on my shelf for years until I feel the urge to punish myself for being a fan, or whenever I want to make my friends stare at my TV in horror... before getting their MST3K on.

Well worth viewing despite the low budget. Brilliant story.

[Whitejedi · 10/10 · 17 March 2009]

This is a fantastic story. Yes the production is a bit rough and nothing like the Paramount standard but all the veteran actors manage to pull off a reasonably good performance. Walter Koenig also turns to his Bester character from Babylon 5 to give depth to the alternate Pavel Chekov. It's absolutely amazing how you're actually drawn into the story within 10 minutes and you begin to forgive the low budget just for the sake of burning curiosity to find out how the story progresses and when it gets to the end, you're left with a feeling of satisfaction and the hope that it will get remade like the Sanctuary series has been. It might have been a good idea to at least have gone to the Babylon 5 production team to polish off the CGI since they were good at low budget production. There's even a kind of blooper reel at the end credits that are extremely amusing.

WARNING SPOILER - Respecting the "Star Trek" Legend

[mattpuppeteer · 3/10 · 1 December 2008]

WARNING SPOILER: The "Star Trek" success is undeniable. This franchise has generated four spin-off series, videos, books, and a very loyal following of which I am one. Filmmakers seeking to venture into this well-established universe ought to do so with great care. The visuals must look 100% real. There are no excuses for anything less than full scale models photographed on motion picture film later enhanced by CGI. Scripts need to exceed our expectations. If it is not well-written it can't be well-acted. And there is nothing more unfortunate than to see our all time favorite "Star Trek" stars speaking stinted lines of dialogue. Sets used must be built from scratch and not rented from other non Star Trek productions - aka: a spaceship interior used in the short-lived Fox TV show "Firefly" episode "Bushwhacked"- I was amazed to see how many "Star Trek" personalities participated in this less than stellar production. Those financing this straight-to-video movie should have forked out enough money for this production. The minute investors heard Tim Russ and other who's who of "Star Trek" were going to embark on this journey, they (investors) should have given more to this budget. I would love to see more of these videos provided better care is taken in making them (i.e. appropriate budgets). Tim Russ and cast get an "A+" for their efforts here. They did the very best with what they had to work with.

Great Idea, Good Cast, LOUSY production

[XweAponX · 10/10 · 18 January 2008]

I'm surprised that the premise behind this thing never occurred to the producers of any recent Star Trek series. Nevertheless, I'm pleased to see actors from The Original Series, The Movies, Deep Space 9, Voyager, and Enterprise.

I am also pleased to see William Wellman, Jr. take over the character created by Robert Walker, Jr in the Original Series Episode "Charley X" Although the acting is kind of wooden, the story holds up to any DC Fontana standards, although elements of the story are heavily borrowed from episodes of The Original Series and Star Trek: Generations.

Scotty is mentioned as being "Missing" - Which is in continuity with the Next Generation episode "Relics" where Scotty is rescued from a Dyson Sphere. Spock is mentioned as if he is readily available - A nice trick in case Leonard Nimoy decides to make any cameos in parts II or III of this little production.

This story uses elements from the original series stories "Charlie X," "Mirror, Mirror" and "The City on the Edge of Forever" - Including a clever reproduction of the Guardian of Forever.

The set pieces in this thing all look great, but where this fan film staggers is that the special effects all look like Effects from Pre-Windows computer games- The Enterprise "M" starts and stops in the establishing shots of "Synchronous Orbit" - As if the rendering had defects in it.

This is unforgivable since Star Wars episode III used store-bought A.M.D. Opteron computers to do some of post production, and that work was done in some living room right at Skywalker Ranch. So I will accept no excuses about the special effects and CGI shots, I have seen much better work from people who have much less. These are incredibly lousy shots. The computer models are alright, but the movement and rendering is just horrible- I am hoping that the project gains a technician that can re-create the vomitably horrendous outer space and effects shots- And while they are at it, they can work on the colour palette and make it more consistent. Vulcan looks like any East LA Backyard!

Finally, as far as continuity, I accept most of the story like I would accept any Next Generation story, except for the Guardian of Forever would have kept the three principals on the planet instead of ejecting them into the alternate universe.

But even with this huge continuity flaw, the story moves fine, and I can't wait to see the next II episodes.

I like this film a lot more than "The New Voyages" - Which have hardly any redeeming value beyond the costumes and sets that were recreated with great detail: Making Trek is much more than how good the set looks or how well the costumes fit the principals... The trick of Trek is to make the viewer BELIEVE in this future. I believe this story, whereas "The New Voyages" were only good for a belly laugh.

oh my god.

[joexboxer · 1/10 · 31 May 2009]

Robert Walker Jr could not be brought on to reprise his role as Charlie Evans. Gary Lockwood was not brought back to reprise his role as Gary Mitchell. Why is that? They probably read the script. I realize I was thinking this was NOT going to be another Cawley production like New Voyages, and I was wrong. It used the same sets, and I guess that is all the sets they had. Cawley's sets and an Amiga Video Toaster right out of 1985 for those graphics. WOW. OMG. The story was so jilted. You get Captain Harriman, the captain who 'lost' Kirk, Charlie-X AND Gary Mitchell together in 1 film, and that was it? I mean seriously? And you people who give it high praise - did you actually watch THE WHOLE THING? I only give it a 1 because I cannot add a NEGATIVE. I apologize, I read reviews and I was expecting greatness. Instead I get something on par with made-for-science class drizzle that I watched thinking it was going to get better, and ended up feeling like I might get quizzed on it later. DRIZZLE.

Review from Neo-opsis Science Fiction Magazine issue 20

[karl-johanson · 3 December 2020]

A significant part of the Star Trek phenomenon is "fan fiction." The movie Star Trek of Gods and Men, jumps the fan fic phenomenon up a few notches from the more common zines or home movies. In addition to high quality sets and effects, the movie includes various people who have worked on the multiple Trek series, most notably Nichelle Nichols (Uhura) and Walter Koenig (Chekov) both from classic Trek.

Seeing this movie I was again inspired to wonder again why the recent theatre release movie didn't opt for a Star Trek movie with original Star Trek actors, instead of the 'tribute band' movie they went for.

During the production of the original series, Nichelle Nichols almost left Star Trek as it seemed that every time a scene needed to be cut from a script, to keep the episode from going over time, that it was a scene of Uhura that was cut. I expect that she was quite happy to be a part of Of Gods and Men, which features Uhura quite prominently.

Tim Russ similarly seemed happy to appear next to Nichols and Koenig, revising his role as Tuvok, from Star Trek Voyager. Tim Russ directed Of Gods and Men as well.

Numerous other actors from the various Trek series appear in this movies, some as brief cameos, and some with more substantial parts.

The original Trek series lacked the detailed episodic constancy and multi-episode story arcs of later series such as Babylon 5 and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Of Gods and Men by contrast used the events of the earlier Trek episodes as back ground material, and tied a number of things together from the series. Fans of the minutiae of the Trek series will thus likely get extra enjoyment out of the movie.

A New Low

[batman_triumphant · 1/10 · 10 January 2020]

Finally! The Golden Turkey that is Star Trek V: The Final Frontier has been usurped by something even worse. Something so Foul and Inept. I am embarrassed for everyone involved. Tim Russ, don't do anything like this ever again. The worst Star Trek film, fan film, story, project, anything. Terrible!

Great Star Trek with Classic Feeling

[aisuru2001 · 9/10 · 2 July 2008]

This Star Trek movie is the best fan produced Star Trek feature that I have seen. Others have lacked such great acting and screen writing. This picture has a marvelous script and a truly exciting plot. It brings back lot's of memories of the original show. The movie may lack sophisticated CGI but, instead of being a downside, it actually adds a certain flavor to this movie. I found this very refreshing and actually pretty cool.

I especially liked the performance of Nichelle Nichols, which brought enormous depth to the Star Trek adventure. Also Walter Koenig's performance was superb! A nice treat was also the appearance of Tuvor as played by Tim Russ, who is also a very good director. He can really play the good and bad guy at once. The story of family and the idea of interracial marriage was what made Star Trek so unique in the first place. This is a great tribute to the creator of the Star Trek universe Gene Roddenberry.

A Senior Trekker writes

[celineduchain · 5/10 · 23 November 2021]

This crowd funded, fan production held me spellbound from Nichelle Nichols' opening piece of narration: "it's said if you move but one grain of sand, you risk altering history",...

...and then in we went to the soaring music and the list of all the wonderfully familiar Star Trek actors who had contributed to the making of this delightful piece of Trek nostalgia.

Many people have been churlish enough to criticise the special effects, plot, dialogue, costumes etc. As if they were expecting a studio-funded professional production. Please: just go back to your bedrooms and re-watch Star Wars. This is not for you.

It is my pleasure to join the chorus of long-term Star Trek aficionados and extend my heartfelt thanks to all concerned.

This movie is great

[philipwalsh · 10/10 · 22 April 2008]

I have to say that I know it is low budget but if your a real Star Trek fan then you will still enjoy the movie! It has many great actors that you will already know and love.

This for me is a good stop gap before the new movie and it is worth a few hours of your time watching it.

The movie picks a story that is new to us but relates to a story that we might already know about so in that respect it really makes it just a stop gap.

It is good to see some of the old cast from STO but also good to see some of the voyager crew in it.

Sit down and relax with a beer of too and enjoy it! I know I did.

Regrettable

[fvneyfcqn · 3/10 · 16 October 2021]

Another New Voyages episode, again with the Guardian of Forever, now tied in with Charlie X and Gary Mitchell in what is essentially a mirror universe but not THE mirror universe - this dreck has all the usual bad dialog and terrible effects you'd expect from a Cawley production with more closeups than an episode of Dark Shadows.