STARSHIP VALIANT PRESENTS: 5 OF THE MOST ASKED QUESTIONS THAT WE GET, ANSWERED BY EXECUTIVE PRODUCER Michael L. King. 1. Now that the first episode of Starship Valiant is in the tubes, what are your thoughts about it? “Well first off, I am very proud of what we were able to accomplish with Legacy. A lot of what I wanted to see in the completed film is there. Course with any work of art there are always things that you want but for some reason or another the inevitable happens and you have to sacrifice vision as a result of collective decisions; what works best for the story or budgetary restraints. As the writer of Legacy, my main concern was being true to the characters that I created. Each and every one of them was well thought out and I even created a history for them and if anything were to be in the first film, we had to stay true to the characters. That was my paramount concern. Now that the film has been completed, in retrospect, I would say that we did indeed stay true to my original concept and I think both Brady and Ben helped to enforce those ideals. The response to all these people has been very positive. I endeavored to make these folks as real as possible and that’s a hallmark that I will carry over to the next film.” 2. Of all the comments that you have received about Legacy, what is your favorite? “That’s very difficult, I have received so many wonderful comments but I would have to pick two. (1) A young man wrote and told me that, and I quote; “In 20 minutes, Bishop has become my favorite captain in all of Star Trek,” and (2) “A navy man spoke of how much turmoil the family unit goes through when loved ones are away in the military leaving the unsung heroes, (the spouse and kids) to cope and take charge of the home. Unfortunately, he also spoke of all the broken homes that resulted from military service and what brought this response was his reaction to Bishop and his daughter’s troubled relationship.” “That comment really got to me that our film could generate such a moving response.” 3. What would you change if you could do Legacy all over again? “I would make it longer! (Laughs) Seriously though, I would do exactly that. Originally, I wanted the opening to be much longer, you know-the “Dream Sequence.” I actually had Craig Frey, our CGI guy create a much more aggressive opening and if it had of played out the way that I wanted, we would have seen the Suculon battleship fire on the Valiant, and then bank away-very TOS like. I also story-boarded the very beginning of that sequence and for one reason or another it didn’t quite come off the way that I had envisioned. I believe that most of that opening was dropped due to time constraints since we had a very real deadline of getting the film completed for our Sooner Con premiere. Remember in the film when Lt. Foster yells, “Captain, we’ve lost impulse power?” Well, Craig actually animated the impulse deck exploding but ultimately all this stuff was cut in favor of a much more straight-forward opening. You know in the film-making process, I think the people behind the scenes all experience times when they feel their creativity is stifled. I think it’s something we all go through but for better or worse, what’s important is the integrity of the film and the characters. It’s all about sacrifices and you just have to give up a little something sometimes if and only if it benefits the story. All the moments that I would have changed would have mostly been additions. I wanted the cemetery scene to be more representative of the future that Valiant took place in but again we were up against a deadline so that didn’t happen. I wanted a few technicians to be seen working on the bridge during Bishop’s arrival on the ship but that didn’t happen simply because we didn’t have the money for uniforms to put on the techs. So in the end, I would not change any of the character moments in the film as they were directed and edited wonderfully by Brady and Ben but as you read, there are things that I would have liked to seen. May be one day, I’ll revisit the film and make a “Producers cut,” with the help of Brady.” 4. The BIG question; what’s going on with the sequel to Legacy? “Well that’s simple enough. We, (Brady and myself) are developing the story for episode #2. You know, this question has to be the most frequent that I have gotten from fans of Legacy. They want to see more of these people working together and I am truly thankful for their desire to see more. Brady and I want the second episode to be as special as we can make it and the story is the most important aspect of the creative process. I personally feel that Legacy promoted the importance of the characters in terms of depth and also that it stirred some emotions in people. I don’t want to lose that. As I have said before, we wanted to make these characters as real as possible while honoring Gene Roddenberry’s vision and the integrity of the characters HAS TO BE OF THE UTMOST IMPORTANCE. The development that begun with Legacy has to be carried over to the next film because I don’t want this interesting group of people to become stagnant. In my mind they represent the truest remnants of humanity and the human element cannot be lost. The audience must relate to them and they must continue to grow. So what fans can expect is a character driven sequel that continues to challenge this group of people while certainly pushing the boundaries of fan film making.” 5. One final question that you’ve probably been asked before: when can we expect to see the second episode released? “Yep, been asked this several times but to answer honestly, I don’t know. If I were to venture a rough guess, I would say sometime next year. The beauty of episode #2 is that we are not under a deadline so we have the luxury of taking our time and making everything as great as possible. Course budget is always a concern and the lack of it will hinder a production no matter how you look at it. In closing I will say that I think what we have developed so far will offer quite the ride in terms of character depth and visualization. We, (Brady, Ben, Craig and myself) are all hard at work and what I can definitely say is that episode 2, fans will get to see just what the USS Valiant can do and why she is so special…”
Posted on: Sat, 20 Dec 2014 06:45:06 +0000
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