Colony – A Star Trek Fan Production – Ric Forster

Colony – A Star Trek Fan Production

Announcing “COLONY – A STAR TREK FAN PRODUCTION” inspired by STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS.

Written and directed by filmmaker Ric Forster, shooting in Melbourne, Australia. 2 x 15 mins.

Having grown up with Star Trek, it’s always been a filmmaking ambition of mine to work on the franchise (dream job!). I’ve been itching to do another sci fi project for a while… With a couple of weeks of downtime, and a suitable warehouse space available, I figured… why not?

Synopsis

When a separatist group uses a bio-weapon to expel all colonists from the planet Thirin, Ensign Alia (whose father is human and mother is Thirin) finds herself torn between her personal beliefs and Starfleet duty.

Production

I looked through countless screenshots from Lower Decks to recreate the look and feel of a California class starship – the San Diego – a sister ship to the U.S.S. Cerritos. We built a partial bridge, a sickbay and ready room set. Mike McMahan and the creative team behind Lower Decks did such a fantastic job of honouring the Next Generation / Voyager aesthetic – I wanted to recreate that as closely as possible.

With only a week to put the sets together, it was fairly limited in scope, but I hope it gives viewers a taste of what a live-action Lower Decks might look like. And with the unfortunate announcement Lower Decks is to conclude with season 5, wouldn’t it be awesome to see a Hollywood version of that? #SaveStarTrekLowerDecks

Still figuring out how I’m going to tackle the visual effects (any vfx artists reading this – feel free to drop me a line!)
Note: this is purely a not-for-profit project, with no crowdfunding or money changing hands. It will be released in full on YouTube for free.

Administrator Roffe has harsh words for the captain, in the ready room set

Crew
Writer, Director, DP – Ric Forster
Producer – Melanie Rowland
Makeup / Prosthetics – Ellie Loveless

Cast

Ensign Alia V’tain – Kate Mayhew
Captain Ruben Finch – Brett Whittingham
Commander Dominic Hartley – Jordan Briggs
Doctor Stuart Ambrose – Kyle Lochnor
Security Chief Lieutenant Jara Khix – Sabrina Rault
Nurse Diana Demarco – Amber Louka
Lieutenant Valerie Jennings – Melodie Mckenzie
Administrator Carolyn Roffe – Caitlin O’farrell
Henry Townsend – David Margetts

Star Trek and all related marks, logos and characters are solely owned by CBS Studios Inc. This fan production is not endorsed by, sponsored by, nor affiliated with CBS, Paramount Pictures, or any other Star Trek franchise, and is a non-commercial fan-made film intended for recreational use. No commercial exhibition or distribution is permitted. No alleged independent rights will be asserted against CBS or Paramount Pictures.