Some movies will stay in my queue for years, but a week after Star Trek: Renegades appeared on YouTube, my fingers unintentionally hit play, and I could not hit stop. I didn’t even know it was available online until I just went to YouTube. Star Trek: Renegades is a fan film made by Tim Russ, who plays Tuvok on Star Trek: Voyager and in this film.
Star Trek: Renegades is about something sinister going on in Starfleet so Chekhov and Tuvok authorize a bunch of outlaws to act outside of the law to investigate and save the day. I thought that I was a hard core Trekkie, but I could not keep up with the well-known faces (was that Boba Fett?) and references so I probably missed a lot of important aspects to the plot. I would love a spoiler filled recap to understand what I watched, but I can only find spoiler free reviews. Because it isn’t always clear what I was supposed to know because I didn’t understand a reference and what was left unsaid so it can be developed in future plots, I’m going to say that the story needed a lot more development. Because of the limited resources, everything feels a little rushed and cobbled together, but I’ll forgive anything for a Star Trek fix.
I really loved that Star Trek: Renegades brought back some alien species largely abandoned since the original series (blue skinned Andorians) and long standing conflicts to add texture to the plot (Bajorians vs Cardassians, Borg recoverers, Khan descendants). I’m a huge Adrienne Wilkinson fan because she is Xena’s daughter and has always effectively played angry, capable women. I think that her character needs some work. Initially she is shown as ruthless and unconventional in her approach to leadership and success, but soon her character is getting tricked, tolerating BS and knocked out than I thought that she would, especially considering her genetic history. When she is finally shown overpowering someone physically, I thought, “About damn time.” Great to see Blade Runner’s Sean Young again. It has been a long time. I didn’t buy Corin Nemec as a captain. I think that he was going for a Kirk recklessness, but no. I wanted Chekhov’s granddaughter to be played by Sansa Stark.
Star Trek: Renegades is not ready for primetime…YET, but if you love the franchise, you should check it out.