There's a great article today in the LA Times on Star Trek fans films (shown above is the U.S.S. Odyssey from Star Trek: Hidden Frontier):
They just keep on Trekking
The 'Star Trek' franchise lives on through fan films, crafted by people outside the industry. In terms of money, it's a whole different universe.
"Fan films are movies made by people outside the entertainment industry who write or improvise a script set in a familiar universe (like "Star Trek" or "Star Wars" or "Batman" or "Harry Potter") and shoot it themselves. It's not illegal as long as nobody makes any money from it — although some companies, Marvel in particular, don't like their characters and worlds messed with. Anyone can do it, but it's not easy. Time-consuming. Costly. And if you want to do it really well, there are actors, special effects, props, background music, costumes, makeup and distribution to consider. That's when making a small fan film becomes a Herculean labor of love.
Rob Caves, creator and executive producer of "Hidden Frontier," wanted his series to be good. He's a diminutive 28-year-old with an almost unnervingly calm demeanor. As a kid watching "Star Trek: The Next Generation" with his father, and later "Deep Space Nine" on his own (he never liked the original series), he leaned less toward the usual "Trek" fan impulse of "I wish I lived there" and more toward "I want to make that"."