Earth's future space exploration leads to its first contact ever with an alien race that may not be so alien after all.Earth's future space exploration leads to its first contact ever with an alien race that may not be so alien after all.Earth's future space exploration leads to its first contact ever with an alien race that may not be so alien after all.
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Eric Johnson
- Nathan Falls
- (as Eric 'Kiwi' Johnson)
- Director
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Featured review
A Balanced View
Lots of people would like to follow in the footsteps of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and make their own space opera, but few succeed in going even part of the way. Star Trek New Voyages and Star Wreck are among the few exceptions. A new addition to that list is Shubian's Rift, a grass roots feature length science fiction adventure that was inspired by Roddenberry's creation. It was completed late last year by Delta Airlines pilot Joe Dwyer. His dream didn't end with finishing the film, though. In January it was broadcast on his local television station, PMtv, and he is now preparing a sequel. Dwyer's achievements provide further proof that Star Trek's creative legacy lives on.
Joe Dwyer wrote the script for Shubian's Rift between 1999 and 2002, but his desire to make the movie goes back to his high school days, when he was filming Star Trek stories on 8 mm with his friend Ellsworth Hall. Rather than going to film school, though, Dwyer chose a different career. He attended the University of Maryland to do a degree in Mathematics, Physical Sciences and Engineering and then joined the U.S. Air Force.
"The Journeyman interiors were all built in my upstairs studio in my home," Dwyer said. "The shuttle and Dragon Phoenix (an alien ship) sets were built in the Newnan Community Theater Company's building in downtown Newnan." The set designs are minimal but imaginative and hark back to the original series of Star Trek.
To say that the CGI effects in Shubian's Rift are a testimony to what amateur productions can achieve in this age of relatively cheap technology would be to give scant credit to their teenage creator, Casey Curtis. Curtis was a student at the Central Education Center (CEC), a publicly-funded charter high school in Newnan, when he was making the film. Given his age, equipment and lack of professional training, Curtis's work is outstanding. The ship designs are realistic and the textures and movements are convincing. The blue screen work is also well done.
Shubian's Rift was an ambitious undertaking, and it is a credit to Dwyer and his cast and crew that they finished it. It would hardly be fair to expect the result, in its entirety, to match the production values of Hollywood space operas.
This review is edited from a version I wrote for Hollywood North Report.
Joe Dwyer wrote the script for Shubian's Rift between 1999 and 2002, but his desire to make the movie goes back to his high school days, when he was filming Star Trek stories on 8 mm with his friend Ellsworth Hall. Rather than going to film school, though, Dwyer chose a different career. He attended the University of Maryland to do a degree in Mathematics, Physical Sciences and Engineering and then joined the U.S. Air Force.
"The Journeyman interiors were all built in my upstairs studio in my home," Dwyer said. "The shuttle and Dragon Phoenix (an alien ship) sets were built in the Newnan Community Theater Company's building in downtown Newnan." The set designs are minimal but imaginative and hark back to the original series of Star Trek.
To say that the CGI effects in Shubian's Rift are a testimony to what amateur productions can achieve in this age of relatively cheap technology would be to give scant credit to their teenage creator, Casey Curtis. Curtis was a student at the Central Education Center (CEC), a publicly-funded charter high school in Newnan, when he was making the film. Given his age, equipment and lack of professional training, Curtis's work is outstanding. The ship designs are realistic and the textures and movements are convincing. The blue screen work is also well done.
Shubian's Rift was an ambitious undertaking, and it is a credit to Dwyer and his cast and crew that they finished it. It would hardly be fair to expect the result, in its entirety, to match the production values of Hollywood space operas.
This review is edited from a version I wrote for Hollywood North Report.
helpful•32
- michael-3568
- Sep 9, 2009
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $23,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 50 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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