Newfoundland trekkies create their own Star Trek web series
It might be an understatement to say Darren Hann loves Star Trek, but just watching the show on TV wasn't enough.
"I've been collecting Star Trek merchandise all my life," Hann, a Mount Pearl sci-fi junkie, told The Corner Brook Morning Show.
"I can't remember not having a time of my life when I wasn't watching Star Trek in some form or another."
Four years ago, Hann made the leap to become part of the Star Trek universe itself, gathering a group of fellow hard-core fans to produce the web series Star Trek: Reliant.
"It's a growing trend now on the internet. A lot of people make their own fan films, " Hann said.
Hann and his friends have made 11 short episodes so far, featuring everything a Star Trek fan would expect: Vulcans, Borgs, transporters, and of course, a variety of alien worlds.
Hann himself portrays Capt. Miles Edward O'Brien, the commanding officer of the USS Reliant.
The series features original material, performed by actors with some community theatre experience.
Hann said he has no shortage of storylines.
"Inspiration from anything, that's the best way to say it. I could be out, hear something on the news or I could see somebody doing something, and it's like, 'Ohm that would make a great story.'"
Newfoundland-inspired storyline
The latest webisode, Stalemate, finds the crew on an alien world similar to Earth, but with its water poisoned by hydraulic fracturing.
Hann said he was inspired by developments on Newfoundland's west coast. He looked into similar plotlines from actual Star Trek episodes and blended the two into his script, which he said has generated a lot of comments since being posted last September.
"I like it when we put out a story that people sit down and think about it," Hann said.
"Star Trek has always been about what's happening in the world, but we just tell it in a futuristic way, and get both sides of the story."
Hann said what has surprised him is the lack of negative comments about Star Trek Reliant.
"Because there's a lot of that out there, with other fan series," Hann said. "'Oh, you done this wrong or you portrayed this actor wrong.` We actually haven't had that yet, which I'm thankful for."
Hann and his crew also spend their spare time visiting science fiction festivals like last weekend's Atlanti-Con in Corner Brook.
In between those events, Hann promises more adventures from the crew of the Reliant with the next webisode due to premiere on YouTube before this Christmas.