Any particular shows people here like watching? I've seen Renegades and a few others. I'm currently in the middle of Phase II. The special effects impress me for the budgets involved, and the writing/acting makes me appreciate the professionals more :^P I don't want to shit on any of them though. The effort is solid, and they're still an enjoyable watch.
One thing I really notice is timing in the dialog. It's one of those 'I know it when I see it' things. I couldn't do any better if I were producing it, but I can see a clear difference between amateur and professional shows. It's hard to exactly put my finger on it, but they'll hold onto a shot, the dialog will lag by a little bit, and it doesn't land as well as it could.
I finished Phase II New Voyages... I guess... There was one episode left, and apparently they got the smackdown from CBS, and it was never released. It was getting good too. Everything was tightening up, and they were finding their footing, per Star Trek tradition. It's a perversion of copyright law. Copyright is to ensure works get produced. A monopoly isn't the end goal. Not like these shows are real competition. If anything, they bolster the franchise.
@quark
I have that downloaded, but haven't read it yet.
I downloaded a bunch of stuff from youtube while waiting at the doctors, and I need to see what I got. I must have grabbed the wrong link, and started downloading the whole youtube channel that was linked above :^D
There is an audio project called wolf 359, which is different; I don't even think that is Star Trek related. That is the youtube page that comes up when you search wolf 359. Google carefully!
I stumbled into a whole YouTube channel full of fan shorts from various groups but I can't remember the name anymore to find it again. Thought it might be starbase something or other but I can't find it again.
Actually this looks like another channel entirely. I'll have to add it to my list. The short I remember watching had a very TOS type plot where some kind of radiation or energy caused the crew to become obsessed with the object in their own way. The tactical officer wanted to shoot it, the science officer wanted to study it, etc. It was hokey but still pretty neat. The effects were low budget 90s TV movie quality but had a charm about them.
It has a weird hazy soft focus film style that I suspect is to make effects/backgrounds easier to produce. There was also a couple times I was confused, but it was a decent story and an enjoyable watch.