Star Trek: Operation Beta Shield (2008) User Reviews

Not bad, if you know these characters.

[rgcustomer · 6/10 · 2 April 2011]

First I should warn you that this film is not something you should watch without having some familiarity with the fan series Star Trek: Intrepid and Hidden Frontier/Helena Chronicles/Odyssey. Having seen only half those series, I found myself a little lost, even though I had seen the prequel Orphans of War some time earlier. Also, this film appears to be followed by the Federation One series, and the short film One of Our Own. (Maybe a flowchart on the hiddenfrontier website is in order). It also has some relationship to The Section 31 Files audio series I am totally unfamiliar with.

The film has two main story lines, with a minor subplot as well, and it's difficult sometimes to keep track of what is happening. For example, when Intrepid is sent to Vrijheid, it just wasn't clear to me that is where they were, until I watched that part again a few times. This film is short enough that it could have benefited from a few more minutes helping the rest of us understand things.

There's also a subplot having to do with Nostrum seeking his fiancée. This didn't really seem to fit in with anything else, so I'm not sure why it's there. If it's needed to complete a story, I'd probably have taken all these scenes and inserted them into a future film as a flashback. Maybe it makes more sense if you've seen all the other series.

This film is in the usual Hidden Frontier style, although it is of much higher quality than the original Hidden Frontier series. Some of the backgrounds are animated. The green auras seem to be gone.

The acting is OK too, generally, a step up from Hidden Frontier. In particular, the McCabe character (actor Wayne Webb) has grown since Hidden Frontier days and could probably fit right in to any official Star Trek set, except maybe for one scene which looks like he was briefly possessed by James Cawley, of nose-scrunching fame.

Makeup was good, which is to say I didn't notice any. The characters looked like they should look.

And I liked the closing credits music, which I guess is original, although based on familiar themes.

Briefly, the story is: Excelsior has a diplomatic mission to the Romulans, to seek permission for Federation (Starfleet & Klingon) forces to repel suspected Archein invasion into their Beta quadrant, as a first step to protecting Alpha quadrant from the same, while dealing with claims of Section 13 spying. Intrepid, which was accompanying Excelsior, is sent to Vrijheid to investigate the Section 13 part. There's a change in leadership, and the new Federation President Vindenpawl renames Starfleet One to Federation One. With this sort of non-ending, the film feels like a series pilot. It certainly has my interest.

I wavered between 6 and 7 for this one. I went with 6 due to the green-screen style (even if it's perfect, I still probably won't like it) and the complex plot relying on a lot of knowledge from other series, without re-explaining it for those who haven't (or won't) see those other series.

Jakob Solheim's Star Trek operation beta shield TV series review

[jakobpa · 10/10 · 6 October 2023]

I think Star Trek operation beta shield is an excellent tie in too, both the larger Star Trek universe as a whole and the sci-fi fan fiction, television series, Star Trek hidden frontier. The story goes even further and telling the exploration of the Briarpatch. It also makes use of both episodic and series are stories very well. Further, setting the stage for Starfleet's first ever intergalactic mission and intergalactic exploration. Also, setting the stage for important battles, which are always fun to see in Star Trek. Having an alien race invade the. Federation and hijack not only deep space 12 but also. The Baku home world was an excellent ending for a spin off of Star Trek hidden frontier while also tying into elements of Star Trek deep space nine and the movie Star Trek insurrection.

Shows ignorance and arrogance.

[oscar-35 · 2 May 2013]

All fan made videos usually have most of the same limitations; low budget and lack of cast and crew knowledge & talents. What makes some better than others is how the different producers either succeed or fail in what's on screen for the viewer's to enjoy. On the Internet people will tune-in to watch mega car crashes. Repeatedly making the same mediocre video attempts like this for years does not qualify you for video maker of the year. That just shows ignorance and arrogance. It is not even a spoof. Nor is it a parody, satire, send-up, mash-up, lampoon, or pastiche. It has been presented as real Star Trek and most watchers will likely go into viewing this as expecting a send-up, and the makers of the video should have set out to produce a spoof. It has a pro-liberal political message like most 'satires'. And, then add to this, when you wait for a LONG download time, and the video is still very rough! This 'whatever' video's has little watcher "reality or watchabilty, sorry.

I have several thoughts about production problems with viewing Rob Caves attempts at entertainment.

1. Weak and unbelievable main character casting....Overuse of wrong physical "type" casting of performers, I.E. too young, grossly obese and unbelievably other miscast performers.

2. Weak acting.....enough said, don't use weak performers for anything. Many people blatantly look right into the camera or are obviously reading their lines from scripts held off camera.

3. A Weak Middle- This is pacing or NO-pacing more accurately. You must start off great and not weaken in the middle or end. Because it causes boredom or drudgery for your viewers. If the story isn't compelling the weak script will damage the film.

4. A Weak Third Act- Many bad stories just sink towards the end. Looks all too familiar here. Either the story is hasty or unsatisfactory resolved, or it has several endings. The writer shows he doesn't know when to end the story.

5. Too much reliance on non-original video media essentials....Cave's heavy "re-use" of a LOT of non-original media or 3rd party owned production elements for ease.

6. Weak writing.....Your project will suffer if the dialog is full of plot exposition or just doesn't sound like the way normal people speak to each other. If the script doesn't have anything new or original about them. A lack or originality in film plots is something you can't get away with as a newcomer. Scripts about esoteric/oddball subjects will only interest a few people, not the masses of film goers. "Small stories" does not capture the attention of people to spend their time by viewing the film. At best a producer might get a film into a tiny niche of the art house film. Scripts must be good. And be VERY WARY of a writer that wants the "good" acting parts in their own stories.

7. Weak characters- The three Rules. "Characters must be FULL & people have many interesting facets." The fans in this video while having good wishes are not believable and are cartoons of TV roles, actors can be full and real. All good scripts are driven by conflict and stand or fall about the drama between a hero and opponent. The villain must be able to competently oppose the hero. An easy to beat villain takes away from he beneficial suspense and drama. The bad writers and bad actors will neglect their characters. That makes viewers feel they don't know the main character roles. It seems that they are only doing things for the odd sake of the story only---things that inconsistent with actions only minutes before. They contradict themselves and their story actions. It's confusing to the viewers. Their changes should be done because of who that become, not just arbitrarily for the writer wants in the story plot.

8. Green Screen Backgrounds for all scenery- Cave's GFX backgrounds are lazy, boringly static, bad & unwatchable.

9. CGI & Electronic computer EFX- Caves should use this sparingly. Don't overuse these tools in hopes they will save a story or overshadow other project weaknesses. Story is driven by good plots, themes, characters and NOT EFX.

10. Accept criticism. When people say that Caves show is not impressive, listen to them and figure out why. Don't ignore them in favor of people who say the show is glowingly great. No growth/learning is stagnation and gives us more bad episodes.