Star Trek Chimera is a 2016 fan film from former contest entrants to Star Trek Deep Space Nine and Star Trek Voyager writing contest in 1995, Adam Browne and Jon Yeager, under the pen names Kal Kat and Marx Cards.
Kat publishes on many blog channels but is featured on Trek Core web site as Chimera 82405, a senior member of the site since 2014. He had been a senior member of Trek Web web site before that, going back to 2006.
While the site was failing in 2012, he offered to take over editing duties but was shot down by the other senior members, and not the moderators, and then they corrupted his account for the site. This forced the actual moderators to shut his account down. The site floundered while other deals could not be struck, and he decided to pull out and not take over the site. Conjecture had it that Kurtzner wanted money, and he was not able to pay.
Most of Kat and Cards YouTube content are sketch shows, parodies, blogs and song parodies. They do not have any profit or ad sense for any parodies. The channels On Location Kat and On Location Kat 2 Reviews operate non profit from California.
Under their real names, Browne published a science fiction epic novel called Distant Destinies, 2008, and was editor of Blessings Deferred, a non fiction biography novel by his Grandmother, Estelle Knapp, published posthumously in 2003.
Together, Browne and Yeager produced a low budget science fiction fan film, Star Crackers, with their friends that did not get released on YouTube until 2012, and was pulled once, and has been reposted twice, with a current 2015 release. The film was not completed until 2012 but much of it was shot in 1992.
It appears they are not affiliated with any known Star Trek fan film, but have admitted they donated to the kick starters of some films, but did not disclose how much. Kat admits to having a bias about liking fan films and action fantasy.
Star Trek Chimera is the reincarnation of a role playing, live action, and story based, and animation based fan series going back to an origin in 1986 at a Bay Area high school, where they made a short film in which the classic Enterprise battled Teddy Ruxpin as a giant mutant. This is according to an article in Trek Core.
The new version is less a Mary Sue of their fan series and more a classic nod to the Next Generation through to Voyager, knowing it has been 10 years or more since Voyager returned home. In the story it is June 2388. This coincidentally lines up with one of the fan films they donated to, called Renegades.
Adam Browne is of no relation to the star of Hidden Frontiers on the Internet Stellar Database.
Some confusion about the two arises when they mention support for fan film Star Trek Excalibur, but not what it is, and knock other fan films like Axanar for making it harder for fan films.
Allegedly they got the help of a TV actor to be in the planning stages, and a cameo role, in the film before any scenes were shot. They did not pay him. He volunteered to do the cameo. It was the first scene shot, nearly 10 years ago, in December 2006. Actual shooting did not begin until 2011, and then started over in 2013. The actor is affiliated with their 'brother fan series' Star Trek Excalibur. Both have had a race to completion lasting over 9 years. Both have similar production values but Excalibur is live action, while Browne and Yeager went with go motion action figures, which was something they did with Transformers parodies, and Robotech, and GI Joe.
In interviews for the film, Kat has so much as said the Excalibur class Titan is named for the ship in the other series, more so than for the Excalibur in the TNG era book series from Pocket.
Titan had to be changed due to not wishing to pay anyone royalties for the Luna design, so as not to pay or get paid for anything. They changed the name and the design and added an A, indicating the original in this timeline was destroyed but a new one was assigned. The new ship is bigger and more their liking.
Enterprise E also appears in the film. That much is from the trailers.
The Chimera appears to be a Phoenix class ship, but not in honor of a fan film. The name is a reference to the role playing ship Mary Sue, the Medusa, her predecessor from the 2009 version of the games.
Production completes in June 2016 for a July 2016 release. It will be on You Tube and will not have ads or be for any profit at all.
Kat and Cards have indicated they are too close to being done to release new footage. It will give too much away.
Recently Kat has shuffled around these blogs in anticipation of the flow of interest in the fan film.
When asked how they managed not to get into trouble over using the Star Trek name, both explained that they did not have a cast, did not hire anyone, and everyone involved volunteered. They had no kick starter. All the sets and figures were donations or purchases by Kat or Cards, or their friends. Some of the ships were even donated by old Star Crackers story and game friends.
One of the models is a busted Klingon ship that was given as a birthday gift, when it wasn't broken, but it has since been damaged.
The Enterprise E model is another present, purchased at the then failing Star Trek Experience in 2007.
Kat reportedly was so involved in Star Trek Experience as in attended it so much, that the tourists and locals began to think he worked on the ride. Under his real name, Browne attempted to save the busted up parts from the attraction, but could not get his people out there to get any of it in time.
Under his real name, he has two scripts for Star Trek that were rejected in the 1990s contest, but that had nice critical comments that told that the stories were close to what they wanted, but not quite. They were re purposed for other stories later. The stories have since been removed from an online blog, today in fact. This is to make sure that all things are in order and there are no assets out there.
Although Kat and Cards have not been on Star Trek, they have been to several conventions and met most of the actors and production people at them. Kat may still have some connections to those people, and hints that he knows some of them while on Trek Core, but it is under an agreement not to reveal them. This has sparked some erroneous conjecture he might actually know more about the new movie and show than he is letting on.
Kat has sometimes claimed that during the 1990s 'like minds thought alike' and many events in the shows were eerily similar to the role playing games, before the Internet, and then exploded during. At one time he was possibly Orci. Ha. He looks more like McNiel.
But Kat and Cards have reviewed the newer Trek movies and are clearly partial to the classic and the TNG era, suggesting if anything they might have been connected to some of the DS9 and Voyager people, but this had never been confirmed.
Cards admits, no, he is not associated with anyone from current Paramount or CBS.
Kat only knows some of them still from online sites. He is not in the production nor has he worked in Hollywood. He does not have an agent. At one time he joked that 1995 would have been much different if he had one, and he would have been on the staff of Voyager. Would it have been a better show? Probably not. Ha.
Although the role playing game is unofficial and not on line anymore, a new version that will be parody based is planned for 2017. It is not associated with the new series.
Star Trek is a trademark and copyright of CBS and Paramount Pictures so any use of that must be under fair use and not make a profit. Chimera is thus a parody, review, or fan film, and falls under the DMCA guidelines for use of copyrighted name in an altered state.
