"Escape of Khan" - Launch of the Botany Bay

[Ferocinator]

Completely worthy of the "Star Trek" universe. :)

[kb7rky]

I've been a lifelong Trek Fan, and I have to say...this is one of the best fan films yet. It's always nice to see some of The Original Series' backstories that stay true to accepted canon.

Mazel tov!

[GeorgeKayaian]

That was, simply put, fantastic! I loved every moment! It felt epic, and historical! Visually stunning, I felt that it belongs as OFFICIAL Star Trek canon, and wished they put into an episode of the Wrath Of Khan itself! Well done! Amazing achievement!

[VideoSpaceFX]

@GeorgeKayaian

Thanks, yes the origins of Khan in the 20th century would make a great story for mini series or TV movie.

[stu1701E]

Great Episode, great book, great video, great channel. Subbed.

[MrDrumbum2910]

two requests, please make a video of the people of the Next Gen episode "the neutral zone" and how they ended up where they did, then make a video of the bozeman from "cause and effect" leading up to the crash sequence

[VideoSpaceFX]

@MrDrumbum2910

Well I'm working on a video featuring the Bozeman right now :)

As for the people from the 20th century, according to novels Ralph Offenhouse later became Federation Ambassador to the Ferengi, whilst Clare Raymond goes on to work as a Counsellor for the Department of Temporal Investigations.

[MrDrumbum2910]

@VideoSpaceFX Looking forward to seeing the video, one more question, how did you learn the animating software that you use and what is it called?

[noruleg1]

Very Good job, this is one of the best fan based videos I have ever seen. Most of them are re makes of things we have already seen. This was interesting and well done. Liked seeing the enterprise at the end. Good concept, good job.

[hardwire5000]

Awesome job!

[tracknights]

Great job with this! Good special effects and a coherent story! I especially liked the models of the DY100 - making such an old ship look good!

[JeffersPage]

the cargo pods would have prevented a launch like that unless there was somesort of cowling on the front.

[Honestinwilkesbarre]

@JeffersPage ....or a force-field SHAPED like a cowling.

Get with the program, this is Star Trek, science FICTION. A lot is possible that isn't possible in the "real" world, yet.

[VideoSpaceFX]

@Honestinwilkesbarre

Very true, especially since this is reverse engineered from the future. Maybe elements of deflector technology we used to create a kind of aerodynamic evelope.

[Franciszek64]

Who perfoms the last song of the video???.. sounds heavenly "celestial".. by the way.. great video!!!.. and also a wonderfull Tribute for Ricardo Montalban.

Greetings from Mexico City!!

[VideoSpaceFX]

@Franciszek64

Thanks. It is from the video game Star Trek DS9 The Fallen - end titles.

[Franciszek64]

@VideoSpaceFX Thanks my friend!!!. I´ll try to find the theme here on youtube. Best regards from Mexico City!!!

[SugarHill1925]

That was very cool!

[Purplehead222]

Love this! I love all your videos I've watched so far. I had an uncle that loved this kind of stuff also. He made some videos that were good. Keep it up!

[PonyHorton]

Nicely done! My only suggestion, since you clearly put a lot of time/effort into this, would be the BOTANY BAY needed a bit more texturing, shaders, and in a few places a little more finesse on the lighting.

I would also like to have seen some story and characters in there as well.

My comments are not meant to hurt or insult, just suggestions from one film maker to another.

This is VERY well-done, and with just another pass or two, would be OVER THE TOP.

I enjoyed it!

[VideoSpaceFX]

@PonyHorton

Thanks, I appreciate the suggestions and agree with them really. I spent ages just tinkering with the lighting to try to match the scene, it is difficult. My videos lack human actors, but I would love the idea of making a film version of the backstory of Khan based upon the books by Greg Cox, after all Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln where supposed to have their own series "Assignment: Earth". I think they are great characters.

[jrc99us]

Well done!

[MrWirelessFeet]

I enjoyed that. U do some great work. Cant wait to see more in the future.

[whitecd]

Very cool video! I never read any the Star Trek novels. But I am a big fan of TOS and the TOS cartoons. Very cool to watch in full screen mode. Thank you for taking the time to make this video and to share it on YouTube.

[templerman1]

Sorry my spell checker must be on strike. That should have been Erroneous.

[templerman1]

Some final comments. None of my comments should be taken as a critique of your artwork or design intention. They were masterfull. I simply wanted to point out the erronies nature of the Cult of Personality that has grown up around the DY-100 ships et, al. People seem to think you can stick a rocket engine on anything and it will fly. No Way!

[templerman1]

The Dy-100 class is a little over a third of the size of the NCC-1701 or over 350ft as seen in the TOS episode. With the boosters shown, add almost another 300 ft. Call it 700 ft. The fuel tank "boxs" surface area are about 100 ft across and flat, as shown in ST blue prints. The aerodynamic stresses would tear this ship apart before it hit mach 1. Definently it would have been built in space.

[templerman1]

Don't know who came up with the idea of launch from Earth. The idea of a liftoff from any celestial body other than the Moon is praposterious. 

[VideoSpaceFX]

@templerman1

That's the way it is portrayed in a Star Trek novel about the event and in a picture of the launch that appears briefly in an episode. Yeah the DY-100 doesn't seem like a vehicle designed to operate in the Earth's atmosphere. A lunar launch from a secret base on the far side would have made alot of sense.

[JMChladek]

@VideoSpaceFX It wasn't just portrayed that way in the novels. The cover art for the book comes from a rendering Greg Jein did for the Star Trek Chronology books, featuring a DY-100 with six SRBs strapped to it rising from a shuttle tower. So your rendering matches the "spirit" of that original image and the cover art. Very nicely done BTW as I have always wanted to see that (given my love of the shuttle and classic Star Trek).

[templerman1]

A Masterpeice of the art of computer driven art. I can not do this type of ilustration but wish it was one trick this ‘old dog’ could learn. I disagree with many of the critics. The DY shows no upper stage engines, so it would require the boosters to fly it all the way to orbit. Your right on the money there. This was wonderful and so realistic. Great Work!. Hope you do more.

[derkommissar3]

Excellent, and thought provoking work! Entertaining as well.

[KJLesnick]

The launch sequence... the smoke clouds and flames would look different because the Botany Bay was HUGE, it's a scaling issue

[VideoSpaceFX]

@KJLesnick

Not neccesarily, as the launch structure could itself be larger as well as the boosters and everything else.

[HungarianKnight]

Man, this was beautiful!

I was the one who converted these models to Max and I am pleased to see that they were put to good use.

[VideoSpaceFX]

@HungarianKnight

Thanks alot and good job converting the models.

[vaasnaad]

Outstanding! Where'd you get that story line? Reverse engineered alien tech was brilliant. The thing that's amazing is that having such a space ship by the 90's was entirely possible at the rate we were going in the 60's. Damn shame.

[VideoSpaceFX]

@vaasnaad

The storyline is based on the novels The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh by Grey Cox. Yes, having the origin of the DY100 in alien technology from the various encounters (Ferengi shuttle in Roswell 1947, Klingon tricorder and disruptor left in 1986 etc.) was a cool idea.

Personally I don't see interstellar travel being developed until well into the 22nd century, if ever.

[TheJlook2000]

youtube seems a better home for star trek instead of the empty headed jj abrams big bucks franchise . im just waiting for the eventual star trek / marvel movie

'...This summer kirk and spock get the suprise of their lives .....hi! uh im Tony Stark ...' i can see it now :( , so great work

[pgc4sean]

Very cool !

[Tanru2000]

I feel bad for saying/asking this (cause you do such AMAZING work, this video included) but I felt that launch image of the Botany Bay was quite noticeably 'CGI' - is there a chance you may redo it with more detail in the model, more texture - improved reflectivity, etc. to make it look more like the surrounding (real) launch pad? I know it's more work - possibly even a LOT of work. It'd be great to see. It's a WONDERFULLY executed idea. Well done! :)

[VideoSpaceFX]

@Tanru2000

Yes well this is more of a problem when you mix CGI with real footage. In fact I found a 3D mesh of the launchpad just after I finished this video. As for the Botany Bay model it is fairly simple and I made textures for it in it's new condition and they include specular and reflection mattes. The lighting environment is fairly simple as well, I guess I could have played around to make lots of lights to simulate the launch. This is the best I can do for now so I won't be redoing it.

[Tanru2000]

@VideoSpaceFX That's quite ok, it's still amazing work! :)

[Vindix007]

Well done.

I have a sugestion.

To make a cgi of USS Voyager falling into the ice planet, as seen in the episode Timeless.

[VideoSpaceFX]

@Vindix007

Thanks, maybe one day...

[sumbuddyx]

Another great work! If i had a request it'd probably to see something with the Enterprise-A in it, maybe from The Ashes to Eden.

[captjami]

Impressive work!

[gsaum]

This is great. Would love to see a render of Botany Bay arriving at Ceti Alpha V, and the subsequent destruction of Ceti Alpha VI.  :)

[buckaroohawk]

This is, hands down, the most unique Trek-related CGI sequence I have ever seen! Having read the books on which it's based, I have to say you captured the essence of the story brilliantly and even added a sense of grandeur to it as well. Spectacular work, and I hope to see more like this from you in the future. Well done!

[VideoSpaceFX]

@buckaroohawk

Thanks. I have listened to the audiobooks and i'm reading the novels now.

[BygPhattyPlus]

That was frakking billiant! I like expansions to the Treek universe like that!

[Yuurei21]

Absolutely brilliant and I dig the fact that you stuck to the Eugenics Wars books. If done right I think some one should do a mini-series on that period of the Star Trek universe.

[VideoSpaceFX]

@Yuurei21

Well Paramount/CBS never will I'm sure, but that would be a great project for a fan film production.

[Blackrook32]

Interesting extension into Khan's history & the Eugenics Wars :D

[lucasbachmann]

I don't mean to imply a sense of wrongness, or even trekkie fanaticism on my part - but consider the introduction to Enterprise - the bulk of it was real world NASA stuff up to the present. The original fictional star trek universe had interstellar sleeper ships by the 1990s! That's the hazard of not just letting the timelines diverge - the DY-100 got snubbed for Rovers. Incidentally the REAL overexpression of PEPCK-C gene in labmice is exactly like Khan! - see the video searching for PEPCK-C

[VideoSpaceFX]

@lucasbachmann

I kind of agree and I'd always thought of the Eugenics Wars as more devastating than described in the books. Also remember the DY-100 is developed from reverse engineered 24th century technology so would diverge completely from established rocket designs.

[lucasbachmann]

Nice video. Personally I don't care for the style of the novel it's based on trying to make the Star Trek 1990's just like the real world 1990's - likewise I doubt the designer of the DY-100 intended it to be launched anymore than a constitution class was ever meant to be built in Iowa. I suppose someone figured trekkies wouldn't be able to comprehend the idea of a totally fictional 1996. Anyway nice video - you might find the videos of Project Orion rockets interesting?

[finalfrontier1701]

@lucasbachmann What's wrong with trying to fit the stories into real life? Makes it interesting to think about whether or not it could have been true. I know there will probably come a time when history totally departs from Trek lore, but it's fun while we can.

[jnadreth]

Awesome work :D

[crimsonninja6995]

excellent work! I love the new logo, and the moment when the Enterprise finds the Botany Bay was just perfect.

[NCC63549]

That's beautiful man!

[BoredomCorner]

For future reference, "ozone" doesn't have a hyphen in it.

[spacecowboy5000]

Outstanding animation and editing. I love how the music echoes some of the other Trek themes.

[VideoSpaceFX]

@spacecowboy5000

Thanks. The music is from Red Alert 3, TNG All Good Things episode and DS9 The Fallen game.

[tangerinealarm]

Great work.

I didn't know the history of Khan and the other Eugenics though, so that was interesting.

Those booster rockets lasted for a long time though.

[VideoSpaceFX]

@tangerinealarm

Thanks. The space shuttle's boosters detached 2 minutes into the flight at about 150,000 ft, where the curvature of the Earth would be more than noticeable. I thought I got that right in the video, assuming the ascent profile for the DY-100 is similar to the space shuttle.

[thedarkarcon4]

Nice!

[majormagna]

I haven't read this Novel, but Garry Seven sounds almost Section 31-ish... I know he appeared in a TOS episode too...

[VideoSpaceFX]

@majormagna

He is sent by an advanced and enlightened race to maintain peace on Earth. A bit like James Bond with the ethics of Captain Picard.

[4916rafael]

Khan, foi exilado em um planeta, que sofreu um cata clisma, sendo assim, existe incongruência no video.

esta tudo em star trek II......

[VideoSpaceFX]

@4916rafael

I think you might be confusing this with Khan's second exile on Ceti Alpha V which happened after he was revived by Kirk and crew.

[FekLeyrTarg]

It's great to see that the novels also get some attention. Good work. :)

Do you think you'll recreate scenes from other ST-Novels or even from ST-Comics? I'd like to see the crash of the Columbia NX-02 on that Desert Planet in the Gamma Quadrant in the Novel "Star Trek: Destiny: Gods of Night".

[VideoSpaceFX]

@FekLeyrTarg

Thanks. Novels are definately a good source of ideas for videos to create. I'm currently reading The Valiant, I might do something from that.

[sumbuddyx]

@FekLeyrTarg I think that would be cool to see too! Did you know there was an image created of that for one of the star trek calendars?

[FekLeyrTarg]

@sumbuddyx

Yes, I know that one. I like it very much. I've read somewhere that this image was created before Destiny was written. The German-Version of "Gods of Night" even partially reuses this picture.