Encarta IV: Dark Hope (2008) Reviews

• Star Trek Encarta IV - Dark Hope (2004 Fan Film)

  rn-colbath2016-04-21

  For what moneys and actors they did this movie with it's a great Addition to the Trek Community, most cut it down for what they expect without thought of what it takes to do such a movie, like to see the nay-ers do better with little to start with as Ryan and his crew had, they did great with what they had to work with, I see there story and follow threw without being a critic, it's that way if you are a true Trekkie, I saw and enjoyed what they hoped to portray in creating the film, not all can create so well with so little for a budget, it's great Trek, open eyes, see the magic, It's there, try to create as they did! See the story and not negative rich man creating!

• One Crew's Epic Journey Comes To An End...

  ryanthewebber2011-11-23

  SCIFIpulse.net Film Review- By: Randy Hall One of my favorite episodes of Star Trek: Voyager was a two-parter called "Year of Hell." In that story, the ship and its crew struggled to survive and maintain the status quo with no help from star-bases or Starfleet Command to back them up. Apparently, the people who put together the Star Trek: Encarta fan film series also wondered about that, too, and the result is a movie-length fan film epic called "Dark Hope." One of the first problems in making the film was explaining how the Encarta was even there since it looked like First Officer Gregory McKnight (Chris Elliott) hit the self-destruct button, and it looked like the ship and its crew had gone to the big Enterprise in the sky. Not quite. The crew learns that the Rift is a temporal anomaly which undid the annihilation of the Encarta but trapped the Federation vessel within it for two years when the story in "Dark Hope' gets underway. In addition, Lynch pulled together a rag-tag fleet (sorry, just couldn't resist) and try to defeat the bad guys (called the Syndicate, who love to lord it over the Encarta by appearing when they please and demanding a ship system, like the replicators). Now wait a minute! I just found two Clint Eastwood hats, and I know there was only one before. Curious… The Good: Another great film from the Encarta folks. I like it when the group takes the "what if" factor farther than many other Trek series do.. I know we're all intelligent folks here and should not be swayed by special effects, but I was really impressed with the Encarta, which lost a nacelle and also has pieces of the ship fly off when it's landing or taking off from the planet. This episode's got to have the record of debris coming off any or all Starfleet vessels—even when you include the ships that got time warped and appear to have constantly been returned looking all spit and polish. I'm also concerned about the reputation Lynch is getting. I'm not sure I'd want to be on a vessel he's the captain of, but I suspect (and hope) that will be addressed in another episode or film. The Bad:What is it with Captain Lynch? He's apparently just got out of a court martial, and he strands several of his crew on an alien planet? If he's not careful, he's going to have enough infractions of Starfleet code to rate up there among the likes of Captain James Kirk. The Ugly:I understand the need to stick to a budget, but I keep seeing Starfleet officers duking it out and rolling around on the ground with standard issue uniforms with just one thing that takes me from being on an alien planet with danger all around, but suddenly being back in the couch of my living room.

• Looked promising, but ended up over the top and unwatchable

  siderite2015-04-23

  I really wanted to like this, I watched almost all Star Trek movies and series I could find and, after noticing the high quality of the backgrounds in Encarta IV, I hoped I had found another great fan-made Star Trek movie. Alas, the script was bad, the direction wasn't there, the acting was so awful I couldn't continue watching beyond the first 30 minutes (of which about 10 is just the credits rolling over some random images - what's up with that?). I skimmed the rest of the film, looking for something worthwhile, but 90% of the time it was just some people saying stuff. I am always sorry to not finish a film or to rate one so low, but this really really sucked.