Fanvid: "Grapevine Fires" (Star Trek)

[skywaterblue]

I couldn't think, of anywhere I would have rather been, to watch it all, burn away...

Fandom: pan-Star Trek (movies, 24th Century Prime timeline)
Characters: Spock, Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway...
Song: "Grapevine Fires" by Death Cab for Cutie
Length: 4:19
Downloads: 60.6 mbs in .mpg / 76 mbs in .avi (best)

Find more videos like this on BAM Vid Vault




Star Trek - death, rebirth, death again.

It took almost nine months to make, though I did scrap a first draft when I switched from Premier Pro to Sony Vegas. I could have made a human being in that time. Special thanks to sarken who I forced to watch, cheerlead, and suggest Voyager clips where my knowledge ran dry. Couldn't have done it without her.

This video may seem like I'm deeply ambivalent about the new canon - I am not. Overall I appreciate the effort made by the Supreme Court of Bad Robot to ensure that the Trek I grew up with still 'happened' and matters. That said, I feel a deep sense of finality and regret about the movie: in redefining Star Trek to only be about the original crew, we're both saying goodbye to all the other characters and their journeys, and in some ways limiting the palette of what Star Trek can be about to the mass audience.

Here's to the journey, though! The Undiscovered Country! There really is no place I would have rather been, to watch it all burn away.

Comments

[skywaterblue]

Belated response, I'm so sorry: Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it, and that it worked for you the same way it worked for me.

[skywaterblue]

I'm glad, thank you for the feedback. :)

Re: AS an TOS Trekker from the wayback,

[skywaterblue]

Oh, so sorry for the lateness of this reply. Thank you - I'm touched that you felt moved to cry. I had hoped that some people would be moved by it, but I didn't want to expect that.

Like you, I grew up in a home of Trekkers, so I too can recall where I was when I first watched Spock and Kirk rescue the whales or fight shapeshifters in the snow. It was a great loss to my life when it finally was canceled, and so this video celebrates both the return of it and the death of the version we grew up with... so yes, thank you. I'm glad the power of the idea goes beyond my own brain.

Re: tehlime @ lj

[skywaterblue]

I only give them crap because liking Death Cab seems to have some sort of wider cultural meaning I'm vaguely uncomfortable with. I remember choosing this song because they had an animated video out for it, which moved me to absolute balling - if you haven't seen it, it's up on youtube and I would highly recommend it. The power of the video and the lyrics stayed with me.

I'm attracted to the comfort this song offers in the face of terrible tragedy, which I find ultimately an expression of the way to live a positive life. And I thought that sort of lyric motif was absolutely appropriate for a video about the way the new Star Trek has changed the old Star Trek.

Anyway, I'm really touched by your interested and positive comments on the video. I was so relieved that all that work did matter. Thank you.

[yanatya]

Here's the deal. I watched this a couple times when you first posted and thought, huh, I really, really like that. I'd automatically focused in on Spock's narrative, how his life stops and starts and begins and ends and begins again, and how its pieces overlap between realities and over time. And I was trying to think about how to say that without run-on sentences, so I left it for a while.

Then this morning I thought, crap, it's been ages; I really need to leave feedback, so I logged in, and just before I came here I decided to watch it one more time.

And this time, finally, it hit me. I got it. I sat in front of my computer screen hyperventilating as old Trek in all its iterations burned away in front of me, lost in the ether, all the decades of joy and pain and awesomeness and tragedy that never ever actually happened. Choking on sobs that wouldn't come for all those people and stories that I really have known for decades, literally.

So I don't know what else to say. Great job? Really nice work? Wow? Maybe wow. Also, this is amazing and I love it.

[rae1013]

My love for this is overflowing. Masterfully handled. The integration of all Trek was seamless and stunning and your story throughout was well handled and easily understood. Wow. Downloading for keeps. <3

[skywaterblue]

Thank you, I'm very honored by your lovely feedback. :)

[skywaterblue]

This comment means a lot to me. I read it several times, and I still don't know what quite to say except an effusive thank you. That I got a genuine 'wow' - that it works for people in multiple ways and can slap someone silly after multiple viewings - just, wow, I feel privileged to have made anything that works that well.

It's stupid, maybe, to care this much about a fictional TV show, but Star Trek is so lengthy. It has a genuine weight to it that I think is difficult to replicate among any other fandom. In some ways it is First Fandom, the ur-fandom, the mother of why we're even here. It means so much to so many people. And if in some way this video talks about all of that in a way that moves people, I'm really happy I pressed through it and finished the damn thing.

[owlbeer]

Oh wow, this was amazing. Although I can be a little wary of Death Cab, this song is gorgeous and fits so well with the clips and the narrative you were putting across. That flashback sequence was so effective, it sent me back to watching TNG/DS9 as a kid.

[skywaterblue]

I'm a little wary of Death Cab myself, but this song is I think, quite amazing on its own. I'm glad you found it a good choice and even gladder that you sent me such lovely feedback. Thank you.

[giandujakiss]

Oh, this was lovely and touching.

[not_sally]

This vid actually made me tear up. It was an amazing retelling.

[illogicalvulcan]

Oh, very nifty. Reminded me of why I like Trek so much, which has been a mite difficult in recent years. Thank you.

[skywaterblue]

Thank you, I'm very flattered. :)

[skywaterblue]

Glad it got an emotional response out of you. Thanks for the comment, it is always appreciated.

[skywaterblue]

Rekindling the love feeling is a good thing to have accomplished! Thanks for the feedback. :)

[goodbyebird]

Wow. I used to catch episodes of ST here and there when I got home from school, and this was a wonderful glimpse back. Very well-edited. Thank you for sharing ♥

[(Anonymous)]

Very nice. Very, very nice.

I have a question. What do you mean by "in redefining Star Trek to only be about the original crew, we're both saying goodbye to all the other characters and their journeys"? Does Spock coming back in time at that precise moment mean that other Start Treks didn't happen? I admit I am only up to the end of the Picard Star Trek, and that still makes sense - Spock was not as old in it as he was in the new movie. How about Voyager/DS9, etc.? Does this mean they are automatically out?

/kres@livejournal

[skywaterblue]

:) I'm very happy it worked for you, even as a casual fan of the old shows.

[skywaterblue]

The opinion of the current 'Supreme Court' of Star Trek: JJ Abrams, Orci and Kurtzman is that when Spock!Prime gets booted back through the black hole, he creates a new universe. So all the old shows still happened, but they happened in the Primeverse, to which it is basically impossible to travel to from this new universe.

And in the new universe, time has happened differently: Kirk's father was murdered by Nero, Vulcan blew up. So there's no assurances that say, Picard, will even be born in this new universe.

And from the perspective of what will be shown on movies and in future tv series, if they occur, it seems really unlikely that they will go back to the Primeverse. So all those stories involving Picard/Sisko/Janeway can basically be considered done with now - we'll likely never see any of them again.

Glad you enjoyed the video!

[goodbyebird]

Just wanted to let you know I've been back to re-watch several times since yesterday. It doesn't quite let go. Wish I were vid-savvy so I could shower you with the praise this really deserves ♥

Grapevine Fires

[yourlibrarian]

Great to see a vid pulling all the series' together. Such an enormous history the verse has that can only ever be hinted at.

[skywaterblue]

This is a hell of a compliment. Thanks again.

Re: Grapevine Fires

[skywaterblue]

Glad you enjoyed it! It was tough to cut so much history down into one vid.

[brainwane]

Such a moving vid. Thank you for being so inclusive. Somehow this vid feels like a form of grieving, not dwelling on the past and the stories we love, not clinging to them desperately, but honoring them, and opening our heart to more stories in the hope (however slim) that they'll capture the same spirit, the same magic. In the hope that these new stories will have moments that stay with us, as memorable as the old ones.