Marc Zicree has been writing science fiction for many decades and has a body of work that’s most likely unrivaled in the industry. He’s written for TNG, DS9, Babylon 5, The Twilight Zone plus many, many others – and now, for the better part of four years, he’s been working on his own tv series come movie franchise called Space Command.
Rumours are abound on-line about the lack of progress as well as the falling out with Doug Drexer which Marc provides comment on. Marc also discusses his work on the New Voyages episode World Enough and Time which featured George Takei reprising his famous role.
EDIT:
Doug Drexler reached out to me to offer his point of view on his departure from Space Command:
He promised me we would would go a particular way, and it turned out to be red herring. I told him that he could get a VFX guy anywhere. If he wanted me, I had to have equal input on world building. That turned out to not be what happened, so I had no reason to stay. In the very early days, all that promotion and art, came from me, and it was looking damned cool … a great art team! Too bad.
Frankly I didn’t trust him anymore. So we parted ways. We still chat from time to time, but that’s it. I’ve always felt bad about the peeps who donated because they like what they saw at the start, and because they like me, One of these days I’ll make it up to them.
Meanwhile, Carlos Pedraza has also reached out with a statement:
I have never sought any public credit — apart from that which officially appears in the closing credits — for the role I and other crew members played in completing “World Enough and Time” when it became clear that Marc would not be able to finish principal photography in time.
I bear Marc no ill will, and I appreciate that he says the same about me. After a decade since the production, I’m commenting publicly only with regard to his previous inaccurate statement that he directed every frame of the episode. After the fact, trying to elevate the “dramatic portions” over the “merely expository” does a disservice to the cast and crew whose dedication honored both equally.
It is also inaccurate to state that I was part of a group that didn’t know what a second unit is for. I had been producing and scheduling film shoots for several years; second units are not the esoteric province of just those from Los Angeles.
It is also inaccurate to state that I wasn’t aware of any of the other production and post-production activities. I was the episode’s co-executive producer; I monitored all those activities alongside James Cawley, including a site visit at the DAVE School in Florida, whose unpaid students produced most of the film’s VFX. And contrary to what Marc implied, I was in fact present for the pickup shoot in California for the Excelsior scenes.
“World Enough and Time” indeed is an achievement for which Marc and the team he and James Cawley assembled should be genuinely proud. It was completed in no small measure because of the people in Los Angeles and New York and those at the DAVE School in Florida who worked — unpaid — to complete what is justifiably the best fan film ever made.
My comments are in no way meant to diminish what Marc accomplished with “World Enough and Time.” He deserves all the praise he has earned as its director. I simply believe it’s important to acknowledge that the episode’s ambition nearly outstripped the ability of us all to get it done. No single person surmounted the obstacles — not me, not James Cawley, not Marc Zicree nor any other single person.That we accomplished what we did was because we pulled together as a team, one I am proud to have been a part of.
On this edition of The Trekzone Spotlight:
