The Seattle-based fan-film project, Star Trek: Phoenix (www.stphoenix.com), has released their pilot episode. After watching it, these are my thoughts:

Writing-wise, this is one of the best Trek-fanfilm pilots I've encountered yet. It was tightly plotted, yet with enough backstory to want me to know just what went on during those 14 months and why the ship is somewhat banged up.

The actors seem to fit their parts well. I think I'm going to be a fan of the Vulcanized Romulan (does that make him rubber?) as played by Roy Stanton.

The existing sets look great! I can't wait to see what you have in mind for the Bridge.

Pretty much the only thing that pulled me out of it was the fight scene. After watching the quality of the fight in [the vignette] Holo-Victory, it was a bit of a letdown.

overall grade: A-