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Category: movies

March 8, 2026

Why Can’t Today’s “Star Trek” Give Us What We Want?

Is “Star Trek” falling into a black hole of missed opportunities and fan disillusionment? Well, here’s one Trekkie’s opinion.

There are numerous theories why “Star Trek” has had a bumpy ride during these past years. While on the one hand, Paramount+ has given us multiple new series, they were often uneven (“Discovery” and “Picard”). Plus, the best ones were cancelled too soon. (“Lower Decks” and “Strange New Worlds.”)

And then there’s the problem with the movies… or lack of them.

Kelvin Timeline Abandoned

We waited ten long years for the fourth Kelvin timeline movie… only to have it recently cancelled after so many false starts. (The Kelvin timeline was a clever ‘alternate reality’ version of the “Star Trek” universe, which allowed the producers creative license to make certain narrative changes in this Kirk-era prequel.) 

I remember reading that the problem was the huge price tag vs. the expected box office. 

The writers would have had Chris Hemsworth come back as Kirk’s father. But Thor was too expensive (not to mention all the other actors).

That would have been a wonderful way to wrap this version of “Star Trek.” And I expect many of the other proposed scripts had potential as well. But the producers clearly couldn’t make it work. 

A New Ship with Nowhere to Go

So, Chris Pine’s Kirk and crew won’t get their final voyage together on their new ship that was constructed at the end of 2016’s “Star Trek: Beyond.”

Sure, I’ve read there’s now a completely new movie reboot in the works. And that’s fine (if it actually happens).

But that doesn’t change the fact that Trekkies waited a decade for the movie they wanted… and then never got. 

“Star Trek” on Paramount+

Instead, we’ve seen a “Star Trek” renaissance explode on television via Paramount+ since 2017. And that’s not so bad, right?

But this great streaming run is seemingly ending. “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” has wrapped filming its truncated fifth and final season. 

And the new “Starfleet Academy” has had a rough first season. They’ve already shot the second season, but the series hasn’t been picked up beyond that.

A lot of fans (myself included) are angry that we never got the spin-off series “Star Trek: Legacy” after “Picard.” With Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) helming the new Enterprise-G, that series would have been spectacular. It would be the perfect bridge between the old and the new.

Instead, we got a show about some cadets in Starfleet Academy that nobody asked for.

Kurtzman Trek

It really shouldn’t be that hard to read the room when it comes to satisfying the core fan base.

I certainly understand that the recipe for “Star Trek’s” ongoing success must include bringing in new fans. And that means evolving the franchise.

I know that many Trekkies have been piling blame onto Alex Kurtzman lately. He’s the showrunner behind all the recent Star Trek series on Paramount+. And he’s clearly been tweaking the “Star Trek” formula.

There’s nothing wrong with updating the “Star Trek” universe. But I would say the core elements of great science fiction storytelling must always apply.

No, not every Trek episode has to be perfect, but with so few episodes being created for each season (10), there’s not much room for misfires.

Grading “Starfleet Academy’s” Freshman Year

“Starfleet Academy” has launched to a slow start. Happily, it’s been picking up steam. Episode 9 is the best yet. 

It’s directed by Jonathan Frakes with a more exciting plot that gets out of the classroom and tests the rigor of our cadets. Plus, we get to see Captain Ake, played by Holly Hunter finally act a little more like a strong starship leader.

Still, you might say a good 9th episode is a little late in the semester.

I think the problem with “Starfleet Academy” is that it’s trying so hard to be fresh, it doesn’t feel enough like “Star Trek.” It’s too loose and too often silly.

Sure, it gives us the Doctor from “Star Trek: Voyager” and a couple characters from “Discovery” as anchors. But that’s not enough.

This series has some real work to do, but I’m not sure how you course correct when your second season is already in the can.

“I Don’t Believe in a No-Win Scenario”

I’ve read that some fans are complaining about the politics of “Starfleet Academy.” I don’t think that’s the problem. Being a Trekkie has always required being open to inclusive ideas. That’s the point of “Star Trek.” For 60 years.

Not to oversimplify, but I think this all comes down to the basics. We need to focus more on better storytelling. Better character development. Better science fiction. 

And please just give the core fans more of what we want.

Then, I think more of everyone will show up.

I hope it’s not too late.

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January 25, 2026

How Real Is This AI Video If I Created It Using My Own Photos?

This sunrise over Delray Beach is AI generated by Google Veo, but it’s inspired by my own experience on that beach. I also prompted Veo to follow the creative direction from the photos I took. So, is this AI video clip moment real or not? 

Technology has chipped away at the definition of reality. Digital photography and photo editing software provide almost endless adjustment opportunities for creative expression. But now, with AI-powered tools, you can literally reconstruct an entire photo. You can remove distractions and even people. So, what’s real anymore?

For the past few years, I’ve been fighting a certain sense of guilt as I’ve learned to ‘improve’ my photography using AI-fueled enhancements. Sure, my resulting photos are better, but I sometimes worry that they’re no longer the pictures I captured. But I’ve been careful, and I’ve worked hard to keep it real.

Today, I happily use all the AI-powered photo editing tools in Adobe Lightroom, because I make sure my modified pictures are still faithful to the core images. This is essence of my rule book, and I follow it without angst. 

Next comes video.

AI Can Turn Your Photo into a Video
Text-to-video prompting and photo-to-video magic is today’s big creative disruptor. And I know I must face this revolution head on, as it changes everything about the work I’ve been doing for decades.

I’m particularly interested in the generative AI power to to turn a real photo into a video that looks shockingly similar. AI can replicate and then extend the creative elements in your photos into full motion video. Remarkable. (The results are not always perfect, but they’re improving.)

So, I embarked on a little creative exercise. I chose a few silhouette photos I snapped during a sunrise over Delray Beach on our recent Florida vacation and ran them through Google Veo. This process generated 8-second video clips that almost exactly followed the visual elements from my photos. The only exception was Veo created alternate, though similar, people on the beach. (And that’s fine.)

Then I edited the AI video clips together to create this sequence representing my own sunrise experience on that beach.

AI Video Generated from My Photos

As Real as Art Can Be
So, what exactly is this? What have I created here? Well, it’s simultaneously real and not real.

My photos provided enough creative direction for Veo to effectively clone each photo and then extend each moment.

So sure, then it’s easy to call this sequence ‘fake’ as Veo has invented 8 seconds from each frame I gave it.

But these individual scenes faithfully reflect the reality I saw.  They do express the essence of my experience.

So perhaps this entire AI-enabled creative process should fall under the category of art. Yes, maybe that’s what I’m doing here.

No Professional Video Crew Required
I also found it wildly fun that I’m able to generate video clips that would otherwise require me to hire a professional video crew for the day.

In my AI video, the opening shot of the two people walking on the beach… yes, I might be able to capture that with my DJI Osmo 3 gimbal. 

But that closing tracking shot of the paddleboard man surfing? That’s a clear step beyond Barrett’s personal filmmaking chops (for now).

The Limits When Recording Real B-Roll
Of course, I don’t need AI to create video for me. Here’s some actual b-roll I recorded on Delray Beach that same morning with my Osmo.

Real Barrett B-Roll

But while I also like this ‘real’ b-roll, these are necessarily wider shots, limited by the realities I encountered in those moments on the beach. (Shooting b-roll can be an intrusive process. And I didn’t want to mess with people’s sunrise Zen.)

Snapping a photo is quick and usually less invasive. As a result, I think my original silhouette shots had additional visual impact.

Real Barrett Photos

But now, I can also use my new AI tools to express my creative interpretation of these same images into longer scenes. I can build on these moments, magically extending my stills into the video realm. That’s so cool!

But what does this all mean moving forward? Well, I’m not exactly sure. 

A Digital Painting in Motion
I don’t truly understand my little Frankenstein video. Yes, I made it, but what is it? 

  • It’s alive… and yet not 
  • Fabricated, but very close to reality
  • Hard to exactly define, other than an artist’s interpretation

Perhaps I’ll simply call it my digital painting in motion. 

Of course, there are any number of unanswered questions regarding the broader topic of AI-generated video for our society. But I’ll leave that for another day.

For now, I’m pleased that I was able to simply share with you the flow and true ‘spirit’ of my beautiful sunrise experience with a little artistic help from AI. 

And I hope you liked the paintbrush I chose to use.

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December 7, 2025

How to Digitize Your Parents’ Old 8mm Movies

If you want to preserve home movies from past generations, you can convert them yourself using a film digitizer. Here’s what else to consider before you get started.

It’s been three years since my father passed away, and I’m still working on digitizing many of his old photos. I also have his negatives and ancient slides. It’s been a slow and painful process, both physically and emotionally.

I can’t possibly digitize every photo. So, I need to decide which ones are important in telling the official family history. 

Are You Peering into an Alternate Universe?
Curating a family’s story across generations can be a draining process. Some photos fit in nicely to support your own memories. Others seem like splinters to slightly alternate dimensions.

There can be a variety of little surprises that force you to realign your understanding of your own past. The good news is that can also contain priceless gems. These gifts can make what is an otherwise time-consuming process worth it.

So, I’ve started. Stopped. And started again, sometimes months later. 

I’ve been using an Epson scanner/printer for my parents’ old prints and a Wolverine slide/negative converter to drive my digitizing/archiving project.

I’ve made progress, and I know there’s a finish line out there, which I’ll eventually reach.

What are You Supposed to Do with 8mm Film?
But I’ve also inherited dozens of my father’s 8mm film reels. They’re tiny time capsules from decades ago that reveal the past in action… three minutes at a time.

But how am I supposed to convert this ancient media without a working film projector?

I had three choices:

  • Package up my 8mm movies and mail them to a company to do the work.
  • Find a store in town where I can physically hand over my dad’s motion pictures.
  • Buy a conversion device to do it myself.

Do You Actually Know What’s On Those Film Reels?
Mailing out your film reels to digitize is usually less expensive than using a local brick and mortar operation. (That said, working with a local establishment may feel more secure, because there’s no risk of losing your film in the mail.)

But mailing it in can still be relatively expensive. And that price point can sting even more if you don’t really know what’s on all those film reels. (My father didn’t label his reels well.) So, you may be spending hundreds of dollars for old footage that you wouldn’t otherwise want to keep. 

Yes, it’s a different story if you do know what’s on your film. With that level of knowledge, paying someone else do the conversion is an incredible time saver and can be worth it.

But for me, the only way to know for sure is to first engage a do-it-yourself strategy. And then if you uncover a few reels that contain priceless memories, then you can send just those few out for professional conversion.

So that’s what I set out to do…

Film Digitizers to Consider
There are two conversion devices on the market that I researched:

  • Wolverine Data Film2Digital Moviemaker-Pro
  • Kodak REELS Film Digitizer

These movie film scanners literally photograph each frame of your film (8mm or Super 8) one at a time and then stitch them all together into a movie file on an SD card. 

This takes a while.

  • Each 3-minute reel takes about 30 minutes to scan. So, you should plan your workflow accordingly.
  • There’s no sound conversion
    (8mm film didn’t contain sound anyway).

Ultimately, I ended up purchasing the Kodak REELS Film Digitizer because it creates a slightly higher resolution file (1728×1296).

Who Are Those People?
As I write this, I’ve converted my 10th film reel. So, I’m about five hours in, and I’ve got a long way to go…

The process has so far felt like sifting for gold. I’ve found plenty of family vacation footage from tropical locations with me running around as a young child. Yes, I know I was cute, but a few of those shots is all anyone could possibly want to watch now. 

Then, there are clips of what looks like friends of my parents, but they are total strangers to me. They may have a place in another family’s family archive, though not mine.

Remember you really can’t tell what you’re going to get from the first few frames on a reel. You need to go through all of it.

Separating the Digital Wheat from the Chaff
In hindsight, I’m not surprised I’ve had to sift through a lot of cutting-room floor clips to find the money shots. This is all unedited footage. (If someone should somehow find my iPhone in 100 years and extract my own family video clips from it, I’m sure many of them will seem superfluous as well.)

That said, I am finding some cool clips of my family in action that are worth saving. So, I’m glad I’ve embarked on this project.

I also came upon some interesting environmental shots from the 1960s.

My father was clearly flying somewhere and shot this clip over Manhattan. Nice!

Doing It Yourself is a Reasonable Choice
As for the quality of my father’s converted films using my Kodak REELS Film Digitizer, it’s what you’d expect. It’s good… good enough.
(I know a professional shop would do a better job using equipment worth many thousands of dollars.)

And so far, my Kodak consumer unit has been operating well, though the image framing sometimes slips out of its center a bit after you start a conversion.
(So, you need to start it again.)

Don’t Wait Any Longer
Yes, I’m pleased with the way my film conversion project has been going. It’s a very hands-on process working with film, and I have to admit the tactile experience is strangely satisfying. 

And yes, I’m glad I didn’t pay a company to globally convert all my father’s 8mm movies. 

No matter how you approach this, it’s a lot of work (and some money). But if you’re the family’s archivist and you uncover old family film footage, there’s really no choice on what to do next.

Digitize it.

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