G4 recently acquired the original Star Trek series and wanted to find a way to reinterpret the show to attract a new generation of viewers. There were stipulations, however - the original show’s footage could not be altered in any way.
72andSunny proposed a play-while-you-watch interactive game called “The Spock Market,” allowing fans to buy, sell and trade shares of their favorite characters, aliens and spaceships while logged on to g4tv.com/trek2.0.
Stop-motion was used to animate the 70’s-era, Mego-style figures. In one spot, Spock, voiced by comedian Charlie Murphy loses his temper over a weak WiFi signal at a coffee shop. In Pool, Captain Kirk is on suntan duty at the request of Spock and Uhura. In Cribs, Spock takes viewers on a tour of his Florida mansion, while Karaoke has the Vulcan at a bar singing a dirty rendition of Bobby Brown’s “My Prerogative.”
72andSunny enlisted animation and production help from directors Dan O’Brien and Nick Litwinko of New York’s Rogue Creative for the labor-intensive, stop-motion shoot. Charlie Murphy, Eddie Murphy’s brother, voices Spock. Captain Kirk’s voice is provided by Craig Kilborn.
Lime in Santa Monica provided sound design and mixing services for the package. Company 3 in LA provided telecine. Online finishing took place at Brickyard.
Star Trek 2.0 airs weeknights at 11pm on G4.