Picture the kind of person who spends too much time on the internet and chances are he (it's probably a he) is wearing a Star Trek T-shirt. He's the kind of person, indeed, who might be interested in the new loving re-creation of the original Star Trek series coming soon as a feature film from Paramount starring British actor Simon Pegg as Scotty. In a recent interview though Pegg paid tribute to the team behind Star Trek: Phase II, an entire series of pitch-perfect “original series” episodes that never were, often made using revered Trek writers such as D.C. Fontana, and in some cases members of the original crew (with various complex time-travel shenanigans concocted to explain their aged appearance). Watch To Serve Them All My Days here to see what I mean. Chances are the chap in the T-shirt already has.

The world of Fan Films isn't all CGI and replica costumes though. Sometimes it's cardboard boxes and KFC bucket helmets. As part of the fan response to Michel Gondry's madcap video shop comedy Be Kind, Rewind there has been a rash of “sweded” trailers for popular movies aping the ramshackle attempts to recreate video blockbusters of Be Kind, Rewind's protagonists. The Star Wars trailer here couldn't contrast more with the first video. If the first offering was sci-fi's answer to the Sealed Knot Society, the makers of A Cardboard Hope are closer in spirit to a scuffle in a pub car park.

The absolute master of the fan film though is Sandy Collora. His painstakingly accurate low-budget superhero movies are the stuff of legend. Batman: Dead End is probably his masterpiece, pitting the Caped Crusader against some distinctly unearthly foes that movie fans will find surprisingly familiar. If you can't wait for 2008's hottest blockbusters to be released, take a look online, where teams of devoted fans are busy creating the next best thing.

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