For the first time in nearly two decades, television spinoffs from the original 1960's "Star Trek" series have ended, so fans are banding together to make their own episodes. Fan films have been around for years, particularly those related to the "Star Wars" movies. But now they can be downloaded from the Web, and modern computer graphics technology has lent them surprising special effects.

Having watched a few of the fan episodes, I can state that the special effects are worthy of the original series without a shadow of a doubt, as are the acting, art direction, script, camera work, make up, and so forth.