5.The Second Time Around: STAR TRIX II

Art Binninger's STAR TRIX: Of Clay And Cardboard

5.The Second Time Around: STAR TRIX II

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Klepton-mania

During the shooting of STAR TRIX II, I noticed that the Yashica's single frame capability was giving me trouble. STAR TRIX wasn't the only animation I was doing at the time. I also tried cel animation and other clay animated shorts which included THE SPRITZER FAMILY and ORDINARYMAN. The cost of acetate cels was a bit too pricey for me so I limited my cel animation to title sequences. Even then, I would clean the painted cels after they were photographed and reuse them. Instead of using the cel-vinyl paints that the industry worked with, I painted my cels with the enamel model car colors available at hobby shops. They were stubborn to remove when I tried to clean the cels so I used the extremely toxic film cleaner from Kodak. This substance was removed from the market years ago because of its hazardous fumes. And you-know-who spent many hours in close proximity to it cleaning cels.

Eventually, I had one of the camera repairmen take a look at the Yashica. A small spring governing the single frame mechanism had broken, causing the camera to fire off more than one frame at a time. I reshot some of the more glaring problems and finished the film. There's still some slight strobing in a few scenes that were left in.

Mike Howard gives a Vulcan salute.

The viewscreen shots were a bit tricky since I opted for shooting them live on the set. I first filmed the image to appear on the screen and projected it from the rear onto the frosted acetate built into the set. Since the Super 8 projectors lamp wasn't as intense as the movie lamp that illuminated the bridge, I had to mess around with bouncing the light in such a way as to not wash out the projection. The Yashica had no manual override on the exposure so it would automatically close down if any part of the scene was too bright. The resulting images weren't especially pleasing but that's all we could do at the time. This process was refined years later for STAR TRIX: THE FLICK.

As I became more experienced with animating and recording voices, more dialogue was incorporated into the scripts. There weren't any records available with the STAR TREK music at this time so I incorporated George Martin's orchestra pieces from the Beatles YELLOW SUBMARINE album as well as more cuts from Neil Diamond's JONATHAN LIVINGSTON SEAGULL.

Lt. Alluring slaps Mr. Pastafazoola for his crude wolf whistle. Yeoman Yohnson takes a shot at him also.

Mr. Cowalski laughs at his buddy's predicament as the captain arrives.

Returning to the bridge, Klurk discovers a menace in the making.

A Klingon ship headed for them.

A title sequence all their own.

Story title composite of frame enlargement and dry transfer letters on a cel.

Specks asks the captain what to do.

The Klingon ship has been stolen by the Kleptons, a race of super thieves.

Sterno the boss issues his demands.

The two starships run side by side.

A Klepton sneaks aboard and kidnaps Pastafazoola and Cowalski.

Klurk discovers that his men are now aboard the Klepton ship.

The crew begs to differ when Klurk tells Sterno that his officers are trained to accept hardships.

Mr. Scotch devises a plan to track the intruding Klepton.

The Captain and crew try to subdue the marauder so Magillacuddy can sedate him.

Dr. Magillacuddy ambushes the Klepton and delivers the sedative.

Klurk prepares to gloat to Sterno about the capture.

Having escaped confinement, Sterno's henchman begins kidnapping the bridge crew.

The Klepton beams out with Mr. Dumpsky and Mr. Chek.

The bridge crew are held captive aboard the Klepton ship.

The crew beam out of the Klepton brig. This was a redress of the transporter room set.

A phaser strike on the Klepton bridge stops the thieves in their tracks.

Klurk exiles the Kleptons to a desolate (though colorful) planet.

Robbed blind! Specks glasses have been stolen by the Kleptons.

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