Star Trek: Specter of the Past

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
"Time is not on your side."
"Each of us, at some point in our lives, will face a challenge that will force us to confront the very essence of ho we are. How we meet those challenges is what defines us."
—Captain Gaius Reyf

Star Trek: Specter of the Past, often abbreviated simply Star Trek: Specter and later officially renamed Star Trek I: Specter of the Past, is a popular Star Trek fan film set in 2378, being released primarily as a series of Webisodes on YouTube. A leading Starfleet scientist suddenly goes off the deep end, faking his own death to go into hiding. Then, five years later, he returns, meaner and more dangerous than ever. The newly commissioned USS F Scott Fitzgerald scrambles to decipher his plan, only to learn that he's constructed his own fully-equipped starship, a female android who's almost perfect, and even has an Elaborate Underground Base.

Setting out to track the scientist down, Captain Gaius Reyf learns that the culprit is none other than his oldest friend, Dr. Braiyon Garr, who's amassed fourteen of the most advanced machines developed by The Federation, and with them could tear space apart. Reyf follows Garr through an elaborate Jigsaw Plot, discovering in the process that his old friend is willing to go to any length—including using human lives as pawns—to accomplish his goal.

Believing that to be his only problem, Reyf discovers early on that the reappearance of his old friend is stirring up some uncomfortable emotions concerning their history, guilt and remorse that threaten the success of the mission in ways his relative inexperience never could. When they finally meet face to face, Garr offers Reyf a Deal with the Devil to travel into his own past, and Set Right What Once Was Wrong.

Considered one of the best works of Star Trek fanon currently in production, the film is notable for its accurate CGI replicas of the classic TNG and VOY shooting sets, as well as the creative use of kitbashed versions of the Enterprise-D and the USS Voyager. The film introduces a new crew of enterprising young men, heavily implied to be an Expy of the TNG crew (up to and including Captain Reyf's Bald of Awesome, a trait shared by Jean-Luc Picard).

For the sequel, see Star Trek: Retribution.

The cast:

Tropes used in Star Trek: Specter of the Past include:
  • Aborted Arc: It was strongly hinted several times that the gold refit Constitution-class model in both Reyf's ready room and in Garr's office would play some part in the story.
    • Word of God says that the original Scene 38 would've established it as an Academy training ship, which was the first upon which Garr and Reyf trained after they arrived at the Academy. Finding a holosimulation of its bridge would have reminded Reyf that Garr had once described it as "a perfect memory," endless possibilities open and that nothing could compare to that. That in itself would have tied in with Reyf's conversation with Counselor Troi in Scene 20.
  • Action Girl: Lieutenant Kendra Erickson.
    • There's a reason when she beams down to investigate Garr's lab, she's the one with the biggest phaser.
  • An Aesop: Word of God says that this is deliberate, and that there are some that are blatant and some that are subtle. The ones we know about:
    • Reading is good for your brain.
    • "Even a civilization such as ours, which is founded on an enlightened philosophy, must appreciate the role those darker parts of ourselves played in the founding of that civilization."
    • Teamwork is good. (Every time the crew fractures they get nowhere in their efforts, but when they work together they make progress)
    • "In life, we are not always afforded the luxury of being fully prepared for the obstacles we face. Confronting the unknown is how we grow."
    • "Each of us, at some point in our lives, will face a challenge that will force us to confront the very essence of who we are. How we meet those challenges is what defines us."
    • Technology is no substitute for real people. (Pointedly represented by the EMH)
    • There's no shame in asking for help when you need it.
    • A good leader invests in the personal well-being of the crew under his command. An occasional pat on the back is encouraged.
    • Every decision has consequences. The choices we make in life can sometimes have repercussions that last a lifetime.
    • The Central Theme of the movie seems to be about the importance of friendship. Sometimes all it takes to change a person's life is to know someone cares. Garr did this for Reyf years before the movie takes place; Reyf does it for Garr near the end of the movie.
      • Isn't this whole plot an instance of a Space Whale Aesop? Two-time your significant other, and it'll scar him for life so bad that he'll go stark raving mad, then go back in time to keep it from happening?
    • I think the whole friend thing is actually a Double Aesop. Likewise the whole bit about learning to handle life's challenges. In both instances, it applies to both Reyf and Garr.
    • Bro's before hoe's!
      • Or, put another way, relationships come and go. But friends are forever.
      • And a true friend will continue to watch your back long after you turn your back on them.
    • Friends shouldn't turn their backs on each other over something small and unimportant.
    • Every decision you make could be an important one, so treat them all as if they could change your life.
    • Read books! You might learn something.
      • "Life may not always come with instructions, but you can find helpful hints...if you know where to look."
  • All There in the Manual: Overlaps with Word of God; during production, the producer maintained a Wiki as well as a thread on Scifi-Meshes.com, often including trivia and alternate ideas for some scenes.
  • "As You Know, two of my officers were recently involved in a collision between Garr's ship and one of our shuttlecraft."
    • One fan even dubbed it "TNG revived after 16 years!"
  • And Starring: "And Introducing..."
  • Animation Bump: Improvements in workflow and technology resulted in substantial improvements mid-film to the quality of animation (the introduction of rack-focus shots is just one example).
  • Applied Phlebotinum: Anti-time.
    • Maybe this is really just Deus Ex Machina.
    • Then again, when you consider that Merv says "magneton flash sequence," which is the exact same phrase they used for a type of scan on VOY once...YourMileageMayVary on how you accept this.
  • Aside Glance: In Scene 38, as Reyf examines the holoprogram Garr left, he points out the various antique design elements, one of which is "liquid crystal displays." He says it just as he points almost directly at the camera.
  • Asteroid Thicket: Fans everywhere have pointed out that the asteroid belt of Sector 001 isn't nearly that dense.
    • Partially subverted though when Reyf says "He's entering the densest part of the debris field."
  • Author Avatar: Braiyon Garr, when he's playing nice. This is why he alone of the entire cast has glasses—a trait shared by the producer he's modeled after, implied in-story to be just one more manner in which he's different from a typical resident of the 24th century.
    • And when he's creating holoprograms.
    • Word of God says that Reyf's description of how much effort Garr put into the holoprogram he left for Reyf to find is not an exaggeration. The Price is Right virtual set was apparently a work in progress for more than five years, making it the single most-developed set in the movie.
  • Badass: Garr rams a Fitzgerald shuttlecraft because he knows Reyf will rescue his officers rather than pursue him, and return to fight another day.
    • Captain Gaius Reyf, facing down the ISS Voyager while hovering over a black hole: "This is Captain Gaius Reyf, of the Federation starship F. Scott Fitzgerald. We know what you're doing; we demand that you stand down and surrender your vessel immediately."
      • Hilariously, Garr doesn't respond.
  • Berserk Button: You do not want to tell Braiyon Garr that his efforts into something are wasted.
  • Big Bad: Dr. Braiyon Elias Garr.
  • Big Brother Mentor: The way Reyf remembers Garr through most of the movie.
    • It's also implied that Reyf serves this function for Lieutenant Erickson and Ensign Hargrove.
  • Big-Budget Beef-Up: A curious invocation as the sets are all detailed replicas of the "upgraded" sets from Star Trek Generations (also known as Star Trek TNG: The Movie).
  • Big Damn Heroes: Painfully subverted with the USS Fairgrieve. Reyf and company arrive on scene too late to help.
  • Big No: Two of them: one at the end of "Garr's Nightmare," and another one while Reyf confronts him on the bridge of the ISS Voyager.
  • Blooper: Despite the fairly high production values, Specter has a few of these:
    • In the prologue, "commander" Reyf is seen wearing captain's pips. Also, in several shots, the auxiliary navigation panel in Garr's cockpit is unlit.
    • Arguably, in the prologue the use of the term "shuttlecraft" to describe the ship Garr is flying around in could count, since continuity establishes that that type of ship is properly referred to as a "runabout."
    • In the wide pan of Dr. Chellik's office, he's clearly looking to his left at the computer terminal. But when we cut to the closeup, he's looking down at the padd he's holding.
    • In the crew briefing scene, pay attention to the black glass tabletop in the opening shot. Notice Reyf has no reflection; this is a result of how the shot was made, with Reyf, the set, and the warp stars all being separate pieces of footage which were then composited together.
    • Also pay careful attention to the keypads to either side of the wall monitor Reyf is standing next to. From shot to shot, they change size and position.
      • A similar blooper occurred in several TNG episodes, when the prop keypads on the set kept disappearing, and had to be replaced and repositioned for some shots. This resulted in the keypads being in one position for wide shots, and another position for closeups.
    • In the same scene, note that several times the warp stars seem to switch directions, sometimes going in their proper direction, while in others they seem to be moving perpendicular to the ship. This is the result of the scene originally having different shots in those places, only to have those shots switched out and the warp stars never adjusted accordingly.
    • In a blooper that largely went unnoticed, the "alert bars" at the back of the Fitzgerald bridge set were accidentally swapped (port for starboard and vice versa).
  • The Bridge: Featuring Ensigns Hargrove and Kal as Bridge Bunnies
  • Broken Pedestal: "If this is really what you want, then I guess I never really knew you."
  • Call Back: Many:
  • Captain's Log: First Officer's Log
  • The Cameo: Too many to name! But we'll try anyway:
  • Canon Foreigner L Several, including:
    • When we get our first glimpse of the Beta Reticuli surface, we hear the sound of The Technodrome.
      • And later on, one room of Garr's laboratory is played by the Technodrome's Dimensional Portal Room.
    • The main room of Dr. Garr's lab is played by a redressed version of Genomex.
    • The docking bay of Deep Space 12 is the hangar bay of the Death Star.
  • Card Carrying Villain L Dr. Garr most definitely qualifies as one of these, after ramming a shuttlecraft just to use the jeopardy of its two occupants to shake pursuit.
  • Catch Phrase L Reyf: "Make it so."
  • Character Development: LOTS of it. By the end of the movie, just about everyone's grown up in some way.
  • Chekhov's Gun: The story of Frankenstein.
  • Chase Scene: Not one, but TWO. Both involving a pair of cool starships no less.
  • The Chessmaster: Dr. Garr
  • Clark Kenting: Braiyon Garr's past self.
  • Color Coded for Your Convenience: The villain in this film has a thing for the color blue: his uniform, the lights on his bridge (when at battle alert), the hull of his ship, the visual effect of his warp drive...
    • Notice also that Garr's uniform is exactly half as light as Reyf's as long as he's in "evil" mode, but after he turns good and is on the Fitzgerald bridge speaking to Thornton, suddenly he's in a real (lighter) uniform. Then when he manages to get back to his ship and starts pursuing his evil plan again, all of a sudden he's back in the darker uniform.
  • Coming of Age Story
  • Compliment Backfire: Ronston's attempt to flatter Erickson: "Why Kendra, I never knew you had a softer side!"
    • "Don't go there."
  • Conspicuous CG
  • Continuity Nod:

"We are about to go up against the greatest threat to The Federation since Tolian Soran. I hate to sound like Lieutenant Taurik, but where's the logic in this?"

  • Cool Starship: The USS F. Scott Fitzgerald. A ship so cool it has to have a name three words long.
    • Also the ISS Voyager.
  • Creator Cameo: During the "facial recognition search" scene, all of the photos the computer searches through (except the last one) are actually real-life photos of the executive producer.
  • Dan Browned: The graphics for this movie are famously full of interesting details, some of which are plot-relevant and some of which aren't. The single greatest example takes place during the first crew briefing: when Reyf calls up Garr's bio on the monitor, the last line of text actually gives away the film's ending.
    • Also during the prologue. The appearance of the ISS Voyager is foreshadowed by an image on the monitor of the computer core behind Garr. You have to look closely but it's there.
  • Darker and Edgier: Most of the movie was rewritten when fans felt that it was turning into too much of a TNG-like offering. The result? Braiyon Garr slaps an elderly scientist just to prove the point that he's alive.
  • Deadpan Snarker. The cast takes turns at this.
    • Reyf: "Your advice, as always, is a study in efficiency."
    • Erickson: "Obviously."
  • Deal with the Devil
  • Dedication: Every cut of the movie from the start has begun with a "For Kristie" title card.
    • A clear case of Reality Subtext.
      • Which is also hinted at by Garr's birthdate being June 3--the same day as the producer.
      • Word of God says that the registry number of the Fitzgerald, 85107, has significance as well, presumably as the date January 7.
    • Given what we see of the Garr character, seeing this is definitely a Tear Jerker.
    • And isn't that the pilot theme from the first episode of House behind it?
  • Demoted to Extra: Deanna Troi, oddly enough, given that she was a cameo guest star.
    • Actually a case of an Aborted Arc. Troi was originally to have played a much larger role in deciphering the mind of Dr. Garr, including the all-important clue that only a severe emotional trauma could have the power to change Garr's personality so radically.
  • Deus Ex Machina: How Garr got back to the ISS Voyager is never explained in actual words, but the implied explanation is that it has something to do with the female android since none of the transporters on the Fitzgerald get used.
    • "How thorough was their examination?"
    • Hardline Trekkers get sidetracked by the phrasing of the question and probably miss its real meaning, but it sure sounds like Garr built a site-to-site transporter into her and was asking if they'd found it.
  • Disney Acid Sequence: "Garr's Nightmare" arguably qualifies.
    • Word of God says that originally one of these was planned for Reyf too, but it was dropped over fears that it would make his character seem too fragile.
  • Distress Call: The USS Fairgrieve.
  • Divide and Conquer: Prentice and Garrett shouldn't have gone on that shuttle excursion...
    • That's one of the themes of the movie, teamwork and the notion that a group of people is stronger when they're all working together than when they're alone.
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?:
    • "Or is this just another example of you being hard on me just for the hell of it?"
    • A far, far better example is when Garr asks "How thorough was their examination" after he and the android hug. When that clip was first posted many people thought Garr was making an unfortunate implication. Turns out it was Innocent Innuendo, and what he was really asking was whether Reyf's crew had discovered the site-to-site transporter he'd built into her.
  • Elaborate Underground Base
  • Ending Tropes: Specter's finale invokes quite a few:
    • Anticlimax: Many got fooled into thinking Reyf's confrontation with Garr on the bridge of the ISS Voyager was the finale. Little did they realize the real climax was still to come...
    • Awesome Moment of Crowning: When Dr. Chellik, who early on had expressed concerns about Reyf's ability to handle the Garr mission, admits he was wrong and tells Reyf he'll make a fine captain.
    • Back for the Finale: Maxwell Garrett, who hasn't been seen since the scene in sickbay after the first starship chase.
    • Bittersweet Ending: So everything in the here and now is back to the way it's supposed to be. But Reyf's actions have resulted in Garr's demise (or so he believes).
    • Book Ends: Dr. Chellik.
    • But Now I Must Go: Braiyon Garr in the final scene when he disappears into a turbolift.
    • Downer Ending: After everything Reyf went through to redeem his oldest friend, Garr wound up slipping back over to The Dark Side...and Reyf wound up having to use deadly force to stop him.
    • Earn Your Happy Ending: Because everything didn't turn out okay in The End.
    • Epilogue Letter: Reyf's chat with Chellik could arguably qualify.
    • Happy Ending: In typical Trek style, it just wouldn't be right without this.
    • Not Quite Back to Normal: The characters don't notice it, but we can see that the main bridge and ready room of the Fitzgerald are both different than they're supposed to be.
    • Riding Into the Sunset: The shot of the Fitzgerald going to warp as the credits roll arguably qualifies.
    • Trippy Finale Syndrome: Seeing non-evil version of Garr on the altered Fitzgerald bridge.
  • Establishing Character Moment: Every character gets one of these, but they're spread out through the movie.
    • Garr's comes in the prologue, when he brazenly (or is it casually, I'm not sure?) threatens the starship chasing him and firing at him.
      • Reyf's comes when he's shown to be in shock after he sees Garr on the viewscreen.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: Braiyon Garr specifically makes sure that everyone gets off the Alcawell Station "alive and well." The only time anyone is hurt is by accident.
    • Except for the occupants of the shuttle he rams. That was part of a Xanatos Gambit.
  • Evil Laugh: Braiyon Garr's is most definitely creepy.
  • Evil Plan: An unusual one that has We Can Rule Together as one of the main points instead of a settlement.
  • Fake-Out Opening: You didn't really think Dr. Garr was Really Dead when the shuttle crashed in the Asteroid Thicket, did you?
  • Fan Film
  • Fan Service: Ensign Mitchell.
    • In one scene, when she and Lieutenant Erickson show up in Ten-Forward in gym clothes, Erickson's outfit is fairly conservative, but Mitchell's is practically Stripperific.
  • Five-Man Band:
    • The Hero: Captain Reyf.
    • The Lancer: Commander Prentice
    • The Smart Guy: Commander Merv Ronston
    • The Big Guy: Lieutenant Erickson.
      • "Don't go there."
    • The Chick: This is the only role of the five that's not clearly defined. It's implied that Dr. Falwell typically fills this role, in her absence no clear replacement is named. Reyf sometimes fills this role when necessary.
  • Five Second Foreshadowing: The clock is ticking down to zero until the USS Fairgrieve explodes and the Fitzgerald gets washed away. Power goes out, and Data restores the warp engines just in the nick of time. One Second Later, the Fairgrieve explodes.
  • For Doom the Bell Tolls
  • For the Evulz: Garr's Villain Laugh after he visits Reyf in the turbolift.
    • And when he calls for red alert after Reyf comments that the ISS Voyager doesn't seem ominous enough. Nightmare Fuel ensues.
  • Foreshadowing: Basically, everything in Specter foreshadows something coming later.
    • The opening quote from Charles Caleb Colton, which isn't explained until the very last scene.
    • "The human race has evolved beyond the need for such outdated concepts as heroism and villainy. People of Frankenstein's obvious insanity are practically unheard of in this day and age. And you don't exactly see people setting up secret labs trying to play God the way he did."
    • "Time, Gaius. I'll be seeing you."
  • Fridge Logic/Fridge Brilliance: During the entire movie, Garr and Reyf are shown wearing cadet uniforms reminiscent of the uniforms from Star Trek II. The fans complained that given the movie's timeline this isn't accurate. So later in the movie, when Reyf visits Garr's old office at Starfleet Intelligence, what's the clue that tips him off? A picture of him and Garr wearing the "correct" cadet uniforms!
    • In the scene at Mellis II, long before Chellik's door actually opens, we hear what sound like echoing footsteps. Experience suggests this shouldn't be possible, since most Star Trek doors seem pretty well soundproofed.
    • We don't know exactly how old Reyf is but it's implied that his age and Garr's are relatively close together. Garr is said to have been born in 2347. The Battle of Wolf 359 took place in 2367. Soon after that, Reyf and Garr both went to Starfleet Academy, presumably for a four-year course of instruction (conservatively leading to 2371). After that, Garr is said to have worked at Starfleet Intelligence for SIX YEARS before the events of the prologue (2376), after which he vanished for five years, leading to the present day... 2378. The implication is that both Garr and Reyf are highly intelligent, and completed a full curriculum at the Academy in just one year each.
      • So where does Garr find the time to get his advanced degrees in quantum physics, cybernetics, string theory, holography, and so on?
    • Also, let's not forget that when we last left Reyf in the prologue, he was working as a science officer. So how, in only six years, does he qualify for captaincy of a ship like the USS F. Scott Fitzgerald, particularly given it's his very first command?
    • And for that matter, there's the USS F. Scott Fitzgerald itself. The three-nacelle kitbash is taken directly from the TNG Grand Finale. The ship is said to be "first of its class." Either this is the test design for what they ultimately did with the 1701-D in "All Good Things," or Picard passed the design specs on to Starfleet after the episode.
    • Garr's method of time travel. Rather than using any previously known method, he goes and invents an approach of his own.
    • Braiyon Garr is said to have worked at Starfleet Intelligence for six years. This is AFTER the same agency had secretly developed its own cloaking technology (in "The Pegasus" (TNG)). Yet no one mentions this as a possible explanation for how Garr managed to sneak around for five years undetected.
    • When the Fitzgerald arrives at Beta Reticuli IV, Lieutenant Erickson scans the planet and describes in detail the harsh conditions on the surface, including a toxic atmosphere and subzero temperatures. Yet, when the away team beams into the caves, they have neither cold-weather gear nor oxygen masks.
      • Word of God suggests that the subterranean cave system has an isolated atmosphere that protects the inhabitants from the harsh surface climate, with the oxygen being released into the cave as the rocks decay, and the heat being geothermal in origin.
      • Still doesn't account for the light inside the caves.
  • Gone Horribly Wrong: Two words: Beta Reticuli.
  • Glowing Eyes of Doom/Red Eyes, Take Warning: At several points throughout the movie, Garr's eyes glow red for no apparent reason.
    • Word of God says that originally, this was to have been shown to be for a very good reason near the end of the film. The dialogue where this was to have been disclosed wound up getting deleted for time. The explanation is pure Nightmare Fuel: the original experiment that damaged Garr's DNA, as we learned early on, damaged more than just cellular bonds. The radiation damage to his body was so severe that Garr basically had to turn to Borg technology to sustain vital life functions; and because of the fragility of the optic tissue, they had to be completely replaced by occular implants.
  • Hand Wave: In one scene, Reyf and Data discuss how Garr has seemingly pulled off one impossible feat after another. More accurately, Reyf says it, Data agrees, then Reyf gets a call and it's never mentioned again.
    • Word of God says that an explanation for this was originally written into the story, but was dropped in favor of emphasizing Reyf's personal stake in Garr's actions: originally, Garr was supposed to be a member of Section 31.
  • Hannibal Lecture: Braiyon Garr gets one of these. Overlaps with Leave Your Quest Test.
    • Reyf also gets in his second Patrick Stewart Speech immediately thereafter.
    • Word of God has it that an earlier scene included Reyf about to start what sounded like a long-winded speech, only for Garr to interrupt with "On this ship, I do the monologuing."
  • Hearing Voices: Reyf sees a hallucination of Dr. Garr only moments after the ship's EMH says he needs to rest. Turns out it was actually Garr after all.
  • Hey, It's That Guy!: Due to technological limitations, the movie's entire cast of characters (except for two) are played by the same pair of Poser 4 characters. Combines with You Look Familiar below.
  • I Did What I Had to Do: Braiyon Garr says this was how his downfall began.
  • Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: In the prologue, the USS Daystrom fires no less than twenty one phaser blasts, none of which even comes close to hitting Garr's shuttlecraft runabout.
    • Justified in that Garr is using some kind of jamming technology to keep them from locking onto him.
  • Ink Suit Actor: To make the animation of the Garr character as lifelike as possible, the animator (who also voiced the character) acted out his lines before sitting down to animate them.
  • Insufferable Genius: Garr.
  • The Ishmael: Gaius Reyf. For most of the story he serves as the viewpoint character, while Garr remains almost entirely inscrutible (with the notable exception of his nightmare sequence).
  • It's the Journey That Counts: Played straight, because even though the Fitzgerald crew were ultimately shown to have failed to stop Garr from going back in time, the present was still largely unaffected, and the crew are shown to have grown closer together and more mature as a result.
  • Jigsaw Puzzle Plot: This movie has this in SPADES.
    • Garr's evil, supervillain plan
      • And the investigation into Garr's evil, supervillain plan
    • Reyf growing up and accepting his choices
    • Erickson and Ronston's love life
    • The mystery of the female android
  • Just in Time: During the final Chase Scene, Garr seems to have perfectly anticipated everything Reyf and friends will do, until Erickson conveniently remembers the magneton warhead that she and Ronston had designed earlier. They barely get it armed and ready in time to use it...and even then they're still too late.
  • Large Ham/Ham and Cheese: Garr.
    • "So Garr somehow managed to pull off the impossible. And with such overblown theatrics that no one would question his sudden disappearance."
    • "Gaius, I can't help but notice that you seem a bit...shorthanded."?
    • "This is Dr. Braiyon Garr, commanding the Federation starship ISS Voyager. Now's not a good time, Gaius, I'm going to have to ask you to come back."
      • "Oh, please spare me the tired cliche of making the impassioned plea for the villain to abandon his plans. We both know it's not going to happen."
  • LesYay: Subverted with Ensign Renee Mitchell and Lieutenant Kendra Erickson. Turns out that Erickson returns Ronston's crush after all and was just tormenting him by playing hard to get.
  • Leave the Camera Running: Fans have likened the "V'Ger Flyover" sequence, with its loving closeups of the details of the nightmare starship ISS Voyager to the insanely long "New Enterprise" sequence from Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
  • Leitmotif: Several:
    • Garr (Good): The Voyager theme (used mostly to represent Reyf's good memories of him), first heard when Garr's name appears in the opening credits. It's heard a total of six more times through the movie: the "V'Ger Flyover" sequence, in Garr's office as Reyf reminisces (arguably its most emotional use), when Reyf recounts the full story to Prentice before beaming to the ISS Voyager, a brief reprisal after Reyf board the ISS Voyager and notices how ordinary it looks, and a final time as Garr sees his ship from the guest quarters of the Fitzgerald.
    • Garr (Evil): The Borg theme from Star Trek: First Contact. Ultimately heard three times: as the away team investigates his hidden laboratory, when Prentice and Garrett are investigating the ISS Voyager, and again as the Fitzgerald approaches the USS Fairgrieve.
    • Reyf: The "friendship" theme from Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Nemesis.
    • Kristie: The theme from Titanic is repurposed as Kristie's theme, heard only twice: once when the Facial Recognition Software turns up a match, and again when the android visits Garr in his guest quarters.
  • Mad Scientist: Guess.
  • Magical Database: The "facial recognition search" towards the end of the movie is a textbook example.
  • Memento MacGuffin: The ever-present photo of Reyf and Garr, which serves a dual purpose through the film. It appears a total of four times:
    • The first time is right after Chellik calls. This is the first evidence that Reyf and Garr knew each other.
    • The second time is in Garr's office when Reyf visits. It was deliberately not shown at any point before now since the first appearance, so that people wouldn't realize (at first) that it had been altered (from the TWOK uniforms to TNG cadet uniforms). Even though it gets a closeup during Reyf's walkthrough, it's treated as if the altered version that's there is exactly what's supposed to be there.
    • The third time is in Reyf's quarters after the temporal shock wave hits. It's very small, on a computer screen that the camera pans quickly past. This time, not only are the uniforms different, but so is the background (changed from Starfleet Academy as seen in TNG's "The First Duty" to the city seen in the background at the end of the Wolf 359 flashback).
    • The fourth and final time is in Reyf's ready room, when his wall paintaing has been replaced by a large version of the "third" version of the photo. The fact that the characters notice that it's askew—but not that the photo has been changed from the panorama of Bajor that we'd been seeing the entire time—is an indicator that the timeline has been changed.
  • Mind Screw: Garr, in the scene in the turbolift. Especially since it's actually the real Garr, who's tricked Reyf into thinking he's just a figment of his sleep-deprived imagination, and thereby gets Reyf to reveal a key weakness.
    • Fans have questioned how this could be possible. The answer, according to Word of God: “Well, we know from the Prometheus that it's standard by this time to put holoemitters throughout a starship, allowing the EMH to go anywhere it's needed. I hinted at that with the Admiral Thornton hologram in Reyf's ready room—notice she walks around instead of being stuck in one spot like the Deep Space Nine holocommunicator. As for the rest, remember that Garr sent a set of coordinates to Erickson early on: that transmission contained a computer virus that gave him full access to the Fitzgerald and its systems. That's also how he knew about the supposedly private conversation between Reyf and Prentice about Wolf 359.”
  • Mission Briefing: "His name is Dr. Braiyon Garr."
  • My God, What Have I Done?: Deconstructed near the end of the movie. Twice.
    • First when Garr wises up and realizes that in trying to reclaim his innocence in the past, he's sacrificed any chance of redemption in the present. Reyf is able to convince him that he can be redeemed, and thus convinces him to stand down.
    • Then later, after Reyf orders the magneton warhead deployed and it destroys Voyager (we think), he's devastated when he realizes his oldest friend has just been Killed Off for Real—this time by his own hand.
  • Negative Space Wedgi: Several of these:
    • The first one that Garr makes in his lab, that draws the Fitzgerald to the location. This is revealed at the end to have been a mistake on Garr's part, he underestimated how powerful the energy release would be.
    • The one that Garr makes in space, that ultimately destroys the starship Fairgrieve and devours the entire Beta Reticuli star system with it.
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed: Every main character in Specter is based in some way on characters we've actually seen:
    • Reyf's mannerisms strongly favor TNG's Jean-Luc Picard. "Make it so, Number One."
      • With a little Teal'c thrown in for flavor. "Indeed."
    • Prentice's behaviors strongly favor one Will Riker.
    • Erickson seems to share the gruff air, bravery, and ferocity of one Lieutenant Commander Worf.
    • Merv Ronston's repeated romantic failures make him an obvious Expy for Geordi La Forge.
    • The sarcastic and quick-tempered EMH is based on the EMH played by Robert Picardo from Star Trek: Voyager.
    • The performances for Counselor Troi and Lieutenant Commander Data were written with Marina Sirtis and Brent Spiner very much in mind.
  • No One Could Survive That: Garr, when his ship gets torn apart at the end of the movie.
  • Obstructive Bureaucrat: Averted with Admiral Thornton, who actually seems to want to help Reyf in his mission rather than impede him, as most Starfleet admirals tend to want to do.
  • Oh Crap: Commander Prentice when the ship's power goes out moments before a massive explosion.
    • "Merv, I need warp power in two minutes or we're going to get washed away!"
    • Also Reyf, when he realizes exactly what he's up against. "All this time, I was expecting a faceoff at Reichenbach Falls, but instead...oh my God."
  • The Only One: Combined with The Chosen One in the persona of Captain Reyf. As the person who knows Dr. Garr the best, it naturally falls to him to intervene and stop Garr from carrying out his Evil Plan. He soon realizes that that works both ways, and Garr can use everything he knows about Reyf against him, and to much greater effect.
  • The End - or Is It?: "Well now, I'll tell you something Data; on a night five years ago, very much like this, I watched as his shuttlecraft was vaporized by a warp core collapse. He survived that, somehow. And I wouldn't be surprised if, somehow, he survived this as well. Call it a hunch, call it a gut feeling, call it whatever you wish. But I don't think we've seen the last of Braiyon Garr."
  • Patrick Stewart Speech: Reyf gets in not one but THREE of these:
    • One: the launch sequence.
      • "Looking at this crowd of...strange people I barely knew, it's safe to say I'd never been quite so nervous in my life."
    • Two: after Garr tempts him with the prospect of altering his own history.
      • "You once told me that even suffering has value."
    • Three: on the Voyager bridge when he tries to convince Garr to give it up.
      • "After all that time you spent telling me to confront my pain, here you stand, still running from yours!"
    • Lieutenant Erickson even gets one in. Combines with Crowning Moment of Heartwarming as soon as she says: "...personally I'm proud of you for facing him the way you did. And I don't want to see you lose your confidence, not now. Not after everything we've been through."
  • Power Born of Madness: Garr's lack of inhibitions spurs him to do great and terrible things.
  • Power Trio: typically Erickson, Prentice, and Reyf, with Reyf playing the role of peacekeeper.
  • Projected Woman: The Emergency Medical Hologram of the Fitzgerald.
    • Who was also an Ascended Extra. Originally, she was only supposed to appear once; she was given additional screen time (LOTS of it) because of her unexpected popularity with fans.
  • Promoted Fanboy: The producer was dissatisfied with both Star Trek: Nemesis and the 2009 Star Trek. This is why Specter is set aboard the USS Enterprise-D F. Scott Fitzgerald and features Data in a prominent starring role.
  • Put on a Bus: Lt. Maxwell Garrett. He returns for the final scene.
  • Rapid-Fire Typing: Data in the Fitzgerald observation lounge calling up sensor information.
  • Readings Are Off the Scale. "Tetryon radiation levels just jumped off the scale!"
  • Recycled Set: Look closely at some of the Fitzgerald sets and you'll quickly realize that they're actually redressed Voyager sets.
    • The reason for this is that the original draft of the script placed most of the action aboard the ISS Voyager, and so a full suite of Voyager sets was built first. When the script was rewritten to transfer the primary action to the Fitzgerald, many of the Voyager sets were redressed accordingly. This is especially apparent in Reyf's quarters, where the arched windows are very obviously from an Intrepid-class ship, even though we're on a Galaxy-class ship.
      • An even better example is Science Lab Four, which is very obviously a recolored version of the Voyager science lab, stocked with TNG props.
      • This is the exact opposite of how things actually happened on the shows. The TNG sets came first, which were then redressed into the Voyager sets.
    • Also if you look closely, Dr. Chellik's office in the beginning is based very closely on Admiral Cain's quarters from the second season of the 2004 Battlestar Galactica.
  • Red Alert
    • Blue alert!
  • Red Herring: It's heavily implied midway through the film that the reason the chief engineer can't score with the tactical officer is that the tactical officer is already seeing Ensign Mitchell. Turns out they were just friends.
  • Refuge in Audacity. The scene on the holodeck near the end.
  • The Reveal: Done several times throughout the movie.
    • The best one: "Braiyon Garr...it can't be! You died five years ago!"
    • The first shot of the Fitzgerald docked at Deep Space Nine, when the camera pans past the docking pylon to reveal the shiny new ship.
    • "Edward...is that...?"
      • "He touched me, he slapped my face for God's sake!"
    • "It's an android...a female!"
      • "Obviously."
    • "What kind of ship is it?"
  • Rule of Cool: The ISS Voyager runs on this.
  • Rule of Funny: "The clever fiendishness of this sinister plot..."
  • Rule of Fun: This is one reason behind the three "20th century song" scenes in the movie. Combines with Character Development to show that Garr has an interest in Earth's 20th century.
  • Rule of Three: There are three "20th century song" montage sequences. And three lead characters on the Fitzgerald (Reyf, Prentice, and Erickson). And three scenes of technobabble. And three nacelles on the USS Fitzgerald itself.
  • Running Gag: Seriously, count how many times you hear the number "47" pop up in this movie.
    • Or better yet, make it a drinking game.
    • What about the "coffee cup" gag? It first shows up during the "V'Ger Flyover" sequence, when the shuttle flies past the dark mess hall. Then the light catches the metal off the cup and the camera zooms in on it. The same thing happens again when Reyf visits Garr's old office. The implication both times is that Garr had been there recently.
    • Data's rambling. Which Reyf also interrupts every time with some form of "Thank you, Mr. Data."
  • Sacrificial Lamb: Lt. Garrett Overlaps with The Worf Effect.
  • Sdrawkcab Name: "Dennis Gard Robb" is an anagram of "Brandon Bridges," executive producer and the voice of Dr. Braiyon Garr. Dennis Gard Robb receives credit as the voice of Gaius Reyf and as a 3D prop designer.
    • "John Leo Ivor" is also an anagram for the man who helped craft the original story, who declined to be credited by full name.
  • Set Right What Once Went Wrong
    • An interesting use of the trope because, when we start out, nothing is really "wrong." What Garr tempts Reyf with is the possibility of saving his father from a premature death at the hands of the Borg.
  • Scenery Porn: Invoked at several places in the movie:
    • When the away team first steps into Garr's lab.
    • The entire sequence (with musical accompaniment no less) of Reyf looking around Garr's old office.
    • Scene 38, with Reyf looking around Studio 33.
  • Schedule Slip. Specter was being released as it was being produced, and during some of the longer stopdowns, fans were known to ask if any more were forthcoming.
  • Shout-Out: Several Numerous:
  • Sorry I Left the BGM On: It's not made clear until Scene 42 (when Garr makes a song selection on a console), but the three "20th century pop song" sequences in the movie fall into this category. In all cases, when Garr is aboard the ISS Voyager, whatever music we're hearing is what he's actually listening to. In Scene 29, it goes from diegetic aboard the ship, to non-diegetic on the station, and back again when Garr is back on his bridge.
  • Space Is Noisy
  • Spock Speak: Reyf's incessant use of the word "Indeed."
  • Space Station: Several.
  • Star Trek Shake. Surprising given this is a CGI film, but on multiple occasions the ships "shake" (by means of wildly moving the cameras back and forth on stationary sets), and the actors fall and stumble exactly as they would if the sets were really moving.
    • Parodied during the Wolf 359 flashback sequence. Most of the crew simply swerve when the Goodson gets hit by the blast wave, but the tactical officer on screen left is knocked clear off his feet.
  • Stock Footage: Subverted in that the producer went out of his way to avoid re-using anything from one scene to the next if he could avoid it.
    • Except when replaying visual logs.
    • Inverted however by the fact that the transitions between scenes typically feature recreations of actual stock shots from the series and movies.
  • Swirly Energy Thingy. The vortex that swallows the Beta Reticuli system.
    • And the black hole near the end of the film.
  • Take That. "Why is it every time someone goes off the deep end in this century, it always winds up involving time travel???"
  • Techno Babble: It's simply impossible to be in a Star Trek production without loads and loads of this. Specter involves a technical mystery (two, actually, Garr's mysterious Doomsday Device, and the brain of the female android).
  • Technology Porn: The entire "V'Ger Flyover" sequence is a textbook example.
    • Scene 42. Just... Scene 42.
  • Tempting Fate. Invoked several times:
    • Reyf: "Ensign Kal, has there been any word from the survey team Starfleet dispatched?" Kal: "No, sir. They are now 28 hours overdue. Should I contact Starfleet for an update?" Reyf: "I don't think that will be necessary."
    • Prentice: "Can you tell what kind of shape their records are in?" Data: "It would appear they are largely intact. I am detecting less than four point seven percent degradation in the memory circuits." Prentice: "Finally, some good news." (moments later) Erickson: "Commander, I'm getting some strange readings from the Fairgrieve." Prentice: "I knew it was too good to last."
  • The Film of the Book: A curious inversion: Specter doesn't have an official novelization (yet), but its length and elaborate storyline gives many fans cause to wonder if this isn't essentially a novel presented in movie format.
    • Word of God says that it both is and isn't. Although each scene was written like a scene in a novel, the overall storyline wasn't initially planned to develop the same intricacies and level of detail as a novel. Although, the creator has explicitly said he isn't sorry that it worked out that way, and said likening it to this trope is a novel concept.
  • Theme Music Power-Up: When Reyf finally figures out Garr's plan, for the first time since the launch sequence we get a piece of upbeat music. It was awesome.
  • This Cannot Be!: Upon being told of the pillaging and destruction of the Alcawell Station, Reyf utters a single word: "Inconceivable!"
  • This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself. Reyf's confrontation with Dr. Garr. With neither backup nor weapons, at that.
  • Throw It In: During the starship chase sequence, Ronston's utterance of "That's not fair!" was ad libbed by the voice actor.
  • Time Travel
  • Title Theme Drop: The Voyager theme is repurposed in the title sequence as Garr's theme (his good side, at least), and can be heard numerous times throughout the movie.
  • Tomato Surprise: Scene 51. Just... Scene 51.
    • Actually, it's really Scene 49B. As soon as we cut back to the bridge after the temporal shock wave hits, the set is different: the doors are dark red and there are metal plates on the consoles behind Erickson. And if you look closely, the chairs are suddenly dark red leather and the carpet is blue and dark brown instead of magenta and gray (even though those changes are largely "hidden" by low lighting of red alert). Then in Scene 51, we can see all the sets lit properly, and you realize what happened.
      • The colors in Reyf's "alternate" ready room are from Captain Archer's ready room on Enterprise, and the bridge colors come from HD screencaps from Star Trek: First Contact.
  • Traveling At the Speed of Plot: We're not exactly sure where the Fitzgerald is when Reyf decides to visit Earth. But we can assume it's someplace decently close to Deep Space Nine, since the Beta Reticuli system is said to have been only two hours away from there at the ship's maximum speed. Canon tells us that it takes a while to get from Deep Space Nine to Earth, and yet the Fitzgerald seems to magically just show up there with little or no time having passed.
    • Could also be a case of Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale.
    • In Scene 34 "The Visitation," that turbolift ride from deck 12 to deck 36 seems to take an awfully long time, doesn't it? (Almost a full four minutes!)
  • All the Tropes Will Ruin Your Vocabulary: When describing Garr's Elaborate Underground Base, he calls it...an Elaborate Underground Base.
  • Twist Ending
  • Uncanny Valley: The majority of the cast are played by Poser 4 characters...all except one, the mysterious Kristie android, played to perfection by DAZ's Victoria 3. Seeing the comparitively primitive Poser 4 characters alongside the lifelike Victoria 3 character was somewhat jarring for some viewers.
    • Particularly given that her ponytail prop wouldn't render completely at the settings used to create the other character animations, resulting in what looked like a wire-mesh ponytail...which we can't see through.

And how!

  • Two Lines, No Waiting: For most of the film, there are three storylines going; Reyf trying to figure out what Garr is doing; the crew trying to figure out what Reyf isn't telling them; and Garr's sinister plan.
  • Unspoken Plan Guarantee: The computer simulation in Stellar Cartography serves as this.
  • Villain Song: Played with: clearly the reason for the use of "Cosmic Castaway"
  • Was Once a Man: Braiyon Garr.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Reyf's crew is aware of their captain's emotional impairment given the mission, but they support him anyway because others had faith in him first, and he knows the villain better than anyone else. They talk amongst themselves about the captain needing to deal with his emotions, and Reyf finally wises up and starts seeing Garr as the threat he truly is rather than the friend he used to be near the end.
  • What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: Invoked several times:
    • Scene 38. Just...Scene 38.
    • The three "20th century pop song" sequences in the movie arguably count.
  • Wham! Line: In an early scene, Garr outright slaps the elderly Dr. Chellik, just to show he's that evil.
  • What Could Have Been: Early script drafts referenced live-action sequences.
    • Also, original plans mentioned the ISS Voyager to face off against a Borg ship like the Borg fortress from the TNG episode "Descent."
    • They also reference a Sovereign-class USS F. Scott Fitzgerald
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: Averted; many thought that Chellik's mention of a survey team coming to help the Fitzgerald the next day would wind up being a plot hole.
    • Invoked later: the Fairgrieve sensor records that our heroes risked their lives to retrieve don't seem to have made any identifiable contribution whatsoever.
  • Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys?: Somehow, Braiyon Garr built a super-advanced Starship of Doom, a super-advanced android girl, and an Elaborate Underground Base, all in only five years, by himself, with no sign of shipyards or any other support facilities, while remaining perfectly invisible to the outside universe. It comes up in dialogue ever so briefly, before being hand waved into the fridge.
  • Whole-Plot Reference: believe it or not, the basic premise of this movie is taken from an unused concept for Star Trek: Insurrection, which was to have had Picard chasing down an old Academy classmate who had become obsessed with finding the Fountain of Youth.
    • Also references Wrath of Khan with Garr "dying" once in the opening, and then getting Killed Off for Real at the end of the movie.
      • "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few--or the one."
    • Also beautifully references Frankenstein. Kristie (Victor Frankenstein) abandoning Garr left him emotionally disfigured, turning him into a monster (or so he believed); he, in turn, became Victor Frankenstein himself by creating the almost-human replica, whose ungainly metal limb separates her from being truly human.
  • Widescreen Shot: All the recreated shots of Stock Footage from the TV series falls into this heading. Most of them are the original shots, blocked much as they originally had been for 4:3, but with the sides expanded for the 2.35:1 aspect ratio. Your Mileage May Vary on how well this works.
  • Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Braiyon Garr.
  • Word of God: The aforementioned thread at Scifi-Meshes.com
  • Xanatos Gambit: Garr rams the shuttlecraft that had been scanning his ship. In addition to erasing the shuttle's sensor logs—thus averting a "two meter exhaust port" situation—this also damages the shuttle enough that the lives of its occupants are suddenly in mortal danger. Rather than pursuing Garr, which is implied to be a futile maneuver anyway, Reyf decides to turn back to rescue his two officers. As Garr knew he would all along.
    • It also reaffirms Garr's heavy-handed methods of dealing with threats, which we first saw when he chose to slap the elderly Dr. Chellik simply to prove he was real.
    • Garr's entire plan is revealed to be one of these near the end when Reyf catches up to him. Garr reveals that that has been his intention all along, in order to get Reyf to join him. It's implied that he's deliberately kept Reyf guessing for so long to keep him out of the way until the right moment.
  • You Have Failed Me...[=/-0YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Both inverted by Garr in that he doesn't seem to have any Mooks of any kind, nor does he seem to have had any kind of outside help doing his impossible deeds.
  • You Keep Using That Word: Reyf's incessant use of the word "Indeed" irked more than one fan.
  • You Look Familiar: Captain Mantell (from the prologue) and Dr. Edward Chellik are played by the exact same character model, just with different uniforms, to the point that some people initially thought Chellik was Mantell. See also, the helm officer from the prologue and Lt. Kendra Erickson.
    • This is also why the Fitzgerald Ops officer is redshirted. He was played by the exact same character model as the ship's first officer, only with different hair and eye coloring. This was made painfully apparent when they were together in a shuttlecraft.
      • Fans even made comments about them possibly being "twins."
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