Having been a fan of John Cook's "Sev" creations for years, I've always wondered what it might be like to see animated clips, or better yet a movie, based on the characters he's concocted based on popular franchises such as Star Trek and Star Wars, just to name a few. Along with a lot of talented help, John and his crew have done just that. For the past two years they have been working on a Sev Trek Movie based on the Sev Trek comic strip for which John is famous. The crew of this movie, in fact, consists of people from all over the world. The movie is titled "Pus in Boots" and it is a 3D animated comic parody of the Star Trek - The Next Generation television series. The movie follows the format of a typical episode of TNG in that it is roughly forty minutes long and consists of 5 acts. "Pus in Boots" is due to go on sale through the Sev Trek website in April of 2002.

The story of this animated parody revolves around a facial blemish that appears on Commander Willing Piker (the character parody of Commander William T. Riker) after they encounter a race seeking "disposable Ensigns" to serve as hosts for their young. After investigation, Beta determines that the zit is alive and what takes place after this revelation is best defined as chaos. The story goes on to parody some familiar Star Trek stories from both television and film as the crew of the Enterforaprize (the parody name for the USS Enterprise) seek a solution for the zit problem.

Normally when I hear about an upcoming fan project based on Star Trek, similar to the undertaking of "Pus in Boots", I roll my eyes and think to myself, "this will never get completed... and if it does, how good can it possibly be?" I've been under the impression for a long time that the best fan made projects have been produced by the fans of Star Wars. As evidenced by the work shown on Theforce.net, Star Wars fans have produced short films, animated features, live action short films, and even trailers for the upcoming prequels. The trailers, in fact, have been so well produced that several people have been fooled into thinking they are the real thing. You never see anything like that for upcoming Star Trek films, however there is still hope with 'Nemesis' due to be released later in the year.

Lastly, outside of the professionally produced short films seen on the Sci-Fi Channel's show "Exposure", you rarely see any fan made Star Trek short films publicized on the web. That being said, I was intrigued by the idea of a 3D animated Sev Trek feature but I still had my reservations. I am glad to say this Sev feature did not disappoint once it arrived.

The quality of work put into the various aspects of this movie are clearly evident. The story, written by John Cook, does the comic strip justice to be sure. Just about every line uttered in the film is a fantastically funny, witty one liner reminiscent of the Sev comic strip with which we are all familiar. For example, there is a scene in the corridor where the Captain tells Barf (parody on Worf) not to set his phaser weapon on kill... so Barf utters "setting to sting!". The 3D animation work of Andrew Simpson, with some help from Dan Beeston, is simply fantastic as it brings the quirky characters from the Sev comic strip to life. The movie even includes a TNG like opening credits which shows the "Enterforaprize" in all it's glory prancing around the cosmos. Equally important to bringing animated characters to life, of course, is the sound. The voice actors do a great job of not only imitating the voice of their particular TNG counterparts, but performing and delivering hilarious jokes at the same time must have been difficult to achieve in a small number of takes. In particular, the performance of Wally Fields stands out. Not only does Fields do a great Picard impression for the Sev character Jet Lag Pinchhard, but he also performed an equally impressive impression of Beta (Sev parody of Data). Field's also takes several other credits including Willing Piker (Commander Riker), Barf (Worf), and several Ensigns all of whom have hilarious red shirt tags attached to their rank. (i.e.. Anonymous, Insignificant, Expendable)

This witty parody on Star Trek - The Next Generation made my stomach hurt I laughed so hard. "Pus in Boots" never contains a dull moment. If you've read the funny comic strips, loaded with smart quirky one-liners, you should have no trouble enjoying this animated feature. If you're not familiar with the world of Sev, now's the time to introduce yourself to it. From the opening credits to the outtakes at the end, Sev Trek Movie - "Pus in Boots" is an entertaining forty minutes not to be missed by any Star Trek fan. Here's one person calling for a sequel!

Read more reviews