TREK REVIEW: Star Trek Continues 10/11 - "To Boldly Go" Parts 1 & 2

The premier Trek fanfilm series comes to an end with this exciting two-parter. While I have said that I sometimes would have preferred a few more stand-alone episodes that hung less off established canon, it only seems right that this grand finale should seek to tie-up the series in every way it can. When Vic Mignona set out to make Continues, it was with the intention of completing the Enterprise's five-year mission with a final season of Star Trek. Now that CBS have come down on fan projects like this, it seems that “To Boldly Go” will act as a finale for a whole era of fan Trek.

What makes this story work so very well is that it combines a riveting storyline with actors who have come to grips with these classic roles, and a genuine desire to round off this period of Star Trek. It follows up on the mysterious effects of the Galactic Barrier from the pilot episode “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” with a group of rebel ESPers (plus one villainous Vulcan) attempt to take the Enterprise as part of a bid to usurp humanity's place in the Galaxy. It is these miscreants who are responsible for the destruction and vanishing of various Constitution-class starships throughout the Continues series. During the transgalactic game of cat-and-mouse, Spock seeks out his one-time paramour, the Romulan commander from “The Enterprise Incident,” now repatriated and once again commanding a Bird-of-Prey, the Hawk's Talon, beautifully rendered here.

Making this story a sequel to the pilot is a brilliant decision, but it also bookends the series by seguing directly into the set-up for The Motion Picture. Not only do the creators of the story make this work in spite of the huge tonal differences between the original series and the film, but it works perfectly as a character piece, giving solid, believable reasons for Kirk, Spock and McCoy going their separate ways once the mission is completed. Indeed, we find Kirk in much the same place here as we found Pike in “The Cage,” weighed under by years of responsibility and the guilt of so many deaths under his command. Spock is torn between his burgeoning emotions and the logic he believes in and the responsibility of impending command, while McCoy is simple sick of watching people die.

We know, of course, that most of the crew are going to make it through to the end of the episode, what with them carrying on through The Motion Picture and subsequent movies. However, that doesn't mean there aren't major losses throughout the adventure, not least of which is a good chunk of the Enterprise itself. The ship really earns its refit on this mission. We also get to see the long-imagined saucer separation of the original Enterprise, one of many exceptionally well-produced visual effects sequences.

The regular cast all get moments to shine, with particular praise due to Todd Haberkorn as Spock, who I think has really nailed the part over the last few episodes. I was pleased to see Kim Stinger's Uhura get a meatier role than in most previous episodes. The multi-talented Kipleigh Brown, as the recurring character Lt. Smith, gets a very strong episode in part two, becoming an essential member of the cast for this finale, and there is some strong material for Michele Specht as ship's councillor Dr. McKennah. The guest cast is also very good throughout, with special praise needed for the wonderful Nicola Bryant. As a Doctor Who aficionado (in case you hadn't noticed), it's a treat to see her here, with her natural accent rather than an affected American one, and she's clearly having a great time playing the villain of the piece. Another star turn is Amy Rydell as Romulan Commander Charvanek, who is not only very impressive in the role, but is the daughter of the original holder of the role, Joanne Linville.

While the two-parter was full of excitement and adventure, it's actually the final few scenes that really made an impact for me. Moving into the slower, more thoughtful territory of The Motion Picture, it sees Kirk accept his deskjob promotion from Admiral Nogura. (As a little visual treat, we see the now-traditional selection of model starships, including the Phoenix, Enterprise NX-01, USS Kelvin and USS Discovery, further tying different eras of Star Trek together.) Vic Mignona gives a speech to his erstwhile crew and one final log entry, and it's as much him speaking to the viewers as it is Kirk addressing Starfleet. As the prime mover and star of Star Trek Continues, it's only right that he gets to make this send-off, and as far as I'm concerned, he and his crew are very much a part of the Star Trek family. Mission accomplished.


Watch all the episodes of Star Trek Continues here.

TREK REVIEW: Star Trek Continues 9 - "What Ships Are For"

Before they begin their two-part finale, the Star Trek Continues team present a stand-alone episode that embodies exactly what classic Star Trek was all about. "What Ships Are For" is a story with a strong, simple but effective moral message that would fit in perfectly in Trek's classic run, although it has a particular resonance with today's concerns.

The episode is set on and around Hyalinus, a misshapen asteroid that is inhabited by a sophisticated race of people who are slowly making their way out into the wider universe. When Kirk and co. beam to the surface in order to make official contact with the Hyalini, they find a monochrome world, completely leached of colour. It's a great visual hook, and particularly striking in contrast to the rainbow colours of the series as a whole. It becomes clear that Hyalinus is bathed in solar radiation that prevents the eyes' cone cells from functioning, so that no one on the surface can see colour. It's a bit of a question then why the Hyalini evolved cones in the first place, although it's said that the radiation has been increasing over the last few centuries so presumably once they functioned normally. The increasing radiation is also causing a sickness to appear among the population.

Kirk takes an inhabitant of the planet back to the Enterprise - the youngest and prettiest, obviously - and introduces her to the world of colour. It becomes clear that there is another species in the system, the Abicians, who are considered backward, savage immigrants and refugees, violently kept away from Hyalinus. However, it becomes clear that there are thousands of Abicians living on the planet, fully integrated. Should the Federation help counteract the radiation and allow the people of the planet to see in colour again, they will be able to see the aliens living among them, with potentially violent consequences.

It's a pretty obvious metaphor for racism and xenophobia, but I enjoy episodes with a strong, in-your-face moral sometimes. Just like "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield," this episode knocks you on the head with how ridiculous it is to judge people based on the colour of their skin, but being obvious about it doesn't make it any less true or important. A little more subtle is the pro-refugee message, pushing the message that a nation cannot thrive by shielding it from outsiders, something that both the US and the UK could learn to accept. There's a fine line that points out that compassion can exist alongside fear and pride, another thing we could stand to learn.

It's a decent script, written by Kipleigh Brown, who also plays Lt. Smith (who surprisingly barely features in the episode). The are some elements, particularly the interplay between Kirk, Spock and Bones, which don't flow very well and feel forced in. The main cast, though, improve in their roles all the time, with Vic Mignogna now giving an almost perfect reenactment of Shatner's Kirk. There are good turns by Elizabeth Maxwell as young alien Sekara and Anne Lockhart as her foster mother Thaius. Lockhart is another actor who is best known for a major sci fi role, in this case Sheba in the original Battlestar Galactica. The big draw here though is John de Lancie, making a powerful guest appearance as Galisti, ruler of Hyalinus. It's a welcome surprise that he isn't playing Q, but an entirely new character, one who has some excellent confrontation with Kirk. He's undeniably a highlight of the episode.

Although there are elements in the episode that call back to the series as a whole, "What Ships Are For" plays down it's connections to the Trek mythology. There's a mention of yet another two Constitution-class ships being lost from service, which is presumably going to tie into the finale and the Enterprise's part in the revamp of Starfleet. There's another moment which ties into the Motion Picture, which signifies the end point of Star Trek Continues, and also provided a laugh: the crew get their first glimpse of the beige pyjamas that pass as uniforms in that movie, and promptly declare that they'll never be seen dead in them. It's a fun little nod to the movie, and also ties into the overall episode with its tale of drabness and lost colour. The only other element I picked up that tied into the mythology was that the Enterprise's next mission is to Daran 5, which would be a follow-up to the events of the third season episode "For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky."

Beyond these gentle nods, though, this a fun, effective episode that stands proudly on its own two feet.

"What Ships Are For" can be watched here.

TREK REVIEW: Star Trek Continues 8 - Still Treads the Shadow

Star Trek Continues continues continuing, which is a pleasant surprise to some of fandom considering how unfriendly Paramount have become to fanfilms since the Axanar lawsuit. However, all of Continues' fundraising for the next four episodes was completed prior to the legal announcement, and the production team are pushing ahead with finishing their series, albeit a few episodes shorter than originally planned. I shall try to be as spoiler-free as I can without being totally vague, but if you want, you can watch the episode first here and then come back.

"Still Treads the Shadow" (classic pretentious Trek title there) is a solid episode that revolves almost entirely around Vic Mignola's Captain Kirk. In fact, Mignola gets to portray three characters in the story, although the exact nature of those characters is quite surprising. Mignola does a great job making his three roles distinct. The rest of the regular cast are a little overlooked in this episode, with a good deal of the material going to the big guest star Rekha Sharma, best known to SF fans as Tori on Battlestar Galactica. If anything, though, Sharma could have done with more screentime, to make the most of a promising character and by far the best actor on the production. Sharma's a huge Trek fan by all accounts, so maybe we'll see more of her in another episode.

"Still Treads the Shadow" is written by Judy Burns, who has racked up a lot of professional screen credits over the years, but whose first such credit was that of co-writer on the third season Star Trek episode "The Tholian Web." If anyone was expecting a sequel to that episode, then they'd be absolutely right. Don't expect a rematch with the Tholians, though, as this episode takes a very different take. At first glance, it appears to conflict with Enterprise's fourth season story "In a Mirror, Darkly," which provided its own sequel to "Web," however, a clever line of dialogue allows both sequels to co-exist.

The episode's script is science-heavy without ever becoming too laden with technobabble. I enjoy TOS pastiches that take into account recent discoveries and theories. "Shadow" includes dialogue regarding gravity waves and dark matter, and while both of these had been theorised in the early part of the 20th century, they hadn't become generally accepted or well known concepts until more recently. The dialogue is backed up by some spectacular effects work, which comes across as more showy and modern than previous episodes but works beautifully for the episode. Fans might see some similarity with episodes such as "Second Chances" and "Deadlock," but Trek has never shied away from re-exploring familiar tropes. Well worth a watch.

TREK REVIEW: Star Trek Continues: Episode 7 - Embracing the Winds

It's good to see that Star Trek Continues is continuing to continue. With Paramount coming down hard on fan productions, I expected this series to come to a halt. However, the guys behind Continues have confirmed that they plan to carry the series on to its conclusion, which is expected to bring it right up to the end of the five year mission, and the lead up to The Motion Picture. Given that, of all the fan series, Continues is the one that is designed to reproduce the original Star Trek the most closely, I can't imagine that Paramount will leave it alone for long.

The latest episode, "Embracing the Winds," shies away from hard sci-fi and and gives us some good, old-fashioned social commentary. It's very much in the style of the courthouse episodes of the original series, such as "The Menagerie" and "Court Martial." Much of the episode takes place at a Starfleet hearing, overseen by Captain Kirk (series overseer Vic Mignogna), Commodore Gray (Buck Rogers' Erin Gray, amking a return appearance to the series) and the Vulcan Vice Admiral Stomm (the classy Beau Billingsley, who previously appeared in Star Trek Into Darkness). The episode revolves around the fate of the USS Hood, a starship whose crew has been mysteriously killed. Looking to recrew the ship, Commodore Gray has to decide which of two commanders to promote to captain.

The choice comes down to Spock, (series regular Todd Haberkorn), who is torn between career progression and stayig aboard the Enterprise, and Commander Garrett (Clare Kramer, best known as Glory in Buffy), an officer with a turbulent career who believes she has been held down because of her gender. The story is preoccupied with the many kinds of discrimination and prejudgment that people (or at least, non-white, non-straight, non-male people) face in their lives. Spock is judged by both humans and Vulcans because of his mixed heritage, while Garrett faces questions due to her nature as an ambitious woman.

It's depressing to think that there might still be sexual discrimination in the 23rd century. I suspect that the starting point for the episode was an attempt to explain the sexist attitude of the final original series episode, "Turnabout Intruder," which notoriously implied that women couldn't be starship captains. Since Enterprise has since shown that female captains have been part of Starfleet since its beginnings (as noted in this episode), the script suggests that it is throwback Tellarite attitudes, and Starfleet attempts to appease the race, that have led to women being kept out of the captain's chair. It's contrived, but it works, and perhaps could be taken as a parallel for how traditionally conservative nations are struggling to fit into the global community. Primarily, though, this episode is concerned with America's ongoing problems with misogyny and sexism, something that is in discussion more and more.

Clare Kramer is particularly good in the episode, making Garrett into a remarkable, if difficult to like, character. It's a testament to the strength of the script that we sympathise with Garrett and agree with her ideals, even while her personal flaws are apaprent. Meanwhile, the regular Enterprise crew engage in a mission to investigate the Hood, given the episode a more perilous B-story. It works well enough to keep things going, but the more interesting stuff is happening at the starbase, and the events on the Hood rather shut the story down and give Starfleet an easy way out of its dilemma. Nonetheless, this is a strong, thoughtful episode, with an important message. This is exactly what Star Trek should be doing; looking at today's issues through a futurist perspective.

TREK REVIEW: Star Trek Continues - Come Not Between the Dragons

The latest and sixth episode of the Star Trek Continues fan series is one of the best so far. Unlike the majority of episodes in the series - indeed, in fanfilms in general - "Come Not Between the Dragons" doesn't focus on returning characters, recognisable aliens and continuity points. Instead, it embraces the spirit of Star Trek by exploring the universe and encountering strange new life forms. In this case, the dragons of the title: gigantic "nomadic extremophiles", or cosmozoa (utilising Christopher Bennett's word there), one of which breaches the hull of the ship in order to hide out.

While the episode starts as a monster hunt, it isn't long before one of the crew makes contact with the alien, Usde. The crewman in question, Eliza Taylor, is played by Gigi Edgley, who I didn't recognise straight away because she wasn't painted grey. It's great to see the series continue to utilise actors from multiple sci-fi series. After faces from Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers and Doctor Who (the Doctor himself), we get a guest spot from FarScape's Chiana. She's a great addition to the crew, which takes time to feature more of the regular cast than usual. Usde itself is a brilliant creation, a mix of puppetry and CGI used to create the metallic creature and its much larger, space-dwelling assailant.

The episode takes a turn towards "The Naked Time" territory in the second half. Every Trek series has an episode with the regulars acting out of character (usually at least two, one of which is a Mirror Universe ep). This time, energy waves emitted by Usde's pursuer drive the crew to distraction, beginning with irritability and ending with irrational acts of rage. It's a more cliched aspect to the episode, but it feels very Trek and makes for a tense situation in which to embed the alien contact story. Add in a little of Star Trek's perennial obsession with father figures, and you've got what would have made a classic episode of sixties Trek.

TREK REVIEW: Star Trek Continues: Divided We Stand

I rather enjoyed this one, in spite of its being squarely aimed at the core American audience of Trek fans. It's not, to be fair, terribly original in its content: Kirk and McCoy are seemingly sent back in time to the American Civil War, although it's very quickly revealed to the audience that they have been infected by a virus that has caught them in a shared dreamscape. There's no mystery to it, nor much interest in the Enterprise-based subplot of curing the two friends. No, this is all about how Jim and Bones cope in this environment, believing it to be viscerally real and apparently without hope of rescue.

The original Star Trek played with Earth's history on numerous occasions, so much so that it seems odd that it wasn't repurposed as a time travel show. Whether it was actual trips into the past, bizarre alien recreations or planets that seem to have developed along Earthlike lines due to interference or sheer coincidence. So this excursion to 19th century America feels very in keeping with the series that it's seeking to emulate, without taking the path of previous episodes and indulging in heavy continuity. Not that there's anything wrong with heavy continuity in a fan series, but it's a pleasure to have something a little fresher after a run of sequels and callbacks. In fact, I can only think of one nod to the series' history, that being the name of the probe that delivers the virus: Friendship Three, presumably a successor to the eponymous probe from the Voyager episode Friendship One.

The strength of the episode lies in the recreation of the American battlefields. I presume the production team called on the services of some historical reenactment enthusiasts, since the battle scenes are populous and convincing (not that I'm any expert on the period, never having had a particular interest in the American Civil War). The decision to use Kirk and McCoy was a wise one. The strength of their friendship keeps them going through the bloody horrors of a very real war, far from the usually sanitised conflicts seen in Trek (although the original series was bloodier than people remember). Their respective backgrounds put Kirk and Bones on opposing sides in the war, with Kirk cast as a Union soldier and McCoy as his prisoner. It unfolds predictably, but nonetheless effectively, with both Vic Mignola and Chuck Huber working extremely well together here. A particularly effective installment from an always impressive fan production.


Watch the episode here.

Fanfilm Catch-Up: Star Trek Continues & Predator: Dark Ages

There have been some very interesting fan productions coming out lately. I've taken a look at two of the most interesting, plus caught up with some news about upcoming productions.

PREDATOR: DARK AGES

There aren't all that many Predator fan films, presumably because making a Predator costume is bloody expensive. Those that do exist are often very impressive, with high production values and fine performances. Predator: Dark Ages is a perfect example of this, a much-anticipated film written and directed by James Bushe.

Unlike most stories featuring the Predator, this is a period piece, set during the time of the Crusades, a period that's especially topical right now considering the poor relations between the Christian and Muslim communities. The story features a group of Knights Templar, led by Adrien Bouchet, are forced into an uncomfortable alliance with a Saracen, played by Amed Hashimi, to hunt down the "demon" that is already hunting them. The core cast, which includes Sabine Crossen as a formidable female warrior, Ben Loyd-Holmes, Jon Campling and Joe Egan, are all impressive, and the Predator, played by Philip Lane, looks fantastic. Running in at a little under half an hour, the story is necessarily simple, but plenty of incident is packed into that time. It's effectively directed and just gory enough to make the Predator a serious threat. I enjoyed the nuanced relationship between the two leads - both flawed men from opposing walks of life, who slowly learn to trust each other in face of a greater threat.

An especially good fan production. Watch it here.

STAR TREK CONTINUES: 'THE WHITE IRIS'

This is the fourth episode of the fan series Star Trek Continues, which carries on the adventures of Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise beyond the final episode of the original series and into the fifth and final year of the legendary Five Year Mission.

The first thing you're confronted with when streaming "The White Iris" is Doctor Who's Colin Baker, as subtle and low-key as ever, in multicoloured robes and a blue goatee. This unexpected clashing of two great fandoms sets the scene for a fun if melodramatic fifty minutes in which Captain Kirk (Vic Mignona) is injured and confronts the ghosts of his past, as various deceased past loves come to haunt him. Star Trek Continues is fan-pleasing comfort food, and this episode is an excuse to sit Kirk down and examine both his commander's guilt and his womanising ways. While I'd really like to see something a bit more solid and original from the team, it's effectively done and it's interesting to watch the good captain grow into the more emotionally mature individual we saw in the movies. It looks as spectacular as ever, far better than even Paramount's remastered episodes of the original series.

Mignona, who also co-writes the series, is really becoming quite excellent as Kirk, while Chuck Huber's take on McCoy is really coming into its own. Colin Baker plays Amphidemus, the leader of an alien planet set to join the Federation, and he certainly seems to be enjoying himself. Gabriela Fresquez looks spot-on in her brief role as Rayna Kapec. There are some nice nods to the past future of the series, with both a primitive holodeck made good use of, and Marina Sirtis providing the computer voice. Watch it here.

In other Trekkie news, Star Trek: New Voyages is pushing ahead with its 2015 Kickstarter campaign, and has already hit its original target and is now looking at various stretch goals. Meanwhile, a long-gestating fan project, Star Trek Beyond, has been forced to change its name due to clashing with the upcoming thirteenth movie; however, Paramount have invited creator Michael Gummelt to pitch for a new TV series, which is fantastic news. Star Trek Uncharted is a better name anyway.

TREK REVIEW: Star Trek Continues: Fairest of Them All

The third episode of Star Trek Continues, the fanfilm series made with an emphasis on authenticity, is a sequel to a fan favourite, “Mirror, Mirror.” While I still think there's room for more original storyline ideas in these types of productions, we fans do love a bit of sequelism, and they couldn't have picked a better story to follow up. “Mirror, Mirror” end with Kirk convincing the Spock of the Mirror Universe to try to turn the despotic Terran Empire into something better. What followed was never seen. There have, of course, been attempts to follow up the story, notably in the “Shatnerverse” novels, and it's a fanfic favourite. From Deep Space Nine we know the long-term fallout of Spock's actions, and the Enterprise episode “In a Mirror, Darkly,” gave us the origins of the Empire.


However, it's been almost fifty years since that episode aired and it's only now that we get to see, on the small screen, exactly what happened after Kirk and his malevolent counterpart were returned to their respective universes. The Continues creators are making a bold move with this episode, not only portraying their vision of a major sequence of events in Trek's future history, but beginning it with a recreation of the seminal original scene between Kirk and Mirror Spock. Thankfully, both Vic Mignona and Todd Haberkorn nail it, in this scene and throughout. I haven't had much chance to rate Haberkorn yet, seeing that Spock has had relatively little to do in the previous two episodes of the series. This, however, is all about the Kirk-Spock dynamic, albeit a twisted reflection of it, in which Spock's logical philosophy is faced with sheer emotional aggression from his captain. In fact, I'd say Mignona is better here as Mirror Kirk than he is as the regular Kirk. That's not to say he hasn't been great in the previous episodes, because he has. However, the Mirror Kirk is an almost entirely unexplored character, which gives the Mignona more room to play his own version. He paints a picture of a terrifying individual, of power gone unchecked.


However, like the Empire itself, Kirk is destined to be usurped by the very people who serve him. One of the best moments in the episode comes as Uhura (Kim Stinger) finally stands up to an increasingly desperate and vicious Kirk and tells him he's gone too far. While Mignona and Haberkorn lead the episode, all members of the cast do well here. Of particular note is Asia DeMarcos as Marlena, the Captain's Woman, with just as vital a role in this episode as in the original. Kipleigh Brown, as Navigator Smith, is also very good, and there's no reason their regular universe counterparts couldn't become major characters in future episodes. The only character that didn't feel quite right was Chekov (Wyatt Lenhart), simply because he's too reasonable. Chekov was a really nasty little shit in “Mirror, Mirror.” There are other notable cast members too, including Chris Huber making his debut as Dr. McCoy, and Michael Dorn, better known as Commander Worf, providing a deeply scary computer voice.


The story is fast paced but intelligent, with Spock showing that there is a better way by managing, against all odds, a bloodless mutiny on the Enterprise. A link to the 22^nd century Mirror Universe storyline is provided when Andorian rebels show up to take on the imperial ship (no blue skin I'm afraid, this is space warfare only), which adds another layer to the proceedings. It's not strictly necessary though, as Spock's rebellion is the core of the episode and is enough to carry it. Aside from Star Trek's perennial obsession with chess – authentic, again, but clichéd – pretty much every aspect of this episode works. Plus, we get a homage to the classic “Khaaaan!” line much better than the one in Star Trek Into Darkness. Overall, this is really good stuff. A superior fanfilm.





Watch "Fairest of Them All" here.

TREK REVIEW: Star Trek Continues: Ep 2 - LOLANI

The second episode of the crowd-funded fan series Star Trek Continues is a success, and a definite improvement on the first. With a little more experience behind them, everyone involved has upped their game. Acting, writing and direction have all been tightened up. The nature of the story has been under wraps until its release this at the Dallas ComicCon on February 8^th, but the official poster has been released now, which gives away some of the setup. Nonetheless, there will be some spoilers in the following review, naturally.

TREK REVIEW: Star Trek Continues: Pilgrim of Eternity

Star Trek Continues actually kicked off with this first episode back in May, but having had my appetite whet by Phase II, I decided it was time to check out some other fan productions. Seeing that I have just re-watched 'Who Mourns For Adonais?' for the Captain's Blog, it seemed sensible to follow it up with the unofficial sequel.


I'm immediately going to have a problem with this concept, though, for one reason: I don't actually much like 'Adonais.' It's very well made, but it has a misogynistic tone that makes it very difficult for me to actually enjoy. So a sequel is going to have a hard time proving itself to me. Like 'Adonais,' 'Pilgrim of Eternity' is very well made, but I found it hard to really enjoy.


Judging by this first episode (the second is still in production), Star Trek Continues is going very much for a faithful revival of the original series. Unlike Phase II, this production does not seek to adapt unmade episodes planned by the official production team. 'Pilgrim of Eternity' is an entirely new script set during the fourth year of Kirk's five year mission (along with Phase II and the animated series, not to mention IDW's 'Year Four' miniseries and a host of other licensed and unofficial productions). By making the first episode a sequel to an original series story, the team behind this have guaranteed a certain level of interest from fans, and the inclusion of the original guest star from that episode only serves to increase that interest.


This is a very professionally made production. Everyone involved is an industry professional and the acting, for the most part, is top notch. Vic Mignogna, director, co-writer and producer, plays Kirk (if you're in charge of production you get to be Kirk, it's the rules). He really nails the part, capturing much of Shatner's original performance without being a parody or a slavish copy. Michele Specht plays a new character, Dr. Elise McKennah, who provides both an emotional foil for Kirk and the obligatory eye candy (don't worry, it's perfectly equal here: Mignogna gets his shirt off for a good, lingering look). As a real life couple, Mignogna and Specht naturally have some great chemistry. Todd Haberkorn does well realising Spock, perfectly reproducing Nimoy's delivery in some scenes. Also impressive is Kim Stinger, reprising the role of Uhura from the New Voyages/Phase II series.


As previously mentioned, it's the guest star who is the big draw here. Bringing Michael Forest back to play Apollo is a coup, and he impresses as an older, more regretful version of his character. The arrogance of his original performance is there, but tempered by newer, more traumatic experiences. We learn that the gods moved on to a higher realm, but that this was not able to support them, instead draining them of their energy until they ceased to exist. This is a clever explanation for why the previously youthful Apollo now appears as man well into his eighties. Almost as big a fan draw is the casting of Chris Doohan, son of James, as Scotty. Reprising his father's role, Doohan totally convinces, not only replicating much of his father's performance but delivering a decent one in his own right.


One performance I'm not quite sold on is Larry Nemecek as Dr. McCoy. It's a perfectly fine performance in itself, but it doesn't feel like McCoy to me at all. I had reservations over the version of McCoy in Phase II as well; I guess this character is one just one that's particularly tough to cast right. Nemecek is better known in Trek circles as a prolific author, and there are some other nice cameos from the franchise. Doug Drexler, the effects wizard who created the impressive starship renders for both this series and Phase II, has an appearance as a holo-gunman, while Marina 'Troi' Sirtis provides the computer voice. As well as Trek alumni, there's an appearance from another famous sci-fi face: Jamie Bamber, who played another Apollo, in Battlestar Galactica.


In terms of production standards, there is nothing to criticise here. The sets are a faithful reproduction of the originals, with the music and effects adding to the sense that this could be a lost episode of the original Star Trek. It feels perfectly in keeping with the original. If anything, it feels too traditional. Story wise, this is very similar to the episodes on which it is based. Gender roles are strictly enforced, with the male characters being brusque and action-focused, and the females compassionate and sensitive. It all feels very old-fashioned, and while this is isn't necessarily a bad thing, it feels to me like a missed opportunity. The original Star Trek is a product of the 1960s and can be viewed as such; a lot of allowances can be made. To make something in the same way now, with the same social hang-ups evident, is harder to justify. Things have moved on, and so has Star Trek (for better or worse). The only forward-looking aspects here are the brief inclusion of a prototype holodeck/rec room, bridging the original series with the animated series and TNG technological developments, and the inclusion of Specht's character as a ship's counsellor, another nod in the direction of TNG.


I think my biggest problem with this production is the same as the one I had with the original episode. At the end of 'Adonais,' we were supposed to feel sorry for a raging egomaniac who had just committed a rape. Bringing him back here for another sympathy turn is not something I really wanted to see. There's a great deal of development given to the character, and the script isn't afraid to show that he is still capable of returning to his cruel old ways. Kirk, Spock and McCoy struggle to decide whether they should trust the weakened alien, while, understandably, Scotty is furious as the very idea of helping him. The scenes of debate between the four characters are some of the episode's strongest. On the other hand, there's an uncomfortable scene where McKennah relates all the wonderful things she heard about Apollo from his victim, Carolyn Palomas. In the end, Apollo redeems himself by sacrificing his remaining energies to save a life, but I don't buy the idea that this somehow proves that he is now a noble person, or that it makes up for his previous crimes. Kirk makes a very questionable decision regarding what to do with Apollo, although it's hard to see how many other choices he might have had. If nothing else, the final scene of this episode is beautifully done.



Star Trek Continues definitely has great potential. As I said, the production itself is magnificent, it's simply the script I'm not hot on. If, in future, the series could present something a little more up-to-date, more forward-looking, then I'm sure I'll be a big fan.

Watch the episode here.