Topics > Entertainment
If you're a Star Trek fan, this is hella good fun...
IronDioPriest:
No, I'm not talking about the latest putrid TV offering on CBS "All Access" streaming called "Discovery". Two episodes of that, and I was convinced that the franchise is in the wrong hands.
I'm talking about StarTrekContinues .com
Imagine if your community theater had access to every Star Trek set and prop; every uniform; every costume, make up, and hair design; every special effect; every sound effect; all the original musical scoring; and approval from Gene Roddenberry's son to produce a web series for fun, that actually respects and adheres to TOS canon...
That's 11, hour long episodes of "Star Trek Continues" in a nutshell.
The premise is, the show fills in the gap between the last episode of the original series, and the first film, "Star Trek, The Motion Picture".
What they get right: visually and audibly, it's near perfection. The sets are either original, or designed to exactly replicate the original, so that part is a gimme. The lighting, the scene-framing, the pacing, the script-writing, the dialog, all do a very good job of replicating the original series. I can't stress how having the actual musical scoring underlines the enjoyment of the show. It is used to accent scenes in all the familiar ways that made the music of TOS so iconic.
Performances: that is the weak point. As I alluded to, "imagine your community theater..." The fella that plays Kirk does a pretty good job. Scotty is the best, and being that his last name is Doohan, I'm gonna guess he's James Doohan's son. Spock is meh, and McCoy is pretty bad. That bums be out, because the core characters are what made Trek what it was.
And that brings me to the central thing that is lacking - at least after watching one episode (yes, I'm reviewing an 11 episode series after watching one) - the chemistry between Shatner, Nimoy, and Kelley was on-screen magic. So far, these guys don't have it.
But just having "original series" episodes to watch after all these years; all the spin-offs; all the movies; and the meh reboots, and now the awful "Discovery" - I just found it to be really good fun, so I thought I'd share.
Weisshaupt:
Yeah, I watched them all too. The last episodes got stronger in my opinion. I was also entertained by the casting.. its sort of a whos who of has been Sci Fi actors:
The first episode, "Pilgrim of Eternity", featured Jamie Bamber (Lee "Apollo" Adama from Battlestar Galactica and Matt Devlin from Law and Order UK) as well as original series guest actor Michael Forest reprising his role as Apollo. Marina Sirtis voiced the computer of the USS Enterprise, an homage to her connection to the original actress, Majel Barrett Roddenberry, who portrayed her character's mother, Lwaxana Troi, as well as the voice of the computer in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
For the second episode, "Lolani", Lou Ferrigno (The Hulk from The Incredible Hulk (1978)) appeared as Zaminhon, Daniel Logan (Boba Fett from Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones) appeared as Ensign Tongaroa, Erin Gray (Col. Wilma Deering from Buck Rogers in the 25th Century) appeared as Commodore Gray and Matthew Ewald (Nicholas Bluetooth from Galidor) appeared as Crewman Kenway.
The third episode, "Fairest of Them All", featured guest support from Asia DeMarcos as Marlena Moreau (played in the original series by BarBara Luna), Bobby Clark as Council Leader Tharn, Bobby Quinn Rice as transporter technician, Michael Dorn as the computer of the ISS Enterprise, and the first appearance of Kipleigh Brown as Barbara Smith (played in the original series by Andrea Dromm). Recurring cast member Cat Roberts (Lieutenant Palmer, played in the original series by Elizabeth Rogers), joined the series as of this episode.
The fourth episode, "The White Iris", featured the return of Sirtis as the Enterprise computer, as well as guest stars Colin Baker (Doctor Who), Nakia Burrise (Power Rangers), Adrienne Wilkinson (Xena: Warrior Princess), Tiffany Brouwer (Femme Fatales), and Gabriela Fresquez, with cameos by Chris Gore and Robert J. Sawyer.
Episode six, "Come Not Between the Dragons", guest-starred Gigi Edgley of Farscape fame. Rod Roddenberry, son of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, had a cameo appearance as a bridge officer in the episode. Episode seven, "Embracing the Winds", featured Clare Kramer (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Beau Billingslea (Cowboy Bebop), as well as the return of Erin Gray's flag officer character (Commodore Gray from the second episode) and Marina Sirtis as the computer voice. Episode eight, "Still Treads the Shadow", featured Rekha Sharma (Battlestar Galactica and the upcoming Star Trek: Discovery). Episode nine, "What Ships are For", featured John de Lancie (three Star Trek series) and Anne Lockhart (the original Battlestar Galactica series). Episodes ten and eleven, "To Boldly Go: Part I" and "To Boldly Go: Part II", featured Nicola Bryant (Doctor Who), Cas Anvar (The Expanse), Amy Rydell (reprising her mother Joanne Linville's role from the original series), and Mark Meer (Mass Effect), with scripts by Sawyer.
IronDioPriest:
If anybody here was gonna be there ahead of me, it was gonna be you Weissy.
Weisshaupt:
Harvey over at IMAO.US was there way ahead of me. I watched one cause he posted it .. Sadly some jerks ruined the fan genre for everyone by crowdfunding a movie and then not delivering forcing the studio to take action, so Star Trek Continues.. won't. You know the acting on the original wasn't all that good either ... but I too was not pleased with McCoy in this one. But yeah, these stories could very much fall into Season IV of TOS with original actors and no one would bat an eye ... worth watching IMHO.
See also :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQG8X5IHpag
IronDioPriest:
--- Quote from: Weisshaupt on December 12, 2017, 03:47:53 PM ---Sadly some jerks ruined the fan genre for everyone by crowdfunding a movie and then not delivering forcing the studio to take action, so Star Trek Continues.. won't.
--- End quote ---
Are you referring to the "Axanar" debacle? I had high hopes for that. Actors from the various spinoffs like Gary Graham, Tony Todd, and JG Hertzler were involved, and the pilot looked pretty good. But they ended up getting shut down by Paramount.
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