So much fun.
Star Trek Continues E01 “Pilgrim of Eternity” from Star Trek Continues on Vimeo.
This video is beautifully done: very true to the 60’s show both in tone and content. The dialogue is expository, the action is slow, the physics are loose and kinda mystical, the men are real men, the women are real women, the costumes are beautifully retro, the sets are authentic down to every detail. How did they even manage that? Did they get access to Paramount Studios or something? Did some enterprising (pardon the pun) geek recreate them from scratch?
The actors are quite good too. Vic Mignogna as Kirk has the steely gaze down, and is way more built than Shatner ever was (hello, gratuitous shirtless scene!) Todd Haberkorn is kinda bland as Spock, and Larry Nemececk is quite good as a somewhat-less-curmudgeonly McCoy. Chris Doohan (son of James Doohan) was excellent as Scotty, and I found myself thinking it made perfect sense to have an actor with a natural Scottish accent—until I remembered Doohan wasn’t Scottish. Huh.
The biggest surprise was Grant Imahara as Sulu. I didn’t even know it was him. Sure, Sulu kind of looked like Imahara… and he sounded like Imahara doing Sulu… but it wasn’t until the closing credits that I saw it was actually him! Wow.
The plot was an interesting revisit of “Who Mourns For Adonais?”, with the Enterprise stumbling upon a crippled and dying Apollo (played by the same actor, even) who claims to no longer desire worship, and merely wants to live out his remaining days with mortals, in peace. Kirk sympathises but doesn’t really trust him, Spock is neutral, Bones is more sympathetic, and Scotty flat out doesn’t trust Apollo at all. At first I thought he was just being contrary to drive the plot, but he’s got good reasons: I’d forgotten that in Mourns, Apollo made the moves on Scotty’s girlfriend, and also attacked him with his divine lightning. But more than that, it’s revealed that said girlfriend, Lt. Palomas, was still infatuated by Apollo, and so distraught by the experience that she transfered away from the Enterprise, which later led to her death. So Scotty blames him for that too.
It makes for some good continuity, but also sadly continues the TOS tradition of women going gaga over charismatic alpha males, whether physical gods or genetically enhanced supermen. And I got to thinking: do we need a continuation of the original series? Okay, maybe that’s the wrong question: it’s art, of course we don’t need it. And granted, NCC-1701 is the ship that started it all, and the series does have a special charm all its own. But I’m torn about seeing it recreated so faithfully, with all its flaws intact. The slightly improved special effects and different actors highlight to me how problematic some of the tropes TOS ran on were, and how maybe they shouldn’t be given new life in the 21st century. The franchise has moved on. The world has moved on.
Overanalysing? Maybe. And to be honest, it didn’t keep me from enjoying this episode, or looking forward to any future episodes. Because seriously: getting Michael Forrest to reprise his role? Jamie Bamber as a redshirt? Marina Sirtis as the computer’s voice? You gotta respect that.