Second Star Trek Continues vignette online

I have written a brief story about the new vignette that you can read by clicking here.

 

Well done Mike. I checked out your other stories. Nice to see someone putting out the effort.

Alec

 

Thank you Alec. I'm looking forward to doing a similar story on Axanar in the near future!

 

Nick - Randy, that's pretty much how I have approached it all these years. Clearly it was written in 20th Century, reflecting the reality of the day. But, given Star Trek's reality it should have been a non-issue. Nothing more than the rantings of an insane human being that was clearly directing all their anger and personal failings at Kirk. I too prefer to believe that there are many females serving in command and flag positions within Star Fleet. Simply not worth mentioning the obvious. It a different time and place. Well, thanks guys. Just couldn't remember off the top off the head. My Trek knowledge base has been atrophying of late.

 

We certainly see Captain Shoop (as I call her) in Star Trek IV.

 

The lamentable lack of any discussion about "You've Got The Conn"'s obvious similarities to (I'd even say they basically aped it) Starship Exeter's short from a few years ago, affectionately referred to as "Grimmer!", is unfortunate. I'd have loved to have heard the response from the Star Trek Continues gang about that.

 

^^^You mean "The Night Shift".

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQQjfXHRzew[/yt]

 

Ah yes. Thanks for the correction.

 

I always welcome comments to my articles, so you're waiting for ...what exactly?

 

I liked the Exeter short better mostly because it maintained the tone all the way through and was pretty damned funny. The Continues version wasn't as successful. However, it was extremely well shot. Kim Stinger is hot as hell, which also makes up for a lot. Sulu is ridiculous. The voice is good, but he bounces around like he has Parkinson's. Chekov is fine.

The only thing I didn't like was how it went from light humor to extra buttery corn on a dime. Vic made me laugh his with little double takes, but then he just launched into his "feel good" speech, the kind that I am honestly a little tired of (I hope the full length episiodes aren't filled with these things). I would have enjoyed it if Kirk did some Sulu imitations instead.

The downside to do this with the main characters is that it makes them look like a bunch of kids goofing off until daddy shows up. Good for shits and grins, but not something you'd expect from "the finisest crew in the fleet." In the rec room maybe, but not on the bridge. At least Exeter used character we never saw because of the shift difference. They showed why they are stuck on the graveyard shift.

Of course, I'm taking it way too seriously. It's all in good fun. The production value in this was amazing.

 

Come on, I could write the response from STC about this.

Let's just laugh about it and let it go.

The thing about the Exeter short was not it was not really shot with the intent to show it - or even, really, to assemble it.

The director and crew had a day's worth of set-up and testing of lighting, sound and camera stuff to do before production on the episode began, and Scott thought it would be more interesting for everyone if they actually had a skit, something with some structure to work with rather than random pages or the actors sitting around the set making stuff up. So I wrote this.

You can see that the set is far from complete; it wasn't a concern at the time because this was just a test exercise.

Much later, after the show had wrapped, I was asked to do a couple of establishing shots of the ship because they'd decided to put the short together. They're just the standard TOS/Exeter flybys with a silly-looking pink planet dropped in.

 

It's good to know all that, I just meant by "comment" something more along the lines of acknowledgement. The two items are more than a little similar, but you're right - there's not really any way to copyright something like this. I just thought it was interesting that they chose to do something so like what you guys had done.

 

And still, with all of that...the Exeter piece is awesome.

 

Personally, I like the idea of shooting some vignettes before getting into the heavy lifting of making a full show. If nothing else, maybe it will help Grant Imahara learn how to underplay for the cameras! Kidding, but not really...I called the two vignettes shakedown cruises and I think that's valid. Everyone gets a chance to do a "live fire" type of exercise, even though the stakes aren't very high. I'm sure everyone involved in both the sequences is doing some serious film study.

Also I think the Exeter and STC vignettes illustrate the difference in tone between the two projects. Kirk has always been the dashing, charismatic, hero type, while Garrovick is grimly competent with moments of brilliance. The atmosphere on the respective bridges reflects that and I certainly don't have any problem with it. If every show is going to have the same kind of atmosphere and crew interaction, why bother? It will be interesting to see how Phase II and STC differ in that regard, but I don't plan to take a preconceived notion into the viewing experience about which is right and which is wrong.

 

I love the flexibility filming vignettes gives us. We can do a clever exercise like "Delivery," or a comic look at two characters in "The Engineer's New Clothes." We did a test scene on the bridge set in "The Old Guys," and a test of the turbolift set and second camera in "Care for a Lift?" Or we can tell a tale of first contact in "Miscommunication."

To me, the vignettes are much more enjoyable, and easier in terms of getting the cast and crew together. Setting aside all last summer for the 90-min "The Night the Stars Fell from the Sky" was frankly exhausting in many ways, and is tying up resources (e.g. the vfx guys, the editor, etc.) as we work to get it ready.