Star Trek Continues, Episode 4 - "The White Iris"

It was the best Riker episode of Star Trek:The Next Generation I've seen since it went off the air.

To sum up:

Riker is dying from a literal broken heart over suddenly remembering the loss of key women in his life.
After dealing with this as best as he can, he finally seeks out the advice of Councilor Troy who advises him on a course of action.
He then goes to the one place he can always find answers: The Holodeck to recreate the surroundings he last encountered each woman in.
Feeling better, he runs to the bridge to assist in an emergency only to run into...the Malcorian child that he unknowingly fathered with Lanel.

Touching, but and hear this and recognize the truth: A STORY COMPLEATLY OUT OF CHARICTER FOR JAMES T. KIRK.

But a story totally suited for Riker.

 

Kim needs to sing more and entertain the crew (and us).. loved the Charlie-X nod in Pilgrim. Hopefully she'll be a part of the landing parties and given some stuff to do.

 

At the memorial service for (the presumed dead) James Kirk in "Mind-Sifter," we had Uhura sing "Amazing Grace"--a callback not only to Scotty's bagpipes in Star Trek II, but to our own "Come What May" episode from ten years earlier. As you might guess, lots of tears flowing with the cast and crew on set.

 

I've enjoyed the presence of McKennah in the show. I think she complements the trinity of Kirk, Spock & McCoy's personalities with a more empathetic view on issues the crew faces. As long as they don't try to make her the captain's girlfriend, I think they're doing her character right so far.

As far as the episode itself, I did enjoy it, but I saw its deficiencies as others have reported in this thread. I'd give it a 3/5 rating.

 

It was interesting to see McKennah in off-duty wear. The only other time we saw that with the crew was with Uhura in "The Tholian Web" and, of course. later with the TNG crew.

Makes me wonder what Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty and the rest might wear off-duty during the TOS era.

 

We saw Kirk and a few gymnastics tumblers in leotards/judogi in "Charlie X," and we saw a couple of people off duty in "fatigues" in "The Cage" and "Where No Man Has Gone Before." And in addition to Uhura getting out of her uniform and into civvies, we saw a sunbathing woman in an out-take from "Elaan of Troyius."

(The Star Trek Writer's Guide actually that crew generally be in uniforms--to save on the cost of special costumes.

 

I like Dr. McKenna, a lot. At first I wasn't so sure about her character and how it would fit in the TOS era, but I warmed to her quickly once I saw how capable she was. She does a terrific job convincing me that counselors make sense on the original Enterprise.

Plus, come on, Michele Specht is just so sweet!

 

Star Trek Continues: White Iris

I just saw STC's newest episode and I thought it was very well done. It raises an interesting question: Do you think it is possible to die of a broken heart?

Now I understand some of you also think that STC comments and questions should go in the "fan dome" section. Well I disagree and I would like to take the time to explain why. I have watched many different types of fan Star Trek fiction over the years and when it comes down to it they all share a common factor. I call it "the cheese factor." Now I know what you are thinking and it isn't solely due to bad or cheep special effects. My philosophy of that is special effects can't hurt a good story but they can enhance it. And great special effects can't make a bad story good. I think this is why in the video game industry older games are still popular and flash in the pan games are forgotten not much longer after they release.

My point is this: in every fan fiction created in the TOS universe the problem is the actors. Either they get it completely wrong, or they have a person playing Captain Kirk who does all of the incredibly exaggerated Shatner pauses. (Think of Kevin McDonald's Captain Kirk in National Lampoons Senior Trip [youtube it if you haven't seen it.)

The fact is JJ Abrams Trek is not all that good, but what vic mignogna is doing with STC is very well made. If some of you are poo pooing it because of all the bad fan fiction you should give it a real chance. I think you'll be surprised as I was in how good it was.

I am more interested in hearing what you think about this.

 

Something bigger may be going on with CBS/Paramount. There's a very active Facebook page called "Our Star Trek Page (the 2009 Movie Was Blasphemy)"... it's been taken down.

 

I would not read to much into it. Things that are Star Trek (and even other franchises) related on Facebook and Youtube sometimes get taken down and it has nothing to do with CBS legal telling them to do it. Our very first Star Trek Renegades page was removed from Facebook in late 2012, CBS said they had nothing to do with it and we never got a straight answer from Facebook. Youtube taking down videos is very sporadic, they will leave some, and remove others. A lot of it has to do with some of the software they use.

Now, if CBS started to send out a bunch of C&D's then I would worry, but don't worry to much about Youtube and Facebook.

 

I have no problem with a TOS Counselor - I can see how it would be a good thing to have somebody to talk things over with and get the head back into alignment after some to the shit they had to deal with over the different missions. Dr. McKenna was an interesting character, I just hope she is not over used.

Thus far my only issue with the show was the simple bonk on the head causing the medical crises- I would have much preferred some strange alien weapon considering the context of the injury and it would also lend some credibility to McCoy's difficulty in treatment.

I still consider STC to be the most faithful of the productions, really looking forward to the next episode!

 

I like the Dr. McKenna character a lot and I think he's blended into the TOS world very well.

 

One answer to my question on the "STC Official Group" FB page said the problem was that a screenshot from TOS was used near the end of the episode. Thoughts? BTW I'm harping on this cause I really believe new STC should be experienced by as many as possible.

 

I was thinking/wondering if using the backdrop from The Paradise Syndrome might be it.

 

Miramanee's lodge? Thought that might be it.

 

That might be possible because it would have been challenging to recreate that set on a limited budget. If this is what happened then it's a lesson to be learned for the future should any production decide to revisit a previous character or place.

Fan productions are walking a fine line and one they must always be careful not to step over. As fans we benefit from new stories in a favourite universe. CBS benefits from additional promotion of the product that doesn't cost them a dime. Everyone is happy until a handful of missteps could shut the whole thing down.

 

I'm going to have to disagree with a few on these boards that late late 60's/early 70's TV would never have allowed for a character like McKenna on the show, or that the show would have ever done an episode with this subject matter... I say bull to both.

1) Contrary to the myth that Roddenberry liked to spin about TV execs, TV was changing, as were the attitudes, and roles for women and minorites at the time of Trek's cancellation.

AT the time The Mod Squad was extreemly popular with it's African-American lead, and a costarring role of the character Julie Barnes, an undercover cop. Another Desilu production, Mission Impossible, had Cinnamon Carter. Heck only a couple of years after Trek's cancellation Angie Dickenson had her own spin off series in Police Woman, based off a 1973 episode of the anthology series, Police Story. In 1970 the Mary Tyler Moore Show became one of the most popular series on TV, with Moore playing a professional.

It's easy to make the leap that Trek could have introduced a more active female costar on the cast; after all, by it's third season, Trek was no longer as progressive as other shows on the air. There was one female costar, and by the third season she was reduced to little more than saying, "Hailing frequencies open, Captain."

Certainly, you would not want to interrupt the Trifecta, and that's where I think Star Trek Continues has done a fantastic job. McKenna is a co-starring role, and not one of the primaries. In fact her role reminds me a bit of Yeomen Rand in the early run of Season 1. She's featured here and there, but is definitely a supporting character. Plus she does bring something different to the table than Spock and McCoy, namely a more clinical look at specific issues. I think it's a very interesting take on the role of ship's counselor, and certainly more thoughtful than TNG's approach to the roll with Tori frequently reduced to "I sense," or "...they feel."

2) Which of course goes to the heart of introducing a ship's councellor. Well, the position was first mentioned in the Star Trek Phase II series bible, so there's certainly some precedence for introducing such a character. It was clearly something Roddenberry could have explored had he remained on the show. In reality with most of the original writing/creative staff gone, it's doubtful anything like that would have happened if NBC had ordered a 4th season. But in STC's defense I think they are imagining a Star Trek Season 4 closer to that of the 1st and 2nd seasons.

3) Finally, the argument that the original series characters did not engage in a lot of psychoanalysis, or that the story was "out of character" for Kirk. Disagree on all counts. Trek, especially the first season, almost revelled in deconstructing our leads and examining what makes them tick. The Naked Time is an obvious example, but even an episode like The Enemy Within really lays Kirk's character bare... heck he even shows doubt, and indicision in front of the crew as he tries to reconcile his good nature with evil Kirk. Other episodes like This Side of Paradise examine a more human Spock by means of the spores, and even McCoy is given the treatment in Man Trap.

However, the episode where Kirk is really forced to examine himself, and his decision is Conscience of the King. Here we see a Kirk torn in two by his desire for some modicum of revenge against Kodos the Executioner, with his doubts about the identity of the man, and his moral compass (vocied by McCoy) which is telling him that revenge is not the way. In fact in this episode Kirk does quite a bit of vacillating, and frankly errs of the side of caution so much that he appears to ignore evidence that's clear as day (much to the astonishment of Spock). The moral dilemma and the wonderful debate between his logical side (Spock) and his emotional side (McCoy) is one of the reasons it's a favorite of mine.

So yes, Trek frequently engaged in hero deconstruction like many other shows of the era. Gunsmoke in particular would often examine a moral dilemma and the consequences of Matt Dillon's actions... and frequently Miss Kitty was there to be his counselor. So I have zero problem with this approach when it comes to Kirk's treatment in White Iris. It's an engaging examination of Kirk and how he deals, or in this case does not deal, with the death of loved ones he's in some way responsible for.

This show continues to amaze me with each subsequent release, and White iris is no exception. The attention to detail is simply stunning from the sets and costumes, to Doug Drexler's intentional special effects gaffes meant to mimic some of the problems that came from certain effects houses the original Trek production ran into.

But more importantly I think the story and writing is spot on. Sure, it's convenient that Kirk is the only one who knows the code to the energy shield, but that was not an uncommon plot device in adventure television of the era. Now would Trek have done what amounts to a partial flashback episode in Season 4 or 5? Maybe, it was not an uncommon practice back in the day to save a few bucks, but it probably would have been achieved using existing footage from the series with inserts of Kirk rather than news scenes with the original actresses, but it's fun to speculate.

However, like others I do hope the next couple of adventures are original like Lolani. It's fun to go back from time to time and follow up on a loose story thread here or there, but the STC crew has shown they are more than ccapable of producing their own content.

....and I'll be eagerly awaiting it.

Yancy

 

Re: Star Trek Continues: White Iris

Ok so people seem to be a little obtuse about this so my topic got moved. Not that I am trying to rock the boat here but do we really need to lump into STC with all of the bad ones out there? Read above to see what I am referring to....your thoughts???

 

Yeah it's a double post... sorry.

If the production did essentially use a still as a background plate for a shot, isn't that kind of picking nits on the part of CBS/Paramount? After all, higher end productions like Star Trek Continues, and New Voyages are using the visual likenesses of intellectual property like the Enterprise, its sets, and various aliens, as well as using characters from the show. I'm not sure how using that one segment doesn't fall into that.

If this is in fact the case then I'm sure the production will just use the exiting green screen footage taken for the scene and have Doug Drexler whip up a computer rendition of the lodge, and still achieve the same effect.... So I'm not sure what the point of that is.