Star Trek Continues Ep. 5: "Divided We Stand"...(spoilers)

[USS Intrepid]

At the same time, I would say "The White Iris" is better than "Enemy Starfleet," and it's not even the best STC episode.

I strongly, strongly, strongly disagree with this statement. I think E:S is a hugely fun episode, and TWI... less so. :/ I would probably pick "World Enough and Time" as still the best ST:NV / P2 episode.

But I agree, there's absolutely no reason to put these two shows in competition. They both have various strengths and weaknesses. The only reason people feel compelled to compare them is that they both have a high level of fan-awareness, and they both have very polished production values.

Likewise. I much preferred Enemy: Starfleet to The White Iris. But then taste is entirely subjective. My preferences are my own.

 

[Christopher Miles]

At the same time, I would say "The White Iris" is better than "Enemy Starfleet," and it's not even the best STC episode.

I strongly, strongly, strongly disagree with this statement. I think E:S is a hugely fun episode, and TWI... less so. :/ I would probably pick "World Enough and Time" as still the best ST:NV / P2 episode.

But I agree, there's absolutely no reason to put these two shows in competition. They both have various strengths and weaknesses. The only reason people feel compelled to compare them is that they both have a high level of fan-awareness, and they both have very polished production values.

Likewise. I much preferred Enemy: Starfleet to The White Iris. But then taste is entirely subjective. My preferences are my own.

Agree on World Enough and Time. Best outing for NewVoyages. (I've completely stopped referring to it as Phase II as James Cawley seems to have stopped as well)

Best outing for Continues for me?

Spoiler: Fairest of Them All

- Especially the shuttle bay scene. Spock as Fletcher Christian!

Which is better?

I mentioned upthread that there's no need to create an ersatz Civil War between the Northern based New Voyages, and the (mostly) Southern Star Trek Continues- and I'm sticking to that.

Oh, and New Voyages had the best Chekov in Andy Bray, and Continues has the best Scotty this side of, well Scotty.

Incredible props to Continues' Todd Haberkorn- he may not look like Nimoy, but he "has" Spock. His mannerisms and presence as well as the precision and lack of contractions when speaking... just amazing.

 

[Zaminhon]

For me it's a no brainer that Vic Mignogna is the closest Kirk since Shatner's portrayal. He has the physical resemblance and the gravity needed to command every scene he's in (even with a slightly higher vocal pitch than Shatner's). James Cawley does a great job in that respect, but having a physical resemblance sells it even more - the same way Chris Doohan sells Scotty. I don't have a feel for Brian Gross yet, so I'll hold judgement until I see more.

 

[USS Intrepid]

I mentioned upthread that there's no need to create an ersatz Civil War between the Northern based New Voyages, and the (mostly) Southern Star Trek Continues- and I'm sticking to that.

Oh I quite agree, I find all the "mine is better than yours" stuff rather pointless. We can debate the various pros and cons (and all productions have them to various degrees) but what matters is really what you like and enjoy. And much of that is subjective.

 

[DCR]

Okay, sorry if I picked an episode lots of other people enjoyed more than I did.

I do have to say that I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who ranks fan film episodes on more than just who makes them. I enjoy both STC and PII/NV, and I'd be thrilled if a group decided to do a third continuation of TOS come out of Starbase Studios.

The more the merrier.

 

[FormerLurker]

For me it's a no brainer that Vic Mignogna is the closest Kirk since Shatner's portrayal. He has the physical resemblance and the gravity needed to command every scene he's in (even with a slightly higher vocal pitch than Shatner's). James Cawley does a great job in that respect, but having a physical resemblance sells it even more - the same way Chris Doohan sells Scotty. I don't have a feel for Brian Gross yet, so I'll hold judgement until I see more.

For me Cawley's performance was always a little off. He had all the right tics, but seemed to do them in the wrong order, or following the wrong stimulus. Cawley's Kirk seemed more a Shatner impression, while Mignogna is doing an impression of Kirk. NV's new Kirk, to date, seems to be following Chris Pine's example of just making the role his own, while throwing in the occasional tic for the fans.

 

[Nerys Myk]

For me it's a no brainer that Vic Mignogna is the closest Kirk since Shatner's portrayal. He has the physical resemblance and the gravity needed to command every scene he's in (even with a slightly higher vocal pitch than Shatner's).

For me, Vic would be better as Admiral Nelson in a Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea fan film.

 

[DarthPipes]

I saw it today and I very much enjoyed it. Loved the Civil War setting and the production values were top-notch.

 

[Pingfah]

I thought this was fantastic. Congratulations to all involved. The scale of this episode was especially impressive.

I used this show to trick my friend into thinking Star Trek is playing in the background. She is a professional actress and she was agog when I pointed out it wasn't really Star Trek, as it is much better quality than any of the DTV movies she appears in.

 

[Kevin James]

[FONT=Times New Roman]I find that in most TOS episodes, there’s a moral message. The message in “Divided” didn’t seem too preachy like many here have said. I thought it was a very good episode and I could look past the few… very few flaws that it had. If this were done by Phase 2, people would be saying that it was their best episode ever!!! STC is so consistently good, we seem to pick on the smallest things. This episode, to me, was a nice adventure and it gave me food for thought… as it seems to have done for so many of you. I have nothing but high praise for these guys, as they are the only one’s who are bringing us real Star Trek. The acting just gets better and better with every outing and the production values are unsurpassed in the fan film genre. After watching Renegades, it really made me appreciate STC even more. I find it hard to even call STC’s episodes “fan films”. They have raised the bar so high, that I don’t think anyone will come close to this kind of quality film making.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman] [/FONT]

 

[DCR]

I thought this was fantastic. Congratulations to all involved. The scale of this episode was especially impressive.

I used this show to trick my friend into thinking Star Trek is playing in the background. She is a professional actress and she was agog when I pointed out it wasn't really Star Trek, as it is much better quality than any of the DTV movies she appears in.

That's one thing you have to get them credit for. STC does by far the best job of recreating the appearance of TOS on screen and I don't think anyone is ever going to get that close.

I find that in most TOS episodes, there’s a moral message. The message in “Divided” didn’t seem too preachy like many here have said. I thought it was a very good episode and I could look past the few… very few flaws that it had. If this were done by Phase 2, people would be saying that it was their best episode ever!!! STC is so consistently good, we seem to pick on the smallest things. This episode, to me, was a nice adventure and it gave me food for thought… as it seems to have done for so many of you. I have nothing but high praise for these guys, as they are the only one’s who are bringing us real Star Trek. The acting just gets better and better with every outing and the production values are unsurpassed in the fan film genre. After watching Renegades, it really made me appreciate STC even more. I find it hard to even call STC’s episodes “fan films”. They have raised the bar so high, that I don’t think anyone will come close to this kind of quality film making.

I'll definitely grant you the unsurpassed production values, at least for ST fan films, though I think they're going to be more likely to spur others on than remain an unattainable goal. If Axanar achieves itsr goal, I think they will at least give STC a run for its money and possibly surpass it.

As for the idea that if this had been done by PII it would be hailed as their best ever, I have to call shenanigans. The flaws of an episode don't change based on who produced it, and this one simply is not as good as the best of PII. The visuals and lighting are closer to TOS than PII, but that's not enough to call it better than everything PII has filmed.

 

[Bixby]

I'll limit my comments on this episode, but I wanted to begin by saying that Vic Mignona as director surprised me this time around, in a good way. His 3 previous outings as director, Kitumba, Pilgrim of Eternity and the Price of Anything showed he had some skill with actors and set-ups, but in the nuts-and-bolts of directing he could get pretty sloppy. Farragut's PoA showed he was getting better, but here I thought Mignona was certainly learning from past experiences to produce some solid work.

Matt Bucy as DP is the MAN, point final.

Martin Bradford was a total professional, but I just couldn't buy him completely as M'Benga. I'm not sure exactly why that is, I just felt like he was playing M'Benga...younger than he should be?

As for the story itself...By no means bad, but they lost me as soon as the teaser ended. They never advertised it as such, but when STC promised this episode would be their first non-bottle show, I hoped against hope it would at least occur on an alien planet, something on par with what P2 did for Enemy:Starfleet, or Exeter with Corinth 4 and TTI.

But it was again a story where Kirk goes to one of Earth's past times (once again centered on the USA) for a story plot, an idea about as overused as Kirk versus the computer god.

The rest of the story went ok, but just never managed to grab me...Kirk and McCoy in the Civil War period, apart from Kirk losing his leg it always felt like they were just passing through, there was never the stink of desperation they would never return home like there was in Mirror, Mirror or All our Yesterdays.

Back on the ship, again I couldn't get into the nanotech ''enemy'', nor feel like the ship and crew were ever really threatened. Once again STC offers up a thinly-developped mysterious plot device served up to stir the drama (same as in Pilgrim and Kirk's head trauma in White Iris), but apart from messing up the ship's systems and knocking out two people accidently, this was hardly in the same class as Nomad or the Cloud Creature...

At the end of the day, I found this episode kinda pointless.

I'm just surprised with STC's link to Farragut productions that they haven't thought to get in contact with Dennis Bailey, who did write what many consider one of the best TOS-like stories produced in the last few decades...

 

[DCR]

Martin Bradford was a total professional, but I just couldn't buy him completely as M'Benga. I'm not sure exactly why that is, I just felt like he was playing M'Benga...younger than he should be?

That was how I felt, it was like M'Benga junior or something. He seemed almost diffident where I was expecting more confidence and presence.

 

[BoredShipCapt'n]

Only thing that really bothered me about M'Benga was when he pronounced "unprecedented" as "unpresidented." It seems that a man with a medical education would speak more precisely. (Or was that just subtle foreshadowing?)

In other news, James Kerwin mentioned today that Greg Dykstra (Pixar character designer and Dr. Heath in Divided We Stand) is the writer for Episode 6. Not sure that's been announced previously.

 

[Zaminhon]

Hmm, no writing credits on IMDb, but of course that doesn't mean he can't write. I'm kind of curious what he'll come up with. I just hope Kirk gets back to single punch knockouts and romancing alien supermodels in the next outing.

 

[HarryM]

Only thing that really bothered me about M'Benga was when he pronounced "unprecedented" as "unpresidented." It seems that a man with a medical education would speak more precisely. (Or was that just subtle foreshadowing?)

In other news, James Kerwin mentioned today that Greg Dykstra (Pixar character designer and Dr. Heath in Divided We Stand) is the writer for Episode 6. Not sure that's been announced previously.

I think with M'Benga is that Booker Bradshaw had a very unique vocal delivery. Not quite an accent but something unusual. So the absence of it is noticeable, and BB brought alot of gravitas to the role. He was only in his late 20s at the time but seemed much older (to me anyways).

 

[Warped9]

When many of us started watching TOS we were quite young (I was 11) so many of those actors could have seemed "older" to us even though they might actually have been relatively young. That perception could stick.

 

[Treadwell]

Indeed, until a re-watch, I could've sworn TOS M'Benga was at least in his 40s.

 

[JE Smith]

I just hope Kirk gets back to single punch knockouts and romancing alien supermodels in the next outing.

Hear, hear!

 

[spocksbrain]

Did anyone else get a Borg vibe from the nanoprobes? Nanoprobes that hijack technology for the purpose of assimilating information and they don't care if they kill living beings ... it certainly sounds like an early version of the Borg to me.