We threw the switch. "The Holiest Thing" is now available on YouTube. Feedback and comments are welcome. [yt] [/yt]
Oh great. Congratulations. I will watch it tomorrow.It's very later here. I have enjoyed your recent productions rather much. Maybe I take a peek but I fear I must postpone my complaints and nitpicks till tomorrow. Life can be so wonderful. I'm watcher 932 btw.
By the way, when we want to insert a video on these pages, it's no longer necessary to bookend the link with [yt] and [/yt].
As I said in the other thread, I enjoyed it a lot. There were some sound and color issues, but the story was good. (I worry less about overall continuity than internal consistency.)
This is finally released! I can definitely see why it was delayed, as there are some scenes with some audio issues, but did not detract from my enjoyment. I enjoyed old Scotty, but he seemed to be missing the enthusiasm that Doohan brought to the character, however with the episode being a Kirk / Marcus story it did not seem to really fit. I do like the ending with the old scotty, was a good touch if out of place. I would have suggested adding a C story focusing on Scott tying into the overall story, making this a movie length episode. Regarding Kirk and Marcus, this is the origin love story I have always wished for! I think this is my favorite P2 / New voyages episode. My god the CGI was full of win loved the P2 Enterprise!
Enjoyed it very much. Yeah, there's some continuity issues (David's age for one) but so what? I continue to enjoy Brandon Stacy as Spock, also.
Overall, I did enjoy it. A couple of nitpicks: 1) Sorry but "TNG Scotty" and the whole bookending the actual story you we're telling with that - Why? Added nothing to the story in any way; and seemed pointless. I'm not a big TNG fan so I found it a bit annoying myself. 2) I don't think you know who was THAT young in the feature film this episode touchstones. These are the two things that really stood out as WTF?! for me. Other than that performances and everything else came across as something we might see in a 4th season TOS episode - nice job.
Very good job. It has it's rough areas, but that's OK. The only thing I would change is revealing the aliens.
Enjoyed the episode, but the dialog audio was wierd in places. What kind of shotgun mic were you using? It sounded like it was picking up too much room ambience and being gated---a lot.. I'm an audio guy so I am merely curious.
These Are a Few of The Holiest Things … You say PHASE II. They say NEW VOYAGES. Let’s call the whole thing off. Antics aside, the longest running TOS fan production has finally released its 10th episode — “The Holiest Thing.” An episode that seemed forever in the making, hampered by delays and outside forces that even the Enterprise couldn’t fend off. The episode, however, may not have been worth the wait. What Was It Even About I watched the episode twice. I couldn’t tell you what the episode is actually about. It's about an hour and seven minutes is all I could come up with. Now things happened — there is a romance, a mystery and some connect the canon. But nothing of consequence happens. There is no theme, no real story. Nothing interesting is revealed about the characters. The problem lies in that the episode can’t decide what to focus on, so it devolves into a procedural. I ached for a moment when I cared why Kirk cared so much for Carol (more on that in a bit). Is the episode about the consequences of taking scientific shortcuts? Could’ve been, but the person who took the shortcut died in the opening explosion. Is it about Kirk longing for the life he passed up for his career? Could’ve been, with Carol being the woman who could give it to him. Is it about dealing with the loss that comes with command? Could’ve been, but we didn’t get to see enough of Carol with her team to care about her grief. Boiled down, the episode is a series of events that didn’t feel like they fit well together. A Scripted Romance The underlying problem is that the story’s foundation is weak. This is the story of how Kirk and Carol wined, dined and fell madly in love. But it doesn’t feel authentic. It feels forced. Instead of building a believable affair, we get them together because it’s canon. Not for one minute do I feel that these two are attracted to each other. Kirk is smitten so quickly, far more quickly than any romance in the original series. And they haven’t spent enough time with each other, or had a meaningful encounter to get us there. Sure there’s the moment in Carol’s quarters. But that scene is so wrought with on-the-nose dialogue that it’s banal. There’s no spark. After Kirk rescues Carol, he says they have to figure out what’s wrong with the transporter because “we don’t want to lose you again.” Kirk’s affections and connections are all a melodramatic dime turn. How much time is actually passing here? Days maybe? The last moment between them felt unearned, once again we have to connect the dots to THE WRATH OF KHAN. I can’t buy it. With Edith, weeks passed on 1930s Earth. With Miramaniee, nearly two months go by. But days later and Kirk is ready to give up his command for Carol. I could buy it if the story set up an arc with Kirk where he’s found himself at a crossroads. Where the loneliness has finally tipped. Or if Carol had been an old flame who Kirk now encounters again, and sees a second chance. Kirk says to Bones that Carol is unique. We’re told that, but we’re not shown how she’s any different than the blonde technician Gary Mitchell aimed at him. Or Dr. Janet Wallace. Or Ruth. Or … pick a blonde. (Thankfully, they didn’t make Carol the blonde lab technician.) The romance, in the end, feels like it’s just hitting the marks and cues because the script needs it to. Not because the story gets us there. A Few of My Least Favorite Things This is Brian Gross’ first outing where see him in command of the Enterprise. We didn’t get to see much of that in “Mind Shifter,” the first full episode released to feature him. Sadly, Gross looks the part but he doesn’t have any presence as Kirk. He doesn’t own any of the scenes he’s in. He slouches in the command chair. His body language far from commanding. It’s all tentative, like he’s afraid to be in charge. I’m hopeful that Gross will grow into the part and really make it his own. I will say that I appreciate that he doesn’t try to imitate Shatner in his performance. The whole episode lacks a sense of urgency. Everyone moves lackadaisically through the scenes. It’s a combination of the performances, the way its shot and the script’s lack of drama. Of course, my most least least favorite thing has really big ears. A Few of My Favorite Things There are a few things that I did enjoy in this episode. The new model of the Enterprise is impressive. While not exactly the abandoned 1970s Phase II design, it’s quite close. And it makes me wish that we got that lost show. It's great to see John Kelly again as Dr. McCoy. I’ve always enjoyed his performance. He brings to McCoy a different sardonic style. And I like that John Kelly has a twinkle in his eye whenever he chides Kirk or Spock. The music is spot on — felt like something from the never-realized fourth season. I know that a lot of these cues come from the original series, but they were snipped together quite well. In the End ... There was some potential here. However, it never materialized on the transporter pad.
I thoroughly enjoyed this. This is the only Phase 2 episode where I thought the story was on par with the TV show. The acting was great, the FX were fantastic, especially the phase 2 Enterprise. I never noticed any sound issues as per above, I did notice the lighting issues. But the story was good enough to ignore this and keep me engrossed. Seems a waste of a good Montgomery Scott based story with him reminiscing, the actor who played him as older Scotty looked and acted rather well. I had to look closely to see if you had used a clip from Relics at first. Very well done guys, thanks for a great episode One nitpick. The Ferengi. It was nice to see them and the makeup was awesome. But they weren't around in this time, at least in name. When they appeared in Enterprise (and broke canon) they never identified themselves. In Encounter at Farpoint no one has seen what they look like. So I don't understand why they were introduced in this episode. The Ferengi ship didn't look Ferengi but it was a great design.
Finally! I enjoyed it. It grabbed my attention. Looked good (sound was another story at one point), it's always a pleasure to see John Kelly as McCoy. As far a Brian Gross' performance, he does lack a certain commanding presence. However, he does portray Kirk as an evolution of what we've seen on the tv series. These characters are going to grow between this time and Wrath of Khan, and I credit Phase Two/New Voyages for sowing the seeds of change in their stories. Kirk is no longer locked in as a character as he was in the original series. As far as the love story, without spoiling anything, it was hard to believe Kirk's feelings going from "A" to "B" so quickly. It still seemed impulsive on Kirk's part. Jacy King delivered a fine performance as Carol Marcus, someone who would be able to hold their own with the likes of Kirk. Good stuff
Not sure what happened, but the video in the OP doesn't work for me. I had to search for this on YouTube itself. I am sorry to say that I didn't like this episode. While I'm impressed with how very much like James Doohan the elderly actor is in the opening and ending scenes, I'm not impressed with the rest of the story. I second the above objections to using the Ferengi. They're TNG aliens, and their appearance here is anachronistic (and the joke about their "funny ears" is out of character for Spock). Costume/makeup nitpick: Those fake eyelashes looked like they were going to crawl right off Carol's face. They're very distracting. Nice pin on her tunic, though. The biggest obstacle to enjoying this, though, is that the romance storyline is so forced and out of character. It's maybe 5 days total that Kirk and Carol know each other, but in that brief time they meet, have sex, fall in love (him at least), he proposes marriage (and offers to leave Starfleet), and then she casually informs him that she's pregnant and it's a boy??? Wow. What's that phrase... "speed of plot"?
Well, the first 15 minutes are the best fan film I've seen in 2016, and that's a fact! Will watch the rest tomorrow; didn't realize it was already 4:30 AM. I'm really sad to see that Pony Horton was killed off, though. He was my favorite character!
A couple of reviewers commented on how so unlike Kirk to fall in love so quickly, however they are forgetting Rayna from "Requieum .. ". Yes, I wish I could forget that episode, too.
All Kirk and Rayna shared was some dancing, a few kisses, and conversation. They didn't go all the way to sex, marriage proposal, and "no, I won't marry you, btw, I'm pregnant, stay out of our lives."
Kirk fell for Rayna and was trying to take her from Flint. He was absolutely out of his mind and out of character. Who knows what would have happened if Rayna survived? Maybe Kirk would have come to his senses or maybe not. Anyway I agree that the 3 day romance, marriage proposal, I'm preggers and it's a boy is a stretch.