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"The Holiest Thing" Released

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.

This is where the episode lost all sense of originality/ In using the very thing--protomatter--that would be a central disaster plot from The Search for Spock, the episode samples too heavily on that film to create some sort of continuity that was necessary in order to tell this story. Moreover, if Carol was not responsible for using protomatter, how did she--being on the Genesis team--miss David using it? You see, in creating a retcon with too many forced references / connections to the movies, it actually makes TWOK Carol seem stupid if:

  1. she was--yet again--unaware of a team member using the same matter for a terrafoming experiment, or..
  2. corrupt, if we assume she knew what David was doing, but completely forgot about the death/destruction it caused for her years earlier.
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.

Agreed. Its forced because the story needs it to happen. You get more emotional weight from Kirk & Mitchell's brief memory of the "lab technician" than an hour+ with this episode's Carol and Kirk.

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.

Well observed. He's already telegraphing feelings he cannot possibly even entertain at that point in the story. If she was just another sexual interest--a short, intense attraction (and her name was not Carol), one could buy some of his warp speed interest, but we are supposed to believe this is THE romance unfolding in some natural, unavoidable manner.

You cannot rush or sell a backstory attempting to use the strength of the movies to justify its rushed, implausible romance. That was the same problem with the Star Wars prequels, in the rationality/plot-starved romance of Anakin and Padme; George Lucas was so hell-bent on selling that as some quasi-Shakespearean "romantic tragedy that shook the galaxy" to explain Anakin's fall & the birth, orphan status and separation of the Skywalker twins (again, based on the strength of the original film's plotlines) that nothing about the romance felt realistic. The plot--or writer's need to force destiny--resulted in a slapped together series of heartless romance just to link it to the original films.

The same happened in this ST episode.

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.

Exactly. His desire to give it all up for Carol was a night and day reaction--hitting the audience over the head by Kirk trying to gift his mother's heirloom to a woman he could not possibly care for in that short amount of time.

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.)

All so true.
 
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In this thread? I'd love to read. :D
I know I posted this somewhere on the forum recently, but I don't remember where. Anyway, this is how the explanation for the two different Saaviks went (read Amanda's dialogue first):

why-saavik-changed-bodies.jpg
 
^^^Trouble with that is we read top down not bottom up. Amanda's caption ought to be first.
I know, and I tried. But there was no way to make everything fit without either obscuring too much of the characters or making the font too small to read. Maybe if I can find a different-sized picture of this scene I can redo it.
 
As much effort as everyone put into this episode, it begs the question? Apart from squashing the theory of the little blonde lab tech Mitchell steered at Kirk in the Academy, is there enough here for a whole episode? There are some beautifully crafted scenes, but nothing much seems to happen in them storywise.
 
As much effort as everyone put into this episode, it begs the question? Apart from squashing the theory of the little blonde lab tech Mitchell steered at Kirk in the Academy, is there enough here for a whole episode? There are some beautifully crafted scenes, but nothing much seems to happen in them storywise.

I see no problem with continuity porn as long as it is part of an episode.

Speaking of porn, it definitely needed more in the bedroom.scene. (They're married in real life). That would also solve the "nothing happening" issue. . (j/k) :D
 
Kirk seems to be so unlucky in love. At one time he was so quick to fall in love he literally carried a woman down the Church aisle. It did not go well...

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Ah yes, Esperanto.. a language right up there with Klingonese and Elvish. I'm entranced just listening to Shatner's speech patterns coming through while attempting the language.
eta:
Incubus makes me wonder if any of the actors dubbing Kirk in other languages come anywhere near his speech patterns?

Ah... answered my own question.

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They are not too far off, but I'd like to see how the French or German voice actors pull off the overacting in "Return to Tomorrow". :)

Back to topic, I think that Brian Gross could use a little more of that, whatever that is. Perhaps moving toward the overacting side might help?
 
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Nah, you don't have to overact to pull off Kirk. But some actors in particular parts have that je ne sais quoi that other don't. Gross, like a lot of people playing Captains in fanfilms, so far lacks a certain gravitas. They don't feel like they're in charge. They don't own the bridge, so to speak.
 
It's one of the weaker episodes in New Voyages. But not horrible. Just kinda forgettable. Basically it's a retelling of a better story except trying to add to it how Kirk and Marcus fell in love. And despite using an Actor/Actress that are married it fell kinda flat IMO. Kirk/Marcus' relationship was given more weight because of TWOK/TSFS movies. But this episode kinda felt like Kirk's woman of the week type thing instead of something with more to it.

It tried to do the origins of protomatter and shoehorned in introducing the Ferengi but overall the story didn't have a lot of weight either. This story felt thrown together the last minute. I actually think Spock/Marcus had more going for it story wise then the love story had. It may've been a better story if it was about Spock's logic vs Marcus' emotion and done a story about that and left it open for Marcus to be a possible recurring character.
 
I had many of the same reactions as most here- great vfx, rushed and somewhat unbelievable romance (hate hate hated that last scene with the marriage proposal and bizarre hair), old Scotty was well done but why he heck was he there, what the %{%*<## Ferengi continuity, but upon finishing I found all I could think was:

RICHARD HATCH!!
 
I've got no problem with Ferengi in TOS era. TNG era already had continuity issues with the Ferengi throughout it's run.
 
Just started watching. Did you resurrect James Doohan for the 24th century bookends? Did NV build the shuttle interior?
 
Today around 200 people volunteer their time to produce each episode of "Star Trek: New Voyages." The show is filmed in an old dollar store in Ticonderoga, New York. Each show takes about four to six months to produce, and costs about $50,000, all donated by fans. People have come from all 50 states and as far as Germany and Australia to give their time, money and passion to the show.

Wow, really?. Not including the 3+ years in post.

source:
http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/21/entertainment/star-trek-new-voyages-online-series/index.html
 
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