STC Ep. 6: "Come Not Between The Dragons" grading and discussion....(possible spoilers)

[Warped9]

Like a cheap knockoff of Rollin Hand without the star power.

Speaking strictly for myself the series starts to fade after Season 3. No slam against Nimoy, but the absence of Martin Landau and Barbara Bain is felt. The series soldiers on, but it's not quite the same anymore. Landau was fantastic and often managed to make so much more of the characters he portrayed.

In Season 5 (1970-71, Nimoy's last season) they make changes to the show and not for the better I'm afraid. The '70s look starts to become apparent and most particularly in the soundtrack. Gone is the distinctive and iconic M:I mission cues replaced by something godawful meant to sound more street. Yuch! The stories now started to fucus more on busting criminals than international espionage and such. It was becoming a variation of a cop show.

When Barbara Bain left they should have replaced her with Lee Merriwether (who definitely wanted the role) as a regular. The female characters that followed Bain and Merriwether's occasional appearance were cyphers and totally forgettable.

 

[YJAGG]

Having only seen the trailer, it looks ok although I wish that Grant (from MythBusters) would stop trying to sound like George and explore his own take on the role.

 

[Warped9]

Having only seen the trailer, it looks ok although I wish that Grant (from MythBusters) would stop trying to sound like George and explore his own take on the role.

Yeah. If there is one cast member that needs to chill it's Grant. His Sulu was better earlier on. In Ep. 1 he is a bit too eager and fanboyish, but then he seems to chill and he was fine. In Ep. 6 he seems to be trying a bit too hard and just needs to relax again.

In all fairness I think a few of the cast might have strayed a bit over-the-top during parts of Ep. 6. They're doing something similar in behaviour to what we saw in "Day Of The Dove" and I think a bit more nuance would have worked better.


Man, it's going to be tough not getting into the details of this episode for the next twelve days.

 

[YJAGG]

Yeah. If there is one cast member that needs to chill it's Grant. His Sulu was better earlier on. In Ep. 1 he is a bit too eager and fanboyish, but then he seems to chill and he was fine. In Ep. 6 he seems to be trying a bit too hard and just needs to relax again.

In all fairness I think a few of the cast might have strayed a bit over-the-top during parts of Ep. 6. They're doing something similar in behaviour to what we saw in "Day Of The Dove" and I think a bit more nuance would have worked better.


Man, it's going to be tough not getting into the details of this episode for the next twelve days.

I have never found STC to be subtle, I enjoy watching it, but it is never been a must watch next episode.

 

[STEPhon IT]

Speaking strictly for myself the series starts to fade after Season 3. No slam against Nimoy, but the absence of Martin Landau and Barbara Bain is felt. The series soldiers on, but it's not quite the same anymore. Landau was fantastic and often managed to make so much more of the characters he portrayed.

In Season 5 (1970-71, Nimoy's last season) they make changes to the show and not for the better I'm afraid. The '70s look starts to become apparent and most particularly in the soundtrack. Gone is the distinctive and iconic M:I mission cues replaced by something godawful meant to sound more street. Yuch! The stories now started to fucus more on busting criminals than international espionage and such. It was becoming a variation of a cop show.

When Barbara Bain left they should have replaced her with Lee Merriwether (who definitely wanted the role) as a regular. The female characters that followed Bain and Merriwether's occasional appearance were cyphers and totally forgettable.

Sorry for the thread drift, but I agree, my education of Mission Impossible is from Netflix since I wasn't born when the show was around. My interests came about from the Tom Cruise films which I thought 1 and 4 were interesting, but none of them captured that HEIST type feel of the 1st 3 seasons of the TV series which are very good. I could barely get through half of the 4th season and I petered out. Just not interested in it. Landau and Bain were why I enjoyed it.

 

[Warped9]

^^ Season 4 has some okay episodes, but the magic was fading. Season 5 starts out terrible.

I almost felt sorry for Nimoy. By Season 5 he looks like he felt lost and longed for the days of travelling the galaxy with Shatner and the rest.

 

[STEPhon IT]

I have never found STC to be subtle, I enjoy watching it, but it is never been a must watch next episode.

I agree, there's nothing coming from STC I would be bummed out about if it's spoiled because their narrative is not very interesting and usually inconsistent. I enjoy watching the production design and SFX than anything else from it. Spoil as much as you need, for me, there's no anticipation for a fanfilm.

 

[YJAGG]

Sorry for the thread drift, but I agree, my education of Mission Impossible is from Netflix since I wasn't born when the show was around. My interests came about from the Tom Cruise films which I thought 1 and 4 were interesting, but none of them captured that HEIST type feel of the 1st 3 seasons of the TV series which are very good. I could barely get through half of the 4th season and I petered out. Just not interested in it. Landau and Bain were why I enjoyed it.

I love going back and watching MI and seeing Sulu and Commodore Wesley or Spock and Kor. The 70's did change it alot, as a kid watching it all in rerun land I wondered why Spock looked so shaggy, I mean square sideburns What the?!

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

My personal take is if you;re going to make your mission statement to be "Star Trek as it might have been in a 4th season" then you have to assume it's 1970 and there's no connecting dots forward. If you don't then you're not playing by the rules you established. It's fine not to play by the rules so long as you're not claiming to be.

This.

 

[Newnham]

Thats what I'm trying to get at.. They've not held very true to their stated aim.

And the writing needs to improve..

 

[urbandefault]

I don't know about that. The last two episodes have suffered a severe dip in quality, story-wise so in my opinion STC has a bit of an uphill battle to get back to their former glory.

While it's easy to praise STC because you know, they actually produce their episodes, I was far less impressed by The White Iris and Divided We Stand than the previous three entries. I am hopeful however Episode 6 will be a return to form and will be happy to share my thoughts once I'm able to view it.

We differ.

Although some episodes have been better than others, I haven't seen a stinker in the bunch. Most network TV productions should be so lucky.

 

[Warped9]

We differ.

Although some episodes have been better than others, I haven't seen a stinker in the bunch. Most network TV productions should be so lucky.

Although I have had moments of disappointment with STC I haven't seen anything actually bad or even poor overall. No disasters, but there are things I think where it could have been better.

 

[Newnham]

I didn't enjoy 'The White Iris' at all.. Things got too improbable and out of character.

 

[STEPhon IT]

There's not much to be disappointed about STC because there's nothing there to begin with. Starting from the 1st 2 episodes they failed their mission statement, and then drifted with a redundant Mirror episode, and then made 2 remaining eps which were lost in translation narratives.
Starship Exeter nailed the tone and feel of Star Trek, if they decided to come back? There would be an expectation where they couldn't possibly fulfill because by their second episode it was done right. I can't speak the same way for STC because the production, including the performances, draws attention to itself... all the time, and I've decided to look at that production for what it is.

STC is a glorified pastiche of fanwankery.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

STC is a glorified pastiche of fanwankery.

Glorified Pastiche of Fanwankery is going to be the name of my mashup band.

 

[Warped9]

There's not much to be disappointed about STC because there's nothing there to begin with. Starting from the 1st 2 episodes they failed their mission statement, and then drifted with a redundant Mirror episode, and then made 2 remaining eps which were lost in translation narratives.
Starship Exeter nailed the tone and feel of Star Trek, if they decided to come back? There would be an expectation where they couldn't possibly fulfill because by their second episode it was done right. I can't speak the same way for STC because the production, including the performances, draws attention to itself... all the time, and I've decided to look at that production for what it is.

STC is a glorified pastiche of fanwankery.

No.

There are other productions I would say that about.

Exeter had a different set of expectations, but as much as I enjoyed the second episode it also missed the mark for me in some respects.

Any disappointments I have with STC usually stem from them straying from their stated intent. Otherwise I'm cool with with it because they don't stray that often or too badly. If a Borg or Ferengi or turtle head Klingons show up then I'll get really upset. If they start talking about characters from ENT then I'll scream bloody murder. Yeah, I don't like that they mentioned Xindi in "The White Iris," but it's about the only time they were that direct. Their other post TOS references have been more vague although I wish they would just STOP IT(!) altogether. It absolutely contributes nothing storywise and undermines their stated intent.

 

[YJAGG]

Thats what I'm trying to get at.. They've not held very true to their stated aim.

And the writing needs to improve..

And Phase Two, kept Spock as opposed to replacing him with Xon and then changed to New Voyages...

As for the writing, it's very TNG

 

[9gs]

So it's safe you say none of you dicks is going to the premier in Orlando?

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

And Phase Two, kept Spock as opposed to replacing him with Xon and then changed to New Voyages...

As for the writing, it's very TNG

Most of the TOS-era fan films feel like TNG in TOS drag. STARSHIP EXETER is the exception to that.

 

[STEPhon IT]

Again, there's nothing wrong with a bunch of fans making a glitzy production, but when the lead person promotes the project as something which it's truly not is when I feel it falls into parody. Like a lot of artists; they can't seem to be critical of their own work. Or the promotions are just a silly ploy to raise money. Again, nothing wrong with that but it's not and will never be considered an extension or a proper continuation to Star Trek.