Star Trek Continues - To Boldly Go (Parts I & II)

you know, if there`s ONE word out there that will really get a rise out of me, it`s the use of the word ''nitpick'', especially when it is directed towards a screenplay...
If a character in episode 05 says in a dialogue exchange that he graduated from UCLA, but in episode 23 he instead says he went to Texas A&M and where the character went to college matters not ONE whit to the story...then THAT is nitpicking if brought up...
When people mention fair-sized or huge plotting problems to a story...you`re insulting them by saying what they perceived is inconsequential or unimportant just because YOU don`t care for such things...

 

I knew the final episode would be problematic, so I'll just go with my own impression that I enjoyed it as a finale to this project. It was emotional and entertaining for me as it needed to be, with a few surprises. The final shot on the bridge especially, it's hard to really describe what it was like to get to see that moment, it really did hit home as much as any proper episode would doing the same.

The only glaring issue I have is with the model scene. Well 3 actually.

1. It should have been the Phase II Enterprise design. And just have the Admiral say it's still a work in progress. It would have been a nice nod and made more sense that the final design wouldn't already have been made into a model like that.

2. The USS Crossfield. In Discovery, it feels like the Crossfield was a non-starter with the rest of her class never produced as planned and the prototype largely forgotten, with one of the things going for Discovery and Glenn keeping their cover is looking like an old, antiquated design that never went anywhere. And the latest episode heavily implies the series takes place in another universe as speculated for months. I admit they had this episode finished before that reveal.

3. The USS Kelvin. Oh boy. The only reason the ship was famous in the Kelvin universe was just that, the event that split them. In the Prime timeline the ship completed her routine patrol and retired with the rest of the Einstein class. Unless the model is meant to represent the class in general...but why? we never got any impression they were more than massive workhorses.

That was really just not needed. If the Admiral had had one model under a cover and pointed Kirk to it, pulling it away to show the Phase II model it would have worked better.

 

That is what Discovery and The Orville are for

 

You might want to notice that I, and likely those you associate with my hater ass, never make ANY judgment or comment directed towards those who don`t agree with us, it`s ALWAYS towards the work.

 

As I said before I enjoyed it. As others have said, rather than a “true” how it would’ve ended, its very much a piece looking back from the knowledge of the movies that followed. I liked how they slowly worked movie music queues in to help bridge things before we finally got Kirk in his TMP uniform. There weren’t an awful lot of surprises, Kenna’s death and it informing Spock’s decision was clearly telegraphed in the first part and Kirk’s introspection has been a theme of the whole run.

Indeed I thought it provided an interesting parallel with Beyond which found Kirk in a similar place looking at the same decision. Combine those with Pike in the Cage and the idea that a 5 year mission actually really messes up the Captain is an interesting one.

The shot of Kirk on the deserted bridge was strong, and nicely contrasts with when he next steps onto the bridge as a hive of activity in The Motion Picture.

I like the nod to Discovery as well. A nice way of passing the torch back to the official series I felt.

It was not without its flaws, but it worked well as a finale.

 

Just finishing off watching it now. On the whole I've enjoyed STC. Thought this was a great sign-off, the ending was a bit schmaltzy and tied everything up in a little too neat a bow, but a good episode with a lot of action. I was a little sad about McKenna, but it was the final episode after all. I quite enjoyed seeing the flag officers in TMP uniforms, and the Kelvin and Discovery models on the shelf were a neat touch.

 

STC's problem in a nutshell: At the climax, Kirk sits there, helpless, doesn't try anything, leaving the Romulan commander to save their bacon.

This is the final moment of action of the 5 year mission? THIS is why the show (and most fanfilms) never worked for me: the main character is reactive not active.

 

Kirk doesn't do anything in the entire two-hour finale. He's not actively trying to solve the main problem. The only thing he comes up with is the saucer sep. And that's only because the plot needs Spock to be in command to hand over Troi-redux to the Espers.

He drives nothing.

 

Well, yes, that was rather my point.

 

If only Mignogna was as much of a scene-stealer as Shatner, and wanted all the glory for himself. If only STC hadn't introduced new characters that were given enough to do that we grew to care enough about them in 11 episodes to be sad to see them die.

As the last line of TOS went, "If only".

 

Okay, first of all, I had to laugh at the end of the episode, seeing that I did this photomanipulation in June of 2016, which, aside from the lack of battle damage, could practically be mistaken for a screenshot from Vic’s final scene. Not that I want to pat myself on the back too hard for my powers of prognostication. After all, Vic always said that the goal was to bridge the gap between TOS and TMP, so a newly promoted Kirk taking one last wistful look at the bridge of the soon to be refurbished Enterprise seemed like a fairly obvious/natural way in which to go out.

With the exception of Aurora, I have traditionally not been the biggest fan of fan films. Not that I’ve seen a ton of them and it’s not that I’m saying I can’t find them enjoyable on a certain level, but I’ve tried watching some of the higher profile productions in the past, and no matter how impressed I’ve been with the work that’s gone into them and how slick they look, even when they’ve attracted actual professional talent, they still managed to feel, to varying degrees, somewhat embarrassingly amateurish to me. Continues is the first live action fan production I’ve been able to watch where I was able to nearly forget that I wasn’t watching official Star Trek or at least wasn’t usually cringing through some bad performance or overly silly elements.

I’m not one of those people who was bothered when the series did stuff that you wouldn’t have seen on TOS in the 60s, but I did think that Continues was most successful when it was just trying to tell solid TOS-style stories, as opposed to New Voyages, which, from the little I saw of it, seemed to have this mentality of throwing everything but the kitchen sink into their episodes, in terms of fanservice, etc. So, here at the end, maybe Continues couldn’t help feeling a lot more fannish as it attempted to tie all these various threads together, but it’s still a better conclusion than what we got with “Turnabout Intruder.”

Here’s one nitpick I had, if you want to call it that: When the entire crew of the Enterprise is assembled for Kirk’s speech, I couldn’t stop myself from asking, “Were Uhura, Sulu and M’Benga the only non-white people on the entire ship?” Sorry if that makes me sound overly PC or whatever to some people – I’m willing to bet that a lot of those extras were people who worked behind the scenes on the production and/or were friends and family or whatever – but the lack of diversity just felt slightly conspicuous to me.

 

Same thing struck me. The crew as depicted was like a loaf of Wonder Bread.

 

IIRC it is a union violation to have a white actor painted down.

 

Wasn't blown away by the ending, sadly.

Still, sad to see Continues conclude. There were some solid gold moments in those 11 episodes.

It was meta, a bunch of models depicting all the incarnations of Trek. TNG-era is represented by the Phoenix, ENT by NX-01, the Kelvin movies by the USS Kelvin, DSC by the USS Discovery, TOS and the movies by their ships. I liked it.

 

See I love things Like this, ties everything together

 

It was a nice way to end a fun ride. Who cares if some internet "critics" take it apart piece by piece? I certainly don't.

STC: Mission Accomplished. Way to go, guys.

 

It was amazing what they accomplished on a limited budget, damn that was impressive! And the score - outstanding!

 

Vic in Kirk's Admiral uniform was so close to Shatner in '78 is was spooky. Bookending the last episode with the first, a la TNG was a nice touch. Thanks for finishing the five year mission for us Continues cast and crew!

 

Really enjoyed that. Big ups to everyone involved in making it happen. Sad to see it end.

 

Spoiler

Loved the double-take "farewell" gesture by Spock, yeah definitely not appropriate under the circumstances. Great attention to detail as always..