I am so pleased to see this .. I wondered if I would ever see the last performance of Richard Hatch, whom I'd admired greatly. This and the releases of "Origins", 2021 has already marked itself as better than the previously year. Brilliant.
Hope to see the Bread and Circuses sequel soon as well (I'm such a hoarder!!) Watching this episode something came to me that I'm surprised I've never seen addressed before (though probably it has) When you have Uhura and whoever the blonde comm officer used in this episode was, trying to contact someone planet-side, why bother sending a voice message like: ''Enterprise to Dr. McCoy, please come in!!'', to someone using a communicator who will only receive an Chirping Audio FX? Man, it really is true how music and Sound fx hide a lot of the directing gaffes...
Just finished it. Richard Hatch, Becky Wood and Jeff Bond steal the show. This is one that would be really good if completed.
They really do. Fascinating to see all the untouched greenscreen, really shows you how much goes into the post production
I'll try to watch this again later. I started it late last night. But I got frustrated with the writing. There is no dramatic tension or suspense. Scenes meander without moving forward either character or plot. And everyone is so lackadaisical about everything. Scenes start way sooner than they should and go on far too long. So I stopped it about 15 minutes in. But I want to finish it as it's one of the last of the NV episodes. And despite my criticism of the production, I do have a soft spot for it and those early TOS fan films, such as Exeter and Farragut.
Because that statement tells the computer which communicator to send the message to. McCoy will receive the chirp rather than Kirk or Spock, because that is who was contacted.
Even though it is just a rough cut, I'm super glad James was able to share these in the end. As someone who has an interest in the production side of things, it was great to see how the episode was pieced together. You can really see the growth of New Voyages and the technical direction the series was heading in terms of production value. Jeff Bond gives a terrific performance - not just as Doctor McCoy but as an actor. I must admit I haven't seen the original episode this story is based on but it didn't stop me from following the story - with arguably is an issue with 'sequels'. The only thing that drew me out was that embassy bombing just felt a bit too ENTERPRISE inspired and didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the story, in my opinion anyway. Super cool and interesting.
I did watch it a day or so ago...With all absence of music and sound effects to distract me, my full attention was on the physical storytelling of this episode, the directing. I really don't know what word to use other than flaccid. In every instance where actors should be hurrying across the bridge, to the turbolifts, into battle...Everyone, ESPECIALLY Kirk of all people were listless, defenseless, hapless and lifeless. When Richard Hatch did what he did to Becky Wood, and Kirk just stood there, I actually yelled ''MooooOOVE!!'' at my screen. Sorry, this was completely an instance where the characters DIDN't drive the plot, it was a ''how do I get generic characters A, B, and C to ride along plot point 1 and 2 to get to Big Moment 3... I really DID like that they built the alien world set in upstate New York, but it was WAY too obvious they didn't have the space for a corridor beyond it when Kirk and Spock walked off screen and the camera just stayed behind.
Flaccid is a good word for a lot of fanfilms. There's a conspicuous lack of urgency to everything, like every character is waiting for their cue in a series of sequential serial actions where nothing can happen in parallel. Switch from RS232 to Centronics, guys (there's some old timey tech talk for ya).
Very excited to get the chance to watch this and see Richard Hatch's final performance. I'd pretty much given up on ever expecting to see it.
I would've like Kirk at least try to make an effort to save a life. It's strange for so called "fans" to take liberties on a character which doesn't belong to them.
Both in NV and STC, Kirk is a very flaccid, un-Kirk like character. He rarely makes an decisions or those decisions are made for him by others. These fan films never have Kirk drive the action and treat him more like a Picard, having conferences and seeking a consensus of his senior officers. That being said, Brian Gross may look the part but he sure doesn't own the part. He has no presence in the role at all. I don't buy him as Kirk, much less the lead of the show.
As much as I’m a fan of STC and forgiving of its flaws, I have to agree with this. Sometimes, it was rather irritating to see Kirk taking a backseat in stories he should’ve been pushing along. There were moments where Vic got Kirk to be the active element in a scene and it just worked so well. He had much of the gravitas needed for the character, he just needed the damn scripts to back it up.