STAR TREK: PHASE II/NEW VOYAGES
“Mind-Sifter”
[Modern VFX Edition 12.1.14]
Teleplay by Rick Chambers
Story by Shirley Maiewski
Directed & Edited by Mark Edward Lewis
Starring
Brian Gross as Captain Kirk
Brandon Stacy as Mr. Spock
Jeff Bond as Dr. McCoy
Featuring
Charles Root as Commander Scott
Shyaporn Theerakulstit as Lieutenant Sulu
Jasmine Pierce as Lieutenant Uhura
Jeff Mailhotte as Lieutenant Sentell
Patrick Cawley as Lieutenant Xon
Wayne W. Johnson as Ensign Walking Bear
Guest stars
Rivkah Raven Wood as Dr. Jan Hamlin
Clay Sayre as Kor
Robert Withrow as Admiral Withrow
Pat Evans as Dr. Wright
* * *
Phase II returns to our screens tonight, delivering the much anticipated and highly promoted “Mind Sifter,” based on the fan fiction story by Shirley Maiewski. As has become the norm for
Phase II, there is a storied history surrounding how this episode finally made it across the internet and into our laptops and on to our televisions. Since this is already going to be a long review and since I don’t really know a whole lot about that history, I’ll leave it to those better informed to discuss and debate.
Generally when I write these reviews, I’ve already decided how I feel about the show I’m reviewing. Sometimes though, I sit down to write and as I am, I discover my true feelings and opinions on the subject matter, and tonight is definitely an example of the latter.
As I am sitting here writing this review, I’m asking myself “what was the point of this episode?” Or, in industry parlance, “What was the bottom of the story?” The clear answer is that it showcases for us the unswerving devotion the crew –Spock in particular—feels (yes, feels) for Kirk. In this sense, Kirk becomes the whipping boy for the story’s purposes, tortured, brutalized, and lost in time with no memory of who he actually is while his compatriots scramble to find him. Seeing Kirk so well after just two weeks of recovery feels a bit like a cheat at the end of the episode, mainly because even though he has been tortured and he has been brutalized –by Klingons, no less—we have no real impetus to believe this experience will ever be something that Kirk touches upon in the future, nor will it really affect his character or change him in any meaningful way. The obvious comparisons to
TNG’s own “Chain of Command, Part II” are clear here, the resolution of which saw our previously brave and resilient Captain Picard reveal to Troi, in the safety and privacy of his own office on the Enterprise that Madred had broken him. Likewise, the producers of
TNG never touched on this stunning revelation in regard to Picard’s character.
So it is to Spock we must look for the point of this latest exercise in fan film ingenuity and dedication. Here we learn he and Kirk share a tenuous but recurring mental connection based on years of mind melds together. From a psychological standpoint, there are some implications to suggest this story could even be about Kirk and Spock’s relationship on a purely emotional level, and perhaps even in the same way we might view a romantic or sexual relationship between other couples. Obviously the slash fiction of the past 40+years took this idea and ran with it but that’s not what I’m trying to describe here.
“Mind-Sifter” presents us with a broken triumvirate. Kirk has gone missing and his crew is nearly aimless and without purpose. Spock, the once brilliant and logical voice of reason struggles to maintain his composure throughout. McCoy, the voice of passion and emotion, brims over with too much of each, unable to control himself. For the former, it is because the object of his affection is gone. For the latter, it’s because he knows that by himself he’s not enough, nor is Spock, nor are they two, on their own, enough to be able to create what the three of them, Kirk, Spock and McCoy, shared as that triumvirate that we have loved ever since “The Corbomite Maneuver” first aired.
Indeed, McCoy even tries to transfer away rather than even try to work with Spock under these new circumstances, but is summarily refused (more on this later). So the two resume doing what they do best: butting heads. During one of their confrontations, McCoy starts waving his hand in Spock's face, which Spock quickly grabs and the two are almost arm-wrestling in mid-air for a moment. Spock, of course wins, because of the two, he is physically stronger and in control, whereas McCoy is weak. And as his diametric opposite here, it is Spock who is emotionally weak. We won't get into the attempted 'slap across the face during a lovers' quarrel' side of it but the message is clear -- this "marriage" (highlighted by McCoy's pinky ring) just ain't gonna work without their third partner.
If anything, I just thought it was a great screencapture for a thread bomb:
Even Kirk is reduced to the “everyman,” unable to withstand Kor and his mind-sifter, unable to rescue himself, or even “beat the law of averages” as McCoy points out. Their crew, despite Spock’s promotion, is dissatisfied with their new mission – literally aimless border patrolling. Uhura is blasé. Scotty is sent below decks early on and isn’t seen again. Sulu, usually amiable becomes the most vocal among the secondary crew with his dissatisfaction, seeming disgruntled in nearly each of his scenes.
The second element of “Mind-Sifter” that works is its very close alignment and parallelism with JJ Abrams’ 2013 feature film
Star Trek Into Darkness. In both, we find demonstrable and pointed arcs for Kirk and Spock, validating and strengthening their bond and friendship. Whereas Spock had to learn, in
Into Darkness that Kirk defied the Prime Directive to save his friend’s life
because Spock was his friend (vis-à-vis a similar action on Spock’s part in
Star Trek II and later Kirk’s part in
Star Trek III), Spock here in “Mind Sifter” has to learn to express his “respect” for both McCoy when he realizes Kirk is lost, and later makes the effort to communicate this personal recognition of his need for Kirk, telling him “I respect you,” even though Kirk very nearly brushes it off.
Does it amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world? Not really. Is it ground already previously covered (and perhaps better done)? Probably. Is it still entertaining? Absolutely. And while the three interwoven stories “Mind Sifter” tells take their time to reach their boiling point, when they do (sort of) converge, they do so in very much the way the old Pocket novels in the ‘80s and ‘90s would, resolving the central dilemmas of the story but putting everything back where we found it. This is probably a component of when the original “Mind Sifter” story was written, as well as the fact that
Phase II producers have chosen to retroactively place this episode much earlier in their timeline/canon than some of the immediately preceding episodes. All well and good, but worth noting nonetheless.
Here,
Phase II scales back its use of tertiary characters on the Enterprise, save the welcome addition of Ensign Walking Bear. Meanwhile, the character of Doctor Wright serves little to no purpose that couldn’t have easily been given to Hamlin. The visuals are breathtaking throughout, the color searing, and the action in space quick and deliberate, evoking very much the Abrams sensibility.
There is a decidedly modern approach taken to this episode, not only in the visual effects but also with regard to the pacing and editing. Certainly, the director editing his own work likely contributes to this and likely made both shooting and cutting the show much easier, but as it stands, this edition of “Mind Sifter” will most assuredly be at home with the rest of
Phase II’s jambled hodgepodge of retro-modernized episodes than those of
TOS proper. Adapting a beloved story from the fan fiction of yesteryear was certainly a bold choice for the production given some of the recent competition it’s faced and the production succeeds here admirably in several ways.
Before that though, let’s get the nitty-gritty out of the way:
First though, I have to say this. The audio is terrible throughout. Some parts are tinny. Some parts are echo-y. Some parts are noticeably ADR’d like crazy. This is apparent both on YouTube via Google Chrome on my Macbook Pro and via the YouTube app on my Apple TV. Voiceovers intended to be intercom voices are terribly rendered here During the memorial service, someone calls out “Fall in!” sounding simply as if it’s the 1st A.D. off set reading a line out loud for the actor’s to respond to. Later, as Sulu complains about the Enterprise having spent two weeks on boring shore patrol, he pounds his console repeatedly in frustration and these physical jabs get better audio than anything he says. As is frustratingly usual, the first area with room for improvement is the dialogue sound design and audio.
There are three (disjointed) stories here:
Kirk in 1958
The blurry vision in the beginning is pointless. Whose perspective is it? If Kirk is being dragged away, and the hazy green filter is supposed to be his perspective of the era after having been tortured, why do the scenes like this (and later, others where Kirk isn’t even present) include the filter? Even the exteriors are subtly off and very apparently green-screened in. It’s an interesting idea/affectation for the story, but clumsily and inconsistently utilized. Likewise, sound throughout these scenes is rough. I can’t quite decide if the ADR is just ever-present and overly apparent, trying to make up for bad sound recording, or if this is the intention of the production. Either way, the fact that it’s so distracting is the real problem here.
Later, Brian Gross as Kirk is taken to the recreation room of the hospital. There’s a wonderful surprise in this scene, in the first full episode featuring Gross as Kirk. I’m pretty certain there will be those who will spoil it here but for the sake of those who don’t want to know, the cameo included here is inspired and brilliantly executed. When you see it, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.
As Kirk and in his first full episode/outing, Gross' softspokenness serves him well as the recovering Kirk, struggling and miserable and in agony as he tries to regain himself. We don't get to see much of "our" Kirk in "Mind Sifter" beyond a few tortured barbs hruled at Kor and a few moments at the end of the show when all is set right in the world of the Enterprise, nor do we ever really get an explanation for how Kirk was abducted to begin with. It's certainly a measured performance from Gross, and one I daresay better for the fact that James Cawley saw enough of a need to hire a professional actor for the role. It takes a lot to put aside any concern of pride or ego in a situation like this and I applaud Cawley for it; Gross is an admirable successor to the role of Kirk here. I hope he maintains the same kind of screen presence in future installments.
Another fun tidbit: In the background of this scene, we hear Rod Serling narrating the famous “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” episode of
The Twilight Zone, which is both hilarious and anachronistic, as the isolation ward scenes are later established to take place in the summer of 1958 and this episode of
The Twilight Zone wouldn’t be produced and broadcast until five years later, in October 1963.
I’m sure there’s a way to justify it given how much time travel is going on here. Those Klingon bastards!
Kirk with the Klingons
Klingons.
TNG era signage, painsticks, cups, bloodwine. Can’t forget that kitchen sink. However, it’s a genuinely menacing moment when Kirk, Kor and the Klingons land at the Guardian of Forever.
Clay Sayre’s performance as Kor is serviceable, however where John Colicos’ Kor was possessed of menace, charm and just genuinely conniving, Sayre’s default seems simply to be to speak slowly and eloquently, which is of course something Colicos did as well, but only as a superficial affectation of the role overall.
The Klingons' involvement is short-lived, however and their plot to use the Guardian of Forever is certainly within the range of believability but in terms of their usefulness in the story, and the Tarantino-esque nonlinear nature of the storyline the Klingons' exit felt abrupt and ultimately lacking without any final punchline or promise of revenge from Kor.
Spock and Enterprise crew
Admiral Withrow sure likes to be doing other things –
signing orders,
reading memos, fiddling with computers – while talking to Spock. In both scenes it happens. Not that there’s necessarily anything wrong with this, it’s just not something we’ve seen other admirals do in the past so it sticks out here.
It’s nice to see Uhura in command. It’s something that was done once or twice in the actual canon shows and I’m glad
Phase II is availing itself of the opportunity to do it more often here. As wonderful as
TOS was, it was hardly the most forward thinking when it came to utilizing Uhura in a command function, so its nice to see that the makers of the fan films are embracing her character in this capacity.
I feel like I keep including this note in my reviews but
Phase II just can’t seem to get away from having McCoy explode in some overreactionary outburst in the middle of the bridge, chewing out whoever happens to be in the center seat. McCoy tore in to Kirk in “Kitumba” and here he does so again, this time to newly promoted Captain Spock. In each instance, the things said could easily have been done so privately and without the very obvious breach of respect and the apparent undermining of the authority of the commanding officer. I mean, I get it. McCoy is temperamental and he and Spock antagonize each other. And this is by far the most extreme and emotionally tense crisis they’ve had to face yet. Frankly, it’s amazing to me that McCoy doesn’t get held in contempt for such piss poor behavior toward his superiors on such a consistent basis. In TOS sure, he was a firecracker at times but it just gets more extreme each time it happens on
Phase II, as if the producers just don’t “get” who the character is supposed to be or how he functions within the dynamic of the group.
What makes this worse is the next scene featuring McCoy and Spock in Act 2 shortly afterward. Why on God’s green earth didn’t McCoy save his temper tantrum for this scene? I could buy the rage, the frustration and the outburst in its entirety, word for word, in this setting coming from McCoy, here because at least it would be his addressing the problems to Spock without completely undermining him at a crucial moment in front of the very people he must now lead. As hot-headed as McCoy is, even he knows how vital that kind of confidence from the crew is to a starship commander.
Still later on, when McCoy and Scotty are drinking together, McCoy torpedoes himself even further complaining that he tried to transfer off the ship. A) talk about a temper tantrum. Bones doesn’t get his way so he screams out “Screw you guys, I’m going home!” B) We have next to no basis for this visceral reaction from McCoy and to a much lesser degree, Scotty. We haven’t seen anything other than Spock following orders from a superior officer to move on to the next mission after having already conducted a fruitless, month-long search. McCoy’s disdain for Spock is incredibly harsh, petulant, unearned and misplaced. I mean, does anybody
even once stop and ask themselves, “Why is Spock doing this?” Further, one might assume based on the way McCoy tells it here, that he and Spock are bitter enemies. Again, the writers demonstrate here they completely misunderstand the relationship between these two characters, even after similar ground was covered in “The Tholian Web.” It’s unfortunate, too, because what little reprieve we get later between the two just isn’t enough to redeem McCoy here, even if it does help to resolve the emotional arc between Kirk and Spock in the final scene of the show.
Moving on… It’s also cool to see more starships.
Phase II could have picked any name they wanted and went with Lexington. It would have been all too easy to ape the name of another fan film starship for their own purposes, but they didn’t. Perhaps such a course didn’t even occur to the producers. Either way, I respect the show for it.
The
space battle with the Klingons is
fun. Again, very much in vein with the JJ Abrams’ films, but here it doesn’t drag on for too long and it propels the story forward by getting the Klingons out of the picture. It’s nice to see other ships get in on the action too, and to see Spock being the cunning strategist he is, actually in action.
Spock’s speech about “finding another way that allows us to stop fighting each other” feels entirely out of place here. It’s almost as if he’s apologizing for his clever strategy to get rid of the Klingons without killing them. Brandon Stacy’s stilted delivery of these lines doesn’t help sell it, either and almost feels like another of
Phase II's patented attempts to foreshadow things to come, in this case, Spock's efforts to make peace with the Klingons in
Star Trek VI.
Speaking of Spock, Brandon Stacy’s performance here hews much, much more closely to Zachary Quinto’s portrayal in
Star Trek and
Star Trek Into Darkness than any of Leonard Nimoy’s. It’s especially apparent in his first scene with Admiral Withrow, as if there’s a seething emotional outburst, ready to blow at any second, boiling under him and he’s doing his damnedest to contain it. Later, after dismissing McCoy and Scott from the bridge (following his announcement to the crew), Spock eyes the bridge, not from a position of any kind of confidence or authority but almost as if he’s a child, looking around for anyone who might be “on his side.” It’s much more “Quinto Spock” than anything Nimoy ever did.
Given the thematic content of the “Mind-Sifter” storyline and its similarities to that of
Star Trek Into Darkness (at least with regard to the Kirk/Spock friendship) this was altogether unsurprising to me, but it would be interesting to find out
when exactly the decision was made to adapt the short story anew, and whether or not this new adaptation was in fact influenced by or even the result of the plot from
Star Trek Into Darkness.
Jasmine Pierce‘s acting performance as Uhura is rather wooden but her singing of “Amazing Grace” in the episode is beautiful. While I’d have much preferred a different hymn (seriously, there are more songs out there to choose from, honest), the cutaway to Spock is surprisingly effective, knowing what we know about the next time we’ll hear that song in the franchise.
Random, minor nitpicks & musings:
--Astute devotees will notice that unlike previous outings, “Mind Sifter” is presented in the old 4:3 ratio, perhaps to further reinforce the “past era” of both
Star Trek as a whole and
Phase II on its own.
--Jeff Bond’s first outing as McCoy has been something I have personally been quite excited to see. Bond captures McCoy’s gruff demeanor and stentorian outbursts extremely well and is a worthy successor to John Kelley in the role. As an aside, as I know Jeff personally, it did take a
little getting used to hearing him speak with that Southern drawl, but he performed the role eloquently and with a quiet reserve that many fan film actors lack.
--McCoy chewing out Spock on the bridge is entirely inappropriate and out of character. Seriously,
Phase II, if you take anything from this review, let it please, merciful Zeus, please be to get rid of this tiresome trope in your productions!
--Rivkah Raven Wood (née Rebecca Wood from
Star Trek: Hidden Frontier) makes her first
Phase II appearance as Dr. Jan Hamlin and is a delight. Her compassionate, affective performance as Kirk’s caretaker is wrenching to behold as we can see she truly does care for Kirk, even if it isn’t romantic love, and wants to help him. It’s a nice reversal, which McCoy later comments on, much to Hamlin’s frustration.
--Some poorly framed shots here, wasting tons of screen space:
--That said, there’s some wonderful use of fluid Steadicam work here that we’d never have seen on TOS but is put to good effect.
--Is Spock mind-melding himself? Have we ever seen a Vulcan do this? Isn’t it, I don’t know, redundant? Is it even possible? And, going back to the earlier implications of Spock's relationship with Kirk, could this be also seen as Spock even possibly intellectually "masturbating" ?
--It’s so nice to see the
LalaLand Records’ TOS Soundtrack Collection being put to good use. Jeff Bond, an expert on Trek music if ever there were one, was the perfect person to music-supervise this episode and he doesn’t disappoint.
EDIT: It's worth noting that this
spectacular music collection is still available for purchase fom LaLaLand Records and as someone who very happily owns and listens to the set regularly, I can confirm that it is worth every single penny.
--Admiral Withrow’s
flag officer uniform is a delightful design, a stepping stone between the TOS smocks and the “monster maroons” we will eventually get in
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. (Though, upon further thought, it begs to be pointed out that it seems entirely out of place, given how early in continuity this story allegedly takes place.)
--For the whole effect of placing this in
Phase II’s previous,
New Voyages era it was somewhat surprising to hear Gross reading the opening narration and simply saying “these are the voyages” instead of “these are the
new voyages…”
--As noted before, the visual effects are polished and streamlined. There’s a vibe reminiscent of
Star Trek and
Star Trek Into Darkness
...which I find somewhat curious given James Cawley’s personal distaste for the JJ Abrams films but again, fitting here given the storyline and the content therein.
--Mark Edward Lewis gets both his director and editor credits at once at the head of the episode:
I guess it really was about sticking it to Vic Mignogna on “Kitumba” after all.
Purposeful Errors?
I noticed throughout the episode there were some glitches, continuity errors, if you will, that stuck out to me. It almost seems as though these might have been intentionally done to line the show up more with
TOS, which was itself no stranger to such errors during production:
--Sulu claims the Enterprise has been patrolling near Space Station K-7 for two weeks, yet the immediately preceding visual effects scene clearly reveals that the Enterprise is oribiting Space Station K-8:
--On the bridge just before Spock and McCoy travel back in time, McCoy’s shirt/tunic changes between the medical t-shirt smock he’d been wearing since the previous scene, to his standard uniform shirt (in a cutaway) and then back to the medical smock:
--The aforementioned
Twilight Zone episode anachronism.
--Lieutenant Xon appears in this episode, wearing a sciences blue uniform top throughout, which would place this episode before his eventual switch to command gold, right?
--Spock as the Fonz. I love it.
"Heeeeyyyy!"
Innuendo:
There’s no shortage of sexuality and innuendo in this episode, from having Brian Gross spend much of it running around shirtless, to making a move on Hamlin, to Spock’s suggestive gestures throughout:
“If you permit me, I can ease your pain.”
Someone not familiar with
Star Trek, Vulcans, or mind melds, might interpret this the wrong way the way this shot is framed and blocked.
I do finally get why Sulu always signs up for the night shift. That's where all the ladies are!
"Ohhhhh my!"
Memorable Quotes:
“Facts, Doctor? We have no evidence!” –Spock
“You always said you didn’t want the captain’s chair but you sure took it fast enough!” –McCoy
“You can tell me now or you can tell my mind-sifter!” –Kor
“Even James T. Kirk can’t cheat the law of averages forever.” –McCoy.
“I am in control of my emotions.” –Spock.
“You care about him?
“As a patient, yes!”
“That’d be a first.” –McCoy and Hamlin, regarding Kirk.
FINAL ASSESSMENT:
Whether intentional or not, the
Star Trek Into Darkness analogue is difficult to avoid, with the film so recent in our minds. Putting aside
Phase II's usual, biggest problem of identity crisis and not knowing what it wants to be, the only really important thing this story set out to do it achieved in spades, showing us just how much Kirk's crew needs him and how much he needs them. When he finally walks his bridge again and says to the ship and crew, "I missed you. I didn't realize how much... until now," he may well have been be speaking to the audience too. It's been a long road for
Phase II to get to today's release, following the moderately embarrassing delay with "The Holiest Thing" last February but if this episode is any indication, the folks in Ticonderoga are doing just fine on their own terms and if we're lucky, we'll get to see a whole slew of future adventures from them.
I certainly hope so, anyway.
