Star Trek Continues: Episode 3...

[Warped9]

In fairness STC is two for two so far in my opinion. Based on that Episode 3 should be decent.

What concerns me is the apparent tendency (by fan productions) to revisit what was done before rather than forging something new in true spirit of the original series. Revisiting the Mirror Universe is something the spinoff series did. It's not something TOS likely would have done. They got away with revisiting Apollo because it was a story of redemption. "Lolani" was a fleshing out of a kernel of an idea. But what is the real point of returning to the MU of the TOS era? That's what we're waiting to see.

So far I give STC full marks for execution and creativity and engaging me (and many others) with their production. It's actually for that very reason that I'm wary--because I'm interested and give a damn. If I wasn't at all interested then I wouldn't be talking about it.

 

[jojolimited]

Wil Wheaton got his own show on SciFi that started last night (I didn't watch it). I think he's old enough now to do a great story about how his character changed since TNG. Maybe play up the whole Marty Sue issue.

 

[Warped9]

Wesley Crusher in the TOS era? Please, no.

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

Wesley Crusher, Savior of The Universe? Sounds good, when does it start filming?

 

[feek61]

A couple of weeks ago. It aired a night or two ago at 10 PM on syfy

 

[feek61]

The third STC Episode debuts in 2 weeks! Here are a few teaser screen caps from the episode.

 

[Warped9]

^^ That looks pretty decent. Whatever my concerns I am curious as hell, which is something I haven't felt about Trek for a very long time.

 

[Danlav05]

I wonder if it's a Prime/Mirror Universe crossover or another 'In A Mirror Darkly'?

Either way this looks like a fun episode!

 

[Warped9]

I wonder if it's a Prime/Mirror Universe crossover or another 'In A Mirror Darkly'?

Either way this looks like a fun episode!

From what I understand STC says they want to stay as close as possible to TOS and that this is a sequel to "Mirror, Mirror." In all good faith they can't make direct references (like name dropping) to MU episodes from other shows simply because those shows did not yet exist in 1966-69.

So technically (if they went this route) they could reference an Empress in the MU Empire's past, but they couldn't reference her actual name. Neither could they make references to Bajorans and such as well as a ship displaced from another timeline or universe. None of those things had been conceived of yet in 1967.

Note in "Lolani" there appears to be an oblique reference to events from ENT (spoken by Spock), but there's nothing specific in it. This appears to be STC's approach to continuity references and it's an approach that works for me because it maintains the illusion of TOS being its own thing.

In TOS, beyond "The Cage," we never got to see another women in a command position in Starfleet. But there's nothing throughout the series the specifically establishes a woman cannot command in Starfleet. So STC had a wide open door to show us a woman as a Starfleet Commodore, something that could have been shown in TOS but wasn't. And it's not impossible that TOS might have gotten around to showing us a woman in a command position if (by some stretch) TOS had had a fourth season.

 

[Danlav05]

I wonder if it's a Prime/Mirror Universe crossover or another 'In A Mirror Darkly'?

Either way this looks like a fun episode!

From what I understand STC says they want to stay as close as possible to TOS and that this is a sequel to "Mirror, Mirror." In all good faith they can't make direct references (like name dropping) to MU episodes from other shows simply because those shows did not yet exist in 1966-69.

So technically (if they went this route) they could reference an Empress in the MU Empire's past, but they couldn't reference her actual name. Neither could they make references to Bajorans and such as well as a ship displaced from another timeline or universe. None of those things had been conceived of yet in 1967.

Note in "Lolani" there appears to be an oblique reference to events from ENT (spoken by Spock), but there's nothing specific in it. This appears to be STC's approach to continuity references and it's an approach that works for me because it maintains the illusion of TOS being its own thing.

In TOS, beyond "The Cage," we never got to see another women in a command position in Starfleet. But there's nothing throughout the series the specifically establishes a woman cannot command in Starfleet. So STC had a wide open door to show us a woman as a Starfleet Commodore, something that could have been shown in TOS but wasn't. And it's not impossible that TOS might have gotten around to showing us a woman in a command position if (by some stretch) TOS had had a fourth season.

It's interesting where Phase II are opposite and reference the Movie/TNG/Enterprise era stuff regularly in terms of continuity.

What I meant was, sorry, is this a Prime Universe ep that slips back behind the Mirror or is this a fully-Mirror Universe show with no Prime Universe whatsoever, as In A Mirror Darkly was a 'bottle show'?

 

[Warped9]

^^ My impression/understanding has been that this is a self-contained story that doesn't involve any Prime characters crossing over.

 

[Warped9]

You know it's rather amazing that we're already getting Episode 3 soon and we got Episode 1 only about a year ago.

 

[mos6507]

I hope they can keep the pace up. It really starts to feel like a series when you can get a new episode at least once every 90 days or so.

 

[Warped9]

For a live-action fan production they are just rockin' them out.

 

[JarodRussell]

The look still amazes me. They really absolutely nailed it.

 

[northstar]

Their pace is really impressive. I wonder how long they can keep it up like that. I would like to see a "non" bottle show with some elaborate VFX. Those most likely take a lot longer to film and to postproduce.

 

[Warped9]

I don't think I would count on too elaborate effects or it wouldn't look like TOS anymore, something they seem big on maintaining.

That said I understand they want to do some planet stories. That can still be challenging because then it involves shooting outdoors and being able to find appropriate locales.

 

[feek61]

Honestly we are somewhat limited to when we can film due to the fact that the studio is not climate controlled and in the summer months its just too hot to film. Subsequently, we film in the fall and winter and spend the spring and summer on stories and set upgrades.

 

[aalenfae]

I don't think I would count on too elaborate effects or it wouldn't look like TOS anymore, something they seem big on maintaining.

That said I understand they want to do some planet stories. That can still be challenging because then it involves shooting outdoors and being able to find appropriate locales.

Well, in TOS, a lot of the planets weren't outdoors at all, haha. I wonder if they'd want to emulate that look as well. I can't think of a fan production that dared emulate the soundstage-planets of TOS.

 

[Warped9]

Modern computer f?x could allow them to do things that could have been on TOS only in a more laborious manner. It needs to be said that TOS could have done more elaborate things given a better budget than they had as well as sufficient lead time. We know they used very nice matte paintings and that kind of resource allows for all kinds of imagery. Today you can do that digitally while still having the same look seen on TOS.

I would think it should be possible to put some rudimentary interiors (or exteriors) together and dress them digitally. The hangar deck scene in "Lolani" was a good example. And, as I said, you can still maintain the TOS aesthetic. Perhaps they could also redress certain sets, as was done on TOS, that could allow them to have Starbase interiors or the interior of another ship.