Star Trek Continues: Episode 3...

[Maurice]

Just because they didn't have outside funding for the first episode doesn't mean money wasn't spent. Having a budget means you can afford to put the time in to make these things on a regular schedule. That's hardly a controversial statement.

 

[Warped9]

I think there's definitely something to be said for the fact that Star Trek Continues near-universal praise and conisistent track record thus far may just be a piece of the "know your limitations" puzzle. Nearly every episode of Phase II winds up having space battles. Nearly every episode of Phase II has to shoehorn in intertextual reference after intertextual reference or crossover after crossover.

I think Continues has been the beneficiary of Phase II's experience in this regard, knowing enough now to know that this kind of thing is entirely flooding the web. I appreciate the more understated approach and hope that Continues would stick with it. If the story they choose to tell winds up having a space battle, great! If they want to go on location, even better!

But let's be practical for a minute. Not biting off more than you can chew is precisely one of the major tenets of successful filmmaking. Vic and his team understand that.

Yes.

 

[Bixby]

Now, apart from there just not being room for everything and the kitchen sink (try though they might to fit it in), Phase II is nothing if not ambitious.

One thing that being ambitious for Phase 2, it made a star out of Tobias Richter, and that's a really great thing.

STC's FX approach, to remain as faithful as possible to 60s Trek's established shot compositions and aesthetic is fine, allowing your VFX team to complete their task simply and efficiently, without sacrificing beauty.

Though I would like it if your VFX guys as well as Matt Bucy would once in a while stray a little from the beaten path, to push for some new angles. I know Roland Baron on Yorktown and Gabe Koerner for Excalibur's trailer (IIRC?) have done some AWESOME stuff (I can't give more praise here) when tweaking with the established TOS look.

It's ok to try something different , it sometimes can yield a great crop (for example here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAfEXDCsRmg at the 6:00 mark, director Marc Daniels and his unique angles in Doomsday Machine)

 

[feek61]

Just because they didn't have outside funding for the first episode doesn't mean money wasn't spent. Having a budget means you can afford to put the time in to make these things on a regular schedule. That's hardly a controversial statement.

Obviously and regardless it seems a strange point to make. Should we expect other fan films to pump out episodes in the same time-frame now that they have a "boat load of money?"

Not sure I understand why this is relevant honestly but if it is an important point to make; so be it.

 

[DCR]

I don't know.

Phase II has reached for the sky on just about every production they've done, with some great results (the aforementioned "World Enough and Time"), to terrible (lookin' at you, "Blood and Fire, Part 2") and everything in between.

Now, apart from there just not being room for everything and the kitchen sink (try though they might to fit it in), Phase II is nothing if not ambitious.

I think there's definitely something to be said for the fact that Star Trek Continues near-universal praise and conisistent track record thus far may just be a piece of the "know your limitations" puzzle. Nearly every episode of Phase II winds up having space battles. Nearly every episode of Phase II has to shoehorn in intertextual reference after intertextual reference or crossover after crossover.

I think Continues has been the beneficiary of Phase II's experience in this regard, knowing enough now to know that this kind of thing is entirely flooding the web. I appreciate the more understated approach and hope that Continues would stick with it. If the story they choose to tell winds up having a space battle, great! If they want to go on location, even better!

But let's be practical for a minute. Not biting off more than you can chew is precisely one of the major tenets of successful filmmaking. Vic and his team understand that.

Fact is STC has stated they want to pick up where TOS left off and continue in much the same way. That pretty much means not veering too far from what TOS could and would have done. Phase II goes beyond that and in that sense doesn't at all feel like a believable continuation of TOS.

So if folks want STC to go into more Phase II like territory then they likely would lose a major element that makes STC distinctive and feel so much like TOS.

I don't want STC to be like Phase II if only because that would reduce the variety I would get to enjoy.

However, I do think they could be more ambitious than they have been (almost exclusively focusing on bottle shows) and still keep things within their mandate of doing what the original show could do.

There's a middle ground, and I'd like to see them stretch a little further than they have been.

 

[Kelso]

I wouldn't mind if every episode were a bottle show. I doubt they will be, but I wouldn't mind if they were. And it they do a space battle episode, I'd rather it be of the "Balance of Terror"/" Doomsday Machine " variety.

 

[doubleohfive]

I wouldn't mind if every episode were a bottle show. I doubt they will be, but I wouldn't mind if they were. And it they do a space battle episode, I'd rather it be of the "Balance of Terror"/" Doomsday Machine " variety.

As long as the story is good and it's about something more than just phaser harmonics or tachyon dispersal fields, I'm all for it.

 

[Warped9]

STC has been straying beyond the familiar in f/x as well as other things, but I appreciate they are trying to walk a fine line to not lose that particular TOS vibe and sensibility. So if they do it with a measure of restraint and continue to deliver an engaging story then it's all good.

 

[urbandefault]

STC has been straying beyond the familiar in f/x as well as other things, but I appreciate they are trying to walk a fine line to not lose that particular TOS vibe and sensibility. So if they do it with a measure of restraint and continue to deliver an engaging story then it's all good.

+1.

I like what they're doing with the new effects, but I especially appreciate the duplication of the old "stock" shots. Their cgi Enterprise looks a ton better to me than the TOS-R stuff, too.

 

[Warped9]

I like what they're doing with the new effects, but I especially appreciate the duplication of the old "stock" shots. Their cgi Enterprise looks a ton better to me than the TOS-R stuff, too.

Definitely.

 

[dougkeenan]

It is excellent. That is all.

 

[RCAM]

Fact is STC has stated they want to pick up where TOS left off and continue in much the same way. That pretty much means not veering too far from what TOS could and would have done. Phase II goes beyond that and in that sense doesn't at all feel like a believable continuation of TOS.

So if folks want STC to go into more Phase II like territory then they likely would lose a major element that makes STC distinctive and feel so much like TOS.

What's interesting to me is that you'd think the roles would be reversed. With Phase II's firm focus on involving Trek alumni (including on the production and story side), you'd think they would be the outfit that had the TOS feel and ambiance down cold (or that would be seeking, at least, to replicate it).

Nothing wrong with Phase II's new focus on pushing the envelope toward TPM; I can see the appeal of exploring that time period. Hopefully they step up their game with their upcoming episodes.

STC seems to have stuck its professed mission, and the results have been extraordinary to date.

 

[Warped9]

I've watched this episode four times now, and come away more impressed with each viewing. And this considering I had reservations and concerns when I learned what this episode might entail. Now I have only one remaining criticism: it's too short. I think it would have been nice if the story could have been fleshed out a bit more to use up another five minutes or so. I love it as, so much so that I find myself wanting to see more.

 

[doubleohfive]

Perhaps you might consider re-wording your sig then.

STAR TREK: 1964-1991, 2014

 

[Warped9]

Perhaps you might consider re-wording your sig then.

STAR TREK: 1964-1991, 2014

Considering it started last year it could read,

STAR TREK: 1964-1991, 2013-?

 

[doubleohfive]

Perhaps you might consider re-wording your sig then.

STAR TREK: 1964-1991, 2014

Considering it started last year it could read,

STAR TREK: 1964-1991, 2013-?

Or, since Continues actually debuted their first vignette in 2012, it could read:

STAR TREK: 1964-1991, 2012, 2013, 2014

And why are we skipping 1992-2011 anyway? I'm fairly certain there was plenty of STAR TREK during those 19 years.

So let's amend it:

STAR TREK: 1964-2014

Perfect.

 

[BillJ]

So let's amend it:

STAR TREK: 1964-2014

Perfect.

Or...

Star Trek: 1964-

 

[doubleohfive]

So let's amend it:

STAR TREK: 1964-2014

Perfect.

Or...

Star Trek: 1964-

Better.

 

[Warped9]

^^ Looking back I found things to like in a hit-and-miss fashion since TOS. But after the first few seasons of TNG stuff done in Trek's name just doesn't work for me. Babylon 5 in particular helped kill off any lingering interest I might have had in anything being done in Trek's name since. I had once thought VOY and ENT were the nadir of things, but then JJ came along and proved you could scrape right through the bottom of the barrel and into the muck underneath.

The only things Star Trek in my video library are TOS, TAS, TMP-DE, TWOK-DE, the first three seasons of TNG-R and now Star Trek Continues (on my hard drive).

All my Trek books, reference and fiction, are TOS or TMP related except for just a few early TNG novels (Encounter at Farpoint, Ghosts, Vendetta, A Rock And A Hard Place and Federation).

 

[doubleohfive]

Wow.

I'm not sure I understand why anything Babylon 5 did or didn't do has anything to do with whether or not someone can enjoy Star Trek, but whatev.

Seems like there's a lot of stuff that you're just not letting yourself enjoy, despite the quality of the various productions over the years.