Star Trek Continues, Episode 4 - "The White Iris"

"The White Iris" is located at:

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds0IkrB3WlA
[/yt]

Unfortunately, it was pulled from YouTube earlier today. (I'm sure we'll get the story eventually.)

"We're sorry, currently our video library can only streamed within our website
For more information, Please click Link in description" [sic]

In the meantime, find it at Vimeo:

at https://vimeo.com/128304406

 

Seeing your avatar brings up a complaint I remember my father had when I took him to see Superman Returns; after the movie was over he said, "Again with Lex Luthor?" Trying to write within franchises that qualify for AARP membership involves a tricky balance between honoring the old and embracing the new.

Setting that aside, "The White Iris" did something that I'm pretty sure only David R. George III's novel Crucible: McCoy did; address Captain Kirk's penchant for coming across personal tragedy. The book featured a chapter where Spock and McCoy practically force Kirk to take leave and seek counseling after the deaths of Edith Keeler, George S. Kirk, and Aurelan Kirk. The web show called the trope of the Cartwright Curse to the mat and I wonder if someone should make a notation on that page about this STC episode. It's obviously not what others upthread have said TOS would have addressed, but in those days TV shows wouldn't have lingered for too long on the deaths of female guest characters who were attached to male protagonists. I believe in trying to address Kirk's lingering guilt over the deaths of so many of his love interests, STC has managed to balance television of the 60s with modern entertainment in a way only Mad Men has managed to pull off.

 

Kudos to set decorator Jay Pennington for retrofitting the Sick Bay set to make it look like the Farragut's from seven (eleven?) years earlier.

If it were me, and providing there were enough time and resources available, I would have painted the room that weird ochre green that it was painted for "Where No Man Has Gone Before." I wouldn't have left the countertops that yellow color from the third season. I probably would have included the goofy wooden Adirondack chair from WNMHGB, and I would have thrown some anachronistic books onto the bedside table--like the ones next to Gary Mitchell. I might have included the remote control device patients use to change channels on their screens, and I would have removed the push button on the foot of the bed that does, well, we don't know what.

Not lost on me are the white 20th Century-style bedding, the Ralph Miller gooseneck viewer on whatever that bulky device is over on the bedside table, and most notably, the white sensor thing under the life signs monitor over the bed which had its own WNMHGB-style boxy thing around it. Few notice or would care. I do. Fantastic job of retrofitting the set, Jay.

 

It was a team effort, but thank you! I like your suggestions as well; we decided it was impractical to repaint the walls, opting instead to desaturate them in post. Will Smith came up with the gooseneck and the thingie covering the sensor. Bedding color was as close as we could get off the shelf. I wanted to repaint the tabletops but there wasn't time to put them back again.

In a "I can't believe I did that" moment, I had brought in a bridge chair for Kirk when Ralph Miller reminded me we needed an UNcoverted Burke. Saved by Ralph!

 

I'm afraid you've accidentally linked to a scam account; this is just a video with an ad for some other website.

The White Iris was found here, but as you say it has been taken down.
However, as you say, it's still available on Vimeo, and via their website.

 

I wanted to watch it again on YouTube before posting my thoughts, but I guess I'll have to wait.

 

I find it pretty frightening that CBS pulls it off youtube because of a copyright infringement. Does anybody know why that happened?

 

That was a fantastic conversion; not lost on me either! Entirely plausible that the tabletops could have been that color on some ships.

 

Although the blow to the head may have been a crude instrumentality, I think the key to Kirk's ailment must lie in that cough-and-miss-it reference to the amygdala. McCoy says the amygdala is related to "emotional memory," but it's also the part of the brain governing basic animal instincts such as the fight-or-flight reaction.

Presumably the amygdala would also be the locus of the instinct to protect one's mate and offspring. That would explain why only Kirk's dead girlfriends and child would be implicated, and not all the other people for whose deaths he felt guilty. I assume that one of the medical professionals among STC's cast and crew would have spoken up if these effects of Kirk's injury had been completely implausible.

Recently I read about a study which concluded that during a state of prayer or meditation, the conscious mind is able to communicate directly with the amygdala and induce a state of inner peace. Kirk was probably doing something akin to that in his holodeck therapy session.

 

Very frightening, though Eps.1-3 were left up. After all the Trek fanfilms over the years, why now and why White Iris?

I know there are members of the outstanding STC team on this board. Any answers and status of the problem? Does this action threaten the entire incredible project?

 

As fan films with no licenses, we do these projects only under the good graces of CBS Consumer Products. By operating in this "gray area," these projects are constantly threatened. Whatever the story turns out to be with STC taking down their "White Iris" video (and no others) from YouTube (and no place else), fan films are always on the bubble. That's why these are so amazing: it's hard to stay motivated to continually sink resources and money into these projects knowing that in the blink of an eye, CBS can simply "no more," and the financial investment becomes suddenly worthless.

We live our precarious fan film lives like a candle in the wind.

(Oh, and happy birthday Marilyn.)

 

Thanks Greg. BTW as I mentioned in an earlier post, I read Mind Sifter back in 76 and it became a longtime favorite story for me. your tean did an incredible job bringing it to life! This Trek fan since '66 says many thanks! And Jeff Bond is the best McCoy since 1969!

 

Thanks, mybandy. I'd hate to derail this thread about "The White Iris" too much. If you could take your "Mind-Sifter" questions and comments over to the "Mind-Sifter" TrekBBS thread, we can talk more.

 

I was never a fan of those turtleneck uniforms from the Menagerie, not too flattering, but impressive that the wardrobe dept could reproduce it.

 

I can't praise the production side highly enough and some of the performances were excellent. The additional music was good and appropriate in some areas, wildly over the top and distracting in others. But no more than George Duning's "Is There In Truth No Beauty" score.

To be frank, I was a little bored in some spots. I'm not a fan of huge "callback" episodes. Classic Trek rarely did it, treating each episode as its own entity. So, already, as soon as he remembers Rayna, I was disappointed they went back that way.

It's not a bad story, but it reminded me of the second year of Space:1999. "The Lambda Factor," where Commander Koenig is freaking out because he's plagued by ghostly visions of old friends he let die. He too went out of whack. Only, he didn't need no holodeck to conquer his demons...

I was also frustrated that it took so long for Kirk to step down. Shouldn't Bones and Spock have mentioned relieving him a lot sooner? He was cracked on the head, had a serious injury and back to work in 5 minutes? Remembering Rayna and forgetting the password is a "red alert" of something being wrong. Confine him to sickbay, Bones, you have that authority. I also found myself wondering, since it was so vital to get the password, why Spock didn't offer up a mind meld to get the info. If he could take it upon himself to wipe the memory of Rayna, this should be no worse an invasion. I would have also preferred Kirk going through his "closure" via said mind meld. It would have been more in keeping with the original series and more "real" to Kirk. It would be actual closure, meeting people in his own mind rather than as illusions on a holodeck. Put Scotty in charge on the bridge and give Chris Doohan something more to do. He was very underused. Although he seemed to drop the accent a bit in the teaser when shouting for beam up - but his dad did a couple of times, too, so he's in good company.

Also, is there something different about the uniforms this time out? They didn't seem to fit as well on a few people.

I had no idea that was Colin Baker in the cast until the end credits (I don't follow the progress of fan films and only watch one or two a year). Honestly, I never would have thought it was a professional actor, he was not up to his usual standards. I actually thought his "English Accent" was terrible! Which made me laugh when I realized who it was.

The regular cast was fine and Todd H was excellent. A stand out, really. Easily the best Spock in the fan films. And, I give STC for this, FINALLY the friendship between Kirk and Spock is evident. I never got that friendship, that connection, over in Phase II, where the emphasis is on Kirk and Bones. Here, it's just right. Thank you! It's the most important friendship in Star Trek.

Three out of five stars. Great production, cast is mostly fine, nice music. Just some gaps and disappointment in the story and flagging pacing for me.

 

^^ I, too, noticed some of the uniforms didn't seem to fit right.

The more I think about it the more I think the story idea is valid enough for TOS, but I'm still not convinced of how they went about it.

Maybe if the callback to previous characters weren't so blatant. Maybe if they had focused primarily on one, and that one being Kirk's lost love from the Farragut. That way they deal with the issue while introducing a new character rather than already familiar ones. And to tie it into current events better have the circumstances surrounding her death somewhat similar to the present situation.

Just shooting out ideas here.

 

I adore STC -- it has by far the most solid cast of any TREK fan franchise, and their attention to detail is astounding. The shows are very professional and well-done. Personally I think "Fairest of Them All" has got to rank among the top 10 fan films of ANY type. These guys are true fans, as well as being extremely talented, and I think they're great.

That said, I felt this was by far their weakest episode. While I can appreciate the idea of exploring the deeper levels below the surface of "Kirk the Womanizer," the episode as a whole felt slackly paced, and quite dry at times. Vic did a terrific job, and that final meeting did tug at my heartstrings a bit, but overall the story felt underdeveloped, and a little too emotionally manipulative (even given that *all* drama is at least somewhat manipulative by its very nature) -- I see what they were going for, but the strings were too apparent.

Also, and perhaps more importantly, this is the third time (out of only four stories produced) that the script has been built *directly* on the bones of a previous TOS story (or, multiple stories, as is the case here). It felt a bit fanwanky, in a way that "Fairest" and even "Pilgrim" did not. STC has by far the most potential of any fan-TREK series, and I really think they need to stop looking backwards and just get on with seeking out new life and new civilizations. That's what I would prefer to see, anyway.

 

From what I've heard Mignogna and the STC group have heard fan criticism of looking back and now intend to focus more on looking forward. Episode 4 was already in production and set so hopefully we'll see them looking forward with Episode 5 onward.

Now given that a good chunk of Episode 5 has apparently already been filmed we might not have that long to wait to see what's next.

 

I hope that in the next episode they cut out the extraneous fat and waffle in the scripts.

To be honest in regards to characters, Dr McKenna sticks out like a sore thumb..

Do they actually need her?

 

Yes, because she's totally gorgeous and Michele Specht is a real sweetheart.