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.
Entirely plausible that the tabletops could have been that color on some ships.
