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Star Trek Continues - To Boldly Go (Parts I & II)

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Well if the Kongo bites it, Kirk is going to have to think, "I've had some role or been present in the demise of Exeter, Defiant, Excalibur, Constellation, Hood, and Kongo. Fully half of the Enterprises sister ships or their crews. Maybe I'm just bad luck."
 
Well if the Kongo bites it, Kirk is going to have to think, "I've had some role or been present in the demise of Exeter, Defiant, Excalibur, Constellation, Hood, and Kongo. Fully half of the Enterprises sister ships or their crews. Maybe I'm just bad luck."
Which is actually all b.s. He is not responsible for that.
 
I am a Robert Swayer fan, but halfway through this episode I am not impressed.

The blatant continuity callouts to post TOS productions are numerous and often heavy handed. Indeed the whole thing is one big continuity callout exercise.

The fight sequences are not well choreographed and look awkward.

The planet set is very nice. Some of the ship shots are very nice.

Very little about this feels like a genuine TOS episode.

Why am I not surprised :rolleyes:
 
Well if the Kongo bites it, Kirk is going to have to think, "I've had some role or been present in the demise of Exeter, Defiant, Excalibur, Constellation, Hood, and Kongo. Fully half of the Enterprises sister ships or their crews. Maybe I'm just bad luck."

That does not sound remotely like something Kirk would think. For all their occasional issues with characterization in STC, I don't think they'd write his motivation like that.
 
That does not sound remotely like something Kirk would think. For all their occasional issues with characterization in STC, I don't think they'd write his motivation like that.
Actually seeing how they have been writing Kirk it wouldn’t surprise me.
 
I liked it. But then, when I watch STC, I don't compare it to what I THINK the show should be. ;)

As a "semi-spoiler", was sorry to see a regular character introduced in STC die. Actually I noted two deaths, one being (or at least striking me as) a nameless redshirt. The other character had been fleshed out sufficiently over the series that it was a bit disturbing to see him die. Perhaps it is the ultimate compliment to the series that when characters they created die (and as others have suggested, more of that may be coming), it can provoke an emotional response (as opposed to lowly redshirts that no one ever seems to care about).

By the way, was it always clear that Smith was the same character as from WNMHGB?
 
Yes, the resemblance is striking. As far as the above criticisms go, there is merit in some, but this show is a wrap so it is not going to change things. I try to appreciate this and other fan films for what they are. At least this one seems to have a story that propels things along, many past efforts set up a situation and then just sort of filled it in. Yes, it is not exactly like classic Trek in that it is trying to conclude the five year mission, whereas in the 60s and 70s you just ran weekly episodes until you lost quality/ratings and got cancelled. I think I prefer the former. It does seem that something likely happened that drove Kirk away from the center seat, he's a human being not an always positive bio-robot, but it would have to be something really bad which seems to be what is about to happen. Since Kirk decided to trust Lana and let her on-board he will no doubt have some feelings of guilt about that. Yes, Kirk is capable of feeling guilt over his actions (or in-actions) that change his behavior or decisions as we saw in "Obsession".
 
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There's so much dead air and exposition in this episode, and not sure it's setting up a worthy payoff. There's no personal story for Kirk. Once again he is reacting and not acting clever. He trusts Lana on the surface, never questions her motives and is never one step ahead of her.

Kirk should have a stake--he should have more feelings on the matter. After all, it was his decision to go into the barrier that cost the lives of his best friend, Gary Mitchell, and Dr. Dehnar.

Hell, where's the relationship with the Big Three?! The scene where Spock is revealing his emotions should be with Kirk not Troi-lite.

If you were trying to write a finale to TOS, Kirk should have a personal story. Something that changes him. That tests his relationship with Spock and McCoy.
 
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I didn't think it had any really dead moments. Exposition, yes. That is a tendency of 2 parters anyways since they build to a conclusion in part 2. BOBW1: Picard talking to Hansen. Picard talking to Guinan. Riker talking to Shelby, Riker talking to Troi etc etc. I don't think Kirk has a reason to feel "guilty" about going into the Barrier. He had orders to leave the galaxy. Responsible yes, guilty, no.
 
There's so much dead air and exposition in this episode, and not sure it's setting up a worthy payoff. There's no personal story for Kirk. Once again he is reacting and not acting clever. He trusts Lana on the surface, never questions her motives and is never one step ahead of her.

Kirk should have a stake--he should have more feelings on the matter. After all, it was his decision to go into the barrier that cost the lives of his best friend, Gary Mitchell, and Dr. Dehnar.

Hell, where's the relationship with the Big Three?! The scene where Spock is revealing his emotions should be with Kirk not Troi-lite.

If you were trying to write a finale to TOS, Kirk should have a personal story. Something that changes him. That tests his relationship with Spock and McCoy.

It does not have to be "one thing" that changes him. It could be a totality of events. We all assume he could stay on as the Captain of a newly retrofitted Enterprise. Often in a military organization (even a quasi one as Starfleet claims to be) that is not an option. Maybe he decides the best way to hold those responsible for setting up this whole thing is to take that promotion and go after them.
 
I didn't think it had any really dead moments. Exposition, yes. That is a tendency of 2 parters anyways since they build to a conclusion in part 2. BOBW1: Picard talking to Hansen. Picard talking to Guinan. Riker talking to Shelby, Riker talking to Troi etc etc. I don't think Kirk has a reason to feel "guilty" about going into the Barrier. He had orders to leave the galaxy. Responsible yes, guilty, no.

By "dead air," I mean that it plods. It isn't snappy. And it doesn't captivate. Your example of BoBW part one--there was story and every scene serviced that and the character arcs.

The STC episode has no real story other than a puzzle box problem that doesn't have anything at stake for the characters.

Also, Kirk is a character filled with self-doubt and carries his guilt, as demonstrated in several TOS episodes. He would feel responsible and guilty for the death of Mitchell.

Sure, he had orders to penetrate the barrier, but ultimately it was his final decision as captain of the Enterprise. He took the risk, as stated in the episode, because other ships would have to know what's out here. He could've easily pulled back because the risk was too great to his ship and crew. His command. His choice.

It does not have to be "one thing" that changes him. It could be a totality of events. We all assume he could stay on as the Captain of a newly retrofitted Enterprise. Often in a military organization (even a quasi one as Starfleet claims to be) that is not an option. Maybe he decides the best way to hold those responsible for setting up this whole thing is to take that promotion and go after them.

Of course, it can be all the years and all the losses getting to Kirk. But the story should have that one moment, that one event, which pushes him over the edge. Something that either convinces him to take a shore assignment. Or something that reaffirms his love of space exploration.
 
Well, the story is not over yet! As a 2-parter I guess it really needs both to review it. I only hope part 2 is better than 1 unlike most TNG 2 parters where part 2 was always a bit lacking.
 
Which is actually all b.s. He is not responsible for that.

Agreed but you can understand why the thoughts would crop up. You're talking about thousands of starship personnel many of whom Captain Kirk probably knew personally.
 
This series has definitely jumped the shark a few episodes ago, sadly.

I still give props to Matt Bucy and also this time to the FX team, the costumers and off-camera crew.

But definitely not so for James Kerwin the director. Camera set-ups were fine for static camera dialogue, but each one of the action sequences in this episode were total cringefests: no proper set-up, zero tension, bad choreography. Actors pop up out of nowhere. Drake's demise scene was sleep-inducing when it should have been tragic. Kirk vs the fake Romulan was totally laughable.

It`s just not getting better in the story department: ''Kirk'' here is a total gullible idiot, who is this imposter?
The whole play-acting bit by Lana and her Vulcan husband is nonsense. also why bother with the whole disguising as a Romulan bit in the first place? They needed to get to the galaxy rim, why go through this pointless charade in the Neutral Zone?
As super-telekinetics, this episode made the case that Charlie X was much more powerful than they are (he could simply erase a person from existence with his mind and control one ship by himself. Lana still needs to push Drake into killing the other redshirt and himself).
As a menace, the super telekinetics are completely defanged compared to Gary Mitchell who was truly frightening (by means of another pop culture comparison, Mitchell was the Watchmen by Alan Moore and they are 50s Superman comics.
On a pure storytelling level, this episode fails as it keeps reintroducing series elements without ever explaining them properly: the Katra, Kohlinaar, the Romulan commander, her ''relationship'' with Spock...this should be a standalone episode (or 2-part episode), but it`s written as though it was part of a soap opera serial.
But the worst part of this whole experiment? Just what is this episode about? WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE at least had at its heart the struggle to retain humanity while achieving omniscience. This episode is a whole 45 minutes of nothing.
I will mention the utter ridiculousness of bringing in so many future aspects from latter Star Trek films and shows (Section 31, movie-era warping, TMP tunics, etc.) when the script is so deficient in basic storytelling.
Gene Coon would be having a fit if this ''script'' ever came across his desk.
Almost forgot: a complete absence of anything resembling the Kirk-Spock-McCoy dynamic, apart from Kirk being upset with Spock for contacting the Romulans (but since their whole trip to the Neutral Zone was pointless, i guess I can ignore that)
 
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