STC Ep. 8: "Still Treads The Shadow" rating and discussion....
- Thread starter Warped9
- Start date
That never would have happened. Nimoy didn't want people outside of the production to see the bloopers. He even took Roddenberry to court over Roddenberry showing the bloopers on the lecture circuit in the 1970s.
Wow, that seems a bit extreme.
As far as Nimoy was concerned showing the blooper reels violated the privacy of the shooting sets and he hated the idea of Roddenberry making money from showing the Star Trek cast flubbing their lines.
Yeah, but times have changed. Just as once George Reeves--the quintessential Superman of the era--resented being identified as Superman. Today actors covet such roles.
It must have been a change, over the years, from an era where only what ended up in the episode was ever seen, to the era of behind the scenes documentaries, blogs, Youtubes with the cast, blooper reels, etc etc.
Nowadays on a big production it must seem like you're constantly on camera.
Nowadays on a big production it must seem like you're constantly on camera.
Who knows where this really started. Maybe with magazines like Starlog that used to offer us glimpses behind-the-scenes. Then we started getting "special features" on DVDs showing us outtakes, deleted scenes and features on how various things were developed. Now those old bloopers that were previously seen only by cast and production people have a value to viewers who are eager to see "behind the magic" so to speak.
Maybe it started with late 70s Burt Reynolds movies, where they showed bloopers during the end credits...
All there is, alas. It was a Vine, or something along those lines*, that just records a few seconds.
*I don't know this stuff, I'm ancient
Little did he know Roddenberry saved EVERYTHING (Now we have the "Vault" DVD) with even more outtakes.
I got to meet him on Friday and hug him!!!I wasn't able to attend the premiere here in Dallas, but I did get to meet Vic the next day during the con. Man -- this guy is seriously charming. He was very warm and friendly, and spent a lot of time with each fan in line (most of whom I think were there for his anime voice work -- though there were a couple of us STC fans in the queue). Got an autographed photo, and he gave me a copy of the premiere poster, even though I wasn't at the premiere. I definitely recommend saying hi to Vic if you ever have the chance. Unfortunately, the con didn't bring Michele in for the show. :/
How cool was it that STC was able to get a Star Trek Discovery actor to appear in their fan film. 
So the good news is if you have appeared in a fan production that does not rule you out from being cast in official Star Trek productions. So you never know, we might still get to see Alec Peters play Garth someday
So the good news is if you have appeared in a fan production that does not rule you out from being cast in official Star Trek productions. So you never know, we might still get to see Alec Peters play Garth someday
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... not!So you never know, we might still get to see Alec Peters play Garth someday
I've seen this episode 3 times by now, will try to not go too indepth since that would just make the usual people's heads explode.
The good parts: as usual Matt Bucy's work is outstanding, his camera set-ups are clear, well-composed, and his post-production colour enhancement is pure wow. I'd be interested to find out with what program and how many hours it takes for him to enhance the footage.
The CG shots were well done, but sadly I didn't really find any of them to be ''showstoppers'' like in the earliest episodes. My teeth gnashed a bit when one of the starships does a totally impossible 180 degree pivot (it looked familiar to one done for New Voyages, somehow...)
The less good: Rekha Sharma's costume was kinda boring and forgettable, like something borrowed from Canadian sci-fi shows (which she's appeared in) like Stargate.
The story: oy...The much-aged spaceman kept alive by a super-intelligent disembodied being was done in a more interesting way when it was Zephram Cochrane and his companion. But I'll focus on this episode...
STC's biggest weakness is its scripts, and it's still bloody apparent that no one in the company is willing to be the ''asshole'' that every production needs when it comes to the role of the story editor. They just give tiny tweaks to what's likely second or third drafts (probably second).
They have a bunch of friends they want to give at least a few lines each episode, even if these lines are incorrectly allocated. For example during the Klingon Bird of Prey bit with Spock nowhere in sight for no reason at all, they hand what should be his lines to a handful of other characters. And when it's all over Spock just casually enters the bridge !!!!!
The episode is littered with bits that are superfluous, weakly thought-out or just fall flat:
Old Kirk was marooned on the Defiant for over 40 years yet the ship was spotless when young Kirk boards, save for one lone coffee cup. Old Kirk to really bring home his desperation and depression should have left the ship in shambles. He's not going to become Mr. Neat freak.
Tom Hanks spent 4 years marooned on an island, he needed 6 months of therapy before they released him to his old life. Old kirk just has a half-hour conversation with McKenna and all is fine?!? Matt Decker was a much more believable deep trauma victim than Old kirk here.
In this episode Spock and McCoy are damn gullible, in fact they all go along way too quickly that this is indeed an ''aged kirk from another universe'', never questioning it, and in fact they betray the direct orders of the man they know to be their C.O. and instead do what this unknown entity tells them.
Once again Kirk is totally useless as regards the end resolution, the Old Kirk does everything. In fact Spock as well never once offers any solution to how to dislodge the Enterprise, escape the black hole or prevent the Defiant from disappearing forever.
Rekha Sharma is charming, but her character is completely unnecessary to the story and ill-defined, except as ''generic former Kirk flame''. She's a gravitational wave engineer yet knows how to pilot a starship.
Same thing for Tiberius. Original Trek had Landru, Vaal and Nomad, but Tiberius just has nothing to make him stand out. Why does Tiberius need old Kirk as a friend? Tiberius juiced up the Defiant so it could go up to Warp 15? Go where if there was nothing in its original universe, but if there was why was Old Kirk stuck for 218 years?
It's just so disappointing, it's obvious the STC gang wants to have fun and present a pretty product, but there is more heart and effort put into their stories by other productions out there...I wish them luck!
The good parts: as usual Matt Bucy's work is outstanding, his camera set-ups are clear, well-composed, and his post-production colour enhancement is pure wow. I'd be interested to find out with what program and how many hours it takes for him to enhance the footage.
The CG shots were well done, but sadly I didn't really find any of them to be ''showstoppers'' like in the earliest episodes. My teeth gnashed a bit when one of the starships does a totally impossible 180 degree pivot (it looked familiar to one done for New Voyages, somehow...)
The less good: Rekha Sharma's costume was kinda boring and forgettable, like something borrowed from Canadian sci-fi shows (which she's appeared in) like Stargate.
The story: oy...The much-aged spaceman kept alive by a super-intelligent disembodied being was done in a more interesting way when it was Zephram Cochrane and his companion. But I'll focus on this episode...
STC's biggest weakness is its scripts, and it's still bloody apparent that no one in the company is willing to be the ''asshole'' that every production needs when it comes to the role of the story editor. They just give tiny tweaks to what's likely second or third drafts (probably second).
They have a bunch of friends they want to give at least a few lines each episode, even if these lines are incorrectly allocated. For example during the Klingon Bird of Prey bit with Spock nowhere in sight for no reason at all, they hand what should be his lines to a handful of other characters. And when it's all over Spock just casually enters the bridge !!!!!
The episode is littered with bits that are superfluous, weakly thought-out or just fall flat:
Old Kirk was marooned on the Defiant for over 40 years yet the ship was spotless when young Kirk boards, save for one lone coffee cup. Old Kirk to really bring home his desperation and depression should have left the ship in shambles. He's not going to become Mr. Neat freak.
Tom Hanks spent 4 years marooned on an island, he needed 6 months of therapy before they released him to his old life. Old kirk just has a half-hour conversation with McKenna and all is fine?!? Matt Decker was a much more believable deep trauma victim than Old kirk here.
In this episode Spock and McCoy are damn gullible, in fact they all go along way too quickly that this is indeed an ''aged kirk from another universe'', never questioning it, and in fact they betray the direct orders of the man they know to be their C.O. and instead do what this unknown entity tells them.
Once again Kirk is totally useless as regards the end resolution, the Old Kirk does everything. In fact Spock as well never once offers any solution to how to dislodge the Enterprise, escape the black hole or prevent the Defiant from disappearing forever.
Rekha Sharma is charming, but her character is completely unnecessary to the story and ill-defined, except as ''generic former Kirk flame''. She's a gravitational wave engineer yet knows how to pilot a starship.
Same thing for Tiberius. Original Trek had Landru, Vaal and Nomad, but Tiberius just has nothing to make him stand out. Why does Tiberius need old Kirk as a friend? Tiberius juiced up the Defiant so it could go up to Warp 15? Go where if there was nothing in its original universe, but if there was why was Old Kirk stuck for 218 years?
It's just so disappointing, it's obvious the STC gang wants to have fun and present a pretty product, but there is more heart and effort put into their stories by other productions out there...I wish them luck!
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Can't really argue with this.
I had no problem with the Defiant making that 180 degree turn. A ship (In Space!) at station keeping will turn easiest on a center axis, and that is what the Defiant was doing. If it had been in motion, then I would have had a problem with it, but it was stopped.
They were doing this kind of turning action quite often during the 80s when TNG was on, but during TOS and even in the movies if the ship needed to turn around it would do it the long way around, unless you can point to an occasion where they did so. However what really struck me as wrong is that the ship went from 0 to whatever speed it chose in less than a 1/4 second. Sure we can say this new kind of maneuverability was part of the improvements Tiberius made to the Defiant and if so, fine. But not the kind of shot the TOS and movie FX teams would have created.
Actually there were one or two shots in TOS that could give the impression the ship was pivoting on an axis. I wasn't as clean and distinct as today, but the impression was there or at least it could be interpreted that way.
I always wondered about those space battles in TOS , pivoting and firing at Warp 4, I believe this happened in Elaan of Troyius when they were playing dead, and of course other bizarre maneuvers such as a head on nose to nose engagement at warp 8, which I would imagine the combined approach velocity would be warp 16. A bit faster than a speeding bullet.