"The Holiest Thing" Released

[Shikarnov]

Firstly, forgive me for the tardy reply. I have two toddlers (3 and 2 years old) so I don't get a lot of time to watch what I want, when I want...

Also, I want to say thanks to everybody involved with the production for providing an hour of new Star Trek. Your work is really appreciated very much.

And the Enterprise is just amazing. Over the years, I've seen concept art for Phase II, and the occasional renderings in the Trek Art forum on this BBS. But seeing the ship come alive is just amazing. And, moreover, it reinforces Jefferies' original vision and fits perfectly into the TOS design ethic, while still evolving the design. And on another special effects note, the work on the crater was very well done, and it really tickled my inner Trekkie to see the life support belts from TAS included here.

In regards to the story, I love the concepts -- all of them. I really was happy to see some aspect of Carol Marcus' career, and not have her just as an object of affection for Kirk. And giving her and Kirk that commonality -- both as leaders and as commanders who lost people -- helped to ground the relationship on something real. She's not just pretty and dependent; she's able to connect with Kirk in a significant way. She can understand him.

I also loved the terraforming accident, and the set up that brought trading partners into the mix in order to make their deadline (although Orions might have been preferable to Ferengi in this case), and etc.

It's was all very neat storytelling. So major kudos to the creative team.

That said, the execution of those concepts just felt really forced, for multiple reasons. For one, there's just too much going on to set up a proper romance between Kirk and Marcus. The terraforming accident and investigation, Marcus dealing with her grief, making first contact with aliens -- it's just too much for the time allotted.

Moreover, the actors never seem to get past a certain awkwardness. By the time Kirk is proposing, it seems like they had shaken hands just minutes before. There was no familiarity between them.

I will say this: I really liked Jacy King's performance, and I wish Marcus would have been set up as a recurring character so we could see more of her. I think that would have given the relationship some time to grow and add to the punch at the end when she rejects Kirk and walks out of his life with their child. Maybe we could have had a Captain's Holiday-type episode with Kirk taking shore leave and going on an adventure with Carol, somehow adding a bit of backstory to David's later "overgrown Boy Scout" comment.

All that said, there's only one part of the episode that I actively disliked, and that's the treatment of Spock. I'm not sure if it's the writing, the direction, or the acting, but somebody doesn't have a good handle on the friendly ribbing between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, and it's coming off very meanly toward Spock. It wasn't enjoyable at all watching everybody beat up on him for the whole episode.

 

[siskokid888]

Re: the Ferengi - I don't think it's ever really made clear when the Fed first ran into them. There is the ENT episode, and in Encounter at Farpoint Picard says to Zorn, when Zorn brings up the Ferengi, "I hope they find you as tasty as their last allies", showing the Fed was at least aware of them, if not fully acquainted with them. It's open to interpretation and I don't see any problem with Kirk running into them.

 

[GSchnitzer]

Re: the Ferengi - I don't think it's ever really made clear when the Fed first ran into them. There is the ENT episode, and in Encounter at Farpoint Picard says to Zorn, when Zorn brings up the Ferengi, "I hope they find you as tasty as their last allies", showing the Fed was at least aware of them, if not fully acquainted with them. It's open to interpretation and I don't see any problem with Kirk running into them.

There's this line from "The Last Outpost:"

“Captain's log, Stardate 41386.4: We're in pursuit of a starship of Ferengi design. Our mission is to recover a T-9 energy converter--which the Ferengi stole from an unmanned post on Gamma Tauri IV—a theft which scanners recorded, providing us with the opportunity to make close contact with a Ferengi vessel. If we succeed, it will be Starfleet's first look at a life form which, discounting rumor, we know almost nothing about.”

 

[startrekphase2]

I wrote an article about this. You can see it here: http://www.stnv.de/thtcanon

 

[F. King Daniel]

I don't get why fans are bothered by canon discrepancies in fan films. It's fanfiction, they can do whatever they want!

 

[siskokid888]

There's this line from "The Last Outpost:"

“Captain's log, Stardate 41386.4: We're in pursuit of a starship of Ferengi design. Our mission is to recover a T-9 energy converter--which the Ferengi stole from an unmanned post on Gamma Tauri IV—a theft which scanners recorded, providing us with the opportunity to make close contact with a Ferengi vessel. If we succeed, it will be Starfleet's first look at a life form which, discounting rumor, we know almost nothing about.”

Yea I forgot about that line. I guess that shows it to be a discrepancy. Unless you interpret Picard's "first look at" not to mean first actual visual look, but rather first look at their culture, technology, etc.

 

[startrekphase2]

http://www.startrek.com/article/the-original-series-set-tour-to-open

 

[FormerLurker]

Yea I forgot about that line. I guess that shows it to be a discrepancy. Unless you interpret Picard's "first look at" not to mean first actual visual look, but rather first look at their culture, technology, etc.

I've always interpreted that line to mean that it's the first time anyone from Starfleet/The Federation has seen a Ferengi, and known they're looking at a Ferengi.

 

[GSchnitzer]

I've always interpreted that line to mean that it's the first time anyone from Starfleet/The Federation has seen a Ferengi, and known they're looking at a Ferengi.

Yes, it's possible that there had been contact with these aliens who never identified themselves.

My script notes for our "Holiest Thing" episode recommended that the line spoken by the alien on screen "We are the Ferengi!" be eliminated. I was overruled.

 

[Shikarnov]

I wrote an article about this. You can see it here: http://www.stnv.de/thtcanon

Thanks! And thanks again for all your fantastic work. I'm so sad to see that STP2 isn't on the "Survivor" list. I wish there was something I could do to help keep you guys going.

 

[Maurice]

My script notes for our "Holiest Thing" episode recommended that the line spoken by the alien on screen "We are the Ferengi!" be eliminated. I was overruled.

Because, Dog knows, no fan would realize they were seeing a Ferengi unless a lantern were hung on it.