Just watched my first episode of Star Trek Continues.
(Daily Doctor Who #126)
This is one of several popular Star Trek fan film projects that have been attempted over the decades. This is a pretty high quality one which emulated the original series, with some very authentic looking sets, costumes, lighting, and camerawork.
Specifically, I watched The White Iris, which is the fourth episode out of eleven that were produced. In it, Captain Kirk (Vic Mignogna–also one of the series’ executive producers) suffering from hallucinations related to guilt over various people who have died because of him, especially lost loves. Some are characters recreated from the original series, like Edith Keeler (City on the Edge of Forever) and Miramanee (The Paradise Syndrome), while another was original to the story, but set on the backdrop of something that the original series covered (the loss of the crew of the Farragut from the episode Obsession).
It all turns out to be legitimate emotional trauma brought on by treatment for a head injury that Kirk has suffered, which he works through after getting advice from the ship’s counselor and then talking to each person on the holodeck.
Now, astute readers will know that the original Star Trek series did not feature a ship’s counselor or a holodeck, but as this is meant to be in the later years of Kirk’s original Enterprise mission, it’s not implausible that early versions of both might have been around.
The production is pretty similar to the original series, with even the CGI effects trying to emulate the 1960’s look. The acting is varied, I’d say. Vic Mignogna really does bring something of the look of William Shatner’s Kirk to the screen at times, but his voice is quite different. Meanwhile, Todd Haberkorn (Spock) and Chuck Huber (McCoy) both do okay with their characters voices, but don’t really have the right look. Chris Doohan, the son of the late James Doohan, takes on his father’s role of Scotty and probably is the most similar to the original out of everyone. Ultimately, it took a bit of work to suspend my disbelief and accept that these were the original characters, but I was able to get there.
The guest cast includes a cameo by Marina Sirtis (Counselor Troi from Star Trek: The Next Generation) as the voice of the Enterprise computer.
And…why have I included this post in my Daily Doctor Who count?
Because one of the main guest stars was none other than Colin Baker–the Sixth Doctor.
Here, he is playing the Chalcidian minister, the leader of a planet eager to join the Federation in order to have the technology to protect themselves from an aggressive sister world (allowing the episode to have some space action in the middle of all the emotional stuff).
It’s not much of a part for Baker to work with (he spends most of this time on a screen), but he has the fun with it that he can, and it’s fun to see him.
In general, I’d enjoy watching all the episodes of this series, but I just don’t know when I’ll have the time. However, apparently Nicola Bryant shows up in some later episodes, so I’ll probably make a point of making time for those at least.
Blue Towel Productions 