Star Trek Continues

I usually try to avoid fan productions.  Their ambition inevitably exceeds their resources, which generally fall a long way below those available to even the most poverty stricken direct-to-video Z-movie.  Although, to be absolutely fair, some of those direct-to-video efforts which manage to get some kind of distribution on streaming services are frequently little more than glorified home movies.  But just lately I've found myself enjoying episodes of Star Trek Continues, a fan-produced series from a few years ago that turned out eleven or so episodes over a period of several years, which effectively continues and concludes the original Star Trek series.  I've been pleasantly surprised by the production values and technical competence of this series.  It is a loving recreation of the original series, not just in look, but style and tone as well, with amazingly accurate looking recreation of the original sets and props.  Even the camera angles and lighting effects are faithfully recreated.  The only thing upgraded are the special effects.  To be sure, at first it is somewhat jarring to see different actors playing the main characters in an otherwise faithful recreation of the show, but they have at least cast professional actors, (many, apparently, are primarily voice actors), who know better than to attempt to impersonate the original actors.  Their effectiveness varies, but their Kirk captures the essence of the character as played by William Shatner - all cockiness and machismo - while Scotty does look and sound like the original, mainly because he's played by James Doohan's son.  My biggest reservations are with regard to their version of Spock - while a perfectly decent performance, which seeks to bring some nuance to the character, he lacks the sheer authoritativeness of Leonard Nimoy's version. The series also, interestingly, resurrects a character unseen since the second pilot episode, 'Where No Man Has Gone Before', in the form of Yeoman, now Lt, Smith, the character having been rather short-changed in the original series, being replaced by Yeoman Rand in the series proper, who also proved a short-lived character.

The scripts also do their best to evoke the spirit of the original series, with some even being sequels to original episodes.  There's a particularly effective episode set in the 'Mirror Universe' which follows on directly from the original series episode 'Mirror, Mirror', for instance.  Unfortunately, though, some of the scripts feel over-earnest, too talky and slightly preachy, something the original series, with its emphasis on action and conflict, tended to avoid.  This is probably the continuation series greatest weakness.  But the two-part finale more than makes up for such shortcomings, serving up an action-packed return to that second pilot episode to bring everything full-circle and wrap things up with the 'Enterprise' completing its five year mission and returning to earth.  These episodes, featuring a group of ESPers who have enhanced their natural abilities by deliberately going into the energy barrier at the galaxy's edge discovered in the afore-mentioned original series episode, with the intent of using their 'superior' status to take over the Federation, have a distinct Wrath of Khan vibe.  There's a face-off between the 'Enterprise' and a hijacked sister ship, several space battles, an uneasy alliance with a Romulan Warbird and its crew, the saucer section detaching from the drive unit of the 'Enterprise' and crises of confidence for both Kirk and Spock.  To be frank, I enjoyed it a lot more than much of the recent 'official' Star Trek output, particularly those Godawful JJ Abrams' movies, mainly because it simply felt more like, well, Star Trek, in both execution and spirit than any of these latter incarnations.  The makers, as fans themselves, clearly understood just what it is about the original series that people like me loved about it (and still love).  If the original series had ever had a proper finale, then I'd have hoped it would have been something like these two episodes. It neatly brings everything to a satisfactory conclusion that, in its final scenes, sets everything up for what we subsequently see in Star Trek - The Motion Picture (1979).  So there you have it - Doc Sleaze finally finds a fan production he likes!  Shocking!  But seriously, if you are a fan of the original series and haven't seen Star Trek Continues, then look it up - all of the episodes are available, free to view, online.