 |
| Kirk's robot dream (left); the original robotic Rayna (right) |
Three years ago I
commented on the first 3 episodes of
Star Trek Continues. The 8th episode was released in April 2017. Last year
I celebrated 50 years of Star Trek by looking back at the interesting episodes of the original series. Now it is time to catch up with the
Enterprise...
Episode 4
Kirk has memory problems after being struck on the head in episode #4 of
Star Trek Continues. This episode dwells on Kirk's lost loves. First we get a glimpse into Kirk's haunting memory of the long-"dead" robot girl
Rayna.
 |
Kirk remembers the humanoid alien Miramanee and
Edith from Earth in the 1930s. |
As much fun as it is to see Kirk's old flames resurrected, I wish that
Star Trek Continues would actually take us to some strange new worlds rather than simply rehash old topics. Hey, they could have even given us a story about some long lost love child of Kirk. But no...
Kirk is feeling guilty over his role in the deaths of Rayna,
Miramanee and
Edith. In the end we are supposed to believe that Kirk will be fine as long as he has his number 1 girl, the
Enterprise.
Episode 5
 |
| alien nanites |
The
Enterprise is "invaded" by alien nanites. At first, the nanites invade the computer system, "feeding" on the available information. When the nanites are going through the historical database, there is an explosion. Kirk and McCoy are standing nearby and so some of the nanites are blasted into their bodies.
 |
| "I have an idea!" |
Kirk and McCoy collapse, seemingly unconscious, but in their minds they are under the influence of the nanites and they magically share an experience of living through a battle during the American Civil War. They both share closely related "dream" experiences because their two brains are linked by the alien nanites. Are these "dreams" how the aliens try to communicate, or, perhaps, how they try to give a gift to Kirk? In his "dream", Kirk is pleased when he gets to see President Lincoln. He also gets hit by cannon shrapnel and the "dreaming" McCoy has to amputate Kirk's leg while the bodies of Kirk and McCoy lie un-moving in sick bay.
 |
| Red-shirt bait |
For some magical reason, Kirk's leg that was amputated only in his dream then actually "starts to die". Spock wants to get the alien nanites out of Kirk and McCoy. To do so, he can temporarily stop their brain activity, but they also need some kind of "bait" that will attract the nanites. The nurse suggests using a prosthetic limb as bait.
Luckily, there is an available red-shirted crewman with a prosthetic arm. Once the nanites transfer from Kirk and McCoy into the prosthetic arm, the arm is beamed into space and destroyed by phaser fire.
I'm usually a fan of stories that involve
nanites, but
these nanites in episode #5 are like microscopic
Borg. Ew. At least we did not have to suffer through a "
nanite queen". I can understand a low budget production's limitations, but filming a civil war battle reenactment is not really in the spirit of Star Trek.
Episode 6
 |
| scared child |
The
Enterprise encounters (crashes into) an alien life form, a type of creature that supposedly lives in outer space. This creature is running away from home and its angry father is in hot pursuit.
There is an old joke about how the first two cars in Kansas crashed into each other. Even with the incredible vastness of space, the
Enterprise can always be counted upon to be traveling through the depths of space and crash into you. Maybe in this case the alien "kid" was looking for a protector and purposefully intercepted the
Enterprise.
 |
| alpha wave generators |
A life form that lives in outer space? Who knows, maybe this creature is the remnant of a lost civilization that made an artificial life form for the purpose of mining comets and asteroids.
Not only is daddy upset, but his red "brain waves" trigger corresponding rage in humans. Ho-hay. To protect themselves from this debilitating effect, the crew of the
Enterprise must wear their handy dandy alpha wave generators on their arms.
 |
| Giant angry daddy alien. |
I suppose I should be happy that we got an episode with an alien life form. However, the key to the
Enterprise having a successful first contact with this creature is a sympathetic crew member with daddy issues of her own. Because she had a crappy father, she can lecture the alien dad about the importance of being a better father.
Unfortunately, this episode reminds me of the original series (TOS) episode ("
Day of the Dove") in which some "energy creature" forces humans and Klingons to fight. Updated for this millennium in
Star Trek Continues, we get fist fights with women. This is progress?
Episode 7
 |
| The new Captain? |
It is the 23rd century and there has never been a female commander of a Constitution class starship. Why not? This episode highlights one of the most annoying features of the entire Star Trek fictional universe: the entire political and social structure of the Federation and Star Fleet is nothing but the 20th century's U.S.A. and the U.S. Navy stretched out into the depths of space. Rather than provide us with stories about strange new worlds and new civilizations, Star Trek has too often given us navel gazing and commentary on contemporary social and political topics.
Episode 8
The
Enterprise brings a lady physicist to the depths of space to study a black hole. She only needs six hours to complete her studies, which is enough time for Kirk to make his move on her. Then, mysteriously, near the black hole, suddenly there appears the long lost USS
Defiant. The
Defiant is teetering on the brink of the black hole's event horizon.
Kirk leads an away team to investigate the
Defiant, but he is trapped on board as the
Defiant spirals into the voracious and green-with-purple-fringed Hawking radiation-spewing black hole. 200 years quickly pass for Kirk, during which time he rebuilds the
Defiant's engines. Sailing at warp 15, Kirk and the
Defiant triumphantly emerge from the black hole.
A
VERY old Kirk returns to the
Enterprise and resumes his love affair with the lady physicist and due to the wonders of 23rd century hyperviagra, they both ignore their vast age difference.
 |
| Star Trek Continues |
That (above) is not really the plot, but it makes more sense than the actual Episode 8 of
Star Trek Continues. I read that
Star Trek Continues got enough funding to build a set for a new planet, so maybe future episodes will improve.
 |
| July 20, 2017 |
For a low-budget fan effort,
Star Trek Continues is mighty fine, with the look and feel of the original
Star Trek.
Hopefully the next episode will take us on an adventure to investigate a new civilization on a new world.
Episode 9: "What ships are for". Should we count ourselves lucky that it only took 9 episodes to get to a new planet?
Next:
unleashing the human species upon the galaxy
No comments:
Post a Comment