Continuing To Boldly Go
With CBS’ announcement on Monday that a new Star Trek series is in development and will be released to the viewing public in January of 2017, speculation about the show’s plot, setting, crew, and timeline have set the web on fire. Like most fans of Star Trek, I’m excited that a new series is apparently on the way. Some fans aren’t excited with the fact that CBS plans to premiere the show’s first episode on network television and then jettison episodes two through who knows to its small but growing subscription service, All Access. Yes, streaming shows, specifically streaming original programming through web-based services such as Netflix and Hulu, might be growing, but for a show like Star Trek to be done properly, I fear that the budget just won’t be able to handle the demands of fans. I also don’t believe that the state of Trek as it stands right now is strong enough to allow a small subscription service to piggyback onto it in the hopes of attracting subscribers. CBS stands a better chance of doing something like this with some of their more current and established shows.
I refuse to go any deeper into a discussion about CBS’ handling of their new Trek series since very little is known about the show itself and pretty much everything outside of the doors of CBS is fanboy speculation and opinion.
However, I will say that CBS is late to the game when it comes to reviving Star Trek. The recent reboot films were successful as far as profits are concerned, but most fans didn’t care for the direction that J.J. Abrams took the crew of the Enterprise. While I enjoyed the films myself (particularly the first one), I felt that the second one was only a mild success.
The real success stories can be found on the web in independently produced fan series such as Star Trek: Renegades, Star Trek: New Voyages, and my personal favorite, Star Trek Continues. These three programs, as well as a few other well-produced fan shows and films, are doing their best to keep Gene Roddenberry’s vision alive. While Renegades and New Voyages are doing excellent work, Star Trek Continues has taken things to an entirely different level.
Anime voice artist Vic Mignogna headed up production and development of the series and has had a hand in just about every aspect of the show. The quality of the show’s writing and production is excellent. Sets, costumes, and props all seamlessly blend with the original series’ look and feel. The stories make you think (just like TOS did), but are also injected with enough humor and action to keep the viewer interested for the entirety of each episode.
The show has all of the key original series characters like Kirk (Mignogna), Spock (Todd Haberkorn), Bones (Larry Nemecek, episodes 1 and 2, and Chuck Huber, episodes 3 and on), Sulu (Grant Imahara), Uhura (Kim Stinger), and Chekov (Wyatt Lenhart). Scotty is brilliantly portrayed by Chris Doohan, the son of the original Montgomery Scott, James Doohan.
It also features excellent original characters like Dr. McKennah (Michele Specht), the ship’s counselor, and Lt. Drake (Steven Dengler), chief of security.
All of the cast members do an excellent job. It’s a bit of a tearjerker to see Chris Doohan portraying his father’s character, but it’s so wonderful to see Scotty back on the original Enterprise. The show has also featured numerous guest stars from film and television, as well as from past Star Trek productions. Marina Sirtis, Lou Ferrigno, Daniel Logan, Michael Dorn, Michael Forest, Kipleigh Brown, Erin Gray, and Jamie Bamber are just a few of the many guest stars that have been a part of the series.
As of this writing, five episodes have been released. Of the five, Lolani and Divided We Stand are my favorites. Every episode is excellent in its own right, and you can check all of them out at www.startrekcontinues.com.
Now, I must also add that I’m a bit biased when it comes to this program. I’ve had the opportunity to meet a few of the cast members for this show and I’ve loved each and every one of them. If you ever get the chance to meet any of the cast, be sure to do so. They are some of the friendliest and kindhearted people that you could meet. I’ve managed to get autographs from and/or photos with all of them, and I highly recommend that you do so as well.
So, while all of the other fanboys out there are screaming over what is right and what is wrong with CBS, Star Trek, the production company and/or writers of the new series, and anything else that rubs them the wrong way, YOU should tune your browser to Star Trek Continues. You will not regret it!
As always, thanks for reading. I’ll be posting in the very near future about a few things that I’ve been neglecting lately such as Gotham, The Flash, and The Walking Dead.
Keep boldly going, friends!
Ken's Alternate Universe! 