5-Year Mission Continues After 45-Year Hiatus

45 years ago... by bob_super · 2013-10-23 08:24 · Score: 2

I can think of a few other things from 1968 that we'd like to get back...

Re:45 years ago... by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · 2013-10-23 08:27 · Score: 5, Funny

I miss Richard Nixon, too.

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Re:45 years ago... by AlphaWolf_HK · 2013-10-23 08:49 · Score: 3, Interesting

I guess I'm a younger trek fan myself (started with TNG,) as I was never into the original series. I kind of forced myself to watch it while I was sick once (every episode) and didn't really think it was anything special.
Modern references to star trek make kirk out to be this player who always gets laid, getting into fights, and talking like he was in the middle of a stroke. I never saw the getting laid, and the fights weren't anything spectacular like the JJ Abrams movies, and while he did talk like he had a stroke on occasion it isn't as bad as they parody it. Could be one of those things where you just had to be alive during that era to appreciate it (I was born in the 80's,) as I guess the getting laid part would have to be implied in more subtle ways than they were able to do with e.g. Data and Tasha Yarr in TNG as it was probably illegal back then.
I did watch the first few minutes of this fan fic, and it does seem pretty true to the original. That said, I think if you're a fan of the original this is probably for you, but I couldn't remain interested for very long.

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Re:45 years ago... by Tiger4 · 2013-10-23 08:57 · Score: 3, Insightful

Let's not get too hasty! Wandering in the wilderness is not to everyone's taste

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Re:45 years ago... by K.+S.+Kyosuke · 2013-10-23 09:06 · Score: 2

I can think of a few other things from 1968 that we'd like to get back...
But not the tank invasion, please...

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Ezekiel 23:20
Re:45 years ago... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-10-23 09:11 · Score: 5, Insightful

The plots on the original series were more about cultural & human phenomenons that Roddenberry wanted to point out as things we need to overcome as a species. Later inclusions became more about the "gee whiz, rocket ships and 'splosions!" Perhaps you were expecting more the latter with none of the former?
Re:45 years ago... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-10-23 09:23 · Score: 2, Insightful

I don't know what you mean? I was born and raised in the 80s with TNG, and Kirk always came across as he did in the canon proper.. as a man who's legend preceded him due to circumstance and valor, like any legend. Even the womanizing thing is more of a bit of pop culture parody than canon.
I don't know about my generation's fixation with fight scenes, but Abram's doesn't do it for me. I'll take a badly-staged Kirk vs Kahn fight scene over what I saw in the new films any day, because I managed to invest in the characters. That, and the unique blend of camp and seriousness just doesn't exist in Abram's remakes.
Moreover, while most of the TOS episodes don't hold up too well today, some of them still do if you're willing to give them a few conceits relevant to their era. It's not like there's a higher ratio of "gold" to "crap" in modern Trek series; as much as I wish there was, if I'm being fair to TOS, even my beloved TNG didn't really fare any better once I factor out nostalgia.
I'm more interested in seeing this because it means other projects might come about from it, including TNG, Babylon 5, and other shows I wish got more such love from their fandoms. Seeing original actors involved in a passion project is icing on the cake.
Re:45 years ago... by operagost · 2013-10-23 09:27 · Score: 5, Funny

We already got him back... he's a black Democrat.
*ducks downmods*

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Re:45 years ago... by Gilmoure · 2013-10-23 09:27 · Score: 3, Funny

Don't sugar coat it; tell him how you really feel.

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Re:45 years ago... by cayenne8 · 2013-10-23 09:28 · Score: 3, Insightful

Like pubic hair? Yea, I'm pretty sick of all this "look like a little girl when I'm really 30" crap, too.
Ugh...no!!!
Look at some good old, 70's pr0n....Debbie Does Dallas or the like, man...if you wanted to go down on one of those ladies, you'd better take a machete and a sherpa with you if you wanted any hope of ever returning alive!!
Seriously, I don't like mandatory flossing after eating....

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Re:45 years ago... by BrookHarty · 2013-10-23 10:02 · Score: 3, Funny

Like pubic hair? Yea, I'm pretty sick of all this "look like a little girl when I'm really 30" crap, too.
Ugh...no!!!
Look at some good old, 70's pr0n....Debbie Does Dallas or the like, man...if you wanted to go down on one of those ladies, you'd better take a machete and a sherpa with you if you wanted any hope of ever returning alive!!
Seriously, I don't like mandatory flossing after eating....
Whoa whoa, 70's porn actually had good stories, today its all about 2 minute video clips on your phone.
This younger generation will never know about classics like Deep Throat. A woman who could not orgasm until a Doctor told her, that her clitiorous was in her throat.
Thats some brilliant writing right there.
Re:45 years ago... by tinkerton · 2013-10-23 10:09 · Score: 2

You can duck but you can't run - apparently. It's worth considering though. This guy tried it. http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Columns/2011/07/22/Barack-Obama-The-Democrats-Richard-Nixon#page1
Re:45 years ago... by RenderSeven · 2013-10-23 10:59 · Score: 3, Funny

Funny insightful troll - the trifecta of mods.
Re:45 years ago... by Aryden · 2013-10-23 12:29 · Score: 3, Insightful

This "un-boot" has everything of the original - except for the charm of the premise, the ethic of storytelling, and the charisma of the players.
True, the charisma is missing, but the story is there. It's not as good as what Mr. Roddenberry wrote, but it is close. They got the good natured ribbing of Spock by McCoy and Kirk, they got their ethic and moral point across, and they created a drama that brought about the reveal of the moral. All in all, I thought it was good, now just replace Bones with a better Bones, hone the characters a bit more and you have a decent series.
Re:45 years ago... by Princeofcups · 2013-10-23 13:06 · Score: 4, Insightful

The plots on the original series were more about cultural & human phenomenons that Roddenberry wanted to point out as things we need to overcome as a species. Later inclusions became more about the "gee whiz, rocket ships and 'splosions!" Perhaps you were expecting more the latter with none of the former?
Exactly. A lot of what we think of as original Star Trek was implied. These days every last detail has to be spelled out in the name of characterization. The cultural references shouldn't be glossed over either. The Klingons are the Russians. They are NOT bumpy headed violent killing machines. They are just the other guys out there who we compete with idiologically. In other words, it's best to ignore TNG et al, since they depart drastically from TOS.

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Re:45 years ago... by AlphaWolf_HK · 2013-10-23 16:09 · Score: 2

I didn't take it that way. They added that stuff in but it was intermixed. For example in the mirror episode (one which to this day receives very iconic lampooning via the infamous Spock gotee) was halfway through the airing and was obviously about the folly of Nazi style regimes, as well as the episode with the two aliens with opposite color skins was one of the last episodes, and it was clearly about social issues - i.e. race relations.
I think they just added the bumpy heads to the klingons because they wanted to make it more believably sci-fi. And it truly does add an element of depth to the story, otherwise it gets kind of annoying that all aliens look the same. Even in TNG they still kept that element that the Klingons weren't just bad guys to kill by adding Worf as a starfleet officer, and even explored their culture into heavy depth and had the Enterprise crew play a role in preventing a Klingon civil war. This was all done during the Roddenberry years, btw.

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Re:45 years ago... by An+dochasac · 2013-10-23 21:40 · Score: 3, Insightful

The original series built upon a longer history of art, literature, war and peace. It referenced the bible, Greek and Roman classic literature, Shakespeare. You ended up quoting Milton, Dickens... when you thought you were quoting a playboy starship captain. That tradition held until this most recent reboot which had numerous references to previous Star Treks, but no grounding in the real world that that Star Trek plagiarized its ideas from.

TAS by Bradmont · 2013-10-23 08:26 · Score: 3, Informative

Didn't The Animated Series finish off the last two years of the five year mission? With the original cast and everything.

Re:TAS by Belial6 · 2013-10-23 09:14 · Score: 5, Funny

There was no Animated Series. It is a myth like claims of sequels to Highlander and prequels to Star Wars.
Re:TAS by Scarletdown · 2013-10-23 09:34 · Score: 3, Insightful

Oh. All this time, I figured that with only 22 episodes, that would have only been a single season.
Still, despite the typical craptacular Filmation art and animation, it did have some decent writing to carry it where the visuals failed.
And a big thumbs up to Roddenberry for refusing to let Filmation assign a kiddy cadet to each senior crew member.

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Please let the "Star Wreck" guys get in on this by ron_ivi · 2013-10-23 08:26 · Score: 3, Interesting

Most amazing amateur film I've ever seen: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wreck:_In_the_Pirkinning And free (Creative Commons) licensed too.

Re:Please let the "Star Wreck" guys get in on this by mrbester · 2013-10-23 09:29 · Score: 2

Additional: random coincidence. The new film was funded with help from Kickstarter, Pirk's ship in Star Wreck was called Kickstart.

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Faithful by Russ1642 · 2013-10-23 08:29 · Score: 3, Funny

If it's faithful to the original then it's going to suck. A lot.

Re:Faithful by Anonymous Coward · 2013-10-23 08:35 · Score: 2, Funny

So does your mom but we don't complain. Some of us even enjoy it.
Re:Faithful by jIyajbe · 2013-10-23 09:01 · Score: 5, Informative

Baseline: I am a trekker; I really, really like all of Star Trek, old and new.
For all that it was the genesis of all things Trek, TOS is terribly painful to watch these days. Not an auspicious starting point for a fan-made series.
What's funny is that they managed to write a story that was the same quality as most of TOS stories--mostly low; the actors reproduced the acting "skills" of the originals (especially Kirk! Wow!); and it was just as cheesy as the original show. I fully expected it to be hard to watch.
But it wasn't! It was a labor of love, but they managed to go above that, and actually make an enjoyable episode, one that can hold its head up with the all but the best TOS episodes.
Hats off to them all, and I think I'll open my wallet.

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"Don't blame the log for the fire." --Andrew Ratshin
Re:Faithful by khellendros1984 · 2013-10-23 09:04 · Score: 3, Informative

I'm surprised it took this long for the fans to come together and do something like this.
Then be surprised no more, it's been done before. I think I watched part of an episode when it first came out, but I don't remember my impression of it. Obviously, I wasn't impressed enough at the time to continue.

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Very good. by gurps_npc · 2013-10-23 08:37 · Score: 4, Interesting

Aside from the fact that the actors in Star Trek Continues have acting flaws that are not identical to those of the original cast (i.e. they are just as talented/untalented as the originals, but don't have the exact same instinctive mannerisms), this is an incredible recreation.

It looks far better than the passable recreation "Star Trek Of Gods and Men" (with Koenig, Nichols and Russ in it). http://startrekofgodsandmen.com/main/

But I have much better hopes for the upcoming Star Trek Renegades (Koenig, et. al. second, better funded attempt) http://startrekrenegades.com/home/trailers-and-videos/

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So, did Star Trek have a planned story arc? by GodfatherofSoul · 2013-10-23 08:39 · Score: 2

Just curious if there was ever any info released about where the show planned to go in the short or long term.

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Re:Good effort by Obfuscant · 2013-10-23 08:42 · Score: 4, Funny

Sadly, the acting is poor at best.

So ... you're saying ... it ... is ... very much .... like ... TOS? Damn it, GreatDrok, I'm a doctor not an acting coach. I canna give you more than 100% out of the dilithium, GreatDrok, she'll not take it. Fascinating.

Re:Good effort by joe_frisch · 2013-10-23 08:45 · Score: 2

No mod points but I have to agree. For all that people (rightly) make fun of the "bad" acting in the original, the actors were by absolute standards not that bad. The fan remakes I've seen have acting that seems really amateur. Are they hiring professional actors for these?

Like lots of skilled jobs, professional acting is a lot harder than it looks.

Re:Good effort by CastrTroy · 2013-10-23 08:46 · Score: 2

I'm not sure if the originals had such good actors either. But anyway, I find that bad acting usually bothers me too. I see it all the time on Indie projects. I'm not sure if it's actually bad acting, or just that they are pressed for time and/or money, and not willing to redo the shot 15 times to get it right. We used to make movies all the time in highschool, and I found this was one of the biggest problems. People would completely botch their lines, but we'd use the scene anyway, because we were all just trying to have fun, and nobody wanted to spend 2 hours doing a 10 minute scene.

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Great! by JeffElkins · 2013-10-23 08:48 · Score: 2

If the whole thing is as good as the first ten minutes, I'm in. The actors for fine (Scotty is excellent) and it's leagues better than the crap JJ Abrams is putting out.

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Re:Good effort by ArbitraryName · 2013-10-23 08:53 · Score: 2

Are they hiring professional actors for these?

This information is right on the Kickstarter, you can see everyone's bio. With the exception of Grant Imahara (from Mythbusters) and the fairly minor Security Chief they are experienced, professional actors (some are degreed) with plenty of stage and/or screen credits.

Re:CBS's consent by sjames · 2013-10-23 08:57 · Score: 4, Funny

I'm guessing Grant built a killbot and threatened to activate it in their lobby.

Re:CBS's consent by mark-t · 2013-10-23 08:57 · Score: 2

If I remember correctly, by being strictly non-commercial.

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What about "Star Trek New Voyages/Phase II" thing by denis-The-menace · 2013-10-23 08:58 · Score: 2

What about "Star Trek New Voyages/Phase II" thing that has James Cawley as Kirk? (http://www.startrekphase2.de)

Looks like we might have 2 groups creating Star Trek episodes.

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Chris Doohan & Grant Imahara by Bob9113 · 2013-10-23 09:01 · Score: 2

I'm not much of a celebrity wonk, but Chris Doohan (son of James Doohan) playing Scotty, and Grant Imahara (from Mythbusters) playing Sulu -- nice.

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Re:Chris Doohan & Grant Imahara by sconeu · 2013-10-23 09:35 · Score: 2

My brother in law was in a band with Chris. Nice guy.

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Re:Chris Doohan & Grant Imahara by wrf3 · 2013-10-23 11:29 · Score: 2

And don't forget Jamie Bamber as Simone. I didn't recognize him in his spacesuit. When I saw his name in the credits I went back and looked again. Sure enough, another Apollo. Deep stuff -- one Apollo dies, another lives.

MOAR of the hot redhead by Cyfun · 2013-10-23 09:11 · Score: 3, Funny

I just hope we get to see more of the buxom Dr. McKennah in these episodes. I mean see her in more episodes. Not her naked. Or naked is fine too.

Her IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1073676/?ref_=tt_cl_t8

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Re:Very first scene using tech from Next Generatio by ArbitraryName · 2013-10-23 09:12 · Score: 2

ST: The Animated Series introduced the holodeck.

Re:Bad Idea by ArbitraryName · 2013-10-23 09:56 · Score: 2

It's a non-commercial effort made by and for people who specifically want what they're doing. Everything doesn't have to appeal to the greatest possible market.

Re:I agree by CronoCloud · 2013-10-23 09:58 · Score: 2

Yep, wondered if they were going to try some kind of voice synthesis using Majel's samples but they did one better.....Lwaxana's daughter.

It really wasn't bad at all, a little cheesy, but TOS was a little cheesy. And how did they get the set to look so perfect, the lighting was spot on. Did they gaussian blur the ladies?

I was not, however fond of the Bones portrayal, not curmudgeonly and gravelly enough. Also Uhura seemed a bit off...until she sang, then I realized why they went with her....she can sing. They also used her first name.

In regards to the primitive Holodeck as has been said, TAS had it. IIRC some of the novels have also mentioned it.

I did notice the women's boots were not consistent in style, but otherwise the costumes were fairly spot on.

Did you come to it as an adult? by Beryllium+Sphere(tm) · 2013-10-23 10:06 · Score: 4, Informative

It's different if it's something you grow up with.

Its place in history is easier to understand if you look at how awful mass media sf was in 1966. They were groundbreaking. Others later were able to do cathedra building.

Re:Holodecks were supposed to be new tech in TNG by Blakey+Rat · 2013-10-23 10:07 · Score: 3, Informative

That kinda bothers me the first thing I see is Holodeck technology in that vid. In season 1 of TNG, it was described as fairly new tech, of course that got retconned in Voyager as Janeway reminisces about using one as a child.

Crown me king of the dorks but... I gotta correct you on this one.

TNG says the Enterprise holodecks are much better than previous versions. (And they get better still after the Binars work on them in that one episode, which is presumably also where it gets the magical ability to make a super-genius Moriarty due to a misspoken command.) They never say or suggest that the holodeck technology is brand-new in TNG.

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Can't Stand by jordanjay29 · 2013-10-23 10:26 · Score: 2

That the show is attempting to trap itself in the pitfalls of 1960's filming technology. The awfully-angled flyby shots and the 5:4 aspect ratio are acceptable for TOS, but not when you're making a show in 2013. I mean, seriously, I can watch this in 720p, but only with half my screen?

Re:Can't Stand by eyenot · 2013-10-23 15:56 · Score: 3, Interesting

I don't feel like the acting is weak. Allow me to delve into details.
Spock's nasal voice instead of the deep register we've come to expect from Nimoy struck me as "off". I immediately expected that I would come to find it annoying. However, the actor faithfully captures the Vulcan's calm, direct demeanor. I chalked the nasally, nerdish voice of Spock's actor up to an "interesting actor flaw".
Then there's McCoy. I could easily imagine Kelly sitting down with a nice young girl or two in the woods, playing acoustic guitar. He was kind of one of those rustic hippy sort of personalities. Grating and sensible, but romantic and passionate. Yeah, well, this new guy is a tad overweight and smacks a tad of "gay". However, I think he perfectly captures the McCoy character. We can chalk up what's lacking to Kelly's interpretation. This new guy delivers perfect deadpan, which is pretty important for McCoy's sarcastic and wise wit.
Kirk was a good Kirk. As others noticed, he obviously studied the hell out of the part.
Scotty's, well, original Scotty's son apparently. He obviously enjoys the part and puts a lot of emotion into it. He almost looks like he's going to break into tears out of love for his precious Enterprise and the illogical and unnecessary danger she's being put in. He's the consummate engineer.
And there's Sulu. That guy delivers with so much arm-swinging gumption it's hilarious, but he keeps it so muted! He never crosses the line into cheese-land! And did you see him almost cracking up on the bridge? It's obvious that Sulu's actor will be able to deliver with just as much subdued grinning as the original.
Uhura obviously loves her part, as well. She really shined during her delivery in the opening of the "rec room 6" scene. I think the way she held herself on her forward foot was a slight bit ungraceful, but wow, what shoes to fill. The original actress for Uhura was a real smooth woman. I think this girl does great, most importantly she gets into the part. Maybe when her hair gets longer, she'll put it into a more 70's do.
Everybody else was pretty much carbon copy of the original.
Somebody mentioned the sets being CGId to look plastic-textured. I beg to differ. I think some of those sets were built with a lot of plastic. It's not like they don't have access to it -- obviously they built the space suits. The hallway leading to the recreation room, check out those joist panels coming down from the ceiling. That hallway is definitely built.
The lighting was really picturesque, too. No moment was wasted with washed-out effects.
Personally, having seen the recent big-budget reboots with all the camera lens flare covering everything up, and having seen this other fan-made thing "Phase II" that seems to prefer dark and blurry shots, I think there's apparently a sort of guilt complex hazard in making a remake of such a famous show. I'm sure the directors feel like they can't live up to it and so the lens flares and blurs and darkness are supposed to offer the audience a chance to suspend disbelief for fleeting moments.
That approach doesn't work for me. This approach that "Continues" is using, where everything is well-lit and filmed in classical style, it spot-on. It allows them to go a step further and showcase that actual thing called The Writing.

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Re:CBS's consent by tlhIngan · 2013-10-23 10:37 · Score: 3, Interesting

The fan-based and fan-supported reincarnation [...] has CBS's consent.
How did they manage to negotiate this?

Maybe because CBS "gets it"?

It's true this would never have happened back in the Viacom/Paramount days (Viacom actually threatened Star Trek fansites back in the day with C&D's) and back when the sole goal of Star Trek was to exact the maximum number of dollars available, even if doing so required being extremely petty. (They still do to an extent, given that Star Trek DVDs and Blu-Rays are twice the price as normal TV box sets).

But I suppose CBS realizes that fandom is real, they can't control it, and if someone wants to make something that potentially could help them (since they own the rights to it and the movies are popular), well, it costs them nothing and gains them everything.

I'm sure they also retain a lot of the rights - e.g., DVD and Blu-Ray

Re:Good effort by Cramer · 2013-10-23 11:50 · Score: 3, Interesting

May be, but "Apollo" is the only obvious, seasoned actor in this thing. And it's obvious the minute he starts talking. Everyone else is trying too hard to be their TOS character, or too rigidly just reading their part.

Jesus, since when does Kirk take a freakin' vote?!?

Excellent. by gallondr00nk · 2013-10-23 12:21 · Score: 5, Interesting

At the risk of sounding like a damned space hippy, I've missed Star Trek's fundamentally positive outlook towards the future of humanity. Trek gave a really strong feeling that we'd end up overcoming a lot of our problems as a species. I like that sort of utopianism, so any new series of Trek is good by me.

TOS seems much maligned, and 40 years later it does seem rather awkward and dated, but there's some good episodes in there. Besides, who doesn't love some serious acting..

As an aside, this would be a good time to recommend the Post Atomic Horror podcast for anyone re-watching any of the series.

New Voyages/Phase II is dramatically better by macraig · 2013-10-23 13:40 · Score: 4, Informative

Somebody's never heard of Star Trek: New Voyages/Phase II, in spite of one episode nearly winning a Hugo Award and nearly a dozen actors from TOS contributing to various episodes, and even some of the original writers on board contributing new scripts? I hope it's just ignorance that motivated the OP and Soulskill to promote this to the exclusion of ST:NV and all the other Star Trek fan productions in active production. This is not "the most faithful re-creation of the original series".

series site
Wikipedia
list of episodes

Re:Good effort by flargleblarg · 2013-10-23 19:21 · Score: 2

Are you kidding?? Nimoy was amazing. Still amazing in those.

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5-Year Mission Continues After 45-Year Hiatus

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