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Star Trek Continues Kickstarter 2.0
The Real Dr John writes Vic Mignogna and crew have launched their second Kickstarter campaign to produce 2 or more additional episodes of Star Trek Continues, a fan-based web series finishing up the 5 year mission of the original Star Trek television series. The first Kickstarter campaign raised enough money for 4 episodes, 3 of which have already been aired. Depending on how much funding they get this time, they plan to produce up to 4 additional episodes.
They aren't bad at all. While I won't say they are "great", I enjoyed watching them and they certainly weren't a waste of my time.
Expect they can't sell them. As long as they give them away for free as fan based art, Paramount will tolerate the infringement. Start charging, probably not.
I've really enjoyed them so far. For me they rank in order of air date: the first one was pleasing mainly for the return of Apollo and the actor who played the role in TOS, the second is a really solid story in the original style helped no end by casting Lou Ferrigno as on Orion slaver and an admirable performance by (sorry, had to look this up) Fiona Vroom* and the third was an excellent continuation of Mirror, Mirror.
Vig Mignogna plays Shatner to a T and easily surpasses him in the role of Mirror Kirk, while Chris Doohan (yes, it's his son) has obviously spent many an hour watching his old man and gets the accent just right. The series as a whole is well worth watching and I'll definitely be throwing some money their way if it means I get to enjoy more of the same; the show has clearly been put together by people who have spent far more time watching the original series than I. There are a number of small guest appearances that will bring a smile to your face, not least of which is Michael Dorn.
*Points also earned for having such a cool name.
If God forks the Universe every time you roll a die, he'd better have a damned good memory.
They _are_ the original series. Same sets, same costumes, same props, just a different cast.
It's not a "reboot" or "reimagining", it's actually an attempt to continue the original Star Trek as though it had never ended. While there naturally are some differences in writing style, the similarities to the original series are amazing.
If you liked Star Trek (1966), watch it. If you preferred Star Trek (2009), then it may not be your thing.
Paramount is awful at that - they actually tried to shut down a bunch of fan sites many years ago because it infringed on their trademarks.
CBS (who owns Paramount and pretty much reserves Paramount for movies) has been far more tolerant and I think actually gave their approval. Not to make money, but at least CBS won't pursue action against them for making this.
Effectively, CBS has blessed this work of fan fiction...
Star Trek Continues is surprisingly good, IF and only IF you happen to like the old-school filming and storytelling style employed by the original Star Trek. It's an amazingly faithful recreation which deserves a lot of props for hitting the mark so carefully.
BeauHD. Worst editor since kdawson.