vuture Review of Star Trek Phase II

Star Trek Phase II (2004–2016)

Curiously Surprising (may contain minor spoilers)

[6/10 · 18 December 2006]

This new series is quite remarkable. Of course, it probably won't seem that way to those too young to remember the original series when it was new and have only seen it in syndication. New Voyages attempts to pick up where the original series left off filling the the gap and completing the five-year mission of U.S.S. Enterprise from the time TOS was canceled to just before ST: The Movie. The cast are all new younger actors which I found a bit unsettling at first but quickly found myself doing double takes on James Cawley (Kirk) and Jeff Quinn (Spock) who (among others in the cast) have attempted to capture the gestures and mannerisms of Shatner and Nimoy. Some may find it a bit overdone but have to admit, I found the performances rather nostalgic. The episodes themselves were written by the mother of ST, D.C. Fontana. For those to young to remember, Ms. Fontana wrote many of the original episodes and, if I am not mistaken, these episodes are ones she wrote but were never produced or may have been screenplays made from stories she wrote after the series was canceled as there was a lot of demand for Star Trek stories at the time. She also wrote the screenplays for the animated series. The pilot and first two episodes are based in whole or in part on other episodes from TOS ("Doomsday Machine", "Menagerie", "Deadly Years" & "City at the Edge of Forever") and at times make reference to other ST entities. If one is not comfortably familiar with the story lines from TOS, these new stories could seem chaotic or confusingly written. I did find some of the time travel paradoxes a bit convoluted though. From what I understand these productions are "pro bono" and everyone involved donated their time and efforts to make the shows on a shoestring budget. They should be given credit for doing so remarkably well under such circumstances. It is evident that it is a labor of love even if the sets and acting are not quite up to 'network' standards. I didn't expect them to be.