Labor of Love

Mignogna boldly goes where others have gone before.

««« Star Trek Continues. Executive producers Vic Mignogna, Michael Bednar, John Broughton & Steven Dengler. Available for streaming on YouTube.

Everybody knows the original Star Trek went off the air sometime during the first Nixon Administration. Or did it?
          You'd be excused for pondering this if you've gotten a look at Star Trek Continues(STC), a fan-produced reincarnation of fundamental Trek to end all fan-produced series. Initially funded via a Kickstarter campaign (or, more aptly, a "Kirkstarter" campaign), and licensed strictly on a "not for profit" basis, STC makes no pretension to update the show for the benefit of modern tastes. Unlike a certain other big-budget revival, there's no Baz Luhmann-style hypercutting, no Marvel-inspired action, no conspicuous lens flare. Instead, executive producer and star Vic Mignogna and crew have lovingly recreated the look of the original show, right down to the details of lighting, camera angles, and fight choreography. They resurrect the original incidental music, and insert "commercial breaks" in all the places you'd expect in 1966. Insofar as modern conveniences (such as computer-generated effects) are used, it's only to return to basics, to tell human-scaled stories as efficiently as possible. Watching it, it's as if no time has passed since Trek's early years as a low-budget stepchild of a begrudging network. Words like "uncanny" and "spooky" come to mind. 

          The original show was supposed to take place during a five-year mission of pure exploration. Unlike in the J.J. Abrams movies, Kirk, Spock and Co. never returned to earth in their own time. The goal was far out, but unfulfilled, as the show was cancelled after its third season. An entire fan literature was inspired by wondering, "what happened in the last two years?" STC aims to answer that question. 

          The point of all this isn't (just) pop idolatry. As Star Trek originalists, STC's creators plausibly demonstrate that the heart of franchise never lay in spectacle, but in putting compelling characters in service of grand humanistic themes. In the first full episode, Pilgrim of Eternity, an old adversary returns to show the appeal and pitfalls of religious belief. In Lolani, the Enterprise crew faces a "Dred Scott" dilemma as a seductive alien slave (Fiona Vroom) takes refuge aboard the ship. Number 3 is still in production, but will no doubt treat similarly broad themes.

          As a fan-made product, STC might be excused for the uneven quality of its writing and acting. But the shortcomings are not as short as you might expect. The humor often comes up as corny--but so did many of the yuks in the original show. As Kirk, Mignogna channels his inner Shatner, while giving the character a degree of gravitas wholly missing from Chris Pine's big screen version. (Mignoga is 51, Pine is 33). As Spock, Todd Haberkorn is less compelling than Zachary Quinto, but thankfully lacks Quinto's unaccountable, apparently permanent pissed-off sneer. Larry Nemecek's McCoy just reads as "crotchety older dude", but STC scored a coup in casting Chris Doohan, the son of original "Scotty" James Doohan, in his father's iconic role.

          No doubt, it takes affection for the original show to see any virtue in STC. Labors of love--like love itself--can entail blind devotion. But at least this love is true.

© 2014 Nicholas Nicastro