This coming Thursday, September 8th will mark the 50th Anniversary of Star Trek. Before celebrating this monumental milestone, it would be a good idea to look at the legacy that has lived long and prospered all these years. We all know about the four television series that spawned since the original. Many also know that a new series is on the horizon for CBS. What some of you don’t know and should is a fan-created web series called Star Trek Continues that is nothing short of wonderful.
Thanks in large part to the success of thousands of backers through Kickstarter and Indiegogo campaigns; Star Trek Continues is the unofficial continuation of the original series’ third and final season. As a Star Trek fan, I look at this web series as a love letter to the original. The production values and authenticity recreates the look, the sound with its theme music and the feel that made the original so endearing to its faithful fan base. They were able to do all this because the production team was able to acquire a facility in Georgia where they were able to build using the original blueprints all the sets of the Enterprise including the bridge to sheer perfection.
In March of 2012 Farragut Films announced the official cast. While it may be hard to imagine anyone playing the TV version of Captain Kirk, actor Vic Mignogna, who also serves as executive producer, is so good in the role you almost forget there was another Kirk and that says a lot. What I especially like and appreciate is that Mignogna does not do a parody of Shatner’s Kirk. Instead, he makes the character uniquely his own and yet stays true to who Kirk is and how we’ve come to view him. Mignogna is joined by a first rate cast that includes Todd Haberkorn as Spock, Chuck Huber as McCoy, Chris Doohan the son of series original James Doohan as Mr. Scott, Grant Imahara as Mr. Sulu, Kim Stinger as Lt. Uhura and Wyatt Lenhart as Mr. Chekov. A new addition to the standard cast is Michele Specht as ship Counselor, Elise McKennah. Much like the original series, the relationships and interaction between the characters is believable and harkens back to a simpler time.
The first episode, “Pilgrim of Eternity” premiered at Phoenix Comic Con in May 2013 to a rousing success. What was great about this episode was the inclusion of Michael Forrest reprising the role of Apollo from the original series episode, “Who Mourns for Adonis?” This is just another example of the quality and attention to detail that is put into this series. Many guest celebrities have also appeared including Lou Ferrigno and Erin Gray. Even veteran Trek actor Marina Sirtis, provides the voice for the ships computer.
To date there has only been seven episodes produced with more hopefully to come. If you haven’t seen this wonderful and faithful tribute to the late Gene Roddenberry’s vision of a promising future for humankind, please do so. Click on the provided link and discover this gem of a series called Star Trek Continues.
May the Dork be with you,
JPB
The Dork Knight
