Categories
Phase II / New Voyages Star Trek Star Trek Fan Films

Come What May

Star Trek: Phase II

This is an episode of a fan-made series whose storyline may be invalidated by later official studio productions.

Stardate 6010.1: No sooner has the Enterprise emerged from spacedock following a refit than a distress call is received from a cantankerous Starbase commander, who later sends another message: the emergency is over, thanks to the intervention of someone named Onabi. A suspicious Captain Kirk orders the Enterprise to proceed there anyway, where he and the Enterprise crew meet Onabi for themselves, and discover that she has a closer connection to the unknown alien threat than the Starbase personnel suspect.

Watch Itwritten by Jack Marshall
directed by Jack Marshall

Cast: James Cawley (Captain Kirk), Jeffery Quinn (Mr. Spock), John Kelley (Dr. McCoy), Jack Marshall (Scott), Jay Storey (Kyle), Julienne Irons (Uhura), Meghan King Johnson (Rand), Ron Boyd (DeSalle), Jasen Tucker (Chekov), Jay Storey (Kyle), Larry Nemecek (Cal Strickland), John Winston (Captain Jefferies), Eddie Paskey (Admiral Leslie), Andrea Ajemian (Onabi), Mark Strock (Ohn), Shawn David (Security Officer), Pearl Marshall (Security Officer), Jeff Mailhote (Security Officer), Ed Kaczmarek (Mr. Leslie), Ed Abbate (Crewman), Timothy Sheffield (Crewman), Michel Anderson (Crewman), Anthony Laviano (Crewman), Jerry Yuen (Crewman)

Review: At the time this first effort by James Cawley and the determined Star Trek: New Voyages crew hit the internet, it was a revelation for most folks who weren’t on the inside curve when it came to fan films. Arguably, the media interest in their efforts not only put New Voyages and other Trek fan films on the map, but drew more attention to fan-made continuations of existing “universes” in general. In the minds of some diehard Trek fans, it was also a ballsy, defiant gesture to Paramount: if you don’t make the Star Trek we want to watch (a vocal faction of fandom was disappointed in the then-current series Star Trek: Enterprise), we’ll make it ourselves.

Categories
Phase II / New Voyages Star Trek Star Trek Fan Films

In Harm’s Way

Star Trek: Phase II

This is an episode of a fan-made series whose storyline may be invalidated by later official studio productions.

The Enterprise, under the command of Captain Christopher Pike, is destroyed with all hands by a Doomsday Machine, which has somehow found its way into the past.

Stardate not given: The starship Farragut, commanded by Captain James T. Kirk, is summoned to the planet of the Guardian of Forever, where Spock, a Vulcan (a species thought to have been rendered extinct in the 16-year war with the Doomsday Machines) in Starfleet uniform, tries to convince Kirk, Dr. McCoy and their Klingon science officer Kargh that history has been altered. Kirk and his officers are extremely skeptical of Spock’s explanation of how he alone escaped the effects of the changes to the timeline, but he is able to back up his claims with purely scientific evidence. Kirk, Spock and McCoy track the disturbance in history back to Earth on the early 21st century, traveling there via the Guardian and discovering that Commodore Decker – presumed to have been killed in action against the Doomsday Machines – was in fact thrown back in time in his shuttlecraft. He lived out his life in the late 20th century and died of old age, but not before videotaping a message for Kirk and his crew, trying to explain what went wrong.

Watch Itstory by Max Rem (a.k.a. Doug Drexler) and Erik Korngold
screenplay by Erik Korngold
with respectful acknolwedgement to Norman Spinrad and Harlan Ellison
directed by Jack Marshall
music tracked from original episodes / movies

Cast: James Cawley (Kirk), Jeffery Quinn (Spock), John Kelley (McCoy), Charles Root (Scott), Julienne Irons (Uhura), Meghan King Johnson (Rand), Ron Boyd (DeSalle), Shannon Quinlan (Number One / Chapel), Jay Storey (Kyle), William Windom (Commodore Decker), BarBara Luna (Veronica), Malachi Throne (Korogh), Becky Bonar (MacGregor), John Carrigan (Kargh), Simon Judas Raye (Guardian’s Voice), Kurt Carley (Captain Pike), James Larson (Jose Tyler), Charles Holloway (Dr. Boyce), Rose Montessano (Com Officer), Tim Giles (Engineer), Leslie Hoffman, Pearl Marshall, Jeff Mailhotte, Robert Mills, Randy Davis, Mike Magin, Jessica Mailhotte, Ed Abbate, Brian Hudon, Doug Hutchings, Patrick Bell, John Lim, Timothy Sheffield, Chris Lunderman, Jerry Yuen (Starfleet Personnel)

Review: The second outing for New Voyages, In Harm’s Way is entertaining enough if you’re a fan, but even then it seems like an exercise in throwing in Everything Plus Two Kitchen Sinks. As much as I enjoy the output of the New Voyages cast and crew, it’s always mystified me why Come What May was relegated to “pilot” status and withdrawn from the official site as a download – because in some ways, I regard this as the most extraneous New Voyage that has seen the light of day so far.

Categories
Phase II / New Voyages Star Trek Star Trek Fan Films

Center Seat

Star Trek: Phase II

This is an episode of a fan-made series whose storyline may be invalidated by later official studio productions.

Stardate not given: The Enterprise completes a routine layover in the spacedock at Earth, and also picks up new crewmembers, including the newly promoted Lt. Commander Hikaru Sulu, back from a course in command training at Starfleet Academy. Sulu takes over the big chair from the beleaguered Lt. DeSalle, but even just leaving spacedock, one mistake could make it the last time he sits there.

Watch Itwritten by Erik Korngold
directed by Erik J. Goodrich
music by Patrick Phillips

Cast: Ron Boyd (Lt. DeSalle), John Lim (Lt. Commander Sulu), Phil Kim (Starfleet Operations), Jeff Mailhotte (Comm. Officer 1), Ed Abbate (“Lt. Cmdr.” Ensign), Mari Okumura (Comm. Officer 2), Nathan Gastineau (Sciences), James Cawley (Captain Kirk)

Review: The third full production from Star Trek: New Voyages, Center Seat is a short vignette, originally designed to tide fans over in the unusually long gap between the second and third full episodes released. (Or first and second, according to the self-imposed re-ordering of episodes that saw Come What May undeservedly consigned to the non-canon-even-for-this-fan-production scrap heap.) There were supposed to be a series of such vignettes, though a ramped-up production schedule for two episodes with celebrity guest stars (to say nothing of other fan productions using the New Voyages sets) meant that Center Seat was the only short released in 2006.

Categories
Phase II / New Voyages Star Trek Star Trek Fan Films

To Serve All My Days

Star Trek: Phase II

This is an episode of a fan-made series whose storyline may be invalidated by later official studio productions.

Stardate 6031.2: Bringing Ambassador Rayna Morgan to the Enterprise from Babel via shuttlepod, Chekov has to do some fancy flying to avoid a Klingon warship. The Enterprise arrives just in time, but Captain Kirk and Captain Kargh only exchange a volley of words in this battle. A later visit to engineering puts Chekov in the wrong place at the wrong time, and he receives what should be a nearly lethal dose of radiation, though Dr. McCoy is startled to see no ill effects – at least at first. A day later, Chekov has aged 25 years, and McCoy can find no way to stop his rapid aging. A ship which appears to be a Klingon battlecruiser attacks the Enterprise, doing serious damage, and Kirk finds himself on the brink of plunging the Federation into war – and his best weapons officer is marching inexorably toward death’s door.

Watch Itwritten by D.C. Fontana
director not credited (most likely Erik J. Goodrich)
music by Patrick Phillips

Cast: James Cawley (Captain Kirk), Jeffery Scott (Mr. Spock), John Kelley (Dr. McCoy), Walter Koenig (Chekov), Mary-Linda Rapelye (Ambassador Rayna Morgan), John Carrigan (Captain Kargh), Andy Bray (Lt. Chekov), Julienne Irons (Lt. Uhura), John Lim (Lt. Cmdr. Sulu), Charles Root (Cmdr. Scott), Ron Boyd (Lt. DeSalle), Shannon Giles (Nurse Chapel), Jeff Mailhotte (Sentell), Jay Storey (Lt. Kyle), Giovanna Contini (Ensign Carr), Mari Okumara (Yeoman Okuda), David Dufrane (Cadet), Tim Brazeal (Klingon 1), Kent Schmidt (Klingon 2), Larry Nemecek (Esterion), James Lowe, Debbie Mailhotte, John Whiting, Patrick Cleveland, Linda Cleveland, Amanda Root, Steve LeClerc, Chris Lunderman, Jessie Mailhotte, Anne Carrigan (Federation Ambassadors), Ed Abbate, Ron M. Gates, Michael Struck, Ian Peters, Nathan Gastineau, Riva Gijanto, Steve LeClerc, Danielle Porter, Ralph Miller, Max Kiserman, Michael Tavares, Jerry Storey, Paul Seiber (Starfleet Personnel)

Notes: The shuttle piloted by Chekov is the Archer, and it’s pursued by a Klingon vessel seen in Star Trek: Enterprise and identified there as a Klingon Warbird; though it resembles the Bird of Prey, there are significant differences, and it could conceivably still be in service by the fourth year of Kirk’s original mission (after all, the D7 cruiser is still around in the 24th century). Chekov came into contact with the rapid aging virus in The Deadly Years; when reminiscing about his younger days, he refers to events in The Apple and Spectre Of The Gun. Guest player Tim Brazeal headed the controversial TrekUnited.com movement, which tried to raise enough money to convince Paramount to produce a fifth season of Star Trek: Enterprise, while Larry Nemecek is the author of such books as the “Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion.”

Review: In the New Voyages gang’s third outing (or second, depending on how sacred you hold their insistence that Come What May has been jettisoned from their canon), there’s some all-star help on hand – Walter Koenig reprises the role of Chekov, and D.C. Fontana does the honors as the writer of his return engagement. It’s a marked departure from previous New Voyages installments in that character development and internal drama are very much to the fore, rather than the admittedly neat spectacle of “wow, we’re restarting and updating original Trek!” Sure, there are some extravagant special effects sequences (the opening chase with the Klingon ship, even with its slightly anachronistic proto-Bird of Prey from the Star Trek: Enterprise era, is a dazzling piece for a fan production), but at the story’s heart are a mystery and a character story which would’ve done a production of any budget level proud.

Categories
Phase II / New Voyages Star Trek Star Trek Fan Films

World Enough And Time

Star Trek: Phase II

This is an episode of a fan-made series whose storyline may be invalidated by later official studio productions.

Stardate 6283.4: A distress call takes the Enterprise into the Neutral Zone, where they see a helpless cargo ship destroyed by Romulan Birds of Prey using a new weapon not seen before by the Federation. After it destroys that ship, however, the weapon backfires, enveloping everything nearby in an energy field, including the Enterprise. Sulu and exo-tech expert Lt. Chandris take a shuttlecraft to the wreckage of the lead Romulan ship to learn more about the weapon, but waves of instability wreak havoc with the ship’s structure, tearing it apart and leaving only seconds before the warp core breaches. Sulu and Chandris run back to find their shuttle has been lost, and when Sulu calls the Enterprise for an emergency transport, he’s literally a different man when he returns: he has aged over 30 years, and Chandris doesn’t rematerialize at all. Sulu explains that a rift led them to safety on a habitable world in another dimension, and they spent that time settling down and starting a family. Sulu introduces his crewmates to his daughter, Alana, whose transporter pattern Scotty can barely lock onto. The only way to keep her molecules from scattering is to create a field that stabilizes her pattern. Every time Kirk orders the Enterprise to try to break away from the distortion generated by the Romulans’ weapon, Alana starts to fade out of existence. With mere hours before the distortion destabilizes the space within it enough to destroy the Enterprise, Sulu must try to recover his memory of how to navigate a ship through the distortion – with the full knowledge that escape may condemn his daughter to death.

Watch Itwritten by Michael Reaves & Marc Scott Zicree
directed by Marc Scott Zicree
music by Alan Derian

Cast: James Cawley (Captain Kirk), Jeffery Scott (Mr. Spock), John Kelley (Dr. McCoy), George Takei (Sulu), Grace Lee Whitney (Commander Janice Rand), Christina Moses (Alana), John Lim (Lt. Cmdr. Sulu), Andy Bray (Lt. Chekov), Julienne Irons (Lt. Uhura), Charles Root (Scotty), Ron Boyd (DeSalle), Lia Johnson (Dr. Chandris), Mimi Chong (Demora Sulu), Natasha Soudek (Lt. Soudek), Mallory Reaves (Ensign Mallory), Kaley Pusateri (Sulu Granddaughter), Kurt Carley (Stunt Guard #1), Brian Holloway (Stunt Guard #2), Cali Ross (Ensign Juvenia), Cynthia Wilber (Lt. Wyndham), Kitty Kavey (Lt. Turkel), Katrina Kernodle (Yeoman), Katia Mangani (Dead Romulan #1), R.M. Martin (Dead Romulan #2), Don Balderamos (Dead Romulan #3), Steve Perry (voice of Pilot), Majel Barrett Roddenberry (Computer Voice)

Notes: The costumes for Sulu and his daughter were designed by Star Wars prequel art director Iain McCaig, along with his own daughter, Mishi McCaig. Fencing coach Tom Morga is also a stuntman who has featured in past Star Trek adventures, including Star Trek VI, Deep Space Nine and Enterprise. Michael Okuda is credited with “graphics” for this episode.

Review: The second New Voyages episode in a row to feature a crew member’s miraculous aging and the return of the original actor, World Enough And Time thrills me and bugs me in equal measure. It’s actually a much more effective story, in many places, than To Serve All My Days (the installment which brough back Walter Koenig as Chekov) – there’s some real emotional resonance here, rather than an odd conversation between the character’s old and young incarnations. It certainly doesn’t hurt that George Takei is simply magnificent as Sulu, giving the character more depth than his appearances in the original series and all of the original movies ever allowed. Helping matters considerably is that he’s not the only one – Christina Moses, as Sulu’s daughter from another dimension, is outstanding. Between these two, everyone else has to bring their “A” game to the table, especially James Cawley. If nothing else, these “special guest” episodes have helped to raise the acting bar on New Voyages.

Categories
Phase II / New Voyages Star Trek Star Trek Fan Films

Blood And Fire – Part I

Star Trek: Phase II

This is an episode of a fan-made series whose storyline may be invalidated by later official studio productions.

Stardate not given: After a pitched battle with a Klingon cruiser, the Enterprise is left battered, but a distress call from the U.S.S. Copernicus prevents Kirk from putting in for repairs. The Enterprise limps to the Copernicus’ aid at a low warp speed as a result of the damage, but what the crew finds is almost beyond explanation: the Copernicus is adrift, only a few hours away from sliding into a stream of matter connecting a binary star system. The Copernicus will be destroyed, but it appears that something has already killed the crew. As Kirk selects a boarding party to find out what happened on the Copernicus, he carefully omits his nephew, the recently-arrived Ensign Peter Kirk, from the mission. This draws a note of caution from Spock, and an anguished protest from Peter: if the crew feels that he’s receiving preferential treatment keeping him out of harm’s way, Peter will have to request reassignment. Peter wants to be treated as just another member of the crew – and that includes requesting that Captain Kirk officiate his upcoming wedding to another crewman, medic Alex Freeman. Kirk accedes to both requests, assigning both Peter and Freeman to the Copernicus mission. Soon after arriving, they both wish they’d stayed on the Enterprise: the Copernicus is infested with Regulan bloodworms, a life form so fast-speading and deadly that Starfleet has only one protocol for dealing with them – the immediate destruction of any ship found to be infested. With both his nephew and Spock aboard the Copernicus, Kirk has no plans to follow that order, but it may be too late to save his boarding party anyway, as they’re surrounded by swarming bloodworms.

Watch Itwritten by Carlos Pedraza & David Gerrold
directed by David Gerrold
music by Fred Steiner

Cast: James Cawley (Captain Kirk), Ben Toplin (Mr. Spock), John Kelley (Dr. McCoy), Bobby Quinn Rice (Ensign Peter Kirk), Evan Fowler (Alex Freeman), Charles Root (Scotty), Jay Storey (Kyle), Kim Stinger (Uhura), Ron Boyd (DeSalle), Andy Bray (Chekov), Megan King Johnson (Rand), Nick Cook (Hodel), Paul R. Sieber (Ahrens), Patrick Bell (Xon), Debbie Huth (Fontana), Jeff Mailhotte (Sentell), Joel Belucci (Bren), Phil Koeghen (Admiral Koeghen), Scott Danni, Rich Lundy, George Wilhelm, Gwen Wilkins, Rick Bruns, Danielle Porter, Robert Mauro, Dan Wright, Melissa Wright, Elizabeth Peterson, Mabel Vilagro, Greg Schnitzer, Betsy Durkee, Jeff Collingsworth, Brian Holloway, Pat Heward, Amanda Root, Ralph M. Miller, Joe Nazzarro, John Hermann, Jessica Mailhotte, Glenn Smith, Ed Abbatte, Giovana Contini, Ron Gates, Ryan Storey, Jerry Storey, Paula Bailey, Erik Goodrich, Tom Brown, Howard Huth, Riva Gijanto, Carol Mazur, Howard Miller (Extras), Majel Barrett Roddenberry (Computer Voice)

Notes: Blood And Fire was originally written by David Gerrold (writer of the classic Trek favorite The Trouble With Tribbles) as an episode for the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, allegorically dealing with AIDS, the search for a cure, and its effect on the gay community. In many an interview and convention appearance, Gerrold has said that Gene Roddenberry verbally agreed to pursue these issues in the then-new show, but would never approve Blood And Fire for production, which eventually lead to Gerrold’s departure from the writing staff. It has also been adapted into a non-Star Trek novel. Fan writer Carlos Pedraza, previously a writer on the fan series Star Trek: Hidden Frontier (which prominently featured gay characters in a way that Paramount’s officially produced episodes and series never addressed), adapted Gerrold’s original script for the Kirk era. This is the first episode to carry the “Star Trek: Phase II” banner, though the opening titles still display “New Voyages” before “beaming” in “Phase II.” (Phase II was a semi-official subtitle applied to the aborted late ’70s TV revival of classic Trek, as chronicled in the excellent book of the same name by Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens.) Early publicity indicated that Blood And Fire would feature an original score by Neil Norman, the producer behind many Star Trek soundtracks released on CD in the 1990s by his father’s GNP Crescendo label, as well as a composer in his own right, but the finished episode instead features original series music by composer Fred Steiner.

Review: For years we’ve been hearing about Blood And Fire and how great it would’ve been in the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and after a while it’s natural to wonder how much of the hype is warranted. But after seeing the episode itself, and finding that about 2/3 of the way in I was on the edge of my seat, I think it’s safe to say that this is New Voyages/Phase II firing on all cylinders with no casting gimmicks to use as a crutch. It’s just a good story, told and acted well, with one hell of a cliffhanger.

Categories
Phase II / New Voyages Star Trek Star Trek Fan Films

Blood And Fire – Part II

Star Trek: Phase II

This is an episode of a fan-made series whose storyline may be invalidated by later official studio productions.

Stardate not given: A boarding party from the Enterprise is trapped aboard the derelict Copernicus, which is infested with Regulan bloodworms – an infestation which demands the immediate destruction of the Copernicus and the sacrifice of anyone left aboard her, per Starfleet regulations. But the boarding party includes Spock, Rand, DeSalle and Captain Kirk’s nephew Peter, so he’s in no hurry to execute the mandatory order to destroy Copernicus. Scotty tries a last-ditch maneuver, beaming the boarding party to another deck of the Copernicus – one where, amazingly, Spock’s team finds survivors, including Dr. Jenna Yar and the secretive Commander Blodgett. Dr. Yar claims to be working on a cure for the plague spread by the bloodworms, but McCoy dismisses her proposed treatment as impossibly dangerous for any patients subjected to the process. With time running out, McCoy comes up with his own alternative to Yar’s treatment, and insists on beaming himself to the Copernicus to administer it; if it doesn’t work, he’ll be sentencing himself to death along with the boarding party. In the midst of this already-bleak scenario a Klingon ship arrives, commanded by Kirk’s nemesis Commander Kargh, who is ready to destroy the Copernicus and all aboard if Kirk won’t.

Watch Itwritten by Carlos Pedraza & David Gerrold
directed by David Gerrold
music by Fred Steiner

Cast: James Cawley (Captain Kirk), Ben Toplin (Mr. Spock), John Kelley (Dr. McCoy), Bobby Quinn Rice (Ensign Peter Kirk), Evan Fowler (Alex Freeman), Denise Crosby (Dr. Jenna Yar), Bill Blair (Commander Blodgett), John Carrigan (Commander Kargh), Charles Root (Scott), Jay Storey (Kyle), Kim Stinger (Uhura), Ron Boyd (DeSalle), Andy Bray (Chekov), Meghan King Johnson (Rand), Nick Cook (Hodel), Paul R. Sieber (Agrens), Patrick Bell (Xon), Debbie Huth (Fontana), Jeff Mailhotte (Sentell), Joel Bellucci (Bren), Anne Carrigan (Le’ak), James Avalon (Klaar)

Notes: Dr. Jenna Yar (full name: Jenna Natasha Yar) is the grandmother of Lt. Tasha Yar from Star Trek: The Next Generation; by this stage she has already had a daughter, presumably Tasha’s mother, who is safe on Earth and isn’t seen in this story. Section 31 is retroactively worked into the classic Trek timeline here; it was actually first mentioned in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in the 1990s, and later in Star Trek: Enterprise.

Review: The long-awaited second half of this Trek cliffhanger arrived more than a year after the first part hit the web, and even so, I’m writing this review based on a mostly-complete pre-release edit whose final two acts are still in the “temp edit” stage.

Categories
Phase II / New Voyages Star Trek Star Trek Fan Films

Enemy: Starfleet!

Star Trek: Phase II

This is an episode of a fan-made series whose storyline may be invalidated by later official studio productions.

Stardate 7232.5: A landing party from the Enterprise examines volatile mineral deposits, but suddenly comes under attack from a fleet of Peshan raiders. Kirk’s nephew unwisely puts himself in the line of fire on the surface as the under-armed Peshan ships launch futile strafing runs on the Enterprise in orbit. The landing party captures a Peshan on the planet and retuns to the Enterprise during a brief lull in the hostilities. The captured Peshan accuses Captain Kirk and Starfleet of trying to wipe out his people. Another Constitution class ship appears, heavily modified, and begins brutally picking off Peshan ships: the long-lost U.S.S. Eagle, now commanded by the pirate captain Alersa. The Enterprise and the Eagle battle it out until more ships arrive, built by Alersa’s people and based on reverse-engineered Starfleet technology from the Eagle. Kirk denies Starfleet’s involvement, but realizes he’ll have to risk the Enterprise and everyone aboard so he can clear Starfleet’s name and destroy Alersa’s pirate fleet.

Watch Itteleplay by Dave Galanter & Patty Wright
story by Dave Galanter & Gregory Brodeur
directed by Ben Tolpin / additional shots directed by Vic Mignogna
music by Fred Steiner

Cast: James Cawley (Captain Kirk), Brandon Stacy (Mr. Spock), John Kelley (Dr. McCoy), Barbara Luna (Alersa), Paul R. Sieber (Kyril), Charles Root (Scott), J.T. Tepnapa (Sulu), Jonathan Zungre (Chekov), Kim Stinger (Uhura), Bobby Quinn Rice (Peter), Jay Storey (Kyle), Ron Boyd (DeSalle), Meghan King Johnson (Rand), Patrick Bell (Xon), Jeff Mailhotte (Sentell), Charles Miller II (Dickerson), Ron M. Gates (Ross), Deniz Cordell (Bernstein), Vic Mignogna (Thuran), Cynthia Lin (Communications Officer), James Avalos (Science Officer), Ronn Smith (Andock), Brian Holloway (Conoris), Tal Baron (Voral), Matt Bucy (Meskan Security Guard), Howard Miller (Meskan Security Guard), Michael Stern (Peshan #1), John Olsen (Peshan #2)

Notes: Ben Tolpin, who portrayed Spock in Blood & Fire, gave up the science station chair for the director’s chair at short notice when Kevin Rubio, director of the fan-favorite Star Wars spoof Troops, dropped out as this episode’s director. Vic Mignogna, director of the upcoming episode Kitumba, directed some pickup shots made necessary by James Cawley’s ill health at the time of the original shoot.

Review: This might just be the best Phase II episode to date. The “classic cast members play aged versions of their characters” gags long behind them, Phase II has been cranking out some classic Star Trek. The two-part Blood & Fire was overtly topical, but Enemy: Starfleet! is simply a rollicking good action-adventure.

Categories
Phase II / New Voyages Star Trek Fan Films

No Win Scenario

Star Trek: Phase II

This is an episode of a fan-made series whose storyline may be invalidated by later official studio productions.

Stardate not given: Klingon Captain Kargh gathers his allies at a less-than-obvious location to lay out his final plans for an assault on Federation territory which will result in the deaths of millions of humans, a crippling blow to Starfleet’s morale and Federation security. But as far ahead as Kargh believes he has planned, someone else has outplanned him and is listening in.

Watch Itwritten by Erik Korngold
directed by Erik J. Goodrich
music by Fred Steiner

Cast: John Carrigan (Kargh), Anne Carrigan (Le’ak), James Cawley (Captain Kirk), Paul R. Sieber (Klingon Ops), Larry Nemecek (Tellarite Grolst), Jeff Quinn (Mr. Spock), Julienne Irons (Lt. Uhura), Jeff Mailhotte (Klingon), Kent Schmidt (Klingon), Chris Lunderman (Klingon), Tanveer Naseer (Klingon), Mark Strock (Klingon), Jay Storey (Lt. Kyle), Andy Bray (Chekov)

Star Trek Phase IINotes: Originally filmed in 2005 along with the already-released vignette Center Seat and other vignettes still not released to this day (Change Of Command and Auld Lang Syne), the raw footage shot for No Win Scenario was misplaced until actor John “Kargh” Carrigan provided his own copy and secretly edited and post-produced it himself, with FX provided by Tobias Richter of The Light Works (who also provided CGI FX for Enemy: Starfleet!). The completed episode was presented to Phase II star and showrunner James Cawley as a surprise, and was made available on October 8th, 2011 – 7 years to the day after the release of the first New Voyages episode, Come What May. As such, this episode is shot in letterboxed standard-definition video and features many actors who have not participated in Phase II’s more recent releases. It is still unknown if or when the other previously-shot vignettes may be released, especially since every Phase II production since World Enough And Time has been filmed in HD.

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Phase II / New Voyages Star Trek Star Trek Fan Films

The Child

Star Trek: Phase II

This is an episode of a fan-made series whose storyline may be invalidated by later official studio productions.

Stardate not given: The Enterprise passes through an energy cloud judged to be harmless, but during the journey through the cloud a floating light penetrates the ship’s hull and studies various sleeping crew members before settling on Deltan navigator Lt. Acel. When she awakens, she goes to sick bay, where she informs Dr. McCoy – without undergoing any tests – that she is pregnant. Within hours, Acel gives birth to a seemingly normal daughter, though the child’s rate of growth is beyond anything in human or Deltan experience. The Enterprise is intercepted by a large, cylindrical object containing the same kind of energy found in the cloud, but at a much higher concentration. The cylinder’s presence marks the beginning of a string of one deadly crisis after another, with Acel’s daughter, Irska, instrumental in solving each emergency. Kirk and Spock grow increasingly suspicious of Irska’s connection to the energy in the cylindrical ship, but any direct attack on that ship causes Irska to shriek in pain. The cylinder begins to destabilize the atomic structure of the Enterprise’s hull, leaving the crew with an agonizing decision: what, or who, will be sacrificed to save everyone else on the ship?

Watch Itwritten by Jaron Summers and Jon Povill
directed by Jon Povill
music by Fred Steiner except
“Deltan Lullabye” composed by Deniz Cordell
“Deltan Dance” composed by William Lloyd Jones

Cast: James Cawley (Captain Kirk), Brandon Stacy (Mr. Spock), John Kelly (Dr. McCoy), Anna Schnaitter (Isel), Ayla Cordell (Irska), Charles Root (Scott), Jonathan Zungre (Chekov), J.T. Tepnapa (Sulu), Bobby Quinn Rice (Peter Kirk), Jay Storey (Kyle), Ron Boyd (DeSalle), Meghan King Johnson (Rand), Patrick Bell (Xon), Jeff Mailhotte (Sentell), Riva Gijanto (Zarha), Deniz Cordell (Bernstein), Brian Holloway (Jansen), Ronald M. Gates (Hemmings), Matt Bucy (Crewman), Natalia Tudela (Nurse), Paul R. Sieber (Commander), Zoe Staubitz (baby Irska)

Star Trek Phase IINotes: Originally written by Jon Povill and Jaron Summers for the never-made 1977 TV relaunch of the original Star Trek (from which this fan series, Star Trek Phase II, borrows its name), The Child was intended to chronicle Deltan navigator Lt. Ilia giving birth to a mysterious daughter, since Ilia, Decker and Xon were intended to be series regulars. Structurally, this version of The Child is much more faithful to the original ’70s script than the hastily-adapted version of The Child which opened the second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation (which bestowed a mystery child upon Counselor Troi instead). The original script as written for the ’70s series, minus alterations for either this fan series or TNG, appears in full in the book “Star Trek Phase II: The Lost Series” by Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens. Writer Jon Povill was the story editor for the aborted ’70s series and worked closely with Gene Roddenberry through the series development cycle, and here he directs his own script.

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Phase II / New Voyages Star Trek Star Trek Fan Films

Going Boldly

Star Trek: Phase II

This is an episode of a fan-made series whose storyline may be invalidated by later official studio productions.

Stardate not given: Following a mission that ended with the loss of several crew members, the Enterprise is recalled to Starbase 4, where Starfleet gives the ship a new set of experimental warp engines and a few other modifications. The crew gets a chance to grieve for their fallen comrades, and Kirk gets the Enterprise’s new orders.

Watch Itwriter not credited
director not credited
music by Fred Steiner and James Horner

Star Trek Phase IICast: Brian Gross (Captain Kirk), Brandon Stacy (Mr. Spock), John Kelly (Dr. McCoy), Charles Root (Mr. Scott), Jasmine Pierce (Lt. Uhura), Jonathan Zungre (Chekov), Bobby Quinn Rice (Ensign Peter Kirk), Wayne Johnson (Ensign Walking Bear), Chris Doohan (Lt. Arex), Jay Storey (Kyle)

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green