What's new

Star Trek: New Voyages "World Enough and Time" (1 Viewer)

Phil Florian

Screenwriter
Joined
Mar 10, 2001
Messages
1,188
Howdy!
Where could one discuss the recently posted episode of the fan-created Star Trek New Voyages show? I put it under TV because the work is emulating the approximate length and scope of the old 60's shows. Normally I give fan films a pass (most are horrible) but this New Voyages series was garnering more talent from days of Trek Past. I watched the first episode and it was, frankly, badly done. The set of the old school Enterprise was spot-on, as was the costumes, but the dog-fightin' special effects and poor acting couldn't get me through it (even with guest starring job from the dude who played Admiral Decker in the Doomsday Machine).
But then I heard that Koenig did an episode, playing an aged version of his character infected by that same virus that aged the cast in the original series. Neat! Still didn't watch it, though.
Then George Takei signed on to play an older Sulu again. This gained my attention because while I respect Koenig, now that B5 is gone he hasn't been doing much but Takei, hot on the heels of a great guest role in "Heroes" didn't need to do a fan film to get noticed. But he did and I decided to give it a whirl.
I found this show's acting, special effects and overall story really well done. It wasn't the original by any stretch in certain ways but still captured what made the original show very fun to watch. It had a plausible reason for Sulu to be aged (see it to find out why) and, like all good Treks, had strong allusions to Shakespeare. In this case, they deal with "The Tempest" in more ways than one. Even the title of the episode is from an Elizabethan poem (I had to look it up but it sounded familiar and lo and behold, it was).
Takei doesn't play large. Though the dialog is at times a bit weak and self-referential (another Kobayashi Maru reference??) there are some wonderful dramatic moments framed by quieter and touching scenes, as well. Takei plays this faithfully and does a fine job that actually helps improve those performances around him. While not Shatner or Nimoy, the two leads have settled nicely into their roles leaving behind any attempt to imitate and have found their own voices as Kirk and Spock.
I know it isn't high art but since Paramount pretty much gave up on the Trek ideals long before even Voyager was produced, it is nice to see some of Roddenberry's old visions coming to life once more in a lovingly created homage to the good old days of TV. Some will blast it for being horrible but I am a guy who enjoys professional theater but still can enjoy a well done piece of amateur community theater. This fits somewhere nicely between the two and is worth a download.

If this fits in some other section better (if at all) let me know!
 

ChristopherG

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2003
Messages
3,039
Real Name
Chris
Phil,

Sounds intriguing enough to me to give it a try - where does one find these episodes?
 

Phil Florian

Screenwriter
Joined
Mar 10, 2001
Messages
1,188
If you do Bit Torrent (for legal downloads like this only, of course!!) it is there with an abundance of seeds.

Phil
 

ChristopherG

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2003
Messages
3,039
Real Name
Chris
Well, I have to say how pleasantly surprised I was with "World Enough and Time". Phil's comments above really nail it and I can't say that I have much to add - this is recommended for any fan of TOS.

The ending was sad - any story that you can get emotionally involved in can't be a bad thing...
 

Lou Sytsma

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Nov 1, 1998
Messages
6,103
Real Name
Lou Sytsma
This was the first episode from these folks that added something to the Star Trek mythos. This one engages the emotions and though the clips of George Takei as savage Sulu give off bad vibes of him playing Khan, Takei delivers a touching and engaging performance. I'd love to see this story done professionally.
 

Ric Easton

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2001
Messages
2,830

I think you just did! As you can tell, I'm a big fan of this installment, and at times felt like I was watching a lost episode.
 

Chris

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jul 4, 1997
Messages
6,788
I've seen some of the early efforts and they were pretty hokey (poor) so I was really hesitant to give this a big shot.

But this really is pretty impressive storytelling. Yes, it's not "TV Ready" but the quality is there, and the story writing is actually really well done.
 

Tony Whalen

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jan 29, 2002
Messages
3,150
Real Name
Tony Whalen

Right there with ya Ric. Loved this episode! Thought it was really REALLY well done.

I'm not sure how much more "professional" it could become... considering how many industry professionals are now involved with the creation of NV. ( know some of the actors could hone their craft a little more... but still...)

I look forward to the next one... dealing with a David Gerrold script that was rejected by TNG for being to "contraversial". Directed by Gerrold himself. Should be interesting!
 

Joseph Howard

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Sep 10, 1997
Messages
227
Re: "World Enough & Time"

Pretty damn good if you ask me. Got me to post "kudos" and I haven't
posted in a very long time. Will watch the rest and look forward to the next.

Dr. Joe

ps... I better not kill this thread.
 

ChristopherG

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2003
Messages
3,039
Real Name
Chris
I have to agree with the comment on how this felt like a "lost episode".

I will say it again - any Trek fan should give this a watch. :emoji_thumbsup:
 

Lou Sytsma

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Nov 1, 1998
Messages
6,103
Real Name
Lou Sytsma
I would like to see professional actors playing the original cast. They still don't match up. I understand the two new cast members have been added to play Spock and Uhura as the current ones cannot do the next installment due to scheduling conflicts.
 

Ric Easton

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2001
Messages
2,830
Lou, you'll get your "professional actors" playing the TOS crew in December 2008 with Abram's new movie. I sure will be curious to see if it feels more like Trek than "World Enough and Time!"
 

Lou Sytsma

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Nov 1, 1998
Messages
6,103
Real Name
Lou Sytsma
Indeed Ric. The movie faces many hurdles to overcome. I sure hope they can pull it off.
 

Francois Caron

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jul 31, 1997
Messages
2,640
Location
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Real Name
François Caron
Usually I don't keep the downloaded episodes on my hard drive because if I'm not planning to see the episode again anytime soon, I erase the episode to make room and simply download it again in a few months when I'm interested in seeing it again.

I've decided not to erase this one. The episode is a turning point for the New Voyages team. Granted the original team's acting could be better, but you have to remember this is a fan fiction that's suddenly been invaded by the original ST cast and writers! :) And what's being produced by this team is highly impressive. I do believe the episode runs a bit longer than it should have and could have benefited from a bit of editing in the dialog. Not much mind you; I'm only talking about between five and ten minutes of editing to help the storyline flow at a more consistent pace.

All the episodes of this fan fiction are way more than good enough for national broadcast on my upcoming public access TV channel. But alas, that won't happen. The license agreement between New Voyages and Paramount is that these episodes are to be distributed only on the Internet free of charge. But if ever New Voyages and Paramount can come to an agreement, once the channel is on the air, I'm certainly ready to consider them for broadcast on the condition the schedule isn't already occupied by Canadian productions. Canadian content has priority over all foreign content. No exceptions.
 

Dave Scarpa

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Apr 8, 1999
Messages
5,765
Real Name
David Scarpa

It was the best effort to date, and Takei was good in it and shows he could probably hold down a series, it was an awful lot like Inner Light, Meets the Visitor, meets the Offspring.. but still worth seeing
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Latest Articles

Forum statistics

Threads
356,810
Messages
5,123,551
Members
144,184
Latest member
H-508
Recent bookmarks
0
Top