Star Trek: Of Gods and Men
Oct. 19th, 2013 08:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chuckroThe brainchild of Tim Russ and Walter Koenig, this takes place in the original continuity between TOS and TNG, 12 years after Kirk’s “death” in Star Trek: Generations. The newly-dedicated Enterprise-M, a museum ship built as a replica of the original Enterprise, is the only ship available when something tampers with the Guardian of Forever.
It plays like a tie-in novel by a huge fanboy of TOS, calling back specifically to half a dozen episodes and assuming that the viewer knows their backstory. And it’s edging into fanfiction because of which characters it stars: Uhura, Chekov and Harriman (Captain of the Enterprise-B in Generations. No, I didn’t recognize him either). Tuvok makes a guest appearance to do something important, and the actors who played Neelix, Harry Kim, Leeta, Martok and Jake Sisko appear in various supporting roles.
The costumes, special effects and problematic skill of several critical actors (Harriman, most notably) made this feel more like a high-budget porn parody film than anything else. Except without the porn.
The plot itself is ridiculous, but not an out-of-place ridiculous for a Trek film. Really the problem is the dialogue. (Which was apparently written by two DS9 writers, who should be capable of better.) The problematic dialogue and direction made the mediocre actors seem much worse and the good actors—Nichols chief among them—seem too good for this schlock.
(You can watch it for free online, by the way.)
Overall: I’m glad I watched it, just to appreciate it on a fanboy level, if not as a particularly good work. And I’m still not sorry I backed the Kickstarter for their next product (the pilot for a new series), but I’m hoping they go less for the fannishness and more for making a good show.
It plays like a tie-in novel by a huge fanboy of TOS, calling back specifically to half a dozen episodes and assuming that the viewer knows their backstory. And it’s edging into fanfiction because of which characters it stars: Uhura, Chekov and Harriman (Captain of the Enterprise-B in Generations. No, I didn’t recognize him either). Tuvok makes a guest appearance to do something important, and the actors who played Neelix, Harry Kim, Leeta, Martok and Jake Sisko appear in various supporting roles.
The costumes, special effects and problematic skill of several critical actors (Harriman, most notably) made this feel more like a high-budget porn parody film than anything else. Except without the porn.
The plot itself is ridiculous, but not an out-of-place ridiculous for a Trek film. Really the problem is the dialogue. (Which was apparently written by two DS9 writers, who should be capable of better.) The problematic dialogue and direction made the mediocre actors seem much worse and the good actors—Nichols chief among them—seem too good for this schlock.
(You can watch it for free online, by the way.)
Overall: I’m glad I watched it, just to appreciate it on a fanboy level, if not as a particularly good work. And I’m still not sorry I backed the Kickstarter for their next product (the pilot for a new series), but I’m hoping they go less for the fannishness and more for making a good show.
