Today, we're looking at "To Boldly Go Part 1", the first half of the Star Trek Continues grant finale. See how this episode ties back to the Star Trek pilot "Where No Man Has Gone Before", how it sets up...
Today, we're looking at "To Boldly Go Part 1", the first half of the Star Trek Continues grant finale. See how this episode ties back to the Star Trek pilot "Where No Man Has Gone Before", how it sets up everything for the exciting conclusion, and hear some fascinating new insights into the episode from director James Kerwin.
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Transcript
Welcome to Nerd Heaven.
I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars.
And I am a nerd
This is episode 106 of the podcast. Today, we’re talking about the first part of the Star Trek Continues grand finale, “To Boldly Go, Part 1”.
I got an email a few weeks ago. It was from James Kerwin. Yes, that James Kerin. Writer, producer and director for Star Trek Continues, including director of today’s episode.
He reached out to me to say he’d been listening to the podcast and enjoying it. This was a huge thrill. It’s very humbling to find that one of the creators of the show has been listening to the podcast, so I want to give a big shout out and thank you to him, not only for his work on the show, but for his encouragement.
And he pointed out a few fascinating things that I’d missed.
Remember in episode three, I talked about how good the shuttlecraft exterior looked. It turns out, they didn’t build that from scratch that was the real shuttlecraft Galileo from Star Trek The Original Series. How awesome is that?
I’ve made mention of Nurse Chapel a couple of times, but that wasn’t actually Chapel. They made a conscious decision not to have Chapel appear on screen in this show because she should be off at Starfleet Medical getting her doctorate at this point in time, which makes a lot of sense. So it was always Nurse Burke, a character who had appeared in Star Trek comics and novels.
And Lieutenant Smith has not actually been on the Enterprise the whole time. But we’ll learn more about that in the next episode.
But here’s a big one I missed. The actress who plays her, Kipleigh Brown, was the writer of episode 9 “What Ships are For” I didn’t put that together, but I think that’s really cool.
The description on IMDB for today’s episode reads
To solve the utmost mystery, the Enterprise must return to where Kirk's five-year mission began.
The teleplay was by Roberty J. Sawyer based on a story by
Vic Mignongna, James Kerwin, and Robert J. Sawyer.
It was directed by James Kerwin,
And it first aired on the 18th of October 2017.
Robert J. Sawyer was the primary writer of this two-parter. He is a very famous Canadian author who wrote FlashForward, which was adapted for TV by Star Trek’s Branon Braga, and Man of Steel’s David S. Goyer.
When Star Trek The Next Generation was preparing to wrap and move to the big screen, they gave it a two-hour finale. This idea was pretty unheard of at the time. Lots of shows in the 90s had movie-length pilots, but not finales. TV shows tended to pitter out and end with a bit of a whimper. TNG changed all that.
But the original Star Trek never got a proper finale, like TNG, DS9, and Voyager.
Even Enterprise got a finale of sorts, which I will partially defend, though not the feature length extravaganza that others got.
But things were different in the 60s. TOS had no ending. It was cancelled. Turnabout Intruder wasn’t intended to be the end of the story, it was just an episode.
One of the greatest things about Star Trek Continues is that it rectifies this. It gives TOS the ending it always deserved. And it’s done so well.
Much like “All Good Things”, it calls back to a lot of things from the past, but it specifically links us back to the very first episode, “Where No Man Has Gone Before.”
Even the titles relate, each is part of Kirk’s iconic phrase. The symmetry is beautiful.
But hold on, I hear you say. “What about the Cage? Isn’t that the pilot of TOS?”
Well, yes it is. Star Trek had an unprecedented two pilots. But The Cage never actually aired in its original form during the run of the show. These days, I tend to think of The Cage as the pilot for Strange New Worlds. So in my mind, it makes a lot of sense for this episode to tie in with “Where No Man has Gone Before.”
Director James Kerwin gave me some interesting insight into the production of these episodes. They actually filmed this two-parter before they filmed the last episode “What Ships are For.” CBS/Paramount had implemented their fan-film guidelines, guidelines.
Now a show like this would have needed some substantial changes to fit with these guidelines. They were required to be less than 15 minutes or no more than 2 30 minute parts in total with no additional seasons, episodes or sequels.
CBS didn’t require the show to shut down, but with these guidelines in place, and Discovery about to release, out of respect, they decided to wind down Star Trek Continues. They did a final fundraiser to complete episodes 8, 10 and 11, but there was no money to make episode 9.
But at the last minute, a generous donor gave them the money for episode 9. They shot the finale first to get it out of the way, and went back several months later to film “What Ships are For.” I’m glad that generous donor made it possible, because that last episode was pretty amazing.
The episode opens with Spock & McKenna meditating together. This is normally a very private affair, but Spock considers it an honour to teach a willing student.
Meditation is the one time that Vulcans truly acknowledge their emotions. You can see why it’s so private.
McKenna’s inclusion in this moment shows the level of intimacy that has grown between these two.
They will both miss these sessions when the mission is over.
We learn here about a vulcan discipline, the Dulhutnar, an alternative to the Kolinahr.
Rather than the purging of emotions, the Dulhutna is about accepting the wisdom of vestigial emotions.
Spock considers there to be No chance of him pursuing either. Of course, we know that shortly after this finale, he will return to Vulcan and pursue the Kolinahr.
Spock and McKenna’s relationship is special. They share private things they wouldn’t share with others.
Time with humans has taught Spock to value his human side.
And then they hold hands. That’s a huge deal. Vulcans are not comfortable with physical contact. And even for humans, holding hands is a sign of affection and physical intimacy.
The Enterprise is scheduled to return home soon. Their 5 year mission is coming to an end.
The loss of The Hood crew still weighs on him. You’ll remember that back in “Embracing the Winds” a mysterious life support failure cost the lives of the entire crew. A failure that Scotty was unable to explain.
I remember commenting at the time that I hoped the show would follow up on that. I couldn’t remember if it did. We’ll see in this episode that it is definitely followed up.
The Yorktown and the Republic were both damaged while investigating The Hood’s loss. The Enterprise is being sent to the Federation colony on Aldebran III which went completely silent shortly afterward.
Admiral Thesp, a very cool looking Andorian, admits that the Federation had a secret laboratory on the planet. A supply vessel sent to investigate never returned.
They detected anti-proton residue. That means Romulans.
The colony has been destroyed. The central reactor suffered a containment failure. Scotty thinks that should be impossible. He installed the safeguards himself 5 years ago, which, I suppose, gives us a glimpse of what Scotty’s job was before the Enterprise’s 5 year mission began.
Interestingly, Vic pronounces the word Sabotage the same way Shatner does. Sabotage. I don’t know how common that is in America, or Canada for that matter, but here in Australia, we definitely say Sabotage.
Anyway, I love these little bits of attention to detail. It’s really cool.
The underground pandora research lab is intact but it has a scattering field so Scotty will have to beam them down outside.
The set for the planet looks very reminiscent of what we might have seen on The Original Series, and yet, kind of better, in my opinion. It’s a real work of art.
I like the little elevator shaft to gain entrance to the lab. The only sign of habitation nearby. Presumably, the colony was elsewhere on the planet.
A drone appears and attacks them. The effects here are a good match for the original series. Again, better quality, but recognisable.
There’s a good sense of danger to this action scene.
After they’ve dealt with it, a human woman, Lana, appears out of the turbolift. She’s surprised to see a Vulcan. The sensors detected him as Romulan.
Lana is played by actress Nichola Bryant who famously portrayed the Doctor Who companion Peri, a character I’ve been known to refer to as “the whinging yank”. But in fairness to her, Colin Baker’s Sixth Doctor was a bit of a prickly guy to be around.
James Kerwin was a big Doctor Who fan growing up. Colin Baker and Nichola Bryant were the doctor/companion pairing that he most remembered as a child. It was a big honour for him to work with both of them on Star Trek Continues. Colin Baker appeared in Episode 4, The White Iris, as Amphidamas. And Nichola Bryant appeared in this two-parter.
How cool is it that he got to work with them both on this show?
Lana is wearing a visor. To me, it looks similar to the one that Spock and Miranda Jones had to wear when viewing the Medusans back in “Is There No Truth in Beauty.”
But as she removes the visor, we see her eyes. The same metallic colour we saw in Gary Mitchell after he was uplifted by passage through the galactic barrier, back in the pilot episode.
Ever since this phenomenon was discovered, after “Where No Man Has Gone Before”, Starfleet have been gathering people with high psi-quotients and experimenting with them. Trying to uplift them. There are 25 of them.
This sounds like a REALLY BAD IDEA
My first thought is, are section 31 involved?
This woman is part of a first trial. They have already gone through the barrier. They are weaponised humans - to serve as a last resort in case the Federation is invaded by a superior force.
When Kirk questions the legitimacy of such an action, she refers to the starfleet charter. Article 14 Section 31.
And there it is.
Lana makes the statement “Absolute power does not corrupt absolutely. It corrupts selectively.”
I don’t believe that all power will always corrupt. I don’t buy into the old adage.
Lana makes a fair point - of the two espers that were uplifted in the pilot, one became a megalomaniac. The other retained her humanity.
We don’t really know why. Did Gary already have elements of megalomania in his personality? Was he somehow more susceptible to it than Denher was? There could have been all sorts of factors.
And that uncertainty makes this whole thing a very risky endeavour.
Lana claims that psychologically unstable espers were excluded from the operation.
But they can’t know for certain what might cause another Gary Mitchell. That, in my opinion, makes what they’re doing too dangerous.
Kirk asks which she is, and she answers by saying she follows “Sas-tar-po-harn”
This is a human spiritual movement that follows the pacifict teachings of Surak and T’Mord of Vulcan. I think this is a very interesting idea. And a logical one.
In Babylon 5, when humans made first contact, there was a growing interest in alien religions among humans, the theory being that races that are more technologically advanced than we are, must be closer to God.
I can see some people thinking that way. It seems a similar thing may have happened in the Star Trek universe. After first contact with Vulcans, it’s only logical that some humans may have chosen to adopt Vulcan philosophy.
So this is a nice touch.
Lana explains that a cloaked ship came here and attacked the lab. It destroyed the Hallifax.
The other espers have been kidnapped by the Romulans. Lana played dead with her powers so they didn’t find her.
Spock surmises that Vulcans cannot be uplifted, based on his prior experience at the barrier. He was not uplifted despite his psi-abilities.
If Vulcans cannot be uplifted, then neither can Romulans.
But this raises a question. Do Romulans have the same telepathic abilities as Vulcans? I’ve never heard of a Romulan conducting a mind meld.
The Romulan ancestors left Vulcan during a time of barbarism. The TNG episode “Gambit” suggests that ancient Vulcans had telepathic abilities because they constructed a telepathic weapon called The Stone of Gol. That suggests the Romulans may indeed have similar telepathic abilities to Vulcans, even though we’ve never really seen it. Unless there’s some example I’m forgetting.
The Romulans want to use the kidnapped human espers because they can’t create their own. Seems logical.
The interesting thing is, they don’t want to use the force against the Federation, but to overthrow their own Praetor. Apparently, the Romulan Klingon alliance has ended, and this group of Romulans oppose the end of the alliance.
Spock raises concern over taking Lana with them. Better to leave her here. Stranded. As they had intended for Mitchell.
A Romulan appears. Sentek. He is played by Cas Anvar, who played Alex Kamal on The Expanse. The Expanse had already aired a season or two by this point. I continue to be impressed with the actors that Star Trek Continues is able to get.
Lana disarms Sentek. They beam out (with the prisoner) just before the explosion.
They’re pursuing the Romulan ship but it’ll enter the neutral zone before they catch up.
Admiral Thesp orders him to enter the zone and pursue all the way to Romulus if necessary. Just get the espers back.
Kirk doesn’t look too impressed with this.
Among other reasons that he probably realises, this is a suicide mission, but in addition to that, it could provoke a war.
Spock asks Uhura to transmit an encrypted message. It’s all a bit mysterious.
Kirk has some hard questions for Lana. Why was that one romulan left on the planet? Why didn’t she use her powers to overcome him? She theorises that he is a praetorian spy hidden among the dissidents. He fled to the hills. None of her answers sound particularly convincing.
The Enterprise officially crosses the border. They are now in violation of treaty.
Of course, so were the Romulans, but it seems they didn’t represent the Romulan government so that will be a very weak excuse as far as they are concerned.
A bird of prey decloaks. It’s not the marauder. When Spock identifies the ship, Kirk shakes his head. He knows what Spock is up to.
They are hailed by the Romulan commander from The Enterprise Incident.
Played wonderfully by Amy Rydell, the daughter of the original actor to play the part in the TOS episode. She does a fantastic job, and almost convinces me she’s the time-travelling original actor.
She is referred to Charvanek in this episode but was never named on screen in The Enterprise Incident. She does whisper her name to Spock but we never learn what it is. The Name Charvanek was used in a number of non-canon sources. But she’s also given other names in various novels and games.
She doesn’t attack but her words make it clear she considers a formal declaration of war is all but inevitable due to the Enterprise’s entry into the zone.
Kirk isn’t impressed that Spock contacted her of his own volition.
Spock admits the reason he didn’t ask is because he knew Kirk wouldn’t agree.
How human you are becoming, Mister Spock.
Spock believes he can convince her to assist them in pursuing the dissidents, due to their previous rapport. Kirk gives him 30 minutes.
At the end of The Enterprise Incident, Charvanek was taken into Federation space and released on a world on our side of the border. It seems that Sarak was the one who negotiated the treaty that led to her return to Romulan space. It seems she was able to get her old command back. That must have taken some convincing on her part.
Spock appeals to her loyalty to the Praetor. It doesn’t take much to convince her to help stop the dissidents.
The twist happens when she meets the prisoner. He is no Romulan commander that she knows, and she knows her fleet. She knows her fellow commanders.
As he is discovered, Sentek beams out, apparently at Kirk’s command, according to the transporter chief.
Sentek tries to sabotage engineering. In the battle, Charvanek is rendered unconscious by something similar to a Vulcan nerve pinch.
It’s nice to see Doctor M’Benga again.
McCoy has found that Sentek is actually a Vulcan who lived on the colony, and he’s married to Lana. He had unusually high natural psionic ability, even for a Vulcan. They speculate that he wanted an equal for a mate. A human who could be uplifted to be his equal. They also speculate that Lana’s trip through the barrier may not have been approved by Starfleet.
When Kirk confronts Lana, she explains that she sees her uplifting as a way to accelerate human evolution, which she considers to have stalled.
We get some very interesting worldbuilding. Apparently the barrier around our galaxy was artificially constructed and placed there by the preservers. I love this. It makes sense of what was a bit of a silly idea in TOS, and adds to the mystique and mythology of the Star Trek universe. It’s a shame that Star Trek never explored the preservers more than it did.
When she asks why the preservers did it, McCoy speculates that “it was probably to keep us in, to prevent our violence from spreading”. This reminds me somewhat of C.S Lewis’s space trilogy, which suggests that the vast interstellar distances between stars are God’s natural quarantine to keep sinful humanity confined.
Lana has a different theory, that it was so that naturally superior lifeforms could be uplifted when they devised the technology to leave the galaxy.
McCoy pushes back “you don’t know what gods think.”
It’s very chilling when she replies “Yes. I do.”
The implication, of course, being that she is a god.
When humans start thinking of themselves as gods, you’re probably in for trouble.
It turns out, the ship the Enterprise has been following was just an illusion. Created, presumably, by Lana. But why does she want to start a war between the Romulans and the Federation?
Uplifted espers seem to have very similar powers of illusion to the Talosians.
It’s nice to see Sulu taking command on the bridge. He’s showing a good aptitude for the job he’ll eventually have.
Charvanek is still working with her old first officer, Tal. He doesn’t seem interested in apologies. He’s planning to destroy the Enterprise. This raises the question of where Charvanek is. If she’s still on the Enterprise, he’ll be killing her. More likely, she’s on her ship, but left the bridge in the hands of her first office, much like Kirk has with Sulu.
We get some interesting insight into Romulan religion when the commander says he hopes that Spock’s katra finds its way to Vol-to-vor.
We know from Star Trek 5, that vol-to-vor is the romulan’s equivalent of Eden. So it seems in their religion, it is both a place of origin as well as a destination. This is somewhat different to Christianity, where Eden and heaven are distinct.
The Romulans can’t fire. They think they’re pressing the button, but they’re not. Lana’s influence, no doubt.
When Charvanek returns to the bridge we see that Tal has been overstepping his authority. She orders that they will assist the Enterprise with their mission. I smell a potential mutiny in their future.
Kirk figures out the truth behind Lana’s deception. There never were any dissidents. The espers weren’t kidnapped by Romulans. There never were any Romulans on the planet. The espers stole the Halifax. The deception was to buy time for the espers to make it to the galactic barrier.
This is what happened to the Hood. The espers convinced the crew to shut off their own life support. Just to see if they could. That’s horrifically cold. These people truly see themselves as above humankind. Of more value. They have no regard for human life.
Given that, it seems believable that Lana would be willing to start this war just as a distraction.
There is no doubt now. Lana is a full villain
Kirk is now questioning his judgement
He calls those who were present at the events of “Where no man has gone before” which includes Smith, who is back on the ship now.
Plus others who were not there.
Spock asks Smith if there’s anything she can share of her experience. She was holding Mitchell’s hand when they crossed.
She has nothing to add that wasn’t in her report. But her demeanour suggests maybe she’s holding something back.
Scotty is keenly aware of what they’re up against. Gary was difficult enough to defeat on his own. They’re going to face an entire ship full of uplifted espers.
Kirk takes solace in the fact that despite his powers, Gary was still just as susceptible to human frailty.
Then he adds “he couldn’t even remember my middle name” which is an amusing little nod to the “James R Kirk” tombstone in that episode. Canon fixed.
Charvanek’s takes the practical approach. Strike first, before they have the ability to grow in their power. Similar to Spock’s recommendation all those years ago.
Kirk won’t have that. These are still Federation citizens. This is a rescue mission.
I get it. I’m all for idealism, and I’d side with Kirk on this. You can’t just shoot to kill while they’re still human. But calling it a rescue mission? I believe that’s a little naive. These people know what they’re doing. They’re actively trying to undergo this transformation.
I guess the difference is that their egoes, their ambitions, will be increased along with their powers. (much like Khan with his genetically engineered nature)
Sulu comes up with an ingenious way to catch up with the espers. Combine a traditional warp field with the space-folding singularity used by the Romulan ship, reminding us of his background in natural sciences, back in Where No Man Has Gone before.
There’s a lot of physics to flying a starship so it makes a lot of sense to me that a good helmsman would have a background in science.
Lana decides it’s time to escape captivity. She flings the forcefield away and then forces
Drake to kill the other guard, and then slowly commit suicide.
This is a very chilling scene, and again demonstrates how little regard she has for human life.
Can you imagine the horror of that moment, feeling your arm moving, knowing you’re about to disintegrate your body, and having no power to prevent it. It’s horrifying.
This moment is better than any other redshirt death that has ever happened in TOS, and possibly Star Trek in general.
Firstly because we’ve gotten to know this character. He’s been developed of a number of episodes. He’s not just a nameless face. We know he’s a person with a life, people who love him.
In addition to that, it treats the moment with the gravity it deserves.
I’m left feeling something very deeply, and that would probably even be the case even if we hadn’t been introduced to him earlier in the season. Farewell, Drake. You will be missed.
The Enterprise and the Romulan ship have made it to the galactic barrier.
The Hallifax is at the border. But have they gone through yet or not?
Kirk hails them. He offers aid, to be a go-between for them with Starfleet Command. He doesn’t give the impression of a neutral party, though. They do, after all, work for Starfleet Command.
But it’s a trap. The Halifax is empty. Another ship appears behind them.
A constitution class ship, The USS Kongo emerges from the barrier. It’s too late. There are only around 12 people on board.
We get a view of their bridge, and they all have silver eyes.
If that wasn’t bad enough, Lana and Sentek enter the Enterprise bridge.
“Relinquish command or the Enterprise will suffer the same fate as the Hood.”
To be concluded.
This is a fantastic cliffhanger. Not quite up there with Best of Both Worlds, but better than most.
This episode was a great set-up for the finale. I love how it pulled together so many threads, both from TOS and from Star Trek Continues itself.
Only one left to go.
It’s been a wild ride.
Don’t forget to check out my original science fiction at AdamDavidCollings.com/books
And I’ll see you next time to discuss To Boldly Go, Part 2.
Until then,
Live Long and Prosper
Make it so.
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2020-09-05
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