the New Voyages

the New Voyages

My mom is going to love this.

Fans of the original Star Trek TV series are rabid. If you haven't been living under a rock for the last 35 years, then you already know of the progression of Star Trek from cult following, to conventions, to comic books and animated series, to a string of movies starring the original cast, and then the Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager series, and then yet more movies.

Then in 2003 James Marshall and James Cawley, obviously rabid fans themselves, along with a whole bunch of other Trekkers decided to bring the original series back to life, and started production of the New Voyages of Star Trek. This is what the original series would have looked like, had there been a fourth and/or fifth season.

They have recreated many of the sets, and reprised the characters. All of the characters we know so well from the original series are here, played by different actors. Cawley himself plays Captain James T. Kirk, and he captures Shatner's characteristic swagger, facial expressions, and mannerisms remarkably well (he's a little over the top sometimes, but then so was Shatner). Jeff Quinn is totally believable as Spock. Although some of the rest of the cast have a few rough edges, it looks like they all took the challenge of reprising these roles seriously, and poured their hearts into making it work.

This is a loving homage to the original series. The stories are compelling, comparable in quality to those of the original series. They've also extended the character arcs somewhat - for instance, Yeoman Rand is now Lieutenant Rand. The special effects are much better. The direction, makeup, camera work, and in particular the editing are top-notch. They've even kept many of the same sound effects and the background music, which fans of the original series will appreciate, and have stayed true to the original series in other ways as well - the Klingons look exactly as they did in the original series, rather than the lumpy-headed guys from subsequent series.

Some of the main people behind the original series have also chipped in on the effort, notably Walter Koenig (Chekov) and writer D.C. Fontana, and Gene Roddenberry Jr. has signed on as a Consulting Producer. William Windom reprised his role as Admiral Decker, bringing some closure to that character's storyline, and there have also been appearances by Barbara Luna and Malachi Throne. Apparently they have also brought George Takei (Sulu), Grace Lee Whitney (Rand) and original series writer David Gerrold on board.

It is amazing what this group has been able to put together on a shoestring budget; they're not even getting any money for it, but it looks like they had a ball doing it. They produce about two of the New Voyages episodes per year. The first two episodes can be found on Google Video, here:

Come What May (pilot): teaser(part 0) part 1 part 2 part 3 part 4

In Harm's Way (episode 1): part 1 part 2 part 3 part 4 part 5

Apparently the D.C. Fontana-written "To Serve All My Days" episode starring Walter Koenig will be released on the web in March, 2006. I'm looking forward to it.

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