Net TV Love - Part Seven: Star Trek Phase II

Also known as Star Trek: New Voyages, this show is an interesting phenomenon. Created in April 2003 by Trek fans James Cawley and Jack Marshall, it is designed as a continuation of the original Star Trek, beginning in the fourth year of the starship Enterprise's "five year mission". The first episode of the series was released in January 2004, with new episodes being released at a rate of about one per year. So far there have been six episodes released (counting the recently concluded two-part "Blood and Fire" as two) though producers have expressed their desire to accelerate production. There is a definite reason for this slow rate of production, however, and that is quality.

Though Phase II is definitely an unofficial continuation of the original series saga, Paramount Pictures and CBS (owners of the Star Trek franchise and copyright) have not only turned a blind eye toward this production (as they do with pretty much all fan-based Star Trek material, as long as no monetary gain is pursued), but have actually directly benefited from it. (More on that in a moment.) Not only that, but Phase II has actually managed to garner the participation of actors from the original series (George Takei, Walter Koenig, and Grace Lee Whitney have all appeared in episodes reprising their original series roles while Denise Crosby has appeared as the Grandmother of her Next Generation character), utilized scripts written by original series scribes (episode two, "To Serve All My Days" was written by D.C. Fontana, writer of multiple episodes for most of the Star Trek series including the original series episodes "Tomorrow is Yesterday" and "Friday's Child" and the Next Generation pilot "Encounter at Farpoint"; episode three "World Enough and Time" was co-authored by Marc Scott Zicree and Michael Reeves, both of whom contributed scripts to the Next Generation series; and the aforementioned "Blood and Fire" was penned by David Gerrold, who wrote the original series famed "The Trouble with Tribbles"), and Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry's son, Eugene Roddenberry Jr., has come on board as a consulting producer.

Beyond this, even, however, there is the look of the series. Because they have been able to gain access to blueprints of the set from the original series, the producers of this series have been able to recreate those sets (especially the bridge) down to the smallest detail. This attention to accuracy was actually acknowledged by Paramount when Star Trek: Enterprise actually wound up borrowing some of their props (most notably the helmsman's pop-up console viewer) for the two-part episode "In a Mirror, Darkly" which was set in part on a similar ship, the USS Defiant.

Of course, this only leaves one question - what about the acting? While, I'll admit, it is somewhat disconcerting at first to see new actors step into the iconic roles of Kirk, Spock, et al., I suppose that disconnect is somewhat mitigated now that we've been presented with new interpretations of the characters even in the official movies. (James Cawley, who plays Kirk in Phase II even had a cameo in the big-screen production.) At first a bit uncertain seeming, most of the "replacements" seem to have subsequently inhabited their roles quite well.

In the end, Star Trek Phase II is a sterling example of a show created exclusively for the web that should actually be a pleasant surprise for any fan of the original series, and I highly recommend you check them out.

I've embedded below the opening for the latest episode, "Blood and Fire", and you can download the rest of the episodes at the official Phase II site.