Story: To Boldly Go, Part II
Star Trek Continues concludes it's 11-Episode run with a fantastic closing episode, "To Boldly Go, Part II." Picking up where the previous episode left off, the Enterprise is up against a ship full of ESPers, with one on board their bridge as well. They manage to subdue Lana when it is revealed Smith has barrier powers as well. It is sort of a cop out, but the fact that they set up Smith as the young Smith that held Gary's hand in the second pilot...well it works I suppose. Lana and her Vulcan husband leave make a quick escape and are beamed onto the Konga, the Constitution class the ESPers have overtaken.
Kirk is sleep deprived and a tad more morose than usual, but still manages to come up with a plan to take on the Konga...separate the saucer and instead of only having the Enterprise and the Romulan ship, they would then have a three point attack, which weakens the Konga just enough. While they are jamming communications between the Saucer lead by Spock and the Stardrive lead by Kirk, they try to barter with Spock, claiming the Konga's crew is still alive and well in the cargo bay...but they will only exchange them for McKennah, who was kind to Lana. Spock is reluctant to do so, but McKennah appeals to his buried emotions, if anyone is alive on that ship, they have to try and save them. Of course it is a trick...Lana didn't truly care about McKennah, but through her advanced ESP she knew how much Spock cared for her, and took advantage of him. The Konga crew is not alive, and he has lost her for nothing.
Starfleet makes a last ditch attempt to stop the ESPers, sending the only other two Constitution-class ships to attempt to stop it...by the time the Enterprise arrives, they are both destroyed, the ESPers having tricked them into firing upon each other. The Enterprise's last ditch plan to stop the ESPers is to send Smith in, using her newfound powers to beam through their shields, and hopefully take their shields offline. When she finds she can't do that fast enough, she overloads the Konga's engines...and puts them out of order, killing herself in the process. Then the Romulans fire upon the Konga before turning on the Enterprise as well. The Romulan Commander uses a command code from the Enterprise to take the Romulans out of commission...but the damage is down to the Konga.
Before it blows up, Scotty makes an attempt to beam out McKennah, but he can't get a full pattern...just a partial one, that looks on but can't speak. It is a beautiful scene, where Kirk and Spock both must accept the death of their friend, one Spock has developed romantic feelings for. I had really grown to like McKennah, she ended up fitting the tone of the Original Series perfectly, and was a lovely addition to the show. Her death is sad, but this two-part finale makes sure to tie up the loose ends that led into the Motion Picture. So STC original characters like McKennah, Drake, Smith have to meet their end, and they came up with a solution to the fact that there were a whole bunch of Constitution class ships in the Original show, but by the time of The Motion Picture there is only one which is in service and gets refit. The only flaw of that idea is that my head canon has long felt that the Enterprise-A was originally a different refit Consitution class ship, and that they renamed it the A for Kirk and co. after they saved the Earth. That is the only thing that can really make any sense as to why like a few years later they decide to retire the Enterprise-A...because they just built the freaking thing!
The ending is truly terrific. Kirk's acceptance of promotion, his donning of that Motion Picture Admirals Uniform, his speech...all great stuff. Then there is the lovely scene in which Bones tells Kirk he is looking to leave Starfleet, hopefully see his daughter again. The daughter of Bones seems to be a continued theme in expanded media. Joanna was meant to be in a classic episode, never was, but has been referenced and appeared in books and comics and other spin-off material for a while. A simple line of wanting to see her again and get away from the death he has seen out in space is really all it takes to understand why he is out of Starfleet by the Motion Picture. And McKennah is used as the main reasoning Spock left for Vulcan. While we all know that he ends up attempting the Kolinahr, I rather liked that he didn't just say "I'm going to do the Kolinahr now." He just says that he needs time to reflect after his decisions killed a woman he loved, a woman that was helping him become more in tune with his human heritage and emotions. And he is going to Vulcan to do whatever it takes to be able to move past that decision and the pain it caused. Obviously, the path he chose ends up being the purging of all remaining emotions, and by the time the Motion Picture rolls around, he has almost completed it, yet failed.
Kirk then goes for a final look at the bridge of his roughed up ship, taking his final look at his home for the last five years...it's quiet and poignant...and then we get his final Captain's Log...and we pan out to see that ship in the drydock, ready for the story to be picked up at the conclusion of the refit and have their human adventure just begin! It's a perfect end to the original show...it is kind of amazing that the Star Trek Continues gang pulled this series off. 11 episodes, a conclusion we never got. This finale is a perfect bridging of the gap between the original show, and how the Motion Picture begins. The use of making it a sequel to the original Kirk pilot is also a nice bookending touch, and just makes it feel like a true conclusion. This story has certainly replaced my previous headcanon version, which was a rather nice story from IDW Comics (back when they actually produced Star Trek comics and not just crossovers with Green Lantern or whatever nonsense), but while that comic was nice and had some good character touches...this just feels like a more proper ending to the show, and while McCoy's reasoning for leaving starfleet is pretty much the same deal, I think I preferred SPock's reasoning better in this.
NEXT TIME: Series Recap
Written By: Robert J. Sawyer & James Kerwin
Series: Star Trek Continues
Year: 2017Star Trek Continues concludes it's 11-Episode run with a fantastic closing episode, "To Boldly Go, Part II." Picking up where the previous episode left off, the Enterprise is up against a ship full of ESPers, with one on board their bridge as well. They manage to subdue Lana when it is revealed Smith has barrier powers as well. It is sort of a cop out, but the fact that they set up Smith as the young Smith that held Gary's hand in the second pilot...well it works I suppose. Lana and her Vulcan husband leave make a quick escape and are beamed onto the Konga, the Constitution class the ESPers have overtaken.
Starfleet makes a last ditch attempt to stop the ESPers, sending the only other two Constitution-class ships to attempt to stop it...by the time the Enterprise arrives, they are both destroyed, the ESPers having tricked them into firing upon each other. The Enterprise's last ditch plan to stop the ESPers is to send Smith in, using her newfound powers to beam through their shields, and hopefully take their shields offline. When she finds she can't do that fast enough, she overloads the Konga's engines...and puts them out of order, killing herself in the process. Then the Romulans fire upon the Konga before turning on the Enterprise as well. The Romulan Commander uses a command code from the Enterprise to take the Romulans out of commission...but the damage is down to the Konga.
Before it blows up, Scotty makes an attempt to beam out McKennah, but he can't get a full pattern...just a partial one, that looks on but can't speak. It is a beautiful scene, where Kirk and Spock both must accept the death of their friend, one Spock has developed romantic feelings for. I had really grown to like McKennah, she ended up fitting the tone of the Original Series perfectly, and was a lovely addition to the show. Her death is sad, but this two-part finale makes sure to tie up the loose ends that led into the Motion Picture. So STC original characters like McKennah, Drake, Smith have to meet their end, and they came up with a solution to the fact that there were a whole bunch of Constitution class ships in the Original show, but by the time of The Motion Picture there is only one which is in service and gets refit. The only flaw of that idea is that my head canon has long felt that the Enterprise-A was originally a different refit Consitution class ship, and that they renamed it the A for Kirk and co. after they saved the Earth. That is the only thing that can really make any sense as to why like a few years later they decide to retire the Enterprise-A...because they just built the freaking thing!
The ending is truly terrific. Kirk's acceptance of promotion, his donning of that Motion Picture Admirals Uniform, his speech...all great stuff. Then there is the lovely scene in which Bones tells Kirk he is looking to leave Starfleet, hopefully see his daughter again. The daughter of Bones seems to be a continued theme in expanded media. Joanna was meant to be in a classic episode, never was, but has been referenced and appeared in books and comics and other spin-off material for a while. A simple line of wanting to see her again and get away from the death he has seen out in space is really all it takes to understand why he is out of Starfleet by the Motion Picture. And McKennah is used as the main reasoning Spock left for Vulcan. While we all know that he ends up attempting the Kolinahr, I rather liked that he didn't just say "I'm going to do the Kolinahr now." He just says that he needs time to reflect after his decisions killed a woman he loved, a woman that was helping him become more in tune with his human heritage and emotions. And he is going to Vulcan to do whatever it takes to be able to move past that decision and the pain it caused. Obviously, the path he chose ends up being the purging of all remaining emotions, and by the time the Motion Picture rolls around, he has almost completed it, yet failed.
Kirk then goes for a final look at the bridge of his roughed up ship, taking his final look at his home for the last five years...it's quiet and poignant...and then we get his final Captain's Log...and we pan out to see that ship in the drydock, ready for the story to be picked up at the conclusion of the refit and have their human adventure just begin! It's a perfect end to the original show...it is kind of amazing that the Star Trek Continues gang pulled this series off. 11 episodes, a conclusion we never got. This finale is a perfect bridging of the gap between the original show, and how the Motion Picture begins. The use of making it a sequel to the original Kirk pilot is also a nice bookending touch, and just makes it feel like a true conclusion. This story has certainly replaced my previous headcanon version, which was a rather nice story from IDW Comics (back when they actually produced Star Trek comics and not just crossovers with Green Lantern or whatever nonsense), but while that comic was nice and had some good character touches...this just feels like a more proper ending to the show, and while McCoy's reasoning for leaving starfleet is pretty much the same deal, I think I preferred SPock's reasoning better in this.
NEXT TIME: Series Recap