So you when you watched something you are excited for and you get swept up in the energy of the moment and it feels like you are watching the greatest thing ever? But later, when you rewatch it, you begin to question things?
I kind of feel like that with
TO BOLDLY GO part one.
Overall, still a great episode. Maybe their best to date in terms of production. Love, love, love the planet set! Some of the camera shots/editing were a bit choppy, particularly for the fight scene (though the Kirk ripped shirt made me laugh). But the pacing worked very well for me. And the FX looks gorgeous.
In terms of narrative, there are some plot points that left me confused, though they may be answered in Part Two. Not sure why the whole Romulan ruse? Other than using it to bring back the Romulan Commander (wow! Does she ever look like her Mother!!!!), couldn't the Uplifted have gotten away undetected otherwise? But on the flip side, I loved all the Trek Continuity Porn! I live for that stuff. I think this is the first time the Preservers have been credited with creating the Galactic Barrier? Or maybe that was an idea from a Trek novel?
Like all the previous STC episodes, there is too much Next Generation flavouring rather than TOS. Mignogna's Kirk is more in the Picard command style, which at times feels very off. Also, the Trek Trinity dynamic is often missing, particularly with the inclusion of McKennah.
I know some people over on the TrekBBS have really taken this episode to task. Questioning and tearing apart every little plot point. I find is both amusing and sad. Trek is suppose to be about Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations, but some Trek fans really have a narrow view of what they think Trek should be. And I suppose, when you are going to attempt a story this significant in Trek Mythology, a story many Trek fans have been imagining in their mind view screens for over 50 years, you are going to get a lot of.... shall we say....
disappointed fans?
Myself, upon second viewing, I still found it exceptionally entertaining! Is it how imagined the end of the Five Year Mission? No. But then again, there have been multiple different versions of this story over the decades in comics and novels, all very different from each other. So you can create you own head canon from these or your imagination. But none of that takes away, this is a brilliant production and a true love letter to Star Trek. I think I would give Part One 8 out of 10.
Counting down to part two!!!!!!!!!!
