Star Trek Continues: Lolani
1 min read
The second episode of Star Trek Continues was released this weekend.
In the episode, titled Lolani, “A survivor from a distressed Tellarite vessel pulls Captain Kirk and his crew into a moral quandary over her sovereignty.”
Star Trek Continues: Lolani stars Vic Mignogna as Captain Kirk, and features guest star Lou Ferrigno (The Incredible Hulk) as an Orion slave trader.
Other guest stars include Erin Gray (Buck Rogers in the 25th Century), and Daniel Logan (Star Wars: The Clone Wars).
About The Author
I hear a Thunder rolling in…
that was actually really good!! they’re getting better at this
To this day, I don’t understand why Star Trek fans get so nasty with each other. Especially all of the time. Let alone
fans who make fan films. One would think that fans who shared a common interest would find some common ground and relate
to each other as fellow fans and human beings.
Sadly, that is not the case in this polarized 21st Century world we live in. In the case of Star Trek fandom, such polarization
can lead to the verge of such fandom collapsing in on itself. Therefore giving new meaning to words moral and social decay.
Ever since J.J. Abrams brought new life back into Star Trek, fans have been polarized in their views. Views that certainly mirror
the events depicted in the classic Star Trek episodes Space Seed(i.e. the genetic supermen fighting among themselves)and Let That
Be Your Last Battlefield. Spock had pointed out to Commissioner Bele that at one point Vulcan was in danger of being destroyed
by the same conditions and characteristics would eventually annihilate Cheron. Social conditions that consisted of factions that
were wildly emotional and often committed to irrationally opposing points of view. Leading, of course, to death and destruction.
While the discipline of logic saved Vulcan from extinction, it didn’t save Cheron in time.
It’s funny how life can imitate art. Especially when you have opposing factions not finding some common ground and bringing out the
worst in each other. Something that often leads to making enemies out of those that certain factions wished they hadn’t.
What can I say? Freedom of choice has its pitfalls. Sometimes you can’t expect arrogant, close-minded, and rude people to act with
self-discipline any more than you can expect a planet to stop orbiting its sun. That’s rabid animals for you. Even those with hard
wired brains and the refusal to use them.
No wonder mankind can be such pernicious vermin when it comes ideology, politics, and other issues. Pierre Boulle and Aldous Huxley
would have been literally shocked at such social fantasies becoming a haunting reality.
Anyway….
As I suspected, despite some positive feedback, I’ve come under criticism for my views and that’s not surprising. Criticisms laced with
annoying words like ‘virtiol, troll, sandbox, dirty laundry’, and so on and so forth. look, Harlan Ellison once wrote an infamous review
of the 1981 Warner Brothers sci-fi thriller ‘Outland’ that was utterly damning. Hey, my editorial reviews are no different.
What can I say? The human race has its share bleeding-hearts seeping into the system with their wishy-washy views and they don’t want
to call a horse a horse and a sin a sin.
And that moral gray area certainly has spread from its source and turned the Earth into a disenfranchised world.One that has also made Star Trek fandom into a fetid pigmire and festering sewer.
Social media entertainment has regretfully become an impersonal vat of sulphuric acid over the years. If you stick your arm
or leg in it, you would no doubt withdraw a burning stump.
Watching the latest episode of Star Trek Continues certainly feels that painful. Equally as painful as the job of both a night soil and flusher man during the ‘Great Stink of London’ in 1858. And the latter historical description is what the second episode of the Star Trek and Star Trek-New Voyages/Phase 2 rip-off Star Trek Continues reminds me off.
What can I say, Vic Mignogna’s vision of Star Trek is a mentally deranged one. Currently, there’s no evidence to suggest anything
more than pure insanity and petty vengeance as the motives for this version.
Like the late Charlton Heston once said about the late Irish actor and hellraiser Richard Harris ‘He’s something of a *beep* up.’
There have been many who have thought that they had seen the worst display of fan film perversity they were ever likely
to see. Paddy Chayfeski, if not Shakespeare, himself, would have been appalled by the true modis operandi and methodology
behind such petty, vile, spiteful, and vindictive madness.
Unfortnately, those are the mentalities that seems to have plagued, if not corrupted the rational thinking processes of Farragut
Films and its entire staff. The only difference is that the District Of Columbia is now that one big gray area. The home base
of Farragut Films.
Boy, Jebidiah Atkinson would have loved writing a negative review of this depressing slush-piled monstrocity and its sad plot twist.
I’ll say this much about Vic Mignogna, Michele Specht, John Broughton, Michael Bednar, and the rest of the Farragut Films staff. It would be interesting to have a psychologist speak with them. Let alone certain posters at the Trek BBS and trekmovie.com. But, with such clashing schizophrenia, they would be charged double time for that doctor’s services. Let alone how a little locoweed had gotten mixed in with their feed.
This latest adventure has the crew of the Enterprise dealing with issues concerning an escaped Orion female slave named Lolani. Issues
concerning slavery, physical abuse of women, and the conflicting laws and ideologies of both Federation Society and the neutral Orion
colonies. Some of those issues uncomfortably manifest themselves in various scenes. Particularly, the mind meld scene where Spock uncovers
vital information about Lolani’s past and how she had nearly been violated by Tellarite mercenaries. The outcome of which, and justifiably
so, by her killing her attackers in self-defense. However, the situation takes a turn for the worst, when Lolani’s slave owner, a vicious
Orion brute arrives to reclaim her as his property. What follows is not only shocking, but also very saddening in the same lines as such
Star Trek classics as The City On The Edge Of Forever, A Private little War, The Paradise Syndrome, and All Our Yesterdays.
Star Trek has aways been a morality play that holds a mirror up to its audience, and forces us to take a very cold, hard look at certain
conditions of the human equation. Conditions that have often been uncomfortable to watch. Dagger Of The Mind is an example of this. Granted
there have been unhappy endings in various Star Trek adventures. And the one presented in here is an unexpected gutpuncher.
If anyone, including Leonard Nimoy, thought that ‘The Omega Glory’ was a heavy-handed and painful episode, the events in ‘Lolani’ make those of that second season episode seem like a few hymns ordered, followed by a church supper, with a choir.
While Paul Bianchi and Huston Huddleston do recapture what has given Star Trek such a huge longevity in addressing a serious social issue
that has plagued mankind since the dawn of time, as well as another interesting insight into the social-political environment depicting the
Orion race and their suicidal tendencies, it is a shame that this episode and their resources were not used on Star Trek-New Voyages/Phase 2.
Quite frankly, it would have made a better fit for P2 and been twice as powerful in conveying its socio-political message to its audiences.
Once again, such misuse, misdirection, and mishandling of resources proves that it is certainly and definately not the greatest of Star Trek fan
films. Not by a margin. The ideals that Roddenberry had for the original series have certainly NOT been upheld by Mignogna and the Washington D.C. based filmed company in the past. As I described before, in their viginettes and first episode, their portrayal of the lead characters is anything
but accurate and utterly convincing.
As before, in ‘Pilgrim Of Eternity’, the acting is still the same and unconvincing, whether it is the main cast or supporting players.
This time, heavy-handedness can be added to the list consisting of the other negative descriptions of STC. Along with that of STC’s production being a marketplace that also sells greed, avarice, malice, and apathy. Or worse, a manifestation of both Vic Mignogna’s and Farragut Films’ ‘Id’.
It wouldn’t surprise me if the difference of opinion between Kirk and McKennah on the bridge and in the lounge were just Vic and Michelle Specht just playing themselves. Let alone the near seduction scene between Kirk and Lolani being just Vic trying to relive his youth.
Spock certainly hit the nail on the head in his description of the mirror universe counterparts. A description that also applies to the
administration and production crew of Farragut Films and of their two haggard, ashen, corpse-like children known as Starship Farragut and
Star Trek Continues(i.e. Ignorance and Want made into digital film reality).
Yeppers, this is a travesty to everything Gene Roddenberry stood for.
Kang The Unbalanced was right in his description of the Farragut Films production staff and business partners who make both Starship Farragut and Star Trek Continues. They are first class colon cleansers. As another trektoday posted stated last year. The way they do “business” or their ‘screwing off other peoples’ productions for their own benefit is no secret. Vic and FF have abused a lot of goodwill and burned a lot of bridges in the Star Trek community. The damage they had tried to inflict before is enough to merit the Farragut Films staff a thorough chastising. They clearly are backstabbing types with no respect for the work of others. Including the morals and ethics of society in general.
David Gerrold even summed it up best with his statement about Vic on the Trek BBS: “I will never work with Vic Mignogna again in any capacity, nor would I recommend him to any other producer. Vic Mignogna’s actions, both on the set and off, are the primary reason why we will have to junk everything we shot on the Origins episode. The script is a good one, we got an astonishing performance from Matthew Ewald, and it’s a story we want to tell. We should have been able to finish it and have it out by now, but much of Vic’s work was unusable and Vic has so alienated the production crew that none of us want to invest any energy into finishing an episode with him in it.”
David, I couldn’t have phrased that better myself. Frankly, I don’t think I can ever top that statement.
Vic Mignogna, is nothing more than the following descriptions: The Doomsday Machine/The Black Hole of Star Trek film fandom. If he were the Damien Thorn of Star Trek fan films, I would believe it!
The Farragut Films fraternity is nothing more but a stinkpot bubbling with vile corruption. Something that would suit them well, since they are based in the politically scandeled District Of Columbia. And have high school clique-like mentalities and viewpoints.
One could say this is expected from their attempt at trying to be the 4th season(which The Animated Series had already accomplished successfully in the 1973-1974 television season). Farragut Films’ perfidy, lies and betrayal have made them rotten hams among rotten hams and not a tenth as great as their business partner thinks that he is. Despite guest-starring an original series veteran, in their first episode and the surprising guest cast of two sci-fi veterans, the overall look and feel of this latest episode seems more like a high school drama department invaded the old Desilu studios.
Instead of making such an enlightened effort behind the scenes, they have made this latet entry a place for heavy drinking and hypocritical cynicism(both implicit and explicit). Let alone given new meaning to the old Star Trek joke about what the captain found in the toilet.
This second episode of Star Trek Continues is certainly an unbelievable example of walking fertilizer, left over from a deposit in the bank of
ancient Rome’s commode. A sad, in your face situation, when people think they are above the law and try to play God with other lives. A situation with low regard for life and the rights and ideals of others. Ideals often silenced by the madness of the many and corrupted and sold in alleys by vendors of dementia.
In fact, the mishandling of Lolani (the episode)belittles and demeans the highest aspirations of the mind … devalues the integrity of Star Trek itself. Those of us who stood in our backyards on quiet summer nights, gazing up at the stars and wondering, hoping … the makers of Star Trek Continues have taken our dream girl and quite literally portrayed her as a prostitute.
On the behind the scenes front, the video where they had a Naval Officer re-enlist by taking his oath of service on the
STC set was certainly in bad taste. All it was was an attempt by Farragut Films to make a media event out of it to boost
STC’s popularity. If that Naval Officer knew of the controversial history of this farce of a production, he would have
done an about face and held the ceremony somewhere else! The very idea, if not symbolism behind such a sacred event on
sets that had been hijacked from another production, is certainly an insulting one! If not vile, disgusting, irrehensible,
repugnant, and offensive to those in the U.S. Armed Forces who have sworn to protect and defend our way of life!
Maybe the founder and President of Farragut Films had a personal vendetta against someone during his tour of service in the
Navy, and allowed this to happen. His own personal way of saying – ‘*bleep* you’. Not surprising.
Sadly, another Phase 2 veteran has been converted to ‘the dark side of Star Trek’. This time, it is Matthew Ewald. The same
young actor that was going to be in P2’s ‘The Protracted Man’, until Mignogna sabotaged that episode’s production with his
adolescent antics. Having met Ewald in person at a convention some three years past, I’m shocked by his involvement in
this useless waste of digital film. Judas Iscariot doesn’t even begin to describe his shameful involvement in such a smoking
refuse of a fan film.
His autographed picture certainly traveled through my office paper shredder right after viewing this. Glad I didn’t have to pay for it
when I first got it.
Like her fellow Buck Rogers co-star Gil Gerard(as well as other Glen A. Larson production veterans like Richard Hatch and
Herbert Jefferson, Jr), Erin Gray makes an appearance as Starfleet Commodore Grey. Miss Gray is a very remarkable actress and
an inspiration to many women who watched her as the heroic and iron-willed Colonel Wilma Deering. At one point, she almost won
the role of a certain strong-willed female starship captain in a certain Star Trek spin-off. One wishes that she had guest-starred
on Star Trek-New Voyages/Phase II as the commodore instead of appearing in this sagging old rust bucket.
It is interesting to note that if what STC is asserting, concerning the character of Commodore Grey and her authority, then Janice Lester
was a embittered soul and that women can indeed command a starship in the TOS era. Or a woman can rise to the rank of Commodore without
ever having been allowed to command a Starship. It is hard to say, but it would make for an interesting topic to tackle. Just only in a
different Star Trek series.
As to Daniel Logan’s appearance in this farce of Star Trek, I would like to point out that he is NOT the first native of
New Zealand to appear on Star Trek, as Vic so egotistically and incorrectly pointed out in one youtube video. Clive Revill
is, to the best of my knowledge, the first New Zealander to appear on Star Trek. Followed by Karl Urban, the second New
Zealander. For someone who claims to have trivia knowledge about Star Trek, Mignogna certainly doesn’t display it well.
And what is it with Lou Ferrigno, himself, being a part of this junkpile? Star Trek, in general, has brought its share of respectable and renowned
artists over the years. However, that is Star Trek that has been under the right and appropriate care. Not some bastardization or farce left over
from the days of Rick Berman’s mishandling of the Star Trek franchise. Some actors may not care who they work with, but in all honesty they should. Even if it is for short or long periods – some actors don’t need to be ‘found guilty by association’.
I could not help but laugh at the fact that he was playing a brutal Orion slave master. And his fight scenes with Kirk reminded me of his days on
The Incredible Hulk. If this was supposed to be a parody of that classic series, it certainly was executed in very poor taste. Even if Ferrigno was
wearing a bald skull cap.
David Gerrold had stated some time past the following mental exercise regarding Star Trek Continues. He pretends that it does not
exist. That’s not such a bad idea in my book. The same theory has been applied to Galactica: 1980, Highlander 2, and the second
seasons of Space:1999, Buck Rogers, and SeaQuest DSV/2032. Plus other franchise-related entries over the years.
It certainly applies to this version of the Enterprise. A garbage scow that should be hauled away as garbage, instead of hauling garbage.
As always, don’t waste your time watching this gated community of the damned with segregationsit tendencies. If you want quality Star Trek, then you need not look any furthur than the original series, the animated series, the first six movies, the two prequel reboots, and more importantly, the Hugo award winning spectacular internet series Star Trek-New Voyages/Phase II. A fan series made by fans, for the fans, and whose professionalism, devotion, top-quality production values, upholding of the original series’ moral and ethical values, integrity, originality, and honesty will live on into the 23rd Century and beyond.
Mmm. Green chicks.
Come for the Trek news. Stay for the pure Crazy.
I got as far as the Great Stink of 1858 before I had to go; sorry.
Only watched the teaser, but I’m very impressed at how much this looks and feels like TOS in terms of the lighting, camerawork, and sets. The production values are excellent, very true to the show. Mignogna has Shatner down cold, he does the Kirk mannerisms and inflections very well; unfortunately his voice is much too high-pitched and it spoils the illusion.
Vic showed the episode at SciFi Expo Saturday night-what an incredible show. Well done everyone
Called it 🙂
Yea, it’s a genuine effort and they have the atmosphere down. Most of the other characters are way off in my opinion. Oh well. Still enjoyable!
tl;dr I CRY TEARS FROM HATING FREE FAN-PRODUCED STAR TREK AND MY TEARS TASTE LIKE AUTISM
You’re asking waaaaaaay too much of anyone to read all that.
Identity theft is a violation of federal law.
Maybe so. But I’m very thorough in what I review.
That doesn’t apply here…
Well, it should! Another problem that mankind is in dire need of resolving!
Right down to the “late in the season” equatorial bulge.
There are some weak spots, and a couple of ARRGH!!s, but overall, well done.
I maintain my assertion that Mignona is a cheap imitation. James Cawley plays Captain James T. Kirk; Vic Mignona plays William Shatner playing Kirk.
Not just for breakfast any more.
I certainly won’t read that litany.
Stop chasing the whale, Ahab.
Oh, by the way, screw J.J. Abrams and his stinking travesty.
Another Vic fan boy and purist leaves his mark.
When you think about it, Vic is just cheap, period. Probably why he hijacked those sets from that other production.
Poking fun at a disability such as that won’t win you any followers.
Oh indeed. Something else about him disturbs me greatly. All the New Voyages/Phase II stories I have watched (I confess I have no urge to watch ‘The Child’) have been quite well or at least competently directed– except one. Kitumba. Guess who’s got the directing credit.
It’s very uneven, dipping from slightly-better-than-average-RTF-student quality all the way down to half-blind half-deaf halfwit level. In the opening scene you can barely hear Gil Gerard in shots from one angle, and hear him perfectly plainly in ones from another angle. In fact sound on the sets was overall poor. There are shots from angles that make no sense and look like ass. The lighting is good in some scenes and just wrong in others. I can’t see any director with half an eyeball and one tiny ear not seeing these problems. Since Vic has a discerning eye for his own productions it looks an awful lot like deliberate sabotage– an attempt to make ST:C’s first episode look better by making NV/P2’s latest look worse.
That is pretty damn low.
Some of this could probably have been fixed in post by a good editor, and redubbing lines is easier than reshooting, and given NV/P2’s years-long production schedules I’m not sure why it wasn’t fixed; perhaps shortage of funds, or availability of talent and crew, or perhaps they just reached their “fuck it” point.
All in all it smells like the same sort things Mignona’s been accused of and even known to do in the past. I don’t know what else may have gone down between Cawley and Marshall, or anyone else involved; but Vic Mignona is working hard on his Nobel for contributions in the field of assholism.
I don’t care about JJ Abrams. I like this Trek, though.
Maybe it was just the out-of-the-blue start followed immediately by the never-get-to-a-point middle, but it seems your whining is more in the way than the “purists” you flatulate.
No one got to your review. Most gave up when you didn’t appear to be getting any closer to a point.
I won’t post a full review, just a few comments, and then a question about a potential hidden plot element.
Great directing. Eye movements at dinner. Wonderful. Impressive professionalism all around in the acting regard. I’m digging the relationship the Continues’ characters are evolving into. Speaking pedantically, the characters must change. Yet we want the original to continue. Some compromise has to be made. I think it is obvious that to enjoy the art that “Continues is, what has to go is any expectation of conforming to the original. These actors in these characterizations are great for me.
Now the plot question. Did Matthew send Lolani to a hiding place in Orion? When he transported Lolani and Zaminhon, could he not have sent Zamihon, and perhaps a bomb, to his ship, and Lolani to a distant Eden? He asked the captain for time off to … see family. Captain Kirk asked if the family might be in Orion, and accepted a simple yes as sufficient.
I don’t see how giving Matthew the voice recording fits in, though. Lolani aims to start a revolution to free women from their enslavement, but she is apparently accomplishing this as a martyr. So, how could Matthew use it?
Is is just to be Matthew’s physical token, ironically digital, of a long lost Lolani while he visits unrelated family (raining punsnow) in Orion?
32:00
Lolani: Can you make me disappear? Can you make Zaminhon disappear?
32:20
Lolani: I read once, “The only thing necessary for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing.”
32:35
Matthew: What can I do? I’m nobody.
Lolani: If I’ve learned anything its everyone is someone.
That’s the message that needs to reach others like me.
I feel like I’m screaming and no one can hear me!
Matthew: I hear you. I hear you.
Matthew appears to be Lolani’s first, true, equal love. With all being fair in love and war, anything is possible.
Interesting shonangreg…. 🙂
I think it may be more likely that Matthew intended to head to the Orion system to try to spread Lolani’s message of hope and freedom to her people.
And that’s why Kirk gave him the tape recording…to make sure the actual message, as delivered by the now-martyr’d Lolani, would be seen and heard by as many of her people as possible (to hopefully light the spark that sets in motion the changes she advocated for Orion).
If Matthew had actually been directly responsible for killing Zaminhon, there would be some pretty serious consequences for him and I’m not sure Kirk or StarFleet would have let him “off the hook” in that respect, even if they agreed with his actions in secret.
Anyway, that’s my 2 cents…loved this effort from the STC folks. Fantastic job all around!! I eagerly await more…so much better than a certain other recent big-budget-but-epic-fail-Trek-in-name-only effort (IMHO of course)…
Jon
In your opinion.
I totally agree with that description. 110%. I have a hunch that all the bullshit he caused on P2 is why his directing credit was hard to spot in the end credits. Frankly, if I had been in charge, he would NOT have gotten a credit whatsoever. It would have been listed as something either Alan Smithee or Thomas Lee-like(the latter in reference to MGM’s 2000 dud Supernova).
Vic certainly went out of his way to fuck things up. When you get right down to it, Vic Mignogna is ignorant, selfish, treacherous, savage-minded, self-centered, egotistical, apathetic, immoral, corrupted, toxic, narciccistic, unprincipled, unethical, pigheaded, lower than low, and every other negative quality that embodies the darker side of mankind. His antics certainly are both primitive and poisonous to anything Star Trek and sci-fi related.
Honestly, as to why others(fans and Star Trek fans – especially those ignorant fools at Starship Farragut) – are blind to this, is totally beyond me.
It still makes one wonder what Michele Specht happens to see in that maniac.
I quite enjoyed the episode especially the accent of the Orion slave trader..lol,
!!!!!!!!!!! Spoiler Alert !!!!!!!!!!!!
I was left with a mystery – did Laloni survive? Somehow the transporter crewman saved her and was hiding her and is taking her home, or is he going to Orion to carry on her crusade. The first option I would believe but then I am a hopeless romantic since I lost my memory in the temple and was rescued by Indians
Well, no one is interested in your crappy opinion about Star Trek Continues nor in your verbal revenge crusades against the people of Star Trek Continues.
Like I said, in your opinion.
Some did and some didn’t. It still got the point the across.
If there was one single fact in this diatribe it would at least give it SOME credibility. OR maybe a fact or two, like one convention Vic has been banned from, or what sets he stole,
Additionally as far as David Gerrold is concerned, Vic would never work with him and has said so publicly. The interesting thing about your complete oral diarrhea is that there is not one word of truth in it. Gerrold has a great idea, why dont you just pretend it does not exist instead of continuing to spew your hate that no one is listening to.
PS: why the episode that David Gerrold DIRECTED was trashed and will never be released by phase II
Personally I think both Blue Thunder and Kang the Unbalanced(what a great nic btw) are the same sad person…….Christopher Brent.
If you want a definition of oral diarrhea, I can give you the following reference. Vic Mignogna’s lies.
I managed to read it, and my brain didn’t implode.
The movies may be INO to you and others here, but they’re making more money and fans, getting more people liking Star Trek, and (even if the next one fails) keeping the franchise alive. That’s a hell of a lot more important than Star Trek being ‘pure’ the way you want it to be.
I think I hear the kids on the lawn outside your house, ready for you to shout at them again…
Um, what’s the point of keeping the franchise alive if it’s not the Star Trek *I* like? To keep making the big bucks?? I’m sure that’s important to the people getting the money, but not to me.
You and people like you who love just to hate something because others like it, don’t matter to CBS Studios and Paramount Pictures. At least it will continue with fresh new blood to keep it alive.
I thoroughly enjoyed this episode. I was quite skeptical about the project but it is actually pretty good.