space maydays – Star Trek continues: the white iris

Posted on by The Beard

STAR TREK CONTINUES

THE WHITE IRIS

I’d like to dedicate this article to Grant Imahara who passed away 13 July 2020. Grant played Sulu but is most famous for his work on MythBusters. He was only 49 when he passed. Only the good die young. 

STAR TREK CONTINUES is an American web series set in the STAR TREK universe and made entirely by fans. It was produced by the not-for-profit charities Trek Continues and Dracogen, and in the beginning co-produced by Far From Home LLC and Farragut Films. The series is an unofficial direct continuation of the original series and sets out to copy its visual style and storytelling qualities to achieve the same look and feel. The series consists of 11 episodes. One of them was called THE WHITE IRIS. 

CAPTAIN JAMES T. KIRK: I’m not crazy, Bones . . . 

DOCTOR McCOY: Sure you are. That’s why we like you. 

THE WHITE IRIS was released in 2015 and is the fourth episode in the STAR TREK CONTINUESseries. The episode is dedicated to Leonard Nimoy who unfortunately passed away earlier that year. 

Cast

Vic Mignogna as James Kirk

Todd Haberkorn as Spock

Chuck Huber as Dr. McCoy

Christopher Doohan as Scotty

Michele Specht as Dr. McKennah

Colin Baker as Amphidamas

Nakia Burrise as Nakia

Adrienne Wilkinson as Edith Keeler                     

Tiffany Brouwer as Miramanee

Gabriela Fresquez as Rayna

Sarai Duenas as the little girl

Grant Imahara as Sulu

Kim Singer as Uhura

Wyatt Lenhart as Chekov

The U.S.S. Enterprise as herself

Synopsis

Captain Kirk, Scotty, and Uhura are on the planet Chalcis to welcome them into the Federation. Kirk is struck on the back of the head by a dissident and severely injured. He then hallucinates about Rayna – an android girl who died because she couldn’t handle falling in love with Kirk. Spock had used a mind meld to make Kirk forget – to spare him the emotional pain – but the blow to the head apparently undid the mind meld. Bones uses an experimental drug to save Kirk’s life and he appears normal. Back on the bridge the Minister of Chalcis is upset. Kirk’s attacker was a dissident from Eretria – their sister world – who does not wish them to join the Federation. The Federation had promised the Chalcis a planetary defense grid and only Kirk knows the password to activate it. Kirk hallucinates about a beautiful Black woman he knew in an old Starfleet uniform. He can no longer remember the password. Chekov and Scotty try to figure out the password. Kirk sees a little girl running thru the halls. Eretria fires a missile towards Chalcis. Without the defense grid the Chalcidans are helpless. 

In sickbay Kirk sees the beautiful Black woman again and knows her as Nakia. McCoy reports that Kirk’s heart is shutting down with no explanation. Bones believes Kirk’s problems may be psychological and wants the new ship’s counselor – Dr. McKennah – to help but Kirk refuses. He then sees another old love – Edith Keeler – and this brings on a seizure. Spock, Bones, and McKennah meet to discuss Kirk’s condition, but he again is dismissive of McKennah’s help. Spock and Bones plead with him and he has another hallucination this time of Miramanee – the Native American princess Kirk had married and who had been pregnant with his child before she was killed. He has another seizure but tries to perform his duties. On the bridge they are able to destroy the missile. But at a crucial moment Kirk is beset by hallucinations of Nakia, Edith, and Miramanee. Distraught, Kirk relieves himself of command. Talking to Bones about the women he has lost he feels they died because of him and his duty. He has another seizure and sees all three women again. Spock mind melds with him and sees them as well. 

He is uncertain whether they are figments of Kirk’s imagination or actual katras (souls). He believes that they need closure in order for Kirk to move on. He finally goes to see the ship’s counselor and McKennah notes that Kirk feels tremendous guilt. His feelings of grief buried for so long are only now coming out. It is not the women who need closure. It’s Kirk. 

I’m going to leave you here. If I go any further I’ll spoil things for you and I do not want to do that. What I want you to do is go on YouTube and see this episode for yourself. It is well worth the watch. 

Trivia

  • In the episode, when questioned about his code breaking skills, Chekov announces he once, “. . . decoded a Xindi . . .” at which point he is interrupted by Spock. As all Star Trek fans know the Xindi were an alien race that attacked the Earth in STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE. Bringing them up here was way cool!
  • DOCTOR WHO fans, of which I am one of them, got a delight with this episode. The Sixth Doctor, Colin Baker, plays Minister Amphidamas. 
  • The episode was removed from YouTube due to CBS making copyright claims. Two days later Vic Mignogna announced it was being reinstated and that the removal was unintentional by a CBS vice-president. Unintentional my rear orifice! 

Dislikes

  • The first few minutes of the episode are rushed. The premise of STAR TREK CONTINUES is to be as much like the original series in every way – this includes time. It has the same 45 to 50 minutes limitation as the original series. This particular episode had a lot to say and a lot to show and a large cast to do it with. I can therefore forgive the rushed manner of the beginning as they set up the story. But it is still grated and watching it a second time was a bit like scrapping your fingers along a chalkboard. 

Likes

  • There is so much about this show that I love and about this episode in particular that I’m not sure where to begin. I absolutely adore Chris Doohan as Scotty. The original Scotty was played by James Doohan and Chris is his son. WOW! He looks so much like his father. He sounds so much like his father. He even manages to duplicate Scotty’s sense of humor and almost elf-like manner. Chris Doohan makes every other actor that has tried to play Scotty (and failed) look bad. 
  • OMG! DOCTOR WHO ON STAR TREK!! Well, not really but we do get to have an actor who played The Doctor on Star Trek. I geeked out on seeing Colin Baker. This episode is just too good to believe. 
  • The episode has a large cast and the casting is phenomenal. This is most especially true when it comes to the actors playing the women in Kirk’s life. They look just like the originals from fifty years ago. Tiffany Brouwer as Miramanee had me doing a double-take. 
  • I am a huge fan of Vincent Van Gogh. He is without a doubt my favorite painter and I have spent hours at the museum enraptured by his work. I bring this up because Van Gogh has something to do with this episode. I’m not going to say what – spoilers – but having him as part of the story makes me love this episode even more. 
  • That little girl! I’m not going into any details. No spoilers here but that little girl made me cry. 

I’ve long been an admirer of STAR TREK fan fiction and I have reviewed other examples in the past. I’ve always felt that STAR TREK CONTINUES is the best fan fiction and THE WHITE IRIS their best episode. Before writing this article, I went back and watched it again. Man! Do I love my job! Seeing it for a second time made it even more poignant for me. I knew what was coming and it still broke my heart. It is one thing to say you are going to make fan fiction that is as good as the original. It is another thing to not only recapture the magic but take it further. STAR TREK CONTINUES does this consistently. 

Nowhere is that more true than in THE WHITE IRIS. It is my favorite episode of this series and I think it just might be the best example of Star Trek fan fiction. At the very least it raised the bar. 

If you are a Star Trek fan and have not seen any of the fan fiction out there I recommend you get on YouTube and give it a look. Not only do I recommend STAR TREK CONTINUES but I also recommend the film STAR TREK: FIRST FRONTIER (which I wrote about on this blog), STARSHIP EXETER, and STARSHIP FARRAGUT – just to name a few. And I insist you check out THE WHITE IRIS. Granted you may overdose on Star Trek but if you have got to go this is the way to do it. 

I am pleased to give THE WHITE IRIS four and a half gray geeks on our rating scale. Yay!

That’s it for now gang. Thank you for letting me spend so much time with all of you. This has been a real labor of love. After all if we can’t geek out together on stuff we love – like Star Trek – than why call ourselves geeks? Hasta la vista!

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Published by The Beard

I’m Eliseo Figueroa Jr. and you’re not. I was born in Saint Francis hospital across the street from Saint Mary’s Park in the Bronx. I was born there because that was where my mother was and I wanted to be near her. My parents came from Puerto Rico and moved to New York City when they were kids. My dad spoke fluent English – with an accent – but he’d had a stint in the army and had mastered the language. However, he needed a little work on reading and so everyday on the way to work he would buy a comic book and read it on the subway. In those days they were ten cents, a quick read, you could fold them and put them in your pocket, and when you finished you threw them away. Back home my mom would tell my dad to read me a story to put me to sleep. My dad had no desire whatsoever to read me any of my baby books so he read me one of his comic books instead. While other kids dreamed of Mother Goose, the Old Lady who lived in a shoe, or Little Red Riding Hood, I dreamt of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. And this went on for years. When I got older I asked him to give me the comic books. At that point he stopped throwing them out and I had a comic book collection even though I still didn’t know how to read. During the day I would make my mom read me my comics over and over again. I was dying to learn how to read and had been told that you learn to read in first grade. I remember being so excited the first day of school for the first grade. I couldn’t contain myself. I thought it was like magic – poof! – I was going to come back home and be able to read all of my comics. My mom had to sit me down and explain that it was a process. That over time I would learn how to read and by the time I finished the first grade I would be reading. I must say I was disappointed but more determined than ever to master this thing called reading. Over the years my comic collection grew (my dad had to keep building bigger and better shelves) and so did my interests. I mastered reading and went on to read books. I discovered the library where they actually let you borrow books – what a concept! And my interests in literary science fiction and fantasy expanded to include television and movies. Yes, I was and still am a full-blown geek! By the way, I’m the beard in our little duet. I have a goatee and no moustache. In all that time while growing up my dad never once complained. How could he? This was all his fault and he knew it. One time we were in a store where I was purchasing some comics and it all came to twenty bucks. As my dad was paying the man the owner commented on how much I was spending on comic books. My dad’s reply was, “Well, at least he’s not on drugs!” Science fiction, fantasy, horror, secret agents, giant monsters, and more are my drug of choice. Anyone who has ever sat in a darkened theater and has had their heart start racing in excitement as the music to STAR WARS begins to play knows exactly what I mean.