‘COME NOT BETWEEN THE DRAGONS’ (STC)

Please feel free to comment on my review.

This is another very good episode in the ‘Star Trek Continues’ series. I enjoyed this episode, as it features an alien creature who seeks sanctuary aboard the Enterprise. He befriends one of the starship’s crewmembers, who develops a growing empathy with him.

In the episode, the troubled creature called Usdi pierces the Enterprise hull, ending up in the crew quarters of Gigi Edgley as Ensign Eliza Taylor. I believe this is Gigi Edgley’s solo appearance in the ‘Star Trek Continues’ series and she stands out pretty well in this story.

As the episode progresses, the Enterprise crew finds themselves pitted against a pursuer that threatens to tear them apart. This is especially when it sends out shockwaves at the Enterprise, causing the crew to grow angry to the point of berserker against the poor Usdi.

Usdi, as played by Damian Beurer in the episode, comes across as a crystalline being with a glowing headpiece that shifts from blue to yellow to red. Blue is clearly the signal to indicate Usdi is calm whilst red is the signal to indicate how very agitated and angry he is.

I can imagine how challenging it must have been for Damian Beurer to walk around in the outfit for Usdi when playing him in the episode. It must have also been challenging for the production team to get good shots of Usdi when he didn’t have to walk around so much.

I like the connection Eliza Taylor made to Usdi when trying to protect him from the Enterprise crew who are going berserk every time a red shockwave hits them. The revelation of who’s sending out the red shockwaves at the Enterprise becomes clear later.

I also liked it when the universal translator device that was used in the original ‘Star Trek’ TV episode ‘Metamorphosis’ gets to be reused here when Eliza gets to communicate with Usdi. It’s something that I do recall quite vividly from that watching that episode for this one.

It was disturbing to see Spock lose control of his emotions and going into rages when the Enterprise gets hit by the red shockwaves. This is especially when he fires a phaser at Usdi in anger as well as breaking free from sick bay when demanding to be put in the brig.

Kirk doesn’t really put Spock in the brig as he has Dr. McCoy restrain him in sick bay. But things don’t get any better as the red shockwaves continue to escalate the Enterprise crew’s anger levels to boiling point when they hunt down Usdi on board the Enterprise. 😐

Eliza gets help from Dr. McKennah, the ship’s counsellor, when keeping Usdi in hiding. Dr. McKennah comes up with a way to protect the Enterprise crew from the red shockwaves by applying Alpha wave bands on the crew, which they would wear them on their arms. 🙂

McKennah ends up punching ‘Bones’ McCoy out in sick bay first (which I found very funny 😀 ) to get the wave bands she needs before she reunites with Eliza and Usdi. They’re soon joined by Uhura and one of the security officers – Dickerson, I believe – who help them. 🙂

Reuben Langdon plays Dickerson in the episode. He usually provides stunts in the ‘Star Trek Continues’ series, including for ‘Lolani’ and ‘Fairest of Them All’. He was in both those episodes as Dickerson and would later reprise the role in the series two-part finale.

This all leads to Eliza, Usdi, Uhura and Dickerson ending up in engineering. McKennah tries to get an arm device on Kipleigh Brown as Lt. Smith – who her first name is Barbara, incidentally – when confronting her in sick bay, but it doesn’t work out as she’d planned.

Soon, Kirk, Smith and two security guards beam into engineering and try to take Usdi down with phaser fire. Usdi unleashes a red shockwave at them in defence before a fight between Kirk, Smith and the security guards against Uhura and Dickerson takes place. 😐

Thankfully, Kirk, Smith and the two security guards are sedated with the wave bands provided by Eliza, Uhura and Dickerson. Very soon, all the Enterprise crew, including Spock, are wearing wave bands to protect themselves against any more red shockwaves.

Just before all that happened, it was funny to see Scotty drinking whiskey whilst working on the engineering side of things whilst the red shockwaves were happening. Kirk was very angry about this. but Scotty wasn’t clearly unbothered, wanting to do things his way.

As the episode progresses, it turns out that the pursuer who has been sending out the shockwaves against the Enterprise and its crew happens to be Usdi’s father. Usdi’s father is of similar design to Usdi himself when the Enterprise is in contact with him in space. 😐

With the Enterprise on the point of destruction by an enraged alien father, Usdi soon sets off into outer space to put himself between the Enterprise and his father. Through use of glowing signals ranging from blue to yellow, Usdi and his father soon head off together. 🙂

There’s a nice epilogue featuring the Enterprise crew, including a scene between Kirk and Spock where they apologise to each other for what happened during the incident with Usdi and his father. I like how that scene is portrayed between the characters in the story.

There’s also a moment where Kirk meets up with Eliza in her quarters and offers her the chance to communicate with Usdi’s father in the sector of space where he and his son come from. Eliza persuades Usdi’s father not to become like the father her own once was.

It’s interesting how that revelation is made on the reason why Usdi ended up being in Eliza’s quarters, as Eliza used to see her father as a monster, but he never made amends to her when she ran away. It’s an interesting insight for a one-off guest character like that.

I’m not sure if Eliza was meant to be in more than one episode of ‘Star Trek Continues’. It would’ve been nice to have seen her in more episodes, especially as she comes across as a nice character when she interacts with others aboard the Enterprise ship in the show.

This is especially in the friendships she forms with Lt. Barbara Smith and Dr. Elise McKennah at the beginning and at the end of the episode. It’s an irony since Smith and McKennah have more appearances in the ‘Star Trek Continues’ series compared to Eliza.

Earlier in the episode, it seems that Ensign Pavel Chekov may be on his way to getting a promotion in the ‘Star Trek’ series. We know that Chekov ends up being a commander by the time the movies come along, so this is probably where it starts for him in the series.

I do vaguely recall watching this ‘Star Trek Continues’ episode once on a train trip before I arrived in London. I remember I was on my way for a convention weekend. I also recall seeing that beautiful ending shot of the Enterprise in deep space against a blue nebula in space.

‘Come Not Between the Dragons’ is a very good instalment in the ‘Star Trek Continues’ series. I like how it does the classic alien being who appears monstrous turning out to be a victim and how a female guest character like Eliza Taylor gets to befriend him in the story.

Gigi Edgley does steal the show as Eliza Taylor in the episode. It’s a shame she didn’t appear in more ‘Star Trek Continues’ episodes after this, as she comes across as a nice character when interacting with other members of the crew aboard the Enterprise ship. 🙂

‘Come Not Between the Dragons’ (STC) rating – 9/10

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