‘TO BOLDLY GO’ (STC)
Please feel free to comment on my review.
Here we are on the two-part finale of ‘Star Trek Continues’ – ‘To Boldly Go’! 🙂 In a way, it’s rather sad that we conclude this ‘Star Trek’ fan-made series on this note, considering I’ve enjoyed the series so much. But in another way, it’s good it concludes on a two-part story.
I would’ve liked it if ‘Star Trek Continues’ had 26 episodes to match to the length that a traditional ‘Star Trek’ season would have in terms of episodes. But 11 episodes is still a good number and a good life for a ‘Star Trek’ fan-made series that echoes the original TV series.
‘To Boldly Go’ is the first and only two-part story to be featured in ‘Star Trek Continues’. In fact, you could say this is the second two-part story to feature Captain Kirk and the Enterprise crew, as the first one was ‘The Menagerie’ in Season 1 of the original TV series.
Although, ‘The Menagerie’ is different from ‘To Boldly Go’, as that two-part story mostly contained the original pilot episode ‘The Cage’. The Captain Kirk, Spock and Bones scenes featured in ‘The Menagerie’ were to provide a framing story for the original pilot. 🙂
So, ‘To Boldly Go’ is an original two-part story without the need to frame another story that was a pilot episode. Speaking of pilot episodes, ‘To Boldly Go’ happens to be a sequel to the second pilot episode ‘Where No Man Has Gone Before’ from Season 1 of the original TV show.
It’s also a sequel to ‘The Enterprise Incident’ from Season 3 of the original ‘Star Trek’ TV show, which we’ll get to eventually. I greatly enjoyed seeing ‘To Boldly Go’ as the two-part finale to ‘Star Trek Continues’, finding it a satisfying finale to a well-made ‘Star Trek’ series.
Incidentally, ‘To Boldly Go’ matches well in being a two-part finale in original TV series style by having Captain Kirk (played by Vic Mignogna) narrate the recap at the beginning of ‘Part II’, as Captain Kirk (played by William Shatner) did in ‘The Menagerie’. I’m happy with that.
In ‘Part I’ of ‘To Boldly Go’, the Enterprise continue to solve the ultimate mystery of the crew of the starship Hood gone missing, as established in the episode ‘Embracing the Winds’. To achieve this, they will need to return to where Kirk’s five-year mission began. 😐
This is where it gets a little confusing in terms of the continuity of the Enterprise’s five-year mission in ‘Star Trek’. You see, it was never indicated that Kirk’s very first mission as the captain of the Enterprise was the episode called ‘Where No Man Has Gone Before’. 😐
This is especially when you consider that Christopher Pike was captain of the Enterprise before Captain Kirk took over from him. Spock even says to Dr. McKennah in ‘Part I’s opening scene that he served aboard the Enterprise for 16 years and under two captains.
You also have to consider that Pike’s opening monologue in ‘Strange New Worlds’ has him say “Its five-year-mission to explore strange new worlds.” But then, it could be Pike might’ve had a five-year mission with the Enterprise before Kirk had his five-year mission.
It’s down to speculation, I’m sure. Incidentally, I quite like the opening scene featuring Spock and McKennah where they both do some Vulcan mediation. It was very interesting to see Spock as a Vulcan interact with McKennah as the ship’s counsellor in the series. 🙂
Anyway, the Enterprise responds to a distress call on a planet called Aldebaran III. Kirk and Spock beam down to the planet and they’re joined by Reuben Langdon as Dickerson, one of the Enterprise security officers. 🙂 Dickerson’s been in ‘Star Trek Continues’ before.
Previously, he was in the episode ‘Come Not Between the Dragons’ and has briefly appeared in ‘Lolani’ and ‘Fairest of Them All’. Fortunately, Dickerson didn’t get killed when he, Kirk and Spock fight against a security drone that attacks them once on the planet. 🙂
After the brief fight with the security drone, which Kirk manages to destroy with his phaser, Kirk, Spock and Dickerson meet a woman who comes out from the top-secret facility on Aldebaran III. And this happens to be one of the highlights of the two-part finale for me. 🙂
The woman happens to be Nicola Bryant as Lana, one of the scientists of the top-secret facility on Aldebaran III. It was great to see Nicola Bryant make a guest star appearance in this ‘Star Trek Continues’ two-part story, as she’s well-known for playing Peri Brown in ‘Doctor Who’.
So, we have two actors from the Sixth Doctor era of ‘Doctor Who’ appearing in ‘Star Trek Continues’. First, we had Colin Baker in ‘The White Iris’. And now we have Nicola Bryant in the two-part finale ‘To Boldly Go’. And she’s revealed to be the villain of this two-parter!
Also, Nicola gets to use her own British accent when playing Lana in the ‘STC’ two-part finale. It’s quite surreal to hear Nicola use her own voice and not use an American accent like she did with Peri in ‘Doctor Who’. Then again, I heard her use her normal voice in ‘TravelWise’.
It was fun to see Nicola playing a villain in ‘To Boldly Go’. She’s clearly enjoying the role when seeing her in this two-part finale. It was a nice change to see her play a villain in ‘Star Trek’ compared to playing Peri in ‘Doctor Who’. It was quite refreshing to see indeed.
Although, I know Nicola didn’t enjoy wearing the white contact lenses in the two-part finale. I chatted to Nicola about her guest star appearance in ‘Star Trek Continues’ at the ‘Happy Who Year’ convention in January 2025 and she brought up the contact lenses. 😀
The reason why she’s wearing the contact lenses is that Nicola’s character Lana happens to be one of the Espers that’s come in contact with the great barrier that featured in ‘Where No Man Has Gone Before’. So, yes. Essentially, Nicola Bryant as Lana has god-like powers. 😐
This is what Gary Mitchell had in ‘Where No Man Has Gone Before’ as well as Dr. Elizabeth Dehner in that episode. It was nice to hear the references made in that episode and how this two-part finale connects to events that happened in the second ‘Star Trek’ pilot episode.
Speaking of references, Captain Kirk mentions that Gary Mitchell forgot his middle name. This is a reference to a goof that happened in ‘Where No Man Has Gone Before’ where Gary created a tombstone with the inscription James R. Kirk instead of James T. Kirk. 😀
This is something that I wouldn’t have noticed from watching ‘Where No Man Has Gone Before’ and it’s made me want to check out that episode to see if that reference was there. I have checked and it is there. Amazing that little detail is brought up in ‘Part I’ of this story.
When we first meet Lana’s character in ‘Part I’, she’s wearing the red-tinted glasses that Spock and Miranda Jones wore in the Season 3 episode ‘Is There In Truth No Beauty?’. I thought I saw those red-tinted glasses somewhere before in ‘Star Trek’. 🙂 Now I know. 😀
Initially, Nicola Bryant as Lana makes out that she’s a victim of the circumstances of what happened on Aldebaran III. But it turns out to be a falsehood, as she and her husband Cas Anvar as Sentek work together to lure the Enterprise ship to the great barrier in space.
Sentek starts off as being a Romulan that the Enterprise crew capture and put in the brig. But it’s revealed that he’s actually a Vulcan who acquired the same god-like powers that Lana has. 😐 It was fascinating to see a deceptive Vulcan in this story compared to Spock.
Going back to Romulans, this story happens to be a sequel to ‘The Enterprise Incident’, as we have the return of the Romulan Commander from that episode appearing in this ‘STC’ two-part finale. Spock established contact with the Romulan Commander to ask for help.
Amy Rydell guest stars as the Romulan Commander from ‘The Enterprise Incident’. I find it amazing that after all these years, the Romulan Commander still doesn’t have a name in this ‘STC’ two-part story. 😐 Surely, she could’ve been given a name after all this time. 😀
Incidentally, Amy Rydell happens to be the real-life daughter of Joanne Linville, the actress who played the Romulan Commander in ‘The Enterprise Incident’. That is so surreal and Amy Rydell matches well in playing the role her mother played in ‘Star Trek’. 🙂
Sub-Commander Tal, who was played by Jack Donner in ‘The Enterprise Incident’, is now played by Mark Meer in ‘To Boldly Go’. Tal continues to be reckless and distrusting, as he was in ‘The Enterprise Incident’. Twice, the Romulan Commander puts Tal in his place. 😀
It was a shock to see Steven Dengler as Drake getting killed off by Nicola Bryant as Lana in ‘Part I’ of the story when she made him fire his phaser on him after killing one of his fellow security officers. I would’ve thought Drake would have survived a little bit longer.
Martin Bradford makes another appearance as Dr. M’Benga in ‘Part I’ of ‘To Boldly Go’, having previously appeared in ‘Divided We Stand’. I didn’t expect M’Benga to make another appearance in ‘STC’ and it’s interesting that he works at the same time as McCoy.
April Hebert guest stars as Real Admiral Thesp, a female Andorian whom Kirk has contact with in ‘Part I’. Surprisingly, Thesp doesn’t make an appearance in ‘Part II’ of the story, as she’s taken over by Fleet Admiral Nogura, which we’ll get to a little later in this review. 🙂
I would’ve thought it’d be better to have either Thesp or Nogura in both episodes of ‘To Boldly Go’ rather than just having one admiral for ‘Part I’ and another admiral for ‘Part II’. It’s an unusual set-up. Perhaps Thesp was having her day off by the time ‘Part II’ came along. 😀
In ‘Part II’ of the story, we see how the five-year mission of the original Enterprise crew comes to an end, as Kirk and his crew battle against the ultimate adversary in Lana, Sentek and the Espers. They manage to acquire the starship Congo at the great barrier. 😐
Interesting revelations are made in ‘Part II’, particularly concerning Lt. Barbara Smith, played by Kipleigh Brown. She’s revealed to be the yeoman who stood with Gary Mitchell in ‘Where No Man Has Gone Before’ when he got his god-like powers via the great barrier.
Yeoman Smith was originally played by Andrea Dromm in that episode. I like how this connection is made and how Barbara Smith turned out to be there in ‘Where No Man Has Gone Before’. 🙂 Mind you, I would’ve liked to have seen a flashback scene from that episode.
Maybe they could’ve done a recreation of Barbara being with Gary Mitchell to remind viewers who she was in that original ‘Star Trek’ episode. I suppose they couldn’t have afforded the time and money for a flashback recreation, but it would’ve been good to see.
It’s also interesting when seeing Barbara Smith with those white eyes that she turns out to have god-like powers in the same way that Gary Mitchell had and what Lana and Sentek have. Barbara uses those powers to defeat Lana and Sentek aboard the Enterprise bridge.
Barbara also becomes helpful when beaming aboard the Congo starship and sabotaging the engines. It’s sad when Barbara made a huge sacrifice in the episode and ultimately dies, but at least she didn’t turn evil like Gary, Lana and Sentek became with those powers. 🙂
I was thrilled to see the saucer-separation sequence featured in ‘Part II’ of ‘To Boldly Go’. To think that the original Enterprise ship could do the saucer-separation sequence before the Enterprise-D in ‘TNG’ came along. I wasn’t expecting to see that in the two-part finale.
Something of interest to mention is that Jason Isaacs (credited as Jason Lorca) happens to be the voice of an Esper in ‘Part II’ of the story. I wouldn’t have noticed that from seeing ‘To Boldly Go’ for the first time and frankly, it’s one of those blink-and-you’ll miss it moments.
For me, Jason Isaacs played Captain Hook in the 2003 ‘Peter Pan’ film. He’s well-known for playing Lucius Malfoy in the ‘Harry Potter’ movies and in ‘Star Trek’ terms, he’s well-known for playing Captain Gabriel Lorca in ‘Star Trek: Discovery’. Not seen that series yet.
And now I get the ‘Jason Lorca’ pseudonym. Because he played Gabriel Lorca in ‘Discovery’. I still would’ve preferred him being credited as Jason Isaacs to know that he guest starred in a ‘STC’ story, even if it’s for a brief moment and even if it’s a voice-over. 😀
It was sad to see Dr. McKennah getting killed off in the story, even when Scotty attempted to beam her back aboard the Enterprise from the exploding Congo starship. McKennah’s transporter pattern is in flux and about to be lost when Scotty struggles to beam her back.
It’s clear that Spock has formed an emotional connection with McKennah in the story, even making a command decision that risks her being a prisoner aboard the Congo starship. It’s also clear when Spock slams his fist in rage when the transporter fails to bring her back. 😦
I like that emotional scene between Spock and McKennah where it’s silence and yet she tells him not to blame himself when he lipreads her. The motifs of James Horner’s score from ‘Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan’ can be heard when McKennah ends up lost forever. 😦
It’s a really sad sequence, as McKennah became a vital Enterprise crew member and ship’s counsellor in the ‘STC’ series. Kirk recommends the counsellor programme highly to Andy Holt as Flett Admiral Nogura once the Enterprise is back home at space dock above the Earth.
It’s good to see how the experimental counsellor programme comes highly recommended by Kirk after he was initially hesitant to it in ‘Pilgrim of Eternity’ and ‘The White Iris’. And it sets up what’s to come with Deanna Troi being the ship’s counsellor aboard the Enterprise-D.
Speaking of Deanna Troi, Marina Sirtis voices the Enterprise ship’s computer again, both in ‘Parts I and II’ of ‘To Boldly Go’. Flett Admiral Nogura, whom Kirk meets in ‘Part II’, happens to be someone who was mentioned in ‘Star Trek: The Motion Picture’ but wasn’t seen.
And yes! The space dock that features in ‘Part II’ of ‘To Boldly Go’ happens to be the same one that features in ‘The Motion Picture’ and briefly in ‘Star Trek II’. In fact, ‘To Boldly Go’ serves as a good bridge between the original TV series and ‘The Motion Picture’.
This is particularly when Kirk accepts his promotion to become Admiral and Chief of Starfleet Operations, as he wears the new Starfleet uniform that he will wear in ‘The Motion Picture’. This also ties-in to an issue I had with ‘Star Trek: Generations’, apparently.
Kirk explains to Spock and McCoy that the new Starfleet uniform will eventually filter down to the rest of the fleet. This establishes why there were two different styles of uniform in use in ‘Generations’, as there were ‘TNG’ uniforms and ‘DS9’ uniforms in use in that film.
As Kirk says goodbye to Spock and McCoy before agreeing to meet them for dinner, Spock reveals that he will take a leave of absence to return to Vulcan where he will undertake Kolinahr, as seen in ‘The Motion Picture’. Bones also choses to resign from Starfleet in this.
‘To Boldly Go’ and the series ‘Star Trek Continues’ ends with Kirk making one last look around the bridge of the Enterprise before we cut to the ship’s exterior. We slowly zoom away from the Enterprise ship that’s in space dock, which matches to ‘The Motion Picture’.
It was so surreal to see the end credits of ‘Part II’ without the Alexander Courage theme music and replaced by the Enterprise ship’s sound effects. It’s also a black background behind the end credits instead of the stills that we’d usually see in a ‘TOS’ and ‘STC’ episode.
I like how after the end credits, there’s the caption ‘The Human Adventure Continues…’, which matches to ‘The Motion Picture’s caption of ‘The Human Adventure is Just Beginning…’. I thought that was a nice touch when seeing that in the two-part finale. 🙂
‘To Boldly Go’ is a very fulfilling two-part finale for ‘Star Trek Continues’. It’s nice how the story serves as a sequel to ‘Where No Man Has Gone Before’ and ‘The Enterprise Incident’, and I enjoyed how it formed a bridge to the movie series that comes afterwards.
‘Star Trek Continues’ is a fan-made series made with great dedication, effort and passion. I commend Vic Mignogna and his production team for putting together such a lovely ‘Star Trek’ series that echoes the original ‘Star Trek’ TV series as well as honouring the future. 🙂
I highly recommend this fan-made series to anyone who is a fan of the original ‘Star Trek’ TV show with Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, Dr. McCoy, Scotty and the rest. I’m very pleased I’ve been able to revisit and do full-on reviews on the ‘STC’ episodes for ‘Bradley’s Basement’.
This is especially to celebrate 60 years of ‘Star Trek’ in 2026. Should I ever revisit ‘Star Trek Continues’ at any point in future, which I hope I will, I’ll always cherish the episodes fondly as they contain great cast performances, storytelling and character development. 🙂
‘To Boldly Go’ (STC) rating – 10/10
‘Star Trek Continues’ series rating – 10/10
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