Bonus Edition: USS Valiant NCC-6089 (USS Defiant Concept)

If there was a concept model I always hoped for, it was this one.

Lost into the annals of the Deep Space Nine Technical Manual and teased way too often in conversations around the tough little USS Defiant, the USS Valiant Concept is perhaps even more thuggish than the craft it ultimately became.

The hallmarks of the Defiant are glaring; the almost modular warhead/nose, the curved central piece surrounding the bridge and to some degree the packed-in warp engines. Yet there are also many differences and you have to take this one with more leniency than usual since it never actually made it to the screen.

The weapons pods at the forward edge of the hull are more prominent and that warhead is even more integral to the ship than it would later become. The detail over all is pretty decent with the usual array of panelling lines evident. There are red edging strips around the drooping warp engines and a Starfleet pennant that runs front to back to finish that overall impression of what this might have looked like.

Where this wins over at least the Voyager concept is that this hasn't been tampered with from the images we've seen of this ship before. Sternbach's Voyager had been "updated" to what it might have eventually become for the show but wisely this hasn't been the case here.

What does seem odd on the Valiant (NCC-6089) is the choice to render some of the recessed sections - and the panelling around the ship name - in an off yellow. This colour makes it look as though the decals have faded and worn over time. When I saw the preview images I hoped that this would be changed for the end product but it wasn't a work in progress. Yuk.

Also, a little off from the concept art on which this is based, is the hull colouring. With an off-white base, the paintwork is flecked with a slightly grey tone. It's not azteced but more of a way to reduce what could have been a rather plain finishing coat.

 If you did line this up with the USS Defiant, the wider engine pods would be the most distinct change. While Defiant's were narrower, they also extended sideways rather than curving out and down. Perhaps a more menacing look, it does look a bit odd but that's more down to mental conditioning of seeing that tough little ship on screen for so many years.

Disappointingly the cover of the magazine makes the model out to look much better than it actually is. A lot of the panel lines just aren't as defined as they are on the CG art nor the faded yellow as subtle as the graphic illustrates. Certainly the bussard collectors aren't as bright nor a good portion of the radiator grille work painted as dark as it is on the cover. This latter piece is most evident either side of the warhead/nose section.

What is interesting from my perspective is the back end. The impulse engines are here podded to either side of the hull, almost looking like afterthoughts with them later being more integrated into the main body of the USS Defiant.  The rear of the screen-used design is also wider with the tapered design of the dorsal section more a feature rather than the full shape of the hull.

The underside retains the "speckled" finish of the dorsal plating as well as ship registry decals (and one very tiny one right at the back!) plus surface detail and more of that faded yellow detail. Strangely on the underside this does appear more golden. In all fairness this is the first time that I've seen the underside of the concept Valiant but it does seem to be in line with the design for the topside of the vessel.

The build is about 50/50 split metal to plastic with the to of the hull including the forward weapons pods, the top of the warp engines and the rear in the harder material. The joint line to the plastic piece on the underside is almost unnoticeable however at the edge of the warp engines where there is a rectangular section that rises up, the contact point feels rough. An unusual gripe for build quality but it sent a shiver down my spine a couple of times when my fingers grazed across it.

In the magazine we have a ton of further concepts for the Defiant/Valiant that, maybe, might see the light of day in the collection at some point. Some of these are truly off the wall and the mag does talk through the design process of what would become Deep Space Nine's warship. Taking up the other half of the accompanying literature are the Defiant's Top Ten Moments. I was a little taken back that we're starting to head into "Best Bits" territory but after the original issue, an XL and a Mirror Universe edition, there can only be so much to write up about the ship.

USS Valiant NCC-6089 is a great piece of Star Trek's unseen visual history. Certainly there's the chance now to whack this alongside Rick Sternbach's Voyager and the Phase II USS Enterprise plus a few of the other ships we've never seen for a great display of roads not taken. It could have done with being a little bigger but it does still manage to pack a lot of detail into a fairly small space and not make it seem overloaded.

I'm very happy that this one made it into the bonus editions. Eaglemoss continue to excel in this area especially because they are willing to make things that have never been done. Looking at the upcoming issues, this shows no sign of abating.

USS Valiant NCC-6089 is available now from Eaglemoss priced £19.99

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USS Defiant NX-74205 XL

The tough little ship is a little bigger with this edition of the XL series from HeroCollector.

Don't let the image on the box fool you either because the enclosed starship is a lot better than it suggests.

The first and most prominent upgrade to the Defiant aside from the size, is the colour. Both the grey base coat and the blue highlights of the original issue eight edition have been toned down and suit the ship a lot better.

The pale blue is much more suitable while the model also benefits from much thinner panel lines which, in retrospect, do overpower the finish of the smaller original. Edging detail such as around the torpedo emplacements are cleaner too and as you look further along the ship it's even more evident in the exposed electronics just behind the nose piece and then into the grille work behind the bridge module.

Defiant is also extremely heavy to the back end indicating that this has been purposely weighted for display and avoiding her being front heavy since it's a rear grip stand. Let's get my one issue out of the way first though; that warhead/nose section is still flimsy to a degree with only a small connection to the main hull holding it in place. It's better than before (because it's bigger) but I wouldn't want to catch it on anything. Easily the weakest part of the model.

Decalling, as with the Runabout, is also more precise with the thin Starfleet red stripes much more suited to the larger scale but aside from those points there is also a marked step up in the quality of the product. The edges are a lot smoother here if you compare the curve forward of the bridge. Some of the recessed circles (nose especially) are not a large and the colours actually line up to the panels.

The warp engines contain those lovely translucent elements to the front in red and then to the rear in blue. Note too here that one of those rear piece is sunk back from the hull plus they are separated by a separate plastic trim that runs vertically. On the regular issue that was just part of the insert painted up grey. 

On the underside it's a similar story of more subtle paintwork combined with that higher definition. Portholes are painted in along the sunken edge near the nacelles, the grille lines are easier to see under a better paint job and there's even some updated painting. The centre of the shuttle hatch is no longer blue and just behind that centre circle there are two smaller circles now in light blue rather than black.

Out on the engines, the red striping is cleaner again but there's added yellow panel detail to the front as well as a black stripe that was totally missing on the first version. Another addition is the underside phaser cannons sitting on the front edge of the warp engines and again totally absent on the smaller one.

Most impressive for myself though has to be the additional red chevron decal under the nose and the correct painting of the "handlebar" feature under the warhead. It's now grey rather than that odd choice of blue. The forward deflector too is spruced up utilising another translucent (but not coloured) piece as an insert. The edge grey on this is very precise and lightyears ahead of the first one. 

Probably the big win with the majority of the XLs comes down to the finish; the paint and decals are in the places they should be. On the smaller issues they were a little to the left for example but here there's no slip. Even the red/green port/starboard lights are in place and the more you look, the more you can see the differences and the reasons that this is a great addition to a starship collection.

In the magazine though it's a sense if deja vu to any long term fans with three sections tackling the Making, Casting and Filming of DS9. The focus, strangely, is much more in Emissary and season one than anything to do with the Defiant but then what is there left to cover? Not a bad read per se, just overfamiliar content for anyone dedicated enough to be buying the XLs. Also, biggest magazine gripe - keep it in some way relevant to the item.

It is a massive improvement in every single sense of the word and this is a ship that will easily be swapped in to take the place of its smaller predecessor. It highlights a lot of the errors, a lot of the "had to do" work that fitted for the 180 issue series but the choice to go bigger was justified. 

As I'm going through the XLs under review it's clearer and clearer that they are another level of product. In some cases the price may be too steep but they give a true appreciation of the ships and present them much more suitably.

USS Defiant maxes out on cool both in DS9 and here in supersized model form. Top flight from HeroCollector and one for permanent display without question.

Were you as enamoured with the Defiant? Let me know below!

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Be Careful: S1 E10 Despite Yourself

The destination of the USS Discovery couldn't have been any less of a surprise as the series returned for the final six hours of its first season.

Yet this managed to be one of the most surprising episodes of the series right from the start.

So we can now categorically confirm that the Discovery becomes only the second starship ever to cross over into the Mirror Universe leaving the crew in a desperate situation to return to their own universe in order to alert Starfleet with a way to crack the Klingon cloaking device.

Problem is the Spore Drive is now inoperable due to an exhausted Lieutenant Stamets who is unable to act as the conduit for the distance (and dimension) jumping engine. Fortunately it appears that 1) the ISS Discovery jumped out of its universe when the USS Discovery popped in and 2) there might be another way back if they can locate some information about a starship called Defiant that might have appeared there some time before. Still with me? Excellent because don't forget that we also have L'Rell, the Klingon battle commander/traitor apparent locked up in the brig mindf**king with Lieutenant Tyler.

Discovery's arrival in the Mirror Universe fooled absolutely no-one but it has raised questions as to whether Lorca is actually his Mirror self or not. He seems to want to return back to the other universe and integrates himself into the plan to make that a reality. From the start of this we get a really good look at the machinations of the Terran Empire since the last time we saw it in In a Mirror, Darkly; the Emperor is a faceless despot, the Empire is trying to quell a rebellion from all the other races  including the Klingons, Vulcans and Andorians who are identified in the wreckage near to the Discovery and we find out what has happened to all the main cast in this parallel time.

Burnham is of course the central piece here, drawing together the plan that will get the ship home but it seems Martin-Green takes a backseat to Isaacs' Lorca and Mary Wiseman's Tilly in this thread, The captain puts himself at great risk by playing his alternate self so Burnham can "retake" her command of the USS Shenzhou and acquire information that will help them escape. My one query is that the Mirror Lorca is stated to have escaped in a shuttle after killing Burnham and was never seen again. My brain did suggest this might mean he is the Mirror Lorca after all but there has, honestly, been no hint of this sort so far. Wiseman is also exceptional at playing Captain Killy, her parallel self, hamming it up in the captain's seat after some initial trepidation. Also of note was Lorca's lie to Burnham and Saru that Stamets was keen to explore other dimensions once the mission was over.

This interpretation of the Mirror Universe is an exciting yet grim addition to Discovery. The parallel universe always excites a large proportion of fandom but this show has gone further than ever before with this thread, making the alternative versions of the cast achieve some of their inner goals in life but through twisted and darker paths than they would have planned to walk in their own universe. It’s a far cry from the snarling alternates of Mirror Mirror or the virtual caricatures that Deep Space Nine’s Resurrection and The Emperor’s New Cloak spurred into.  

The reflection of this exposition of the Mirror Universe does feel a little tougher and more brutal thanks in no small part to the metallic uniform additions and the worn weaponry. Cleverly the delta shield is flipped vertically and slipped behind the recognisable world/sword emblem on the uniforms with each officer also carrying an array of medals on their breastplates which do indicate several different awards.

The choice to disguise the ship as it's "evil" self with a tweak of registry and some software updates is inspired and forces the crew to step a little outside their comfort zones as Starfleet personnel. But here's another thought - for a show that has added a less than positive outlook for the Prime Universe, this could be the more insightful trip through the looking glass of all time - is the Mirror Universe not quite the dark territory we have come to expect in comparison to the events of this Klingon war.

Burnham's return to the Shenzhou is a harrowing experience as she faces multiple ghosts from her past including a very-much alive Captain Connor (previously Ensign Connor played by Sam Varthemelos) and an uninjured Detmer. Indeed, the Connor/Burnham confrontation in the turbolift has a cluttered claustrophobia about it as they fight for their lives and command of the starship. 

It’s a brilliantly tense plot line with darker tones than the (later?!) Deep Space Nine arc but positively continuing the bleak and totalitarian regime we saw in Enterprise.  The new style to the Empire and it’s return is most welcome with a clever twist that it’s all linked back to The Tholian Web which might well be one of the most pivotal episodes in the history of the franchise - who would have imagined that in 1968? On that point, yes, the Defiant does look slightly different with saucer cut-outs and amendments to the engine pylons but I would expect that over the time since it’s been in the Mirror Universe it might have received more than a couple of modifications and repairs to keep it operational. 

While that story dominates the 48 minutes of Despite Yourself, there are two further threads which weave in and out of the narrative. Firstly there’s Stamets who is recovering in sickbay and is now receiving, it appears, prophetic visions of the future leading him to warn Doctor Culber that the enemy ‘is here’. Anthony Rapp might not have the most to do this week but his appearances are significant in hinting at other elements of the plot and I’m interested to see how this ‘Spore Drive Vision’ is worked as the season continues.

But, with the impending doom of encountering more than just some rebel Vulcans and boarding the Mirror Shenzhou you might well have forgotten there’s a Klingon festering in the brig. 

Mary Chieffo’s L’Rell has been one of the biggest wins of the show for me since day one and in Despite Yourself it feels that some of the promises and plans we saw hatched right at the genesis of the series are beginning to bear fruit although it seems some of it has gone a little aray.

Her relationship with Tyler is the centrepoint. There might be a whole new universe out there to try and escape but the Klingon war is still raging and L’Rell is our constant reminder. Here she is also the confirmation that Ash Tyler is not what he seems in any way, a theory backed up by Doctor Culber’s analysis that the lieutenant has received some significant surgery altering bone structure at the least. The Tyler personality is an overlay and we have to be plain dumb not to know that it’s Voq hiding underneath. I’m certain the flashbacks - which apparently will reveal more as we go - are memories of his surgical alteration and love affair with L’Rell rather than torture and rape. It all makes perfect sense and I’m glad that the writers haven’t dragged this line out for too much longer and respected the intelligence of their audience. 

Tyler’s dramatic and unforeseen disposal of Culber when he puts the pieces together left me speechless. It stamped a clear mark on the show that no-one is safe at any time and my god was it a jaw-dropping moment. It's unexpected, abrupt and perhaps for Tyler a moment out of control for his human side. 

Now we have more understanding of the darkness around Tyler and L’Rell it really has become a fascinating element of the season and both actors should be applauded for their excellent work as it’s some of the best in the show. Added cudos for the fact that L’Rell’s attempt to ‘wake up’ the sleeper agent buried inside Tyler didn’t work as planned. At least not everything we might have expected came to pass all in one go.

Despite Yourself has opened the second half of the season with a swagger and a strong sense of purpose. All the set up and suggestion from the early part of the year is coming to fruition and the show is really forging its identity. Already there seem to be grumblings about the show’s choice to dive into the Mirror Universe so early and at all but on the quality of this entry I think it was a brave move to do so and has paid off, giving this concluding batch of stories it’s own identity and differentiation from the Klingon war which dominated the first nine episodes.

What this episode has also done is restored my faith in the Mirror Universe episodes, removing the dodgy comedy elements and actually made this parallel dimension feel the same yet noticably different. It oozes danger that I haven’t seen in this type of story, honestly, since Crossover. Everything here works. Yes, it is going to be different from The Original Series vision (like 50 years ago...can we get over these "inconsistencies" please...) but the core of our understanding of the Mirror Universe and its part within Star Trek lore has been maintained and even strengthened by its inclusion and also by the inherent links to both the Kirk era and Enterprise.

For a return to our screens after a short and unwelcome(!) break, Despite Yourself has raised the bar again and could well prove to be highlight of Year One. The questions have just got harder to answer. Is Lorca the Mirror Universe version that escaped? How will Culber return? What's the score with Tyler's muddled mind and what else can be thrown at us?

What's your take on Despite Yourself? 

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Radiant Defiance: Eaglemoss' Luminescent Bonus Edition

Surely with the release of the USS Enterprise, the Mirror ISS Enterprise and the SS Yorktown there are enough versions of the classic Constitution Class to go around?

Apparently not as Eaglemoss have now presented us with the first (and so far the only announced) Glow in the Dark starship, the Constitution Class USS Defiant as featured in The Tholian Web. Now, being a total sucker for that episode I had to have the Defiant. One because it's the guest starship and two; so it can sit alongside the other Defiant. But what exactly is it that makes this worth the punt at £14.99?  

Good question and there is the straight forward obvious answer because this classic does exactly what it says on the magazine and glows in the dark. As you'll spot straight away there is a distinct hue to the paintwork on the Defiant and it's nowhere near as grey as the issue 50 USS Enterprise NCC-1701. This is down to the point that the whole thing is finished off with a layer of luminescent paint which allows it to give off a radiant green glow and appear to be slipping out of phase with our universe just as she did in The Tholian Web.

It's a simple and genius idea that was neatly coupled with it's release around Halloween as something a little bit spooky and unusual. Having it glow in the dark is a cool and unique move which meant that this became an essential addition. I must at this point thank Rob Gibson for gifting this ship to me as part of a starship exchange programme(!) and I have to say I was eternally grateful for this arrival. It doesn't need too much of a tan to get that paint glowing either and within a few minutes you can see the colour change as the Defiant gives off a green, very visible tinge; it’s just as if you’re about to be transported into the Mirror Universe.

At its core though this is simply a re-registered version of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701 model as featured in issue 50 but what else is there that might interest and make you want to part with your hard-earned moola?

The other clear difference is the yellowed bussard collectors tipping the warp nacelles and which give off an equally lovely green glow in low lighting. Taking a look over the hull we evidently have the NCC-1764 registry to denote that this is the USS Defiant and that’s spotted on the underside of the saucer and on the war engines along with being emblazoned across the top and front of the circular primary hull.

The primary hull, in metal is nicely detailed with a few call outs, minor red stripe decals and a smooth finish mirroring her more famous sister ship from the collection. There are a couple of smudges around the registry but they are almost unnoticeable unless you're really, really looking. We still have that annoying gap around the lower third of the secondary hull however but on the Defiant it seems that the slight tonal change in the paint and the choice to dowse her in a final luminescent overcoat has almost hidden the seam. I say almost because near the shuttle bay it is all too evident and just as gappy as version one - which is pretty much what we have here anyway. 

At the from of the engineering hull there's that glaring orange translucent deflector dish. After the various attempts at this model you would have thought Eaglemoss could have AT LEAST for it painted a more appropriate colour? I understand the yellow bussard collectors because it adds to the glow in the dark effect but the deflector is just damn wrong. Can we get one a more golden colour in the future IF there's another variant? (Wait for a USS Comstellation to be announced)

In reference to the underside of the saucer its good to point out that the raised triangular hull sections do align perfectly to the darker grey paint which highlights them and that all the windows aren't out of sync as there are no recessed window bays on the whole model. The white markings for the bridge, lower sensor dome and two at the rear of the saucer are tightly painted in with no bleed into the rest of the hull - something i also noted about the four grey piping sections at the rear of the warp engines.

The challenge I would have with this one is that the finish does seem a little sloppy in places with the paint being scuffed in a couple of spots which does - and will - play havoc with my OCD.  Watch out for that stand clipping as well as I noted in the original NCC-1701 review it was tight then and nothing has really changed with the Defiant. The last thing you want is to rub off the glow in the dark paint effect with two perfectly straight stand lines behind the bridge. Also, minor that it is, but my port warp engine does have a slight lean towards its starboard relation at the back end. Ever so slight but you do catch it out of the corner of your eye on occasion. 

What does make the price tag a little sweeter is the inclusion of the USS Defiant Glow in the Dark bonus edition magazine. Now, I may have mentioned my love of The Tholian Web in this article and maybe the odd occasion before so I continue to be obsessively biased towards this one. The magazine, for me, is a huge indulgence going into the background of the Defiant not just in the classic episode I cherish so much but also into the sequel/prequel that was Enterprise’s In a Mirror, Darkly.

It is a real treat covering the creation and then the REcreation of the classic bridge for the starship plus we have words from writer Judy Burns who was responsible for coming up with the concept of The Tholian Web and the starship Scimitar (they'll never use that name...!) that would morph fully into the realised TV installment. 

At the heart of this bonus edition there is very little new as we saw with the three Mirror Universe editions however the background included in the magazine and the minor tweaks plus the rather personal love of the story make it a must in my books. Maybe for some it’s the issue too far and that gimmick that doesn’t need to be bought - heck, I felt the same about the SS Yorktown and the change of a few decals. Cool if repetitive addition that might well be a money-grabber but hell, it’s something different!

For the full review of the original USS Enterprise from The Original Series follow the link here or you can visit the full Some Kind of Star Trek Eaglemoss The Official Starship Collection vault here.

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Retreading the Shadow? Star Trek Continues Unveils Episode Eight

The USS Defiant returns courtesy of writer Judy Burns in the eighth episode from Star Trek Continues. Beware there WILL be SPOILERS.

A sequel of sorts to the classic third season Star Trek episode The Tholian Web which i discussed only a week or so ago, Still Treads the Shadow starts off with a big question and a potential contradiction against a certain Enterprise two-parter but resolves that dilemma fairly quickly although it will make you think of a few other similar instances.

Y'see the immediate challenge with the story is that it does parallel at least a couple of existing Star Trek episodes, namely The Next Generation's Second Chances and to a minor extent Time Squared from the show's evolutionary second season.  Not to dwell too much on the story and save the enjoyment for your viewing but Still Treads the Shadow brings the crew of the Enterprise into contact with a Kirk who believes that he was abandoned when the Defiant phased out into another dimension. Suffice to say that's not precisely what occurred and leaves the universe with a second Kirk. Time has passed somewhat more quickly for the new arrival who is aged around 80 and has spent a good proportion of time - a good proportion of 300 years - in stasis. What transpires is that the Defiant computer has become sentient, gained the name of Tiberius and sought out a way to get Kirk home.

This Defiant is one that has undergone a severe number of modifications over the time it's been gone from the Prime Universe including the ability to hit Warp 15 and is intrinsically linked to two black holes which provide an additional danger to the USS Enterprise as we come to experience.

There's more than a little hint of 2001: A Space Odyssey in here as well as we experience a Kirk two way between the computer that was his only friend and company for decades and then a three-way James T fest as things begin to unravel. The friendship with the Defiant computer is not too far from the crumbling connection between Bowman and HAL in the classic sci-fi movie even down to the nature of their final meetings and the monotone rumble of Tiberius' voice. I dare you not to think about Daisy when the computer speaks or wonder about pod bay doors.

Mignogna is absolutely front and centre here playing Kirk in triplicate as both the older and younger versions plus putting in duty as the voice of the Defiant computer aka Tiberius.  In fact it's such a strong Kirk episode that while everyone gets their moments to play and their catch of dialogue they are all very much playing second fiddle to the lead actor.  That in no way is meant to be derogatory to the rest of the cast but the very nature of the script relies on Mignogna's strength as an actor to carry it off and carry it through to the end. He drives every interaction and every scene because of Kirk's prominence in the story which is, ironically exactly the opposite of The Tholian Web where Kirk is absent for the majority of the episode. 

Spock is almost completely relegated to a science role and the rest of the cast - Chekov, Sulu and Uhura especially - are left with little to do except man their stations and relate events taking place off-screen. For recurring cast Kipleigh Brown and Cat Roberts they get minimal screen-time but again good to see them returning for another round of Continues. 

McCoy fairs decently once again although Chuck Huber does seem to be summoning up his deepest inner DeForest a little more than usual in this story and it might just slip into hammy territory. I can let it slide because Huber's southern doctor is such a great take on the original and here he does play a strong part of the story.     

Michelle Specht's McKennah actually does some counselling this time allowing her to play off the on-screen-all-the-time Mignogna who doesn't even seem to take a breath. Specht gets to be involved with arguably the best scene of the show as we see the older, wearier version of Kirk open up about his experience on the Defiant and its effects on him; the pain of taking four months to remove all the bodies of the dead crew for instance. 

Cleverly the end of this scene flips onto the younger Kirk and allows McKennah a moment to make him realise what needs to be done to help his older, lonely self before allowing the two Kirk's the chance to talk. Here Mignogna delivers a sterling speech (as the older Kirk) about how his view on his role as a captain has changed. For me this is absolutely the pinnacle of the story as he changes into a truly tragic character now lost in the place he knew so well. 

It's the older Kirk's relationship with the guest starring Rekha Sharma (best known for her time on Battlestar Galactica as one of the "Final Five") that acts as one of the focal points for Still Treads the Shadow but not as much as the Kirk/Kirk/Tiberius triumvirate.

Sharma isn't as prominent as other guest stars of recent episodes (Gigi Edgley or Clare Kramer for example), more gelling into the cast and acting within that circle rather than being a stand-out character around which the story is etched. I believe this is a better way of handling the episode in that the true stars remain the established cast themselves without too much being overblown about the guest. Rekha Sharma is more than capable in the role but I did feel that the relationships with the two Kirk's was not explored as much as they could have been. It almost felt as though they were skated over and not looked into deeply enough, indeed it's a good way through the episode before we really understand the connection between the captain and the scientist.

The parallels between the Kirk/Avi Samara and Kirk/Tiberius relationships are interesting to watch as we see a lost friend versing a jealous companion who has conditioned the older captain for many years. It's a distinct case of examining what has been forced upon Kirk versus a friendship that was lost over time. 

Still Treads the Shadow is, for all intents and purposes, a solid episode of Star Trek Continues from start to finish. The plot is sound, the acting is faultless and the CG is perfect but the problem is that for the most part it's horribly unoriginal.

Not only do the repetition of plotlines from other Star Trek episodes nag at me but I even felt there was even a blatant link across to 90's sci-fi flick Event Horizon with note of multiple realities and the whole black hole as a power source spin. I half-expected that the Defiant had been to Hell and back with all the black hole action that was going on at one point and that might even have improved the episode.

I can't fault Continues for effort - not one bit - but I was expecting more than this considering the quality of their run to date and the fact that this comes from the pen of a classic Star Trek writer in Judy Burns. I really really want to love this story because of it's links to The Tholian Web but the niggles get the better of me every time. Round that off with the knowledge that older Kirk won't survive the episode - something which you can pretty much guess from the word "go" and you can see where I was left needing. Of course you could say that it's the journey to the sacrificial point which is what the episode is really about and I wouldn't argue with you but having him sacrifice himself and save the life of Avi was all just too cliched at the end. Likewise the reviewing of the captain's logs from the aging Kirk on the lost Defiant. I'd have thought a lot of those inner conflicts would have been dealt with in the first year or so not over such a long period of time but hey, dramatic effect an' all...

Still Treads the Shadow may well be my least favourite of the Continues episodes to date purely because of the "seen it before" factor. I love this show because it's kept The Original Series alive (god knows how under the new guidelines) but yet I just couldn't get excited here. I really was disappointed that such great promise gave out so little twist and vibrancy that I've come to love from the diverse range of stories that the show has explored thus far. With only a few episodes guaranteed (nine through eleven) I hope that the remaining few are more original and thought-provoking than this.

What did you think to Still Treads the Shadow? Good episode or an average offering?

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Spinning a Yarn

After a rather leisurely five year stint to watch all of Star Trek I've finally come to the end of watching The Original Series.

Not that it's taken me five years to watch everything from The Cage to Turnabout Intruder but I only ever intended to watch The Next Generation which led to Deep Space Nine which led to... you get the picture. 

Anyway, it's been too many years since I last watched the show that started it all and as part of that, one of the greatest episodes the show produced in probably one of its darkest times; The Tholian Web.

When I started Some Kind of Star Trek back in 2013 I intended to do a lot more episodic reviews and talky bits about the show but then others things crept in - the books, Attack Wing, starship collections... and while all this is great I realise that an element I always wanted to hold on to was discussion about the show itself. Starships are great but there's more to the show than that and I wanted this site to offer that alternative.

Which brings me back to The Tholian Web because ever since the day I realised I would be going through every episode I would eventually wind up coming to one of the episodes that helped lure me into Star Trek in the first place. So here I am; doing just that and I've been really looking forward to it. This is my love letter to one of the episodes that drove me to Trek.

Produced in the severely budget-restrained third and final season of The Original Series, it was the ninth episode made and also the ninth to air which was unusual considering how the order was chopped and changed over time. How early in my viewing of the show it actually came I can't remember but it's iconic imagery of the USS Enterprise gradually being encased in the net has stayed with me for decades.

In a nutshell Kirk is stranded in another dimension while Spock commands the Enterprise and has to deal with the Tholians but I actually think this is one of the most multifaceted episodes of the show as a whole, added to by the legacy of the show as it later unfolded. However, more on that in a bit.

At it's heart, The Tholian Web is a rescue story as Spock balances diplomacy with a non-humanoid race against the necessity to confirm Kirk's death and later engineer his retrieval. It's an unusual time for Spock in this episode because for the large majority of the time the captain is out of the picture which sets up a more explosive dynamic between the Vulcan and McCoy. Without Kirk to balance the pair they are initially much more confrontational before setting aside their issues to bring their friend home. I love the fact that one of the instrumental elements of the show is absent for a good portion of the episode and by his absence you realise how key Kirk actually is to the balance of the crew.

For a bottle show (one filmed entirely on the existing Desilu starship sets) this is easily Star Trek's finest example. We get two starships out of one with the appearance - and disappearance - of the USS Defiant but yet that restraint takes nothing from the intensity of the episode. The initial visit to the Defiant introduces the stunning atmospheric suits for their one and only outing and the teaser cleverly avoids stranding Kirk instead focusing on the phasing from reality of the Enterprise's sister ship.

Spock's turn in command is, unsurprisingly logical and of course we get Kirk back but look again at the episode and you'll see that this loss of the captain and his return is only a piece of the puzzle here. But is there just a smidgen of emotion in there? Should he really have stayed to confirm the captain's demise or was there something more in there - a trace of his humanity leaking through? I suspect so.

The danger posed by the Tholians as well as the danger posed by the region of space that the Enterprise is waiting in also add elements to the story (crack out your fish-eye camera lense). Then there's Kirk's ghost-like reappearances throughout which actually give Uhura a lot more to do than just open hailing frequencies or contact Starfleet. We get to see her quarters and the comms officer off-duty all at once plus it's a character expanding moment that wasn't afforded to all as well as Uhura was provided.

The Spock/McCoy dynamic is at its most exposed in The Tholian Web but by its conclusion they are perhaps at their most united in their denial of viewing Kirk's final orders. Most un-Vulcan-like but fitting that the captain's absence has cemented their friendship to a higher point.

The episode is a goldmine of concept and brilliance and we're not just talking about those spacesuits. The Tholians themselves are a standout moment for the series. Refraining from simply dressing up another actor we have non-humanoid species distinctly different from anything else we'd seen. Admittedly Enterprise would later expand beyond the head and shoulders we see here but the spark was there. Their ships too are a landmark even in their non-remastered format. Combined with their intricate lattice-work web it takes them away from the standard warp nacelles and phasers compliment that we've had from the likes of the Romulans and the Klingons. It's all hugely forward-thinking and like nothing else that appears in The Original Series. 

The Tholian Web, for all its budgetary restraints is a classic of The Original Series due to its scope and vision. It truly offers character exploration, a threat, true danger for the ship and multiple smaller events throughout the show which all play a key part in the episode. Amazingly it's all crammed into less than one hour of TV and works tirelessly and in fairness it's one of the more complex stories given the ton of angles it tackles the incident from. A lot of the episodes in the third year are linear in their nature and steer away from smaller incidents and keep on a straight and narrow from the beginning. The Tholian Web is a huge exception adding elements to the whole and exploring a time and a place rather than one single story thread. Look to other episodes in the last year and you'll see that the core story is pretty much the focus of the whole show without deviation.

Now we move to matters that only come to light many years later and The Tholian Web becomes a huge piece of the Star Trek universe puzzle. In fact before we even reach a certain Enterprise episode there's Deep Space Nine. Yes, the episode's influences are there even by 1994 and the arrival of a prototype starship - USS Defiant. Originally the Valiant (which did actually come later...), the Borg-busting starship was indeed named as a part homage to one of The Original Series' most prolific guest ships (or ghost ship?).

There have been nods to the Tholians during the course of the franchise's history in The Next Generation and again lip service in Deep Space Nine during the Dominion War but it's the short-lived prequel that cements The Tholian Web even more profoundly.

In a Mirror, Darkly is widely regarded as one of the defining stories of the final year and - personal opinion - the show as a whole but aside from a brilliant two-part story it actually reinforces how spectacular and seminal The Tholian Web - an episode that aired 37 years previous - is to Star Trek.

The key to the whole thing is the USS Defiant and the decision to attempt its capture from the Tholians of the Mirror Universe. The high-temp loving hexapods are very alike to their Prime Universe counterparts in their technology and it raises the question for me that perhaps the two versions of these creatures are in communication? Are the Tholians of the Prime Universe aware of the rifts and where they are sending items. As a side point how come there's not more of the Prime Universe stuff (and vice versa) floating around in either universe?

Enough of that mind-melting material though because the arrival of the Defiant is a universe-defining moment which changes the political overview and gives (spoiler) Empress Sato a massive advantage over her rivals.

But look more closely at the episode than just the plot because In a Mirror, Darkly is one of those great visual experiences which shows the love and honours its forebears. Yes it's effectively a sequel to the brilliant The Tholian Web by answering the question as to where the hell the Defiant and provides a prequel to the sublime Mirror, Mirror yet there are some key touches that are too good to ignore.

Check out the initial sequence of the NX-01 crew beaming into the Defiant and the positioning of the crew on the bridge. It's a perfect recreation of the duplicate scene from The Tholian Web. The actors are in precisely the same spots as their 1960's originals were when that episode was filmed. The original starship sets are of course recreated with love but we have the Defiant emblem rather than the USS Enterprise delta (take note Timelines because Mirror Archer has the wrong emblem on his tunic). The remastered version retains the mythos fortunately but does change one significant point - the design of the Tholian ships become more akin to their Enterprise CG counterparts than the simple lines of The Original Series models.

Undeniably the arrival and use of the Defiant should have more influence on the development of starships and general technology in the Mirror Universe but how were they going to know in 1968 that this prequel/sequel would be made let alone dreamt about? So it does make continuity less than perfect but the return of the Tholians in full body form breathes new life into that original episode and I think makes it stronger than ever. Being able to relate later events to it makes The Original Series even more integral to the franchise as a whole. 

Deep Space Nine certainly honoured its illustrious forebear with the return of the Tribbles, three legendary Klingons and the Mirror Universe saga but The Tholian Web retroactively becomes a cornerstone of the franchise because of the way its legacy has been woven into the later (or earlier?) generations of Star Trek. It's a clever twist in that it gains importance due to a later story. Perhaps this is only the case in one other episode, that being Trials and Tribble-ations and even then that is more a "reworking" of a classic than a story which builds more onto an existing tale.

For me, The Tholian Web is one of those late signs of Star Trek that even in those harsh production times there were still some shining lights and this Judy Burns written episode is one of those that illuminated the final year. Burns has the characters down-pat even though there's a piece missing and turns in a winner that is always in my top ten episodes of the franchise. Visually it's stunning thanks to the unique way in which the Tholians choose to capture and eliminate their opponents but the script cannot be ignored. It overcomes the boundaries of being a bottle show to create a genuinely thrilling experience that actually has something for all the cast to do while being original and creative.

Everything here comes together and over time I've seen The Tholian Web from different perspectives; the action adventure as a boy through to the character-defining moment that it is for Spock as he commands the Enterprise and the exploration of the Kirk/Spock/McCoy triumvirate with the removal of the balancing element. Unique and brilliant, The Tholian Web still firmly remains my favourite episode of The Original Series. So thank you Judy Burns, you were a big influence on my life!!!


What are your memories of The Tholian Web?

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