The cast of Star Trek: New Voyages – Come What May
(Courtesy: Roddenberry.com)
NOT A TREKKIE, BUT . . .
Although not a Trekkie, I loved Star Trek as a child and set myself the target of watching every episode of the original series as it has been repeated on CBS Reality (Freevew). Having achieved this aim, I am now view watching them again. Yesterday, while researching information on the episodes, I became aware of a fan-produced continuation of the original series for the internet, called Star Trek: New Voyages. So far, I have only watched the pilot episode, Come What May (January 2004). I thought the direction, writing and production, especially the effects, were surprisingly good. My understanding is that the pilot was a run-through with James Cawley, creator of the series, putting himself in the role of Kirk only for the early episodes. He seemed okay apart from the fact that his hair looked like a comedy Elvis wig. One of Cawley’s then co-producers took the part of Scotty and gave him a bizarre accent, which made James Doohan‘s seem realistic. Something else that niggled me was the use of surnames to address the crew, including Rand for the return of Yeoman Janice. I have read that the person playing Dr McCoy, with arms folded, John Kelley, is no relation of DeForest Kelley.
John Winston, who played Lt. Kyle in the original Star Trek series, as well as Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), appears in this production as Captain Jefferies. Additionally, Eddie Paskey plays Admiral Leslie.
If you are a fan of DeForest Kelley, I recommend the excellent, if not a bit talky, film Warlock from 1959. I thought it was funny that DeForest Kelley, joked that his gravestone would declare, ‘He’s dead Jim’. Sadly, he seems to have made little money from the role of McCoy.
WIFE AFTER DEATH
Lucie Brownlee was interviewed on ITV daytime(1) recently, speaking about the premature death of her husband, the success of the blog(2) she wrote as a result and the book which followed. In her own words, all the couple’s hopes and dreams had been taken from them. Tragically, Brownlee found herself bringing up their five-year-old daughter without the little girl’s daddy. After a bit of detective work, as I had forgotten Brownlee’s name, I found the blog for the purpose of informing my own. Not only is Wife After Death technically well-constructed, it is prosaic and beautifully poetic in its simplicity. Above all, it is testimony to the view that quality, not quantity, has impact. Small wonder then she runs creative writing workshops, is taking a Phd in creative writing and has many followers. Lucie Brownlee’s background and style is so far from my own muddled nonsense, any attempt at emulating it would be destined to fail. Hopefully, though, by soldiering on I will improve.
WORD COUNT
Two posts and a quote, and my word count is over 1,000 words. I wondered how many pages of the average novel this would be, so a quick Google search revealed it is about 250-300. These, therefore, are the first three or four pages of my benchmark novel.
(1) I thought the interview was on Loose Women, but could neither remember nor find any record of the broadcast. Loose Women is a lunchtime show, broadcast on weekdays, for ladies. I am not a woman, but watch anyway.
(2) http://wifeafterdeath.com/
W10.09.15/P10.09.15
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