Star Trek: Of Gods And Men (2007)

Here is what I found fun It was just fun to see Chekhov and Uhura carry the show. They get most of the lines, (but even then it is an ensemble cast). Koenig got to do more dramatic lines and action. Nichelle probably got more plot point lines. I would have preferred to see Miss Nichols do more of the action, but that may have not been physically possible for her...as seen by the fact where she was walking in a scene where everyone else was running.It was good seeing a full grown Cirroc Lofton again , who played Captain Sisko's son in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. In homage to his TV father he sported a bald head and goatee. His acting was just okay...but then he really didn't have any exciting lines to deliver.Herbert Jefferson Jr or Boomer from the original Battlestar Galactica shows up with some mean looking facial hair. He commands some starship and strike force and at some point tells "Blue Squadron" to go on the attack...which of course was his squadron on the old BSG show. Cool seeing him again. A good nod of the head to 'old-school' sci-fi.It was good to see original Star Trek's Yeoman Rand show up...although I don't know if she even said any lines. She does get to practice her tribble puppetry skills though and that is cool.We get to find out what happened to Charlie Evans, from the old series episode Charlie X. Hint: he's bitter.We also get to find out what happened to Gary Mitchell who although left dead in the second Star Trek pilot shot...is alive and kicking due to the machinations of Charlie. Hint: the universe was better with him dead.For me the the special effects were great. If you are geeky enough to be aware of different designs that were planned for the Enterprise then you will see how those would have turned out in action. In fact you get to see lots of Romulan Warbirds, Klingon Cruisers, Klingon Birds of Prey, Klingon Super-Battleships, several designs (and paint schemes) of Starfleet warship and just a bunch of crazy starship designs all duking it out with phaser blasts and photon torpedo firings. Oh...the sound effects were fun too.It was cool seeing Tuvok again, and cool knowing he was directing this film.There are many things that make this enjoyable but, obviously, you have to have more than a passing familiarity with Trek to really appreciate them.For example...as a final note, it was cool seeing Arlene Martel as the vulcan priestess maximizing her facial expressions (something Miss Martel is a master at) as she watches Uhura kiss Stonn. But to really appreciate that you have to recognize her as Spock's fiancée T'Pring and remember that she dumped Spock for Stonn...hence her discomfort at not JUST the blatant show of emotions.All in all...much fun for Trekkers.

WARNING SPOILER: The "Star Trek" success is undeniable. This franchise has generated four spin-off series, videos, books, and a very loyal following of which I am one. Filmmakers seeking to venture into this well-established universe ought to do so with great care. The visuals must look 100% real. There are no excuses for anything less than full scale models photographed on motion picture film later enhanced by CGI. Scripts need to exceed our expectations. If it is not well-written it can't be well-acted. And there is nothing more unfortunate than to see our all time favorite "Star Trek" stars speaking stinted lines of dialogue. Sets used must be built from scratch and not rented from other non Star Trek productions - aka: a spaceship interior used in the short-lived Fox TV show "Firefly" episode "Bushwhacked"- I was amazed to see how many "Star Trek" personalities participated in this less than stellar production. Those financing this straight-to-video movie should have forked out enough money for this production. The minute investors heard Tim Russ and other who's who of "Star Trek" were going to embark on this journey, they (investors) should have given more to this budget. I would love to see more of these videos provided better care is taken in making them (i.e. appropriate budgets). Tim Russ and cast get an "A+" for their efforts here. They did the very best with what they had to work with.

It was interesting that they were able to pull so many of the old bit characters back into the story and in many cases with the original actors. The story was basically stitched together from loose ends lying around and the old alternate reality gambit.The dialogue is tongue-in-cheek much of the time and the directing dragged noticeably in a few places. The acting ranges from very good to forced and pain inducing.Despite the many flaws, it compares favourably with a lot of the stuff that has been put out by the full budget Paramount crew (which says something about the inconsistent efforts by Paramount). I am sure this crowd of amateurs had fun making it and it is clear they really want to make a good product that captures the feeling of the original series. All power to them. too bad that nothing that is done now can recover the lost opportunity when the original series was cancelled.

It has been a long time getting here, but at last the third and concluding chapter is available for viewing. I had made a deliberate choice to not view the parts released earlier until now so that I could see the whole movie at once. I'm glad I did.This is a curious production that is very pleasing on the one hand and frustrating on the other. It is great to see all of these actors working in a Star Trek story, again. Many of them get to do more than they ever did in their original appearances, and they generally rise to the occasion with solid and even occasionally superior performances. I especially liked Alan Ruck, whose original appearance in Star Trek: Generations was not much more than a cameo. Here, he really seems to care about the character of Captain Harriman and makes him real. Nichelle Nichols overacts a bit but also gives believable emotion to her character. Walter Koenig had already shown what a talented actor he is on Babylon 5 but I enjoyed his performance here, too. There were plenty of other good and enjoyable performances from many familiar and a few unfamiliar faces.The story works, though it is very derivative. For the hard-core Trek fan, and I am one, it was fun to see all the plot threads and elements from the earlier series tied together in a functioning story. There are not a lot of surprises, though. And I was a bit disappointed in the way that, at the end of the story, all has been reset. We do get one unexpected result from the actions of the story, though, that was an amusing twist.The frustrating part of this movie is that for all the professionals involved, it is surprising inept in the technical production. The lighting and photography are uneven and often distracting. I was surprised at the amount of grain in some of the scenes. The audio is just off. Apparently, many scenes shot on the Enterprise sets required ADR to replace unusable audio, but it is not done well. As others have commented, the visual effects are adequate but not much more. I have seen considerably better in pure fan films like New Voyages, Starship Farragut and the Hidden Frontier spin-offs (yes, I've seen all these fan films which means I am a real trekkie). The battle scenes, in particular, were not well designed and seemed a bit haphazard.Still, I do recommend this to any Star Trek fan. The faults are out weighed by the things done well and it is hard for me to see how any but the most cynical and jaded fan boy could not enjoy this. I don't think I can recommend it to non-Trek fans, however. It relies so heavily on the vast continuity established in prior Trek works that I'm not sure it would all make sense without some knowledge of the canon. But if you're not a Trek fan, you'll probably never hear of it, anyway.