Star Trek: The Original Series, as the television show that started it all is called nowadays, had a problem. The show’s iconic intro voiceover proclaimed that the U.S.S. Enterprise has a “five-year mission”, but the show was canceled after only three seasons.
Of course, it’s not like Star Trek went the way of Firefly. The TOS cast went on to do numerous feature films together. There was an animated series. There were spinoffs galore in the form of The Next Generation, Voyager, Deep Space 9, and Enterprise. And then came the entire reboot of the Kirk-led stories at the hands of J.J. Abrams.
But something about the unfinished business of those final two years of the original five-year mission has stuck in the craw of Trek fans for decades. What else might have happened in that time?
Now a group of enterprising actors and producers aims to find out.
A group called Far From Home, LLC is creating those final two years, with new actors and modern production sensibilities. Star Trek Continues is a non-profit, fan produced webseries that was launched in May 2013 with its first episode, “Pilgrim of Eternity.” The group launched a successful Kickstarter campaign that raised $100,000 for help film more episodes.
The group boasts some real talent in its acting and production crew, including Chris Doohan, son of James Doohan, who played the original Scotty on Star Trek. Doohan is reprising the role his dad made famous.
Grant Imahara of Mythbusters, also famous for inventing Craig Ferguson’s robot skeleton sidekick, Geoff, is also on board. Though Imara does not voice Geoff, the skeleton does use a vaguely-George Takei-sounding voice. Imahara plays Sulu in the series, bringing the gag full circle.