"Star Trek: Starship Exeter REVIEW" by Troy H. Cheek on Oct 18, 2004

Welcome aboard the USS Exeter, Captain John Garrovick commanding.

Star Trek: Starship Exeter rounds out my reviews of fan-produced STAR TREK internet video series. Ironically, it's the first such example of the genre that I was exposed to. It just didn't occur to me back then to write a review.

I should point out that the actual name of the series is just Starship Exeter. I put the "Star Trek:" in front of it because that's how all the other internet series I've been reviewing do it and I want to keep things uniform.

The only episode of Starship Exeter released to date is "The Savage Empire." According to the website, "The Savage Empire" is an original self-produced pilot intended as a concept for a new television series based on the look and feel of the "Original Series." With an eye for detail, the sets, props, costumes, and visual effects were all painstakingly reproduced by amatuers on a shoestring budget in exacting 1960's style. End quote from website.

This is a STAR TREK series set around the same timeframe as TOS (The Original Series) but featuring none of the original characters. Indeed, the USS Exeter is hinted as only having been in service a short time. Still, it has a crew full of interesting individuals and seems to in it for the long haul. Since it's so hard to talk about an individual episode without revealing important plot points...

Major Spoilers Ahead

The Exeter is directed to the Andorian system, to the planet Andor (or Andoria), where the Andorians live, and where they speak Andorian, no doubt. Sorry, just making fun of the old science fiction cliche. Bob, a human from the Federation, lives in the Sol system on planet Earth and speaks English. Glack, a Glack from the Glack Empire, lives in the Glack system on planet Glack 9 and speaks Glackian.

Actually, the official name of the Andorian system is given (which I can't remember offhand), and Captain Garrovick correctly identifies it as the Andorian system, not so surprising given that his first officer is an Andorian. I can't pronounce his name and I certainly can't begin to spell it, so I'm just going to call him the Andorian. Or the blue guy. Andorians, for those who never watched TOS, are the blue guys with antennas on their heads.

The Exeter is assigned to discover the fate of another starship which picked up an alien virus and was directed to Andoria for the cure. When they reached orbit, nobody on Andoria answered their hails. Indeed, Andoria has cut off all communications with the rest of the Federation. Exeter goes to investigate.

We get to see the surface of Andor, which looks a lot like an undeveloped rural area pretty much anywhere in America. The Andorian guy explains that this is because most of Andor's population lives underground so as not to impact the pristine nature of their planet. Totally avoiding all Nature is how the Andorians show that they're superior to it. Going underground in search of the Andorian government, they go too far underground and discover...

Gasp! It's a trap!

Oh, like nobody saw that one coming. Still, it's an interesting story about how certain Andorian rebels have allied themselves with Klingon agents in an attempt to overthrow the Andorian government. A government which, it seems, has not cut off communications with the rest of the Federation, but has simply been jammed. Klingons are good at that sort of thing.

After a lot of running around and phasering things, the Andorian guy gets a chance to prove he's a loyal Starfleet officer, in spite of the other officers doubting him. Other officers get a chance to be heroes. Then Captain Garrovick gets a chance to go one-on-one with a Klingon, a nasty officer named Chang. Too bad that Chang gets an eye poked out during the fight, but I'm sure that he's well-adjusted and won't let it affect his feelings toward the Federation.

Everything is back to normal and the crew of the USS Exeter is ready for their next adventure, which took about two years to produce and will be ready for release about the time you read this, if we're lucky. Yes, folks, "The Tressaurian Intersection" is coming soon, "The Atlantis Invaders" is on the back burner, and "The Mighty Galvanaut" has been hinted at.

Like the blurb from the website says, Starship Exeter tries to reproduce the sets, props, special effects, costumes, and other attributes of The Original Series. They do a wonderful job of it, too. Visually, "The Savage Empire" is a joy to behold.

The acting is acceptable. Most of these people obviously aren't professional actors, but they get the job done. There may be a few minor editing problems, not to mention a few plot holes big enough to drive a starship through, but those are to be expected in a first effort. It certainly beats Star Trek: New Voyages "Come What May" by a wide margin.

While only a single episode is available at the time of this writing, an online comic, a "Making of..." DVD, and a lot of behind the scenes information is available at or through the official website.

So check out Star Trek: Starship Exeter and, as always, tell them I sent you.

Copyright 2004 by Troy H. Cheek. Reprint with prior written permission only. Comments and questions to $mail:theview$