"Blood and Fire" Part 2
Star Trek: Phase 2
reviewed by Fred Dixon

As I previously noted in my Part I review, "Blood and Fire" is the first episode done under the Phase II aegis. However, Executive Producer James Cawley has reconsidered going totally Phase II since the release of the new Star Trek movie in May. Fans have requested that New Voyages retain the original look, and he agreed. This is good in a way, but also a shame. The Phase II Enterprise looked cool as you can see for yourself here:

Spoilers ahead:

Picking up from the end of Part I, Kirk naturally disobeys the order to destroy the infected Copernicus (What do you expect? This facet is true to the original). The bloodworms are starting to overrun the Copernicus, and so the away team is beamed to a shielded part of the stricken vessel. There Spock and company discover two scientists who are close to a cure. In the meantime, the Klingons come back and threaten destruction. Especially so, once they learn of the bloodworms. To add to the predicament, the Regulan bloodworms are about to breach the shielding. Doctor McCoy goes on to figure out the missing pieces on the cure, and the Enterprise proceeds with the rescue operation of crew of the Copernicus. Peter Kirk’s boyfriend is the last one to be transported, but the Enterprise cannot beam him out in time. He opts to commit suicide instead of being consumed by the bloodworms. Unfortunately, more is revealed. The scientists also were also working for the reviled Section 31 (of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine fame) and doing weapons research on the plague. Peter grieves for his fiancé. The elder Kirk handles the Klingons, solves the bloodworm problem, and helps evolve a new life form to boot. The galaxy is saved once more.

The teaser of Part I started off with such promise with lots of action. The rest of the first part slowed down as we learned of the situation or should I say situations: a rescue mission, a plague, a Klingon war, a love story, and a family problem. The second part stopped, but added more complexities: a covert operation, two suicides, a cure, and a new alien life form. I had difficulty summarizing the plot because of multi-faceted overkill; it seems that the kitchen sink was thrown into this story much as this was done in their episode, "In Harm’s Way." The plot seemed to be a mashup of Star Trek: The Next Generation's "Encounter at Farpoint" and "The Pegasus" with a little bit of Aliens 2 thrown in. In "Encounter at Farpoint," an alien lifeform needed to be set free to evolve (highly derivative of Star Trek: The Motion Picture by the way). In "The Pegasus," an internal Starfleet conspiracy was plotting to use an illegal technology as a weapon against a Federation enemy, in that case the Romulans and in this case the Klingons. In Aliens 2, the alien lifeform was to be weaponized by The Company. I don’t wonder that this derivative script was never produced as an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. The homosexual subplot could have been worked into any episode. The Regulan bloodworms did not seem to be a good analogy to the AIDS virus. I don’t think there are benevolent lifeforms waiting to be liberated by an AIDS cure. It was a cliché that McCoy figured out the cure in minutes after the scientists had been working on it for years. There was also some dialogue that was not true to form of the characters. McCoy also was given some crude lines, i.e., "Grab anyone that can tell the difference between a saline solution and a bowel movement." Kirk’s impassioned line at the end of the second act of Part II, "Kargh, you fool!" was stilted and clunky. It was somewhat trite to have the Regulan blood worm "caterpillars" morph into the new lifeform "butterfly".

This production also could not stay away from the Star Trek homages. One of the scientists was named Doctor Yar. She apparently is an ancestor of Tasha Yar. This minor reference did not add to the story at all, but Denise Crosby magnified this unimportant aspect just by her presence. The story took an unfortunate turn when the Regulan bloodworms were to be used as a weapon. Is this episode, and by extension, the New Voyages production team lending credence to the idea that AIDS was developed as weapon of genocide by the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) at Fort Detrick?

As I stated previously, this episode started with furious action. By the time we got to the second part, there was just a lot of exposition and talking. Even the Klingons did not take action; they joined into the conversation. Maybe this two part episode should have been called "The Talking Cure."

This episode is well crafted in terms of special effects, set design, costumes, and soundtrack. The battle between the Enterprise of the Klingon ship in the teaser in Part I was exciting. The Copernicus was nicely realized, reminiscent of the Reliant in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan. The bridge set was immaculate. The transporter room, sick bay, and the briefing room (nice touch with the pictures from Archer’s wall) were all spot on. The look and the feel were The Original Series all the way. One quibble, the new Phase II costumes didn’t work for me as I previously observed. I also appreciated the use of original soundtrack themes in this episode, especially those of the third season. I would note that sometimes they did not seem coordinated with the mood of some of the scenes (but this matter may be resolved as the soundtrack has yet to be finalized). The look and feel of New Voyages has always been first rate for the most part.

The acting was above average in this second part. James Cawley and John Kelly seemed to have generated some chemistry. Paul Sieber from Starship Farragut also appeared as a security guard. Charles Root (Scott), Jay Storey (Kyle), Kim Stinger (Uhura), Ron Boyd (DeSalle) and Andy Bray (Chekov) were solid in their roles as the Enterprise crew. Ralph Miller (sound effects guru) had a funny turn as a redshirt taking the conn. Bobby Quinn Rice was suitably mercurial as the young Peter Kirk. Evan Fowler was decent as his lover, Alex Freeman. Bill Blair was appropriately deranged as a federation scientist (although he went over the top a couple of times). Denise Crosby did well given with what she had to work with. (I must admit to being partial to her; her presence in the STTNG episodes "Yesterday’s Enterprise" and "All Good Things" was quite good.)

I give Blood and Fire an A for production design and special effects, an A for casting Denis Crosby, Nick Cook and Meghan King Johnson, a C+ for the acting, a C- for the Phase II uniforms, and a D for the story.

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