Introduction

Star Trek: Of Gods and Men is a non-canon three-part unofficial Star Trek fan mini-series which contains many cast members from the Star Trek TV series and movies.

It is described by its producers as a “40th Anniversary gift” from Star Trek actors to their fans.

It was filmed in 2006, but its release was delayed until 2007-08.

It is not endorsed by the rightsholders of Star Trek, but has been covered on the official Star Trek website.

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Outline

In 2305, a mysterious man (William Wellman Jr.) appears at a run-down outpost demanding the location of Captain James T. Kirk, only to find from the terrified data clerk (Ethan Phillips) that he was presumed dead saving the USS Enterprise-B twelve years earlier (at the opening of Star Trek Generations). Angrily declaring he “didn’t wait forty years to be cheated”, the man overloads the outpost’s systems, destroying it.

Meanwhile, Captain Nyota Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) attends the dedication of a new U.S.S. Enterprise (NCC-1701-M), a replica of the original 1701. It is designed as a museum ship and a tribute to all who served on the original Enterprise, especially to Captain Kirk’s sacrifice, and is commanded by Kirk’s nephew Peter (James Cawley). Uhura meets up with Captains Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig), head of Starfleet Security, and John Harriman (Alan Ruck), captain of the USS Enterprise-B, discussing old times and current events, including Chekov’s delayed promotion to the Admiralty. As they prepare to get underway, they receive a distress call from M-622, the planet housing the Guardian of Forever. Despite the fact the ship is a museum, the Enterprise-M is the closest to the location and sets a course; upon arrival, Uhura, Chekov, and Harriman beam to the surface. There they meet the mysterious man from the outpost, revealed to be Charlie Evans, who had been encountered as a teenager with immense but uncontrolled mental powers during Kirk’s first missions on the Enterprise. Imprisoned for four decades, Charlie is embittered by Kirk’s decision to turn him over to the Thasians, and the fact that Kirk was lost in the Nexus twelve years earlier, before Evans could confront him. He decides to use the Guardian to alter the timeline and erase Kirk from history, by killing his mother before he was born.

Evans succeeds and the timeline is altered beyond measure. The galaxy is governed by the Galactic Order, a militaristic state similar to the Terran Empire, but also including Klingons, Romulans, and Orions in their ranks. It is ruled over by a mysterious being known only as “Curate Prime”, and uses ships from the era of the original series, but with state-of-the-art weaponry. Harriman is a brutal mass murderer in this timeline, commanding the G.S.S. Conqueror (GOC-1701), this timeline’s analogue to the Enterprise. The Conqueror pursues a rebel vessel and disables it, capturing the crew – revealed to be Chekov (under the nom de guerre “Kittrick”) and his shape-shifting companion Ragnar (Gary Graham), who lead a movement of freedom fighters against the Galactic Order. Harriman orders them taken to the brig, and sets a course for Vulcan, which has declared neutrality. On Vulcan, Uhura is married to Stonn (Lawrence Montaigne) and has several children; upon learning of the Conqueror’s arrival, the Vulcans begin to evacuate the planet. Harriman summons Kittrick to the bridge to witness Vulcan’s impending destruction for not supporting the Order, and unleashes an “Omega device” that destroys the entire planet.

While many of the fleeing Vulcan shuttles manage to escape, Uhura and her friend Tuvok (Tim Russ) are captured by the Conqueror and put in the brig with Kittrick and Ragnar. Through a meld with a mortally wounded Tuvok, Uhura recovers part of her memories of the old timeline, and convinces Kittrick (who she knows by his original name) and Ragnar to help them escape and hijack the ship, taking it back to M-622 to use the Guardian and restore the timeline. Harriman is also needed alive, as he was part of the landing party when the timeline was altered, but Kittrick rages that Harriman murdered his family and destroyed his home, and that “Pavel Chekov” died that day. Regardless, Harriman is taken prisoner and transported to the surface with Kittrick and Uhura, where they again encounter a repentant Charlie Evans. Realising the mistake in removing Kirk from the timeline, Evans restores the three’s memories of their real timeline, while still keeping the memories of the altered timeline as well. Evans at first refuses to help them restore the timeline, fearing the consequences; just then, the three are beamed back to the ship, where Koval (J. G. Hertzler), the Conqueror’s Klingon first officer, orders their executions, believing Harriman to have turned traitor. As Commander Garan (Garrett Wang) and his security officers take them to the conference room, Curate Prime (Daamen Krall) has a few “last words” with Kittrick before his impending execution, before ordering Garan to the bridge. As the security officers raise their weapons, one of them shoots his comrade, revealing himself to be Ragnar, who hid among the crew.

Uhura recognises Curate Prime as Gary Mitchell, a friend of James T. Kirk, who had been granted formidable mental power after passing through the galactic barrier forty years earlier. Insanely believing himself a living god, Mitchell was defeated by Kirk in the real timeline; in the altered timeline, with Kirk not there to stop him, Mitchell was able to kill the captain of the Enterprise – in this case, Christopher Pike – and take control of the United Federation of Planets, refounding it as the Galactic Order. As they escape into the ship, a fleet of Kittrick’s allies, led by Captain Galt (Herbert Jefferson Jr.) of the free ship Liberty, engages the Conqueror, with Curate Prime leading a fleet of his own to destroy Kittrick and his rebellion. While Chekov and Harriman take control of the Conqueror, Uhura transports to the surface. Mitchell follows her, believing her to be Chekov/Kittrick, and tortures her, demanding his location. Charlie Evans steps in to protect her, using his Thasian-granted powers to battle the godlike Mitchell. Beaten, Mitchell transports Janice Rand (Grace Lee Whitney) – the first woman Evans had ever met, when he was taken aboard the Enterprise – to distract him, letting off one last burst of energy before escaping to his flagship. Angered and weakened, Mitchell orders the firing of his ship’s Omega device, which will destroy both the captured Conqueror and the planet.

On the surface, Uhura convinces Evans to set things right, while in orbit, the Conqueror is severely damaged and about to be destroyed by a warp core breach. Harriman sets the ship on a collision course, but helm control fails and the Conqueror begins to drift off course; Chekov separates the saucer, which would allow the warp core explosion to ram it into Mitchell’s flagship. Reaching out to try and divert it, Mitchell finds his powers have disappeared, and as the Conqueror’s engineering section explodes, the shockwave sending the saucer right into the flagship, Mitchell screams Kittrick’s name as his ship is destroyed. At the same moment, Evans goes through the Guardian and returns to the point where he visited the outpost and demanded to know where Kirk was. Waiting for Evans this time, instead of the data clerk, was his future self, who shoots him with a phaser. The timeline reverts to normal, and the landing party returns to the museum ship.

One year later, Uhura – motivated by her memories of the alternate timeline – marries Stonn on Vulcan. Chekov is at last promoted to Admiral, while Harriman announces his intention to run for the Federation Council. Among the guests at the wedding is Janice Rand, who presents Chekov with a gift for his promotion – a tribble, which Rand assures him has been neutered. Uhura toasts the last forty years of adventure, while Chekov toasts to the next forty, remarking that Spock always said there were possibilities.

Cast

• Walter Koenig as Captain Pavel Chekov/Kittrick.
• Nichelle Nichols as Captain Nyota Uhura.
• Alan Ruck as Captain John Harriman.
• Garrett Wang as Commander Garan.
• William Wellman Jr. as Charlie Evans.
• J. G. Hertzler as Koval, a Klingon.
• Gary Graham as Ragnar.
• Tim Russ as Tuvok.
• Chase Masterson as Xela, an Orion.
• Daamen Krall as Gary Mitchell.
• Crystal Allen as Conqueror Navigator Yara.
• Ethan Phillips as Data Clerk.
• Cirroc Lofton as Sevar, a Vulcan.
• Lawrence Montaigne as Stonn.
• James Cawley as Commander Peter Kirk (James T. Kirk’s nephew).
• John Carrigan as Klingon Officer Kel’mag/G.S.S. Conqueror Klingon Officer.
• Grace Lee Whitney as Janice Rand.
• Herbert Jefferson as Captain Galt.
• Jeff Quinn as Conqueror Helmsman, a Romulan.
• Arlene Martel as Vulcan Priestess.
• Jack Donner as Wedding guest.
• Tania Lemani as Wedding guest.
• Celeste Yarnall as Wedding guest.
• Bobby Quinn Rice as G.S.S. Conqueror Klingon Officer/Romulan Officer.

Trivia

• The series was directed by Tim Russ and conceived and produced by Sky Conway.
• Best known for playing Tuvok on Star Trek: Voyager, Russ had directed one episode of that series.
• The series was shot in Star Trek: New Voyages sets in Port Henry, New York.
• Scenes were also shot around the Los Angeles area, including at Vasquez Rocks, a popular site for Star Trek location footage.
• Scenes set at the Vulcan Science Academy were filmed in the San Fernando Valley.
• Principal photography began 12 July 2006, and finished in October 2006.
• The series was produced with a budget of $150,000.
• Actors were paid according to SAG guidelines, but others involved in the making of the mini-series helped to produce it with little or no pay as “a labour of love”.
• The mini-series starred Nichelle Nichols as Nyota Uhura, Walter Koenig as Pavel Chekov, and Grace Lee Whitney as Janice Rand from the original series.
  • Alan Ruck also reprised his role as Captain John Harriman from Star Trek Generations, and Tim Russ appeared as Tuvok. Other regular Star Trek actors appeared in new roles, including Garrett Wang and Ethan Phillips (who respectively played Harry Kim and Neelix from Voyager), J. G. Hertzler, Cirroc Lofton, and Chase Masterson (Martok, Jake Sisko, and Leeta from DS9), and Gary Graham (Ambassador Soval from Enterprise).
• The series was written by DS9 writers Jack Trevino and Ethan H. Calk.
• Douglas Knapp, the director of photography, had worked on Voyager.
• Star Trek: Renegades, a film directed by Russ and with many others of the STOGAM team, was released on a non-profit basis in 2015.

Production & Filming Details

• Director(s): Tim Russ.
• Producer(s): Sky Conway.
• Writer(s): Sky Conway, Jack Trevino, and Ethan H. Calk.
• Music: Justin R. Durban.
• Cinematography: Douglas Knapp.
• Editor(s):
• Production:
• Distributor(s):
• Release Date: 22 December 2007 to 15 June 2008.
• Running Time: 90 minutes (three 30-minute segments).
• Country: US.
• Language: English.

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