This film is the longest in a family of TOS-era Star Trek fan films that play in the Avalon Universe and revolve around the USS Excalibur. It is best watched after
Avalon Universe: Avalon Lost (2019) and before
Avalon Universe: Air and Darkness (2021).
In a flashback to the events of the original Star Trek episode
The Ultimate Computer (1968) from a different perspective, the USS Excalibur is heavily damaged by a deranged computer-controlled USS Enterprise. The entire crew of the Excalibur is killed. But not before the first officer secures an alien artifact and leaves a message to his fiancée, Amanda Beck.
The film proper begins after the events of
Avalon Universe: Avalon Lost (2019), in which the Excalibur was salvaged by Derek Mason, Amanda Beck and Jamie Archer, and
Avalon Universe: Avalon Lost (2019), in which Derek Mason died in a subsequent shuttle accident just after getting command of the ship. Mason's friend Lance Ramirez now succeeds him as captain of the Excalibur, with Amanda Beck as first officer succeeding her former fiancé.
With the captain and first officer each struggling with personal loss, the Excalibur attracts a Klingon attack that leads to yet another loss and a severe crisis that needs to be overcome before the threat can be eliminated.
For a fan production, this film is an outstanding achievement. The central psychological crisis could perhaps have been a bit shorter, and I would have expected better fighting skills from a Klingon. But overall this film is just right and even packs as much plot as a full Star Trek episode into a shorter runtime without feeling hurried. Fan films like this, together with The Orville, help to accept that the official Star Trek series have temporarily lost their orientation.
