What Ships Are For

The reason Star Trek was so very popular was its showing of an optimistic future for the human race. A time years ahead where all of the internal conflicts are resolved and harmony exists in earth. Reaching this point, people begin exploring new worlds and in some cases encounter old problems like the kind featured in this episode. When people say "Star Trek was always woke" they are only half right. TOS explored social issues through the crews' encounter with aliens mired in the issues humans left behind. Granted today in 2022, absolutely NO ONE who thinks in terms of politics want to end the conflict of ideas choosing instead to amplify tue conflicts in the worst possible ways,. Naturally this spills over into entertainment too with usually poorly conceived results. Science fiction is the genre most affected by this and while not all scifi is future based i fail to see what good is it dragging contemporary problems of the human race centuries into the future. Why bother watching Star Trek if that's the vision it projects hundreds of years down the line? How about presenting a world after the planet is savied from climate change, racial strife, sex discrimination and on and on? Lost in what is produced today from Paramount is what is represented here in this episode. A compelling story of an alien planet blinded by their own color blind world and their ignorance. The Federation aren't judged for their own shortcomings because they don't have them anymore meaning they can be listened to and speak from experience having overcome the problems of the past.

The production values are cheap looking like the original series and making the alien planet black and white made me laugh in a good way. This was the first episode of this series I saw and on most occasions, the show was as good or better. Kudos to Kipleigh Brown for writing a story in keeping with the way TOS handled message shows. Not every show needs to be a message show and not every Continues episode is. A few are (maybe 3 out of 11) but this is the best of those. Well done.

Amazing true to the times episode. Star Trek continues to attack societal issues head on. Amazing how the one star reviewers don't recognize what Star Trek is all about. How long has it been since you watched "Let that be your last Battlefield"? One star reviewers don't want to look in the mirror because these episodes hit so close to home. Star Trek is and always has been about acceptance, inclusivity, and social justice. There are very few episodes that stand alone and don't address these issues blatantly. How can one not see that? If you can't see that, rewatch TOS one episode at a time and you'll see the color for the first time- not unlike the population in this episode.

Posting this again, two years later. For fans of the original series, it is a must watch. For later fans, it's a must watch. For those who understand our current struggle of tribalism, it is a must watch and for all others, it's a must watch. In my opinion, this not only is worthy of canon, had it been produced in the TOS era, it would be as highly reguarded as one of the finest episodes, in the league of "The City on the Edge of Forever" the screen version which was co-written by D.C. Fontana, Gene L. Coon and Gene Roddenberry himself all uncredited and to hell with Harlan Ellison who got credited for his hot mess before the rewrite and it was what was shown that won the Hugo award in 1968. It's also as good as the "Devil in the Dark". "What Ships Are For" Features John De Lancie and Anne Lockhart. Genre is in keeping with the 60s weakness of Kirk falling for the spectacular ladies but it's the one forgivable element and it's played to the right effect. The writing is wonderful and it speaks to our times. In short, "What Ships are For" provides that essential morality play that good Star Trek was always meant to facilitate by holding a mirror up to ourselves and reminding us of our mission to seek out that greater unknown in who we ought to be and in so doing, lending us hope that one day, with perseverance, we will realize that future promised frontier as our own.

Without giving away any spoilers, this one may not be the at top of the Star Trek Continues pack, but it is a solid episode in the spirit of the original series and well worth watching. It was great to see John DeLancie and Anne Lockhart as guest stars--even if they could have been given stronger characters.

On the positive side, this was very much in the spirit of old star trek. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy were very much in their element and the performances of the top three rang true. The plot was also very classic Trek, with the inhabitants of the asteroid facing imminent starvation and death and some of the inhabitants plagued by a disease. The Enterprise crew is there to help, but there is a plot twist. The production values are better than late '60s standard, the sets are impeccable, and the acting in this one was actually better than many previous episodes. (Don't forget that these guys are producing this show on a shoe-string budget and it's truly a home grown, effort.)

On the down side, the maiden in distress and Kirk's love interest who is one of the inhabitants stricken by the fatal disease, is a little too simple minded/innocent to believe. The idea that radiation from the sun prevents the asteroid inhabitants from seeing in color-- something the landing party observes early on in the episode--is really too contrived. And the resolution is 100% TOS but not necessarily TOS at it's best....

True to classic Trek, the writers have given us a parable for a modern problem: illegal immigration and the controversy surrounding DACA. Unlike some of the critiques on IMDb of this episode, 'What Ships Are For' brings up the issues at the heart of the matter without pointing fingers to current political figures.

The fact that just bringing up the issue has pushed some buttons is more a function of the strong feelings about it, and is EXACTLY why it SHOULD be brought up in this kind of context. (Think 'Let That Be Your Last Battlefield' from TOS that dealt with race relations.) That said, if the writing had been a little more clever, the authors might have brought in the issue more subtly. Even if they smacked you in the face with it by the end of the adventure, the best written TOS episodes did a better job of sneaking hot-button issues into the plot before doing so. Then again, not all episodes (even TOS), will have City-On-The-Edge-of-Forever writing quality.

The authors simply ask the question as to what might happen if seemingly upstanding citizens could be immediately unmasked as illegal aliens (pun intended, but not in a humorous way) and how we might handle this. There is clearly a moral imperative they are foisting on the audience but no blame was laid at the feet of the Trump administration or the Republican party. As our present political system is not going to be able to benefit from Captain Kirk's unique solution to the problem, we will have to leave this up to our present political process.

Kirk's long speech in this one is no better/worse than the moralizing in similar, drawn out speeches in Star Trek TOS. If you don't believe me, look back at just a few of some vintage, Kirk speeches: his diatribe at the end of 'A Taste of Armegeddon' (the 'we're not going to kill today), or his 'risk is our business' speech from 'Return to Tomorrow,' or--probably the mother of all Kirk speeches--the one at the end of Omega Glory ('ee plebneesta...' oh, my)...

And as to Vic Mignogna's handling of his prolonged speech in this episode, it was utterly over the top, but was the most pitch perfect, Shatner-channeling that he has done in the series. Go ahead and quibble with the performance, but it was absolutely a homage to the classic--and yes, at times, cringe-worthy--Kirk speech.

In my estimation, Star Trek Continues' best episode has been 'Fairest of Them All,' their take on the aftermath of the TOS episode 'Mirror Mirror.' That episode was brilliant. This one, not so much. Remember, though, as Trek fans, we often conveniently forget TOS episodes like 'Spock's Brain' and 'The Way to Eden.' ("You've got a hard lip, Herbert." Ugh.)

But in terms of staying true to Trek, I would take this STC episode over (at least) the first episode of the brand new, official Star Trek Discovery. And there are no streaming fees with this one. This was a trip down memory lane for me again and I can't thank Vic Mignogna and his team enough.

I feel certain that the creators of "Star Trek Continues" have found it difficult to present new and original stories yet remain true to the setting and spirit of the original series. "What Ships Are For" is an excellent solution to this conundrum. The heavy-handed moralizing is not seriously presented, but as another nostalgic prop recovered from the original scripts.