Star Trek: ‘Reflections of Evil’




One of the things I enjoy most about viewing independent productions is the chance to watch a sequel to an original Star Trek episode.

The latest example of this is “Reflections of Evil,” a five-part adventure created by Roland Doiron, a prolific Trek producer at the Go!Animate Website who usually goes by the screen name RoTV.

“Reflections” begins three years after Kirk, McCoy, Scotty and Uhura replaced their counterparts in the “Mirror, Mirror” universe.

Kirk is melancholy about the “anticlimactic” final mission of the crew’s five-year adventure: inspecting and upgrading subspace monitoring arrays along the Klingon border.

“I must admit, my soul yearns for some excitement,” the captain states in his log.

Just then, Spock announces over the intercom that he’s put the ship on Yellow Alert and summons Kirk to the Bridge.

“Be careful what you wish for,” the captain says as he hurries down a corridor.

When Kirk reaches the Bridge, the first officer tells him that the sensors are picking up a subspace distortion, but Spock can’t determine what’s causing it.

Suddenly, a colorful wormhole appears, and a Klingon Battle Cruiser emerges from it.

Uhura states that the Klingons are hailing the Starfleet vessel, and the leader of the Battle Cruiser pleads with the starship’s crew not to fire their weapons on them but instead seal the opening behind them.

While the captain tries to figure out what’s going on, the Mirror Universe version of the Enterprise emerges from the distortion and quickly destroys the Klingon vessel.

The viewscreen then fills with an image of several members of the Mirror crew: Kirk, who still commands the ship; Spock, whose attempt to take over the vessel failed, and he’s now a lowly subordinate science officer; and Sulu, who is the current first officer.

Taking Chekov’s post after the Russian officer failed in another attempt to kill the captain and was himself executed is a green lizard-like creature whose name is “too hard to pronounce, and the sound of it annoys me, so we call him ‘Chekov,’” the alternate captain explains.

Instead of returning to their own dimension, the crew of the parallel ship fires a photon torpedo to seal the rift. Then the Mirror Enterprise fires phasers at “our” starship, easily penetrating its shields and causing extensive damage to its hull.

When the alternate starship leaves the area, the stranded Starfleet crew works feverishly to repair the damage so the ship can once again attain warp speed.

Soon afterward, Scotty tells Kirk that the Enterprise “isn’t pretty, but she’ll hold during warp travel.”

Spock then tells the captain that the ship’s repaired sensors detect one person still alive on the Klingon vessel.

Once the survivor is taken to Sickbay, Kirk insists that he must speak to the alien despite McCoy’s protests that the shock of being awakened will kill him.

The Klingon states that he and his fellow warriors had hoped to join their counterparts in our dimension and live in honor instead of being forced to be “meek dogs” serving the Terran Empire.

He then explains that a spy was able to retrieve the data regarding the “transporter accident” (in “Mirror, Mirror”), and scientists constructed a device to go from one universe to the other.

However, the Empire learned of their efforts and tried to prevent them from crossing over while stealing the data from the Battle Cruiser’s computer.

When Kirk asks what the Empire officers want, the Klingon states: “They want to expand their empire, of course. Isn’t that what conquerors do?”

With a final gasp, the Klingon dies.

Kirk then asks Scotty why the alternate ship’s phasers were able to penetrate his vessel’s shields.

“Since that ship comes from what is essentially a mirror version of our own universe, polarities are reversed in her systems,” the engineer explains. “Our shields are designed to protect us against weapons of this universe” and therefore “were useless.”

Adding that he’s already reversed the polarities in the ship’s weapons and shields, Scotty says that Uhura has sent out a message to all Starfleet ships explaining how to adjust their own equipment.

But suddenly, the communications officer receives a message from an Andorian ship that is “under attack by a Starfleet vessel,” which they quickly deduce is the Mirror starship.

By the time the Enterprise reaches the scene of the assault, the ship has been destroyed, and the Andorians blame Starfleet “pink-skins” for the destruction.

Before long, the “Mirror” Enterprise has demolished several more vessels, including a Romulan Bird of Prey, while placing the blame squarely on Starfleet.

“Who do you think you are?” the commander of the Romulan ship asks.

“I am Captain James T. Kirk of the starship Enterprise!” the Mirror counterpart responds before laughing so loudly we can hear him in airless space.

The next target for the parallel starship is the Klingon border, where the Mirror Kirk plans to invade and destroy several Battle Cruisers docked at a space station.

When Uhura asks if it’s a good idea to go so deeply into enemy territory, her captain slaps her across the face and warns her never to question his orders again.

With this universe in chaos, the Mirror fleet can enter this dimension and conquer it easily, he adds.

As the Terran Fleet’s Enterprise attacks the Klingon ships and station, the Starfleet Enterprise arrives, and Kirk warns the Klingons about modulating the polarities of their weapons and shields.

The battle rages on until the Mirror Kirk orders his version of Chekov to attack the Starfleet vessel with phasers set to one polarity and photon torpedoes with another frequency.

The ploy works, and the Mirror starship targets the other vessel’s Bridge, which is blown open, but not before the officers there are beamed to the Battle Bridge.

In another assault, one of the nacelles on “our” starship is nearly obliterated, and Scotty tells the captain that their vessel is “dead in the water” and “totally defenseless.”

Spoiler Alert: If you’d rather watch the fan film’s ending yourself, skip down to the links at the end of this article. If not, just continue reading.

Just then, the Mirror Kirk hails his counterpart and asks if the captain has “any last words before I blow your ship out of the stars.”

“I have only two things to say, you psychopath,” Kirk states. “First of all, Mister Spock, I am truly sorry.”

The captain’s second message is brief but powerful. “Decloak,” he says.

Suddenly, several Klingon, Romulan and Andorian ships with rotating polarities come into view and surround the Mirror vessel.

“Well played, doppelganger,” the Mirror Kirk says. “What are your terms?”

“I have no terms,” the captain says. “It’s not my call. We’re in Klingon space.”

With that, the ships obliterate the Mirror Enterprise.

Soon after, the Federation starship is towed to Earth while Kirk enters his final log as the vessel’s captain.

“So ends my five-year mission commanding Starfleet’s flagship and finest ship, the U.S.S. Enterprise,” he states. “It saddens me to have her towed back home and in such dire condition, but something in my heart tells me she’s not ready to be retired. Nor am I, or any of my friends.”

“I guess the mystery of what our futures hold is our next great adventure,” he concludes.

It seems that my animated Clint Eastwood hat has been getting a lot of use lately. Nevertheless, it’s time to review this fan production.

The Good: “Reflections” is a clever follow-up to a beloved original series episode. It addresses the fate of the characters we saw in “Mirror, Mirror,” and sometimes, it isn’t pretty.

Since the Andorians are my favorite Star Trek aliens (I like to think of them as the “bad boys” of the Federation), I enjoyed seeing them play a major role in the story. Also, their ships have a cool design I’d like to see more of in the future.

The Bad: I also enjoyed the fact that the Mirror Universe characters were as mean as dirt, what with Spock and Chekov meeting horrible fates. With that in mind, I understand why “our” Kirk didn’t want them to have the technology to come to our dimension and conquer it.

The Ugly: Maybe it’s just me, but I’m still having a hard time warming up to the new Go!Animate style of figures. It’s bad enough that they don’t have arms and legs, but some don’t even have necks, so there’s apparently a whole lotta telekinesis going on!

If you want to see more of RoTV’s work, point your Web browser here. And if you want to watch “Reflections of Evil,” watch Part 1 here, catch Part 2 here, enjoy Part 3 here, watch Part 4 here, and the Finale at this Website.


Author: Randy Hall

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