I'm glad you brought this up. As a new denizen of the broadband universe, I recently visited New Voyages and watched all their shit right away.
I must say, it's really something. A guilty pleasure, if you will.
I must really salute James Cawley. Apparently, he is a Star Trek enthusiast with a vast collection of props, sets and memorabilia. In the spirit of Ed Wood, he leveraged this power into securing the center seat of the Enterprise.
It's a fuckin' American Dream.
On the negative side, his acting is less than stellar (no pun there) and his "Kirk wig" looks more like Elvis (or Ace Ventura).
The actor who plays Spock is slightly strange looking. The look isn't as natural to his face as it was to Nimoy's. Still, he can act.
The actor who plays Bones also isn't much of an actor but he does, at the very heart of it, give off the distinct vibe of Leonard McCoy. I don't know why.
The first episode (pilot) is mostly useless. There's not much story there and I think it was largely an exercise in simply making an episode. It did have some clever "future" sequences that showed our cheesy, fan actors in famous Trek moments from the film series.
The second ep, however, "In Harms Way", is a well-written (wait for it) time travel piece involving the Enterprise, the Farragut, Captain Pike, Commodore Decker, and the Guardian of Forever. This episode is far and above the pilot, and what it still lacks in style it makes up for in heart.
I mean, it's really Star Trek. Or... maybe it will be anyway.
There are still hurdles to overcome. Most of the effects are very bad. Almost TOS bad, and there's no reason. Amateur geeks were blowing stuff up on Spacebattles.com almost ten years ago. Most of the effects, particularly the wildly gesticulating Doomsday Planet Killer, are not that good. And then all of a sudden, there's an effect where you say, "very nice". The establishing shot of the Starbase where Captain Pike is being treated (I forget the number) from "The Menagerie" is really well done.
A short episode titled "Center Seat" brings in a new actor for the role of Sulu. It has some very funny character pieces and the actor nails Sulu's speech patterns very well.
All in all, the series is improving as new talent jumps on board to join the cause - from writers David Gerrold and D.C. Fontana, to actors Walter Koenig and George Takae (who will appear in the next two episodes respectively) to Ron Moore, effects supervisor for Star Trek: DS9 (he should be a big help).
I expect future installments to really be worth a look, and hopefully these guys will overcome the obstacles, evolve, improve, and produce some high quality free entertainment.
Next up: Walter Koenig in "To Serve Until the End of My Days", teleplay by D.C. Fontana. SUMMER 2006.
