I'd hoped it would be good, and it is. "Come What May," the first episode of Star Trek New Voyages barely a week old, already counts its downloads in millions. Solemnly dedicated to the children of Columbia's crew, the story is simple with a plot so wispy it's almost confusing. Yet garlanded with kind words from TOS heavyweights, everything about STNV reeks of abounding love with the notable absence of a Paramount imprimatur. All the copyright issues involved must give them, like Kirk, "a headache." They can't quite ignore it, declaring the property public domain, yet to strike inordinately would invite unwanted ire. What's their winning move? (I suggest free bandwidth… really.)

The Enterprise, assigned to investigate an intruder blasting the Primus IV colony, encounters the Q-like Ohn and Onabi who refer to the Borg-like pyramidal intruder as the Monab. Brief physical contact with the Ohn produces visions of personal events displaced in time. Losing a firefight, Kirk returns the Ohns to their ship and they chase the Monab away. The story employs a flash forward technique that works this time, as did Archer's dream in "Twilight." The vision sequences are emotionally challenging but the cast consistently delivers throughout- the biggest crew shock for me was Chekov and Rand swapping uniform colors! And at last the special effects are no longer the Achilles heel of TOS, exposing a new beauty about NCC-1701. Other stunning visuals include a visit to Starbase 37, the Al-Rashid rendezvous, EVA-suited ship repairs, and an inspired turbolift transition.

The attention to detail is impressive down to the promotional art. The costumes, green Orion slave and otherwise, are suggestively "Theiss-ian." The sets are largely well done, particularly the bridge- the angled viewscreen shots exceed the original. The addition of an office with Sam's "Amazing Grace" was welcome, though the photographs seemed un-Kirkish. (Also to me some soundtrack music felt out of context, inducing a mental disconnect. And were some bridge noises missing?) Other nice touches include DeSalle's helm controls and the intercom paging the animated navigator, Lt. Arex - alright!

In true Trekker fashion I can't finish my review without nerdly nitpicking the tridimensional chessboard not setup according to the technical manual. Yet no objections can stop this warp-driven adventure from boldly going into uncharted territories of filmmaking and fandom. The pressure is now on for what eludes the franchise- well written stories. Still, from the promising opening to the cherry-on-top Balok at the final frame, fans everywhere demand: "I want more of these, Kirk … many more!"