I will readily admit that I am not a big fan of Star Trek. Growing up, I was always into STAR WARS, and that continued well into adulthood. Inevitably, of course, both franchises eventually shat their respective beds – I would argue that Trek did it before Wars, but that’s just my opinion.

Whichever one got woke and went broke first, is actually largely irrelevant. The fact is, the current owners of both franchises have insulted the fans repeatedly by shoving awful, trashy, woke, and just plain STUPID product at them. The fans have resoundingly rejected them, because we do not want to see our greatest heroes treated like sad, weak, pathetic, broken men who are constantly bested and put in their places by STRAWNG INDEPENDENTISS WAMMENZES!!!!!

Nobody cares about what Paramount or Disney now make with respect to the franchises under their ownership. I stopped caring about Star Wars back around, oh, 2014, and have quite happily ignored every single movie, streaming show, spin-off, and announcement since then.

The state of Star Trek is even more parlous. Paramount seems completely at a loss as to what they can do with some of the most valuable sci-fi IP in the market, and so have resorted to basically recycling old storylines, old characters, and old timelines. They are so obsessed with making things that are safe, simple, and designed solely for the bottom line, that they have forgotten the basic rule of science fiction:

If you treat the source material with respect, then the fans will love and reward you for it.

Enter a rather odd little project that flew completely under the radar, called 765874 – Unification. I had never heard of it until today, when I saw our favourite drunken Scotch explain what it was all about – and get rather emotional in the process. (More on that shortly.)

Having seen the initial screenshots, I had to go see what the fuss was all about. Here it is:

It is nothing more, and nothing less, than an eight-minute short film, almost completely without spoken words, that leans heavily on neural networks to de-age the one and only William Shatner, as he reprises his most iconic role.

(Here we must note that Shatner is a LEGEND, who has done far more than just Star Trek. Go lookup what he has accomplished sometime. You will be stunned at just how long his list of accomplishments really is.)

In simple terms, it is a masterpiece. That, my friends, is how you do a tribute film.

The piece opens up to Kirk meeting none other than Saavik – and gets to the resolution of a major plot thread that was never quite tied up after Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. It then moves through a dreamlike state to Kirk’s past, up to the present.

And then… you see it…

Spock.

Lying on his deathbed, you see the familiar face of Leonard Nimoy – Shatner’s one-time rival and great friend in real life, playing Kirk’s one-time annoyance and great friend in fiction.

It is at this point that the FEELZ really hit home. I did not expect to go into this short film and get all emotional… but, at that moment, there might have been a tear or two. Or perhaps more.

This project is a beautiful, thoughtful, heartfelt tribute from one legendary actor and artist to another, who has sadly long since passed on. We never really quite got a chance to say goodbye to Leonard Nimoy, but this film does it in style. It shows us the power and the beauty of platonic male friendship, and of the genuine respect and love between two old friends, as they contemplate the next step in the journey that we all must take.

Death comes for all of us. It is as inevitable as the sunrise. We fear death, because most of us do not understand what comes next. Yet the reality is, we are all dying, every day. Every breath brings us one step closer to our very last.

And as we lie on our deathbeds, awaiting the end, what matters is not the length of our lives, but what we did with those lives. The richness of our lives does not centre around wealth or fame, but around friendship and family.

Leonard Nimoy lived a profoundly rich and full life. So too has William Shatner. When his time comes – and it IS coming, make no mistake – at least he can say that he helped make immortal the memory of his friend.

And, above all, they were friends. People bag on Shatner a lot for his showboating, grandstanding, and hammy acting – but watch Spock’s death scene in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and tell me whether he is really hamming it up there:

Kirk’s shock and grief seem all too real – because Shatner and Nimoy had the kind of friendship that made such pain entirely believable.

Grown men wept openly in the theatres during that scene. And grown men weep openly when watching this new film as well.

Which brings us to our friend, the Drinker. His analysis of this beautiful work of art ends with the most emotional closing statement I have ever heard him utter:

Whoever it was that funded this short film, deserves every last iota of the colossal praise this short has already received. It is a MASTERPIECE.