Star Trek - The Re-Watch. Join me through all 79 Episodes!

[Shelby]

I’ve decided to do a complete re-watch of the original Star Trek series from 1966. This is the show that made me into the science fiction fan I remain today. I was fortunate enough to be able to see the show in its original airing, although I don’t remember much in the way of specifics from the initial run. But with syndication, Star Trek was literally a part of my daily life as I grew up. It was omnipresent.

I’m going to post the first episode on my blog, but subsequent posts will be in one long thread on my discussion board. I hope you’ll join me in my re-watch, and feel free to comment.

I’m not going to recap the entire story, and I’m not going to comment on the obvious. I’m just going to cover the things that pop as I watch again after many years.

Where No Man Has Gone Before

Stardate 1312.4

This was the show’s second pilot. The first time we’d see the characters of Kirk, Scotty and Sulu, as well as Mr Leslie.

In this episode we get the Enterprise with pointy nacelles. I remember building the Enterprise model kit way back when. Its nacelles were rounded. They were also a real pain to set at the proper angle. My model also included internal lights, and a funny sort of display stand. Eventually I hung it from the ceiling, along with my Klingon ship, and would swing them into each other for space-ramming. It took a lot of glue to put them back together, but they got pretty tough as a result.

The episode opens in what we later come to know as Recreation. It has a nice wooden briefing room table.

Kirk and Spock wear greenish shirts, the rest are beige or blue (no red). Collars are not black. Everyone has visible zippers and seems completely unashamed of that fact.

Sulu in blue, not at helm. (Physicist? according to wikipedia). This is an old doctor, Dr Piper (pre-McCoy). Scotty in beige. No Uhura, no Rand.

Spock has Command insignia, Scotty has Science insignia, as does Gary Mitchell the helmsman. Dr Piper has Engineering insignia. So, switched.

Helm and Nav stations on the bridge are reversed. Female crew wearing pants and tunics. Off-duty crew are out of uniform. There’s a dark green crewman jumpsuit.

In this episode we head to the edge of the galaxy, where a prior ship self-destructed. From 200 years ago! Different timeline I guess, since I think it’s accepted that the original series begins 200 years in the future. That would mean we’d already have starships, which of course we don’t.

All department heads assemble on the bridge, and observe, as they approach the barrier. Interesting. So, Spock and Kirk are already on the bridge, and the other heads are Dr Piper, Sulu and Scotty. And Dr Dehner (who only just joined the crew) comes along and is being introduced to Kirk.

Open flirting on the bridge. Mitchell comes on to Dehner, and later holds hands with Yeoman Smith.

I love when they refer to “Earth-bases” that are days away. Not starbases. We’re very Earth-centric here.

Dr Dehner went to Tri-Planetary Academy? Maybe not, but she’s working on a thesis there according to her personnel file.

Gary Mitchell has a very cool sleeveless “hospital” outfit. Dr Piper wears something similar over his regular tunic as a sort of “scrub.” Dr McCoy’s will be much cooler.

The sickbay bed looks like it has a normal mattress, sheets and blankets on the platform. Those get all spacey when we get into production.

Gary quotes a poem written in 1996 called Nightingale Woman, written by “Tarble” on “the Canopius Planet.” So, someone on another planet knows what a nightingale is in 1996? Either we colonized a lot earlier in the Trek continuum, or we’re hearing a translation from some alien language and we’ve substituted “Nightingale” for some alien creature.

Kirk’s sideburns are squared, not tapered. This is quite significant to me because as a young man I gave a lot of thought to how my sideburns should look. It was either Kirk, or Glen Campbell. Their boots are also looser than the snug-fitting ones we fans could never reproduce.

And here’s a Phaser Rifle! Spiffy.

Bad home-made rocks on the planet surface, and really plastic plants. We always got these types of rocks in Trek. Did they make them with strips of burlap on frame, then plaster and paint? I remember being slightly puzzled that I never saw rocks like that in real life.

And here’s where we see James “R” Kirk on a tombstone. Later he would say his middle initial was “T.” And later still, during the cartoon series that followed, we learned that his middle name was Tiberius. Eh.

And, Kirk tears his shirt. For the first of many times. Undershirts come and go between scenes. Dr Dehner wears granny panties. That’s a disappointment.

So, observations on story and characters? Kirk is recognizable with responsibility for his crew, compassion, confronting gods, and doing his Kirk-fu fighting (love when he’s toting the phaser rifle and rolls to take a shot). He shows his humanity when he pauses before killing Mitchell to ask for forgiveness – which of course gives Mitchell the time to turn the tables on him!

Spock doesn’t acknowledge emotions in himself, then confesses to have “felt” for Mitchell at the end. He says he has an ancestor who married an Earth woman (as opposed to his mother being the source of his mixed blood, as we learn later). He is not at all hesitant to kill, and is responsible for having the phaser rifle on the planet to shoot Mitchell.

Sulu has pretty much only one thing to say, and there’s no personality evident. Scotty is all business too. The doctor is boring, and strikingly old compared to the rest.

The story is a good adventure, tension builds steadily, Mitchell is on a trajectory towards monster, and Kirk convincingly persuades Dehner that absolute power corrupts absolutely. Man cannot wield such power until he has matured beyond where he stands at that time.

Shatner and Lockwood do a fine job of acting. Kellerman a little less convincing, Nimoy a little too over the top. But the episode as a whole fits in well with of the best of the original series’ episodes.

Which I’m looking forward to watching over the next 78 days. I hope you’ll join me, and that you’ll share your thoughts as well.

Live Long and Prosper

Attachments:

[Shelby]

And we’re back, it’s episode two of my Star Trek re-watch!

I’m going to watch these in production / “stardate” order, not in the order they were aired. Call me a purist, I want to see how everything develops as we get deeper into the show.

You may know that the first pilot, “The Cage,” wasn’t aired in its original form. It was eventually re-cut into a two-part episode (The Menagerie) with new footage featuring the ship and crew we were now familiar with, and then broadcast later in the sequence. I won’t be re-watching the original cut, although I might have a copy of it somewhere here. Instead I’ll watch the two-parter version at the appropriate time.

I realize that if you want to “watch along with me,” I need to tell you the order I’m going to view these in. Sorry for the omission. Here’s the season one list I’ll use.

EDIT (April 3rd 2020): There are different sources out there on the web. I think I will modify the order I'll watch these in. Roddenberry said each episode's stardate should indicate the order in which they were envisioned to have happened, IE he always made sure the stardate increased from episode to episode. It's not perfect, but it ought to be a decent way to track story development and character progression. So I've updated this list. This means that I've jumped the gun and watched The Enemy Within out of sequence; The Man Trap and Charlie X should've preceded it. Well, I'll try not to make too many assumptions as I go through them.

x 1312.4 Where No Man Has Gone Before
x 1329.8 Mudd's Women
x 1512.2 The Corbomite Maneuver
1513.1 The Man Trap
1533.6 Charlie X
x 1672.1 The Enemy Within
1704.2 The Naked Time
1709.2 Balance of Terror
2124.5 The Squire of Gothos
2712.4 What Are Little Girls Made Of?
2713.5 Miri
2715.1 Dagger of the Mind
2817.6 The Conscience of the King
2821.5 The Galileo Seven
2947.3 Court Martial
3012.4 The Menagerie (Parts I and II)
3025.3 Shore Leave
3045.6 Arena
3087.6 The Alternative Factor
3113.2 Tomorrow is Yesterday
3134.0 City on the Edge of Forever
3141.9 Space Seed
3156.2 The Return of the Archons
3192.1 A Taste of Armageddon
3196.1 The Devil in the Dark
3198.4 Errand of Mercy
3287.2 Operation: Annihilate!
3417.3 This Side of Paradise



The Corbomite Maneuver

Stardate 1512.2

No more pointy nacelles, instead they swirl. Although I’m watching the version with the new FX, so who knows how it aired. But I don’t believe the swirling was original.
Spock is in his familiar blue, with the proper Sciences insignia. Uhura is in a beige dress. Yes, the girls wear dresses now.
Great overhead camera work on bridge. Sulu is at the helm (in the correct seat this time), in beige.
The black collars are big, and kinda loose. They have a big white zipper on the side (which thankfully becomes less prominent in later episodes).

They’re really exploring. They’re out farther than any other ship before. That’s pretty much what the show was supposed to be about, right?

Spock, in the command chair, orders “Sound alarm!” No red alert in the series yet?
Then in a minute, they announce, “Condition Alert.” Wow, that’s… awkward.
Then Kirk refers to it as “General Alert.” Yeesh, I kinda thought the service would have unambiguous, consistent commands. No?

Hurray, Kirk’s sideburns are tapered now! Funny note: Mr Bailey, the navigator for just this one episode, has his tapered sideburns painted on. The regulars all have theirs shaved correctly.

McCoy doesn’t get an opening credit yet, but here is his first appearance. Wearing the shiny scrub top that’s so superior to poor old Dr Piper’s, with a black undershirt. And here’s the first time we see the sickbay exercise machine where you get to lie on your back and pump your legs. Ooh, and Kirk wears little bright blue booties to pump, not his Italian boots! Oh, and his shirt is off. Get used to it!

Now Kirk spots the blinking red light on the wall, indicating whatever alert status they’re in. Funny, he didn’t realize the status until now. But I heard Sulu announce the alert over the speakers. Apparently the speakers are off in sickbay? So as not to excite the patients, mebbe?

Kirk gets to use one of the little desktop terminals to make a phone call to the bridge. They didn’t have those terminals in Where No Man Has Gone Before. When Kirk and Spock were in the “Rec” room in that episode, there was an awkward-looking screen set up at one end of the briefing room table that was doing double duty in another set.

Kirk points out that McCoy could see the “alarm lights flashing.” (sigh) The doctor replies, for the first time ever, with his classic complaint (which is always tailored to fit the situation):
“What am I, a doctor or a moon-shuttle conductor?”
Which shows that there are moon shuttles. You don’t just beam up to the moon.
And then, McCoy gets a line that’s purely for character development:
“If I jumped every time a light came on around here I’d end up talking to myself.” And he’s alone, talking to himself. It’s the beginning of the Star Trek humor we came to love. Poor Dr Piper, he got a raw deal.

Red shirts have made their first appearance. Kirk carries his boots down the hall, not wearing a shirt but with a towel and the shirt both draped across his shoulders. And the shirt has the rank insignia we’re familiar with on the sleeves: wavy stripes, two on him with a dotted line in between. Captain.

We see the green crew jumpsuit from last time, along with a red one. And a crewman wearing a light-colored utility vest over a blue tunic without rank stripes. I don’t remember seeing that, but here it is.

Banter on the bridge. We got a taste of that at the very beginning of the second pilot, but things got serious after that. Now Kirk wants the department heads to meet him on the bridge. Here we go again.
More interesting camera work, the camera follows along behind Kirk showing the back of his head and shoulders as he walks around.

So, who are these department heads? He talks to Spock, then Uhura, then Bailey the navigator, then Sulu, then Scotty, then McCoy. I guess that’s it?

And now we get our real briefing room. Triangular monitor in the center of a gray table – no stained wood anymore. And everyone’s drinking coffee!

There is a phaser crew in another location. Orders to fire are relayed from the bridge. I believe that later in the series, that’s all glossed over and bridge crew just hit a button and it fires. Pity, it’s more “naval” this way. More intricate, crew working in concert to make things happen. Like big naval guns on a battleship.

Kirk reprimands the navigator for sluggish phaser crews, and for him being slow to indicate their target. Then he reprimands Sulu for the engineering crews being sluggish as well. While Scotty was standing right there on the bridge! Interesting how responsibility seems to flow.

Hmm. Now I see those balls stuck onto the back of the ship’s nacelles. As I recall, they come and go too. I’ll try and watch out for them.

Kirk and McCoy’s interactions indicate that they have a history together. It must’ve come up fast, because the stardate only advanced from 1313 last episode to 1512 in this episode. Is that long enough to hear things like, “You always say blah-blah-blah?” And they’re drinking in the captain’s quarters. Ah, those days are gone.

And here she is, Miss Kitty herself, Yeoman Rand! She barges right into the captain’s quarters with a tray of food, insisting he eat. And apparently his “diet card” has been changed to salad, since he’s gained a few pounds! (How does a diet card actually work, anyway?)

After she’s gone Kirk complains about getting a female yeoman assigned to him by headquarters. McCoy: “Don’t you trust yourself?” Yeesh, you really can’t talk like that anymore!

More nice camera angles, this time from below. Also, I like seeing the “front” of the bridge when it’s not just the viewscreen and railing in a stock shot.

“This is the United Earth Ship Enterprise.” Tee hee.
Poor Uhura. It’s the start of a long, long road for her. I’ve lost count of the number of times she’s said, “Hailing frequencies open” already, and I can’t think of anything else she’s said.

Bailey the navigator has a breakdown on the bridge. Well-acted by Anthony Call.
Scotty even got a few amusing lines in this episode.
Spock addressed Kirk as “Jim!” On the bridge! Quietly, but still… And then he almost says, “I’m sorry!” when Kirk asks “Is that the best you can do?” Wow. We’re going to have to watch Spock get colder in later episodes, and then become more at ease with emotion again, before he gets back to where he already is at this gestational stage.
Which is also how things go in the first movie, now that I think of it. We leave the series with an evolved Spock, then he appears in the movie back at square one, unemotional as a computer. And then he slowly grows back to his old self, the one we love. I guess he’s a one-trick pony. Funny, you’d think they’d have come up with more.

I really love the soundtrack. All the elements are here already.
Excellent delivery of the Corbomite bluff by Shatner.
Now Spock acknowledges that his mother is an Earth woman. On the bridge!
McCoy is turning out to be quite well-developed in his first appearance. His character is clearly defined.
While Sulu’s only personality characteristic appears to be “time pieces.”
And here’s Rand again, bringing more coffee to the bridge! She used a phaser to heat it up! Interestingly, it looks like she only brought enough for Kirk…

That dude with the light-colored vest keeps appearing in shots of the hallway. He’s got numbers stenciled onto the pouches that are all over it.
Ah, and here we have the chamois phaser belts that I found so fascinating way back when. (Forgive me for that.)
McCoy doesn’t take a phaser (or a communicator), but Kirk and Bailey do.

Nicely played episode. Well-written. Tight pacing. And the Earthmen demonstrate their true mission really is to contact new civilizations.

We’re already got everything that we expect from Star Trek, and this is only the first actual production episode of season one!

Next up? The famous Mudd’s Women!

[Shelby]

Mudd’s Women

Stardate 1329.8

Uhura is still in beige. The black collars look better, narrower, zippers are better hidden. Wardrobe has been busy.
They are pursuing an “Earth ship.” Still an Earth-centric show.
Uhura got a couple of lines that weren’t “Hailing frequencies open.” They were still about communicating with another ship, though.
This time, the navigator is Mr Farrell, a familiar face who we’ll see again.

They mention a “lithium crystal,” just as they were referred to in the second pilot. They’re not “dilithium” yet.

And there he is, Harry Mudd in all his glory. With his own musical theme! He’s really a favorite character of mine. Did you know that he was supposed to be in The Trouble with Tribbles, too?

This brings up an interesting point. Star Trek isn’t supposed to have money, it’s a society which has no lack of anything. So what are the traders like Mudd and Cyrano Jones doing?

And here’s the first time we hear McCoy’s opinion of transporters: “Never did trust this thing in the first place.”

There’s the green crewman’s jumpsuit again. And oh, look, it’s a tight close-up of the ladies walking down the corridor. And we’re not looking at the back of their heads, no, somewhat lower. Wow, on prime time no less.

And here’s where Harry recognizes Spock as a “Vulcanian.” Although we might assume that he’s just not a stickler for using the correct term. We’ll have to see if the term gets used again, and when “Vulcan” first gets used.

More swirly nacelles, with the balls at the end. I really wish I had the original SFX version, but we have to make do sometimes. (It could be worse. I went decades without owning any Trek episodes other than what I recorded onto VHS from the TV.) I have Season Two with the original SFX, so there might be some interesting contrasts to make when we get there.

Harry asks how he was supposed to know that he was being chased by a “starship.” Meaning, “starships” are very specifically these huge government cruisers, in contrast to anything else you might run into in space. In the early years of the Trek franchise, the Enterprise really is “all that.” Remember your Franz Joseph Schnaubelt Trek book? There are twelve starships. It makes for a scarier frontier, and makes our Enterprise that much more special – and intimidating!

It sounds like Sulu addresses Mr Farrell, the navigator, as “Janu,” but on the Memory Alpha site he is listed with the first name of “John.”
We get a decent look at the writing surface of one of the “notepads” that are often presented to Kirk for his signature. It’s a “Magic Slate,” those little wax pads you write on with a stylus, then pick up the top plastic sheet and it erases. I wonder if they pulled any pranks on set with those?

Harry has a “police” record! No governing body mentioned, though. And Kirk will turn Harry in to “the authorities.” I wonder who the “police” are, and what defines their jurisdiction.
I believe this is the first time we hear Majel Barrett’s voice as the ship’s computer! She got a lot of work out of that gig, for many years.
Eve: “Staring at us like we were Saturnius harem girls!” My, my. We don’t hear about them anywhere else! Now my imagination is all fired up.

Note that Mr Farrell betrays his captain by giving a communicator to Harry, although the act itself doesn’t appear on-screen. Interesting. In Harlan Ellison’s script for City on the Edge of Forever, he had a crewman who was dealing drugs on the ship. But Roddenberry rejected that, saying that the crew were the “good guys.” Perhaps that’s why Mr Farrell’s betrayal must only be inferred in this episode as broadcast.

Karen Steele really does a great job of acting as Eve.
This is the second time that it’s pointed out that ship’s captains are “married” to their vessels. I guess we’re setting up the point that Kirk won’t get into any serious relationships.
I think it’s funny that Harry keeps the pills in a little silver box similar to one I had when I was a kid.

Now the “stone” interior that the miners are partying in looks like pebbled plaster. We had interior paint like that in the real world! Did no one think to make anything look natural? The exterior stone on the planet’s surface is more like the Star Trek planet rocks we’re used to, though.

Why don’t the miners have some sort of goggles for dust storms? Why don’t they have guide ropes between buildings to keep from getting lost?

And Uhura gets more lines! Good for her.

Miner Ben has wooden furniture. I didn’t see any trees on the planet. Some of his pans have wooden handles, too. If you were going to ship goods to the miners, why would it be wood instead of Enterprise-grade plastic?
I love the way Steele delivers the line about sand-blasting the pans. I still remember that delivery from the first time I saw it!
And Eve plays double-jack with round playing cards. We had a set like that when I was a kid!

Brilliant scene with the placebo. Just brilliant, in every way.

“There’s only one kind of woman.”
“Or man for that matter.”
“You either believe in yourself – or you don’t.”

Banter to close out the episode again. And the beginning of the McCoy – Spock banter! McCoy jokes about where Spock’s heart is, and Spock is delighted that the two of them are different.

All in all, a terrific, fun episode to stand against anything that comes later.

Next up, The Enemy Within!

[Shelby]

The Enemy Within

Stardate 1672.1

The opening scene on the planet surface shows a canopy with orange, blue and green stripes. I can’t imagine why the ship would have such a thing, it’s not for beach parties, is it?

And here’s “Geological Technician Fisher” in a blue crewman jumpsuit, with a black t-shirt underneath. I think this is the first blue one I’ve seen. And then another one, a crewman wearing one appears in the background, so that’s at least two…

Scotty uses a silly little hand-held device on the crewman’s uniform, and learns that the planet’s ore is magnetic. I wonder what the functions of this little device are. I’ve seen it a few times, but not often. How is it different from a tricorder?

Dear me, Scotty’s sideburns are squared! Get with the program, mister!

How many times have I told you, don’t leave the transporter room unattended, Scotty? See what happens? Evil duplicates appear!

And here’s Yeoman Rand sitting in Kirk’s quarters, waiting to give him a manifest. I guess the captain’s quarters aren’t sacrosanct!

Interesting that McCoy has the Saurian Brandy under lock and key in sickbay. Is it special stuff, or does he keep all the alcohol? Maybe the crewmen don’t get alcohol, but what about the officers? How about a beer with dinner? Not even off-duty?

And here’s Shatner with his shirt off again. At least this time he’s in his cabin. See, Spock knocks first, but not Rand! Oh, and he’s got the same towel he used back when he had his physical.

And now we have Kirk’s alternate tunic, the wrap-around. I always loved that one.

And, heeeere’s Jimmy! Kirk has turned the tables on Rand, showing up in HER cabin unannounced.

It’s amazing what a little eyeliner can do to make Kirk look evil. Well, that and the lighting, camera angle, and shiny make-up.

Oh, and poor Fisher gets beat up.

Even Shatner’s posture, his movements, are changed. This must’ve been fun for an actor.

Glad to see that Fisher isn’t dead, just beat up. That would’ve been a hard one to live with.

And Spock’s logic provides the answer: “We have an imposter aboard.”

It’s nice to know that the temperature is still measured in Fahrenheit, no silly metric system here! Thanks for keeping us posted, Sulu. See, he likes more than just time pieces. He likes all numbers!

Funny to see Kirk acting unsure, easily swayed, having trouble focusing. Again, must’ve been fun.

Ooh, what’s at stake here? If the men lose faith in him, Kirk loses command! Here’s that theme, he’s all about being the captain.

Which reminds me of how annoyed I was with The Motion Picture. Taking Kirk’s command away, portraying him as desperate to get back into the command chair. It was a betrayal of the honorable officer we’d come to love. I was really offended. Essentially, they crippled any further development of the characters, because I knew they would violate their integrity without hesitation. It only reinforced my love of the original series, and rejection of what came after.

Kirk tells the “section chiefs” to assign personnel to the search for the impostor. What is a section chief? What is a section? What rank is chief, is that enlisted?

The evil Kirk getting crazy is a lot of fun. But why is there a tin of make-up in his quarters?

Sulu says it’s twenty below zero on the surface, but he looks OK with it. I know how I look when it’s cold. Maybe Takei had spent too long in LA to remember what cold is like.

And here’s our first glimpse of the engineering room. It looks really good. Although there is something like a plastic sheet over part of a roof panel.

Ooh. Evil Kirk’s phaser wasn’t on stun, he melted a conduit when he fired! Good Kirk could’a bought the farm pretty early in the series!

Spock gets the expository lines, I guess Shatner couldn’t wrangle it away from him. Anyway, it means that McCoy gets to argue with Spock, building on that trend, because Spock is all analytical about their friend Jim. ‘You’ll soon be unable to function as captain. You must be prepared for that.” Yeesh, don’t pull any punches there, Spocko.

And his reply? “If I seem insensitive to what you’re going through, understand – it’s the way I am.” Cute.

Oh dear, evil Kirk’s phaser blast damaged the transporter! Too bad we don’t have any, oh what are they called, shuttles? ;-) And a week to repair the transporter, it doesn’t look good.

I bet they could’ve transported insulating blankets without any problems. Well, before evil Kirk shot the transporter. Sulu gets more lines than he’s had in the whole series so far.

Damn. Kirk telling Kirk not to be afraid, and holding his hand. Very powerful. Ha ha, McCoy doesn’t want Spock to know he agrees with him. Yep, we’re on familiar ground already.

Another shout out for the music. Really, it’s amazing how good it is, especially for a 60s TV show.

I notice that Spock isn’t shouting as much as he was in previous episodes. I guess they’re letting him give a more nuanced performance now.

I don’t think a week has passed, and the night temperature on the planet is still going down, so it’s not even the next day yet. So how has Scotty repaired the transporter in less than a week?

And McCoy’s first utterance of the phrase, “He’s dead, Jim.” Too bad it had to be about a dog in an alien costume.

I like the way Spock says it was the shock of getting put back together that killed him. Precious little evidence at that point, I’m a bit disappointed in the Science officer’s science.

Interesting that in Spock’s log entry he identifies himself as “Second Officer.” I guess it’s all in how you count. And, Mr Farrell’s still the navigator! I guess no one figured out his transgression with Harry Mudd.

How does Spock know the animal was terrified and confused? Does he really know that much about emotion? Oh, his personal experience means he understands. Well, I guess you can’t argue with that.

Beautiful cello as Kirk wrestles with relinquishing his command. And a really emotional plea from evil Kirk. “I want to live!”

And then, after they’re re-united, the best line of the episode: “I’ve seen a part of myself no man should ever see.” Sobering thought.

And finally, Spock’s problematic line to Rand. I know, at the time it seemed relatively innocuous, a little humorous, even a little playful. But even then it was also a touch uncomfortable. And also a bit jarring to hear it coming from Spock, since that kind of teasing ought to seem a little foreign to him. But in any case, it’s regrettable to have that line in there today. Especially since the actress herself, Grace Lee Whitney, was about to be subjected to a real-life rape that would lead to her losing her job on the show.

On that sobering note, we’ll close until tomorrow’s episode, The Man Trap. See you then.

[Shelby]

The Man Trap

Stardate 1513.1

Uhura is covering Navigation in the show open. In her red dress. No one is seated at her comm station. I always liked that everyone seemed to have basic competency to man other stations. That should mean that the guy who gets the actual assignment must be pretty special at what he does.

Kirk’s VO explains that Nancy Crater is “that one woman” in McCoy’s past. Well now, that’s a universal human story, and it’s always nice to see that used in science fiction dramas. Too often writers feel compelled to tie gadgets and SFX into the plot of an SF story, but it’s important to have real issues that make the characters relatable.

Ooh, we get to see how Nancy’s appearance differs depending on who is looking at her. A nice touch that she can maintain multiple illusions at the same time. Actually, she doesn’t seem to do this at any other point in today’s episode.

And McCoy’s nickname is “Plum.” Cute. But Nancy was the only one who called him that, so we’re not going to get any mileage out of it.

Crewman Darnell is also in the landing party. He has no rank stripes on his sleeves, but I can see the marks where they should go. Two stripes. Or should I imagine that he has two blue stripes to match his blue sciences shirt? Maybe that’s enlisted rank? No, I don’t see it on anyone else who lacks gold braid.

I’m noticing that Kirk’s VOs are being used as a narrative, both in this episode and in The Enemy Within. Telling us things that the characters themselves don’t know at this point in the story. It’s an interesting affectation, and I don’t recall how often it got used in the series. Maybe it’s just a characteristic of the early episodes? We’ll see.

Anyway, the scientists’ interior is furnished with wood again, like on Mudd’s Women. And again, I saw no trees on the planet. OK, they’re going for “rustic,” but if this stuff was shipped here with them, then why isn’t it plastic?

Hm. They quote “the book,” apparently research scientists on alien planets are required to get their health checked by a starship physician at one-year intervals. I don’t know, seems a little funny, like a mix of different hierarchies here.

And now McCoy reveals that Nancy looks twenty-five years old. Well, I don’t think the actress playing McCoy’s Nancy looks twenty-five. Now, Darnell’s Nancy, from Wrigley’s Pleasure Planet, she looks twenty-five to me!

And McCoy’s line is simply, “Dead, Jim.” Not quite, “He’s dead, Jim.” But since I mixed up the order of the episodes, this may be the first time he says anything like it.

I just realized that everyone looks really sweaty. Which is realistic, because Dr Crater said they needed salt for the heat. But the fact that they tried to provide evidence of the heat this way is really professional. I’m impressed.

Uhura gets to make a joke about hearing the word “frequency” too often. That’s hilarious, especially this early in the show’s run. The writers are mocking themselves? In any case, we get a little personality from Uhura, although it’s just typical “female” traits. But I guess that’s something.
And she says that Kirk is the closest thing Spock has to a friend! Nice.

Spock refers to sickbay as “dispensary.” I believe I’m not the only one who prefers “sickbay,” as we’ll see when we dispense with the term dispensary.

An unknown Navigator is at the station.

Uhura gets a message from “Starship Base,” Space Commander Dominguez. Ooh, and Kirk says to tell Jose he has his Mexican peppers! That’s a little awkward. I guess they thought it was groundbreaking enough to have a Mexican as a commander, but we didn’t need to go all “stereotype.”

Is this the first time Kirk calls McCoy by the nickname “Bones?”

The two men who accompanied Kirk and McCoy to the planet to fetch the Craters also have no rank stripes. One had a gold shirt, one blue. We’re not using red-shirts for security yet?

McCoy’s line: “He’s dead.”

And now Nancy takes on the appearance of Green, one of the dead crewmen.

Kirk points out that they can detect the heat of a match on the surface of a planet from orbit. That’s pretty intense. I love the capabilities of my beautiful Enterprise. How anyone could dare to change her in later incarnations never ceases to amaze – and offend – me.

The transporter should’ve revealed that Green is an alien. It had to lock onto them.

Oh, Joy! Here’s Yeoman Rand eating from a tray outside the turbolift. She brings it to Botany! Why don’t we get to see more of the Enterprise like this in later episodes?

She brought the food for Sulu, but she salted it and took a bite of his celery?! And he wishes the blessings of the Great Bird of the Galaxy on her. That’s what they used to called Roddenberry, but that habit probably comes from this episode, not the other way around.

Why is Sulu in Botany, feeding the plants? Rand refers to the plants as “his.” Well, at least Sulu and Rand get some lines.

And here’s where Uhura gets even more screen time, as the alien becomes a Swahili-speaking crewman. It’s nice to see the supporting cast have something to do. There are a good many episodes where they get nothing. My recollection is that the early episodes take more time fleshing out the crew and the ship, but we’ll see how I feel after this complete re-watch.

Here’s McCoy in just his black t-shirt.

Hey, there’s that white vest with the pockets again! Only this time, there’s a helmet and aluminum-foil sleeves to go with it!

And, Nancy’s got McCoy. The alien's giving away her thoughts, but he doesn't notice. And now, she looks like him. Well, at least he doesn’t die first.

Ooh, there goes a female in tunic and trousers, not a skirt! And here’s a guy in a white jumpsuit. And a couple of guys in old-style uniforms, the ones without the black collars! We’re really pulling out all the stops to get more people in the corridors!

Hee hee, while Kirk is crawling on his belly through the sand of the planet surface, the cover of his communicator is flapping around.

Kirk and Spock do a nice job of flanking Dr Crater. And he gives us the explanation for everything.

Interesting that Sulu is leading the search for the alien on-board. There is no Chief of Security, apparently. I’m not sure how the duty falls to the Helmsman. Maybe just because he’s a Command division Lt?

And Scotty’s not in this episode. I assume it’s like some other shows, where for budget reasons not all the cast is in every episode. The worst example of that was Andromeda.

Spock’s green blood is showing. Oh, and Crater is dead. That’s gratitude for you.

Nice confrontation scene. Everybody does a great job portraying their characters. Bonus points that Spock tries beating the alien with two-handed blows, then gets himself tossed across the room for his trouble. Hysterical.

And the reveal. What a hideous monster. Can you imagine touching that? Looks a lot like a Morlock.

So, the denouement on the bridge. This time, Kirk is thinking about the buffalo. No banter though, and that’s very appropriate. They’ve lost crew, and McCoy has been through a harrowing experience.

Next up, Charlie X.

[Shelby]

Charlie X

Stardate 1533.6

Kirk walks to the transporter room with a red-shirt he refers to as “Chief,” who works the controls. The Chief has no rank stripes. So, enlisted man, but a Chief. Chief of what, or what kind of Chief, what enlisted rank?

The captain and first officer of the Antares are wearing the old-style tunics, with a different insignia. This is in accord with the Original Series’ assigning each of the twelve “starships” a different insignia. Sadly, the shows that came later did away with that. The Enterprise’s arrowhead insignia became ubiquitous. And the Enterprise isn’t even the first of her kind, that was the Constitution. So why don’t we use the insignia for the Constitution?

Well, their crew are obviously terrified of Charlie. Funny that Kirk offers them Saurian Brandy. Didn’t that cause enough trouble in The Enemy Within?

And here’s Yeoman Rand again. She made an impression on me, so I totally believe she made an impression on Charlie. Yes. That’s a girl.

They’re going to take Charlie to “Earth Colony Five.” It’s all about Earth, you know. At this point, this is a show about humans, going into space. It’s not about a union of like-minded aliens that happens to include humans. It’s got more in common with those stories where everything is waiting for an American (or a Brit) to show up and fix it for the backwards locals.

Charlie gets an old-style tunic, too. No insignia at all, though. And when he does the exercise machine in sickbay, he keeps his boots on! What is this, guys?

Aw, Charlie is trying so hard. How was he to know you can’t slap a girl like that? Anyway, she smiled at him, so he’s still doing OK.

I’m funny this way. When I watch a show, if I see things are going to go off the rails, I root for the characters to fix things. Even when I’m re-watching a show. It’s like everything might work out alright the second time I watch it. Am I the only one?

Some funny stuff on the bridge. Kirk wants McCoy to explain the birds and the bees to Charlie. Spock and McCoy argue about how Charlie could’ve survived.

Oh cool, this is the episode with the big rec room scene! Lots of crew, Spock jamming on his Vulcan lyre / lytherette / whatever the kids are calling it today. There’s 3D chess and 3D checkers. Spock actually smiles when Uhura hums along to his tune. Uhura and Rand are grinning back and forth with each other, and Uhura sings a silly song about Spock. It’s a family, even this early in the series. I can’t tell you how much I miss this. This is my Star Trek. Not all the over-wrought stories of the sequels and re-writes.

And then, Charlie’s first offense, strike one. He zaps Uhura’s voice so she can’t sing anymore. His card tricks are a success though. Does that make up for it?

And another significant moment in the history of Star Trek. Kirk is talking to THE COOK. There’s a cook on the Enterprise, and Kirk wants him to make turkey-shaped synthetic meatloaf because it’s Thanksgiving! That’s right boys, no magic food machines on my Enterprise!

Oh, dear. The zipper on Kirk’s tunic is painfully obvious in this shot. I remember when I was young, I bought the patterns to make that tunic and my mother sewed one for me. She did a better job with the zipper than they did.

Kirk can’t seem to explain why a man isn’t supposed to hit a woman. Well, at least he’s clear that you aren’t supposed to do it.

Oh dearie me. Charlie just killed twenty people when he blew up the Antares. With his brain. Well, we skipped right over strike two, didn’t we.

And the cook calls Kirk from the GALLEY to tell him he put meatloaf in the oven, and now there’s real turkeys in there. OVENS. IN THE GALLEY. ON THE ENTERPRISE. ‘Nuff said.

Kirk refers to the cook as “Chief,” too. Well, there’s enlisted “crewmen,” and there’s enlisted “chiefs.” Maybe that’s all there is for enlisted ranks? Oh, and by the way, the voice is Gene Roddenberry doing a cameo. Cute.

Kirk notifies “USPA Headquarters” of the loss of the Antares. My guess is, “United Space Planet Authority.” What’s yours?

And here we have Kirk and Spock playing 3D chess. This became a favorite in fan fiction. Kirk can beat Spock when he makes unpredictable moves. I don’t know, sounds kinda fishy to me.

There are those round playing cards again. Wish I still had them. Well anyway, that chess set’s ruined now.

Oh OK, here’s a “Yeoman Third Class.” I guess we have more enlisted ranks. I forgot, a Yeoman is an enlisted rank. And, there’s classes. This is way more complicated than the officers.

Well, Rand doesn’t know how to deal with Charlie’s “hunger” for him. Kirk is amused. He tries hard to give fatherly advice to Charlie, and it actually seems to be working.

And now they’re off to the gym. The GYM. I love this episode, it’s got so many of the coolest things in it! It’s like they took everything I like about Trek and put it in one episode! Why couldn’t there be more episodes as good as this one?

Look, there’s girls in Federation leotards! Well, no one’s said Federation yet, but they’re all in red, with the insignia! And there are guys in the jumpsuits with martial arts black belts! And Charlie gets a karate gi!

Oh, and Kirk has his shirt off again. Of course.

Whoops. And now Charlie made a crewman disappear. Right in front of Kirk.

OK, finally. Kirk calls for “Security,” and two red-shirts with phasers show up. Here’s my red-shirts!

And Charlie tosses them around, making a phaser disappear too. Well, the jig is certainly up.

Funny how they’re using the lighting. Kirk and Charlie are in shadow, with only a key light on their eyes. I guess it’s supposed to make them look more intense, but it’s pretty heavy-handed.

And, the soundtrack is brilliant again.

OK, “Security” reports that Charlie has made all of the ship’s hand-phasers disappear. Well, we’ve got Security all right, but we’re not secure.

Well, our heroes have reached their conclusions, Charlie admits he destroyed the Antares, but he’s not sure what he’s going to do about the Enterprise yet. Spock pretty much sums up the horror: “We’re in the hands of an adolescent.” Yes, it’s that bad.

No Sulu, no Navigator we recognize, no Scotty for that matter. Too many paychecks as it is, I guess. Charlie is messing with the controls. Oh and with Spock, too. Because Charlie wants to get to Colony Five.

Charlie’s got a nifty wrap-around jacket. Gold suede, kinda like Kirk’s wrap-around tunic.

Ooh, he turned Yeoman Third Class Tina into a lizard. And then walked into Janice’s cabin while she’s in her nightgown. Clever girl, she turns on the intercom to alert the bridge. She slaps him, and he makes her disappear! Then he tortures Kirk and Spock. Fortunately, Charlie backs down when Kirk says he needs Spock to run the ship.

Now we have a female crewman in pants. Charlie turns her old, and that memorable image when he wipes the face off another female crewman.

But Kirk guesses Charlie is stretching his power too far. Nice guess! Look at McCoy, working the controls on the bridge! I love that cross-training!

And Janice is back, yay! And here come the aliens.

The alien uses the line, “All is as it was.” That’s annoying, because it’s the same line used by the Guardian of Forever in City on the Edge of Forever.

But even more annoying is when the editor repeats a line Charlie says on the bridge, in the middle of nothing relevant: “When I came aboard!!!” That used to drive me crazy. I hope they fired whoever put that in there.

And Kirk’s magnificent decision. He stands up and insists, “The boy belongs with his own kind.” Stop and think about that. He realizes that Charlie is just a boy, he didn’t mean to hurt anyone, he can be taught. The depth of Kirk’s empathy is immense!

And now, Charlie’s final moments. The actor, Robert Walker, did an amazing job. Even Janice is moved, she starts to walk to him but McCoy holds her back. Sadly, Walker just passed away a few months ago.

“I wanna stay...”

Chilling.

Oh, and look. No wonder this episode is so good, and such quintessential Trek. Written by DC Fontana!

My favorite episode of the re-watch, so far. Just amazing. But next up, another of my favorites – The Naked Time!

[Shelby]

The Naked Time

Stardate 1704.2

Here’s an uncomfortable topic for our current pandemic – a contagion.

Wow, this planet is stucco’d to death! And here are those shower-curtain suits we used to make fun of. And Spock has that silly sensor pistol that Scotty used in The Man Trap. Still don’t know how it’s different from a tricorder. Note the weird armlets the two are wearing on their left arms. Controls for the suit, I guess.

On the planet, Lt Tormolen takes off his glove, then sticks his hand in his head-covering. He might as well have licked the contagion.

Nice zoom-out on the bridge. Ooh, Scotty’s back in this episode! Nice, decontamination on the transporter pad. Guess that isn’t very effective. Kirk says to send them to “Medicine.” Still not “Sickbay.” Spock is down to his black t-shirt. I always liked that look.

More banter between McCoy and Spock, thanks for that! Cute the way they still refer to their floppy data disks as “tapes.” They’re a little narrow to be cassettes, but heck, I still talk about “taping” something too. Maybe it’s just habit, not meant to be taken literally.

And here’s the first appearance of Nurse Christine Chapel, aka the boss’s girlfriend! Network made him write her first character, Number One, out of the show after the first pilot. So, he bides his time, changes her hair from black to blonde, and re-introduces her as a nurse instead. Yep, bet they didn’t even notice!

Roddenberry. A questionable man. Yes, he created the show I love. But he had plenty of bad ideas too. Did you know that the much-derided plot of Star Trek 5, “Enterprise meets God,” was basically Gene’s pitch for the first movie, that was rejected by the studio at the time? Did you know he wrote nonsense lyrics to the theme song he’d commissioned from Alexander Courage after he received it, so he could collect royalties on the song himself? That he was accused of adding the IDIC necklace scene to a later episode, just so that his little merchandising company Lincoln Enterprises could sell replicas? Roddenberry is also the most likely suspect as the never-revealed rapist that assaulted Grace Lee Whitney, and got her fired before the show even aired. He also had an affair with Nichelle Nichols, and of course, was seeing Majel Barrett too. She must’ve had a thick skin to have put up with him.

And here’s my favorite character, Yeoman Rand. She has to stand while everyone gets to sit? Well, she was very proud of her legs, and shortened the hems of her costume to show them off, so if she wasn’t the one who suggested standing, I’m sure she didn’t complain.

And here’s the B plot. By remaining in orbit around a planet that’s breaking up, they will be dealing with unknown dangers. And just as they discuss the possibilities, Uhura tells them that it’s starting.

And back to the recreation room. In earlier episodes there were colored lights for the background walls, but here it’s just plain grey. I suspect that those colors were added in the SFX “boost,” because honestly the way I remember Enterprise interiors, they were usually this boring grey. But we’ll confirm that when we get to my un-boosted season two DVDs.

Here’s Tormolen getting some food. He puts a floppy in the slot, a panel opens and he has a tray of food. There’s a little steam wisping around in there. Since we know there’s a cook, and a galley, and ovens, I would assume that the floppy has his “diet card” on it, showing what his preferences are and what he’s supposed to eat. And a computer decides what of the prepared meals available today fits. Then, like the “automats,” the coin-op cafeterias back East where your meal was displayed in vending machines, his food is sent up.

BUT THEY’RE NOT FOOD REPLICATORS IN THE ORIGINAL SERIES! WE’VE ALREADY ESTABLISHED THAT!

Here comes Sulu with another of my very favorite characters, Lt Kevin Riley, Navigator! Man, I wish he’d been in every show of every season, along with Janice Rand! What a great show that would’ve been!

Oh look, there’s that “video screen” on the wall behind the coffee pot, the one from Where No Man that was perched awkwardly at the end of a table. (Yes I know, it’s just a picture frame. Shh.)

Interesting the way that Tormolen has only dashed rank stripes, while Sulu and Riley’s are solid. But they’re all Lts, so maybe Tormolen is Junior? Although he says that Sulu doesn’t rank him. Oh dear, Sulu touched him. Here we go. And now Tormolen pulls a knife, and Riley touches him too. Oops, and he’s cut, bloody. That’s not good.

OK, now Kirk’s VO is again omniscient: “Unknown to us, a totally new and unusual disease has been brought aboard.” Yep, I really didn’t remember this style.

So McCoy and Chapel are operating on Tormolen. They wear gowns, have gloves and even plastic on their forearms. But no masks. I believe there’s supposed to be a “field” over the bed, but we’ll have to wait and see if it ever gets mentioned on-screen. But if it’s there, that would explain why they aren’t wearing masks. Well, that and it’s television, so we’re supposed to see their faces.

Tormolen wasn’t wearing a mask for air or anesthetic, until his breathing rate dropped. Then they put a mask on him.

Kirk has touched Riley’s panel, now he’s got it.

Meanwhile McCoy is losing his patient. Is this the first appearance of the hypo spray? And, Chapel gets to say, “He’s dead, Doctor.” Stop stealing my lines!

And Sulu abandons his post! But “O’Riley’s here!” I love Riley. And Spock calls “Security,” this is now a convention. Good.

Riley touches Christine. And we note that her hair is more elaborate again, as it was when she was introduced. It was simpler during surgery. Did she pin it back, we assume? Because it looks like there’s an extra hairpiece added to bulk it out here. Also, note that her insignia is an exception to the Enterprise’s Command star, Sciences little orbity-thing, and Engineering/Ship’s Services spiral-thing. Hers has a big red cross on it. Why? No rank, maybe? She also doesn’t have a black collar on her neck. She also shouldn’t have the long painted nails as a nurse...

Sulu’s got his sword now. That boy works out! He must’ve loved this episode. Pity they couldn’t get him a foil with a straight blade. Ha ha! Spock notes that Sulu is a “swashbuckler at heart.” That’s a nice summary for a character.

Uhura’s best line arrives.

Sulu: I’ll protect you, fair maiden!
Uhura: Sorry, neither!

A little too much information there, but still funny. Did she ever get a funnier line? Well, there was her line with Spock in The Man Trap. She was asking him about romance, and moonlight.

Spock: Vulcan has no moon.
Uhura: I’m not surprised.

Anyway, Sulu has now touched Kirk, Spock and Uhura. And is this Spock’s first use of the Vulcan Nerve Pinch, on Sulu? Kirk wants to learn it, too.

Riley is now in control of the engine room, as well as the ship. He’s singing over the intercom. What a memorable episode!

Spock: Go to Alert Baker-Two.

Still no “Red Alert.” But we learn that the Enterprise has a bowling alley. That’s a good thing. Right?

Hey, is this the first episode where everyone throws themselves across the bridge while the camera tilts wildly? I remember one episode so far where everyone was shaking slightly, to indicate turbulence, but I think this is a landmark episode.

And here’s Scotty in the Jeffries tube. Which, as I recall, was named after Matt Jeffries, the Production Designer. We saw crewmen coming out of one in Charlie X, but I think this is the first episode with that classic shot from above as Scotty is working in here.

Ooh, Spock’s using a little calculator wheel “slide rule” thingie to calculate something. That’s crunchy, I like it.

And NOW it’s referred to as “Sickbay.” Hurray!

Poor Janice has another admirer in the hall. She seems to attract attention, doesn’t she?

I would just like to point out that it’s clear in this episode that Star Trek pants have a zipper and pockets. It’s easiest to see on Sulu, especially lying down in Sickbay with his shirt off.

Kirk puts Yeoman Rand at the Helm! And then he gets into a shouting match with Uhura! But she manages to stay in control, good for her.

Time for Chapel’s defining scene. She’s in love with Spock. And she refers to him as “Vulcan.” Not “Vulcanian” as Harry Mudd did. So now we’ve established this, too.

And now it’s time for Spock’s big scene. Great music, as always. And I’ve noticed that they use a lot of greenish make-up in the top center of his ears, right where the prosthetic meets his skin. I’ve noticed it in other episodes, too. But I think they go easier on it later in the series.

Kirk shows up at Engineering with a phaser and two red-shirts. They hustle Riley off, I’m sad. But here’s an occasion to note that there are quite a few actors on this show, mostly background males, who are average in looks, or rather older than the average, or more like “character actors” in appearance. It’s nice to see, as opposed to something like Voyager where everyone looks very pretty. There’s nothing wrong with pretty, we’re putting on a visual show for the audience and everyone likes to look at pretty people. But back in the 1960s, and prior, before the “youth culture,’ we had a different sort of casting system. It was normal for older and plainer actors to be used, too, and protagonists weren’t always in their twenties like today. I miss those days.

Anyway, back to Spock. As I’m watching Nimoy overcome with emotion, trying to fight it off, I’m struck with just how crazy it is to be seeing this in a 1960’s TV show. Bonanza, Combat!, I Spy, Mission Impossible, The Fugitive, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, those were Star Trek’s contemporary television dramas. In what other show could we be watching a tour de force like this? I’ll just give you the answer. Nowhere else. And this was science fiction! Lost in Space was on CBS, but this is what we get with Star Trek! People tune in for spaceships and planet adventures, and they get this raw look inside tortured souls. “I am sorry!” he sobs out. “To – two. Two, four, six! Six times six...” and breaks into wracked sobs.

Back to engineering, they’re starting to burn up and the lighting is definitely red, Kirk is sweating. Scotty’s signature line, “I canna change the laws of physics.” Kirk convinces him to try anyway.

McCoy has the answer, the serum is based on simple water. Sulu is cured.

Kirk arrives in time to hear Spock baring his soul. Regret for his mother, issues with his father, friendship for Kirk, but Kirk keeps trying to slap some sense back into Spock. Well, as we learn somewhere else, a Vulcan has the strength of ten men. Spock gives Kirk a back-hand in return that sends him flying across the briefing room table.

And, Kirk’s got it too. Along with some blood on his lip. He’s very dramatic. The stakes are certainly set. Contagion, spiraling in, and glimpses into everyone’s hearts.

And here’s Kirk’s scene, cue that amazing music. His ship consumes him, leaves him no room for his own life. The captain’s not permitted to notice his beautiful yeoman. “A flesh-woman to touch, to hold. A beach to walk on...”

Spock has the formula, and seems to have snapped out of it. Kirk wrestles for control, “I’ve got to hang on,” you can see the struggle in his face but he has his responsibilities. Kudos, Mr Shatner. He’s left alone with the string section, glances around, tension in every muscle, and grits out, “Never lose you. Never.” This is the man, cut of such material, who decades later becomes the petty jealous bureaucrat who wants Decker’s command? What a pathetic story premise that was, and an affront to the man we see here.

On his way to the bridge, Kirk sees someone has painted the words, “Sinner repent.” He wipes the blood from his mouth and looks determined. He will make amends for his prior weakness, he will pay whatever price is required.

McCoy tears Kirk’s shirt (yeah, thanks) and gives him a hypo spray. Yeoman Rand is here, waiting for her captain. She doesn’t see, but he looks at her quietly, raises one hand, almost touches her. The strings crescendo, he drops his hand again, and says quietly, “No beach to walk on.” Here is his payment, loneliness, solitude. A life without love.

It’s a human story. Star Trek is a human story.

Kirk says “Engage.” The sacrifice has been made. The magic works. The Enterprise is saved.

Spock returns. His gaze meets Kirk’s. They both acknowledge what they have seen in each other.

Sulu’s chronometer is running backwards! We’ve discovered time travel, for the first time in the series. How many revelations have we uncovered in this one episode? This is science fiction.

Spock: We have three days to live over again.

Kirk: Not those last three days.

And another dramatic zoom out on the bridge.

I don’t know about you, but if you got through watching this episode without choking up and feeling chills, then I’d check the label on the back of your neck to make sure you’re really human.

And now, let’s reflect on the first seven episodes (which include the second pilot, as aired). What did we get in each?

Where No Man Has Gone Before – a prototype of the show we’d come to love. Kirk and Spock in recognizable versions, along with Scotty and Sulu. Adventure beyond the comfortable, a moral about absolute power, and sacrifice.

Mudd’s Women – Uhura and McCoy. McCoy is very recognizable as the character we love. Harry Mudd, a beloved and memorable character who would return later in the series. Starships are a big deal. Humor. Majel Barrett as the voice of the computer. Some background on the setting: we have traders, we have miners, and we have a crewman who can be conned into a betrayal. But we learn about believing in yourself.

The Corbomite Maneuver – Exploring unknown space, meeting new civilizations. And Yeoman Rand. While the stardate indicates this episode should come after Mudd’s Women, it sure looks like this one was shot first. And the way McCoy is presented here, this really seems like his introduction. But it doesn’t really matter.

The Man Trap – Starships are definitely a big deal. Scientists on remote planets merit visits. Significant look at McCoy’s background. Uhura gets some screen time, bantering with Spock and later meeting an alien who speaks to her in Swahili. Rand brings Sulu some food in Botany, where he tends “his” plants. A murder mystery, an old flame, and people die. No banter on the bridge at the close.

Charlie X – Features Yeoman Rand. Humor about adolescents. Big scenes in the rec room, lots of crew interaction, Uhura sings while Spock plays. 3D chess games. The Enterprise has a cook in the galley who bakes their food in ovens. There is a gym, and cool workout clothes for the crew. Enlisted ranks. Security as a department, but without a department head, maybe just an enlisted “chief?”
Kirk: The boy belongs with his own kind.
Charlie: I wanna stay…

The Enemy Within – Sulu gets a ton of lines. Shatner gets to play two sides of his character. Yeoman Rand is featured again. Saurian Brandy is kept under lock and key in Sickbay. We get to see Engineering. Soul-searching about what makes a man.

The Naked Time – Intro Nurse Christine Chapel and Navigator Lt Kevin Riley, who both get significant screen time. More rec room, Sulu loves fencing. Scotty, Rand, Uhura get plenty of lines. So much is happening, everywhere, all at once, a really terrific presentation of chaos. The Jeffries tube, a bowling alley and time travel. Oh yeah, and gut-wrenching glimpses into everyone’s souls. “No beach to walk on.”

So far I’m going to have to say that my favorites are: #1 Charlie X for introducing so much more depth into the show, #2 The Naked Time for humor and character depth, and #3 Mudd’s Women for Harry Mudd. I’d have to say that all the rest are tied for fourth place at this point. I really, really love the first season, and these shows are gems. I love how the ship and the setting are presented. This is my Star Trek.

“Never lose you.”

Next up will be Balance of Terror. See you tomorrow!

[Shelby]

Balance of Terror

1709.2

Aw, this is the one that starts with a wedding. They have a non-denominational chapel on board. Rand is lighting the altar candles, and Scotty will broadcast to all screens on the ship. Even on a starship in the depths of space, people form communities. Now it’s time to celebrate two people who pledge their lives to one another. And of course, the captain will officiate, as captains have done down throughout our history.

Mr Spock advises the captain about the status of some “Earth Outposts.” We’re still Earth-centric. But Kirk’s not going to spoil the couple’s special day.

Sadly, it’s not to be. Outpost 4 is under attack, and Kirk announces, “Condition Red.” Well, at least that’s close to “Red Alert.” How long is this going to take?

There’s a guy running in the corridor wearing a full-body sparkly-white suit, suitable for Elvis or Evel Knievel. With a kind of welder’s helmet to go with it. I don’t remember seeing this specific combination before, but there’ve been a few variations so maybe they’re starting to blur together in my mind. In any case, it’s kind of jarring to see something out of place every other episode.

Lt Stiles is our Navigator-of-the-Week. Spock puts the “Star Sector” on-screen, showing the Neutral Zone with the Romulan Star Empire, and re-capping the history for both crew and viewers. Violating the Neutral Zone is an act of war. During the prior war between Earth and the Romulans, neither side ever saw a member of the other race.

This begins the fine tradition of Star Trek exploring the issues of the day in a science fiction setting. We are playing out the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. While using science fiction in this way didn’t begin with Trek, the show enthusiastically took up the practice.

And Kirk reveals to the crew that his ship and all of Earth’s outposts are expendable. Under no circumstances will they start another war. Now, that’s what I call stakes!

Mr Stiles reveals that this is personal for him. He had many relatives who perished in the war.

Kirk: Their war, Mr Stiles. Not yours.

They’re learning which outposts have been destroyed. Kirk reports the status to “the nearest Command base.” Then he orders “Battle Stations.” Which they’ve done previously. But still no “Red Alert.”

This, of course, is the episode that shows us Phaser Control, where the happy couple are on duty. The bride tells her intended that he won’t get off her hook, she’s going to marry him. Oh dear, foreshadowing. Anyway, it looks like we’re seeing pieces of Engineering rearranged into the new set.

The commander of Outpost 4 comes on, and gives us the details on the attack method. He wears a standard tunic with a different insignia, par for the course. He switches the visual to show us his attacker. The enemy ignores the Enterprise’s warning to withdraw, then destroys the outpost and disappears.

War. War never changes.

But what’s this? Perhaps the enemy’s invisibility works both ways? And he’s heading towards the Neutral Zone. Kirk orders them to shadow the enemy. The episode gradually becomes analogous to an encounter between submarines. It’s very well done.

Mr Stiles warns Kirk that there could be Romulan spies aboard the Enterprise. I don’t quite follow the logic, but in any case we know what the writers are setting up here, so we’ll give them a pass. And here’s a nice touch, Sulu seconds Stiles’ concern. Ironic, since as a boy Takei’s family was interred in a camp as potential Japanese spies. I wonder what he thought of this script?

So now we’re on “Security Alert.” I really need a scorecard here, there’ve been what, twelve different alert types so far in eight episodes?

Uhura picks up the enemy’s transmission, and Spock gets a visual of their bridge. Bet he regrets that. The enemy is revealed, and they look just like Vulcans. Chuckle, for the enemy commander is played by Mark Lenard, who will go on to play Spock’s father Sarek. It’s funny, because knowing that, you definitely can’t avoid seeing the “family resemblance.” And now Mr Spock is the suspected spy.

Kirk is stern with the suspicious Stiles: “Leave any bigotry in your quarters, there’ s no room for it on the bridge.”

As Kirk hoped, the Enterprise appears to be a shadow. But the Romulan Commander doesn’t accept that! We observe that Romulan civilization appears similar to that of the Roman Empire. The Commander wearies of war, but has been trained too well. He will bring victories to his Praetor.

In the briefing room, McCoy points out that millions of lives depend on what they do. Spock adds, “Or fail to do.” Mr Stiles urges attack, because running will guarantee the Romulans return with more ships. He manages to accuse Spock of treason again. Spock surprises them all by agreeing with Stiles. He reveals Vulcan’s savage period of conquest, and advises that if Romulans are an off-shoot of his race, “weakness is something that we dare not show.”

I like this concept of Vulcans very much. Their peaceful ways, their control of emotion, is deceptive. It’s not evidence of weakness; it’s in place because through bitter experience they understand their capacity for savage destruction. You’ll forgive me if I say that I find the mystique of Vulcan fascinating.

They’re approaching a comet. Kirk tries to pass Spock a physical book that must be a star atlas, but Spock brushes it away and describes the comet from memory. Note that in a later episode we learn that physical books are rare, old-fashioned. So it’s funny to see this one here.

Kirk decides to attack when the Romulans enter the comet’s tail. Battle stations. And there’s that guy in the sparkly white suit again.

Back on the Romulan ship, we learn that the Romulan Commander is a philosopher-warrior. This is a nice touch, and in accord with the Roman theme. He hopes to hide in the tail, then turn on the Enterprise. But when their “shadow” vanishes, their commander orders evasion!

When the Romulans don’t appear, Kirk realizes his move has been anticipated and he orders evasion as well, and a wide salvo of shots. We get to see Phaser Control in action. As I wrote earlier, this is very satisfying, to see the workings of the Enterprise as if she were a contemporary battleship with crews manning her guns. The Romulan is struck, the old centurion is critically injured, and the Romulans return fire.

Back on the Enterprise, they could detonate the enemy plasma ball before it hits, except that the phasers aren’t working. Too bad they don’t have photon torpedoes yet!

Rand appears on the bridge, yay! She snuggles up against Kirk right before they’re hit, and he holds her tight. Kirk realizes the weapon has a limited range, and the damage is minimal. Down in Phaser Control, our lovebirds pick themselves up from the floor, unhurt. Foreshadowing.

We have learned that the commanders respect each other. Honorable foes. They think alike. And neither will repeat a mistake.

Kirk orders an attack at long range because they’re almost in the Neutral Zone. Phaser salvos damage the Romulans again. And, for the first time in the series, Kirk acts like a maverick. He informs Command that he is violating the Zone.

Why have him do this? Because America loves a maverick? In the 1960s, not so much. We still admired those who gave their lives following orders. They don’t want the Romulans to be emboldened, and launch a war. But haven’t they already demonstrated that a resourceful captain can successfully overcome this new technology? Ultimately, Kirk violates his orders because the writers want to increase the stakes. And now we’ve developed a new character trait for Kirk. I’m not certain that was the best decision, but it’s what we got.

And, the Romulan Commander has another trick up his sleeve. To try and make Kirk think he’s destroyed, he launches debris and the dead body of his friend the centurion. Spock sees through the ploy, but they’ve lost track of the Romulan ship. So Kirk, too, decides to run silent, run deep. Both vessels hang motionless in space.

After nine hours, Rand finds Kirk in his cabin. She offers to get him something from the GALLEY. He tells her he’ll be on the bridge. McCoy shows up, Rand leaves, and then Kirk reveals his doubts. Hm, according to the show concept, by rights this scene should’ve been with Rand. I wish they’d stuck to their guns and had him talk to her, not McCoy. (sigh)

Spock messes up and breaks “radio silence.” Before the Romulans can attack, Kirk powers up and shoots again. The Romulan Commander loads more debris, but this time includes a nuclear warhead. Kirk’s instincts prove wrong – he fires at the debris, and detonates the warhead at point-blank range. The ship is damaged, and there are twenty-two crewmen with radiation burns.

Now Lt Tomlinson the bridegroom is manning Phaser Control alone, so Stiles goes down to help. Uhura takes over Navigation. As always, I love the cross-training! Kirk has the Enterprise play dead, hoping to lure the Romulans back to his side of the Zone.

Spock checks in on Phaser Control, only to be insulted by Stiles. He leaves, but there’s a coolant breach and both Stiles and Tomlinson are knocked out. The Romulan Commander wants to retreat, but is goaded into the attack by an ambitious subordinate. When he reappears Kirk orders phaser fire but nothing happens because Tomlinson and Stiles are out. Spock runs back to Phaser Control and fires on the Romulan vessel. She is critically damaged.

Kirk contacts the Romulan Commander and offers to beam survivors aboard. But that is not their way. The Commander remarks, “In a different reality, I could've called you ‘friend.’” He then destroys his own vessel.

Kirk finds Spock and Stiles in Sickbay, where Stiles is overcome that Spock saved his life. “And after I – ” And McCoy says that Lt Tomlinson is the only crew member who has died. Yes, the bridegroom. Kirk is about to head to the chapel to talk to Lt Martine, the bride, when Rand bursts in. She says that they’ve received a message from Command, supporting any decision Kirk makes. He walks out without a word.

Lt Martine has tears on her face, and buries her head in Kirk’s chest when he arrives.

Kirk: It never makes any sense. But you both have to know there was a reason.

Martine: I’m all right.

She walks out. Moments later, so does he. He walks down the hall, alone, but as he walks, shipboard life resumes around him.

I always thought having her say she was all right, with a straight face, and then walking out was a little weak. Story-wise. But it was a long time ago, so we’ll just have to let it go.

In any case, a great episode. Our first real “space battle,” a deadly encounter between two ships out alone in the depths. So very different from something you’d see in Star Wars.

And our introduction to Romulans. No bumpy latex foreheads, just honor, and duty, and war.

Next up will be The Squire of Gothos. I’ll meet you there!

[Shelby]

Squire of Gothos

2124.5

We open on the bridge, and this time you and you and everybody gets a coffee! But, no cup-holders.

A casual note, we have yet another Navigator of the Week, Lt DeSalle (another face we’ll see again). We’re in a hurry, but a planet has popped up out of nowhere. And then, Sulu and Kirk pop off the bridge.

Note that this time, when Spock makes a log entry, he’s promoted himself from Second Officer to First Officer. Congratulations. In any case, before the commercial break Spock ordered them to go in reverse. But when we come back, they’ve been in orbit for four hours. Continuity, gentlemen? But more importantly, he has placed the ship on “Red Alert!” Finally!

A message from the planet in pretty calligraphy. Time for a landing party. Oh, sadness. The awesome chamois phaser-belts have been replaced with simple black straps. This time, McCoy has a phaser. Everyone gets filter-masks for the atmosphere; interesting that we don’t normally go to planets where they’re needed. And the team gets a laser beacon. Nice to get a name for that odd piece of equipment I’ve seen somewhere.

Well. No stupid rocks, no plastic plants. Just a castle. Oh, and look, there’s Nancy Crater’s true form, the Salt Vampire, standing in an alcove. McCoy looks straight at his lost love without comment. Whose bright idea was that?

There are Kirk and Sulu, motionless. Trelane, Squire of Gothos appears playing the spinet, and he releases them from their stasis. Played by William Campbell, the actor would also play a Klingon commander in a later episode.

Kirk identifies himself as Captain of the “United Starship Enterprise.” Well, that’s close. The Squire wants the crew to stay, as he’s been studying Earth – well, the Earth of 900 years past. He appears to be taken with this predatory race called “humans,” and their military bent.

The crew realizes they are helpless against the Squire’s powers. But Spock comes through, and beams them back aboard. And then the Squire appears on the bridge in front of a “Condition Alert” sign. Yeesh, give it up, guys.

Trelane transports a larger group back to his castle this time. And he gets a great line: “Oh Mr Spock, you do have one saving grace – you’re ill-mannered.” Brilliant. Trelane grants Uhura the power to play the spinet, and he dances with Yeoman Ross. (This should’ve been Yeoman Rand’s part. Yes, I’m bitter.)

Is this the first time Spock uses the terms “logic” and “fascinating?” McCoy ribs him about it. Sadly though, Kirk’s deductive process makes no sense. Because Trelane understands form but not substance (food and drink without taste, fire without heat), he must have a machine helping him? I don’t see it, sorry. But it inspires Kirk to literally challenge Trelane to a duel. Trelane is delighted.

But not so delighted when Kirk shoots his magic mirror, breaking the machine that gives him his power. Unfortunately, the foley “artist” decided to use slide-whistles and springs as the sound effects for the dying machine. Really, guys?

Back to the ship as Trelane hurls threats. Uhura asks about reporting to “Space Fleet Command.” Almost there!

Aaand, we’re back to leaning dramatically on the bridge to indicate hard maneuvers. That devil, Trelane, keeps sticking his planet in their path.

Kirk beams down to the planet, appearing in the courtroom of Judge Trelane. He is sentenced to death by hanging. Spock makes another log entry. He went from First Officer, to Science Officer, and back to First Officer again. I thought he was a little more disciplined.

Trelane is thrilled that he felt anger for a moment. Kirk plays on this, getting him to agree to let the Enterprise go. In return, Kirk will cooperate in letting Trelane hunt and kill him. As expected, Trelane cheats, and in addition doesn’t keep his promise to release the ship. So Kirk breaks his sword and slaps him.

Fortunately, it’s time for Trelane to come in. His parents arrive, scold him, and apologize to Kirk. He tries to communicate with them, but they leave.

Kirk teases Spock in our final scene on the bridge. He refers to Trelane as a naughty boy playing mischievous pranks, much as he expects Spock must’ve done when young. Spock is, of course, shocked.

This episode is the inspiration for the character Q who appeared in The Next Generation, as well as in Voyager. I have to say that a little Trelane goes a long way. As this episode went on, he became more obviously petulant and immature. When his parents appear the joke has gone on a bit too long. It’s an amusing change of pace at this point in the series, and William Campbell brings some charm to the screen. But the idea of making yet another character of the same caliber, and dragging us through multiple episodes of the same joke through two additional series, is just lazy. How about writing something original? And I must confess that I just don’t enjoy watching the actor who played Q, John de Lancie.

Kirk tries to make a noble sacrifice in this episode, but the other characters are just presented in too shallow a fashion. Also we learned no new Star Trek lore. I have to say that while I got a good laugh out of this episode as a boy, today I find it my least favorite episode so far in my re-watch.

The next episode will be What Are Little Girls Made Of?

[Shelby]

What Are Little Girls Made Of?

2712.4

Nurse Christine Chapel (AKA the boss’ girlfriend) is on the bridge as we open. Kirk casually remarks that she gave up a career in bioresearch to serve aboard a starship. Yeah OK Gene, whatever.

By the way, we have no recognizable faces at helm or navigation. No Sulu, no Scotty, no Rand, no McCoy. Can’t have too many paychecks. The only regulars in this episode are Kirk, Spock, Uhura and Chapel.

Apparently there’s been no communication from Dr Corby in five years. He was on the planet below, which is frozen. Apparently Christine knows him, and that’s why she’s on the bridge. As Spock reads off how awesome Dr Corby is, Kirk remarks that he was required reading “at the Academy.” Well, we don’t have a “Starfleet” yet, but there is an Academy that is understood to be Kirk’s alma mater.

Oh my. We know that Spock and Christine had an encounter in the Naked Time. Has this made Spock sensitive to her emotions?! When Kirk callously asks Spock if there’s any chance Corby could still be alive, Spock glances at Christine and says nothing.

Christine informs us that Corby’s last message described underground caverns. Kirk replies by stating that two subsequent expeditions failed to locate Corby. Which begs the question, then what is the Enterprise doing here?

Suddenly Uhura gets a message from Dr Roger Corby, standing by! Oh, the drama! Zoom in on Christine as she closes her eyes, overcome with emotion.

Kirk is about to send down a landing party when Corby asks that he come down alone, because what they’ve found is so awesome that the captain will have a tough decision to make. Spock asks Christine if she recognizes Corby’s voice. She replies, “Have you ever been engaged, Mr Spock?” Actually, little does she know but he most certainly IS engaged, as we’ll learn in the first episode of Season Two. But gee, her question is a little tactless isn’t it, since we know she’s got a thing for Spock and they had a moment that time?

Christine announces her presence to Corby, who is enthusiastic about her beaming down with Kirk. The bridge crew looks on as the lovebirds reconnect virtually, and Uhura kisses Christine as she heads for the turbolift. Spock just sits there, one finger to his lips.

They actually did a decent job with the snowy rocks on the planet. The cave rocks look a little better than usual, even a little glazed, bu then the pebbled stucco and the familiar folds of plastered burlap just overwhelm us in fakeness. In any case, because Corby isn’t waiting at the transporter coordinates as he said he’d be, Kirk has two Security red-shirts beamed down. Hurray, they have the chamois phaser belts back! One of the two has more grey hair than I do, isn’t Security a young man’s job? This may be the first episode where being a red-shirt on a landing party is a death sentence. I can hardly wait. But in any case, Kirk has the boring plain black phaser belt, and a small hand-phaser! Is this the first time we’re seeing one? I believe it’s been all pistols up to this point.

Well, that may have been the first red-shirt to die. “There’s no hope, Captain. It’s bottomless.” And there’s Ted Cassidy (“Lurch”) playing a local. Sure looks like he shoved the hapless red-shirt over the edge. And Brown, Corby’s assistant, didn’t recognize Christine at first. Ooh, I love a mystery.

Kirk and Christine are puzzled at Brown’s wooden behavior. Kirk calls the remaining Security guard back at the cave entrance, gives detailed instructions, and then Lurch arrives and kills his second red-shirt. Mystery over.

And here is the titular Little Girl, Andrea. A striking girl in a suggestive outfit. As has been said elsewhere, Trek’s Bill Theiss liked to dress the girls in costumes that didn’t actually reveal too much, but fascinated because they looked as if they might fall off at any moment. There’s a funny story about how a publicity model for Star Trek showed up at the World Science Fiction Convention in this costume, and was relentlessly pursued by a smitten Harlan Ellison (author of City on the Edge of Forever). Can’t say as I blame him.

Corby and Christine lock lips. Kirk tries to contact the last Security guard, and when he doesn’t answer Kirk tries contacting the Enterprise. Brown pulls a weapon on him and forbids any communications. Kirk does a neat roll and shoots Brown, revealing him as an android – not the real Brown at all! But Lurch comes in and immobilizes Kirk. All the cards are on the table now.

Turns out that Lurch’s real name is Ruk. He imitates Kirk’s voice and tells the ship everything is fine. He imitates more voices (is this a parlour game?), and Kirk tricks Corby into ordering Ruk to obey Christine’s orders. Corby claims that Ruk is programmed to protect, and he killed the red-shirts. Apparently Ruk was built by “The Old Ones,” and when Kirk tries to escape he prepares to kill him too.

In a different room, Christine wants to know what’s happened to Kirk but Andrea won’t tell her. Then Corby shows up, and Ruk is holding Kirk prisoner. But Corby just needs time to explain and demonstrate. We learn that Andrea is an android. Christine thinks she’s Corby’s geisha. Corby has Andrea demonstrate just how emotionless she is, just a thing that obeys orders. She kisses Kirk, then slaps him. Kirk wants to know why, if they only obey orders, Brown tried to shoot him and Ruk killed his two men. Corby says he will explain.

He explains by making an android duplicate of a naked Kirk. Isn’t that clear enough for you? Geez, it’s not just the shirt off this time! Christine is appalled by Corby’s lack of respect for human life. He shrugs that off and explains how he’s going to copy Kirk’s thoughts into the android as well. Kirk, overhearing, starts repeating to himself, “Mind your own business Mr Spock, I’m sick of your half-breed interference.” Clever.

Ya know, we’ve got wooden furniture here too! On a frozen ball of rock, deep underground in an alien installation, we have wooden furniture! C’mon Jeffries, what are you thinking?!

Andrea seats Kirk next to Chapel, and they are served what looks like the same stew that Lt Tormolen got in the episode The Naked Time. They talk and when Kirk asks, she refuses to betray Corby. And then – it’s revealed that this is the Android Kirk! Bet you didn’t see that coming. Kirk and the android banter, and we learn that Kirk has a brother, George Samuel Kirk, who is married with three sons.

Corby claims he could’ve actually transferred Kirk’s consciousness, his soul, into the android, and given him immortality. Kirk calls it programming. But Corby doubles down, says people could be programmed “for the better.” Well, that’s that then, isn’t it? No redeeming features left for ol’ Dr Corby.

So Corby wants Kirk to transport him somewhere he can begin manufacturing androids and infiltrating them secretly into society. Kirk asks why Corby needs him, since he already made a replacement. Corby claims he made the android to impress Kirk, not replace him. Kirk leaps up and strangles Corby with a cord, then escapes. Corby is choking (why?) and sends Ruk to “protect.” Christine chases after, commanding Ruk to stop. Although she wasn’t in the room at the time, she knows that Ruk has been commanded to obey her. Whoops.

Kirk breaks off a stalactite to club Ruk with. Adolescent fans think it’s clever to make phallic comments about the rock. Tee hee, I wonder if you’ll be human when you grow up. Now we know why animals eat their young. Anyway, Ruk doesn’t let Kirk fall to his death over a ledge, instead pulling him back up to safety.

The Android Kirk beams up to the ship, walking past Spock and entering his cabin. Spock follows, surprised to see him. Kirk takes his command packet out of the safe and says he’s going to go over their route with Corby, then return with the personnel from the planet. When Spock questions him, Kirk says – oh c’mon, you must’ve guessed – “Mind your own business Mr Spock, I’m sick of your half-breed interference.” Spock decides to beam down with a Security team after the impostor returns to the planet.

Back on the planet, the real Kirk begins a regrettable trend. No, not trying to confuse a computer, but kissing a sexy little non-human. He tries to take advantage of Andrea. Sure, he has a good reason, but we’re laying the pattern out for “Womanizer Kirk.” Going for titillation, we lose the “Officer and Gentleman” Kirk, one notch at a time.

In any case, Ruk shoves Kirk back into his cell, so Kirk begins messing with Ruk as well. Verbally, no kissing please. He gets Ruk to remember that the androids killed The Old Ones, who had become fearful of them. How could the servants kill their masters? Ruk has an epiphany.

Ruk: Survival must cancel out programming!

Corby comes in and has to shoot the murderous Ruk. Kirk scuffles with him, and Corby is revealed to be an android too! (So why could Kirk strangle him earlier? The androids don’t need to eat, they darned sure don’t need to breathe either.) Christine is of course appalled, but Corby insists he’s still human.

Spock arrives with his team, so Corby sends Andrea after them. Andrea encounters the Android Kirk and wants a kiss, but he refuses because it’s illogical. So she vaporizes him. Serves him right. She walks in on the Corby – Kirk standoff, and we learn she killed Android Kirk. Kirk taunts Corby that his androids aren’t perfect, and that he’s killing without remorse.

Corby asks to be tested, then realizes what he’s said. He gets confused, Christine says he hasn’t behaved like Corby at all, and Kirk talks him into surrendering his phaser. Andrea won’t be disarmed however, professes her love for Corby, and tries to kiss him. He vaporizes them both with her phaser, and Christine moans in grief. Spock bursts in and asks where Dr Corby is.

Kirk: Dr Corby – was never here.

Back on the bridge, it looks like Christine’s uniform isn’t actually a dress, but little shorts! Guess Gene didn’t want her fanny out there for everyone to see. In any case, she tells Kirk she’ll be staying with the ship (as if there had been any doubt). Spock tells Kirk he was a little surprised at his use of the term “half-breed,” and Kirk says he’ll remember for next time. That’s pretty mild banter.

As you may have guessed, Christine Chapel isn’t one of my favorite characters. It’s a good episode, but I’m just not into her. I was also a little put off by the lack of consistency in her attitude. So she was engaged to Corby in her past. She thought he was dead. She’s since fallen in love with Spock, although she only revealed it under the influence of that contagion from The Naked Time. Even if you imagine that she only really, really likes Spock, rather than loving him, it’s hard to absorb her sudden infatuation with Corby again. Maybe he just ran off to some planet, but they had remained engaged? I don’t know. And it didn’t make sense that they were the third search party looking for Corby. They should’ve left that line out. And finally I didn’t like seeing the first baby steps of “Womanizer Kirk.” It was a regrettable trend that I would’ve preferred had never happened.

Next up? Miri.

From the Blooper Reel:

[Shelby]

Miri

2713.5

We open on the bridge. Sulu is not at the helm this time, either. And Mr Farrell is at Uhura’s station. On the other hand, we have Kirk, Spock, Rand and McCoy. I don’t see Scotty, maybe he’ll turn up later. I’ve got to say that I didn’t remember the cast juggling that I see now.

Anyway, they’re getting an Earth-style SOS from what looks like a duplicate of Earth. This is the beginning of a silly trend. There are a lot of excuses to use the studio lot and the costumes they have on hand, so get used to it.

Landing party consists of Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Rand and two red-shirts. Chamois phaser-belts on Security. McCoy gets jumped by a local, who then has a seizure and dies. McCoy is remarkably non-effective, pretty much just observing as the man dies. His comment: “It’s dead.” That’s not very close to “He’s dead, Jim,” is it?

They uncover Miri hiding in a closet. She’s terrified of them, but Kirk turns on the charm (sigh, did we really need to take this tack? Janice could’ve been the nurturing one, but instead they take another step down the “Womanizer Kirk” path).

Meanwhile, Spock and the red-shirts are led around by someone taunting them and dropping stones on their heads. Not too friendly. Spock has a small hand-phaser.

The group gets back together and Kirk turns on the charm again. Apparently there was a plague, and now Kirk has caught it. All the Grups go mad and die, there are "Only" children left.

They end up at the hospital and realize that everyone but Spock has the disease. They find paperwork describing a “life prolongation” project from three hundred years ago.

Since we don’t have anyone on the Enterprise dealing with the landing party except for Lt Farrell, it seems like he’s in command! Maybe Scotty’s on leave? Or just feels like staying off-camera…

Spock concludes that the children age one month in every hundred years. Kirk wants to speak with the other children, and takes Miri with him. Janice watches them leave and Spock says Miri is “at least three hundred years older than you are. Think about it.” What an odd thing for him to say.

Now we meet the other children, led by Jahn. It’s interesting that several of these child actors belonged to Roddenberry, Shatner and even Whitney! Roddenberry’s were from his first marriage, that didn’t formally end until 1969. Which means that he was a very bad husband, knowing what we know about his actions with the ladies.

Anyway, Jahn tries to explain to the younger kids that Grups are dangerous, so they should steal their little talking boxes (communicators) so they’ll be all alone. Just then, Miri leads Kirk to their hiding place, where he’s attacked by another “Only” (the children) who’s just caught the disease. She dies when hit with a stun from Kirk’s phaser.

Back at the lab, Spock determines they have seven days left. Miri has at most, five or six weeks. And Spock, as a carrier, won’t be able to return to the Enterprise. Oh, and the Onlies? They only have enough food for another few months – then they’ll starve to death.

Jahn has the crew lured away. Foolishly they leave all of their communicators sitting on counters, so he sneaks in and steals them. Without a way to contact the ship and its labs and computers, they can make no progress. Finally, they only have three days left, and tempers are frayed.

So why doesn’t Lt Farrell beam down more communicators to the lab where he’s beamed down the research equipment? The ship can tell where the communicators are, and where the landing party is, with sensors. At least, they can be sure where Spock is. Why didn’t they? Oh yeah, plot device. Stakes. But weak, boys.

Another aside. As time goes on, they inch the zippers on their collars down a few inches. You can see the black t-shirts underneath. It’s a cool look. They’re not consistent throughout the show about the t-shirts though. Sometimes they’re wearing black ones, sometimes white, and sometimes not at all. Which, now that I think about it, is pretty much like real life. But still, the inconsistency bothers me.

Anyway, Janice gets her moment. She loses it, Kirk goes after her, and Miri quietly watches. Janice asks Kirk to look at her legs, and he hugs her while tears run down her face. But now Miri sees Janice as a rival. McCoy has isolated the virus, and Kirk hugs Janice again. And that’s it for Miri.

For the first time since they found her, she leaves and rejoins the other kids. She arranges to have Janice taken prisoner, and says that’ll be one less of them to “take care of.” She also knows that Kirk will follow. And she refers to him derisively as “Mr Lovey-Dovey.”

And then the kid I find the most annoying says, “Bonk-bonk on the head.” You know, that doesn’t sound good. Kids have no morals.

Janice has been abducted, Kirk is shouting, Miri says she doesn’t know where she is, and Spock describes the potential virus as “a beakerful of death” without knowing the proper dose. Very poetic, Mr Vulcan.

So they need the communicators, and of course Janice needs rescuing. And they only have a few hours left. Kirk tries to convince Miri to help but she refuses. So he lets her have it with both barrels. He explains that all the Onlies get the disease when they grow up. And then he shows her the blotch on her own arm – she has it, too. She cries and he holds her.

Miri brings Kirk to where the kids are holding Janice. She asks them to listen to Kirk. They attack him instead.

And McCoy decides he’s not going to wait until it’s too late. He gives himself the untested serum. He doesn’t even know what the dosage should be. He screams, then falls. Everyone rushes in, including Kirk and the children. McCoy is cured, and now they know everything will be all right.

And then we’re back on the bridge, leaving orbit. They left a medical team behind, and Kirk has notified “Space Central” to send personnel to help the children. Janice says that Miri really loved Kirk. He replies that he never gets involved with older women.

Without Sulu at the helm, Kirk tells Spock (sitting at his science station) to go to Warp Factor One. And we’re off.

OK. I still like this episode. It’s odd that we’re missing some regular characters. Some of the kids can’t act (as kids do). But the cast we have do a fine job. Kirk is suitably inspiring. The Spock / McCoy bickering isn’t inspired, but it’s there. Janice Rand is featured in another episode. Even Mr Farrell got quite a few lines! The story is a good one, albeit with a couple of holes. It was nice to see Janice express her attraction to Kirk again.

Just for fun, I’d like to see a group portrait of the kids in costume, with the actors’ names attached.

Anyway, I like this one more than yesterday’s Little Girls. That was Chapel’s episode, this is another for Rand. But Miri isn’t as good as my top three episodes.

Next up, Dagger of the Mind. Which I like very much, in spite of the fact that it, too, was supposed to be a Janice Rand feature.

[Shelby]

Dagger of the Mind

2715.1

The Enterprise is delivering drugs and other supplies to a penal colony. Interesting that freighters aren’t doing that job, why are they using a starship? Anyway, they get a big box of research documents that Kirk wants them to keep locked up. The crewman says he’ll “get a vault assignment.” Really? Vaults on the Enterprise, hadn’t heard that one before. But we get another great view of the Magic Slate in the Clipboards o’ the Future.

And out pops an escaped madman. We get a great view of the box he’s in, obviously – wait for it – made of WOOD. Again. C’mon guys, you can do better.

On the bridge we have Kirk, McCoy, Spock and Uhura. No Sulu or Scotty or Rand. Kirk is talking about how great the head of the penal colony, Dr Adams, is. McCoy says, “A cage is a cage,” but Kirk says it’s more like a resort.

The colony calls up and says they’re missing a violent prisoner, he may have been in the box. Kirk orders “Security Condition Three.” (sigh) And now I see that white pocketed vest run by in the corridor. And red-shirts with chamois phaser belts!

Spock remarks that humans glorify war, but imprison those who employ violence privately. McCoy is upset, and Spock maintains that where there is no emotion there is no motive for violence. Hmm, that’s worth some thought.

The prisoner bursts onto the bridge, identifies himself as van Gelder, and demands asylum. When Kirk refuses to make any promises van Gelder threatens to disable the ship. Spock moves in with the Vulcan nerve pinch, that’s the second time by my count.

Back in sickbay, McCoy is (forgive me) fascinated by van Gelder. Kirk says he’s someone else’s problem, and van Gelder gets mad. He claims to have been the director of the penal colony, but he looks to be in pain as he tries to communicate. Finally he slumps back and says, “I knew, but they’ve erased it.” Faced with the threat of being returned to the colony, he shouts that he’ll die first.

Back on the bridge, Spock confirms that Dr Simon van Gelder was assigned to the Tantalus Colony six months prior as Dr Adams’ associate. Not as an inmate. Kirk calls Adams, who immediately refers to the captive as Dr van Gelder. Adams explains that van Gelder used an experimental beam on himself.

McCoy walks in during the conversation, and he doesn’t believe it. This sets off another round of Kirk defending the awesome Dr Adams. Are there really so many saints that are beyond doubt in the future?

Kirk continues to belittle McCoy’s professional opinion. Really, writers? That’s out of character. Anyway, McCoy plays his high card. He’s required to enter any doubts in his medical log, which means Kirk has to answer for it in his own log.

Kirk folds, and informs Adams that per regulations he’s required to conduct an investigation. He grovels and apologizes for it! Really, this is over the top. No one should be that untouchable. Even the pope gets questioned. Adams encourages Kirk to come down himself. Kirk tells McCoy to send someone from his department with psychiatric and penology experience. McCoy just meets his gaze and says, “Yes, sir.” Then when he leaves, Kirk smiles! He actually smiles! He thinks he just put the ship’s physician in his place! His good friend, too. Oh guys, so very out of character.

When we come back, Kirk is entering his ship’s log into a tricorder, which he then hands to a red-shirt. Odd, I never expected to see that he uses a tricorder for that. Over the intercom, McCoy wants to keep van Gelder for the time being, and Spock agrees! Take that, Kirk. McCoy says he’s assigned Dr Noel for the landing party. Kirk says fine and heads down to the transporter.

And Kirk is stunned when he arrives and sees the extremely beautiful Dr Helen Noel (Marianna Hill). As if he didn’t remember her name until now. She reminds him about “the science lab Christmas party,” and an angry Kirk says, “Mr Spock, you tell McCoy that she had better check out as the best assistant I ever had.” I believe McCoy won that round.

Once again, initial drafts of this script had Yeoman Rand accompanying Kirk. I find it disappointing that we lost the opportunity to deepen her character and the Kirk / Rand relationship, although I really enjoy Hill in the role of Helen Noel.

As soon as they beam down, Noel asks Kirk to call her “Helen.” He demurs, but a split second later they’re in each others arms as their elevator plummets at high speed. They seem very natural together.

Dr Adams meets them. His chest insignia is quite elaborate, but still continues the trend. Adams tells Kirk he can keep his tiny belt-phaser (these became known as “Type-1,” and can be seen incorporated into the “Type-2” phaser pistols). By the way, we don’t see a phaser belt on Kirk this time, but he’s reaching behind his back to put his phaser away. So we’re at the point where Type-1’s just go on a velcro patch on the trousers, no belt required.

As Kirk checks in with the Enterprise via communicator, we learn that the colony’s security field has to be lowered in order for comms to work.

They are joined by Lethe, a zombie-like former patient who is now a therapist. The atmosphere is, shall we say, uncomfortable. Lethe is the name of one of the rivers of Hades, it means oblivion – as in forgetting everything. See where we’re going with this? When Kirk asks what crime she committed it is revealed that they’ve wiped her memories.

Adams prompts Helen to say, “The shifting of memory patterns is basic to psychotherapy.” I see, she’s a believer as well.

And I must ask, how is this different from Dr Corby’s “programming,” that Kirk found so abhorrent? Hm, Kirk? What do you have to say now?

Adams’ chilling toast, made in front of Zombie Lethe (whom he deliberately excludes from joining them by denying her a glass): “To all mankind. May we never find space so vast, planets so cold, heart and mind so empty that we cannot fill them with love and warmth.” We focus in on Lethe’s blank face.

The corridors of the colony are part Trek fake rock, and part normal corridor. Who the hell is supposed to be the interior designer for all these planets? Who leaves bare cave walls, or excavated wavy stone, and builds a flat wall on the opposite side of the corridor? Oh, and the people walking around, the patients, are all as zombified as Lethe.

Adams tries to lead them past a “failure,” an experiment that didn’t work out. Kirk wants to see it anyway, prompting Helen to make an impassioned defense of Adams. Really? Everyone worships this guy? At least Kirk actually seems to be trying to conduct an honest investigation. There’s a zombie-like operator, and a patient in the chair.

Coincidentally, back on the Enterprise van Gelder is trying to tell McCoy and Spock about the Neural Neutralizer that he doesn’t need because he’s not a criminal. Then we cut back to Adams showing Kirk and Noel the Neural Neutralizer! Adams says it doesn’t work, but there’s always hope. He also quotes the Talmud, accusing Kirk of wanting to know everything while standing on one foot. Helen pipes in and says beam neutralizing has been used on Earth, it’s not a chamber of horrors. Kirk guesses that this is where van Gelder’s unfortunate incident took place, and Adams confirms that it is. Van Gelder used it on full power, and he was alone. Kirk lags behind and thanks the zombie operator, who makes no reply. Once everyone is gone, we see the beam in action. To remember anything will cause the victim great pain. Gee, as we’ve seen with van Gelder!

Kirk checks in with the Enterprise again. Spock won’t talk until Adams has left the room. They still doubt that van Gelder injured himself, so Kirk decides to stay the night. Van Gelder gets quite agitated, and to this day I can’t understand what he says. Something like, “Dr Adams will destroy – by death!” Doesn’t really make sense, does it? But it’s how they close the act, and then go to commercial, so they must’ve thought it was a powerful line.

This time, when Spock records the log he’s promoted himself to “Acting Captain.” Wow, delusions of grandeur, Spocko? Anyway, here’s the first time we see the Vulcan Mind Meld. And as Spock tries to explain the danger of a mind meld, van Gelder replies, “You must. Open my mind, let me explain, warn you of the danger.” I absolutely don’t remember ever hearing that line before!

They begin the process, and it’s very impressive. Very nice, Mr Nimoy. But then we cut to the planet again. Kirk comes to see Noel in her room. She’s amused, and assumes he’s there to flirt. But he wants to talk about the inmates, who he found to be a bit blank. Of course, she emphatically defends Adams again, but Kirk wants to see the machine at work, so off they go.

Back to the mind meld. And now, Spock’s ears don’t have all that extra green color. More to the point though, van Gelder says Adams reshapes minds, erased his memories and put Adams’ thoughts there. It’s really well done, kudos to actor Morgan Woodward as he talks about his mind being so empty. He almost pulls Spock in there with him, as he talks about being empty, lonely, alone...

Back on the planet, Noel and Kirk are amazed at how effective the machine is. He asks her to try a really unusual suggestion, so they can be sure it works. She goes back to the Christmas party where they met. In real life they danced and he talked about the stars. Now she suggests he swept her off her feet, carried her back to his cabin, where they begin to kiss… as Dr Adams discovers them!

First he makes sure Kirk loves Noel desperately. Then he gets Kirk to drop his phaser. But Kirk balks at dropping his communicator, struggling against the pain to contact the Enterprise. And we go to commercial. Note, Kirk actually has a phaser belt on under his tunic, over a black t-shirt. Again, I didn’t expect that! Pretty sure in later episodes you can actually see the velcro patch on the pants themselves, but we’ll see.

Back from commercial and Noel is dabbing Kirk’s face as he regains consciousness on the bed in his room. Initially he thinks he’s in love with her, but then gets distracted by the air vent. He gets Noel to climb in and look for a generator to short-circuit in order to drop the security field.

Kirk is taken back to the room where Adams resumes the torture. Shatner must be having fun with this episode, too. He won’t tell them where Noel has gone. Cut to Noel, who has found a generator. Cut to Spock, trying to get the transporter to work. Noel cuts the power, freeing Kirk from the chair. Spock beams down and kills the shield but turns the power back on. Adams is under the beam, and he’s alone.

Noel climbs out of the air duct into Kirk’s arms. There’s lots of kissing, but to her credit Noel says it isn’t right, Dr Adams did this. Spock walks in, and makes a silly expression. Kirk remembers Dr Adams, and they head to the treatment room. McCoy meets them there in time to say, “He’s dead, Captain.” Sooo close!

Noel: The machine wasn’t on high enough to kill.

Kirk: But he was alone. Can you imagine a mind emptied by that thing, without even a tormentor for company?

Back on the bridge, Uhura says van Gelder destroyed the equipment. He thought Kirk would want to know. Kirk’s expression as he sits and ponders is memorable.

McCoy: It’s hard to believe a man could die of loneliness.

Kirk: Not when you’ve sat in that chair.

A powerful episode. And Womanizer Kirk has another notch.

Next episode will be The Conscience of the King, which will be the last we see of Yeoman Rand until the first movie.

[Shelby]

The Conscience of the King

2817.6

We begin with a close up of a dagger – it plunges into a sleeping man, taking his life, coming back stained in blood. The killer twitches, looks at his bloodied hands.

In the audience is Kirk, talking to the man sitting next to him. We are watching a stage performance of Macbeth. Kirk’s neighbor says he recognizes the actor’s voice – he believes that is “Kodos, The Executioner.” And, we go to the opening theme.

When we come back we’re in the man’s home, with his wife. The man, Dr Thomas Leighton, claimed he had made a breakthrough that would’ve led to a new food source. But in reality he just wanted to share his suspicions with Kirk. Now the Enterprise has been diverted for nothing.

Leighton fills us in. Kodos killed 4,000 people. Only eight or nine living souls saw him with their own eyes. Leighton’s one, Kirk’s another. But Kirk insists Kodos is dead, even though his body was burned beyond recognition when it was found. Leighton has invited the actor and his traveling company to a cocktail party, because he wants “to be sure.” Kirk heads back to his ship.

Kirk calls up Majel Barrett as the ship’s computer to review the history files. Kodos was killed twenty years ago. The actor, Anton Karidian, has no history on record older than twenty years ago. Kirk pulls up photos, and the two men are a close match.

Kirk decides to go to the party. The music being played is a jazz version of Alexander Courage’s theme song! Too funny. Kirk meets Anton’s daughter Lenore, who tells him that her father never attends parties. They sit and flirt, and Womanizer Kirk asks Lenore on a date – now. He wants her to leave the party with him. The music has become romantic, it appears to be the same theme used in City on the Edge of Forever.

Now, is Kirk really just looking for another notch in his phaser belt? Or is he trying to get some dirt on Lenore’s father, who may be Kodos? Perhaps a little of both. But as we see him going for the clinch on their walk, it sure looks like the belt notch is imminent. (sigh) I think this is the first really blatant womanizing he does. But, before he even gets a kiss he spots Dr Leighton, dead in the dirt.

Back at the house, Mrs Leighton asks why her husband was killed if what he suspected wasn’t true. Kirk promises to find out. He calls the ship that was supposed to pick up the acting company, and tells the captain to strand them; Kirk will pick them up.

Back on the bridge, no Sulu again. Is that Mr Leslie? He pops up now and then. We’ve seen Spock already, and here’s Uhura. Kirk tells Spock they may be transporting something. At that moment, Lenore beams up and Uhura announces her.

Spock: How did you know this lady was coming aboard?

Kirk: I’m the captain.

Great reaction shot from Spock. Lenore asks for a lift in return for performances for the crew. Kirk flirts and finally agrees. As she leaves she passes Yeoman Rand, who gives her a once-over. However, since this is her last contracted episode, they decided she would get no lines.

When Spock comments that this will take them eight light years off their course, Kirk snaps at him in a very uncharacteristic fashion. Perhaps we’re meant to realize that Kirk isn’t womanizing, he’s very suspicious, and at the least wants to avenge his friend’s death.

Kirk takes Spock’s science station and interacts with Majel Barrett’s computer voice. Is this the first time we’ve heard it on the bridge? The computer confirms there are nine living eye-witnesses, one of which is “Star Service Lt Kevin Riley, Communications!” Whoa. First of all, “Star Service?” Well, it’s still not “Starfleet.” But “Communications?” When last we saw Riley he was the Navigator! Did he get transferred after his shenanigans in Engineering? Did he request a transfer? What? And now Kirk wants Riley transferred to Engineering!

Spock: He came up through Engineering.

Kirk: Well I’m sending him back.

Spock points out that Riley will consider this in a negative light, but Kirk refuses to discuss it.

Cut to Sickbay, where McCoy is having a lil’ snort of Saurian Brandy! Spock is suspicious of Kirk’s behavior. Although since he just heard Kirk at the computer, he must be having a slow day.

OMG! McCoy offers Spock a drink. He declines, saying his father’s race was spared alcohol.

McCoy: Now I know why they were conquered.

What? What?! At this point in the show, we’re assuming that a Vulcan is on the Earth ship Enterprise because Vulcan was conquered?!!

Here’s the first time we see the Observation deck! Kirk is walking his new flame around. He points out that the Flight deck with the shuttlecraft is below. Shuttlecraft! First mention on the show! Too bad we couldn’t use them when Sulu and party were stranded back in The Enemy Within.

Kirk points out that they dim the lights on the Enterprise for a night cycle. Funny, I hadn’t really noticed before.

The two flirt. Kirk tries to get a little info about her father but she deflects it. She calls him “Caesar of the Stars,” herself Cleopatra, and goes in for the kiss.

Back on the bridge, Spock has a little dialogue with Majel’s computer voice. He finally asks for commonalities between Leighton, Karidian, Riley and… Captain James T. Kirk! “T!” That’s a first, folks! Gone is the sorry “R” of the second pilot, make a note, star-fans!

Spock fills McCoy in on what went down on Kodos’ colony. With a food shortage, Kodos executed half the population so the other would stand a chance of living, making the choice by his own standards. Spock refers to this as “eugenics,” and McCoy remarks that he wasn’t the first. Holy foreshadowing, Captain, because in nine more episodes we’ll be watching Space Seed and hearing about Earth’s Eugenics Wars!

Spock says Karidian’s history begins almost to the day when Kodos’ ends.

McCoy: And you think Jim suspects he’s Kodos?

Spock: He’d better.

All the other eyewitnesses are dead, and wherever they died, there was Karidian’s company.

Cut to Riley in Engineering, at the same console where he sang the lovely “Kathleen.” He’s got a dish of little Play-Doh cubes for a meal, isn’t that tempting? He calls the Rec Room for company. Uhura plays a Vulcan lyre / lyrette or whatever, and she sings Beyond Antares to him – but what’s this? A shadowy figure sprays something in his glass of milk! He takes a drink, then another long one, chokes, and collapses to the floor. They even do a little homage to Psycho!

Riley is in sickbay, where McCoy isn’t sure he can pull Riley through. Spock points out that if Riley dies, Kirk will be the next target. End of act.

McCoy learns Riley was poisoned with a chemical lubricant. They go to Kirk’s quarters, but Kirk and Spock argue. Kirk is very defensive and doesn’t want them intruding on his personal affairs. He says he’s interested in justice, but McCoy asks if he’s sure it’s not vengeance. Kirk confesses that he’s not sure. And he must be sure. Some good lines here, and good delivery. However, Kirk’s belligerence with his officers is very much out of character.

McCoy must’ve left because only Spock remains when they hear a phaser on overload, about to blow up Kirk’s quarters. Kirk goes to “Double-Red Alert!” Ay caramba! Can’t we just have Red Alerts yet?

Kirk finds the phaser and dumps it in a disposal chute! Apparently it blows up outside the ship. Well, that’s handy I guess, but a little improbable to have such a thing. But look there, Kirk’s “T” is on his cabin name-plate! Isn’t that nice?

I remember being at a Star Trek convention in NYC back in the 70s. They were holding a little trivia contest, and one of the multiple choice questions was the code for someone’s quarters. I guessed the right answer, because only one of the possible answers was in the correct format. But a very pretty girl asked me how I knew so much about Star Trek. Sadly, I was very young and shy, and the brief conversation went nowhere. But there used to be a great interest in Star Trek trivia (back when there was only the original series, and the cartoon, anyway).

Kirk barges into Karidian’s quarters. He says “We’re overdue for our talk.” That’s funny, because I’m watching a DVD and Karidian hasn’t appeared on camera since he was on stage as Macbeth during the cold open. Perhaps something was cut from the script, or wasn’t saved?

Kirk accuses Karidian of being Kodos. He says he is, if it pleases Kirk, because he’s an actor. Kirk gives him a speech to read into a mic, to be compared with a voice recording of Kodos. Karidian obliges, barely looking at the script. They argue, but Karidian admits nothing.

Lenore comes in, she apparently heard everything. She is understandably upset. She asks if she was a tool to him. He says perhaps, at first, but then he wanted her to be something more. She says it’s too late, and he leaves.

Meanwhile in sickbay, McCoy acts like an idiot, recording a log entry revealing their suspicions about Karidian, and letting us know that Kodos killed Riley’s entire family. Of course, it’s impossible for Riley not to have overheard in this small space, even if he wasn’t standing right behind McCoy.

When we return, the company is about to perform Hamlet for the crew in the ship’s theater! If we believe the camera’s POV as the ship flies by, it looks like the theater is inside the shuttle bay! I blame the revised SFX.

Which leads me to an aside. I don’t like these revisions. The ship looks like a bad computer graphic in a cheap computer game. And that’s not because I’m sitting here years after it was produced. The graphic of the Genesis Project in the movies was toned down to look more like a computer graphic at the time, because the original work looked too real. But that toned down version was much better than these ship graphics that came decades later. They put rings round planets that look ridiculously bad. And they have the ship banking in turns as if it was in atmosphere or under water, not at all as if it was in space. On the other hand, the original version of the ship moving was majestic, like a battleship. Why in hell does every joe who comes long years after someone has done good work always think that their ideas are automatically better? Why? It always happens that way, and I’m always disgusted.

Anyway, we also note that there is crew watching live video in the rec room, too. And in his quarters, Kirk and Spock compare the recorded voices from a paper read-out. (snicker) But it’s not close enough for Kirk.

In sickbay, McCoy realizes Riley is gone, and may have overheard his log entry. Which brings me to another aside. McCoy just hits the intercom on the wall and says, “McCoy to Captain Kirk,” and Kirk immediately answers from his quarters. So we must assume that the computer routes the call based on voice input. To wherever the captain happens to be. That’s actually pretty cool.

Security calls Kirk and says the “weapons locker” was broken into, and a phaser is missing. Ah ha, weapons lockers. I had thought they must be here somewhere. Kirk announces a “Security-Two Alert.” I’m so over this. Guys, consistency, please!

Kirk races to the theater, and while prowling backstage he encounters Riley weilding a phaser. Have I mentioned recently how much I love this character? I really wish he had more appearances.

Kirk tries to talk Riley down, but Riley’s sure. “My family, he murdered them!” Karidian overhears as he acts the part of Hamlet’s father. The lines intertwine in a chilling fashion. Kirk disarms Riley and sends him back to sickbay.

The scene ends and the actors go backstage. Karidian is upset, and Lenore tries to reassure him by eventually confessing to having killed seven men for him, with two more to come. Kirk overhears Lenore. Karidian (or Kodos, actually) is angry, of course, at what his daughter has done. He thought his daughter had been untouched by the things he had done.

By the way, excellent performances here. Especially Barbara Anderson as Lenore, her sanity slowly slipping away to reveal the madness within.

Lenore: I would’ve killed a world to save him!

Anderson won an Emmy, but not for this part. It’s a pity, she deserved one for this scene too.

Lenore insists that Karidian be allowed to complete his final performance, but when Kirk refuses she snatches a phaser from a guard (fire that man) and apparently it’s set on “kill.” (Why?) Kirk tries to disarm her after more amazing acting on Anderson’s part, but Kodos steps in front of Kirk and takes a deadly beam to the chest.

If you don’t choke up at her soliloquy over her dead father’s corpse, you’re dead to me.

We get a lot of new Star Trek lore in this one. It has Shakespeare in it, big plus for me. The story is a good one. Riley’s here. Barbara Anderson is nothing short of brilliant. In spite of Grace Lee Whitney getting the short end of the stick here, I have to say that this may be one of my very favorite episodes. Certainly equal to the three I’ve selected as my favorites so far.

And yet. It’s bittersweet, as we say goodbye to Yeoman Janice Rand. I wrote a blog post about her, so I won’t repeat all that here. I’ll just leave you a link, and you can go read it as a separate thought.

Yeoman Rand, Female Lead of Star Trek

So from now on, we enter a new phase of Star Trek. (Do you get my clever reference?) The early episodes are finished. There will be less interest in getting glimpses of different parts of the ship. The grit is lost. The Earth-centricity will be gone shortly. No more Yeoman Rand. No more Kevin Riley. McCoy becomes more important, the rest of the cast get less time in the spotlight as we focus in on the “big three.” And to me, that's really a fundamental loss. We go from that sense of community, of family, that we got in the very early episodes, filled with familiar faces, to a show about three characters. Part of that is due to ego, and contracts, and that's regrettable as well. Can you imagine if we had got to learn more about so many more characters, even incrementally, instead of walk-on extras of the week? An ensemble cast, more like what we saw in shows like Enterprise. I really, really think it's a shame that's not what we got.

This is not to say that we’re not going to get some amazing episodes; we are. But the feel of the show is gradually changing, and this is a milestone. Let’s try and keep our eyes open, ready to spot the changes.

Tomorrow’s episode will be The Galileo Seven. Don’t forget your popcorn.

[Shelby]

The Galileo Seven

2821.5

High Commissioner Farris is aboard, overseeing a delivery of emergency medical supplies to a colony. But the Enterprise is passing a quasar-like formation and Kirk has orders to study these. With two days to spare, he sends Spock and a team that includes both McCoy and Scott in the Galileo Seven, one of the ship’s shuttlecraft. Which we haven’t seen before this episode. Very nice, but I’m miffed that I’m looking at re-done SFX. This is much more elaborate than I remember, the shuttle is banking, which is silly, and then when we cut to the mostly bare interior the change is jarring. The green “quasar” is too big and looks like a cartoon. And I’m getting tired of the over-detailed planets, too. Never heard of atmosphere?

Sulu and Uhura on the bridge, Majel Barrett inside the computer. The effects of the quasar are severe, the Galileo is buffeted off-course, its communications are jammed, and we’ve set up the stakes. The Commissioner wants them to make their delivery, but we have a lost shuttle.

When we come back from commercial the Commissioner takes up his role as antagonist. “You should never have sent them in the first place!” he growls, while Kirk keeps repeating that he has to investigate every one of these quasars they come upon. Fortunately a yeoman brings a tray with coffee for everyone.

Uhura says there is a Class M planet, Earth-like. This is the first time we’ve used that terminology in the series, but it will become a staple. They head towards the planet, but their sensors are useless.

We cut to the shuttle, now landed on the planet. Looks like they crashed since everyone’s holding a body part and looking beat up. Half the console is busted open, so Scott gets to work while the extras get phasers out of a little compartment to one side. Nice touch.

Spock remarks that the Enterprise will only be able to spot them visually, and in those terms it’s a very large planet.

On the Enterprise, Kirk has had the transporters tested. What they can beam up from the planet is “dissociated.” That’s not good! Kirk prepares another shuttle, the Columbus, to begin searching. The Commissioner continues to act like a jerk, quoting regulations and insisting they’ll leave when those two days have passed. If this character really acted like that, he couldn’t keep a job as a dog catcher.

Back on the planet, I notice that the rear of the shuttle’s nacelles also have a ball, like this version of the Enterprise. Again, I’ve seen the Enterprise nacelles without, both plain grey and with a pattern of dots. One more time, I wish I had the original FX version.

And McCoy sets up this episode’s issue – Spock is in command, isolated. McCoy ribs him about wanting to be in command, and about the merits of logic, and that logic won’t get them out of this one. Spock maintains his Vulcan cool, and doesn’t show any craving for command.

The news gets worse when Scott announces they don’t have fuel to reach escape velocity, and won’t even reach orbit unless they lighten their load by 500 pounds. McCoy has magically got inside ahead of Spock, and immediately starts arguing against leaving people behind. Lt Boma, that cheeky fellow, wants to know how they’d determine who would stay behind, and Spock says it’s his decision. Boma doesn’t like that, and McCoy steps right in to continue sowing dissent, undermining Spock’s authority. You’d think he’d be a little wiser than to do that; he is in a military chain of command, this isn’t the time to play his usual one-upmanship games. He’s basically acting like a child, not a grown man.

Meanwhile, the two crewmen sent to scout the periphery hear noises among the fake Trek rocks and the really well-done smoke. One has squared sideburns, the other has a touch of make-up to make his pointy. Too bad they can’t be consistent. I’d let them do whatever they want to my sideburns for a paycheck. The one with the squared sideburns lives, the other is killed by a giant-sized thrown spear.

Spock and Boma arrive at the scene, where the men display hostility and disrespect to their commanding officer. Spock lets it roll off his shoulders, but he probably should’ve exerted his authority and slapped them down. He allows them to bring the body back to the shuttle. Note, the crewmen are wearing chamois phaser belts, but Spock and McCoy have the plain black ones. Lots of black t-shirts in evidence.

Back on the bridge, it’s nice to see Sulu and Uhura with lines other than the typical. There’s not much opportunity for character development, but it makes them a little less two-dimensional. Oh, and Farris continues to act like a jerk.

Back at the shuttle, McCoy continues to undermine Spock in front of the crew. Boma expects Spock to say a few words at the burial of the dead man, but he says he can’t spare the time and asks McCoy to say the appropriate words. McCoy argues and makes things worse. Honestly, he deserves to be brought up on charges at this point. If Scott and the yeoman can manage to maintain military decorum, we should expect Lt Cmdr McCoy to do so as well.

Scott announces that the last of the fuel has leaked out. Then everyone rushes outside – the natives are nearby, possibly preparing an attack. Boma wants to attack first, and Spock is appalled at the Earthmens’ disregard for life. That’s ironic, son, because that’s what they were accusing him of earlier.

The men are almost openly mutinous, but begrudgingly follow Spock when he tells them they’ll only fire to frighten, not to kill. Spock’s plan works, they fire indirectly and the natives retreat. Unfortunately, Spock has one man, Gaetano, stay behind on guard. He’s not even wearing a red shirt, he probably thought he was safe. Actually, only Scott and Yeoman Mears are in red. I guess they thought they’d just be zipping through space and didn’t bring any Security.

Back at the shuttle, Scotty begins draining phasers to use as fuel. Spock points out that if they can’t achieve orbit soon, the Enterprise will be forced to leave and they “will surely die.”

Transporters have been successfully adjusted, and Kirk begins sending more search parties. But the man left behind, Gaetano, is attacked. He foolishly neglects to call the others, run or fight back, and is killed. Without explanation, Spock, McCoy and Boma appear at the spot. Gaetano is gone, his phaser left behind, and they argue. Spock sends them back with his phaser (to use for fuel), and heads off to learn Gaetano’s fate.

Spock finds the motionless Gaetano, and rather than checking for a pulse or other signs of life, just hoists him in a fireman’s carry and heads off. Gaetano’s tidy-whities are showing. I guess black t-shirts are one thing, but a real Earthman’s jockeys are white. And by the way, Nimoy is a beast, carrying the man effortlessly while spears are thrown his way.

Spock brings the body inside the shuttle; maybe he’s alive? It sure looked like he got bonked on the head pretty seriously. Anyway, McCoy manages to turn his insubordination up to eleven this time, blaming the attack on Spock because he’s logical. A big alien begins hitting the shuttle with a boulder. Spock remarks that he’s made logical decisions, yet two men have died. I guess that Gaetano is dead after all.

Back on the bridge, things are slowly clearing up but Farris actually harasses Kirk. There are two hours and forty-five minutes left. Kirk is using a funny little handheld device that he puts a data card into. McCoy had one recently that he used for a medical log. I guess they just wanted another gadget, but it looks pretty silly.

Spock tells Scott to electrify the outer hull. He dons sparkly black gloves to do so, and we see a little bit of the back compartment of the shuttle as he goes into action. Once the attack has ceased, Mr Boma wants to bury Gaetano, but Spock considers it an unnecessary risk. Boma gets personally insulting and finally McCoy and Scott step in to reprimand him. Well, it’s about time!

One of the Enterprise’s search parties lost a man to the creatures. Farris orders Kirk to leave immediately – his time is up. Kirk obeys, recalling his search parties and waiting for the Columbus. She’ll be aboard in twenty-three minutes.

Meanwhile Scotty will be ready to lift off in eight minutes, so Spock says it’s time to bury Gaetano. I’d like to see how they can accomplish that!

Kirk decides to eschew warp speed and proceed at space-normal, maintaining sensor sweeps for as long as they’re within range.

Somehow the three men have heaped a huge amount of dirt over Gaetano’s body when they’re attacked again. Spock picks up a giant spear and chucks it back, but is pinned by a boulder. McCoy and Boma rescue him even though he orders them to abandon him.

Scott tries to lift off, but the aliens are holding the shuttle down. Spock applies their boosters to escape, meaning they won’t be able to hold orbit. But it’s worse than that; once they have a minute to talk, we learn that they can only make one orbit, then they’ll burn up on re-entry. Scott quotes that time when Spock said there were always alternatives.

Spock: I may have been mistaken.

McCoy: Well, at least I lived long enough to hear that.

Spock contemplates, then abruptly hits some controls and the craft lurches. He has jettisoned the remaining fuel and ignited it. And Sulu spots them!

Scott: A distress signal? Like sending up a flare. It was a good gamble.

Spock: No one out there to see it.

McCoy: May be the last action you’ll ever take, Mr Spock, but it’s all human.

The craft begins to burn up as it hits atmosphere, but the Enterprise beams them out at the last possible moment. Of course. Good reaction shots from Shatner.

Later, everyone (but Boma) is back on the bridge, and the ribbing starts.

Kirk: You’re not going to admit that for the first time in your life you committed a purely emotional act?

Spock: No, sir.

Kirk: Mr Spock, you’re a stubborn man.

Spock: Yes, sir.

All laugh.

It’s a fun episode. Dramatic, and some clever ideas get them out of trouble. Kirk has to deal with a complete ass. Some good acting, mostly outrage though. While Spock has often been in command in Kirk’s absence, they make a big deal out of this time. I’m not sure I see that. But in the main, I enjoy the episode.

Tomorrow we’ll watch Court Martial. See you there.

[Shelby]

Court Martial

2947.3

The Enterprise is at Starbase 11 for repairs after an ion storm in which they lost a crewman. I believe this is the first time we’ve heard that term in the series! Interestingly, the starbase is on the planet’s surface, rather than in space. Kirk is meeting with Commodore Stone. There’s a graph on the wall that shows ten starships, by registration number rather than name. Interesting, we’re not up to twelve yet?

Commodore Stone has a starburst insignia on his tunic, which must represent this starbase. He also has a heck of a lot of gold on his sleeve. Interestingly, he is in red; perhaps a base is red, while a ship is gold? He says Enterprise has priority over the Intrepid. OK, that’s the first time we’ve heard the name of another starship.

Kirk is wearing a wrap-around tunic again, I think this is a different version. (He’ll switch back to the standard one later.) He also has a black belt on, you can see the velcro. He signed a paper deposition. What, no magic slates? In any case, we hear a bit about the crewman’s death. His name was Finney, they were on Red Alert (Yay!), and Kirk waited until the last minute to jettison the pod.

Spock arrives with the ship’s log, to corroborate the death. He tries to say something to Kirk, but the Commodore takes the data card and loads it into his viewer. Jame Finney, the dead man’s daughter, bursts in. She shouts and calls Kirk a murderer. When Kirk says they were friends, Jame says Kirk hated her father all his life. Commodore Stone looks up from his viewer, concerned. He asks Kirk to confirm he jettisoned the pod after declaring a Red Alert. When Kirk confirms, then Stone accuses him of willful perjury, based on the log it was only a Yellow Alert. There will be an inquiry to determine if a Court Martial is in order.

When we come back we see a restaurant / lounge on the starbase. It looks very much like the set for Trouble with Tribbles. Since that episode won’t come up for a while, I’m surprised they kept this set.

Kirk walks in with McCoy and greets a man he hasn’t seen “since the Vulcanian expedition.” Are we resurrecting that term from Mudd’s Women? And could this be when Vulcan was “conquered,” as McCoy referred to it?

In a first-time gaff, the officers in the bar are all sporting Enterprise insignia on their tunics. I guess wardrobe was overworked that week.

Kirk greets several men from his class at “the Academy,” but they’ve already heard he’s accused of killing Finney, and Finney was a friend of theirs. Apparently they’ve made up their minds that Kirk is guilty, so he walks out. At the same time, in walks Areel Shaw. McCoy makes a bee-line for a pretty woman, while Alexander Courage’s theme song is jazzed up in the background for the second time.

She says she’s an old friend of Kirk’s.

McCoy: All my old friends look like doctors. All his old friends look like you.

Back in Stone’s office, Barrett has crawled inside a starbase’s computer too. This is the “inquiry,” just the two men, to determine if there will be a court martial for perjury and general negligence. This is an excuse to learn more about the relationship between Kirk and Finney. They were at the Academy together, they served on the starship Republic together, (that’s the second name of a starship we’ve heard), and Jame was named after Kirk. But Finney screwed up on the Republic and Kirk logged it, so Finney blamed Kirk for being put on the bottom of the promotion list.

Kirk recounts the incident again. The Commodore stops recording for the record and says no starship captain has ever stood trial before. If Kirk cooperates, Stone will say he was under physical and mental exhaustion. Kirk is insulted, Stone accuses him of deliberate perjury or worse, tells him to take a ground assignment. Kirk demands a court martial immediately.

This scene really plays out well. It’s staged and shot well. Shatner and Percy Rodriguez verbally duel very realistically. The statements come one on top of the other in a tense escalation that embodies the term “thriller.” And then we go to act break. Really well done.

Kirk meets Shaw in the lounge for a drink. More jazz music based on the theme song. Apparently they had a relationship, so they flirt a bit, but Shaw is concerned about the case. She says the prosecution will build their case on “Kirk versus the Computer,” and he can’t win under those terms. Kirk suggests that Shaw could defend him, but she demurs. She recommends Samuel Cogley defend him. And finally she admits that she is the prosecutor, and must try her very best to have him disgraced.

Kirk goes to what must be his room at the starbase, and grabs a handy bottle of Saurian Brandy. However Cogley is there, along with about 200 books – he decided to move in! This is where we learn that books are somewhat rare in the future; Kirk himself prefers a computer, which takes up less space. Cogley gets to deliver his rant in favor of books, in this enjoyable scene.

We cut to the court martial. There are four officers making up the panel of judges. I believe this is the first look we’ve had at formal, dress uniforms. Kirk of course is wearing his, and so are the judges. Spock and McCoy, also present, wear theirs. Notably, Lt Shaw’s collar is trimmed with gold, which seems to be the only nod to a red uniform dress becoming formal; no, wait, the material is the same as the shiny stuff the males’ tunics are made from. And she wears the Starbase 11 sunburst.

When Spock is called to the stand, Majel Barret’s voice refers to him having a “Vulcanian” award of some kind. OK guys, this is the adjective form. He also has to place his hand on a sensor of some kind. We didn’t have one of those for Harry Mudd, way back when.

Spock gives his testimony. He refers to himself as “half-Vulcanian,” and states that “Vulcanians do not speculate.” OK, I think we’re being inconsistent if we go this far. I’ve heard Spock say he was Vulcan before, I’d swear it.

When McCoy is called, we learn that he is an expert in psychology, especially “space psychology.” Nice one.

Cogley calls Kirk to the stand. His commendations are recited by the computer for longer than the prosecution likes. Behind him is a large wall-hanging that resembles the forward-pointing arrowhead on the side of the Enterprise’s lower hull. I wonder what its significance is, in both cases?

Kirk’s testimony is well-delivered and impassioned. He closes his testimony by saying that his actions insured the safety of his ship, and nothing is more important than his ship. Beating us over the head with that theme again.

Shaw plays a visual extract of the incident from the bridge. Interesting that Finney is a Lt Commander. Shouldn’t he be heading a department at that rank? So, what is his department? Uhura is on the bridge, no on else we know.

So, the captain’s chair has buttons to set a yellow and a red alert. But Kirk always barks those orders to someone else. Oh, and the only two alerts are yellow, and red. None of those others that we keep hearing. Along with the pod jettison button. If it’s that important, why haven’t we ever heard of it before?

The recording shows Kirk jettisoning the pod while still at yellow.

Kirk: But that’s not the way it happened!

End of act. Nice.

Back in their room, Cogley doubts Kirk. Even Kirk begins to doubt Kirk, but then he squares his shoulders.

Kirk: No! I know what I did!

Spock calls, and Kirk jokes that he might be able to beat his next captain at chess. Then he ends the call.

Spock: Chess!

Jame comes in and begs Cogley to get Kirk to take a ground assignment. She no longer blames him, she was just upset. Kirk thanks her, but it’s too late. Cogley, however, appears to have an idea.

Spock is playing chess against the computer. This is a much plainer set than the one we originally saw. I guess Charlie X ruined it. McCoy bursts in, indignant that Spock is playing a game when they’re about to convict Kirk. Spock calmly announces that he’s won four straight games against the computer, which he programmed for chess himself. Then he wins a fifth. This proves that something is wrong with the computer. Clever.

Spock and McCoy burst into the court after both sides rest. Cogley demands the court reconvene aboard the Enterprise so that Kirk may face his accuser, the machine. It’s a very powerful speech. Of course, Elisha Cook is a seasoned actor, and we should expect no less. I’m a little surprised they let the trial continue after both sides rested, I think that’s a writer’s mistake.

Court reconvenes in the Enterprise’s briefing room. Somehow Kirk, Spock and McCoy have changed into their normal duty uniforms, and that makes no sense. In any case, Spock explains about the chess games. Only three men had the technical know-how to alter the computer: Kirk, Spock and their Records Officer: Finney! So, that’s his “department.” I wonder why he had “pod duty” then; keep a lot of records in the pod, do they?

Cogley asks if they searched for Finney after the incident, and Kirk describes the search, but Cogley points out that the assumption is that he wanted to be found. And that the man could hide and evade such a search. Kirk’s face as he realizes the implications is very authentic, kudos to Shatner. Cogley submits to the court that Finney is not dead! Actually I’m not sure why you’d search for a man all over the ship if he was either in a pod that jettisoned, or maybe right inside the airlock. Or do we assume he may have been wandering around, wounded, trying to get to sickbay? I don’t know.

Cut to the bridge, court is now being held here. Cogley has an experiment to conduct, and turns things over to Kirk. Kirk will have everyone else leave the ship, and Cogley leaves to do something important. The ship will maintain orbit by momentum, because surely they’ll be finished long before their orbit starts to decay. Right?

Once everyone has gone, the experiment proceeds. They pipe the sound of everyone’s heartbeats over the speakers, then McCoy masks their own hearts, one at a time. Interestingly, Spock’s heart appears located where a human’s would be, as opposed to the time McCoy demonstrated it would be on one side, under the arm. Oh well, lack of continuity. Please note that Uhura’s bra is the same color red as her dress. I love a woman who can color-coordinate.

When all heartbeats have been masked, there is one left. Stone says, “Finney!” Spock says he’s in or near engineering. Kirk asks everyone to stay on the bridge, Finney is his problem. He takes a phaser and goes after him! How is anyone going along with this?!

Kirk does a VO as we see him roaming the corridors, searching. He speaks in the past tense and tells us that Cogley had gone ashore to fetch Jame, to try and calm Finney down when they attempt to capture him. We’re being omniscient again, this isn’t a captain’s log. It’s very odd, is this the third time, or the fourth? It’s jarring when they change the way VO functions. And anyway, if this is the idea that Cogley had, to get Jame, how could he have suspected that Finney wasn’t dead? Spock hadn’t told them about the chess games at that point. And if Cogley had a plan to do “something,” then why did he rest his case? Sorry guys, this is a serious screw-up in the story.

Kirk is searching engineering when Finney begins talking to him, revealing his paranoia. Everyone on the bridge is listening in. By the way, Finney has two full stripes, that indicates a full commander. Whoops.

Finney says he’s sabotaged the ship, and its orbit is beginning to decay. When Kirk tells Finney that his daughter is on board, he gets his opening and the men begin to fight. Finney wears a black t-shirt underneath, but Kirk does not, and sure enough, it’s because his tunic gets torn. Again.

Kirk wins, and his VO tells us that Finney told him where the damage had been done. Kirk’s VO says he hoped to be able to “affect repairs,” which as we watch apparently involves pulling some hoses out. It’s very technical, I’m sure.

As power is restored, Uhura takes the navigation chair and starts flicking switches. There’s that cross-training again. Man, the “improved” SFX of the planet surface looks awful, like a plaster planet I made as a kid. Stone dismisses the court.

Later, when things are back to normal, Shaw is talking with Kirk on the bridge. She gives him a present from Cogley, a book. She tells him Cogley is defending Finney!

This is the episode where a lowly Lt asks if she can kiss a captain on the bridge of his ship. They do, and she walks off. It’s funny, I think this is the second time I’ve seen it; it looks like half of the female’s skirt goes around one leg under a flap. You can only see it from the right angle, but I wonder if that means that none of those dresses has a real skirt to it?

Oh, and now we’ve learned that the captain has a “past.” Another beautiful woman. We’re really building that character aspect, aren’t we? Disappointing.

Kirk returns to his chair, flanked by Spock and McCoy. All look ahead without saying a word. The music is a happy version of the show’s theme song this time. I swear I’d never noticed the way they’re doing this!

Kirk: She’s a very good lawyer.

Spock: Obviously.

McCoy: Indeed she is.

OK, so my reaction. I enjoyed this one very much. It was cool to see the formal dress uniforms, especially the female version. I probably couldn’t have spotted the differences between the female’s duty and dress uniforms on an old cathode-ray tube. I don’t understand what the “pod” Finney was in supposedly does, or why it had to be jettisoned. It would’ve helped a bit if we could’ve understood that. It was interesting to see a starbase on a planet surface, and to hear the term “starbase.” The scene in the lounge was a human touch. Nice to hear how decorated Kirk is, he must really be famous. There were some good performances here, and everyone’s lines remained in character. It was funny to see starfleet personnel at odds, that’s definitely uncommon, and actually doesn’t that violate one of Gene’s rules? Well, maybe not. Only Finney was a real bad guy, and we can say he was a little crazy, I suppose.

I won’t put this up there with my four very favorite episodes so far, but it was fun. Next time, we’re watching The Menagerie, the two-part episode that incorporates the original pilot with Captain Christopher Pike. Funny coincidence that we’re watching two court-martials in a row, but that’s how the stardates work out. See you there!