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[Shelby]

The Menagerie (Part I)

3012.4

OK, this is weird. I just watched Court Martial, which took place on Starbase 11. And in this episode, they immediately arrive on – Starbase 11. It may still be on a planet surface, but it looks nothing like the other “version.” What gives? Are we really that poor at continuity?

The tunic insignia does look the same as the “other” base’s, but this one has a different commodore in charge, Commodore Mendez. And we know by the stardates that very little time has passed. Court Martial was 2947.3, it’s only been 65.1, uh, I dunno, sleep cycles, maybe? OK, two months, maybe Commodore Stone got a transfer.

And by the way, my theory that he was wearing a red tunic because he was in charge of a starbase goes out the window now, since Mendez’ tunic is gold. (sigh) I’m trying, boys, but you’re not making it easy for me!

Hmm, just saw the view out of Mendez’ window. The sky is a different color, but the towers do look the same from inside. Maybe it really IS supposed to be the same place.

So the Enterprise received a message to come here, from Fleet Captain Pike, but Mendez says that’s impossible. Christopher Pike, former captain of the Enterprise, was Spock’s commanding officer for eleven years. “Fleet Captain.” I don’t remember hearing that title in Trek before. Usually we play that a commodore commands several starships, his flag on one. So how does a Fleet “Captain” command more ships than that? Sounds more like an admiral’s job, to me. In any case, when they meet him they address Pike as “Captain.”

Pike can only communicate by blinking a light, once for “yes,” twice for “no.” He doesn’t want to see Kirk, Spock and McCoy, but he agrees to see Spock alone. Spock is planning to commit mutiny, because he must. Pike keeps blinking “no.”

Back in Mendez’ office, it appears to be night and the view from the window looks like the other episode’s now. I stand corrected. (Or maybe this has all been manipulated by those deplorable SFX “upgrade” guys; I have no idea what they may have changed! Grrr.)

Mendez says the records show that Spock must be lying about receiving a message. Kirk refuses to believe the records, he knows they can be changed (oh my, he certainly does).

Down in the base’s computer center (which looks like it’s got a lot of our engineering set in it), Spock gives a hapless tech the Vulcan (“Vulcanian?”) Nerve Pinch. What is happening here?

Back upstairs, the pretty young lady who greeted Kirk when he landed comes in and Mendez introduces her as Lt Piper. She tells Kirk that her friend Helen talks about him, which makes Womanizer Kirk look very nervous. Writers, he’s verging on being a slut at this point, you want to give it a rest?

They explain to Kirk that Pike couldn’t possibly even have asked to have a message sent. His mind is active, but he can’t actually do anything.

Back with the computers, Spock sends new top-secret orders to the Enterprise that are routed directly into the computer. Uhura is on the bridge, no one else we know, and a Lt in gold tells her to confirm the orders.

Takei supposedly missed episodes of season two to film The Green Berets, but he’s really missing from a lot of season one episodes, too.

Spock gets jumped while sending the instructions, but pinches this guy too and completes his bogus transmissions.

McCoy and Kirk are having a discussion when Kirk finally loses it and asks McCoy if he thinks Spock is lying, but McCoy says a Vulcan (not “Vulcanian?”) is incapable of telling a lie. I think this may be the first time we’ve heard that. Kirk replies that Spock is half human, which is a good point. Then McCoy is summoned to the Enterprise for a medical emergency. I suspect Spock.

Mendez and Piper meet with Kirk again. Mendez wants to talk about Talos IV. General Order Seven is the only death penalty still on the books, no ship may visit that planet.

Hey! Know what it says on the cover of the file about Talos IV? It says “Starfleet Command!” Woohoo! Now we just have to hear someone mention “The Federation,” and we’re done!

So the file says the only vessel to visit was the Enterprise under Pike and the “Half-Vulcan” Spock. But then, Piper notices that Pike is missing! And worse! The Enterprise is warping out of orbit, refusing to acknowledge any signal! Have you connected the dots yet?

On the Enterprise, McCoy starts asking questions. Spock shows him Pike, and plays a recording of Kirk telling him to stop asking questions and take care of Pike. Well, that’s that, isn’t it?

Back on the bridge, they’re being followed by Kirk and Mendez in a shuttlecraft. Getting our money’s worth out of this shuttle! If Kirk and Mendez, who are inside, don’t turn back now, they won’t get back to base. Oh, and they only have two hours worth of oxygen left.

Kirk almost hopes they don’t catch Spock, he’ll be court-martialed if they do. Mendez counters that if he reaches Talos IV he’ll be dead. Good answer. Mendez wonders if Spock’s gone mad.

And now we get the big moment. Spock has the computer rescue the shuttle, orders Security to the bridge, announces that the helmsman, Hansen is in “operational command,” and turns himself in to McCoy for mutiny. While it’s a fun scene, I’m afraid that having Nimoy play the whole incident so very deadpan really lessens the impact. We’ve seen him slip some emotion into his acting many times, I would think this would be the very most important time to have him do so. But they decided that he won’t, and that’s a pity. Kelley, on the other hand, does a fine acting turn showing all of McCoy’s emotional range. He carries the scene. And Uhura, though she has no lines, still does a good job of emoting. Good work, given the circumstances.

Wait a minute! Scotty’s on board! Why hasn’t he objected to anything? Why wasn’t he in command, instead of some Lt-of-the-Week? Haven’t we yet established the precedent that Scotty’s in command when Kirk and Spock aren’t around?

Well, now that I think of it, maybe we haven’t yet…

As the computers take over, everyone realizes that they are helpless under Spock’s command. Kirk tries to order the computer to disengage from the helm, but the reply is that life support will be deactivated if there is any attempt to prevent them from reaching Talos IV. Spock, who has been eavesdropping from his quarters, lowers his head as we end the act. Well, finally he gets to act, even if it’s just a little.

When we come back, it’s time for a “preliminary hearing” on Mr Spock. Looks there will be quite a few people in attendance. But when they were considering a court martial for Kirk, there was a one-on-one “inquiry” between just Kirk and Commodore Stone.

Writers! Continuity!

No dress uniforms for Spock. He requests immediate court martial. Which will require Pike to be one of the three command-grade officers present.

Whoops, now they’re in dress uniforms for the court martial. And Mendez asks Spock, “Why?”

Kirk: By asking “why” you’ve opened the door to any evidence he wished to present. Apparently what he had in mind.

Spock has the screen activated, and we get to watch the original pilot! An episode within an episode!

Kirk knows no ship makes logs in this detail, but Spock won’t reveal how they are seeing this.

The pilot’s bridge is still very recognizable. Not much was changed. Although they do this really annoying distortion and noise every few seconds when we look through their forward screen.

They pick up a distress signal from the Talos system, apparently it’s the crew of the Columbia from eighteen years ago. Spock says Talos IV is “Class M!” So we established that in the first pilot, but didn’t hear it in production until well into season one.

Pike isn’t going to divert from helping their own sick and injured without evidence that there were survivors. Wow, didn’t expect that kind of attitude, and neither did Spock!

Off-duty crewmen out of uniform in the corridor, including a dress I think I recognize from the second pilot! Pike heads to his cabin, which has a window. Wow, the Forbidden Planet vibe is really strong here. ;-) Dr Boyce joins him, very old as was Dr Piper from the second pilot. I’m glad they didn’t make McCoy that old. Anyway, Boyce is something like McCoy in that he’s brought the captain a drink, a martini! That’s my kind of medicine!

Pike is feeling the weight of responsibility on his shoulders, apparently there was fighting on Rigel 7 and that’s why he wants to get his injured crew to a hospital. No time for rescues, Dr Boyce.

Pike is considering resigning! He’s not cut from the same material as Kirk, apparently. Spock interrupts the pity party to say they’ve received another message, there were crash survivors on Talos. Pike is convinced, and off they go.

Back in the present, Mendez has had enough. Spock agrees to release control if they watch the recording. Kirk and Pike outvote Mendez. The show must go on.

These guys have jackets that they wear to the planet surface, and equipment harness. The background machine noises are really sending me back to those 50’s movies, though. It’s pretty cool.

Looks like they had the same guy building rocks for the planet, even then. Also, the background painting is kinda obviously fake. Funny seeing Spock grin.

And they find the survivor’s camp. But among the old men is the fabulous Vina! The men are all speechless. But wait! They’re being observed by aliens with big brainy heads! That pulse!

Back at the camp, Vina tells Pike it’s time they showed him their secret. One of the survivors says they’re not sure if Earth is ready for it, so they’ll accept his judgment.

Vina leads him up some rocks, says he’s a perfect choice, and disappears. Two aliens appear and zap Pike, then carry him into the rock face. Meanwhile the entire camp of survivors has disappeared too, so the crew chase after the captain. Too late. They shoot their phasers at the stone for a while, but they can’t breach the metal door behind the stones. They’ve lost their captain.

Back in the present, the recording is stopped so Uhura can relay a message from Starfleet to Mendez. They’ve been receiving transmissions from Talos IV in violation of general orders. Kirk is relieved of command, and Mendez is to disable the ship if necessary to stop the transmissions. Mendez orders Spock to release control, but he declines.

Oh, Scott doesn’t get a dress uniform. He’s really getting dissed here.

Shatner gets to display several emotions as he confronts Spock. Nimoy gets a bit more range to work with. But Kirk ends by ordering Security to “Lock him up.”

And then, he’s alone with the reality of what’s happened. His career is ruined, and he’ll probably get the death penalty.

Nicely done. And a nice contrast between two different versions of Star Trek. The production version is my favorite, but it’s neat to see a version that’s so much like those old science fiction movies.

Next time, we watch part two!

[Shelby]

Apologies if you've been waiting for an update. I'm a bit swamped with things to do. I may have to post less regularly; every day might be a little more than I can handle on a regular basis. Is anyone trying to watch along with me? If so, let me know and we can talk about alternate schedules, shall we? Thanks.

[Shelby]

The Menagerie (Part II)

3013.1

Excellent recap of last week’s episode, very stylish with a black background. As I listen to Shatner summarizing those events, I realize what a great narrator he would be for audio books and that sort of thing. He really has a great delivery.

Spock reiterates to the three commanders, “The Keeper” has taken control. And we’re back to the races.

Pike awakens in a set made of really, really bad proto-Trek rocks. Keepers appear, and Pike tells them he’s from “the other end of the galaxy.” They amuse themselves by predicting his every action. How infuriating. They will soon begin the experiment.

Now there’s a scene I don’t remember, in the proto- briefing room. Thanks, local station editors who mangle syndicated shows. Spock interrupts Number One! Ooph, didn’t see that coming. And Dr Boyce gets more lines, too! Would’ve been a sweet gig for him if this pilot had been picked up. Yeoman Colt has nothing to say, but looks good not saying it.

Pike’s first test is his Rigel 7 combat, with Vina added to give him something “more interesting.” Spock has to explain this to the audience. Not too subtle. But Pike doesn’t want to cooperate. Vina gives us clues, it doesn’t matter if it’s real, he’ll feel what happens. Pike believes she’s just an illusion, too.

Ooh, was that tuba music during the fight? You don’t hear that often! And Pike’s opponent is an “it,” but he’s a tool-user dressed like an Earthman, who looks like a human with bad teeth, in a castle, and he tries to “grab” the human girl. Not such an “it,” is he?

The Spock transmission halts because “they” are concerned for Pike, who is fatigued. We have to be told that they care about Pike. Geez, not too heavy-handed.

Back in the movies, Vina is anxious to please Pike, pretty desperately. “Let me please you!” Pike remains stubborn and won’t cooperate.

On the planet surface we get a phaser cannon installation, powered from the ship in orbit. Everybody gets to wear bug-eyed goggles while it shoots. But what a spectacular failure.

Vina answers some of Pike’s questions, in exchange for his agreeing to live a dream with her. The Keepers can’t achieve anything, they just like to watch. Vina tells Pike she’s a real human, like him. But then the aliens get tired of her attempts and “punish” Vina. She disappears.

A Keeper appears and provides nourishment, but when Pike doesn’t cooperate he is punished with illusionary flames. Pike realizes their powers have limits, but he takes the nourishment. They argue but without really accomplishing anything.

The next illusion is a country picnic with two horses. I believe Pike and Boyce talked about a similar scenario in part one. Pike continues to rebel, frustrating Vina. She admits that they can’t read through primitive emotions, but they own her. She seems pathetic, and Pike admits that he finds her attractive.

Vina gets all calculating, speculates that a ship’s captain must dream about what he can’t do. And now we get the famous Orion Slave Girl scene.

Mendez: They’re like animals. Vicious, seductive. They say no human male can resist them.

While it certainly seems that Susan Oliver is giving it her all, she absolutely can’t compete with Yvonne Craig when it comes to dancing (or looks, in my opinion, although that’s subjective).

But Pike is tempted. Even Kirk tells us so. But then he storms out. Vina follows him, and when they’re alone…

We cut to the proto- transporter room. They’re going to beam down inside the Talosian community. One guy is wearing a huge backpack with an antenna sticking out of it. But as Spock shouts, only two of the crew are transported away: “The women!”

Number One and Yeoman Colt appear in Pike’s cage, where Vina has her hands on him. Vina gets quite upset at the competition. Pike grabs their phasers, but they appear to be drained of power.

The girls get catty as Pike struts around in a rage, trying to block alien telepathy. Number One says there was an adult Vina on the Columbia, and it’s been eighteen years. Numbers don’t lie. (See what I did there?)

The Keeper talks up the qualities of each breeding candidate. Poor Yeoman Colt has unusually strong female drives. I think I’d have to pick her.

Once the Keepers think they’re asleep, one tries to sneak in and take their phasers. Pike strangles it, and suddenly it uses its lips to speak! That’s a really difficult change to swallow. The alien threatens to destroy the Enterprise unless Pike releases it.

Pike: I’m going to gamble you’re too intelligent to kill for no reason at all.

Really? Poor choice. Anyway, now he gets smart. He assumes the phasers really work, and threatens to test his theory out on its head. (Of course, that would mean that PIKE ISN’T intelligent enough to avoid killing for no reason at all. Shout out to the human race, thanks for that!) Anyway, it’s about time he suspected the illusions. They escape the cell, taking the alien along as a captive.

The transmissions stop again, and we get to the crux of the matter. Spock asks Pike to insist they wait for the Talosions to resume transmission, because it’s his only chance for life. But as Kirk points out, it would be life in a cage, as a zoo specimen, living out illusions to amuse his keepers. That’s certainly what I take away from this, and since we say that Pike’s Enterprise escaped and recommended the death penalty if any ship ever made contact with Talos IV again, it sure seems like that was their conclusion as well. Yeah yeah, I’ve seen this a million times, but this is where my conclusions always arrive. Nothing they can say changes things after what I’ve seen up to this point.

The panel of judges votes Spock “guilty as charged.”

It’s actually jarring to see the contemporary Enterprise bridge again after all the Pike-era shots. The ship has entered orbit around Talos IV, and transmissions resume. But wait, we’ve already concluded the court martial and condemned Spock to death. Why are we still here watching home movies?

Pike and company escape to the planet’s surface, which is what the Keepers wanted. They will now reclaim the surface, and live lives carefully guided by the Talosians. Pike offers to stay if they allow Colt and Number One to leave on the Enterprise. Number One isn’t having that. She sets a phaser to overload.

Number One: It’s wrong to create a whole race of humans to live as slaves.

She actually delivers that line very well. Didn’t know she had it in her.

Vina doesn’t understand, so Pike shoves her away and tells her to get underground.

Pike: And just to show you how primitive humans are, Talosian, you go with her.

Vina decides to stay and get exploded.

Vina: I suppose if they have one human being, they might try again. (Remember that line for my conclusions, later.)

The Keepers realize that humans have a “unique hatred of captivity.” So they’re all free to go.

Keeper: You were our last hope.

Hope for what? You’ve never established that there was any “hope,” Gene. I still don’t get it, sorry. You didn’t make the sale. And, that’s it.

The others are beamed up, but Pike stays long enough to see Vina’s true form. Apparently the Keepers didn’t understand that bilateral symmetry is for humans as well as Keepers. Really? They look almost the same, you know.

Pike returns and off they go. And it’s back to the future for us. Movie time’s over.

Commodore Mendez disappears. That is the coolest part of this two-parter. The Talosians figured that the fiction of a court-martial would keep Kirk from regaining control too soon. My, how well they understand humans now. Shocking.

The Keepers offer Pike a life of illusion.

Kirk says Spock could’ve come to him, but Spock says that one of them facing the death penalty was enough.

Uhura gets a message from Starbase 11, apparently the Talosians have been in contact directly with them. I picture Mendez and Piper on the couch, all that buttered popcorn… OK, focus. The General Order has been suspended for this occasion. So why didn’t the Talosians contact Starbase 11 directly in the first place, if that’s all it took? Why go through all the fiction of Spock’s mutiny and stealing a starship, if Mendez was just gonna say “OK” by having movie night and chill at Starbase 11? Makes no sense.

Pike beeps that he wants to go live on Talos IV. As Spock is wheeling him out of the room, Kirk gets in a jab about being emotional. Spock’s rejoinder is that he’s been logical. Guys, that was weak, too. Especially since their nerves must really be frayed. I don’t think they’d be up for this shallow banter.

And the very last, big nit I have. The door has only JUST closed after Spock and Pike when the Keepers call Kirk’s attention to the view screen to see Pike joining Vina on the surface. Dude, he’s ten feet away in the corridor. He can’t have got down there that fast. Unless you snatched him out of Spock’s grasp? In which case, why did you wait at all? Why not just transport him from the room while everyone was together?

I have a number of problems with this two-parter, as you’ve noticed. I still have fun watching it, but there are just too many holes to make it a really good episode. If the Talosians have lost their will to create and achieve, living vicariously through putting captives in dream situations and watching them like Youtube videos, how have they suddenly earned respect? What’s changed? The human captives would rather die than live in captivity thirteen years ago, and somehow THAT doomed the Talosians to eventual extinction because humans showed so much “adaptability?” What? I don’t follow that at all. Pike and Spock recommended the death penalty for any contact with them ever again. Because humans might learn illusion and become like the Talosians? OK, maybe. But the Talosians are still Bad Guys, running rats through mazes and pulling the wings off of flies. That’s the life they’ve condemned Pike to. Now, trapped in his brain in an immobile body, maybe living the life of a zoo specimen in an unending series of Survivor episodes seems better to him in comparison, but the Talosians are still the Bad Guys! And who’s to say they can’t create a race of human zoo animals from Pike and Vina, anyway?

Aargh. Well, whatever. It’s done. And as a result, we get to look forward to Yvonne Craig. I guess I owe them for that.

Next time we’ll be watching Shore Leave. Which is sort of an illusion, too. It should be interesting to compare. As I posted earlier, I don’t know if I can get to a new episode every single night, so if you’re following along please let me know. If no one is actually trying to watch along with me – and since no one is commenting here with their own observations of each night’s episode after I make mine, I assume I’m only getting people dropping in and out – then I guess it doesn’t really matter if I post daily or not.

But thanks for reading, anyway. It’s not what I was looking for, but I wanted to do a complete re-watch anyway, even if it’s done in a vacuum.

[Shelby]

Shore Leave

3025.3

We start with a very bright, triumphant track that I don’t recall hearing before, in orbit around a planet. Yeoman Barrows (a one-episode yeoman) is showing Kirk her little viewer-thing when Spock comes up behind Kirk and starts to talk. Kirk says he’s got a kink in his back, and Barrows begins vigorously kneading Kirk’s back for him. From behind. Kirk somehow assumes it’s the non-touchy Mr Spock who’s laid hands upon him, and begins saying things like “that’s it, push hard.” Spock’s reaction shot is priceless.

The theme is that the crew needs a rest after the past three months. Are we going meta here? We’ve gone from stardate 1312.4 to 3025.3 so far in season one, and seems like a lot of stardates to be only three months. Even though it’s been seventeen weeks in the season. I guess we’re not meta, we’re just assuming they’ve been busy recently.

Down on the surface, McCoy and Sulu (he’s baaack!) are smiling and walking through an idyllic park-like setting. They’re one of a number of scouting parties on this planet. They think this would be a great place for shore leave, and mention there are no animals. McCoy even likens it to an Alice in Wonderland setting. Sulu wants to get some plant samples so he can learn about the planet’s lifeforms. Nice that we’ve picked up on that old connection Sulu is supposed to have to botany.

And then McCoy spots Alice’s white rabbit. Followed by Alice. He waits until they’ve run off before calling Sulu over, so of course Sulu didn’t see a thing.

When we come back, Kirk is approving shore leave groups. McCoy calls from the planet and tells Kirk what he saw. Kirk thinks it’s just a ploy to get him to go down and get some shore leave. Spock then pulls a fast one. He says there’s a crewman who shows signs of fatigue that are affecting his performance, but refuses to take shore leave. Kirk orders that man to go, and Spock gleefully – yes, he even smiles – tells Kirk to enjoy the planet.

We see another two crewmembers on the planet, as Kirk beams down with Barrows. This is Rodriguez, and Angela. Kirk and Barrows meet up with McCoy, who shows them giant rabbit prints. Kirk cancels shore leave until he has “proof it’s harmless.”

Then they hear a gunshot, probably that gun that appeared on the ground – the one I didn’t tell you about. Now we get a very unusual shot, both for Trek and for television at the time. The three actors run through the grass in a shaky hand-held shot. This is of course way before the whole “reality TV” handheld explosion. Normally cameras are rock-steady.

It turns out Sulu is target-practicing with the pistol. Apparently he collects firearms. Well, that’s new. Kirk confiscates it, and then Barrows spots more rabbit tracks. They swap partners and split up. An antennae pops up and scans them.

Kirk teases McCoy about the rabbit. The doctor is feeling a little picked-on. Kirk reminisces about his days at the Academy, being mercilessly teased by a guy named Finnegan.

Now Alice’s tracks appear, in addition to the rabbit. McCoy will follow the rabbit, while Kirk will track Alice. (sigh) Already, that seems like a joke. Too much Womanizer Kirk.

Fortunately Kirk meets his old nemesis Finnegan in the woods, rather than another girl. Finnegan’s tunic is pretty cool, a silvery metallic fabric with a grain that runs up and down. His insignia is a little tiny silver starburst. Finnegan pops Kirk in the mouth, goading him into a fistfight, but when we hear a woman’s scream Kirk runs off.

Kirk and McCoy spot each other as they race towards what we’re now told is Yeoman Barrows’ scream. They find her with her dress torn, sobbing. Apparently she was attacked by a “Don Juan” who has run off, and she realizes that she was thinking about Don Juan before he appeared.

Kirk asks where Sulu is, and Barrows suddenly remembers. “He ran after him.” Kirk orders McCoy to stay with Barrows, then runs after Sulu. Another antenna pops up. Kirk tops a rise and pauses as he spots flowers. The peaceful, happy music we associate with Star Trek begins to play. He plucks one, smiles, and then spots a woman who he calls to – “Ruth?”

He’s entranced as she comes to him and embraces him, nuzzling his face. I won’t make a “Womanizer Kirk” jab in this case, because Shatner is doing a fine job of portraying a man who’s just encountered a lost love, beyond hope. Kudos, Mr Shatner. A brilliant performance.

When we come back from break we hear Kirk making a log entry in the present tense, but that doesn’t make any sense at all. We see him on the planet with Ruth. He tries to raise McCoy but doesn’t get an answer. He can’t get Ruth to explain how she’s here, but he seems dazed. McCoy calls him and asks if he found Sulu, but Kirk is sure that the helmsman’s all right. Rodgriguez calls and he’s seen a flock of birds, which shouldn’t be here. Kirk tells Rodriguez to get everyone to meet back at “the glade,” which must be the central location where they arrived. Ruth says if he has to go, she’ll be waiting for him. OK, I know Kirk is dazed, but why not bring her along as proof of what’s happening here? She’s very cooperative and would certainly go along willingly.

Dreamtime is over as Spock tells Kirk there’s activity beneath the planet surface, and it’s draining power from the Enterprise. But in the meantime, an antenna is tracking Barrows and McCoy. She’d like to be dressed like a princess. He says she’d have to fend off Don Juans, along with himself.

Barrows: Is that a promise, Doctor?

They share a meaningful gaze and hold hands. That’s nice. Too bad nothing ever comes of it in the long term. Surprising no one, she spots a fairy-tale gown on a tree. Pity she says she’s a princess to be fought over. He wants to see her wear it. Although she’s a little afraid, she agrees, but cautions him not to peek.

McCoy: My dear girl, I’m a doctor. When I peek it’s in the line of duty.

Best line ever. Nonetheless he’s a gentleman and turns his back, and Rodriguez calls about the rendezvous. Communicators are getting some interference. When we get a look at Rodriguez, he and Angela are being threatened by a tiger.

Back at the ranch, Barrows is dressed like a princess.

But then we cut to Kirk and Spock trying to find answers over the communicator. Kirk decides there’s been no danger, so no need for an armed party to beam down. Then he spots a flock of birds. Could they be deadly?

No, that was a false alarm. Sulu’s walking along (still chasing Don Juan?) when a door opens in the ground and out pops a Japanese swordsman! Pity that Sulu’s phaser doesn’t do anything. Fortunately he runs into Kirk, and no one is following him. And then, Spock beams down, a gamble as they only had enough power to try and transport one last person.

McCoy and Barrows arrive at the glade. No one’s there but he thought he saw something. He claims to be a brave knight to protect her.

Kirk, Spock and Sulu hear growling, and Kirk orders them to locate whatever it is.

A knight on horseback appears in the glade. He rides towards McCoy who stands firm, unmoving.

McCoy: These things cannot be real. Hallucinations can’t harm us.

Kirk and Spock arrive in time to see McCoy killed by the knight’s lance. Spock’s phaser is useless, but Kirk shoots the knight with Sulu’s pistol. Everyone rushes to McCoy, and Barrows bursts into loud tears of grief over his dead body.

Meanwhile, Sulu has arrived and calls Kirk to the knight’s body. Inside the armor is a mannequin. Spock examines it and concludes that all living things they’ve seen have been manufactured.

Meanwhile, poor Rodriguez and his companion Angela are strafed by a pair of Japanese Zeroes. The girl dies. The others spot a plane flying overhead. While they are distracted, McCoy’s body and the knight’s disappear.

Spock gets an idea, asking Kirk what he was thinking. And then Finnegan appears and taunts Kirk. Kirk tells Spock to find McCoy’s body, then chases after the mad Irishman. Who, as played by Bruce Mars, is wild and energetic and just an incredible amount of fun. Kirk begins to enjoy the chase in spite of himself, a smile creeping over him.

They fight and fight. Whenever Kirk slows down, Finnegan taunts him again.

Finnegan: I’ve got the edge, I’m still twenty years old. Look at you! You’re an old man!

And Kirk’s tunic is torn again. It’s really some great fight choreography. They do a fine job. I’ve heard that this is an older style of fight choreography, but it looks great to me. I should talk to an expert I know and see what he thinks.

Kirk finally gains the upper hand and knocks Finnegan out. Spock appears, and asks Kirk if he enjoyed it. Kirk starts to answer, and then it dawns on him – he did enjoy it! And this supports Spock’s theory. Whenever they think of something, it’s manufactured for them.

Spock: For example, when Rodriguez thought of the tiger –

Actually, they shouldn’t know about that yet. But in any case, the tiger appears behind Spock. They run and are strafed by fighter planes, run past the samurai, and then we see Barrows being assaulted by Don Juan as Sulu and Rodriguez prepare to fight him off. Kirk and Spock show up and Don Juan runs away. Kirk interrupts all conversation and orders everyone to stand at attention, and not to think about anything but standing at attention. It’s a great image. Except that Yeoman Barrows’ little red dress is no longer torn. Her collar is still unfastened, but only in the back; and that doesn’t match its prior condition. Tsk, tsk. Continuity, boys.

And then a stranger appears, identifying himself as the Caretaker. The planet’s facilities exist for play. Kirk is furious because McCoy’s dead (he doesn’t know about poor Angela) but just then McCoy appears. He’s unharmed, and accompanied by two showgirls. Barrows is not amused.

Kirk asks the Caretaker what planet his people are from, but the man demurs, saying perhaps the two races are not ready to meet. However, he offers use of the planet for the crew’s amusement. Kirk accepts, and orders shore leave to commence.

And oh look, Angela’s back with Rodriguez now. At least somebody missed her. Spock, however, has had as much shore leave as he cares for. Kirk is just about to offer to go back to the ship and let Spock stay, when Ruth appears. Kirk decides to stay – for a day or two!

Everyone re-enters the bridge, presumably a day or two later, and we hear more Alexander Courage theme that’s been modified to suit the occasion – in this case, contentment. Spock delivers his “illogical” line, and everyone laughs and laughs. It’s just not a funny line, guys. Shame to go out on such a lame line. But we do get a great shot of Kirk looking very happy.

So. We just watched The Menagerie. Illusion is bad. Too much illusion apparently dooms your race. They achieve nothing after they acquire easy illusion. We must keep humanity away from them, so we don’t learn their bad habits. Death penalty if you even contact them.

The Caretaker’s people recognize that the more advanced the race, the greater the need for play. (Sorry, I didn’t bother to type that in earlier.) Kirk and Co agree with that statement. The Caretaker has this whole planet set up so that you may live out your most elaborate fantasies at will, and they can effortlessly read your mind. But maybe humans wouldn’t understand this advanced race, so it’s probably better that the two races not meet just yet. But – it’s perfectly OK for the entire crew to come down and experience it.

So it’s OK in limited doses? Is that why we treat the two sources of ultimate fantasy differently? But it’s OK to turn Pike over to the Keepers. Oh, except they’re still the Bad Guys, those dirty rotten Keepers, because we are told they have all these captives, and we can see that the cage where Pike was held is in a curving corridor lined with other cages. That they “own” Vina, effortlessly read minds, and punish those who do not obey.

Maybe since the Caretaker is wise enough to avoid contact between the races as a whole, but will allow passing human ships to drop by for a brief visit, we can trust them? Perhaps because it’s torture on Talos IV, but it’s all fun and games on the Shore Leave planet? Unless you get shot, or stabbed with a lance, or raped by an android, or eaten by a tiger.

I don’t know, I’m having trouble reconciling the two different attitudes here. But what the heck. I really do like Shore Leave. It’s a fun episode. Finnegan is a blast, and it’s nice to see McCoy have a little romance. It’s a shame it’s nothing more, but on episodic television I guess there are no other options. We get to spend a tiny bit of time with some other crewmen, just like back in the earlier episodes, although we’ll never see them again either. And I think that’s a mistake, but we’re too far gone to rectify that.

The next episode is Arena, a popular episode. I’ll see you there!

[Shelby]

Arena

3045.6

We open in the transporter room, about to beam down to an observation outpost on Cestus III run by a Commodore Travers. Kirk speaks to him briefly right before they beam down. Spock remarks that the commodore keeps insisting that they bring their tactical aides. McCoy on the other hand is just anxious for a good meal. Spock calls him a sensualist, and he agrees with enthusiasm.

They beam down to a burning, broken landscape. Kirk immediately puts the Enterprise on Red Alert (hurray). Cestus III has been destroyed. Obviously the messages they’ve been receiving were faked.

They find a survivor, with an interesting tunic insignia I can’t quite make out. Spock detects aliens nearby. The first red-shirt gets blasted and dies.

Sulu says the ship is under attack by aliens. Kirk insists they keep their screens up for defense, which means the landing party is stranded for the time being. I believe this is the first time we’ve established this particular dilemma! Transporters were a writer’s tool for getting characters to new locations with minimal special effects. But you do need to limit something like that in order to maintain a certain level of peril.

The weapons the aliens are using on the surface are referred to as “disrupters.” Since we haven’t met Klingons yet, this is the first time that term gets used, too. But while the red-shirt got hit with a beam and disintegrated, the rest of the attacks are making whistling sounds and just blowing things up without any sign of a beam or projectile. I hate inconsistencies.

Apparently Sulu is in command (and we saw Scotty, so he’s still getting dissed at this point in the series). Kirk has Sulu fire photon torpedoes, and that’s another first! Now our Enterprise has teeth! Kirk orders Sulu to do whatever it takes to save his ship, and Sulu leaves orbit.

Kirk has reached an arsenal and acquired a little ground-mounted grenade launcher. The aliens have used feedback to blow up Spock’s tricorder – now that’s a good trick! Kirk fires a grenade and it’s some future-tech thing that looks very effective. The enemy barrage stops. One wonders why the original colonists didn’t use this weapon, since they were stored here.

Sulu says the enemy ship has withdrawn, but activated transporters. Kirk orders a team of thirty medics down as a search party. Thirty! We never see anything like that on this show!

Kirk and team beam up and the Enterprise pursues the alien. Meanwhile, the man they rescued rants about how defenseless they were, and he wants to know the reason for the brutality.

We cut to Kirk saying it was all a trap. They wanted to lure the Enterprise, because she’s the only protection in this part of THE FEDERATION! That’s right, fans, we just now established a FEDERATION! I’m so happy, I could burst!

In spite of Spock’s trying to see all possibilities, Kirk sees only the threat of invasion. Spock appears to have trouble accepting that (nice job Mr Nimoy), but finally advises that the alien ship must not be allowed to escape. Thank you Spock, although you’ll flip-flop on this later. Kirk calls Battle Stations and Red Alert as they prepare for ship-to-ship combat!

The enemy tries to outrun them. Kirk orders Warp Seven, and Spock warns that sustaining that speed could be dangerous. Another new fact. Scotty cautions that they may blow up, but Kirk is adamant.

Scotty: They may be faster than we are.

Kirk: They’ll have to prove it.

Spock tries to dissuade Kirk from destroying the alien ship, out of a regard for intelligent life. Kirk says if they go unpunished, they’ll be back and engage in more attacks.

The writers are making a point of having other crewmembers disagree with Kirk’s decision by repeatedly showing us their reaction shots. I’m not sure what the aim is here. As Kirk points out, they’re the only police out there, and a crime has been committed. I’d also like to point out that punishment as a consequence of transgression is a deterrent. And finally, I’ll bring up Balance of Terror, where Spock said they dare not show weakness to the Romulans. An entire outpost was just massacred without mercy, with no defenses, pleading to spare the women and children. You absolutely do not want to show mercy in response to that kind of action.

The enemy continues to outrun the Enterprise, so Kirk orders Warp Eight. Everyone tenses. The Enterprise is gaining when they detect scanning beams coming from an unknown solar system.

The alien ship abruptly comes to a complete halt. Kirk orders phasers to lock on, when the Enterprise also lurches to a halt. Phasers have no power. Spock says the solar system is responsible.

A Metron speaks through the bridge speakers. They appear to disapprove of violence, and they’re miffed at the invasion of their space. They will transport Kirk and the captain of the Gorn ship (oh ho, they’re called Gorns!) to a planet where they may settle their dispute. The winner can leave, the loser and his ship will be destroyed. The Metron isn’t going to allow any discussion. And with that, Kirk disappears. Uhura gives a great scream, although it seems a little out of place – I mean, they have transporters too, you know, it’s not that odd.

Kirk finds himself on a planet that looks a lot like Southern California, facing a big reptile man. Kirk’s wearing the black belt outside his tunic for a change.

He proceeds to give us a voice-over log entry in the present tense! Man, this is so weird, why would you think this is natural? Obviously he can’t be making an entry, and if this is supposed to have been made after the fact, then why the present tense and lack of foreknowledge?

Kirk and the Gorn fight. It’s very strong, and hurtles a huge rock at Kirk. Hey, that rock looks real; why can’t they make all the Trek rocks look that real?

We have a brief scene back on the Enterprise as they try anything they can, but to no avail.

Back on the planet, Kirk activates the recorder/translator that the Metrons gave him to make a log entry that he hopes will get back to STARFLEET COMMAND. (I love it!) And what I suspected back in the Cestus III scene is very obvious here. Kirk is wearing black laced high-tops. They look like boxing boots. You didn’t notice that kind of detail on old CRTs and film, not like on these digital remakes. I guess those little Italian boots weren’t gonna cut it out there in the Cali desert. I know that from experience, having done a weekend shoot in the desert north of Los Angeles myself. I was wearing brand-new sneakers, and they fell apart. One poor kid brought a new car his father had bought for him – it sank in the sand, and had to be towed out. It’s not a forgiving place.

Anyway, Kirk has made a tactical error, because the Gorn can hear a translation of the log entry through the device HE has. Whoops, somebody wasn’t paying attention!

Kirk remembers enough of what he was told to know that he’s supposed to be able to make a weapon from what’s around him.

A brief scene back on the Enterprise to give McCoy a chance to point out the uselessness of logic, and we’re back to Kirk. He finds crystals but can’t figure out how to make a weapon. Meanwhile, the Gorn has constructed something. Kirk gets above him and pushes another big Trek rock down (I think it’s the same rock we saw before). The Gorn gets knocked down. But he gets up again! You’re never gonna keep him down! Then Kirk gets caught in the Gorn’s snare, oh cruel fate! Who’s the better man now, Kirk? Who? The Gorn comes in with a stone dagger but Kirk gets away.

Back on the Enterprise, Spock is trying to get the Metrons to communicate.

Kirk has found sulphur, and he already found diamonds, but he hasn’t made the connection yet.

And then, the Metrons contact the Enterprise! They give the crew a moment to make their peace because Kirk is losing. The Metrons decide to let them watch Kirk die. Uhura puts her hand up to her mouth, it’s very dramatic.

Spock recognizes that Kirk is sitting in potassium nitrate. Kirk tastes it and smiles. Oh, sweet muse of inspiration!

And then the Gorn contacts Kirk via the translator, and informs Kirk he heard the prior entries. The Gorn tells Kirk to stop running, and the Gorn will kill him quickly. We hear the Gorn’s version of the massacre, the outpost on Cestus III was encroaching on their space, and the Gorns believed they were destroying invaders. Oh, the irony! Spock was right, there was an explanation! (Unlikely as it was, and doesn’t undo the senseless overkill.)

McCoy is shocked with the realization that they could be in the wrong. (That’s not in the wrong! If you don’t like someone on your border, and you’ve never encountered them before, you contact them first! You don’t annihilate them without warning, and refuse to accept their surrender, and lure more of them in to kill them too!) Spock agrees, but says the matter is one for diplomats.

Kirk finds a nice piece of bamboo, and Spock approves.

Spock: He knows, Doctor! He has reasoned it out!

Spock narrates what Kirk is doing, but won’t come out and tell the crew what the goal is. Sly dog.

Finally Spock mentions projectiles and gunpowder. Let’s see if that’s enough information for the bridge crew.

Kirk puts it all together into a little cannon that brings us full circle from the grenade launcher he had at the beginning of the episode. But the Gorn is closing as Kirk makes his final preparations.

McCoy: Can he do it?

Spock: If he has the time, Doctor. If he has the time.

He does. The Gorn comes up and Kirk lights his little launcher, blowing the Gorn onto his back and injuring him with diamond projectiles. Kirk picks up the stone dagger to kill the alien, but then changes his mind.

Kirk: No. No, I won’t kill you. Maybe you thought you were protecting yourself when you attacked the outpost.

He throws the dagger away and shouts at the sky.

Kirk: No I won’t kill him. Do you hear? You’ll have to get your entertainment someplace else!

Shades of The Menagerie!

The Gorn disappears and a glowing Roman in a tunic and sandals appears. Since Kirk demonstrated mercy, there may be hope for humanity. And so, they won’t be destroyed.

Wait, Kirk won. He was supposed to be set free. They were gonna destroy him anyway?!

The Metron offers to kill the Gorn, but Kirk hopes to reach an agreement with them. The Metron hopes in a few thousand years the half-savage humans will be ready to reach an agreement with his race, too. Then he disappears.

Kirk reappears on the bridge, all clean again, and everyone jumps. Sulu is amazed that they’re five hundred parsecs from where they were. I guess the Metrons really don’t like visitors. Kirk tells Sulu to take them back to Cestus III.

Spock wants to know what happened. Kirk says they’re a promising species, but Spock says he’s had his doubts. Kirk hopes a thousand years will be enough.

We established that the messages from Cestus III were fake. So they had to have been sent by Gorns. Who can apparently speak fluent Galactic English. If they lured the Enterprise into a trap to destroy it, that’s taking the “we’re defending from invaders” story a little far, isn’t it? Or are the writers trying to equate that with Kirk insisting on destroying the Gorn ship, instead of just chasing it away? I don’t see it. The Enterprise would’ve destroyed one ship that had massacred their outpost. Even exchange, just retribution, and a deterrent. While the Gorns would’ve destroyed a trespassing outpost, then lured a ship in and destroyed it as well. At the very least. That would’ve been a lot more aggressive. But then, maybe the writers think humans should show themselves to be more “understanding” than the Gorns, giving us the moral high ground? I’m finding that a difficult pill to swallow. Again, I don’t see anything wrong with any of Kirk’s actions, no matter how many reaction shots you give us. The only questionable moment I saw is when the Gorn ship was made immobile first, and Kirk’s only thought was to shoot it before it got away. In any other episode, he would’ve stopped and tried to make contact at that point. But, it’s a fine distinction to make. If the writers were trying to make Kirk look unnecessarily destructive, I don’t think they succeeded.

Anyway, it’s a fun episode, although a little frustrating. The preaching seems misguided. Does it live up to the hype as such a popular episode? I gotta say, no. It’s not that revolutionary an idea in science fiction, it’s not even that far a stretch for Star Trek. Each side gets a champion to fight it out. Pretty well-established in history. So while it’s not a bad episode, I’ve gotta say it feels sub par.

Anyway, we’re pretty far along, closing in on the end of the first season, and I think we’ve pretty much hit our stride, no? We’ve got the Federation, we’ve got Starfleet, we’ve got photon torpedoes, everybody’s so set in their roles that it’s already getting old for McCoy to indignantly rail against Spock for being logical. We’ve seen all of the Enterprise that we’re going to see, we’ve got all of the gadgets including the shuttlecraft. The only thing left to do is introduce Chekhov and the Klingons, and those are coming sooner than you think. We’re going to get more info on Vulcans too. But overall, we have now achieved maximum Star Trek. It’s smooth sailing for a while now, until we start to get to the point where we get significant numbers of sub-par episodes. But that won’t be for a while yet.

Tune in tomorrow for our next episode, one of my favorites, The Alternative Factor. See you soon!

[Shelby]

The Alternative Factor

3087.6

We open on the bridge. There’s Mr Leslie at the helm, he’s a semi-regular extra for a lot of episodes. No Sulu, no Scotty.

I would swear Kirk said to lay in a course for Starbase 200! I must’ve misheard him.

So, the ship gets tossed around and a nebula is superimposed over the bridge scene. Pretty cool. Spock says the entire solar system winked out of existence. It’s impossible. Uhura gets a “general alert” from Starfleet, implying that the effect was detected even further out. But, for what distance? Hmm?

Spock detects a human on the surface who winked in during the phenomenon, and he speculates that it is very likely to pose a danger to the ship. Time to beam down with a Security detachment!

Oh, dear, it’s southern California again. So many planets are clones of the area around Los Angeles. I remember the first time I came out here as an adult. I actually pulled over to the shoulder on the highway, got out and started taking pictures. I thought it was so cool to be on a Star Trek planet!

And we learn that the effect was felt at least throughout the quadrant.

I’ll just point out that I haven’t seen a chamois phaser belt on even a Security man in a while. That’s a shame, because I thought they looked really good.

I love the little “flying saucer” they find on the planet. Anyway, the presumed owner shouts that he needs their help “to stop him,” then collapses.

A Lt on the bridge, who’s not wearing a Lt stripe, says the dilithium has been drained by the phenomenon. Kirk points out they need to re-energize or their orbit will decay in ten hours. Spock has learned that the effect was strongest on the planet beneath them.

Uhura gets a response from Starfleet, it is “code one.” Kirk looks grim, says that means “invasion,” and calls for battle stations. The commodore comes on the screen and says the entire galaxy was affected, and beyond. Kirk is tasked with getting to the bottom of this, and all Starfleet ships and personnel are evacuating.

Kirk interviews the man they rescued, who looks much better now. He says he’s been pursuing the “spawn of the Devil” across the universe, a hideous monster who looks like a man. The creature destroyed his entire civilization. When Kirk asks how he survived, he says he was inspecting satellites. “You believe me, don’t you?” Well, once you say something like that, no, I for one don’t believe you. The man says the creature is the source of the effects. He wants help on his “holy quest.”

They head down to the planet, where Spock is examining the little flying saucer. Now their guest has a cut on his face that wasn’t there when he was on the Enterprise. Did you notice that?

Spock calls the man a liar, twice, because there are no other life signs on the planet. Really, Spock? Last episode you were all about how there could be multiple explanations, and now? The guy said it was a thing that looked like a man, he didn’t say it was alive. Well, Kirk sides with Spock and says he wants the truth this time.

The man is immediately struck by the same effect as before, or at least, a nebula is superimposed over him. He shouts out to the creature, and says, “Let’s finish it!” Kirk calls for “condition red” (oh come on guys).

Actually, the ranting voice is not coming from the man we see, because his lips aren’t moving. Is this his opponent speaking?

Oh by the way, Kirk referred to the man as “Lazarus” when no one has yet established that is his name. Continuity.

Now there’s a spinning white cube in the middle of the nebula image that recedes and returns, then a giant Lazarus is among the stars. Then he’s fighting with another, similar figure in a blue haze. One opponent falls, the spinning cube returns, and Lazarus is backing away, down on the planet. He falls, and Kirk and Spock arrive. He’s really bloody now.

Lazarus: He’ll kill us all if we don’t kill it first. Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill!

Back on the Enterprise, the only thing Spock knows for certain is that the effects occur when Lazarus has his “alleged” confrontations. Geez, what the hell more in the way of evidence do you need, Spock, a signed confession from the Devil? You look a little devilish yourself there, Mr Vulcan. The guy literally got battered around in front of you, got swooped up and then dropped down again, obviously pummeled. C’mon, writers, Spock’s “skepticism” (more like blindness) is just silly.

Down in sickbay, McCoy says he treated Lazarus’ wound, stepped away, and when he came back there was no trace of it. Oh ho! So McCoy let him walk away!

We find him in the rec room, haven’t seen this place in awhile. Hey, at least he gets a cup of coffee, all discriminating alien cultures love it. But when someone mentions dilithium crystals, he jumps up and follows them. Then he’s attacked by the “thing” while he’s in the corridor. When the attack is over, he has a bandage on his forehead that wasn’t there before.

McCoy and Kirk arrive, but when McCoy pulls the bandage off, there is a wound there. Kirk thinks it was a bad joke. Spock summons them to the bridge, and shows them a “rip in our universe” on the planet below that wasn’t normally detectable. Spock had to use dilithium crystals to reveal it.

Lazarus gets quite excited. He says they can trap “him,” and demands the crystals. Kirk wants to understand the threat to his ship, and Lazarus says there won’t be any ship if he doesn’t cough up the crystals.

Lazarus: Captain – I’ll have my vengeance.

Then he walks off the bridge, followed (too late) by a Security guard, but Lazarus is out of his sight. Once in a corridor, Lazarus is attacked again, and when he reappears he has no wound. He heads to engineering and knocks two crewmen out. Security alerts Kirk to the fact that Lazarus is “missing.”

When we come back from break, Lazarus has been apprehended but two crystals are missing. This is the bandaged Lazarus. He says he didn’t take the crystals, “I’m not the one.” Actually his beard is very sparse now, compared with before. Let’s see how consistent they are.

Spock wants to know why the “beast” needs the crystals. Lazarus says it’s the same as him, an energy source to power his vehicle and escape. They head back to the surface.

There is no trace of the crystals, nor of the “rip.” They split up to search. Lazarus heads off on his own, and is swooped into another fight. When he returns he is still bandaged, the “innocent” Lazarus.
He slips, knocks a fake rock down (the one from Arena), and calls out to warn Kirk so he doesn’t get hit. Then Lazarus falls after it, crashing to the ground.

Back in sickbay, Kirk is holding that silly little data card reader again. How did I not notice this in fifty years of watching this show? I’ll post a screencap below that includes it.

Kirk thanks him for saving his life, then calls him a liar. He says there has never been a planet at the location Lazarus specified. Lazarus said they’d think him mad if he told the truth.

Kirk: I’ll have the truth now.

Lazarus’ planet is below. His spaceship is more than just that, it’s a time-ship, and he is a time-traveller. (This shouldn’t be a big deal to the Enterprise crew as they’ve already discovered time-travel quite a few episodes ago, in The Naked Time.) He becomes agitated, he needs the crystals to kill the thing. The thing has the crystals, not him. McCoy demands that they leave Lazarus alone, “he’s not going anywhere, not this time.” Of course, he gets up as soon as he’s alone. He’s attacked again, but only a haze, then it passes. He’s still the bandaged Lazarus.

Spock and Kirk review. The source of the radiation can have only one “alternative;” it is outside their universe. A parallel universe, which Spock points out is a valid theory. This is the first time such a thing has been used in Star Trek, though, and it won’t be the last! They discuss Lazarus in that light, and conclude that his behavior could be that of two different men.

Kirk wants to know the purpose, and Spock says madness needs no purpose but may have a goal. And that Lazarus must be held, destroyed if necessary.

They finally get to the crux, matter versus anti-matter. If the two Lazarus’ meet, the result will be total annihilation.

Out in a corridor, Lazarus starts an electrical fire in engineering, and we get to see Star Trek firefighting suits! Lazarus steals the crystals and beams down to the planet. Interestingly, these dilithium “crystals” are more like orange plastic panels that you snap in. Normally when we see dilithium crystals, they look like just that, crystals.

It’s funny, when Lazarus runs into the transporter room, he knocks out the technician. When Kirk runs into the transporter room only minutes later, apparently a different technician is there. This may be the first indication that there is more than one transporter room on the ship, something that was specified in the Star Trek Technical Manual that came out years after the show was canceled. I suspect they were just being sloppy, though.

Kirk arrives just in time to stick his head into Lazarus’ ship. Lazarus screams, “No! Not you! Nooo!” and Kirk is zapped away. Now it’s Kirk all hazy and blue with a nebula and a spinny cube. When he reappears the planet looks different, all dark. Or maybe it’s just night. Back at the zippy little ship, the glass canopy is off, in this universe the rocks are all Star Trek fakes, and we have an unwounded Lazarus who calmly welcomes Kirk.

Lazarus confirms Kirk’s understanding of the situation, and asks for Kirk’s help to “stop” the other Lazarus. They continue talking, and Lazarus describes the “corridor” between universes. He likens it to a prison, if you stay inside both universes are safe. This Lazarus is trying to keep the other from meeting him outside the corridor, which would result in the destruction of both universes. The man is mad, he can’t stand having a duplicate.

Lazarus wants Kirk to go through, force the other Lazarus through while this one is in the corridor to hold him, and then destroy his ship.

Lazarus: And I’ll hold him there.

Kirk: You can’t hold him forever.

Lazarus: Can’t I, Captain? You destroy his ship.

Kirk: But if I destroy his ship won’t yours also be destroyed?

Lazarus: It will.

Kirk: And your door will be closed.

Lazarus: Yes, and so will his.

Kirk: You’ll be trapped inside that corridor with him forever. At each other’s throats throughout time.

Lazarus: Is it such a large price to pay, for the safety of two universes?

Kirk goes back, fights this Lazarus, and tosses him into the corridor. Spock has the crewmen take the dilithium out of the little ship.

Kirk: We must destroy that ship completely!

Spock: What of Lazarus?

Kirk: And what of Lazarus.

When they get back to the bridge, Kirk relieves Mr Leslie, who resumes helm. Yay Mr Leslie, he was in charge for a bit.

Kirk hesitates before giving the order, and then they destroy the little ship. We get a glimpse of both versions of Lazarus, at each other’s throats, throughout time.

Kirk: Everything’s all right Mr Spock. For us.

Spock: There is of course no escape for them, sir.

Kirk: There is of course… no escape. How would it be? Trapped forever with a raging madman at your throat? Until time itself came to a stop? For eternity..? How would it be?

Spock: Captain. The universe is safe.

Kirk: For you and me. But what of Lazarus? What of Lazarus?

I get so choked up when I watch this episode. Robert Brown does a great job playing Lazarus, Kirk has a mixed performance. At the beginning he’s kind of a jerk, but by the end he’s thoughtful, empathic, troubled by the implications, in awe of Lazarus’ sacrifice.

For some reason there’s a vocal component that dislike this episode. I know, they changed the script, they changed the actor. Hell with all that, look at what you got, without all that background baggage. It’s a damned fine story, especially when you compare it with some of the other first season episodes that have plot holes all over the place. It gives me chills, thinking about Lazarus’ sacrifice, eternity with a madman.

As I say on my blog label, you either agree – or you’re wrong. This goes in with my top episodes of the re-watch, which now consists of:

Mudd’s Women
Charlie X
The Naked Time
The Conscience of the King
The Alternative Factor

Our next episode will be Tomorrow is Yesterday. I’ll see you then.

[Shelby]

Tomorrow is Yesterday

3113.2

The episode opens with footage of real Air Force jets. Radar thinks they’ve detected a real UFO. Next, we see the Enterprise in atmosphere! Sadly, this is the re-done SFX, so I’m automatically ticked off. No screencaps of the ship this time around, guys, sorry. That’s not what it looked like.

Everyone’s picking themselves up on the bridge while Kirk’s VO explains they were escaping a strong gravitational pull, but like a rubber-band they “snapped back” and that has somehow propelled them “here.” They are in orbit around Earth. We see Sulu and Uhura on the bridge.

Uhura can’t reach Starfleet, but they get a radio broadcast about a manned moon shot. They are in the late 1960s, another time-travel episode! They’re being pursued by an Air Force jet. Kirk orders Scotty to put a tractor beam on it, but that crushes the plane.

Kirk has them beam the pilot aboard, and goes to meet him at the transporter. Captain John Christopher is extremely suspicious, of course.

And here we go, officially. Kirk tells Christopher that there are only twelve ships like the Enterprise in the fleet. That was repeated in the Star Trek Technical Manual, years later. But in an earlier episode, we saw a chart with only ten ships listed on it. I don’t know if those were equals of the Enterprise or not, though. That may have been a list of nearby ships of any class, or ships under repair, or some other category.

Kirk says their authority is the United Earth Space Probe Agency. Oh well, we’re still being inconsistent, I see. In any case, Kirk fesses up that they’re from the future.

Christopher: I never have believed in little green men.

Spock: Neither have I.

Kirk: Captain Christopher, this is my first officer, Lt Commander Spock.

Spock will get a promotion to commander later in the series. Perhaps he’s earning that promotion now, as he tells Kirk that they can’t release Christopher because he might change the future that “must be.” As a result, they might not even exist! Ah, the problems of time travel.

Cygnet 14, a planet dominated by women, gave the Enterprise computer a female personality. Kirk and Spock are not amused.

Kirk tells Christopher they can’t let him go home, or the future might be destroyed. Spock adds insult to injury by saying he makes no relevant contribution, so his loss won’t have an effect. Christopher doesn’t like that, he has a wife and two children. Scotty comes on and says the Enterprise has nowhere to go in this time. A good point.

Christopher: You’re as much a prisoner in time as I am.

Christopher tries to escape via transporter, and there he meets Mr Kyle, another semi-regular extra who I don’t believe we’ve seen up to this point. Kirk arrives and knocks him out.

Later, in sickbay, Spock says he’s made an error. Stop laughing. Anyway, Christopher will have a son who will head a mission to Saturn, so they have to find a way to return him. They spend a minute bonding with a man looking forward to having a son.

Spock is contemplating a way to recreate the time-travel effect in reverse. But first they need to retrieve the film from Christopher’s wing-cameras, and recordings of his reports. That way there will be no evidence of the Enterprise having been there.

Sulu and Kirk beam down into the base. Kirk uses an electronic lockpick on a mechanical lock, nice trick. He’s also got a little flashlight.

Back on the ship we get a view of the transporter room from a different angle, showing little food-dispenser panels along a wall. McCoy asks Spock if he shouldn’t be working on his time-warp calculations (he’s just standing there). He looks at McCoy, deadpan.

Spock: I am.

Tee hee. Get it? He’s doing it in his head.

Back at the base, Kirk and Sulu are held at gunpoint by an Air Force man. He takes their gear, sets off an emergency signal, and gets beamed up, much to Kirk’s disgust.

They retrieve big reels of magnetic tape, then get the camera film, but are discovered again. Kirk has to fight three men, and it’s pretty spectacular. But Sulu got away with the evidence.

Back on the ship, McCoy points out that they can’t locate Kirk to beam him up, because he doesn’t have a communicator. Is this the first time we’ve established that?

Meanwhile Kirk is being interrogated. One of the guys is gesturing with a little type one phaser while Kirk is visibly cringing, it’s very funny.

Interrogator: I’m going to lock you up for two hundred years!

Kirk: That oughta be just about right.

Christopher won’t tell Spock where to beam down until they agree to take him, too. Spock trusts him, but “only to a certain point.” Yep.

The other prisoner is still in the transporter room with Kyle, who puts a floppy data card in the slot and gets him some chicken soup. That’s why we have the odd view! And I guess that’s what Rand meant by a “diet card.”

The party beams down and rescues Kirk with an amusing string of antics. In fact, the whole episode is played tongue-in-cheek, it’s a lot of fun without being as over-the-top as Shore Leave was.

And now, the inevitable betrayal as Christopher grabs a pistol and refuses to leave. Spock pinches him from behind, he really WAS suspicious!

Time for the slingshot effect we know and love. Spock explains that they’ll go back in time a bit, then slingshot forward, and they’ll beam their two unwitting passengers back right before they encountered the Enterprise. That way there’ll be nothing to remember. A little hokey, but we’ll accept this. After all, we don’t know how time travel works, anyway; who’s to say what’s right?

Scott ups the stakes by saying he’s worried about stopping at the right time, and breaking apart. Oh, is that all?

Off they go towards the sun. Christopher admits he didn’t get picked to be an astronaut. Kirk tells him he’s made it before any of them.

Spock explains how fast they’re moving, and we see the chronometers running backwards. Christopher runs off to get changed and get to the transporter. Ya know, he’s spent so much time trying to fulfill his duty and prove he’s been on a UFO, I wonder why he doesn’t stick some high-tech gadget in his pocket before he goes.

Or, maybe he did...

The ship slingshots as everyone gets tossed around. I hate this stupid “improved” SFX, it still looks like a bad video game.

Christopher is beamed back and of course the plan works. He sees nothing. Then they pull the same thing with the guard.

Scotty begins trying to apply the brakes, and things get really rough again. When things calm down, Starfleet Control contacts them. They’re home.

This is a fun episode, light-hearted, that gives us more of Star Trek’s take on time travel. For those two reasons, it’s a valuable contribution to the series. When I was a kid though, I didn’t really enjoy seeing “modern day” sticking its ugly head into my science fiction, so this wasn’t one of my favorite episodes. I feel differently now, but it’s still not one of my favorites. It’s good, just not outstanding.

Next time, we’ll be watching the episode most often chosen as the best Star Trek’s ever produced, and my own personal favorite as well, The City on the Edge of Forever, written by my very favorite author, Harlan Ellison. Expect some fannish conversation.

[Shelby]

City on the Edge of Forever

3134.0

(If you were following along in real-time, my apologies for the delay in posting this episode.)

We open on a bridge wracked by turbulence, following the writer’s rule to open in media res, in the midst of the action. Today’s episode includes Uhura, Scotty and Sulu. The forward console sparks like mad and Sulu is knocked out. Spock informs us that they’re passing through “ripples in time.” That’s a good line. It also means we’re doing another time-travel episode. How many has that been now? Trek really popularized this theme in television. Well, it and The Time Tunnel, which debuted in the same year, but I would argue that Trek’s influence is greater since it’s lived for over fifty years. Time Tunnel only had the one season.

A contrivance we haven’t seen before: Kirk tells Uhura to send Starfleet his recent logs, then proceeds to tell us that they were led here by following time disturbances, and the source is on the planet below.

“Better risk a few drops of cordrazine,” mutters McCoy as he prepares an injection for Sulu. Following another writer’s adage, Chekhov’s Gun (not that Chekhov): “If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don’t put it there.”

Meanwhile, Scotty took the helm while Sulu was lying in some pretty yeoman’s lap (and not appreciating it as much as I would have).

And almost immediately, McCoy accidentally injects an entire cartridge of cordrazine into himself, making him psychotically paranoid. He races off the bridge, ending a cold open that was really non-stop.

You know, the harp line in the opening theme really makes it.

Kirk’s VO tells us how dangerous cordrazine is. Security is searching the ship. I notice a big blinking “red alert” light fixture as part of the corridor’s comm panel, have they always been there?

McCoy steps through the door of the transporter room with the usual whooshing-noise, yet somehow still manages to catch Mr Kyle by surprise and gives him such a karate-chop!

Kirk orders a landing party to fetch McCoy back, and of course leads it himself. Another instance of the captain and first officer heading off to do something dangerous, leaving the ship in the command of lesser beings. Roddenberry, perhaps miffed at the criticism about that over the years, did away with it in The Next Generation by keeping the captain on the bridge, and sending “away teams” under the direction of the first officer. It makes more sense, but realize that Roddenberry was the co-conspirator in making Shatner’s Kirk the focus of attention, the center of the action, the dominant character. I read an example of that thinking a week or so ago when I was watching The Alternative Factor. Apparently Roddenberry didn’t think Kirk was getting enough action just leading landing parties in that episode, so a fight was orchestrated. So you can’t blame Shatner for “hogging the spotlight,” something that always gets pinned solely on him, because it was Roddenberry’s thinking that allowed, even encouraged it. It was part of the concept. Just a different way of thinking from today’s ensemble casts. Shatner was always supposed to be the star of the show, the center of attention.

Wow, even Scotty goes down on the field trip. That really leaves no one in charge back up in orbit. Sulu again? And Uhura, I think this is a first for her. Of course, she’s just subbed in as originally that was Rand’s role. Anyway, we’re here in front of the Guardian of Forever, the iconic donut. And McCoy pops up, cleverly remaining hidden.

Sadly, the Guardian’s show is still in black and white…

McCoy finally blows his cover and Spock pinches him. Kirk suggests going back in time a day to avoid McCoy’s accident. It’s not a bad idea. Pity that Kirk waxes poetic about losing ones’ self in the past just while McCoy is waking up from the Spock pinch. (Maybe he woke up so fast because of the drug?) He leaps into the past, and Uhura can no longer contact the ship.

Guardian: Your vessel, your beginning, all that you knew, is gone.

Uhura gets one of her few lines. Pity it’s only “Captain, I’m frightened.”

So far, so good. The episode has rolled right along, we have the stakes, our characters are emoting in a believable fashion. What would you do, how would you feel? This is the conundrum of time travel. It’s very well presented.

Kirk tells us how they’re going to go back and try to stop McCoy. He tells the others that they’ll each have to try, and if they fail they’ll live out their lives in the past. Can you imagine it? We watch their faces, and try.

And here we are in the past. A very clean past. The back lot would probably look more grim in the black and white it was created for. The boys are already bantering. Although we as viewers enjoy it, it’s hard to believe that they’d behave that way in such stressful circumstances.

Kirk and Spock are almost struck by a car while crossing a street for the first time. Ah, Chekhov.

We get a light, merry strain of Courage’s theme as Kirk steals clothes from the poor. Which leads us right into our first conflict in the past. A police officer (“I recognize the traditional accouterments”). So, perhaps the good folk of the Federation no longer require a police force? In any case, this gets us to Spock’s “mechanical rice-picker” story, always a crowd-pleaser. That was the first break in the tense stream of events we’ve enjoyed so far. Then the boys have to run and hide. In a basement.

Time for a bit of time-travel theory. If there are ripples and currents in time, then Spock hopes that they have been swept to the same place as McCoy will be, instead of him ending up in, say, Mongolia. A bit contrived, but Kirk’s worry about the odds of them finding each other sounded pretty credible.

Kirk asks if Spock can build a computer aid for his tricorder, eliciting the famous “In this zinc-plated, vacuum-tubed culture?” line. Really, we have some of the best lines in this episode.

And our slum angel makes her entrance, while the violins swell. Edith Keeler, played by the incomparable Dejah – wait, wrong story. Played by that vision of loveliness, Joan Collins. Shatner really does a fabulous job of acting in this episode. You can already see that he’s charmed by her.

Upstairs in the soup kitchen, Edith prophesies the destiny of mankind, the Federation, which “will give each man hope, and a common future.” This of course was Roddenberry’s humanitarian dream. Pity it’s taking us so long to get there, since capitalism subsumes every breakthrough that could feed us all and keep us healthy. Ah well, perhaps we’ll get there someday.

Spock is miffed that Kirk can’t bring him a five-pound block of platinum for his tricorder-booster.

Spock: You’re asking me to work with equipment which is hardly very far ahead of stone knives and bear skins.

Edith bursts in and asks him what he’s doing.

Spock: I’m endeavoring, ma’am, to construct a mnemonic memory circuit using stone knives and bear skins.

They steal some watchmaker’s tools, and Edith confronts them. Kirk turns on the charm, and Edith agrees to forget about it if Kirk will walk her home. Because she wants to ask him some questions.

Edith: You know as well as I do how out of place you two are around here.

Spock: Interesting. Where would you estimate we belong, Miss Keeler?

Edith: You? At his side. As if you’ve always been there and always will.

Edith faces Kirk.

Edith: And you? You belong in another place. I don’t know where or how. I’ll figure it out eventually.

Spock: I’m finished with the furnace.

Edith: “Captain.” Even when he doesn’t say it, he does.

The acting is superb. The magnetism that draws them together reaches out from the screen and grabs you. Collins is a consummate actress.

They walk together down the street, and Kirk holds her hand. The radio plays Goodnight Sweetheart, foreshadowing that breaks your heart.

Edith says, “Let me help.” Kirk tells her about the future novelist who recommends those three words over “I love you.” They almost kiss.

Good night sweetheart, tho' I'm not beside you
Good night sweetheart, still my love will guide you
Dreams enfold you, in each one I'll hold you
Good night sweetheart, good night

If you’re not crying, you’re made of wood.

Spock is home ahead of Kirk and is watching the recordings he made from the Guardian. Is this the first time we’ve actually seen someone looking at the little viewscreen on a tricorder? Normally they face the screen outward ahead of them, as if there’s a sensor there to scan ahead with. I think this is the first time we’ve seen this simple move. Up to this point, we’ve seen them use those boxy little readers instead.

So the first newspaper has Edith dead. Kirk comes back and Spock tells him he may find this disturbing. But when they look again, it says Edith was conferring with the president. Then everything burns out.

Spock calls him “Jim,” that’s a hint. Spock says he saw the obituary. Kirk’s face is the picture of denial.

Kirk: You must be mistaken. They both can’t be true.

Spock calls her the focal point in time they’re all drawn to.

Kirk: She has two possible futures. And depending on whether she lives or dies, all of history will be changed.

They realize that McCoy either kills her, or prevents her from being killed. Spock asks “What if Edith Keeler must die?” Kirk cannot answer.

McCoy appears in the street, raving. “You! What planet is this?!” he shouts at a poor bum, who drops the bottle of milk he was stealing.

As he starts going on about needles and sutures and pain, Kelley is really selling the emotion. It’s a rare insight into the character, I don’t think we’ve ever seen him cry. A really fine performance. Kudos.

McCoy stumbles into the mission the next morning, narrowly missing Spock as Edith leads him away. This is designed to frustrate the audience, get them to shout at the screen. Well done.

Kirk and Spock get their answers. Edith Keeler, founder of the peace movement, let the Nazis develop the bomb first. Peace was the way, but it was the wrong time. And it happens because McCoy keeps her from dying in a street accident.

Kirk: Spock, I believe… I’m in love with Edith Keeler.

Spock: Jim, Edith Keeler must die.

McCoy comes back to sanity back in the mission. He wonders if he’s unconscious, or demented.

Edith: I have a friend who talks about Earth the same way you do. Would you like to meet him?

McCoy: I’m a surgeon. Not a psychiatrist.

I do believe that’s the classic line! He hit pretty close once before, but this is... the Real McCoy! Ha ha ha!

You know, just watching Collins move so gracefully around a sound stage, I’m reminded of how she said she ended her stint in Hollywood and returned to England because she was constantly harassed in America. And she worked with Roddenberry, the notorious womanizer, on this show. Hmm…

Edith trips on the stairs but Kirk catches her. She kisses him, while Spock watches from below. This is meant to tug at your heart-strings, especially after all that’s come before.

Spock points out that she could have died right there.

Spock: Save her – do as your heart tells you to do – and millions will die who did not die before.

Wide establishing shot of a street with cars driving by. This is a set-up, audience. We all know what’s coming. Kirk and Edith attempt to cross the street and are almost hit by a car, just as Kirk and Spock were when they first arrived. Without thinking, Kirk pulls Edith back, almost casually, and saves her life. Is this where she was meant to die? If it occurred to him, it didn’t show.

She mentions McCoy. Kirk, amazed, tells her “Stay right here!” He runs across the street, yelling for Spock. Spock, McCoy and Kirk all meet and hug, while Edith marches straight into traffic, her attention only on the enigma playing out before her eyes.

Zoom In on Kirk.

Kirk (Whispered): Edith!

He freezes.

Spock: No, Jim!

I swear Spock’s voice is enhanced there, for further impact.

McCoy runs to save her, but Kirk grabs him in a terrible embrace. Kirk’s face is tortured. Her scream is abruptly cut off. Chills.

McCoy: You deliberately stopped me, Jim. I could’ve saved her. Do you know what you just did?

Spock: He knows, Doctor. He knows.

Good night sweetheart, tho' I'm not beside you
Good night sweetheart, still my love will guide you
Dreams enfold you, in each one I'll hold you
Good night sweetheart, good night

Kirk turns away, faces the wall, fist clenched so hard it’s shaking. He’s staring at nothing, or everything.

They reappear in front of the Guardian. Kirk’s expression show’s how devastated he is. The expressions on Spock and McCoy’s faces show how concerned they are for their friend.

Kirk: Let’s get the hell out of here.

And that, my friends, is the greatest Star Trek episode.

The original script was written by my favorite author, Harlan Ellison. An amazing, prolific, award-winning writer and editor. Here’s a post I wrote on his birthday:

themichlinguide.wordpress.com/2019/05/26/two-famous-birthdays-this-weekend/

He knew Roddenberry and was in on the show from its beginnings, but this was the only episode he would write. After being told that his first script was amazing, he got more and more irritated as it kept getting pushed back on the production timeline, and requests kept coming in to do re-writes. Eventually, several other folks took a turn at making changes, until there were significant deviations in aspects that Ellison felt were key to his story. Normally, when Ellison got fed up with changes to a project he would invoke a contractual clause to use his pen name, Cordwainer Bird. In this case, for whatever reason, he didn’t. However, he always maintained that his original version of this script was better than the sausage that came out as a result of all the meddling. Both versions won awards. Roddenberry and Ellison went from being friends to not speaking, and making nasty comments about each other. There was a period when they reconciled, but eventually that wore off. I wrote about the differences between the two versions before, so rather than repeat that here, I’ll just refer you to that post:

themichlinguide.wordpress.com/2018/07/22/the-city-on-the-edge-of-forever-flashback-post/

But let’s stick to what was filmed. What did we get? Well, up to this point, the only woman that Kirk seemed to really care for was Ruth, revealed in the episode Shore Leave. We’ve seen enough Womanizer Kirk that seeing him fall in love this time really hits hard. And Shatner pulls it off.

Joan Collins’ performance is so endearing that we easily believe Kirk has lost his heart. Thus it’s only too tragic that he will lose her in the end.

De Kelley gets a chance to show us his chops, which I’m sure he welcomed. Spock and Kirk had some classic banter to break up the tragedy. The show’s pace was excellent. We got more time-travel canon.

Every time I see a picture of Joan Collins, my heart stops. Every time I hear Goodnight Sweetheart, my heart aches. You don’t get that from watching The Flash, kiddies.

OK, I’m breaking the rule I just set. From the end of the original script, by Harlan Ellison:

Spock: No woman was ever loved as much, Jim. Because no woman was ever offered the universe for love.

[Shelby]

Space Seed

3141.9

The Enterprise has come across an old Earth ship built in the 1990s, while exploring so far out in space that no Earth vessel was ever supposed to have been there before! Well, I guess we’ve failed to live up to expectations, haven’t we? Thirty years too late, and we haven’t even sent a man further out than our little moon. Pity we de-funded NASA, isn’t it? Well, at least I can watch cat videos anywhere I roam.

No regulars on the bridge but Kirk, Spock and Uhura. Kirk calls Sickbay and asks McCoy for bio-scans of the ship. That’s hysterical, they’ve never done that before, nor do I believe since. That’s Spock’s job!

Even with the idiocy of replacing the model ships with graphics straight out of Wing Commander, they have to tilt the derelict ship down slightly with respect to the level Enterprise. Because she’s a derelict, you see. She’s sinking. Gaah.

Well at least we dodged a bullet. Spock says the mid 90’s was our last world war. Does that mean we’re overdue? Here’s where we hear about the Eugenics Wars as the boys playfully bicker.

Kirk leaves Spock in command and heads over with McCoy and a historian who apparently doesn’t do much, in Kirk’s opinion. Lt McGivers, who has no rank stripes. We actually get to see her cabin, she’s an artist. And here’s Scotty in the transporter room. McCoy gets a chance to complain about having his atoms scattered, one of his trademark traits.

This is only the second time we’ve seen a female crewmember in a dress wear a black phaser belt on a landing party. Yeoman Rand never wore one, Yeoman Barrows didn’t wear one in Shore Leave, Yeoman Mears didn’t wear one in Galileo Seven, even Christine Chapel didn’t wear one when she went down to the planet in What Are Little Girls Made Of? No, up until this point, the only other time was when Uhura went down to the planet on City on the Edge of Forever. It’ll be interesting to see if this becomes a trend.

In any case, McGivers carries a phaser and that silly little card reader. She tells us that sleeper ships were used up until 2018. (sigh) And there’s our boy, Khan Noonien Singh. I for one welcome our new overlords. So does McGivers, she can’t take her eyes off this guy.

He’s dying, so Kirk breaks the glass – which isn’t safety glass. Yes kiddies, there was a time before safety glass. McCoy just watches as Khan almost dies. Only Kirk, the man of action, has done anything, and that was breaking the sleeper compartment open. Gee, way to take care of patients.

Back in sickbay, McCoy is working on Khan, assisted by a nurse-who-is-not-Chapel, and a guy in a blue jumpsuit. Meanwhile on the bridge, Kirk teases Spock and speculates on why the ship is named Botany Bay. Spock feels that having insufficient facts invites danger. Interesting.

I’ve just noticed that Spock definitely has two unbroken rank stripes. At one point he did not. So now he is a full commander. Ooh, and Khan is wearing the little sleeveless vest that Gary Mitchell had on when he was a patient in sickbay back in the second pilot, Where No Man Has Gone Before. I think they only use it on patients who work out. They didn’t use it in Dagger of the Mind, for instance.

Kirk, McCoy and McGivers observe Khan and we conclude that he is an improved breed of human, which is what the Eugenics Wars were all about. What could go wrong?

Kirk gives McGivers a talking-to, and commends her honesty when she admits she finds their patient “compelling.” McCoy jokes that he’d have made a fair psychologist. McCoy goes back to writing on his magic slate with a stylus, even though he’s got a perfectly good terminal on his desk. No keyboard though. I think that’s a design flaw.

Khan wakes up, does some tai chi, then takes an old-school scalpel off of a wall display. When McCoy comes back, the patient grabs the doctor.

McCoy: Well either choke me or cut my throat, make up your mind.

Khan: English. I thought I dreamed hearing it. Where am I?

McCoy: You’re in bed, holding a knife at your doctor’s throat.

Khan: Answer my question.

McCoy: It would be most effective if you would cut the carotid artery. Just under the left ear.

Both actors did a fine job in this scene, really showing some character. Khan releases him, and Kirk comes down. Khan refuses to answer questions, demands his people be revived, and wants access to the ship’s engineering manuals. Kirk backs down from questioning him and gives him the access, although he’s not going to revive the others just yet.

McGivers comes to visit Khan, and he puts the moves on her. She professes only a scientific interest, and escapes. A formal dinner is being prepared. Khan has someone guide him to McGivers’ quarters. He walks in and asks her to accompany him. He finds that she’s painting his portrait. He tells her, “Such men dare take what they want,” and he goes in for the kiss. They embrace.

At the dinner, Kirk, Spock, McCoy and even Scotty (yay!) wear dress uniforms, but none of the other crew at the table do. Saurian brandy is poured all around. For something that was locked up in sickbay, they’re pretty free with it.

Spock and Kirk politely goad Khan into defending the dictators of the Eugenics Wars. When he realizes he’s been exposed, he “grows fatigued” and leaves. McGivers follows, and Khan plays some pretty sick dominance games with her. When she capitulates, he tells her that he intends to take the ship. When she balks, he rejects her until she breaks into tears and promises to do anything he asks. I’ve got to say that she’s not holding up well for the team.

In the briefing room, Spock briefs Kirk, McCoy and Scotty. We’ve now reduced the leaders of the Enterprise to these four men. There are no longer “department heads,” this is it. The evolution of Star Trek has hit another milestone. And Scotty’s a part of the boy’s club.

They all tease Spock by pointing out Khan’s good qualities. It’s a little bizarre, given how they’ve already experienced the man first-hand. They should realize just how dangerous he is. Our writers are not being true to the characters.

Kirk confronts Khan, who sneers at his inferior. Once Kirk is gone, Khan forces his door open and jumps a guard. McGivers holds Kyle at phaser-point in the transporter room – which no longer has the food dispensers on the wall. (Did we remodel, or are we admitting there are multiple transporter rooms yet?) They beam over and revive the other supermen and -women. Funny how Khan almost died being revived, but apparently there is no trouble with the others.

Security reports Khan has escaped. Kirk calls a “security alert.” (sigh). But communications are jammed, and so are the “turbo-elevators” (not turbolifts). Atmospheric controls are cut off. Khan and his people are in engineering. Kirk tries to flood decks with neural gas (!) but that’s been cut off too. As they suffocate, Kirk mentions two “Technicians First Class.” I’d really like to see a chart of all these ranks and grades.

The bridge crew passes out and Khan takes control. No one agrees to help him, even when he threatens Kirk’s life. It seems humans have evolved, haven’t they? They have integrity. This is Roddenberry’s vision of our future. This is why he objected to Harlan Ellison’s view of the Enterprise crew. Even in today’s movies and TV shows, characters always break at this moment, giving in to the terrorists, putting huge numbers of people, even the entire world in danger, just to avoid the suffering of one person they care about. It’s stupid, especially because real life isn’t a movie. You never win when you give in to terrorists. Roddenberry was right.

McGivers leaves the room as Khan displays ruthlessness. She betrays Khan and rescues Kirk. She wants to bargain with Kirk, asks him not to kill Khan! He says nothing. When they bring Spock in to kill him next, Kirk frees him and tells Spock to release the gas.

When the gas hits the briefing room where Khan is holding the officers, he runs out while everyone else stands around and breaths it in. Guys, this looks stupid, my teenager could’ve staged this scene better.

I see a wall panel that’s got that red-alert prism light on it. I still can’t be sure if they’ve always been there.

Khan jumps Kirk in engineering, twisting the pistol part of his phaser but not affecting the Type 1 piece. He tells Kirk the ship is about to explode. So now they get to fight it out. I had no idea Montalban could fight! Illogically, Kirk wins the fight, and saves the ship.

So what was Khan’s motive to set a self-destruct? He should’ve bluffed, then de-activated it if Kirk wouldn’t surrender. Blowing up the ship does Khan no good whatsoever. But apparently it really was set to blow up.

And we’re set up like a court-martial again. This time we have Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Scotty presiding. There’s a flag with red, white and blue, but you can’t see the pattern. There’s another one, baby blue with a gold insignia and trim.

Kirk announces that he’s dropping all charges. He plans to drop them on Ceti Alpha 5, and challenges Khan to tame a world. Khan mentions Milton, of course. Kirk gives McGivers the option to avoid court-martial and go with them. She agrees, and Khan accepts her.

Scotty: It’s a shame for a good Scotsman to admit it, but I’m not up on Milton.

This is to inform the ignorant audience, but it’s the first time that Scotty, Lt Cmdr Montgomery Scott, has mentioned his heritage. We won’t see him in a kilt for a while, but it’s a beginning.

Spock wonders what they’d find if they came back in a hundred years to see what crop had sprung from this seed. And thus we have the title, Space Seed.

In spite of the nits I’ve picked, it’s still a landmark episode. And obviously struck the imaginations of viewers. I will rate it with my top episodes, which now consist of the following:

Mudd’s Women
Charlie X
The Naked Time
The Conscience of the King
The Alternative Factor
City on the Edge of Forever
Space Seed

That’s quite a respectable body of work right there.

It says online that the actor who played McGivers would’ve been cast in Wrath of Khan were it not for her multiple sclerosis, and was thus written out. It’s a pity she didn’t get to do the movie, but it was an honorable choice to write her out rather than re-cast her. I doubt that would’ve happened in today’s industry.

Next time we’ll be watching The Return of the Archons. See you then.

[Shelby]

Return of the Archons

3156.2

Sulu and O’Neil are running through a backlot small town, dressed as colonials. Sulu calls the ship and identifies himself as the “scouting party.” That’s a first, it’s always a “landing party.” (And of course, in TNG it’s an “away team,” but you already know what I think of that!) Sulu needs an emergency beam-up, since they’re being stalked by a hooded figure with a staff. But the beam-up is too late! Bad Enterprise! O’Neil makes a run for it, but Sulu trusts the captain and holds his ground. Fool. He is shot right before he is beamed up.

Kirk and McCoy meet Sulu in the transporter but he’s obviously affected by the shot in a mental way. He starts out a little indignant, apparently the costume he’s wearing marked them as “Archons.” He says things like “You are not of The Body,” “Landru,” and “It’s paradise.” All with a dreamy smile on his face. That pretty much sums up the episode, so if you want to go get a drink, you’re pretty much done here.

Kirk’s VO tells us they’re here to find out what happened to the Archon, a ship that disappeared one hundred years ago. So Kirk beams down with Spock, McCoy, Mr Leslie and two crewmen who are probably gonna buy the farm. They’re all duded up, this time dressed more like the late 1800’s instead of the late 1700’s.

The people lack energy and interest, with vacant smiles on their faces. One man speaks to them. He assumes they’re visiting, and tells them to hurry and get rooms at Reger’s before the Red Hour. He calls a girl over. She’s Tula, Reger’s daughter. She says they can stay at her father’s place, but just then the clock strikes six. Everyone goes mad, indulging in sex, violence or both. Pretty risque for the 1960s. The landing party ducks into the nearest building.

Fortunately this is the place where they can get rooms. There are three older men inside who wonder why the strangers aren’t at the Festival. One of them is Reger. They get sidetracked when Kirk just says they wanted to get rooms. However, there’s one in every crowd. One of the old men is scandalized, says the Lawgivers must be told, and that the strangers are not of The Body. See, I told you you’ve already heard it all.

Upstairs, Reger finds their behavior scandalous; and then there is an unfortunate cut. What happened to him? How did the conversation end? We don’t know, but we hard-cut to Kirk watching the Festival from his window.

Man, this is awkward as hell. Next there’s a cut to everyone sleeping, then a cut to Kirk looking out the window the next morning. There are zero transitions. Who the hell cut this?

Anyway, when the clock strikes six in the morning everyone freezes in mid-revel, then just walks slowly away, leaving the town in quite a mess.

Tula has returned home, and she’s hysterical. McCoy puts her to sleep, and one of the crewmen berates Reger for not rescuing her last night. Kirk admits they didn’t attend the Festival, and Reger asks if they are Archons.

Just then our squealer returns with two robed Lawgivers. They zap one of the old men to death, and tell Kirk that he will be Absorbed. Kirk defies them, and they begin to “Commune” with Landru. Reger leads the landing party away, but everyone in the street slowly picks up a weapon and focuses on the them. Kirk has them draw their little Type One phasers – I guess the Type Two pistols are too serious a breach of their costumes. They start zapping their way through the crowds, but find they’ve stunned Lt O’Neil. Reger warns them that Landru will locate them through O’Neil, but Kirk brings him along anyway. He still wants to find out what happened to “the Archons.”

Reger has led them through an alley and into a castle interior that we’ll see in more than one episode. It doesn’t look anything like Mayberry though, so it’s a glaring contrast here. Reger produces a “lighting panel,” high tech from before Landru – as long as 6,000 years ago. He says when the Archons appeared, some were killed, the rest Absorbed. Reger admits to being a part of a cell that resists Landru, and convinces Kirk to keep O’Neil unconscious.

Reger says Landru pulled the Archon down from the sky. Kirk calls the Enterprise and Scotty (who’s finally in command, it’s about time!) says they’re under attack and will spiral in within twelve hours. Uhura has changed her hair a bit, with long pieces combed down in front of her ears. New wig I guess, let’s see how long it lasts. Anyway, Landru appears to be messing with their communications as well.

Spock’s tricorder says they’re being scanned, and Kirk tells him to “block” those beams. With the tricorder? We’ve never established that before! Anyway, the beams are too strong.

And then Landru appears! Well, a projection anyway, and it doesn’t react to Kirk’s interruptions. He looks exactly like Vigo from Ghostbusters II. I’m not joking. He says there is no crime, no disease, no war, only peace.

Landru: Your individuality will merge into the unity of Good.

A loud noise appears to incapacitate the landing party. When they awaken they are in a different castle room, assumedly a dungeon. And of course their gear is missing. Along with two of the crew, and McCoy. As they talk things over, Spock likens the Lawgivers’ behavior to a computer.

A Lawgiver opens a door and lets McCoy and another guy in. They’ve been Absorbed. The Lawgivers tell Kirk to come along, or he will be killed. They come for Spock shortly thereafter.

When we see Kirk, he’s pinned to a wall in front of a control console. When Spock is brought in, Kirk smiles and acts Absorbed. Once Spock is alone with the technician, the man identifies himself as Marplon and says his friends have been Absorbed. But the man releases Spock without harm. Oh, and Kirk is also unharmed. Marplon is the third man in Reger’s resistance cell. He’s afraid to talk, but gives Spock two phasers.

Spock is returned to the cell. But they have to watch themselves in front of McCoy. Surprisingly, Spock says this society has no “soul.” Really, writers, that’s Spock’s line? In any case, this is the first time we’re going to see this story, but get used to it. Spock and Kirk have concluded that Landru is a computer, and Kirk says “the plug must be pulled.”

But wait, there’s more! Spock’s counter is their Prime Directive of non-interference! Another first, here is the debut of a major aspect of the series! Kirk’s counter is that it refers to a living, growing culture. Well, if it’s that clear, I don’t think they’d have so many debates over it in later episodes. But let’s see how good my memory is.

Marplon and Reger arrive with two communicators. McCoy overhears and starts screaming. When the Lawgivers arrive, Kirk and Spock jump them. The two locals seem to be struggling to overcome their conditioning, but Kirk browbeats them. Finally Marplon takes Kirk and Spock to meet Landru. He’s not amused, and says they and everyone who knows of them must die. Well, that doesn’t seem very friendly. So Kirk and Spock phaser the wall down and reveal the Landru computer.

But when they try to shoot it, their phasers are neutralized. And now we will have the first instance of Kirk out-thinking a machine. Landru says that the good of the Body is his prime directive, and as Spock points out, that is the key.

Kirk: What is the good?

Landru: I am Landru.

Kirk: You are a machine! A question has been put to you, answer it!

This is how it goes. Poor Landru doesn’t stand a chance. They give him the old “free will and creativity are necessary for life” argument.

Kirk: You are the evil! The evil must be destroyed! Fulfill the prime directive!

Smoke, sparks. Poor boy didn’t stand a chance.

Back on the bridge, it’s time for our banter. Spock admires the machine Landru. This time it’s Kirk who calls it soulless. Spock prefers the concrete, and Kirk tells him he’d make a fine computer. Spock, of course, takes that as a complement.

Let’s review. Another planet populated by aliens who look like humans, with buildings and clothes and a language that are all hauntingly familiar. Yes, we’re saving money, but it’s already getting old. This is a cop-out, and it cheapens the science fiction.

We’re investigating a lost ship, that’s good. But it was lost one hundred years ago, and they knew where it disappeared, so why did it take so long to check on them?

One broken plot point. When Sulu got zapped with a staff, way back at the beginning, he was Absorbed. It lasted until Landru was destroyed. On the other hand, the rest of the landing party had to be dragged to the Absorption Chamber to get converted. Why?

There is no gravitas. Sulu gets zapped. O’Neil gets zapped. Even McCoy gets zapped. And no one feels bad, even Kirk, even when it’s McCoy. None of the gut-wrenching, guilt-plagued agony over a lost friend or subordinate. No reaction to the fate of the crew of the good ship Archon. Kirk just smarms his way through.

The overall plot, that drugged complacency, lack of creativity and free will kills a society, is a fine one. But it’s not that profound, and we’ll have beaten it to death in no time.

Speaking of beating something to death, this is the first of many, many instances of Kirk making a machine go up in smoke. It becomes so frequent that it drags down the reputation of the series. Only good writing can overcome mistakes like that. However, since this is the first time, we don’t yet have a problem.

On the plus side, we got the introduction of the Prime Directive, and a neat little argument about when you can ignore it. Scotty is finally left in command when Kirk and Spock are away.

Overall though, the episode is lightweight. It doesn’t have any real impact. The plot seems very predictable, but even if you’re a casual Star Trek viewer it’s all painfully familiar, so it’s hard to say how it might’ve been received when it was first aired. I can only say that at this point in time, it’s just not impressive.

Our next episode will be A Taste of Armageddon. Until then.

[Shelby]

A Taste of Armageddon

3192.1

We open with an interesting mission, to initiate diplomatic contact with the people of Eminiar 7. When I imagine the missions of a ship like the Enterprise, I see their responsibilities as two-fold. First, interacting with new races, as in this episode. And second, patrolling their section of space to provide protection to their own citizens. Sometimes it seems they get sidetracked, as when they were ferrying supplies from one place to another in Galileo 7. Unless we speculate that they’re in a “border” or “provincial” area where shipping is infrequent, that strikes me as unlikely. The other thing they do is “investigate” things that happened in the past. Ships or people who have disappeared, but not last month; years or even centuries in the past. I’m also not really onboard with those episodes. For What Are Little Girls Made Of, they were the third investigative team to check out the planet that Dr Corby had been on. That was just silly. Surely some other branch or organization should be dealing with old news like that.

In any case, Ambassador Fox is on the bridge when they receive the first message ever from Eminiar 7: it’s a “Code 710,” under no circumstances approach the planet. One wonders how, if this is a first contact, both Eminiar and the Federation have a similar rule that they both refer to as “Code 710,” but we’ll let that go.

Fox orders Kirk to disregard that message. Kirk replies, “It IS their planet.” But the ambassador doesn’t like that, he wants to establish a treaty port here no matter what it takes. Kirk warns that they might risk interplanetary war, but Fox has the authority to override Kirk and he does so as the crew looks on in shock.

After the break, Spock fills us in on the history. A prior ship, the USS Valiant, had made contact fifty years ago and sent a report back, but never returned. The report said that Eminiar had space flight, but never left their solar system, and was at war with a neighbor.

Fox wants to go down but Kirk says the ambassador’s safety is his responsibility so he’s going first. He ostentatiously leaves Scott in command, right in front of Fox, and then the two men give each other the once-over. Wow, second time Scott’s left in command, and he has to deal with overlapping authority. Bet he’s not thrilled.

Kirk beams down with Spock, Yeoman Tamura, and two red-shirts. The group that meets them is led by a pretty woman, as reinforced by the “enchanting” music. Kirk introduces them as being from the United Federation of Planets – thanks for reinforcing that guys, it’s been a long time coming.

Mea 3 (for that’s her name) asks why he ignored their warning to stay away. Kirk had orders, but she says there is danger. They meet the council, and are told that they’ve been at war for five hundred years. Apparently that makes it impossible to establish diplomatic relations, although I’m not sure I follow. Their enemy is Vendikar, a neighboring planet. Oh, and while the Enterprise is in orbit, she’s a legitimate target.

Just then there is an attack, although the landing party sees no signs of war around them. Spock realizes that they are conducting war via computer. Anan 7, their leader, says the casualties have twenty-four hours to report to disintegration chambers. He explains that this is how their civilization, their culture, can survive five hundred years of war.

That pretty much summarizes the episode. This one isn’t that deep, I think we get the message. And we’re only twelve minutes into the show. I guess we have time for popcorn.

And now Anan gives Kirk the bad news. The Enterprise has been “hit,” and all crew aboard have twenty-four hours to disintegrate. In the meantime, the landing party will be held hostage. The local guards come in, weapons drawn. Oh, shocking! What will Kirk do? I guess that’s the balance of forty minutes.

When we come back from break, the landing party is under guard somewhere. Mea stops in to see if they need anything. All Kirk wants is to see Anan 7 again. Does he have something new to say, because that’s where we left off, in conversation with Anan. Anyway, we learn that Mea has to be disintegrated by noon tomorrow. She explains that if they didn’t cooperate, the real weapons would come out next and civilization would be destroyed.

Back on the bridge, McCoy is arguing with Scotty. Appears that McCoy will automatically argue with whoever’s in charge. I bet Scotty wishes he never got these extra responsibilities now! Interestingly, McCoy points out that he isn’t a line officer. Nice touch.

Meanwhile, Anan appears to be a trained impersonator. He calls Scotty and sounds exactly like Kirk when he orders the entire ship’s complement to beam down for shore leave, while natives will beam up to man the controls. This is beyond ridiculous. What a crappy piece of writing. I think we’ve used the “fake voice” ploy too many times, and we’re still in season one.

Scotty uses the ship’s computer, NOT voiced by Barrett this time, to tell him that’s not really Kirk’s voice. Do two false voices cancel each other out?

Scotty: Well they’ve got them, doctor. And now they’re trying to get us.

Back on the planet, it’s time for more stupid Spock tricks. He says “Vulcanians” (are we STILL using that term?!) have limited telepathic abilities. I remember seeing this in Dagger of the Mind, but I don’t remember off-hand anything else from season one up to this point.

We get to watch Spock turn the guard into his puppet, through a wall. Kirk gives him a couple of karate chops to the base of the neck, and they get his pistol. And now Kirk warns Spock that they might have to do some killin’. We have apparently evolved Spock to the point where he disapproves of killing. A far cry from Where No Man Has Gone Before, when he got the huge phaser rifle to blast Gary Mitchell out of existence. But much more recognizable as the “Vulcanian” we came to know.

They head out and spot a disintegration chamber. Kirk stops Mea from going in, and Spock goes up to disarm a guard with the following classic line.

Spock: Sir. There’s a multi-legged creature crawling on your shoulder.

And Kirk destroys the disintegration machine with what we learn is a “disruptor.” I believe this is the second time we’ve heard that term, the first in Arena.

Eminiar decides to fire on the Enterprise, and Scotty points out that they can’t fire “full phasers” with their shields up. That would actually invalidate most of the Star Trek games I’ve played, but let’s see if they remain consistent about that rule. From what I recall, the few space battles we’ve had so far have involved raising shields first, then trading shots with the opponent. In fact, in Balance of Terror they made a big deal of the fact that the Romulan Bird of Prey had to lower her shields to fire her weapons. So either this is just an inconsistency, or we’re somehow assuming that the prior space battles involved weakened beams. Neither is really a comfortable explanation.

Scott mentions that he could fire photon torpedoes though, but since we didn’t have them for the earlier part of season one that’s not a viable explanation either. In any case, Fox appears and puts the kibosh on that idea. He thinks it’s a misunderstanding, there’s no proof they’re holding the captain, and he’s going to negotiate.

Scott: Diplomats. The best diplomat I know is a fully-activated phaser bank!

Meanwhile, the music tells us that Kirk is focusing his “charms” on Mea. He wants her to help him get to the war room so he can stop the killing.

In the war room, the council discusses the “Earth ambassador.” I guess fifty years ago, there was no Federation. Or maybe the Valiant mentioned their homeworld was Earth, and that fact stuck.

Fox and Anan speak, and agree that of course it was all a mistake. Anan plans to open fire once the Enterprise lowers her screens, but fortunately Scotty refuses the ambassador’s orders to do so. Which will end with him serving in a penal colony, but he seems willing to accept that. And don’t you know McCoy yells at Scotty, “Now you’ve done it!” I swear, most of the writers just have McCoy’s role pegged as the “argue machine.” Mindless arguing. It’s just stupid.

Kirk sneaks into Anan’s chamber, but the guy stalls him and hits a silent alarm. When they step outside the door, Kirk is subdued by two guards. Why did he come alone, when there were five people in the landing party? I don’t know. Why didn’t he shoot, instead of the Kirk-fu? Bad writing.

Somehow Scotty beams down Fox and his attache without lowering the shields. Now THAT’S something we’ve established that you cannot do, so that’s another error. This episode is getting on my nerves. Gene Coon has a co-writer status on this one, so there’s no excuse.

Anyway, Fox is astonished that he is to be killed. Meanwhile, Spock establishes contact with Scotty, orders them to a higher orbit, and confirms that no one else is to beam down. He tells the yeoman to keep Mea from immolating herself by any means including knocking her down and sitting on her. Pity we don’t get to see that scene, because Yeoman Tamura looks like she’d love any excuse for a fight!

Spock rescues Fox at the last minute, then aims his disruptor at the disintegration chamber.

Fox: What are you doing Mr Spock?

Spock: Practicing a peculiar variety of diplomacy, sir.

Hey, I just realized. This guy is an ambassador. So is Spock’s father (although we haven’t even hinted at that yet). Funny, huh? Earth ambassadors are morons. Vulcan ambassadors are wise. Except when it comes to family matters, of course.

Too bad we already established that “Vulcanians” are a subjugated race. Although I imagine we’ll conveniently forget about that, eventually.

Spock and his team shoot some guards with their captured disruptors, which kills them. He doesn’t react, even when their own attache goes down from enemy fire.

Kirk and Anan are arguing again. Or still. Anan opens a channel to the Enterprise and Kirk yells “General Order 24, in two hours!” Anan threatens to kill his hostages, then tries to fire on the Enterprise, but she’s out of range now. Kirk tells Anan that the Enterprise will destroy Eminiar 7 in two hours. THIS is the power of a starship! The Enterprise IS all that! I love the Enterprise. THIS Enterprise.

Anan keeps calling Kirk a barbarian. Apparently his theme is that they’ve acknowledged their own barbarism, so war is inevitable, but they’ve come up with a way to keep their civilization alive in spite of that. But Kirk is about to undo all that.

Anan: Escalation is automatic. YOU can stop it!

Kirk: Stop it? I’m counting on it!

Kirk turns the tables just as Spock arrives with the rescue party.

Spock: I’d assumed you needed help. I see that I am in error.

Kirk shoots the computers that are in contact with Vendikar, which breaks the treaty.

Anan: Do you realize what you’ve done?

Kirk: Yes I do. I’ve given you back the horrors of war.

He goes on to spell out the message, that war is a horrible thing and that’s the motivation to stop it.

Kirk: We can admit that we’re killers but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes.

Fox offers his assistance as negotiator between Eminiar and Vendikar. They leave him behind, and go back to the Enterprise, where we have the usual banter as we leave orbit.

Kirk points out that they were killing three million people a year for five hundred years. What he might’ve caused wouldn’t have been any worse. I think it was a risk worth taking. Do you?

Let’s review the episode. It was a suitable mission for the Enterprise. We have a diplomat. Scotty shows some character. Kirk uses his boyish charm on a woman. McCoy likes to argue, target doesn’t matter. Spock uses his telepathic abilities again. We haven’t stopped using the unfortunate term “Vulcanian.” We can’t be consistent about what deflector screens interfere with. The Enterprise can destroy a planet.

As for the plot and its message, it was pretty obvious, while the situation just seemed to drag out. There wasn’t a real sense of a threat; it had that sort of easy going Star Trek feel of dealing with the foolish and rather inept aliens of the week. Even when we had a few deaths, the victims just fell down and everyone else just walked past. Even the music didn’t acknowledge the deaths. To be honest, I’m looking at it from fifty years worth of watching Star Trek, so there’s little sense of threat for me, but I am trained to be aware of such things. On the other hand, in something like Balance of Terror there’s still a sense of suspense, even though you remember the ending. That wasn’t here, just as it wasn’t in the last episode, Return of the Archons. Why is that? That’s rather a lack, especially by today’s standards. Should we look at it more like the original Star Wars trilogy, which was all “movie serial” in tone, where we know our characters can’t really be hurt? Possibly.

On the other hand, when this episode came out we were at war in Vietnam and solidly in the Cold War with the Soviets. We had bomb shelters and drills in elementary schools. We’d come off the Cuban Missile Crisis just a few years prior. So I suppose the war theme had a lot more gravity at the time.

It’s not a great episode but it’s not a stinker, either.

Our next episode will be Devil in the Dark. See you then.

[Shelby]

The Devil in the Dark

3196.1

We open in the “fake-Star-Trek-rocky” mines of some planet, where a team of very clean miners carrying Type One phasers talks about something that’s been killing them off. The leader gives the unlucky soul who has to stand guard a pep-talk, but as soon as they leave him he’s “burned to a crisp.”

Commendable that we open with non-Starfleet personnel. We open in media res. We anticipate the imminent arrival of the Enterprise. I think this may be the first time we’ve seen a phaser in the hands of a civilian. But why are miners so clean?

After the break, Kirk’s VO says this is a colony, headed by a chief engineer. The walls are stucco and bare Star-Trek-fake-rock, again a mix that I find unlikely, especially since Kirk says this place has been “long-established.” The natives say there’s a monster, which they shot but was seemingly unaffected by phasers.

I was pondering why the Enterprise shows up for this, but the chief sums it up: “If the Federation wants pergium, then you’re going to have to do something about it.” But as one man says, they won’t be getting their starship down in the tunnels, so again I have to wonder why this is a job for the Enterprise crew. I guess even at this stage we can consider the “monster” to be a native life-form, which sort of makes it a potential first contact. But this colony has been here for a while, and there’s no indication as of yet that the life-form is intelligent. I guess it falls under the “insure we get the raw materials we need to run our society,” which should be important for a “we have everything in abundance, no need for money or want” society such as the Federation is supposed to be. Although we haven’t established that yet either.

Following the writer’s rules, Spock comments on a purple beach ball sitting in the office. We are told it’s a silicon nodule, a geological oddity perhaps but they’re everywhere in the mine. File that info away for later. Also, Spock begins using the phrase “life, but not as we know it.” This line was used in an old novelty song, Star Trekkin’.

McCoy examines the remains of the last poor guard, and says his body was almost dissolved away by acid. And then, there’s another attack at the generator. A critical pump is missing, and we can add another dead guard to the tally. Funny how a monster actually seems to have made off with the pump. Scotty will come down and cobble together a replacement, but it’s not expected to last more than forty-eight hours. That’s how long they have to locate the missing pump.

And now Spock speculates about a silicon-based life-form, while referring to the silicon nodule. Well, that didn’t take long. Just like the last episode, we’re only twelve minutes in and we’ve already solved the problem. Feel free to take a bathroom break.

Although McCoy scoffs (hey, at least he’s got something new to say), Spock will adjust some Type Two Phasers for max silicon damage.

And now we meet Commander Giotto, the Enterprise’s Security Chief! He’s got five red-shirts with him, including the ubiquitous Mr Leslie. But hey, is this the only time we see a Chief of Security from the Enterprise?! I’m astonished! Too bad he didn’t become a semi-regular.

Everybody goes searching tunnels. There’s a shot of Spock using his tricorder, pointing the screen away from himself as I’ve described, and he’s scrutinizing the plain back of the unit! So silly.

The first red-shirt dies. Kirk and Spock encounter the slice-of-pizza monster, zap it, and it runs away. But it leaves a slice of itself. Spock and Kirk pick it up, while Spock describes how it secretes a powerful acid. Um, wait a second…

Kirk and Giotto discuss the situation, which Kirk sums up: “There’s nothing more dangerous than a wounded animal.”

Spock can only detect one creature, which might mean it is the last survivor of a dead race. So he doesn’t want to kill it. Well, at least we’re reinforcing his new character trait.

They get more red-shirts and resume the attack. Kirk gets miffed when Spock suggests to the men that they attempt to capture it. Kirk immediately overrides that: “Shoot to kill.” This is also from the same novelty song.

Kirk reprimands Spock, then tells him to go help Scotty. This leads to a few things. First, Spock says that Scotty knows much more about nuclear power than he does! Kirk says they can’t both be killed, which would mean that all those other times the two of them go off to do something dangerous shouldn’t have happened. Spock says there are one hundred searchers now! What, they’ve beamed down that many crew?! Anyway, it gives Spock the opportunity to quote the odds. I don’t think he’s done that too often so far in this re-watch, but it is one of his signature moves. I thought maybe Kirk would be revealed as trying to punish Spock by sending him away, but instead it morphs into some banter which is rather amusing.

Scotty’s repairs give out. They have ten hours, so Kirk begins evacuating colonists. But some come down to join the search. After the past two episodes, it’s good to see that there are stakes in this one. Even though the monster is laughable, people are dying and Kirk is getting emotional about it. So is the chief of the colonists.

As they walk through the tunnels, two things occur to me. One, the monster always approaches on the same horizontal plane as the current tunnel, never from above or below. And second, while the set guys have made deliberate attempts to curve the walls and ceiling to make them more tunnel-like, the floor is always flat. That’s just silly. There was a comment that implied that a good deal of these tunnels, if not all of them, had been made by the creature. But the tunnels it made during the episode are much smaller than the ones the humans are walking through. The small tunnels are just that, a tube of sorts. But not the human-sized ones. This sort of inconsistency bothers me.

Kirk and Spock split up, and Kirk finds about a hundred silicon nodules. Then the monster causes a cave-in. Spock loses it and starts shouting “Jim! Jim!” Very nice character-building.

Kirk and the monster have a stand-off. When Spock finds out, he says “Kill it!” Obviously he is concerned that Starfleet might lose an officer. :-) But Kirk sees it’s been wounded by their earlier fire, and convinces Spock to refrain from killing it. In fact, Spock offers to “mind-meld” with the thing (although we aren’t using that term yet).

I thought Spock was going to touch the thing whose acid-skin eats through everything, but he just stood there next to it and screamed about pain. When they were through, he says that all he got from it was “pain.” The monster melts the words “No kill I” in the floor. In English, not Vulcan. Does Spock think in English?

Now Spock has a whole lot to say about all he’s learned. I guess he was lying two minutes ago. It’s highly intelligent and calls itself a “Horta.” Kirk calls McCoy and tells him to join them. Then Kirk asks Spock to find out why the thing took to murder. Spock cautions that he’ll have to touch it. Here we go, I guess he’ll burn his hands off now. Aw, man! He touches it and doesn’t get burned, that doesn’t make sense!

While that’s going on, Kirk talks to Giotto, but he calls him Lt Commander this time! Not only is that inconsistent, but Giotto is clearly wearing commander’s stripes. Come on, guys, this is what a scripty is for!

McCoy arrives and he knows which side of a tricorder to look at! He balks, and says the creature is made of stone. He gets to use his favorite line again: “I’m a doctor, not a brick-layer.”

Kirk asks Spock about the missing pump. Spock gets to go on about the end of eternity, the altar of tomorrow, the chamber of secrets – oh wait, wrong franchise. He throws in a line about crying for the children and so on. Interesting chance for Nimoy to interpret alien thoughts, but somehow it’s not sounding alien to me.

Kirk goes to fetch the gizmo and finds a room full of broken egg-shells. McCoy asks for something to be beamed down from the ship. Kirk rejoins the two and they discuss how the miners killed millions of the eggs. McCoy starts plastering the monster’s wound.

Meanwhile the miners knock out the red-shirts and head in to kill the monster. Kirk and Spock explain the situation, and suggest they could work out an arrangement so the Hortas do the tunneling and make the mine more “profitable.” OK well, I guess we haven’t actually specified that the Federation doesn’t work on money yet.

Anyway, McCoy is pleased with himself for troweling the Horta, and Spock is pleased to communicate with the refreshingly logical Horta again.

And it’s time to close with banter on the bridge. Spock tells them that the Horta finds humans revolting, but does appreciate his ears. Which leads Kirk to comment that he seems more human all the time. Ha ha, Spock is insulted.

So in summary, we got to see a mining colony and its people, who are a cleaner version of the miners from Mudd’s Women. Nonetheless, it’s good to see the grittier common folk, even if there’s no real grit. McCoy got to use his “I’m a doctor” line again, Spock got to mind-meld again, and best of all we see the Enterprise’s Chief of Security, who is an officer rather than an enlisted man. That’s a big deal.

People reacted to folks dying, which makes things a bit more realistic. But there were two times where we should’ve seen people reacting to the consequences of that missing pump, and we never did. That was a significant omission and makes things much less serious. Worst of all, the representation of the Horta is really silly. I’ve seen better monsters on, well, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters. Also, the angry mob of miners was very easily convinced not to kill the Horta. My feeling is that folks are much more focused on revenge than that. They lost fifty people to that thing, after all. So not feeling so realistic.

I have to say that this isn’t one of my favorite episodes, but it’s better than Archons or Armageddon. Next time we get to watch Errand of Mercy, I hope that gets you stoked! Until next time.

[Shelby]

Errand of Mercy

3198.4

We open on the bridge. I see Sulu showed up for work today, and there’s Mr Leslie too. Kirk uses that silly card reader (I STILL can’t believe I never really noticed this prop in all those years) and begins talking about something very momentous. That’s right, this is the first mention of Klingons! Real Klingons, without stupid bumpy heads!

Negotiations are breaking down with the Klingon Empire, and a surprise attack is expected. Wait a minute… Anyway, they have to keep the Klingons from taking over the planet Organia, which is the only Class M planet in “the disputed area.” Ah, politics and war, the game of nations.

Kirk refers to Organia as weak and innocent, located on the invasion route like Armenia or Belgium. Another interesting observation. We’re setting the stage very vividly.

Speaking of vivid, somehow the Enterprise was completely oblivious to the approach of a Klingon ship, which fires on them without warning! Well, that’s what you do when you’re starting a war. Fortunately the Enterprise’s return fire completely destroys the enemy ship. They get another message from Starfleet. They are now at war.

That’s a huge development. For Star Trek, and really for any television series, especially back in the 1960s. You didn’t make drastic changes to the show, because the episodes could be broadcast in any order. You maintain a status quo. So this is one heck of a wake-up moment for the audience.

They arrive at Organia and Kirk puts Sulu in charge. I guess Scotty’s in the shower. There’s a Klingon fleet in the neighborhood, so if they show up he orders Sulu to bug out and sound the alarm. Kirk has conveniently forgotten about putting both himself and his first officer in danger, by ordering Spock to accompany him down to the planet.

The two of them beam down in front of a castle, which is a funny structure to have in what is supposedly a peaceful society. The natives are dressed in medieval costume, although they have funny-colored sheep. No one reacts when our Starfleet boys materialize out of thin air.

They look up and see the ruins of an even bigger castle on the rise, and Spock points out the same inconsistency I just did! Great minds think alike.

They are met by Ayelborne, the Chairman of the Council of Elders. Spock wants to use his tricorder backwards, so Kirk goes off to meet the elders. He says the Klingons want to use Organia as a base, and his orders are to stop them. Ayelborne wisely points out that apparently they must deal with either Kirk, or with his enemies. Kirk says only the Federation gives them a choice; the Klingons are a military dictatorship. Kirk offers to protect them, but they insist that they are in no danger.

Kirk claims to have seen what the Klingons do to planets they capture; they become vast slave-labor camps. I guess there’s been some give-and-take out there between the two polities in order for him to have visited such planets.

Kirk is getting frustrated and his voice rises. When he realizes it, he apologizes.

Kirk: I’m a soldier, not a diplomat. I can only tell you the truth.

I bumped against this phrase many years ago. Oftentimes Kirk is tasked with diplomacy, and generally being a soldier isn’t part of his mission statement. Certainly not the one at the weekly opening of the show. But we’ve just gone to war, so I suppose we’re making a point.

Spock comes in while the council confers. He says the planet has made no developments in ten thousand years, it’s a stagnant culture. That’s a clue folks, file it away for later.

Kirk tries offering them education and technology, but he’s not getting anywhere. Sulu calls to say that there are a large number of Klingon ships and now he can’t lower the shields to beam them up. Well, at least we’re consistent on that point. Kirk repeats his order to flee.

Without explanation, Trefayne, one of the councilors, announces that eight space vehicles have arrived and are activating transmission units. Ayelborne wants to protect Kirk and Spock. Trefayne warns of armed men beaming down. Kirk and Spock are astonished at the man’s statements, but realize they are trapped in a Klingon occupation! And we still haven’t seen a Klingon, but we have seen their beautiful D-7 battle cruisers. As amazing a design as the Enterprise is, the D-7 is so beautiful, so unique, that it’s become just as iconic an image as the Enterprise herself. Honestly, I can’t believe anyone would mess with such perfection, but you know how Hollywood gets. Pity. We’ll just have to glory in the vision that is the original series.

Next we see Klingon soldiers marching through the village. They don’t look very alien, but those are background, commonly known as extras. Later we’ll see that the featured players look a bit better, and our guest star’s make-up is best of all.

Kirk and Spock have received a change of clothes. Spock’s looks awesome. But he says that the Organians have taken their phasers. Ayelborne says they won’t permit violence. That’s funny, because they’re primatives. One of the other councilors suggests that Spock could be a Vulcan merchant dealing in Kevas and Trillium. How does he know any of that? These guys don’t have space travel! But more to the point, here we are with more merchants in a society that has no need of money. I don’t really think Roddenberry thought this through.

In comes the Klingon commander, Kor, played by the wonderful John Colicos. He gets the full make-up treatment. His skin is dark with a reddish tint, he has eyebrows something like Spock’s but bifurcated, and a stringy mustache and beard with a gap in the center. I love the look, and I absolutely love the Klingon costumes.

Kor doesn’t like the smiling Organians, but he likes Kirk’s honest hatred. Spock is taken away to be interrogated, and Kirk goes up to the ruined castle with Kor to be instructed in his new duties as liaison.

We can’t even stay consistent between scenes. In the last scene, both the Organians and Kor referred to Vulcans, but in the castle scene a Klingon soldier refers to Spock as a Vulcanian. And then Kor refers to him as a Vulcan again! At this point I want someone fired for this crap!

Kor describes the Klingon Mind-Sifter, or Mind-Ripper if it’s used at high power. Sounds much like the Neural Neutralizer from Dagger of the Mind. Later, Spock tells Kirk that his Vulcan mental disciplines allowed him to create a shield against it.

Kirk keeps having difficulty controlling what is obviously hatred of the Klingons, with Spock even having to physically intercede to keep his captain out of trouble. I don’t think I really noticed this before. At this point it must be outrage at the atrocities he’s seen. Enhanced by being at war, and being trapped behind enemy lines. The sense of tension is real, the verbal sparring between Kirk and Kor was extremely well-played. In addition to all the new background we’re getting, this episode’s mood raises the story to the heights of the series’ best.

That night, in an attempt to demonstrate how the Organians might resist Klingon occupation, Kirk and Spock blow up a munitions dump using a sonic grenade. Add that to the future’s tools of war. Funny, it is scored to create shrapnel as a real grenade would, so I’m not sure what the “sonic” refers to.

The Organians are shocked at the violence, asking Kirk never to do such a thing again.

Kirk: Are you afraid of retribution? Does your personal freedom mean so little to you?

Ayelborne: How little you understand us, Captain.

Spock has mentioned that their fleet will arrive soon. And we see that Kor is listening via a surveillance device. This should mean that Kirk and Spock have blown their cover.

And they have. Kor arrives and threatens Kirk with the “Mind-Scanner.” That’s the third name for the same thing. I swear that I’ve never seen such sloppy writing in a professional production. Anyway, Ayelborne avoids the necessity by outing Kirk. Kor’s eyes light up at the thought that he has the famous Captain Kirk. We’ve heard Kirk’s decorations, we’ve seen various people who are in his debt, and his fellow commanders have referred to joint actions, but this reinforces the fact that Kirk is an outstanding officer whose fame has spread even to the enemies of his nation. That’s impressive!

Ayelborne apologizes to Kirk but maintains that it’s for the best; no harm will come to him. Kirk replies that he’s not afraid of dying, but not for the likes of them! That’s right, he’s had enough! And Kor doesn’t blame him! They are two sides of the same coin.

Kor has Kirk brought back to his office. They spar verbally, again revealing their similarities, although Kirk maintains that his democratic society is nothing like the Klingon Empire. Of course, Kirk won’t reveal the whereabouts of the Federation ships, so Kor gives him twelve hours and has him placed in a cell with Spock. Wow, can you imagine the odds? This dungeon looks just like the one in Return of the Archons, although there’s a wall of iron bars in this one.

Ayelborne unexpectedly shows up and leads them back to the council chamber without any interference. Because the Klingons had intended to commit violence. Kirk wants to know what happened to the guards, but Ayelborne maintains that nothing has happened to them. He truly is maddening.

Meanwhile an officer reports the escape to Kor, stating that the guards were on duty but saw nothing. There ya go, nothing happened to them.

Kor announces that he wants the Organians to return the prisoners, and then orders two hundred natives put to death. Kirk identifies the sound of “Klingon phasers.” Kor will kill two hundred more every two hours until the prisoners are returned.

Stakes high enough for you yet?

Kirk insists that no more Organians be allowed to die, and demands their phasers back. Trefayne convinces Ayelborne to do so before Kirk gets physical. Ayelborne indicates a cabinet, and Spock gets them. Kirk is wound pretty tight by now.

Kirk: Gentlemen, I have no great love for you, your planet, your culture. Despite that Mr Spock and I are gonna go out there and quite probably die in an attempt to show you that there are some things worth dying for.

Kirk and Spock head out. Trefayne says they’ll wait until dark. And sure enough, we cut to a scene at dusk. Kirk asks Spock their odds, and he replies 7824.7 to 1. Glad to see that at least we’re consistent on this character trait now.

The Organians are up to something, but we don’t know what. Kirk and Spock work their way into Kor’s office, where he says that their two fleets are on their way and about to meet. He wants to learn the results before they kill him. When Kirk replies that he’ll only kill him if he has to, Kor sneers.

Kor: Sentimentality, mercy – the emotions of peace! Your weakness, Captain Kirk. The Klingon Empire shall win.

As they lead him away, he remarks that as a unit, each of them is always under surveillance. He motions to a security camera, and a group of Klingons bursts in. Each side shouts and drops their weapons, while we cut to the Enterprise bridge where everyone jumps up, away from their controls. Back on the planet, Spock is kind enough to tell us that the problem is extreme heat, their weapons and even their bodies if they try to fight.

Ayelborne and another elder come in. They have put a stop to the violence, here and in space. Kirk is astonished, and he doesn’t look like he likes it one bit. He calls the Enterprise as their power is cut. Kor says his fleet is helpless, too. The two men stomp over to Ayelborne, who says he’s standing on both their homeworlds and he’s putting a stop to this insane war.

This gets our two commanders pretty riled up. They are personally outraged at Ayelborne, then light into each other with their grievances. Kirk finally says they should be on his side, because the Klingons killed Organians. We are told that no one has died on Organia in thousands of years.

Kirk revs up and rants again, insisting that they have the right – Ayelborne quietly asks about the deaths of millions of people, and Kirk runs out of steam. Ayelborne says that in the future both Klingons and Federation will become fast friends. But for now, they want everyone to leave, because the presence of these violent visitors is painful to them. Apparently they had bodies millions of years ago, but their current appearance is only for the benefit of their visitors.

They begin to glow, and then disappear. Spock gets to use his new line again, “Not life as we know it at all.”

Kirk: Well Commander, I guess that takes care of the war. Obviously the Organians aren’t going to let us fight.

Kor: A shame, Captain. It would’ve been glorious.

Back on the bridge, it’s banter time. Or perhaps, more like reflection time. Kirk is embarrassed that he was furious at the Organians for stopping a war that he didn’t want. That’s a pretty enlightened observation.

This is definitely one of my favorite episodes, and a landmark. So much was introduced here. Also its scope is really very impressive. An entire interstellar war, stopped. Stopped dead in its tracks. By a race of non-corporeal super-beings.

In addition to that, we had a real feeling of tension, of frustration, and the real threat of death. With war a very real thing to the viewers of the day, we had an entire planet occupied by a ruthless race of killers. That’s powerful imagery, but what makes it more powerful is the way both sides have similarities. That’s meant to be uncomfortable, and to spark introspection and debate. Which is one of the key features of good science fiction. Really, this is an example of the best.

My list of favorite episodes now includes:
Mudd’s Women
Charlie X
The Naked Time
The Conscience of the King
The Alternative Factor
City on the Edge of Forever
Space Seed
Errand of Mercy

Eight of the twenty-nine episodes of season one. Next time, we’ll be watching Operation: Annihilate. Until then.

[Shelby]

Operation Annihilate

3287.2

It’s been almost two months since my last entry. I’ll just say by way of explanation that it was an “interesting” time in my life. But it’s also been revealing in that no one commented or inquired about the status of my re-watch. And so I choose to continue knowing that I’m writing these up for myself; and that’s fine. It’s a shame that no one else is interested, though.

And here we are with another first season episode. We open on the Bridge, and all of the usual suspects are there. I think we’re only missing Chapel. And for some reason, Uhura is wearing a black equipment belt! Spock traces a pattern of planets with populations that have gone insane across this part of the galaxy, beginning with some ancient civilizations and leading to Deneva, the planet below. A local ship plummets into the sun, with its last words something like, “I’m free.” We viewers get some nice wide-angle shots of the Bridge from up above.

And we learn that Kirk’s brother Sam is stationed on Deneva. He’s having Uhura try to raise them.

Interesting. They refer to Deneva as if it weren’t a part of the Federation. Uhura gets a contact from Kirk’s number. The woman asks them to hurry before she’s discovered. The transmission is abruptly cut off.

We have a landing party consisting of Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Kirk’s latest yeoman-of-the-week (Yeoman Zahra), and a red-shirt. Zahra has put on a black belt for the landing party, to hold her communicator. Kirk orders her to make a complete transcript of what happens.

They are attacked by a group of men warning them to get away, but attempting to hit them with clubs. After they’ve been stunned, McCoy says their systems are still being stimulated.

They rush into Sam Kirk’s lab when they hear a scream. Sam Kirk is dead, his son Peter is unconscious, and his wife Aurelan is hysterical. Apparently she was trying to keep something from coming in through a ventilation duct.

Back in Sickbay McCoy says that the two are in severe pain, but Kirk manages to talk with Aurelan. She says “things” were brought to Deneva by the crew of a ship traveling from Ingraham B. She begins to scream in pain, and McCoy explains that she feels pain when she tries to answer questions. After a hypospray she says the things are making the people of Deneva build ships. And then she dies from the pain.

Oh, did I mention that we get to see Nurse Chapel too? That means every regular, including Mr Leslie, appears in this episode. Isn’t that putting a strain on the budget? And for no particularly good reason, either.

Kirk appeals to McCoy to save Peter’s life. It’s a good moment, better than Shatner’s reaction to the deaths of Sam and Aurelan.

Back on the planet, Kirk and the landing party find the aliens, who look like enlarged cells that fly around and make a buzzing sound. They seem to be able to resist phasers to some extent, only becoming stunned for a time. And not for long, because the stunned one recovers and latches onto Spock’s back!

McCoy tries to operate, but is forced to concede defeat (much to Chapel’s indignation). He shows up on the Bridge wearing a blue crewman’s jumpsuit. He tells Kirk that the creatures inject tissue into the victims that grows throughout the victims’ bodies, wrapping around their nervous systems. It can’t be cut out, but even if it could it wouldn’t stop the pain. (Huh?) McCoy says they are stumped.

Spock has to wear the blue crewman jumpsuit in sickbay, too. No sleeveless muscle shirt like Gary Mitchell or Khan got. I guess Nimoy’s arms aren’t bulgy enough. Hey, Chapel gets a female version of the jumpsuit too! Hers doesn’t have the black undershirt though.

Spock barges onto the Bridge and everyone has to hold him down in order for McCoy to sedate him. Spock is such a he-man. Back in Sickbay again he regains control of himself, using his mental discipline to keep the creature from its goal of controlling the ship.

But he appears to be struggling, and Kirk hesitates to have him released. He shows the depth of his emotion when he tells McCoy to save Peter and Spock whatever the cost. McCoy has to remind him of the million colonists who also need his help.

This is coming off a little out of character. Kirk is usually a better man than this. Unless… We are post- Edith Keeler. Perhaps Kirk has lost something of his character in giving up the woman he truly loved in exchange for saving his timeline. Perhaps he’s no longer willing to make such sacrifices?

Or am I reading too much into episodic television? ;-)

Spock busts free like the tough guy he is. (Have I already mentioned that Vulcans are supposed to have the strength of ten men?) He tries to get Scotty and Mr Leslie to beam him down, and when they refuse he pinches Leslie and fights with Scotty until the engineer pulls a phaser on him.

Spock talks Kirk into beaming him down to capture one of the creatures. He does so with only minimal difficulty. Back on the ship, Spock determines that each creature is like a single brain cell, a part of a “whole” creature. Kirk points out that the Denevan who flew his ship into the sun said he was “free.” Based on that, he wants an analysis!

Later, McCoy gives up, and Kirk replies he’ll have to destroy the million colonists to keep the aliens from spreading. Think that will give McCoy enough incentive?

In the briefing room we have a bunch of people we’ll never see again. Who are they? Must be various Science types, although I see some red in there.

Here Kirk insists that they get him another alternative, so he doesn’t have to kill a million people. He’s really having some mood swings, isn’t he?

And it’s Kirk who comes up with the answer, don’t you feel silly? It’s light, of course. The aliens can’t handle bright light. They kill one in the lab, but when Spock gets blasted with light, he’s cured – and he goes blind. And irony of ironies, once he IS blinded, they learn that they didn’t need to use blinding visible light. Spock was blinded unnecessarily.

They deploy satellites and manage to destroy the alien infestation. There’s a good scene where Kirk tries to tell McCoy that it wasn’t his fault. This is probably Shatner’s best moment in the episode.

We’re all smiling when Spock arrives on the Bridge once again, his eyesight having been saved by his Vulcan inner eyelid. His Vulcan ears also overhear McCoy saying, “Please don’t tell him I said he was the best First Officer in the fleet.” Ha ha.

So we got to see the elusive Science Department labs in this episode (or at least one of them). There are fourteen of them, according to Kirk. We also got to hear some gobbledygook about the aliens being from a different galaxy with different laws, and this was the explanation for why they weren’t disintegrated by phasers, could maintain a group intelligence, or find light to be lethal. Spock had another “not life as we know it” line, which I’m heartily sick of as it keeps appearing in episodes from the latter part of the first season. Sure seems like lazy writing to me.

Doohan holding his wounded hand at an awkward angle was also more noticeable. Perhaps as a consequence of giving him more to do, but the director of photography could’ve done a better job.

Ultimately though this episode remains unsatisfying. There is no closure with Kirk’s nephew Peter. If they were going to keep referring to him as stakes for the drama, they needed to wrap that up with a satisfying exchange. But it never happened. Also, Kirk just lost his brother. And yet he’s bantering with the gang at the end of the show. Really? No period of mourning? When Spock thinks Kirk is dead (in an episode we haven’t seen yet), he does a double-take and shouts with incredulous joy. But Kirk barely blinks when Spock regains his sight.

You can’t criticize a 1960s television show for trying to make a truly alien menace with the practical effects they had at their disposal, but even at its release I remember thinking that they looked pretty silly. I wasn’t afraid of them.

So these factors contribute to the less than satisfying feeling I come away with.

The last episode of Season One, by stardate, is This Side of Paradise. That will be our next foray, and will close out the season. I’ll see you then.

[Shelby]

This Side of Paradise

3417.3

Opening on the Bridge in orbit around Omicron Ceti III, we have Kirk, Spock, Sulu and Uhura (without a belt again), but no Scotty this time around. We learn that the colony of 150 settlers below has been exposed to Berthold Rays, which are deadly to animal tissue. Uhura can’t raise them.

So Kirk decides to go down to the surface with a landing party, because a little bit o’ Berthold Rays isn’t so bad. Is it? McCoy joins them as well as some folks we’ll never see again. Oh wait, one of them is Mr DeSalle, I didn’t even recognize him.

This time we get a settlement that makes sense. The buildings are made of wood, and there are trees all around as the source.

Kirk is waxing bittersweet about the inhabitants’ fate. But to everyone’s surprise, they see a group of living settlers! What I want to know is why they didn’t detect them from the ship? In any case, Spock says that the landing party can safely remain for no longer than a week, and that Berthold Rays are unerringly deadly. It’s a nice little debate, well-played, and they have no answers.

Ruth’s Theme from Shore Leave surges as Spock encounters one of the colonists, the biologist Leila Kalomi (Jill Ireland). The tune has stuck with me for my entire life. It evokes love and innocence perfectly. We never learned anything about Kirk’s affair with Ruth, but we’ll learn about Spock and Leila tonight.

So the team disperses to investigate, without anyone asking the settlers why they’re alive. Sulu has a funny line about not noticing a problem if it were two feet from him. There is, but we don’t realize it yet. He and his partner finally realize that the barn is built only for storage, and they’ve seen no animals at all. This really shouldn’t be so surprising (ahem, Berthold Rays), but maybe they figure that whatever is keeping the settlers alive should’ve saved the farm animals too.

Sandoval, the leader, asks Leila about Spock (and calls him a “Vulcanian” again; Continuity get over here!). She knew him six years ago, and although she had feelings for him he never reciprocated. We get our first hint as to what’s going on when Sandoval asks if she wants Spock to stay and become one of them. With a little smile, Leila replies “There is no choice. He will stay.”

McCoy has a good exchange with Kirk where he reveals that Sandoval should’ve had scar tissue in his lungs and his appendix should be missing, according to his records. But he’s “perfect” now. Interesting, no?

Now we get to the heart of the matter. Spock is inspecting a garden plot, Leila nearby. He says there aren’t even insects, but they’re growing crops and have survived Berthold Rays. Leila says there’s an explanation, but when Spock asks she just says “Later.” Then Spock gets one of his all-time best lines.

Spock: I’ve never understood the female capacity to avoid a direct answer to any question.

Leila: And I never understood you. Until now.

She proceeds to demonstrate her insight into his duality, and hiding his emotions. Quite astute; one wonders where this insight has come from. She leads him away to show him the “explanation.”

Meanwhile Kirk tells Sandoval that he has orders to evacuate the colony. Good move. But even though they explain the Berthold Rays, Sandoval says they won’t leave.

Meanwhile, Leila leads Spock to “the spores.” He immediately gets hit with some, from the same type of flower that was hovering near Sulu earlier. He doubles over in pain, which surprises Leila since no one else reacted that way.

And now we have the first instance of Spock losing his emotional control. Get used to it, it’ll become a trend in the series. He struggles, but then we get Ruth’s Theme swelling up again. Leila’s all about how the group of colonists is all-accepting, but Spock appears to have a different focus.

Spock: I love you. I can love you.

And he kisses her, with one of the spore-flowers in the foreground. Aw.

Kirk orders Sulu to arrange landing parties to remove the settlers by force.

Spock has changed into a settler’s jumpsuit, and is cloud-watching with Leila. He tells her he’s seen a dragon on Berengaria Seven. Bet you didn’t know that piece of trivia!

Kirk interrupts via communicator, but Spock dismisses Kirk’s orders and ignores him! Oh, Spock! Nimoy actually does quite a good job with these lines, it’s very amusing to see Kirk getting upset with him.

Kirk is astonished to find Spock hanging upside-down from a tree branch, laughing with Leila! We know he’s astonished because we’re using more music from Shore Leave, I guess.

Meanwhile the crew brings poor McCoy some of the spore flowers to examine. That won’t end well.

Kirk arrives at Spock’s tree. Shatner is doing a great job with delivering his lines.

Kirk: Are you out of your mind? I told you to report to me at once!

Spock: I didn’t want to, Jim!

Spock leads the group over to more spore plants, but Kirk is unaffected. He stalks off. (“Stalks,” get it?)

Spock: I can see the Captain is going to be difficult.

Kirk finds an infected McCoy, rocking an outrageous Southern accent (not too convincingly I’m afraid). He’s been beaming spore plants up to the ship. Kirk beams up too. Uhura has short-circuited all communications except ship-to-surface.

Kirk about gets apoplectic when he finds his mutinous crew lined up to transport down. They defy him.

Kirk contacts McCoy for some additional bad Southern accent. This gives Kelly the chance to talk about Mint Juleps, one of the few things we ever learn about his character.

Kirk beams back down and confronts Sandoval and Spock, who tell him that the spores drifted through space, attracted by the Berthold Rays. They maintain that this is paradise because they have no wants or needs. This gives Kirk a moment to talk about Man’s ambition to be more than that, but he doesn’t get enough lines to really emote and make the point. It’s a pity, really.

All alone on the ship again, Kirk is empty. He makes a log entry. He has been marooned. He admits that he doesn’t know how to get his crew back.

Kirk: I don’t know what I can offer against paradise.

Shatner pulls off his vulnerability, bafflement and sense of being abandoned. It’s a good scene.

And then he gets spoored, right there on the Bridge. He tells Spock he’s joined them, and will get some things from his quarters before going down. But he pulls a medal out of his safe and the spores start to lose their hold. He gets to the transporter room as the music surges and he’s fighting the effect. His face twists as he struggles out his defiance.

Kirk: No. I can’t leave!

He throws the alien influence off, and realizes the secret.

Kirk: Emotions. Violent emotions. Needs. Anger!

It’s well shot, from below, with bright lights. Really a nice scene, I hadn’t remembered this. Probably didn’t mean too much to my younger self.

He makes a log entry giving us a hint as to his plans. He tells us that Spock has great physical strength, and he could kill, but it’s a risk that Kirk will have to take.

He lures Spock back up, supposedly to get help with some equipment. And then we get one of the funniest scenes in Trek history. Kirk is waiting, tapping a club, and he proceeds to insult Spock every way he can. Really inspired work by the writers. Interestingly, we learn that Spock’s mother was a teacher, and his father is an ambassador. We’ll see more of that in season two. Kirk refers to Vulcan as a planet of traitors. Is this referring back to those “Vulcan expeditions” that Star Fleet made, those hints that Vulcans are a subjugated race? I’d really love to know what the writers were thinking way back at the beginning of season one when they first started to mention this.

And then we get the fight, and get to see Spock smashing metal items with his fists. Pretty impressive, huh? This is why Vulcans control their emotions!

Spock comes to, right before braining Kirk with a shelf.

Kirk: I don’t know what you’re so mad about. It’s not every first officer who gets to belt his captain. Several times.

Spock sighs, heavily.

Spock: The spores. They’re gone. I don’t belong anymore.

Nimoy expresses regret well. But Kirk distracts him with his plan to build subsonic transmitters to cure the people on the planet. I don’t understand the connection between feeling violent emotion, and subsonics, but maybe it’s because I’m not a Science Officer.

Leila contacts Spock and asks to be beamed up. The music tells us the struggle he’s going through as she embraces him and he doesn’t react. Ruth’s Theme swells and we see her sob as she tells him she loves him.

Spock: I am what I am, Leila. And if there are self-made purgatories, then we all have to live in them. Mine can be no worse than someone else’s.

As the tears stream down her face, Leila escapes the spores’ influence as well. It’s really a heart-wrenching scene. And we end with the line of trivia where she asks Spock if he has another name. His reply? “You couldn’t pronounce it.” It’s interesting, but it feels a bit off. And this is the last we see of Leila, which is also a bit lame. I mean, pressed for time and all, but still, I think we deserved a farewell.

The subsonics get the Enterprise crew to fight against each other. Even McCoy and Sandoval get in a fight in a funny scene where Sandoval says he’ll have to assign McCoy some other job. As they recover, Sandoval gets to resurrect Kirk’s earlier moment about Mankind and struggle.

Sandoval: We’ve done nothing here. No accomplishments, no progress.

We just have to assume that the colonists fight amongst themselves, and we go back to the Bridge for our typical close.

McCoy: Well, that’s the second time Man’s been thrown out of Paradise.

Kirk: No, this time we walked out on our own. Maybe we were meant to fight our way through. Struggle, claw our way up. Scratch for every inch of the way. Maybe we can’t stroll to the music of the lute. We must march to the sound of drums.

Spock: Poetry, Captain? Non-regulation.

Kirk: We haven’t heard much from you about Omicron Ceti III, Mr Spock.

Spock: I have little to say about it Captain. Except that, for the first time in my life… I was happy.

I think this scene could’ve been written better. Again, it’s a pity. We could at least have Kirk show some remorse, McCoy show some pity. Lost opportunities.

This episode is a bit like The Naked Time in that it gives us some insight into the characters. It’s reminiscent of Shore Leave in that (in addition to re-using the music), we’re seeing the crew react to a “paradise.” In this case, without the thrilling danger that you might encounter on the pleasure planet.

But what did we really get from this episode? More of Kirk’s sense of duty, and that struggle is why Mankind has advanced. McCoy has a bad Southern accent and likes Mint Juleps. And Spock really wants to be loved, but can’t allow it. Did we get more, from more of the crew, in The Naked Time and Shore Leave? I guess not. So we should be grateful for every additional opportunity to see inside our heroes.

We also got some decent trivia in this episode. If you were paying attention, you also know the combination to Kirk’s safe, something that served me well at a Star Trek convention’s trivia contest once.

Does that make this episode as good as the best? Well, it’s a close call. Technically, it’s not ground breaking since we’ve had similar episodes before. We do get to see Spock in love, though.



I’m struggling, but looking back over my list I have to say that it’s at least equal to Mudd’s Women, so it gets added to my Favorites List. Which now includes the following:

Mudd’s Women
Charlie X
The Naked Time
The Conscience of the King
The Alternative Factor
City on the Edge of Forever
Space Seed
Errand of Mercy
This Side of Paradise

Nine episodes out of twenty-nine in Season One. Roughly one-third. No real dogs so far. If I have to think of a “lesser” episode, I can only come up with Return of the Archons. All in all, a great season of a ground breaking series, with some real classic stories.

Season Two is next. I’ll be doing it in Stardate order, as Roddenberry said they were intended. There are a few that don’t have an explicit Stardate, and I’ll place them into the series by taking into account production order. So that anyone who might want to join in can re-watch with me, I will post that order for Season Two now.

"Patterns of Force" 2534
"Catspaw" 3018.2
"The Gamesters of Triskelion" 3211.7
"Metamorphosis" 3219.8
"Amok Time" 3372.7
"Who Mourns for Adonais?" 3468.1
"The Deadly Years" 3478.2
"Friday's Child" 3497.2
"The Changeling" 3541.9
"Wolf in the Fold" 3614.9
"Obsession" 3619.2
"The Apple" 3715.3
"Journey to Babel" 3842.3
"Bread and Circuses" 4040.7
"The Doomsday Machine" 4202.9
"A Private Little War" 4211.4
"Mirror, Mirror" Unknown
"The Immunity Syndrome" 4307.1
"I, Mudd" 4513.3
"The Trouble with Tribbles" 4523.3
"A Piece of the Action" 4598
"By Any Other Name" 4657.5
"The Ultimate Computer" 4729.4
"Return to Tomorrow" 4768.3
"The Omega Glory" Unknown
"Assignment: Earth" Unknown

See you next time with Patterns of Force!