u/feltplanet

Plato’s Stepchildren is one of those episodes that gets very mixed reviews from Trek fans. But wherever you fall on this story, there is a wonderfully written, character-revealing moment graced with something to consider, a bit of wisdom…

SPOCK: I trust they did not injure you too much, Captain.
KIRK: My muscles are sore, that's all.
SPOCK: The humiliation must have been most difficult for you to bear. I can understand.
MCCOY: The release of emotions, Mister Spock, is what keeps us healthy. Emotionally healthy, that is.
SPOCK: That may be, Doctor. However, I have noted that the healthy release of emotion is frequently very unhealthy for those closest to you.
KIRK: Which just goes to prove that there's no such thing as a perfect solution.
SPOCK: So it would seem. Captain.
KIRK: Yes, Spock.
SPOCK: Do you still feel anger toward Parmen?
KIRK: Great anger.
SPOCK: And you, Doctor?
MCCOY: Yes, Spock. And hatred.
SPOCK: Then you must release it, gentlemen, as I must master mine. I might have seriously injured you, Captain, even killed you. They have evoked such great hatred in me, I cannot allow it to go further. I must master it. I must control.
(Spock breaks a goblet with one hand.)

Spock is about as angry as we ever see him, while not under the influence of spores (This Side of Paradise) or time (All Our Yesterdays). What is interesting, and very telling about his character, he is not incensed because of his treatment at the hands of Parmen, he is borderline homicidal because he was robbed of self-control and that could have led to injuring or killing the man he is most loyal to. He is thinking, as ever, about his Captain, not himself.

The bit of insight….”That may be, Doctor. However, I have noted that the healthy release of emotion is frequently very unhealthy for those closest to you.“ 

Original Post

I love the brief moments in Trek that give us glimpses into the characters’ complexity and depth.

First Officer Spock would have everyone believe he is a completely logical Vulcan, successfully suppressing his emotions, (at times denying he has or understands them), but in this brief exchange from “The Squire of Gothos” we get a glimpse of Spock’s pride, the suppressed but very real Vulcan capacity for violence and, I think, the always underlying protectiveness he feels toward his Captain.

TRELANE: Where are all your weapons, Captain? Don't you display your weapons?
KIRK: Trelane.
TRELANE: Don't fret, Captain. I'm only a bit upset with you, but this Mister Spock you mentioned, the one responsible for that unseemly, impudent act of taking you from me, which is he?
SPOCK: I am Spock.
TRELANE: Surely not an officer. He isn't quite human, is he?
SPOCK: My father is from the planet Vulcan.
TRELANE: And are its natives predatory?
SPOCK: Not generally. But there have been exceptions.

William Campbell as the masterfully portrayed General Trelane, retired.

Original Post

There’s a certain amount of dislike, out there, for Doctor McCoy, for the way he treats Spock. For the most part, I think, McCoy's taunts are harmless. He is ruled by his emotions and Spock’s denial that he has any, drives the good Doctor crazy. Also, Spock is usually right, which also gets under McCoy’s skin.

BUT…most importantly....actions speak louder than words…

Knowing this…

LAL: When we resume our interrogations, you will decide which of your men we shall use. It is essential. There is an eighty seven percent chance that the doctor will die. And while Commander Spock's life is not in danger, the possibility is ninety three percent that he will suffer brain damage, resulting in permanent insanity.

…McCoy does this…

(McCoy turns away. Spock sits to carry on working. Gem puts her hand on Spock's shoulder, and smiles. McCoy comes up behind him and gives him an injection.)
SPOCK: Your action is highly unethical. My decision stands.
(Spock falls asleep next to Kirk.)
MCCOY: Not this time, Spock.

McCoy does not dislike Spock, he is frustrated by him. He’s one of those folks who let’s his emotions run rough shod sometimes. In the end, Bones is willing to give his life to save his green-blooded, pointy-eared hobgoblin, friend, from a life of permanent insanity.

The Empath

S3E12

Original Post

SPOCK: Mister Scott, can we manage anything faster than warp six?
SCOTT: It's my opinion that we've gone too far as it is, sir.
MCCOY: He's right, Spock. We've lost Jim and the others on Gamma Two. Now you've dragged us a dozen light years on some wild hunch that
SPOCK: Doctor, I do not respond to hunches. No transporter malfunction was responsible for the disappearance. They were not within the Gamma system. A focused beam of extremely high-intensity light was directed into the Gamma system from the trinary system we are now approaching. No known natural phenomena could have caused that beam. Does that clarify the situation?
MCCOY: No, it doesn't. It's still a fancy way of saying that you're playing a hunch. well, my hunch is that they're back on Gamma Two dead or alive and I still want another search.
SCOTT: Doctor McCoy speaks for me, too, sir.
SPOCK: I see. (pause) Gentlemen, I am in command of this vessel, and we shall continue on our present course. (conspiratorial whisper) Unless it is your intention to declare a mutiny.
SCOTT: Mister Spock!
MCCOY: Who said anything about a mutiny, you stubborn, pointed-eared. All right. If we don't find them here, do we still have another search on Gamma Two?
SPOCK: Agreed. Mister Scott, could you manage warp seven?
SCOTT: I would be more than content to do so, sir, and maybe a wee bit more.
SPOCK: Ensign, warp seven.

The Gamesters of Triskelion

S2E16

Original Post

Cheers, Mr. Scott! And thank you for your sacrifice!

TOMAR: You have more?
SCOTT: All I have is a bottle of very, very, very old Scotch. Whisky!
TOMAR: I will try it.
SCOTT: I'll get it! (takes the helmet off a breastplate and reaches in, removing a very dusty bottle.) I was saving you for…
TOMAR: What?
SCOTT: Never mind. Gie us your glass.

By Any Other Name S2E22

Original Post

Among Scotty’s best moments, this one is perhaps my favorite…Doohan perfectly captures concern, respect, duty, regret, determination and that he is a force to be reckoned with…

SCOTT: Mister Spock, I thought you were still confined to Sickbay.
SPOCK: I was.
SCOTT: Here, now. Where do you think you're going?
SPOCK: I have an errand on the planet's surface. You will beam me down to the same co-ordinates as before.
SCOTT: Not likely, Mister Spock.
SPOCK: That is an order, Mister Scott.
SCOTT: Aye, sir, and I'm sorry I have to disobey it. The Captain said no one was to transport down. Mister Spock.
(Spock pushes Scott aside and neck-pinches his assistant. But Scott has a phaser in his hand when he gets up again.)
SCOTT: Freeze right there, Mister Spock, or I'll put you to sleep for sure. This is Mister Scott in the transporter room. Get me the Captain.

Operation Annihilate!

S1 E29

Original Post

In Honor of National Ice Cream Day (US)

RILEY [OC]: You rang, sir?
KIRK: Who's this?

[Engineering]

RILEY: This is Captain Kevin Thomas Riley of the starship Enterprise.

[Bridge]

RILEY [OC]: And who is this?
KIRK: This is Captain Kirk. Get out of the engine room, navigator. Where's Mister Scott?
RILEY [OC]: I've relieved Mister Scott of his duties. Now, attention, cooks. This is your captain speaking. I would like double portions of ice cream for the entire crew.

...

SPOCK: Status reports, all sections.
UHURA: Mister Spock, a fight in the aft wardroom. Security reports incidents among the crewmen are increasing.
SPOCK: Go to Alert Baker two. Seal off main sections.
UHURA: All decks, alert system B two. Repeat, go to alert condition Baker two. Seal off all main sections. Stand by.
SPOCK: We're going to seal off, Captain, if we can minimize the spread of whatever this is.
KIRK: Continue the alert, Lieutenant.
UHURA: I can't, sir. He's cut off the alert channels.

[Engineering]

RILEY: Lieutenant Uhura and you inter...

[Bridge]

RILEY [OC]: ..rupted my song. I'm sorry, but there'll be no ice cream for you tonight.

The Naked Time

S1 E4

Writer: John D. F. Black

Director: Marc Daniels

Bruce Hyde as Riley

Original Post

· City on the Edge of Forever has a very nostalgic, Hitchcockian look and vibe.

· Spectre of the Gun uses a sparse set, bold colors, light and shadow to create a surrealistic landscape and feeling that also evokes the dramatic works of some early western US artists.

· The Empath was mostly shot in a “black box theater” setting, creating a surrealistic, stark and foreboding environment, fitting for the episode's dark content.

It can be argued that Spectre and Empath were trying to stay on budget (City, on the other hand totally blew its budget) but necessity is the mother of invention. For me, all three are Trek treasures.

Did I miss any other eps that visually rose above the ordinary, artistically?

Original Post

Two times we see what remains when you dehydrate a human.

By Any Other Name

ROJAN: (releasing Kirk) This cannot go unpunished. Hanar. That one. (the guard) Take him aside. Kelinda, the female.
THOMPSON: Captain?
ROJAN: Go. As a leader, you realize the importance of discipline. I need you and these other specialists, but those two are unnecessary.
KIRK: I'm responsible. Let them go.
ROJAN: I think we're somewhat alike, Captain. Each of us cares less for his own safety than for the lives of his command. We feel pain when others suffer for our mistakes. Your punishment shall be to watch them die. Captain. Proceed, Hanar.
(The guard and the yeoman are reduced to blocks of solid matter.)
ROJAN: Bring them to me. This is the essence of what they were. The flesh and brain and what you call the personality, distilled down into these compact shapes. And once crushed (he demonstrates) this person is dead. However, that one can be restored. (throws it on the ground) Hanar?
(The security guard reappears.)

Sadly, for Yeoman Thompson, there would be no return.

The Omega Glory

GALLOWAY: The helm was left on automatic, sir.
SPOCK: Fascinating.
KIRK: Spock, play the last log tape. Maybe they had time to record what happened to them.
SPOCK: Aye, sir.
MCCOY: Jim, the analysis of this so far is potassium thirty five percent, carbon eighteen percent, phosphorous one point zero, calcium one point five. Jim, the crew didn't leave. They're still here.
KIRK: What do you mean?
MCCOY: These white crystals. That's what's left of the human body when you take the water away, which makes up ninety six percent of our bodies. Without water, we're all just three or four pounds of chemicals. Something crystallized them down to this.
SPOCK: I have their surgeon's log, Captain. Their last log entry, Captain, on screen.
(A man in a blue shirt is struggling to try and sit up in the Captain’s chair and dictate the log.)
DOCTOR [on viewscreen]: If you've come aboard this ship, you're dead men. Don't go back to your own ship. You have one chance. Get down there. Get down there fast. Captain Tracey is (screams and falls out of view.)

The good doctor was off by a decimal point on the potassium. Understandable, he had just come to the realization that they were standing in the orbiting morgue of the dehydrated crew of the USS Exeter.

Original Post

We all know there were two Star Trek pilots. The first was rejected, the second, picked up. It is often mentioned that the first pilot was “too cerebral”, but I would argue the first was too grim. Sure, we can handle serious, heavy, content, there are some downright tragic episodes in Trek, but I think one of the hallmarks, a key to Trek’s success, was its optimism and sense of duty to others (later in the series ‘others’ will include not only fellow explorers and 'friends', but also ‘foes’ & criminals).

Right out of the gate…faced with the unknown…

Captain Pike

SPOCK: Records show the Talos group has never been explored. Solar system similar to Earth, eleven planets. Number four seems to be Class M, oxygen atmosphere.
ONE: Then they could still be alive, even after eighteen years.
PIKE: If they survived the crash.
SPOCK: We aren't going to go, to be certain?
PIKE: Not without any indication of survivors, no. Continue to the Vega Colony and take care of our own sick and injured first. You have the helm. Maintain present course.
ONE: Yes, sir.

Moments later…

BOYCE [OC}: Boyce here.
PIKE: Drop by my cabin, Doctor. (Boyce enters with bag) What's that? I didn't say there's anything wrong with me.
BOYCE: I understand we picked up a distress signal.
PIKE: That's right. Unless we get anything more positive on it, it seems to me the condition of our own crew takes precedent. I'd like to log the ship's doctor's opinion, too.
BOYCE: Oh, I concur with yours, definitely.
PIKE: Good. I'm glad you do, because we're going to stop first at the Vega Colony and replace anybody who needs hospitalisation and also. What the devil are you putting in there, ice?
BOYCE: Who wants a warm martini?
PIKE: What makes you think I need one?
BOYCE: Sometimes a man'll tell his bartender things he'll never tell his doctor. What's been on your mind, Chris, the fight on Rigel Seven?
PIKE: Shouldn't it be? My own yeoman and two others dead, seven injured.
BOYCE: Was there anything you personally could have done to prevent it?
PIKE: Oh, I should have smelled trouble when I saw the swords and the armour. Instead of that, I let myself get trapped in that deserted fortress and attacked by one of their warriors.
BOYCE: Chris, you set standards for yourself no one could meet. You treat everyone on board like a human being except yourself, and now you're tired and you
PIKE: You bet I'm tired. You bet. I'm tired of being responsible for two hundred and three lives. I'm tired of deciding which mission is too risky and which isn't, and who's going on the landing party and who doesn't, and who lives and who dies. Boy, I've had it, Phil.
BOYCE: To the point of finally taking my advice, a rest leave?
PIKE: To the point of considering resigning.
BOYCE: And do what?
PIKE: Well, for one thing, go home. Nice little town with fifty miles of parkland around it. Remember I told you I had two horses, and we used to take some food and ride out all day.
BOYCE: Ah, that sounds exciting. Ride out with a picnic lunch every day.
PIKE: I said that's one place I might go. I might go into business on Regulus or on the Orion colony.
BOYCE: You, an Orion trader, dealing in green animal women, slaves?
PIKE: The point is this isn't the only life available. There's a whole galaxy of things to choose from.
BOYCE: Not for you. A man either lives life as it happens to him, meets it head-on, and licks it, or he turns his back on it and starts to wither away.
PIKE: Now you're beginning to talk like a doctor, bartender.
BOYCE: Take your choice. We both get the same two kinds of customers. The living and the dying.

Yes, Pike was coming off a bad mission, and in the end, after the encounter on planet, he was ‘restored’…

BOYCE: Hold on a minute.
PIKE: Oh, I feel fine, just fine.
BOYCE: You look a hundred percent better.
PIKE: You recommended a rest, a change of pace, didn't you? I've even been home. Does that make you happy?

…but overall the story lacked that optimistic ‘boldly going’ feel and instead had a heaviness that, despite a somewhat ‘happy ending’, lingers.

Captain Kirk

Again, faced with the unknown…

SPOCK: Severe damage. Seven crewmen dead. No, make that six. One crewman seemed to have recovered. That's when they became interested in extrasensory perception. More than interested, almost frantic about it. No, this must be garbled. I get something about destruct. I must have read it wrong. It sounded like the captain giving an order to destroy his own ship.
KIRK: Comments?
PIPER: The only fact we have for sure is that the S.S. Valiant was destroyed.
KIRK: That's probably the best argument to continue the probe. Other vessels will be heading out here someday and they'll have to know what they'll be facing. We're leaving the galaxy, Mister Mitchell. Ahead, warp factor one.

We will see the dark side of power corrupting, Kirk will face a terrible decision and lose his very close friend, in all 12 crew members will die (9 crossing the barrier, Kelso, Mitchell and Dehner). But we are still left with a sense of optimism, that while the human condition is marked by imperfection, struggle, loss, pain, triumph and tragedy, we still push forward, hopeful, decent, eager to explore and discover. We will boldy go, not just toil and grimly survive.

And...it isn't that Kirk does not feel every bit of the loss and tragedy, it is precisely because he does feel it, but ultimately still retains the best qualities of humanity, ever hopeful, decent and brave.

Is it less cerebral? Or is it just as thoughtful, but with less focus on 'self' and more focus on 'us'. 

“The Cage”

Writer: Gene Roddenberry

Director: Robert Butler (1/1)

“Where No Man Has Gone Before”

Writer: Samuel A. Peeples

Director: James Goldstone (1/2)

Original Post

This post is for everyone who had to leave their weekend behind this morning, but "didn't want to". Hope this brings a smile, as big as Spock’s, to your day.

KIRK: Mister Spock. Are you out of your mind? You were told to report to me at once.
SPOCK: I didn't want to, Jim.
KIRK: You...? Yes, I can see that. Miss Kalomi, you'll have to come back to the settlement and prepare to transport up to the ship.
SPOCK: There'll be no evacuation, Jim, but perhaps we should go back and get you straightened out.

At the very least, may your boss be as relatively patient as the befuddled Captain Kirk.

This Side of Paradise

S1E24

Original Post

Amok Time

It is easy to feel for Spock and despise T’Pring. I have. But, I’ve also made the argument that the situation is really very complicated. Reducing it to good Spock (I do love Spock) vs evil T’Pring, overlooks a complex mess.

· It would appear that Spock and T’Pring haven’t been a thing since their parents arranged their marriage at the tender age of 7. The image of T’Pring that Spock possesses, is of a child.

· Spock has been off doing his thing, hoping he would never go into Pon Farr. It is unclear when, if ever, he planned to return to his ‘betrothed’ to finalize the ‘deal’.

SPOCK: I'd hoped I would be spared this, but the ancient drives are too strong. Eventually, they catch up with us, and we are driven by forces we cannot control to return home and take a wife. Or die.

· T’Pring, back on Vulcan, is not happy with the future her parents chose for her…

T’PRING: You have become much known among our people, Spock. Almost a legend. And as the years went by, I came to know that I did not want to be the consort of a legend.

…understandably would prefer someone who is there and is interested in marrying her…

T”PRING: There was also Stonn, who wanted very much to be my consort, and I wanted him.

...and she has very limited options…

T”PRING: “…by the laws of our people, I could only divorce you by the kal-if-fee.”

Complicated. BUT, is it even MORE complicated?

Clearly, Stonn was ready to step up and fight for T’Pring…

STONN: No! I am to be the one. It was agreed.
T'PAU: Be silent.
STONN: Hear me. I have made the ancient claim. I claim the right. The woman is…

…what? The woman is WHAT? Mine? Breaking our arrangement? Making a mistake? (Looking at Kirk, he could be concerned that Spock is about to win himself a wife) …Carrying my child?

Is T’Pring pregnant? Is she sporting Vulcan maternity garb? Did she seize the opportunity to not only divorce Spock, but also preserve the life of her child’s father? Is that dress suggesting something the writers could not say? Is she a little more sympathetic if she is making a choice as a mother?

I’m not a fan of T’Pring, but if we were to have heard her story first…if there was a ‘Tale of T’Pring’… (before ever getting to know Spock)…the story of a woman stuck in an arranged betrothal-almost-marriage…her husband-to-be travelling around the galaxy… coming home who knows when, if ever…she finds someone who is there for her and wants to be with her…one thing leads to another…now long lost ‘hubby’ is coming home, not because he is interested in her, but because he’ll die if he doesn’t..and then he’ll be taking off again,…would we have a little sympathy for T’Pring? Of course, in this story, Spock would be portrayed as cruel and heartless with Kirk as his evil accomplice. T’Pring would be clever, free and live happily ever after. It is easy in stories to ‘take sides’.

That said, involving Kirk, forcing Spock to fight his friend and Captain to the death, feels evil, partially because we know and care for Spock and Kirk, and also because T’Pring comes off as calculating and uncaring…but she is a Vulcan, driven by flawless logic, as Spock noted, with some ‘admiration’, and maybe making a decision that involves more than just herself.

Spock gets the final word. Stonn is not at all happy that he was denied the opportunity to fight for T’Pring (and his child?), and though T’Pring got what she wanted, was there ever going to be a ‘happy’ ending for her? Yes, I know, happiness is an emotion…let’s say ‘satisfactory’ ending.

I don’t like T’Pring, (I have always read a bit disdain for Spock being half human into her objection to the marriage) but I do have sympathy for her situation and some appreciation for her solution, especially if she was, indeed, with child. When life gives you lemons…I want to say you make lemonade, and it is fitting, but I can see how some might invoke Miracle Max (Princess Bride) “why don’t you give me a nice papercut and pour some lemon juice on it”.

I kinda end up thinking she did both. I would imagine the lemonade was a little bitter and the cuts were felt more by Stonn than Spock. But, what else do you do with so many lemons...

Did I say it was complicated? More like situation impossible…there was never going to be a good outcome for T’Pring in a culture that preserves a fight to the death as the only way to get out of an unchosen marriage and prompts a half human Spock to find peace in the stars, because he isn’t going to find it on Vulcan.

ALL of that said, I love this episode. I love Spock. I Love Trek.

Arlene Martel as T'Pring

Lawrence Montaigne as Stonn

Mary Rice as Young T'Pring

Original Post

S1 E8

Continuing down the broadcast order rewatch, viewing the series as the original audience did. It must have been a bit jarring when the fledgling series ‘boldly went’ to a planet that mirrored Earth, in every detail.

KIRK: Earth-style distress signal. SOS.
FARRELL: I've answered it on all frequencies, sir. They don't reply.
SPOCK: Not a vessel, a ground source. The third planet in this solar system, according to my instruments.
FARRELL: Directly ahead. Definitely an Earth-style signal.
KIRK: We're hundreds of light years from Earth, Mister Spock. No colonies or vessels out this far.
SPOCK: Measuring the planet now, Captain. It's spheroid-shaped, circumference twenty four thousand eight hundred seventy four miles. Mass six times ten to the twenty first power tons. Mean density five point five one seven. Atmosphere oxygen, nitrogen.
RAND: Earth!
KIRK: Not the Earth, another Earth. Another Earth?

…

Captain's Log, stardate 2713.5. In the distant reaches of our galaxy, we have made an astonishing discovery. Earth type radio signals coming from a planet which apparently is an exact duplicate of the Earth. It seems impossible, but there it is.

…

KIRK: Identical. Earth, as it was in the early 1900s.
SPOCK: More the, er, mid-1900s I would say, Captain, approximately 1960.

It is, even now, a bit odd to see the Gold, Blue and Red uniforms of the future juxtaposed against a dusty, deserted, mid-20th century street.

Despite the frightening appearance of the salt monster, the somewhat shocking ‘pranks’ of Charlie and ‘Other Kirk’s’ attack on Yeoman Rand, there is a darkness and level of violence that is a step further than Trek has gone before.

· Kirk pummels what appears to be an old man, but is actually a child (heat of the moment, but still uncomfortable to watch)

· A child reports horrible abuse at the hands of adults

MIRI: But I remember the things you Grups did, burning, yelling, hurting people.

· Kirk, unintentionally, kills another child with a phaser stun

· We come to realize the only children to survive, were those who were able to hide, and that those who could not, or did not, perished at the hands of those who should have protected them.

JAHN: …You know Grups. You know what they do, the hurting, the killing.
RED HEAD BOY: I remember, Jahn, the way it was.

· The remaining children have gone feral, and having witnessed and experienced incredible violence, are very capable of it themselves.

RED HEAD BOY: Naughty Grup. (starts hitting Kirk) Bonk bonk! Bonk bonk!
MIRI: No, please. No! (the other children join in as the little blonde girl watches, smiling)
KIRK: (bleeding) It's waiting for you. It may only be a matter of months.
MIRI: Listen to him. He's telling the truth.
JAHN: He's funny. He thinks he's funny.
RED HEAD BOY: Bonk bonk! Get him!
KIRK: Look at my arms! That's what's going to happen to you unless you let me help you.
RED HEAD BOY: Bonk bonk! Hit him!
KIRK: And the little ones. What's going to happen to them after you've gone, after you've turned into creatures like Louise? Oh, they'll still be here, but not for long, because the food's all gone. You've eaten it. Maybe six months left, that's all, and then nothing left to eat, nobody left to take care of them. They'll die, too.
MIRI: Look at my arm, Jahn. It's happening to me. He's telling the truth.
JAHN: They're Grups!
CHILDREN: Bonk bonk! Bonk bonk! Bonk bonk! Bonk bonk!

Also new, Miri appears to have a couple of blatant 'unforced errors'…

· The complete duplicate Earth strains even the best “suspender of disbelief” ’s power to suspend.

· That Rand beams down without any equipment seems implausible

There was also a unique warning in this episode. While we have already seen absolute power corrupting (twice) and the inherent dangers of Ai, the catastrophic risks of scientists mucking around with viruses is novel. (Straying ahead for a moment, this theme won’t be repeated, whereas the corrupting effects of power and battling AI gone rogue, will be seen again).

Portraying a mirror Earth devastated by a crisis created in a laboratory, while straining believability, I think, delivers the message that such a thing could happen…here. That “Miri” is serious, uncomfortable and good science fiction, gets lost, at times, in my opinion, in giving more attention to the ‘unforced errors’ and ‘bratty kids’, than to the very possible futuristic horror of virus manipulation meant to do good, spiraling out of control and nearly wiping out an entire civilization.

As with previous episodes, Miri explores heavy subject matter and fulfills the promise of going boldly, even if it looks a little more familiar, and perhaps because it hits ‘closer to home’. It may be episodes like this, and its predecessors, that caused one critic to claim Season One Trek was shocking for shock's sake (paraphrased, maybe, I need to find the original quote). In reality it challenges us to think, to use our leisure time to step out of the ordinary and comfortable, to consider a bigger picture, captured in the flickering little picture. It blends horrific with hopeful, otherworldy with concerns for our world, entertainment with enrichment.

What a ride these first eight episodes are, and must have been!

October 27, 1966

Writer: Adrian Spies

Director: Vincent McEveety

Original Post

The final episode of the Original Star Trek Series aired, having been postponed from the original air date of March 28, 1969, by news coverage of the death of former United States President Dwight D. “IKE” Eisenhower.

It was a premature ending to what fans had hoped would be a five year mission. I can’t help but think that Captain Kirk’s….William Shatner’s…second “if only’ was not a reflection about Janice Lester, but, instead, about what could have been if boldly going had not been cut short.

KIRK: ....if only...if only...

June 3, 1969

Turnabout Intruder

Story: Gene Roddenberry

Teleplay: Arthur Singer

Director: Herb Wallerstein

Original Text

Continuing the Broadcast Order rewatch…in an attempt to recreate the original series unfolding experience...episode 7. Viewers tuned in to find the Enterprise facing a novel, deadly, threat.

The first six adventures found the Captain and crew confronting biological antagonists…

· The Salt Vampire

· Charlie (enhanced human)

· Gary Mitchell (enhanced human)

· Virus (Polywater Intoxication)

· Kirk/2

· Harry Mudd

…when Kirk and Chapel beam down to Exo III, to reunite the nurse with her long lost fiancé, they soon find themselves confronting a new type of danger in the form of Ai giant Ruk, assisted by Robo Brown and Android Andrea. Counterfeit Kirk will soon join the team and the human (and Vulcan) vs machine dance is well underway.

Spock notices the Ai imperfection first…

KIRK [OC]: Enterprise from Captain Kirk. Come in. Do you read?
UHURA: Frequency open, Mister Spock.
SPOCK: Spock here, Captain.
KIRK [OC]: Contact established with Doctor Korby.
SPOCK: We were becoming concerned, Captain. Your check-in was overdue and since we'd not heard from your security team
KIRK [OC]: No problem, Mister Spock. Bear with me.

[Korby's study]

RUK [Kirk's voice]: We'll return to the ship within forty eight hours. Doctor Korby's records and specimens will require careful packing.

[Bridge]

SPOCK: Captain, are you all right? You sound tired.

…but it is not enough for him to question further and it will not be until Kirk’s doppelganger unknowingly acts completely out of character (thanks to Kirk’s quick thinking) , that Spock knows for sure something is afoot.

SPOCK: Captain, We finished ahead of schedule.
KIRK2: Doctor Korby has considerable cargo to beam aboard. I'll have to go over our destination schedule with him.
SPOCK: You're going back down with the command pack?
KIRK2: Mind your own business, Mister Spock. I'm sick of your half-breed interference, do you hear?
SPOCK: Yes. very well, Captain.
KIRK2: You look upset, Mister Spock. Is everything all right up here?
SPOCK: No problems here, sir.
KIRK2: Good. I'll beam up shortly with Doctor Korby and party. (leaves)
SPOCK: Security, Spock here. Status of your landing party?
SECURITY [OC]: Ready and standing by, sir,
SPOCK: Have them meet me in the transporter room after the Captain has beamed down.

That such an obvious hint was needed to detect a robot replacement is one of the many frightening possibilities of thinking machines among us. Chapel does not detect she is lunching with her Captain’s double, or that her fiance’s flaws are a sign of something more sinister than just a puzzling change of heart.

ANDREA: Doctor Korby suggested that you have lunch. He thought you might have a few things to talk about.
CHAPEL: Captain.
KIRK2: I know, I know. I'd hate to be torn between commander and fiancée myself.
CHAPEL: No, I'm not torn. I'm puzzled. I'm worried.
KIRK2: Has he confided in you?
CHAPEL: Nothing he hasn't told you. I know it doesn't make sense. What he's done may seem wrong, but he is Roger Korby, whatever he seems to be doing.
KIRK2: Unless something's gone wrong with his mind.
CHAPEL: No. You're forgetting how well I know him. He's as sane as you or I.
KIRK2: Nurse, if I gave you a direct order to betray him
CHAPEL: Please, don't ask me to make that choice. I'd much rather you push me off the same precipice where Matthews died. Oh, I can't. (pushes plate away) Please, go ahead and eat.
KIRK2: Androids don't eat, Miss Chapel.

More concerning, creating a ‘human machine’, playing God, if you will, comes with the hazards manifested when a flawed being creates a superior, but flawed, machine.

Ruk turned on his creators when they sensed they had made a fatal mistake…

KIRK: Is it possible they built their machines too well, gave them pride and a desire to survive? Machines that wanted logic and order and found that frustrated by the illogical emotional creatures that built them?
RUK: Yes, the old ones. The ones who made us. They grew fearful of us. They began to turn us off.

…and is ready for round two…programming be damned…

KIRK: The old ones programmed you, too, but it became possible to destroy them.
RUK: That was the equation! (seizes Kirk) Existence! Survival must cancel out programming.
KIRK: That's it, Ruk! Logic! You can't protect someone who's trying to destroy you!
KORBY: Ruk, I would like
RUK: You brought him among us. You brought the inferior ones. We had cleansed ourselves of them. Now you bring the evil back!
KORBY: Ruk, stop! Your programming. (fires phaser, Ruk vanishes) I had no choice.

Andrea blasts Pseudo Kirk out of existence for refusing a kiss, and seems not only confused, but also annoyed with her creator…

ANDREA: He freed himself, and I destroyed, (sees Kirk there) destroyed him. I am not programmed for alarms. I listened to your instructions. They were mis-stated.

…who is also her paramour…

ANDREA: No. Protect. Protect. (to Korby) To love you. To, to kiss you.

…and a bit late, Korby realizes his would be utopia would instead be a dystopia of mechanized ‘humans’ bereft of the very important essence of their former humanity.

KORBY: No. You cannot love. You're not human.
ANDREA: Love you. Kiss. (Korby reaches for trigger and disintegrates them both)

This episode was the first truly predictive episode of a near-future threat that seemed not only possible, but probable. A salt monster, humans with godlike powers, a virus that imitates alcohol and a conman, were either highly unlikely or problems already a part of life. Thinking machines, perhaps not soon ready to house a person’s consciousness, but able to exist as a new creation among us, were and are about to become reality.

Were the viewers, nearly 60 years ago, intrigued, entertained, concerned, or all of the above?

October 20, 1966

Writer: Robert Bloch

Director: James Goldstone

Michael Strong as Korby

Sherry Jackson as Andrea

Ted Cassidy as Ruk

Harry Basch as Brown

Original Post

Continuing down the broadcast order rewatch, in an effort to enjoy Trek as the first audience did, Mudd’s Women, episode 6, marks a departure from previous episodes.

Recap

· The Man Trap- film noir/monster ep

· Charlie X-Psychological Suspense /Tragedy

· Where No Man Has Gone Before- Psychological Suspense/Tragedy

· The Naked Time-Action Packed Drama

· The Enemy Within- Psychological Suspense Drama

Then along came Harcourt Fenton Mudd.

While there is often some comedic content in Trek, in the first 5 eps we only see sprinklings, for the most part. The Naked Time has the most amusing element with the portrayal of Riley’s drunken “command’ of the Enterprise. In contrast, Roger C. Carmel’s larger than life portrayal of scoundrel Mudd, and the impact his ladies are having on the crew, give this episode a light-hearted romp feel, so much so that we even get a pronounced smirk from Spock. Despite this, there is also a powerful message in the ‘surprise’ ending (among my favorite Trek moments), and marks the first completely happy ending. No one dies and no one is assaulted.

Yes, Mudd is less than an upstanding businessman, but the ladies are willing participants in the ‘wiving settlers’ arrangement, with goals of their own. Eve is genuinely looking for love and companionship. She clearly has moral conflicts with Mudd’s plans, methods and her own complicity. Ruth and Madga seem a bit less romantically inclined and more financially motivated, they are fully onboard with Mudd’s scheming.

For those with color TV’s, Uhura’s switch to a gold uniform may have been puzzling, if they noticed. The second regular season episode filmed, they had not yet settled on putting Nichelle in red.

As with the preceding episodes, though lighter in mood, the episode still delivers a new, somewhat exotic adventure, with ‘human’ details that make it feel genuine. Yes, the future has incredible shiny ships, with amazing technological advances, carrying us to the far reaches of the galaxy, but it also has grubby mining planets, conmen, loneliness, moral dilemmas, ‘small scale’ danger…not just epic battles, and a hero who is not all powerful or perfect, but is smart, insightful, decent, caring, brave, flawed…but wins in the end.

Fave moments…

Kirk risking himself, ship and crew to save others, even those who may be on the wrong side of right and wrong…

KIRK: Try to warn him. If he loses power now
FARRELL: There go his engines, sir.
SULU: He's drifting into the asteroid belt, Captain.
FARRELL: He's had it, unless we put our deflector screen around him.
SCOTT: Captain, if we try, we'll overload our own engines. He's too far away.
KIRK: Cover him with our deflector screen, Mister Farrell. Scotty, Spock, stand by in the transporter room.

Kirk wasn’t born yesterday…

MUDD: Well, how the devil am I supposed to know this is a starship, Captain? Here I am with a cargo of young lovelies. A strange ship comes up alongside. Well. naturally I did my best to evade you. And starship Captain or no, you exceeded your authority when you drove me and mine into a shower of asteroids.
KIRK: Your name, please.
MUDD: Walsh. Leo Walsh. You destroyed me ship, Captain.
KIRK: Mister Walsh, I'm convening a ship's hearing on your actions. Mister Spock will supply you with any legal information you may need for your defence.
MUDD: You're a hard-nosed one, Captain.
KIRK: And you're a liar, Mister Walsh. I think we both understand each other. Security! Escort Mister Walsh to his quarters. Confine him there.

…

He’s not all powerful or perfect…

SCOTT: Captain, this is draining our batteries further. If we only had those crystals.
KIRK: But we don't! I didn't get any. I should have found a way. Satisfied, Mister Scott?
UHURA: Losing communications with the miners, sir. Magnetic storm seems worse.
KIRK: Has Childress reported in yet?
UHURA: No, sir. He and the girl are still missing.
KIRK: Sorry, Scotty. How much power do we have left?

…

...but he is insightful, caring, decent…and gets the job done.

KIRK: Quite a woman, eh, Childress?
CHILDRESS: A fake, pumped up by a drug.
KIRK: By herself. She took no drug.
EVE: I swallowed it.
KIRK: Colored gelatin.
MUDD: Yes, they took away my drug and substituted that.
EVE: But that can't be.
KIRK: There's only one kind of woman.
MUDD: Or man, for that matter.
KIRK: You either believe in yourself, or you don't. All right Childress, I've gone as far with you as I intend to. I want those lithium crystals and I want them now. Enterprise, this is Kirk.
SPOCK [OC]: Spock here, Captain.
KIRK: Stand by. Do I beam down a search party?
CHILDRESS: No, the crystals are here, and you're welcome to them.
KIRK: Stand by, Mister Spock. We're coming aboard with the lithium crystals.
SPOCK [OC]: How many coming, Captain?
CHILDRESS: Eve will stay, today at least. We, er, we want to talk.
KIRK: Eve?
EVE: You've got someone up there called the Enterprise.
KIRK: Two of us, Mister Spock. Come on, Mister Mudd.
MUDD: Don't you think you could possibly, by accident, arrange to leave me behind here? On this planet that would be punishment enough.
KIRK: I can't do that, Harry, but I will appear as a character witness at your trial. If you think that'll help.
MUDD: They'll throw away the key.

I have to think this was a bit of 'serious' fun for those tuning in week 6. I know it was for me when I found it in syndication. It remains a favorite.

Story: Gene Roddenberry

Teleplay: Stephen Kandel

Director: Harvey Hart

Eve: Karen Steele

Ruth: Maggie Thrett

Magda: Susan Denberg

Original Post

Continuing the Broadcast Order rewatch, in an effort to capture the ‘original’ Star Trek viewing experience. What a TREAT this must have been for those tuning in on week 4!

Highlights:

· Ensemble Cast Performance

· The peril/humor/character development mix is outstanding

· Fantastic pace and energy (kudos to Director Marc Daniels)

· The very, very entertaining Riley. His departure from the bridge and trip to sickbay is a little play unto itself. His plans, thoughts and reprimands, a riot.

New:

· The beginning of the McCoy/Spock light hearted repartee

MCCOY: You're fine, Joe. Up and out of there. Mister Spock? Your pulse is two hundred and forty two, your blood pressure is practically nonexistent, assuming you call that green stuff in your veins blood.
SPOCK: The readings are perfectly normal for me, Doctor, thank you, and as for my anatomy being different from yours, I am delighted.

· The Vulcan Neck Pinch

· There’s a Bowling Alley and Ice Cream

· Nurse Chapel and her doomed, unrequited love

· Rand’s training includes the skills needed for ‘manning’ the helm

RAND: I would have gotten here sooner, sir but Crewman Moody stopped me in the hallway.
KIRK: Take the helm.
RAND: Sir?
KIRK: Take the helm!
RAND: Yes, sir.

· Time Travel

The use of an intoxicant to fast forward character development and create chaos was brilliant. The dangerous, dying planet, hijacked engine room, out of control spread of (I’ll use Riley’s word) mayhem….there is so much here, carefully packed to fit the 50 minute window, into the life of the Enterprise and her crew, that we get each week. It is a bit like a tiny circus clown car…just when you think there can’t be more, another clown climbs out…and they just keep coming. The real beauty Is…all of it unfolds seamlessly in a perfectly told story…

…with one, tiny, imperfection.

NITPICK…Tormolen’s lapse in judgement, so very necessary to the tale, could have been more realistically handled. Removing the glove to scratch his nose, fine. Leaving that glove off and touching a frozen surface, in a deadly, unknown (dare I say FROZEN, again) situation, strains the suspension of disbelief. Though, truth is stranger than fiction, people do behave bizarrely, all the time.

FIX: Rather than place the instrument he’s holding on the desk, he transfers it to his gloved, non-dominant hand, scratches his nose, drops the instrument and quickly reacts, picking it up off the blood stained floor with his bare hand…and finishes as he did, warming his hand inside his mask.

It is a small nitpick, as this is a great episode, that gave Star Trek a jolt of depth and texture.

Stewart Moss as Tormolen

Bruce Hyde as Riley

Episode 4

September 29, 1966

Writer: John DF Black

Director: Marc Daniels

Original Post

Sixth in production order (not counting the pilots), but the second episode broadcast. I tried to watch, this time, as those who first viewed it watched it, as though I had only ever seen “The Man Trap’, as if this was only my second invitation to board the Enterprise.

While many fans find the character of Charlie completely objectionable (and perhaps this is why this episode does not rank highly, for many) this episode is excellent Trek.

The story, by Gene Roddenberry, was masterfully transformed into the teleplay by D.C. Fontana. It is compelling, suspenseful, science based, speckled with humor, rich with details about life aboard a Starship, thought provoking and tragic. From accurately portraying the plight of Charlie, to the discomfort of both Kirk and McCoy at the thought of mentoring a teenager, Rec Room antics, meatloaf turkeys, other ships, daily routines and crew interactions, a ship’s store, and a gym, Fontana paints a picture that has depth and a sense of reality that pulls us in and rings true.

Director Lawrence Dobkin does an excellent job transforming the written word into the experience that is ‘Charlie X’. There is a tension and relentlessly forward moving energy that permeates the entire episode. His use of multiple camera angles, natural, but strategic staging, and close ups, draw the viewer into this unfolding, somewhat terrifying, drama, making it easy to forget you are watching a constructed play. I wish he had directed more Trek.

Robert Walker Jr. is nothing short of brilliant in his portrayal of this incredibly well-written, multi-dimensional antagonist. Orphaned at the age of 3, Charlie lacks the social skills (empathy, self-control) essential for a successful life among his own kind. Layer on top of this, entering society for the first time, uncertain how to behave, craving acceptance, trying to learn the rules everyone else knows…the angst of young adulthood…surging hormones, the powerful yearnings and confusion of newly found attractions, first love, the need and want for continued support and guidance running up against the desire to be a free and independent ‘adult’…and the cherry on top…dreadful powers that are, at times, a reaction, and others times, an empathy-free intent.

Charlie’s journey aboard the Enterprise from awkward but eager kid to dangerous, omnipotent tyrant is perfectly paced. Step by step, we see his initial vulnerability transform into confusion, frustration, anger, then outright rebellion and almost uncontrolled rage. But, in the midst of this whirlwind of turmoil, we still get a glimpse of who Charlie really is…fully in control now, of ship and crew….

CHARLIE: He had a mean look. I had to freeze him. I like happy looks.

…a little boy. This seemingly minor line is just one of the many gems that make this episode one of my favorites.

Charlie’s final moments among his own kind….

CHARLIE: I can make you all go away anytime I want to.
KIRK: Get out of my chair, Charlie, and get out of it now.
CHARLIE: I've got your ship, Captain.
KIRK: Maybe, Charlie, but I don't think you can handle any more. I think you've reached your limit and can't take on one more thing, but you're going to have to.
CHARLIE: I could've sent you away before, but I didn't.
KIRK: You're going to have to take me on.
CHARLIE: Don't make me do it now.
KIRK: You've got my ship, and I want it back. I want my crew back, whole, if I have to break your neck to do it! (throws him out of command chair)
CHARLIE: Don't push me. (gives Kirk pain) Sorry. I'm sorry but. Stop it. I said stop it!
SPOCK: Captain, the navigation console is clear now. The ship is answering the helm.
UHURA: Sir, something off our starboard bow. The message says they're from Thasus.
(Rand reappears)
CHARLIE: Oh.
RAND: Captain, how did I?
KIRK: It's all right, Yeoman.
SPOCK: Sensors show there something's there, Captain. Deflectors indicate no solid substance.
CHARLIE: No! Oh, no, please, don't let them take me. I can't live with them anymore. You're my friends. You said you were my friends, remember? When I came aboard! Please, I want to go home. Take me home.
THASIAN: I have taken my form from centuries ago, so that I may communicate with you. We did not realise until too late that the boy had gone, and we are saddened that his escape cost the lives of the first ship. We could not help them, but we have returned your people and your ship to you. Everything is as it was.
CHARLIE: I won't do it again. Please, I'll be good. I won't ever do it again. I'm sorry about the Antares. I'm sorry! When I came aboard! Please, I want to go with you. Help me!
KIRK: The boy belongs with his own kind.
THASIAN: That would be impossible.
KIRK: With training, we can teach him to live in our society. If he can be taught not to use his power
THASIAN: We gave him the power so he could live. He will use it, always, and he would destroy you and your kind, or you would be forced to destroy him to save yourselves.
KIRK: Is there nothing you can do?
THASIAN: We offer him life, and we will take care of him. Come, Charles.
CHARLIE: Oh, please, don't let them take me. I can't even touch them! Janice, they can't feel. Not like you! They don't love! Please, I want to stay. (fades away)
UHURA: Charlie's back on board the Thasian ship, sir. They signal they're leaving.
KIRK: It's all right, Yeoman. It's all over now.

…are telling and tragic. He didn’t make everyone ‘go away’, he doesn’t really want that, he wants what he first craved when he came aboard. He doesn’t want to hurt his new found father figure, but he also wants what he wants and knows he has the power to try to get it (and who can blame him for wanting to escape isolation and be with other humans). Finally faced with a power superior to his own, he reverts back to the little boy who just wants to go home.

This is one of a handful of episode that ends on a truly somber note.

I would be remiss if I left out the fantastic score by Alexander Courage and the spot on (no pun intended) lighting, both of which set the perfect mood.

Charlie X and its 50 minute glimpse into life aboard the Enterprise is one of the most complete and satisfying stories told. As ‘Episode 2’ it did a great job of bringing to life the crew of, and the Starship, Enterprise.

Original Post

Spock, enjoying the local ‘cue, with Zarabeth. The side of veggies is planned for much, much later...

ZARABETH: I cannot pretend to be sorry that you are here, though I realise it is a misfortune for you. I'm here against my will too, just as you are.
SPOCK: I'm sorry. I know of no way to return you to your own time.
ZARABETH: It's not that I wish to return. This is my time now. I've had to face that. But it has been lonely here. Do you know what it's like to be alone? Really alone?
SPOCK: Yes. I know what it is like.
ZARABETH: I believe you do. Have something to eat, please.
SPOCK: If it pleases you. This is animal flesh?
ZARABETH: There's not much else to eat around here, I'm afraid.
SPOCK: Naturally, because of the climate. What is the source of heat in the shelter?
ZARABETH: There's an underground hot spring.
SPOCK: Excellent. Then it will be possible to build a greenhouse of sorts. Meanwhile, this will have to do as the only source of nourishment.

All Our Yesterdays

S3 E 23

Air Date: March 14, 1969

Mariette Hartley as Zarabeth

Original Post

There's an in-universe explanation....for almost everything...

The Enemy Within...IYKYK

Original Post