Current Events > Star trek watchthrough. Ongoing spoilers.

(+) Yeah! (+)

By the way, no, this isn't the one I tagged as my favorite episode. I thought it was worth mentioning. I like Chekov alot, and I also found it amusing that one of the Spock centric episodes is basically about him becoming murderously aroused.

Episode 2: Who Mourns for Adonais?

Another god like being with a new angle. Ancient astronauts are nothing new, but they're still a fun concept to play with. Gods needing worship to survive is a similarly nice idea.

Kirk is gradually stealing his show back. Even though it was undercut with some sexism, his lamenting that he might be losing a crewmember at the start is a nice, human moment. His and McCoy's reaction to Scotty's flirting is hilarious. What I love most in this episode, though, is his absolute refusal to take Apollo seriously. I'm a big fan of characters getting on with shit, so, having Kirk constantly trying to undermine Apollo and look for new angles on the problem is a delight. His humanistic speech to Palamas towards the end is beautiful, though his musing about how Apollo may have actually been a figure of Greek worship had too many of the standard pauses for my liking.

Spock got in some good lines ("quite verbose, isn't he?") and runs a good ship. He's clearly much more comfortable showing his human side among the crew and the way he leers behind Uhura whilst she works on the subspace relay is unintentionally creepy.

Got to agree with McCoy on not really liking Scotty's new "relationship", though I'll get to that in a minute. Got some intelligent moments, like figuring out about Apollo's extra organ. Shows his compassionate side with his regret over Apollo's death and he's an absolute riot during the heckling scene, though I'm convinced he repeated the same line twice.

Scotty got some good retorts in and I didn't mind his flirting at first. Unfortunately, for a character I usually love because of how hyper competent and professional he is, his reckless attacks on Apollo over Palamas almost annoyed me. Taking his time to rescue her during the thunderstorm was nice and all, but that's about it. Kirk showing clear concern about him after chewing him out is cool, too.

Sulu showed up, which is great, but I don't have much to say about him. Uhura got to do something and be competent doing it. Her line about it being years since she did something like the bypass circuit adds some character to someone who desperately needs it. This is how she should be used at a minimum. Not fully warmed to Chekov yet, but he doesn't bother me or anything. Noticing Apollo's fatigue is a fine display of intelligence.

Apollo makes for a decent villain. The reverb added to his voice makes for a powerful presence. I like how casually he backhands Scotty. His speech about the fate of the other gods is alright. Accepting how time has moved on past gods adds some extra character, although I failed to feel much sympathy for him.

I don't think I've despised a character as much on this show, as I have Palamas. It's bad enough that Kirk and McCoy discuss her as though she's a piece of meat in full earshot and that Apollo puts on the moves immediately after seeing her. But then she actually starts to fall in love with him. Even if you do have an exalted position of being able to fuck a god on the regular, surely you can see how much of a capricious child he is. The world he offers is so banal its terrifying. You're a fucking scientist. How can being mentally idle for the rest of your life possibly be appealing? As good as Kirk's speech is, fear of boredom alone should be an effective motivator. Her bitchiness towards Apollo at the end (likening him to bacteria is a wonderfully brutal highlight) gives her some points, but I just can't stand her. The annoying filter needs to go, as well.

The image of a giant, green hand grabbing the Enterprise is fantastically bizarre and the thunderstorm effect isn't too bad. Giant Apollo is surprisingly decent, but his face appearing on the scanner with his torso cut off is incredibly cheesy. The Greek set is clearly fake and small, even by typical standards, but I think it benefits the vibe of how limited Apollo's world would be. Palamas' dress isn't bad.

The message wasn't subtle, but it didn't need to be. Even in the modern day, we have outgrown gods and religion (maybe not spirituality) and an attempt to return to the past might lead to a comfy, familiar life, but it would be absolutely miserable to experience. I liked that they conceded that ancient worship helped with the development of culture, whilst also acknowledging that we've moved on. It's a mature, nuanced perspective. I think Kirk undermined the message a little bit by mentioning his belief in one god. It feels like Kirk is meant to be an atheist, but because of broadcasting standards, they could only go so far. The constant references to humans being children says it all. We can't grow inside small worlds. It may not have killed us to gather laurel leaves, but it would destroy our soul.

A pretty good episode.

Next, The Changeling.

Episode 3: The Changeling

It never ceases to amaze me how we've had so many godlike being episodes and yet they still feel fresh and exciting. Today's new angle is relentless, albeit flawed, logic. I'm a big fan of coincidences, so, the idea of two, relatively innocence machines merging together to create a monster through chance is wonderful. Defeating the villain through abusing its logic is an expected, but satisfying resolution. I also liked how so little of the Other is revealed. Leaves a fair bit of mystery.

Kirk seemed a little trigger happy at the start, only resorting to communication once its clear that they're outgunned. Again, I'm comparing him to his characterisation in some of my favourite episodes, but at least it wasn't as bad as Arena. He did demonstrate some amazing open mindedness in considering that the "crew" of Nomad might just be tint lifeforms. Bringing Nomad aboard at all, while not the smartest move, is still a good show of his commitment to making contact with other intelligences. Deftly navigating Nomad's delusions, whilst still having human conversations and giving orders was enjoyable to watch.

Spock is clearly the MVP of this entire crew. He's always great, but his sheer pragmatism in encouraging everyone to entertain Nomad and the constant interruptions whenever he senses a friend is about to make a mistake is probably the perfect balancing act of his human and Vulcan sides.

McCoy was alright. Because of his nature as the compassionate, more human member of the trio, he does find himself making a lot of bone headed decisions. Ranting at Nomad isn't particularly smart, but his professionalism shines through in immediately compiling a list of tapes for Spock to give to Nomad.

Scotty seems to getting beat up a lot. Attempting to defend Uhura is a better use of his protective instinct than the last episode and when Nomad enters engineering its lovely seeing him give orders to his underlings, whilst trying to stop Nomad. I can't get enough of his hyper competence. Sulu and Chapel showed up, but didn't seem to do much, although Chapel got some offscreen badassery in trying to stop Nomad from accessing medical data.

Uhura impressed me, at first. She was still mostly chained to her panel, but she got to contribute a bit more to the communication phase than usual. Her singing confusing Nomad was a nice plot point and made me think they might be doing something interesting with her. Instead, they regress her to a child and have her read simple English books. It was nice that she was still fluent in Swahili, though it made little sense, but, and its entirely possible that all the racism is in my head, having the one black character need to be re-educated through lessons for children is a little uncomfortable.

Nomad is a terrifying villain. He has a simple, but effective design that makes every shot with him in seem suffocating and claustrophobic. Having to have all the characters tiptoe around him is brilliantly tense and the moment when he starts to reevaluate his deference to Kirk is chilling. Less a character and more a force of nature, really.

The music was pretty good. The Mind meld scene was fantastic for it and having the camera linger on Spock and Nomad as they slowly rotate only enhanced it. It general, the camerawork has been pretty amazing lately. I don't really have the ability to fully articulate it, but it's feeling more like a TV show and less like a recorded stage play. A few thorny issues, though. One of the shots (whilst hes being escorted) is practically up Nomad's nonexistent arse and just seemed gratuitous. The script was a little clunky in places, too. Lowlights include the photon torpedo exchange at the start, likening Nomad to the titular Changeling, which is a comparison I didn't fully buy and the end of episode banter, where it seemed like Spock and McCoy knew how bad it was and refused to participate.

An alright episode marred by a few issues and a complete misuse of Uhura (which is impressive when she's barely used at all)

Next up, Mirror, Mirror

Episode 4: Mirror, Mirror

Alternate universes are nothing new. Evil counterparts are also nothing new. And yet, like time travel, it's such an easy concept to build amazing stories out of. I already knew about the Mirror Universe thanks to Shattered Universe and I've heard that they make for a reoccurring villain in other shows. Because of this, and the general vibe from some of the previous best episodes we've had, I knew exactly what sort of story i was getting into as soon as the opening scene with the Halkans had finished. And it still exceeded my expectations.

They do a pretty decent job of exploring empire society. Various devices like the agoniser become more nasty the more you think about the social implications of having them about. There's a few events for the backstory, including the assassination of Pike (actually surprised me that they went that far). It's fairly interesting.

Kirk is at the top of his game. He figures out long before anyone the basic idea of whats happened and easily blags his way through most conversations. Shatner is able to convey Kirk's reluctance to indulge in the savagery around him pretty well. It's some of the most subtle acting we've seen from him. There's a lot of intelligent moments, like researching the world as soon as he can, using private communicators and voice locking the computer. It's always good when the characters are at the height of their competence and there's still drama to be had. His evil counterpart is a fun exercise in hammy acting, although I find it hard to believe he could actually command a ship, even with the Tantalus field.

Our Spock didn't show up much, but shoving the evil characters in the brig immediang , as is his final zinger at the end. I like how it's the most blatant insult we've had from him. It even shocked Kirk and McCoy. "Evil" Spock was interesting. Kirk put it best when he described him as a man of integrity. I don't quite get what Evil Kirk has done to deserve such loyalty, but warning about his orders is still a good show of decency. Stops the world from being moustache twirlers and makes it into real people trapped in a shit society. Even after revealing his orders he just sits there, as though he's resigned to being evaporated.

McCoy got to put on his engineering hat for a bit. The best part about him is his compassion, though. A lesser show would've had the revival of "Evil" Spock just be a cheap way to up the stakes, especially if Spock decided to be aggressive. Instead, it sets up one of the main points of the episode.

Scotty got to be his usual hyper competent self and he's always a delight for it. Takei gives Evil Sulu a wonderful aura of smarm that it's impossible not to love to hate him. (I find it interesting that Evil Sulu has done more in one episode, than good Sulu has in the season so far. I have read that Takei was busy for a lot of the production, but it's still a little bit odd). Evil Chekov is a schemer. Not a particularly good one, but I admire the opportunism. Kirk leaving him to rot in the agony booth is pretty cold, even if he needed to keep his cover.

Uhura is the standout here. She finally gets to do something that isn't either blisteringly offensive or nice, but inconsequential. Successfully infiltrating the bridge, seducing and then rejecting Sulu for a distraction (and the absolute swagger of knowing the guards would have her back) and disarming Marlena are all standout moments. It's how she should've been from the start.

Marlena is alright. It's cool how her and Kirk's first meeting is basically two conversations at once. The relative show of decency he makes to her actually moving her is another reminder that this isn't a generic villain universe, but an actual society of people. For all her social climber rhetoric, what she actually wants is the sort of human connection that her society could never tolerate. She's not quite as idealistic or as good as Edith Keeler, but she's in a similar boat of living in a world ill suited for her ideals. Bit ridiculous that she killed everyone except for Sulu, though.

The visuals for transitioning between is pretty cool. I like that Shattered Universe had a similar take on it. The evil Enterprise has a suitably menacing theme to go with it. The different uniforms are quite nice. Spock's facial hair is nonsense. The agony booth looks like it could actually be quite painful. The Mind meld scene, as is traditional, is pretty damn tense.

The key theme here is imperialism. It's about as subtle as a neon brick to the face, but the title doesn't lie: the empire is a dark mirror to the federation. The Halkans are important, despite their small screen time, precisely because they are yet another race that politely wants nothing to do with the federation. Fair play to him, our Kirk is respectful enough to fuck off when he's not wanted (and it's absolutely lovely that they don't try to replead their case or have some sort of cop out with the Halkans somehow watching the mirror shenanigans. Once the crisis is over, they leave), but we've seen a few occasions of pushyness before, and even if they are far nicer about it, setting up mining equipment on inhabited worlds is basically colonising it.

What I find more interesting is how the episode almost falls into the same problem I had with The City on the Edge of Forever, where someone who is better than their world has to be arbitrarily sacrificed for their society (an unpleasant life is still a sacrifice) because of a plot contrivance (not enough power, needing counterparts to swap with, fixed points in time), except they subvert it at the very end. Kirk takes time, at great personal risk, to try and convince Spock and Marlena to change their society for the better. He advocates revolution, rather than just grim acceptence. Unlike in Stargate, and much like in Doctor Who, other worlds matter just as much as the main one. Kirk can't take them to a better world, but he can encourage them to make one. City was a fantastic tragedy, but I felt it didn't mesh well with the general optimism of the wider show. This, however, manages to be a low key tragedy, with at least two, well made points to it. The solution is almost the exact opposite of the one I advocated for in City, but it's just as good and at least it bothered to have a solution.

A brilliant episode that will probably be in my top rankings.

Next, The Apple

Episode 5: The Apple

Really in two minds on this one.

We've sort of seen an edenic planet before, although this one is far more blatant on the religious imagery. And it's another godlike being, albeit with a slightly new angle in approach. I'm not sure if I like this new angle, but I'll get to that at the end.

Kirk had some good and some bad. The good is his banter (especially with Scotty) and the fact that he actually seems to be heavily affected by redshirt deaths for once. The bad is that his moping over not leaving the planet early goes on a bit long and his insufferably smug speech to the Vaalians. His ruthlessness in floating the slightly unspoken idea of killing a native to shake things up is..... interesting. Usually, I praise pragmatism, but I'm not sure I like it here.

Spock feels ooc. Its the opposite problem to Galileo Seven (which had him be "logical" to the point of stupidity), as he's overly emotional, flippant and, frankly, a complete clown. His compassion for Kirk is nice to see, although having Kirk undermine him is nasty, even with the mumbled thanks at the end of his rant. It's nice that he voices the possibility that this society is actually fine, but combined with everything else, it's clear he's set up to be a strawman, but more on that later. Nimoy actually seems like he's struggling to maintain his professionalism and is honestly fed up with the episode at times.

McCoy gets off lightly. His viewpoint that the society is stagnant and needs to change feels true to his character and I do sort of agree with him (though there is a massive caveat I'll eventually get to). Its sweet that he and Spock both try to comfort Kirk when he's doubting himself, but the end of episode banter, which usually reinforces the trio's bond, feels like a mean spirited bullying of Spock.

Scotty is his usual self. Not much to say, except that I always love whenever he's in command. Chekov's running joke about everything being Russian is already getting a bit old (and Kirk or maybe Shatner himself can't even pretend to care), but otherwise he's fine. Landon is also fine. She gets a badass moment or two and, while there are still some teething troubles, her relationship with Chekov is one of the better ones we've seen (little touches like calling him Pav). Kinda impressive that they let her be the voice of sexual liberation here.

Akutu plays naivete well. Crying upon being struck actually surprised me and not fully understanding what killing is, even as he bashes heads in is pretty fantastic. Vaal is a plot device and barely deserves a sentence to himself, although it's not hard to imagine that he correctly pegged that the Enterprise was a threat to his society and was, therefore, acting in self defence.

Production wise, the jungle looks pretty nice and including a red sky is a great way to make the world feel exotic. The music suits the mood well enough. The stock footage of clouds is obvious and the lightning strikes are a bit too fake. The closeup on Akutu's antenna lasts a big too long and is clearly a still frame. Vaal is paper mache and looks ridiculous.

So far, I've sort of agreed with the show that stagnant societies need a kick up the arse. However, all of the societies we've encountered so far were clearly harmful to their members (mass hysteria each night, enforced suicide, a plant controlling the mind), whereas this one's issues seem to be a lack of technological progress and a lack of sex. Now, those are things I can agree are problems (well, less so technology), don't get me wrong, but the way the episode frames this debate makes it seem like it's arguing for the right thing in the wrong way and running into a bunch of unfortunate implications in the process.

Spock and McCoy are both right with their respective points on the right for a society to choose and the need for a people to grow. Add to this Landon representing the need for a healthy sex drive and we, in theory, have ourselves a fair debate on the ethics of judging a society by our standards and whether we should intervene. The problem is Spock: he's a dissenting voice and also a complete joke. Ordinarily, Kirk would seriously consider both Spock and McCoy's arguments, but here it's like he barely tolerates Spock at times. The prime directive is necessary so that the federation doesn't come across as too imperialistic. It allows us to have our space america explore the western/final frontier, without glamorising the absolute brutality the natives suffered at the hands of European settlers. The federation stands in for (at the time) modern america as well and quite a few episodes have been very unsubtle allegories for 60s politics, especially the cold war. Ordinarily, the show can sidestep some thorny implications by simply ignoring them, but having Spock float the idea, after we've seen him make a complete fool of himself, only for Kirk to viciously smack it down and then give a self-satisfied speech to the Vaalians, well, he might as well be a general telling the Vietnamese that they WILL have (america branded) freedom and they WILL like it. Then, when Spock tries to play the religious angle and cast Kirk as Satan for disrupting a perfectly good paradise, he receives some bigotry for his trouble. "Haw haw, doesn't Spock look different from us, haw haw. Lets all laugh at the strawman." Even the attempted justification that Vaal is probably a machine and directly attacking them is weak. They do nothing with the machine angle, so, he might as well be a natural part of their world and, as for attacking, well, what right does the federation have for being there in the first place?

Oh, and the Vaalians have a copper skin tone, so, no prizes for guessing what other group they can uncomfortably represent.

I find this unrankable. There's some decent production affairs and an alright plot. But my favourite character is in name only. I love the sexual liberation theme and I think its beautifully told, but I despise the almost explicit defence of American audacity and imperialism. Can't, as yet, make up my mind on it, but I'm leaning towards dislike. I hope I'm being dense and that I've missed something that can redeem it.

Onto The Doomsday Machine.

Episode 6: The Doomsday Machine

I already knew of the Planet Killer thanks to Shattered Universe (its becoming clear as I watch this, that Shattered Universe was basically a greatest hits reel for the show), but it's still a wonderful concept. An ancient, automatic superweapon from beyond the galaxy. Probably the most exotic threat, so far and I love that we learn almost nothing about it.

Most of the characters felt somewhat merely functional for the first half. It works because we're already used to them and because there's enough mystery at first to sustain it, but they only become characters in the second half. Kirk had some nice subtlety to him at times. His brief hesitation and hand gestures whilst he considers his next move, his confusion and disbelief when he sees what the Enterprise is doing and his clear, but stoic nervousness when he thinks he's going to die at the end. His end of episode speech had his usual pacing problems, though.

Spock is always great, but he surpasses himself here. I love his restatement of his order to Sulu and the clear contempt he can barely suppress for Decker. Just painstakingly and with reluctant patience, explaining why he's wrong. Immediately, sending him to sickbay after getting command back felt just as vengeful, as it was practical. His pedantry in correcting Kirk is funny. Using "Jim" is always going to win points with me.

McCoy is a bit out of focus, but standing up for Spock's command is nice, as is basically telling Decker to his face that he's insane. Scotty is his usual self and gets some good banter with Kirk. His exclamation of "bonkers" would have absolutely been "Bollocks" if the censors would allow it.

Sulu shows up (I have a deep love for this character thanks to the games, so, I appreciate it, even when he's not doing much), as does Palmer, who's apparently replacing Uhura today. Presumably, Nichols was busy. She's bland, but inoffensive.

Decker is a highlight. His initial hysteria annoyed me, though. I'm never going to like rambling and refusing to be specific, especially when you're meant to be a professional. His Captain Ahab esque insanity is delightful. Aside from giving us a desperate, pitiable villain (the Planet Killer is more a force of nature), his actor gives us so many little touches, like distractedly glancing around, being unable to get himself comfortable in the captain's chair and fiddling with whatever those cards are. In every scene he's in, he's actually doing something to emphasise his madness and I love it.

The ruined model and sets for the Constellation are quite nice. Obviously, I have the remastered effects, but the space battle scenes are pretty cool. Its nice seeing the random crewmenbers reactions to Decker's nonsense. The Planet Killer is a triumph of design. At once, resembling a giant worm, appearing as a tunnel/pit into hell and being of such an alien character that its hard to imagine it as a ship, its like a Lovecraftian horror stalking the galaxy. Add to this, the menacing score that sounds like an old, monster movie and we have a real Space Godzilla (much as I love the crystal creator) causing wanton destruction. One of the scariest things they've shown.

Obviously, it's meant to represent the atomic bomb and how insane it is to have several "Planet killers" at all, let alone on one world. Obviously, they can't kill everyone or be too bleak, but the fact that Decker gives his life for a miniscule amount of hope and that it takes a technobabble nuke to destroy it makes it hard not to read this as a metaphor for mutually assured destruction. Even after the society that made it is long gone, its still playing havoc with the environment.

A pretty fantastic episode and a necessary palette cleanser after the previous one.

Catspaw is next.

Episode 7: Catspaw

A Halloween episode (though the production order would apparently disagree). A standard, sanitised 60s spooktacular. The haunted house stuff is alright. Normally, I avoid criticising technobabble because it's far less fun than just enjoying the story, but the talk of racial consciousness somehow producing an amusement park that wouldn't spook a toddler was a bit cringe. Interesting, that it's ultimately a mistake on the part of Korob and Sylvia, though. Even more interesting is that they're basically explorers just like the Enterprise. And, I'm honestly surprised that we haven't beamed up a unexpected corpse before now.

Kirk is up to his usual tricks of refusing to tolerate godlike beings and immediately looking for explanations and angles to play. Seducing Sylvis is cold, but the sort of ruthlessness I love seeing from him. Defending it by angrily pointing out that Sylvia has been using everyone is a wonderful moment and, frankly, a fair point. Could do without the sexism, though. And it's a little bit reckless to just dip your toe in a mysterious fog.

Spock got some snark in and seems just as fed up as Kirk with all these godlike beings. His gaps in knowledge about Halloween seem a bit arbitrary considering that he provides the bulk of the exposition, especially regarding familiars. Probably the first episode where it felt like he was just sort of there and I'm not sure if it's down to me watching this show faster than I'm arguably meant to or if its a problem with the episode itself.

McCoy was quite intelligent: asking the right questions and coming up with a few connections. He also gets the gratuitous title drop, which, like The Changeling, didn't feel like it needed to be there. It is nice seeing the full trio go on an adventure together.

Scott and Sulu show up, but they're not themselves, so, we'll move on. Uhura and Chekov get the B plot (such as it is) and its nice to see Uhura do more than usual. DeSalle was a surprising highlight. Gets on with shit just like Scott at his best and the stern way he addresses Chekov as mister is more characterisation than I would've dared hope for.

Korob is a bit of a voyeur (in more ways than one) and his plan seemed needlessly aggressive for his purposes, but at least he's got some morality to him. Sylvia is an absolute standout. I love the idea of her being addicted to being human and the endless craving for sensation. It's undercut a bit by the casual sexism (and the fact that Kirk is just using her), but the clear joy she experiences from caressing her own body and getting up close with Kirk is delightful. I don't blame Korob for watching. Its hard not to root for her. Only issue is the somewhat sexist simpering at the end. I don't mind her desperate begging, but she could have some self-respect.

The various sets are quite nice, with plenty of detail. The shots of the full castle are pretty alright, too. The effect for the witches is laughable. Calling McCoy Bones whilst a skeleton is in view is a nice shot. I don't care for Sylvia's vomit pajama dress (although if you're desperate for sensation, you'll find no better sensory overload than trying to look at that mess). The designs for their true forms are fairly alien, though I think the episode would be better if they left them unseen.

It's an alright episode.

Next, we have (oh, no) I, Mudd.

Episode 8: I, Mudd

"What the fuck did I just watch?" Was all that went through my head after the......."dance" sequence.

Apparently, recurring guest stars in general were pretty rare before this episode. I kind of liked Mudd (he was one of the few good points in that episode), but I'm surprised he became such a breakout character. Still, if he's popular, why not use him? And involving him with androids is a sound idea.

Kirk is wildly out of character at points, but it's clearly a comedy episode, so, there's no real problem here. His banter with Mudd is fine, especially the scene where he's correcting Mudd's overly flowery language to state what really happened. The callback to "I am not programmed to respond in that area" is cold as fuck, as is leaving Mudd on that rock with 500 of his wife. It would be a moral abomination if this were a serious episode.

Spock is snarky as always and gets to have the one brain cell out of the regulars. His "I love you, but I hate you" bit is amazing, at once monotone, but with a hint of barely choking the words out, due to disgust. Playing along with the "in trouble" bit was nice and he gets one hell of a zinger at the end.

McCoy is sweet. Genuinely fearing that he offended Spock at the start is beautiful and, naturally, the most human member is the only one to notice a robot running about. He's a delight during the dance party as well.

Sulu showed up and got up to precious little. Chekov acts like he's just lost his virginity, but at least he's an enthusiastic dancer. Leningrad is probably the best of his "I'm Russian, btw" jokes. Scotty gets dragged into the plot kicking and screaming, but he's always fun, especially when he's "dying". Uhura had a funny moment of nearly crashing into the sleeping Norman (you'd think after four days, that he'd be part of the furniture) and getting slightly enticed by immortality is probably the most relatable reaction in this whole thing. Because this show has issues with women (especially when Mudd's about), I honestly didn't know if she had spoilt the plan or not, at first. Pleasantly surprised.

Mudd is as slick and greasy, yet strangely likeable, as ever. He can't quite commit to the King act and gets effortlessly browbeaten by Kirk. Giving him the liar paradox to resolve the problem makes sense. Norman is fine. Taking over humanity for their own good is a serviceable motivation. Have to wonder if he's being totally honest about the fate of his makers.

The sets are alright, though this feels like a very small planet. Norman steaming during the paradox is a fantastic touch.

I feel like a fool for dreading this. It's great. Because it's not a serious episode, there's not much to say, but it's an absolutely hilarious romp.

Metamorphosis tomorrow.

Episode 9: Metamorphosis

I really, really, really wanted to like this one more.

Starting out with the shuttlecraft is a fine choice. Mention of a potential war gives us some minor worldbuilding. But the idea of an incredibly abstract lifeform that falls in love is utterly fantastic and they almost get it right.

Kirk has to be a bit gung-ho, at first. I don't mind ooc moments, so long as they serve some purpose and since a big chunk of the episode hinges on communication, delaying that point makes sense. Kirk's speech to Cochrane about the wonders of the galaxy is simply beautiful and a nice peak into why he does this in the first place.

Spock was sort of just there again, but he's had enough focus episodes that I'm not holding it against him. Being fascinated both by the possibilities of the Companion and its electrical attack on him is perfectly in character. I also love that even he can recognise love when he sees it.

McCoy finding himself to be a highlight more often now. It felt in season 1 that they didn't always know what to do with him, but he's earning his top billing now. His conversation with Kirk when they first figure out Cochrane and the Companion's relationship is delightful and constantly fussing over Hebford is quite sweet. Suggesting communication is an obvious but perfect use of his character.

Scotty got to be in command again, which is always nice to see. His determination to rescue the main trio is pretty alright. Uhura getting more to do is always a pleasure, though I'm not sure about casting her as a downer. Sulu was also there.

Hedford started off as an annoyance, with her haughty demands of the crew, even as they were being attacked. Her obscene hysterics when she found out they can't leave were insufferable. Even with dying of a fantasy disease, there's no excuse for that racket. However, her dying speech about love and Cochrane rejecting it was genuinely moving and, considering this show's usual gender politics, its amazing how they made a female character talking about love into one of the best parts of the episodes.

Cochrane has the opposite problem. He started off decent, though more interesting for his place in history than anything else, but grew to be a pretty great character due to his affection for the Companion. Even his pathetic flirting attempt could be excused as standard 60s sexism. He even bonds with Kirk over their shared love of the universe. He could've been a standout example of a man who got a peak at how much better society is for his contribution. And then, he reacts with disgust at the fact that the Companion loves him and, thus, immediately ruins his character. Even when she merges with Hedford, he's wary of her. There's some minor attempt to redeem him by having him willingly stay on the planet and insist on anonymity, but it's crap.

The Companion is probably the best creature we've had on this show. Considering that the effect is rubbish, they do a remarkable job of making her feel incredibly beautiful. Each time she makes contact with Cochrane, the way the scene is shot, the music and the colourful set design all conspire to make it wonderful to watch. Even when they give her a voice, it doesn't diminish the effect at all. She borders on going beyond merely an alien entity and into a near divine one. It's breathtaking. Add to this the fact that she has her own perspective on love and we could've had one of the best episodes ever.

So, its a shame that Kirk and Cochrane completely undermine it. Cochrane by being, as the characters themselves put it, parochial. Kirk through his speech on love, which completely puts down the Companion's own feelings on the matter and suggests that only a human viewpoint is relevant. Never mind that, even in the human experience, there are many different forms of love. No, all that matters is looking beautiful. So, the Companion basically changes for her man into a form he was already chauvinistically eyeing up. She gives up damn near every bit of uniqueness and inherent beauty she has and all he has to do is remain in paradise with a hot bod that can't get enough of him. Not quite comparable. They'd have never gotten away with even a relatively chaste lesbian relationship in the 60s, but a better story would've had the Companion and Hedford get together. It seems that new life's only value is in how human it can become.

This could've been a near immaculate love story that also extols the virtues of exploration and understanding. Instead, they bugger it up at the final hurdle. It will probably still get a high rank in the end, but it was so close to a shoo-in.

Anyways, we're on a Journey to Babel next.

Episode 10: Journey to Babel

A nice look at the more political side of this universe. For all that the stated mission is to explore, they spend a lot of time doing odd jobs for Starfleet. Getting some more backstory on Spock is always a treat.

Kirk's in an unenviable position of trying to police a range of weird and wonderful creatures. His awkward attempt to get Spock and Sarek to speak is sweet, as is his clear concern for Spock when Sarek takes ill. I love the sudden cutaway to his ridiculous fight scene. Feigning healthiness and successfully winning a battle despite clearly wincing in pain is pretty cool. Shutting off power is a pretty clever tactic. A good show of compassion to offer the enemy ship a chance to surrender.

Spock could not be more uncomfortable. Compared to previous episodes, where he's clearly been gradually acting more human, he proper clams up in this one. His frantic, yet still businesslike explanation of the enemy ship's properties is one highlight. Its interesting that he suggests going the extra mile for his father right up until he's needed in command. I do agree that giving it to Scotty is the simple solution, though. Bonding with his father at the end was pretty sweet, even if it did feel a bit mean-spirited towards Amanda.

McCoy is brilliant. I share his thoughts on smart clothes being needlessly uncomfortable. He has great fun making Spock squirm at the party. We finally get to see him do some major medical work, though I'm shocked he doesn't have more experience with Vulcans. Grumpily telling his patients to shut up was a perfect way to end. And he had as much difficulty with the Vulcan salute as I do.

I feel like Uhura was played a little bit incompetent, with Kirk basically explaining how to do her job. Chekov got to branch out to other jobs. I'm getting better at estimating when in the production order I am, based on the state of his hair. Sarek is alright. Shares his son's passion for understated sarcasm and is able to privately show some emotion. Amanda confuses me. She insists that Vulcan philosophy is better, then tries to make her son embrace his human side. Asking Spock not to recite the odds is funny, though. The slap is a fairly raw emotional moment, though it didn't have all the impact it should've, due to putting Scotty in charge being a no-brainer. Never mind why Sarek married her, why did she marry him? Also, based on The Naked Time, I assumed she was dead. Also, also, Chapel showed up and Thelev isn't much of a character.

The Enterprise has never looked so busy. All sorts of extras getting up to the basic work that keeps the ship running. It's a lovely way to make it feel like there is more than just the regulars running this place. I think this is the first time we've seen the hanger set. The menagerie of weird and wonderful aliens are all quite interesting, though I find the Tellurite designs unpleasant. The redshirts were scarily competent for once.

Quite a good episode.

I'll be watch Friday's Child on Saturday.

Tag. Really enjoying your detailed summaries and thoughts on the episodes TC.

Episode 11: Friday's Child

Utterly gobsmacked. I like to think of myself as fairly intelligent, but if there's some grand satire to this piece, I'm clearly too dense to grasp it. I actually hope they're not playing this straight. There is so much bad that I've got no chance of mentioning it all (partly because I don't want to dwell). What follows is mostly lowlights.

Starting in the conference room is a fair bit of novelty. More mining rights to be drawn up and the klingons are here too. Mainly its just another culture to preach at.

Kirk is, yet again, a miserable imperialist. Chewing out McCoy is a nice show of compassion, as is apologising afterwards. Attempting to save Eleen is fine, if reckless, but he quickly devolves into shitting all over their culture. Causing a rockfall, shooting at them with bows and arrows, he clearly has none of the respect usually associated with him. Then he has the gall to suggest that the rights were secured by treaty. James is a name that will definitely go down in history, as a fucking war criminal.

Spock gets off lightly. His banter with Kirk has its moments. The clear discomfort at handling a baby is pretty endearing. Some nice sarcasm, especially at the very end. Mostly, though, he's getting points for both being the least offensive of this obscene bunch and clearly, desperately wanting to leave the episode as quickly as possible. Shame the whole thing dragged.

I imagine this was meant to be a McCoy centered episode. His respect for the Capellans' culture gets him some points and I can appreciate wanting to help Eleen against her objections, but no means no. I was slack jawed when he slapped her and the rest of his lines felt uncomfortably close to anti abortion rhetoric. The baby speak parts defies belief.

Scotty held the b plot and it was watchable, which is high praise for this episode. There's a kernel of interesting thought with the brief debate over the distress signals, but everyone was mostly just functional and that function was to meander pointlessly. Uhura, Sulu and Chekov don't really deserve a mention.

Akaar exists and had the wisdom to check out before things got too bad. (I call his death offscreen, buts its probably closer to offscript). Maab isn't a character. He's a bundle of clichd lines and contradictions wrapped in a teletubby onsie made for edgelords. The klingon (whose name is apparently Kras [which is very close to crass and is the sort of poetry that genuinely makes me wonder if I'm missing something]) comes across as vaguely decent, compared to Kirk, even with the murder of a Capellan that goes absolutely nowhere. His betrayal is jarring and stupid, but maybe he's just braver than Spock in his exit seeking strategy.

Eleen almost impressed me. Obviously, I disagree with their culture, but unlike the mains, I'm fine with them practicing it, so, her commitment to dieing for her beliefs is admirable. Slapping McCoy away from touching her is fantastic, shame she ruined it by falling in love with the contemptible bastard. Braining him with a rock is no less than he deserves.

The production is a trainwreck. Different camera quality throughout, jarring cuts (scenes involving Scotty as a particular blemish), bad audio mixing, lines nearly cutting over each other like a confused pc game, plot beats that get dropped near instantly and an ending that seems almost pythonesque in how little it exists. I almost forgot to mention the laughable outfits worn by the male Capellans, that's how bad everything else is.

To summarise the themes: (space) AMERICA!!!!!!! WHOOOOOO!!!!!!

Utterly appalling. I find it difficult to fully process what I just watched.

Let's hope The Deadly Years are better.

Episode 12: The Deadly Years

Well, thank fuck for this.

Rapid ageing is a fun conceit. We're back to checking up on isolated scientists. Got some notes of a developing world with the reappearance of Romulans.

The affliction is ultimately an excuse for a character study. Kirk's up first and he's heartbreaking. Senility is always painful to watch (my nana is currently in a home), but to be vaguely aware of your failing faculties and yet too full of pride and disbelief to fully acknowledge them (another thing that hits a bit close to home) just rends the soul. The competency hearing was excruciating, in an intentional way, of course, and its clear that Kirk is distracted, slow and, eventually, confused by the whole thing. Shatner's quirk of occasional pauses is used to great effect in implying just how slow hes getting. I'm sure at one point, he was going to use the word mutiny and he just sells feeling betrayed by Spock. That said, he does have a point that the hearing is getting in the way of vital work. I mean, how many years did he spend in that room?

Spock gets to show his emotional side in a way that hasn't really happened all that often lately. The banter and sarcasm have always been on point, but it's a relatively shallow use of his character. Here, though, he gets to demonstrate just how perceptive he really is. Gently and clearly reluctantly reminding and correcting Kirk's orders was beautiful, as was rousing him when he dosed off. I love that he initially rejects regulations and, therefore, logic when Kirk's command is threatened. And it's amazing how Nimoy can convey shame, guilt and heartbreak with just a simple, slight look at the ground.

McCoy was probably the most stereotypical of our main old geezers, but he still got to be very cantankerous and irritable. Falling asleep at the hearing is far funnier than it should be. Calling the atomic age ancient history threw me and trying to wrack his brain for the answer was almost as painful as the entire hearing.

Scotty got to play a very tired version of himself and presumably had a nap for most of the episode. Uhura got to return to being competent. Chekov and Sulu (mostly Chekov) had a bitch session over the curreny state of the ship (I wonder if I'm missing much by not watching in production order. They did this in a precious episode). I'm still not sure about the Russian jokes, but fortunately, he gave it a miss this time and I can happily say that I definitely like the character now. Helped Chapel get some lines, which I'm sure she's grateful for. Sulu seemed a bit slow at figuring out that Kirk was getting slow. Loved how they all tried everything, short of outright lying, to save Kirk's job.

Galway surprised me. Her reaction to ageing seemed more human than I'd expect and regarding the mirror with venomous spite instead of shrieking hysterics was better than most female regulars get. Perhaps my own memory is failing me, but female guest stars have tended to live, so, I was actually shot when she died. Stocker plays the rather standard obstructive overseer role. They afford him some depth by making him genuinely respectful and give him some good points to say, so, he's alright. Wallace confuses me. Being an old flame of Kirk's is fine, but her clear taste for older men felt like it was setting up something that ultimately never happened. During the hearing, she and Kirk kept catching glanced at each other and the way it was shot made it seem like it was meant to imply she was some sort of hidden villain. Instead, it's like the plot forgets about her. Sort of disappointing.

What isn't disappointing is the old age effects. Straddling a fine line between seeming like a natural evolution of the character and being uncanny valley. Having new designs (some of them quite subtle) for almost every scene is fantastic. Even Spock gets a lesser version. After yesterday's episode, I felt almost reluctant to watch something today (I wouldn't have given up, but I may have taken a break). Luckily, one of the first shots of the episode is a beautiful frame of chekov in silhouette when hes entering the building. Upon seeing that and knowing we were back in some semblance of quality my excitement was instantly brought back, so, there's another triumph.

To an extent, I do set out to explicitly look for themes in these episodes, ideally intentional ones, but, frankly, I'll take anything. Based on that, it was hard not to see the hearing scene as reflecting the general discomfort we have when discussing the old and senile. My nan is in a home, but even when she was living by herself and still self sufficient and reliable, her memory was obviously degrading. Since putting her in, she has devolved into little more than an occasionally responsive vegetable. What she's currently experiencing is not what I'd call life by any sane definition. If euthanasia were legal here, I like to think that letting her peacefully drift off would be more humane than spending her days as a zombie, intercut with increasingly rare and narrow windows of confused semi lucidity. A 60s show can only take these ideas so far, of course, but because Kirk's command basically is his life (he's rejected paradise: The reward after death, because he'd rather be captain), the decision to relieve him could be construed as a metaphor for loved ones deciding that it's in someone's genuine best interests for them to be sent on a little earlier than they would otherwise be prolonged. Of course, confining him to quarters could equally be construed as putting him in a retirement home, but, ignoring the status quo for a moment, do we really want to imagine that Kirk's crewmates, who are basically family, would condemn him to either being locked in a room whilst someone else governs his life or be stranded on Earth as said life, rather literally, drifts further from him? No, I like to think (emphasis on like) that the episode is trying to make a point and that keeping Kirk in his room and eventually curing him is just a contrivance to ensure that next week still has a story.

At any rate, this was brilliant. Basically, a less comedic Naked Time and a much appreciated pickmeup after the last episode almost killed my enthusiasm.

Obsession might well describe me, if we keep getting episodes like this.

Episode 13: Obsession

Kirk gets far more detail to his backstory than I would've expected. A gas cloud is a relatively novel skin to wear for a monster story. Communicating, to use the term generously, through scent makes this one of the most alien of aliens we've seen. And like all good monster stories, it uses the creature as an excuse to explore more human matters.

Kirk is playing the Ahab role today. I briefly thought that we might be seeing a story about nostalgia, with the sweet, honey smell seeming like it might be a good memory at first. He, of course, becomes an arsehole, but they inject little moments like correcting himself after using the word conspire, having a doubtful and notedly personal internal monologue and understanding and being cooperative with Spock and McCoy's questioning to make it clear that he's self aware of his problem, but unable to adequately fight against it. I loved that he was touchy, fidgety, partially oblivious to Garrovick's presence and practically snarling when they were pursuing it. The resigned look of betrayal when Spock walked in was pretty difficult to watch.

Spock is a crap therapist, but it's nice of him to try. I like the difference in approach between how he treats Kirk versus Garrovick. Compassionate, but stilted to one and a talking encyclopedia to the other. Deciding that the creature is trying to reproduce is a bit of a leap. He also gets to namedrop and blatantly express the theme of the episode.

McCoy's desire to prioritise delivering vaccines over killing the creature would have almost certainly made for the wrong decision, but not necessarily a stupid one and it feels like it comes from a real trait of his character. Shutting down friendship mode to put on his professional hat when arguing that Kirk may be unfit is a fantastic display of severity from someone who often barely feels like he belongs in the military. I did think it took them both too long to accept that the creature was intelligent, though.

Scotty felt like he was harassing Kirk a bit. Even without the obsession, I don't think he needs to be reminded every time he uses the comms. His eureka moment when they suggest putting waste in the ventilation was fun to see. Chekov seems a bit put upon. Could've been the inspiration for Kif in Futurama. Chapel got to give some commentary on the general state of ship and even hatched a sly scheme. Most like a character she's ever felt, even if it did come at the cost of Uhura returning to the phone lines.

Garrovick is decent. They resisted the urge to make his moment of hesitation a hysterical mess and he's quite honest during his report. Throwing the lid at the vent is both anemic and stupid. Mostly, though, he's there to be someone for Kirk to project himself onto. Getting revenge for his father is really Kirk's revenge, being confined to quarters is really Kirk's mental prison and being praised and supported for his conduct is really Kirk's self forgiveness. He has some moments and he fulfills his function well, but he's more plot device than character.

The smoke effect for the creature is decent when it's moving in the background, but anytime they have it centre shot, the translucent overlay is naff and sparking at things to even them is even more terrible. The Rizzo sickbay scene had some good tension. The music was reused from an episode with a similar theme, but cutting it completely when McCoy begins evaluation Kirk's fitness is brilliant.

Gotta commend them for resisting the urge to make Kirk an unpleasant caricature and instead letting him still be a character. The monster is almost extraneous to the plot, since the focus is instead on taking a fairly (for the time) deep look at guilt and the fact that people do obsess over old tragedies, trying in futility to find the one set of actions that coud've made it better, only to still be stuck with the memory of what actually happened. The obvious, but hard to accept paradox being that, in trying to ease guilt, you only enhance it. Equally paradoxical, but nevertheless true, is the fact that, even if you accept and are honest about your own illogic, it is almost always insufficient to fight irrationality with rationality. This is why Spock failed on both counts, despite having his heart in the right place.

Mental illness of this sort, as far as I'm aware, can often come down to an inability to fully process a memory with the current mental tools you possess. The solution, if there is one, can then wind up being quite bizarre and counterintuitive. Kirk trying the same method, but better, and still losing and then empathising with someone in a simular situation is a little bit too neat, but it still highlights that the quest to make sure that you're alright (which I consider to be both the hardest and most important thing in the world) might take you to some strange new worlds.

Even with the significant change in focus, I still think The Doomsday Machine is a better made example of the obsessive theme (just like how there's a clear hierarchy of godlike stories), but this was still really good.

Wolf in the Fold, next.

Episode 14: Wolf in the Fold

Lot of ideas in this. A pleasure planet, a frame job, a historical figure having an alien influence and, finally, some eldritch horror infiltrating the ship. Unfortunately, none of them work for me.

Kirk is still a father to his men. Treating Scotty to some shore leave is quite sweet. Got a little snarky at Hengist's antics towards the end, too. I find that there's very little to say about the characters this time. Everyone is mostly just a plot function.

Spock showed up and had some seamless banter. Sitting in his chair whilst everyone else is slightly frantic is a funny display of stoicism. McCoy is the only one with a brain in this shitshow, trusting that Scotty is innocent throughout. Sulu had some great lines, but I'm convinced he was trying to flirt at nothing in particular after his shot.

At first, I thought this was going to be a Scotty centric episode. He's the crux of the murder plot and Doohan does a good job selling the confusion and helplessness, but I felt it was too passive a role for a breakout moment. Inventing a resentment towards women over an offscreen incident is weird and probably one of the worst examples of sexism in this show due to its slight understatement. (Implying that Jack the Ripper targeted women because they're apparently more hysterical is fucking nasty, as well). His Cheshire cat smile at the belly dancer could not be creepier, but it's nice to get some insight into a lad's night out in their world. At any rate, he falls out of focus in the second half, barely uttering an interesting line during his trial and then being left to blissfully drool down himself whilst Kirk and Spock do all the work. He's a crap flirt, too, but at least Kirk winces at his attempts.

Most of the guest characters barely exist and I refuse to pretend otherwise, but I want to pay special attention to Hengist because, my god, what a fucking travesty. The entire plot hinges on everyone's brain dripping out their ears to such an extent that no amount of overstated protestations clues them in that maybe he has it in for Scotty. Instead, they technobabble their way into somehow deciding that a mysterious, historical serial killer is an immortal elder god. The character himself is crap, too. Even after he reveals his true nature and gets some reverb to his voice, he's still too high pitched and wimpy to be anything other than pathetic. A part of me hoped that they'd be doing a "resentment of women comes down to the hater being a complete weakling" type of moral, but there's nothing.

So much of this episode seems to meander at a glacial pace. Other elements are lucky to be looked at for more than a few seconds. On the one hand, they frequently restate every fact involving Scotty's amnesia (which Hengist doing his best impression of a broken record). On the other, one of the guest characters doesn't even get to be fully questioned, as Kirk clearly had enough by that point and decided the rest of the episode wad now about something else. The happy injection gave some decent gags, but, ultimately, didn't serve the plot. It was cool seeing the background crewmates walking around with stupid grins plastered and the villain's final fate was quite dark.

A mediocre mess that I don't want to further bother with.

Tomorrow is The Trouble with Tribbles.

Just get on with watching one of the greatest Star Trek episodes ever in The Trouble With Tribbles

After watching that go and watch The Deep Space Nine episode Trials And Tribble-Ations which is an homage to that episode.

Episode 15: The Trouble with Tribbles

Tribbles are impressively adorable, considering that they're literally just lumps of fluff that barely move, eat a lot and occasionally make noise. But, then, I'm a cat person. Mentioning the Organian treaty is a surprising bit of continuity.

Kirk is the only sane man. He correctly pegs that the whole plot is idiotic. How long was the Enterprise expected to hover around that station? Even with the amazing wonder crop, it would probably take at least a few years to develop a planet. He has loads of little touches throughout the episode, like his gestures and facial expressions when he sees the bridge overrun, that demonstrate how amused, confused and utterly despairing he is at the various antics. His dinner being ruined being the final straw and breaking down into pet talk when the spy is discovered is almost pythonesque in how he comments on the absurdity whilst simultaneously being absurd himself. Another example is how offended he is by Scotty's reason for decking the klingon. The glare he gives McCoy when he's waist deep in fluff is magical.

Spock also claims to be above it, but, like any logical creature, he melts when a soft, fluffy thing makes a happy noise. I noticed his panel being infested with Tribbles and him making no fuss whatsoever. He's getting ever better at being human, even suggesting a zinger for Kirk's benefit. And, yeah, people who talk too much are irritating.

McCoy was a bit useless. Awful though it is, starving an animal is an effective way to kill it off and he should've thought of it sooner. Had some fantastic banter with Spock, though.

We arguably learn more about Scotty here than in his apparent focus episode. The mad lad reads tech manuals for fun. (I don't blame him). Proper protective of the ship's honour, too. Chekov has a great taste in drinks, but I still don't care for the Russian jokes. Uhura has the right idea. Any ship is improved by the presence of cute animals.

Baris is weedy, little shit. It's always amusing when an unpleasant scrote tries to break away from being browbeaten and only shows how pathetic they really are. The bartender is a fine character. It was cute that when the fight broke out, he put his Tribbles behind the bar before dashing off. Successfully haggling with Cyrano only to markup the price is a standout scene.

Cyrano himself doesn't quite work for me, however. He's trying to be a loveable rogue like Mudd, but with 1% of the charisma. I'm not convinced that selling a rapidly multiplying creature is sound business strategy (one off purchase, at best), but everyone else is deliberately an idiot, so...
Koloth has some fun smarm about him and its nice to see humans and klingons almost being civil. Korax is a delightful bastard.

Lots of nice shots surveying the sets and demonstrating how infested they are. The bar fight is fun. I'm not convinced following Cyrano's antics was the best use of the camera, but I still got a kick seeing people roll and dive in and out of frame for no clear reason. Not a fan of credits as the currency of the future. It's interesting how the previous comedy episodes at least pretended that everyone involved was a serious actor. Here, though, the whole affair is deliberately and deliciously stupid.

A brilliantly made bit of fluff.

Onto The Gamesters of Triskelion

CassandraCroft posted...

Please forget your TOS run for the moment and go and watch The Animated Episode More Tribbles More Troubles and The Deep Space Nine episode Trials And Tribble-Ations.

I'll probably watch the animated episode over the weekend, when I've got more free time to double up. The DS9 episode will have to wait until I get to it.

Episode 16: The Gamesters of Triskelion

Considering that the premise is supposedly about slaves competing in brutal games, there was very little actual gaming going on. Resolving the plot with a high stakes wager is a fine way to end it, though with some caveats.

Kirk seems really quick to anger this time around. Maybe he's hit his limit with godlike beings ordering him about. I still love seeing him seduce women for ruthlessly practical purposes. Smacking Shahna in the face shocked me, but it was a sound idea. Leaving the Thralls to be taught by their former oppressors left me with a sour taste, though.

Spock and McCoy (and Scotty) got the b plot, which basically boiled down to pointless bickering. Spock is now willing to admit that he's been infected with humanity and shows his frustration with his crewmates with little venomous inflections in his lines. Whispering about mutiny is pretty chilling. McCoy is idiotic, almost to the point of self parody. Scotty isn't much better.

Uhura got to do something for once, but it wasn't much and it wasn't pleasant. The implied attempted rape scene is disgusting. I'm not opposed to putting characters through horrific trauma, but the episode is far more interested in making her the motivational victim rather than actually exploring her character and it just further displays the show's contempt for women.

Chekov is just sort of there and the one character moment he does get boiled down to finding a deep voiced woman repulsive. They do the double standard of portraying male victims of unwanted sexual advances as inherently funny, as well, so, its doubly offensive.

On the subject of despising women, Shahna could've had some character from her general ignorance of nearly everyone, but she shows no very little curiosity or, indeed, any sense of an inner life at all. She's an object to be charmed by Kirk, who abandons her to once more be under the thumb of slavers.

Galt conjures up some good terror by being Nosferatu light, but his design, brilliant though it is, is all he really has. The Providers are mildly interesting, being so powerful, but ultimately left playing banal games. Again, though, the most interesting thing about them is their design. Colourful mushrooms that they are.

Having Galt's teleportation take the form of a scene cut is some fantastic camera work. The design of the various aliens are alright. Kirk's fight scene at the end is a new low. Its blatantly obvious that he should've forfeited his weapon several times. With its constant marginalisation of most characters and the incessant bickering for padding, the script seems especially lazy. I'm sure their was an editing error just before the last kiss.

I still don't understand how you can be antislavery and end the episode in a way that allows the slavers to still govern their "former" captives. If I were feeling generous, I might also try to read an anti war profiteering moral, but the ending is such an egregious ethical failure that it outweighs all else.

A few things to like, but it's average at absolute best and leaves several bad tastes in my mouth.

We'll have A Piece of the Action tomorrow.

Episode 17: A Piece of the Action

Once I figured out the basic theme of this episode, I was bricking it, absolutely fearful that they'd ruin the ending. Thank fuck they pulled it off.

Planets like this, which are clearly based on a certain time period, seem to be a way for Star Trek to do historicals, without invoking time travel all the time.

Kirk has some guile. Fizzbin is up there with Corbomite as one of the most audacious plays he's ever pulled. I appreciate his enthusiasm for old technology, even if he's a menace on the road. Shatner feels like he's having the time of his life, speaking in gangster talk. Conveys a surprising amount of authority with it, too.

It's quite nice seeing Spock be unfailingly polite to the Iotians at first. He's a bit literal minded, almost to the point of being dense, but it's a comedy, so, I'll forgive him. His human side is coming out more and more and he still noticeably more relaxed when it's just him and Kirk. I love how insincere and stilted his gangster speak is. Describing their society as a moral inversion rubbed me the wrong way. I'm not about to defend criminals universally, but the phrasing still seems off.

McCoy is absolutely in the right to grumble about the Horizon interfering in the first place. His misgivings about the mission mark him as the only sane man in this piece. It does mean that he gets slightly sidelined in favour of the more silly characters, but revealing that he left his communicator behind was all I needed to know that they'd saved a bloody difficult ending to get right. But more on that in a bit.

Scotty learns fast. He'd appropriately bewilded by the gangster shenanigans going on, but he does well enough at fitting in. Uhura is back at her desk.

Oxmyx (I'm seeing contradictory spelling) is a well played stereotype. He grabs a veneer of respectability, reasonableness and intelligence, but even that is a stereotype, too. Kracko is entertaining, too. The kid is a one scene wonder.

The design of not Chicago is fantastic. Everything from the different hats for the gangs to various bits of background set design go towards making this feel like an actual world.

So, I firmly believe this episode is meant to be a farce. Obviously, it's comedic, but much of the comedy (and the main themes) come from the sheer insanity both of the culture they're visiting and of the futile attempts to fix it. The main characters, for all their technological superiority, frequently get outsmarted and captured by the natives. Kirk struggles to handle a car, whereas Oxmyx works a communicator near effortlessly (highlighting that the natives are more intelligent than the expansionist force intruding in their space), they have to conjure a deus ex machina through the ship's phasers to win because a random underling correctly pegs part of their plan and the brilliant solution to the problem of the Federation interfering is to pretend that the planet is now a pseudo vassal state of the same Federation. They don't want to be seen using advanced technologies, yet they materialise in a sparkle shower in full view of the natives. I could go on. Most of the main cast are deliberately written as idiots and bumblers.

With the planet having been a cargo cult for 100 years, any attempt to return to their true culture is a fool's errand. You cant fight interference with interference. The mission was doomed from the start and McCoy knew it. I was so worried that we would have another jingoistic piece like The Apple, but instead Kirk created a government of sorts that is based on the Iotians' current culture and which also likens the Federation to just another criminal gang. Additionally, when Spock calls out the obvious problems with this plan, Kirk tries to justify it, but can barely convince himself. Then, McCoy let's slip that he accidentally left behind some tech and its shrugged off with an "oops, hopefully they don't one day attack us". The one man who sees the flaws ultimately ruins the plan and the cast decides to wash their hands of it because there is no sane solution to the century long fuckup that the federation caused.

It's a hilarious farce and a biting satire of the long term failures of colonialism all at once. Absolutely sublime.

Tomorrow, a double bill of More Tribbles, More Troubles (because CassandraCroft asked nicely) and The Immunity Syndrome.

The Animated Series: Season 1: Episode 5: More Tribbles, More Troubles

First thing to discuss is the animation, which is very, very limited. Fortunately, the designs of everything from the characters to especially the ships are vibrant and incredibly detailed. I love that the Enterprise's light still flash and the those bits on the nacelles still rotate. Even with the reused motions, it was a joy to watch.

Much of this episode feels like a fun nostalgia tour. Being animated, the comedy is slightly more zany and childish, but its still really funny throughout. The running chair gag is hilarious and ending on "I think I'll stand" actually made me lol. The Glommer's run cycle is surreal. Even the plot is a truncated rerun of the original, with a few alterations. Basically a call back to the fat Tribble joke.

Maybe it's the difference in time and/or medium, but Shatner plays Kirk differently here. He seems more serious and sedate, at first. Part of that might just be due to being unable to see his face and gestures and the inherent differences of voice acting versus regular acting. I'm not sure if I like his smirk at the end. Showed some nice compassion and restraint in waiting till the last moment before firing at Koloth.

Spock suffers a bit from being an exposition machine (and they exposit a lot, including stuff that the audience is already aware of). Closer to a function than a character. Sulu and McCoy are just sort of there, though at least McCoy somehow solves the problem. I want to know more about Sulu's alien colleague, though. Pretty interesting design for a guy who's barely in frame.

Uhura, in one snarky line about rocks, got more character in this episode than she does in most of the series. Scotty's grumbling is delightful and he continues the saga of ending the episode with a painful pun.

Cyrano seems to have more charisma this time around. Kirk announcing his presence has some bizarre energy behind it. Its like a children's show encountering a historical celebrity. Continuing the nostalgia tour theme, they treat him like a mythic figure and it surprisingly works. Making sterile Tribbles is an impressive level of cruelty, as is demonstrating the Glommer's appetite.

Koloth has devolved into a cartoon, bumbling supervillain, but he's an absolute riot and, arguably, morally justified. Cyrano caused a lot of havoc.

The short run time and quick pace makes it a little hard to write about this in detail, but I had a blast watching this. Like its inspiration, it's a fun bit of fluff. Good shout recommending it to me, I might check out the rest of The Animated Series when I get to it.

The Immunity Syndrome in a bit.

Episode 18: The Immunity Syndrome

We return to perhaps my favourite plot structure: the Enterprise discovering something weird and gradually learning the rules about it. A giant amoeba infecting the galaxy is an almost Lovecraftian source of horror.

Everyone is a little stressed this time around and Kirk is especially irritable, hassling his crew for answers they don't know. Add this to the life drain, and we see him more tired and weary than he's ever been. He shows his command credentials so well in this episode that it puts many of his previous showings to shame. He consistently and quickly makes the best decisions based on whatever information he has. I don't mind buffoonery if it's clearly a comedy episode, but when you have something as tense and serious as this, it's best to have your characters be at the height of their competence and still struggling.

Spock remains the emotional core. I was hooked from the moment he keeled over in psychic agony. His point about the "million is a statistic" phenomenon is particularly biting. Getting increasingly better at the banter with McCoy. His final message in the shuttlecraft is beautiful.

McCoy almost fills Spock's role as the highly curious one. For all that he gives Spock grief, its clear that his empathy wins over whenever he's in danger. Immediately criticising him after he's been rescued is a perfect summary of his character. The suggestion to run away is another example of the wrong choice being made for perfectly understandable reasons.

Uhura conveys a lot with just one facial expression after it's clear that there'll be no shore leave any time soon. Apart from that, she, Scotty and Chekov get to be hyper competent in a completely engaging way. Even Chapel was fun to watch for the little screen time she had.

The directing is astounding. Some standout points are one shot where Kirk is giving orders in the background behind Spock, who lifts his head up with a shocked expression just as he gets some data, allowing us to focus on two actors (in the sense of acting on the plot) at once. Another is how Spock's final message is Immediately followed by Kirk's, with the two of them sharing similar sentiments and facing opposite directions, so, that they're almost having a face-to-face conversation. The effect for both the amoeba and the ship in the dark space really sells how horrifying this whole scenario is and every layer that they peel off from the mystery box only adds more tension. I love everything about this.

Kirk and McCoy's discussion about how life in general is basically playing the role of the galaxy's antibodies is a beautiful and somewhat sobering way of emphasising that this is a collection of small people exploring a massive world for the sake of being more, which contrasts nicely with the message of some recent episodes, where they're portrayed as a great power colonising a small world for the sake of having more. A great and somewhat unique summation of the show's ethos.

I was enthralled from start to finish. Remarkable stuff.

We'll be having ourselves A Private Little War tomorrow (if I'm not too hungover).

Episode 19: A Private Little War

Probably the best use of the Klingons since Errand of Mercy and they barely appear. Once again we're fucking about with Eden, but at least this version has a more interesting point to discuss. (Even if I disagree with it).

While he's ultimately proven right, Kirk does leap to klingons a bit too quickly. Luckily, the other characters call him out on this. Considering how he's treated other cultures before, its nice for him to genuinely want to leave this one to progress naturally. His hand is forced, naturally, but I found both his argument for supplying weapons and his argument against giving overly advanced technologies pretty compelling. I'm not sure I actually agree with them, though, because it's basically code for justifying the Vietnam war and possibly the cold war in general. Ending with a trailed off mention of being tired was probably the best way to finish.

Spock is out of commission for most of the episode, but I'm sure I caught a slight smirk when Chapel tries to justify holding his hand.

McCoy gets to demonstrate his competency as a doctor. He self admittedly doesn't have a solution to the problem, but his arguments against arming the natives and generally decrying the situation they're in are just as compelling as Kirk's. His awe at the healing ceremony is a nice touch and his disbelief and horror at the final battle is both sobering and bleak.

Scotty annoyed me when he tried to stop Chapel without waiting for an explanation. Uhura setting the ship on red alert general competence made her a surprising highlight. Chekov has an inoffensive showing.

M'Benga is a fantastic doctor and I hope to see more of him. Tyree is a miserable wet blanket until the end, but i do have some small sympathy for wanting to remain pacifistic. Krell and his puppet king get little screen time, but he shows some decent patience with him and I'm a sucker for villains talking civily among themselves.

Nona is fascinating. She's an obvious Lady Macbeth type, but like so many examples of this archetype, she unintentionally comes up almost smelling of roses. I was surprised by how much they focused on her and Tyree's little session. Expressing sexuality is not wrong and you'd think a 60s show would be more consistent about this. Her knowledge of healing is something to be admired (and the clear sexual undertones to it almost had me believing that they might be in favour of liberation). Add to this, being intelligent and opportunistic and she's a potentially fantastic character. She's also completely right that her people need weapons and that superior ones would be ideal. As mentioned, Kirk's also right about preserving their culture, but the genie is out of the bottle now. The problem is that they couch her lines by adding references to power and they also have her rape Kirk and try to sell a phaser to the other team to make her seem evil, but it's all a bit too transparent and sexist to work on me. It's actually offensive that they artificially drop her intelligence and have her announce her presence to an enemy party. Having the Mugato suddenly attack her after trying to rape Kirk and then the enemies try to rape her at the end feels like the episode believes that female sexuality ought to be punished, ideally violently (don't misunderstand me. Rape is wrong regardless of gender. But the artificiality of it all makes it out to be an attack on feminine sexuality in general, rather than specifically sexual violence). Then she gets stabbed and damn near abandoned, save for the wet blanket husband using her as a motivator. Real classy. I find that I like her for the same reasons that the script wants me not to like her for.

Taken in a vacuum, Kirk's viewpoint of how to handle the situation could be construed as correct. The problem is that it is a clear allegory and, therefore, justification for the Vietnam war. McCoy's grousing could be seen as an attempt to add nuance to the discussion, but the problem is that the audience has been trained to see McCoy as being the compassionate one who is usually logically wrong. Even in well written scripts, all that changes is that his points seem more understandable. Outright saying that he has no alternative pretty clearly shows where the episode's politics are. He's a strawman. I could be charitable and try to read it as saying that the cold war is a horrific absurdity, but the Vietnam war is a necessity within that insanity, but everything else (most notably the incessant contempt for women) points to a rather nasty answer. The only reason I'm trying to redeem this is because....

The production is actually good, aside from the preschool yetis. It's a well made episode and the lower part of my mind had a blast watching this. But the more analytical part of me can't help but despise it. Its part of why my notes for this are a bit of a jumbled mess. I'm in two minds about it, but I'm leaning towards it being....

A well made atrocity. I might change my mind on it going forwards, but as of now it is only just avoiding the bottom 7.

We'll Return to Tomorrow tomorrow.

Episode 20: Return to Tomorrow

Another set of gods, though at least there's a new hook with the possession story. I still prefer the Enterprise doing some actual exploration, rather than odd jobs for Starfleet. Sort of a McCoy focus episode.

I admire Kirk's optimism, but I didn't buy his speech at all. Maybe it's because Shatner continues his trick of weird pauses, but the whole thing seemed rambly and not always relevant. Sargon is alright. Being the enlightened one of the group, there isn't too much to say about him, but he's a decent sort. His delight at having a body was quite beautiful to watch.

Spock isn't here for much, but at least he's consistently fascinated by stuff. Interesting idea to suggest that Vulcans might be the true children. Henoch allows Nimoy to act delightfully creepy throughout the episode. He's got a bit of charmer about him.

McCoy is at his best this episode, correctly identifying how ridiculously risky this whole idea is. I wasn't convinced by Kirk's speech, but I guess Bones had to be, else there'd be no plot.

Didn't much care for either Mulhorn or Thalassa. They're both the sort of generic "female character". Plus, if you're gonna have a lass be possessed for much of the episode, why not use Uhura?

Chapel has her moments, but it feels like a cheat to have Spock be the one controlling her, instead of her own will at the end. Scotty, Sulu and Uhura were all just sort of there.

Absolutely hate the love theme that blares out whenever a woman is onscreen. Some strange scene cuts with Scotty asking if they've gone mad and Uhura suddenly screaming at Henoch.

It was alright.

Next is Patterns of Force

Episode 21: Patterns of Force

I was actually shocked to discover that today's theme was planet of the nazis. It was almost as surreal for me, as it was for Kirk, seeing them wearing the swastika covered uniforms.

Kirk shows a lot of guile and quick wit. He had quite a few mini schemes throughout the episode, but the best two were probably posing as a documentary crew and pretending that they discovered a spy in Spock. Using the subcutaneous implants is a nice way to show his commitment to the Prime Directive and I like that he doesn't explain who he is until after it becomes clear that there's no rectifying this society.

Spock seemed a bit daft at times, such as not returning the salute, and had a few comedic moments, but unlike some episodes, it at least felt that the writers weren't belittling him. A couple of standout moments were stoically taking his torture and rolling his eyes and raising his eyebrow when being told how inferior he is.

The only thing we learn about McCoy is that he apparently can't dress himself. He suffers from only entering the episode when it's already nearly over.

There were a lot of guest characters. More than were probably needed, in fact. Izak is alright, though a little bit bland. Abrom is just there. Eneg isn't much better, although bending over backwards, so, that Kirk and Co can get on unmolested was quite funny. Melakon is a fun moustache twirler with a satisfying breakdown at the end. Gill is an idiot.

Daras is actually interesting. Aside from being badass and hyper competent, she has an intriguing backstory with pretending to have sold her father out. I quite liked her.

The costumes and set design are all pretty well made. The end of episode banter was a bit shit this go round. I don't think anyone sane would agree with nazi Germany's efficiency. Even without the evil, they had a lot of logistical issues.

A pretty fun episode.

By Any Other Name, next.

Episode 22: By Any Other Name

We've seen godlike beings before, but it's a bit odd to have two episodes about an addiction to humanity so close to each other (apparently they're quite close if you go by production order, too). There's enough of a new angle to make it work, though.

For all that I give Kirk some flak for his odd pauses and occasional hamminess, the fact remains, he is a fantastic actor. He makes sure that there are always little touches like constantly fidgeting in helplessness when Rojan turns the red shirts into novelty dice. Other little touches include his eyes darting around when he's paralysed and how stupefied he is when Kelinda sees straight through the seduction plan. His optimism is on fine display, always offering the Kelvans a peaceful solution, refusing to blow up his ship because he assumes there's another way and still making peace with them at the end.

Spock makes for a fantastic shit stirrer. He's a bit slow to pick up on lies and bluffs, but once he gets it, he runs with it. Even with the scheme, suggesting to McCoy that its time for his injections, so, that Kirk and Kelinda can be alone is a proper bro move.

McCoy surprised me when he ranted at Kirk over not destroying the ship. Its an unusual perspective for the compassionate, emotional one of the bunch. Making his Kelvan incredibly irritable is quite an evil move. Him and Spock chucking Kirk back into the brawl is hilarious.

Leave it to Scotsman to suggest drinking as the solution. His and Spock's exploding plan was wonderfully pragmatic. And the absolute delight when he succeeded in drinking a god under the table is beautiful. Uhura and Chekov show up long enough to get diced.

Rojan is quite interesting. Even at the start, when he's supposedly stoic and pragmatic, there's a businesslike sadism to how he crushes the redskirt. Even when the jealousy starts overtaking him, there's a measure of class and subtlety to him. A pretty good villain.

The other Kelvans aren't really characters, except Kelinda, who I initially thought was going to have her outfit as the only exciting part of her, but she surprised me when she took complete control of Kirk's seduction attempt. Even better, the show doesn't treat her like she's evil for being free in her sexuality. There's the occasional undercurrent of sexism about her, but her relationship with Kirk makes her a surprisingly deep subversion of a pretty tired archetype.

The cuboctohedrons are a pretty effective prop to convey the utter horror that the Kelvans inspire. It's understated and a little cheap, but arguably better that way. The effects for high warp speed and the galactic barrier are fairly impressive. There was a weird cut during the final fight when the scene suddenly shifts to give us a new angle of the rec room.

The episode seems quite sympathetic to counter cultures. The main issue stems from a 300 year long tradition that's barely rational, involves people getting increasingly enamored with sensation and change, is resolved with generous helpings of sex, drugs and shit stirring (no rock n roll, but I half expected Scotty to make use of his bagpipes) and ultimately ends with "give peace a chance". Combine that with Kirk's characterisation getting back on track and it feels like, after some pretty dodgy ethics in previous episodes, the show has rediscovered its soul.

A pretty good episode, this.

The Omega Glory is next.

DO NOT BOTHER WITH THE OMEGA GLORY AS IT IS CONSIDERED ONE OF THE WORST EPISODES EVER.

That utter shit episode deserves to be beamed out of the nearest airlock.

This isn't just my opinion but of the entire Trek fandom.

Episode 23: The Omega Glory

CassandraCroft posted...

DO NOT BOTHER WITH THE OMEGA GLORY AS IT IS CONSIDERED ONE OF THE WORST EPISODES EVER.

That utter shit episode deserves to be beamed out of the nearest airlock.

This isn't just my opinion but of the entire Trek fandom.

For the first half, I was thinking "yeah, it's clearly a naff episode, but I've seen worse, so, why is this being singled out?" Then I got to the "twist" and, yep, you were absolutely right. It's especially ridiculous because if they just stuck with either the salt disease and/or the fountain of youth plot(s), there could've been a fun pulpy episode in this. I was enjoying myself for a few moments in the first half, but it ended as utter tripe.

Kirk shows some token respect for the prime directive and is mostly as fun as usual to watch. His rant at Tracey was some of the worst acting I've ever seen from Shatner. I felt precisely none of the outrage. His dubious train of logic linking the tribes to opposite sides of the cold war was one hell of a wtf moment and was when it completely dawned on me that this was irredeemable trash.

Spock, or more accurately Nimoy, seemed bored out of his mind. It's nice to see him be unwavering in his commitment to the Prime Directive and he had a decent plan at the end, but I don't think he wanted to be here.

McCoy got to practice a decent amount of medicine here, which is always nice. Shutting down the fountain of youth theory was pretty hilarious. Got some decent banter in, too.

Seems like Sulu is back for good, now. I assume Scotty is awaiting a replacement liver after the last episode because otherwise, shouldn't he be commanding the ship? At any rate, they may not have had much character to show, but Sulu and Uhura's little b plot gets some points for being the least offensive part of this.

William has some quasi religious stoicism and solemnity to him that makes him appear slightly more interesting than he actually is. The other Yangs and Kohms aren't characters (and in the latter's case, they clearly weren't meant to be).

Tracey was a surprising highlight. A frothing lunatic who operates out of utter delusion and desperation. He's wrong about everything, but he's surprisingly, and scarily, competent in how he goes about things. Predicting some of Kirk's plans, beating him in most fights and speedily scheming at the end to try to be seen as a god. Even when the episode goes off the deepend, his madness remains reasonably entertaining.

This episode is another in a long line of productions to state that other cultures only have value if they resemble America. Apparently, American branded democracy (as distinct from democracy in general) is such a natural way to be, that any and all worlds will inevitably develop it. Of course, those damn dirty communists (who are all Asian and invariably savage) have to ruin everything, so, despite their society presumably being just as old as the other (not that the episode cares to give either side a real semblance of culture), they have to die and not a single soul cares. It falls into many of the pitfalls that so many examples of atrocious propaganda do, the biggest one being the portrayal of the "sympathetic" side as simultaneously weak, displaced underdogs who are nevertheless naturally stronger and nobler than the incredibly strong, yet also very weak, enemy. Flaunting the flag, playing the anthem and revering the constitution as a religious artefact just further insult the audience.

Mind you, perhaps a bunch of overly aggressive, kill happy neanderthals who preach a bunch about freedom and equality with no understanding of what the words mean is a far more accurate portrayal of this episode's target audience than I'm likely to find in any other media.

What a piece of shit.

We'll see if The Ultimate Computer can puzzle out a better story, tomorrow.

Well I see you didn't heed my advice and you watched that utter shit in The Omega Glory.

Perhaps next time you will listen to me.

The Ultimate Computer is one of the best episodes of The Original Series.

CassandraCroft posted...

Well I see you didn't heed my advice and you watched that utter shit in The Omega Glory.

Perhaps next time you will listen to me.

The Ultimate Computer is one of the best episodes of The Original Series.

Don't hold your breath. Skipping out on episodes seems like a strange practice for a watchthrough. If I'm gonna be a fan of this franchise, I'm going to suffer like a fan should. Plus, screaming through incredibly offensive crap is a great way to be more resolute in one's own ethics.

Besides, I watched one of the Tribble episodes, and I'll eventually get to the other. What more do you want?

Mate I have been watching Star Trek since 1986 but I haven't seen every episode because I have read the synopsis of the episodes before hand and skipped them.

There are many episodes of The Original Series I will never watch again.

There are many episodes of The Next Generation I never want to see again and there is one season 7 episode "Interface" I have never watched.

There are a couple of Star Trek Deep Space 9 episodes I have never watched and there isn't enough money on the planet to make me watch them plus plenty more I never want to see again.

There are numerous episodes of Star Trek Voyager I have never watched and you couldn't pay me enough Gold to watch them plus many more I never want to see again.

I do not acknowledge the existence of those crap pathetic streaming series in Discovery, Picard, Strange New Worlds or Lower Decks. To me Star Trek died in 2005 with the axing of Enterprise.

Despite all that I consider myself a hardcore Trekker.

You do not need to watch every episode to call yourself a Trekkie/Trekker.

Like I said you have a great one coming up in The Ultimate Computer.

Episode 24: The Ultimate Computer

M5 is one of those things I know of from Shattered Universe, so, I got to have a warm moment when they namedropped it. A computer that is more based on the human mind is an interesting variant, so, I feel like breaking it with a paradox was a slightly disappointing ending in this one.

Kirk has to confront his own potential obsolescence in this one. We've already seen him briefly consider if he's past his prime before, but here he seems to be losing to progress itself. Shatner manages to inject his conversation with McCoy with a mixture of obvious frustration, slight joy at the possibilities of new technology and disbelief at how he's acting. He even admits to the last one, wondering aloud if he's being petty and childish. As soon as M5 is plugged in, Kirk gradually falls into a mess of near nail-biting anxiety. Even when it seems to be performing fine, he can't make himself comfortable in his own chair. Storming off after being called dunsel is a painful way of hammering this home. Gone from lord and master to sulking child. Being willing to sacrifice his ship and trust to another's compassion to save more lives is yet another example of how, when written properly, Kirk can be quite the shining example of ethics and hope.

Spock is slightly in hero worship mode and is adorably eager to help out Daystrom, back when he seems vaguely sane. His line about not wishing to serve computers was pleasantly surprising, since I'd almost had him written off as a strawman for logic here. Emphasising loyalty as what a ship runs on is a fantastically heartwarming moment and shows just how much of the soul of the series Spock gets to be when it's remembered that he's a character and not an exposition machine.

McCoy, naturally, is against machines replacing man from the start and, naturally, I agree with him. He gets to have an emotionally intimate relationship with Kirk in a way that is usually reserved for Spock (and only in a few episodes, at that), being more than a friend, but also a counseler and confidant to him. The relationship between the trio has gone from merely entertaining to downright beautiful.

The other regular cast members get to be frustrated and exasperated over having their jobs done for them. Uhura is pretty good at getting on with stuff, even if it is still mostly messages. Sulu and Chekov get some sweet banter at one point. Scotty's woken up, but it seems his competence took a hit from boozing it up with a god.

Wesley is utterly unpleasant. He'd have been merely bland if it weren't for the dunsel remark. Absolutely no need for that viciousness. Assuming that Kirk's gone mental and not that a new ai has a few kinks yet to solve really makes it seem like he's got a vendetta against the man. M5 isn't really meant to be a character, so much as a talking threat, and death by logic is pretty standard now. But to be honest, his creator was kind of what the episode was really about....

The idea of ai taking our jobs or just taking over in general and being somehow bad at it, isn't particularly new, not even at this point in time. But Daystrom shifts the episode's focus to something a bit more interesting. First of all, it's clear even from the start that he's working with an unhinged zeal towards making his tech perfect. His more pleasant early interactions with the cast still seem very socially awkward and he shies away from Spock precisely because of the light admiration and desire for cooperation he shows him. He's taller and more imposing that Kirk, yet can barely fit into some camera shots and comes off, once again, as awkward. So, he's payed a compliment by a character who doesn't often give them and outshines the leading man in the physical department, yet he tries to make his prescence lesser. Long before his motive revealing breakdown, there's a sense that, despite being better than he thinks, he honestly believes he's not even good enough on a meta level to be allowed on the show. M5 being based on his memories just makes it clear that Daystrom wants the computer to be the perfect (read: barely acceptable by his own standards) version of himself. The war game failures are then his own failures and shutting down M5 is tantamount to killing the inventor for not being good enough. Which, considering that he's already afraid of being a one hit wonder, would probably be the most intolerable thing in the world to him.

There's an irony, of course, which is that, assuming M5 worked perfectly, given that it would then be a superior version of Daystrom, what would be the point in human Daystrom's continued existence? In attempting to war against his own obsolescence, he either merely solidifies it or gets stuck in an endless, spiralling mental collapse. Likewise, Wesley's attempt to make manned spaceships obsolete works a little bit too quickly and too dramatically for his tastes.

Kirk has his own flirtations with obsolescence, as mentioned, but he's spared a dark fate for the simple fact that, while it does bother him, it doesn't do so all that much. He has an emotionally complex and mature reaction to the possibilities, that still leaves him feeling appropriately vulnerable, but also slightly excited. The question of Daystrom's work is posed to him at the start and his answer is that genius isn't a production line. He rejects Daystrom's perspective before he's even heard it. Even better, when he's called useless, his friend brings him a drink and they briefly waffle about poetry. His other friend shows unexpected solidarity and flatly rejects the computer he was making eyes at earlier.

In other words, Kirk's (and by extension humanity's) value isn't in how efficient or productive they are or whether they can conceive of alternative ways of working that the computer can't yet (after all, M5 is very close to human, so, it can conceive of much), rather it's in the human moments, experiences and connections that make up the joy of life. It's why the paradox ending almost irks me, though it could've been saved by appealing to some inherent value, rather than invoking laws or, worse yet, god. A better ending would be to have M5 either naturally burn itself out seeking ever greater optimisation or become fully human and reject Daystrom's philosophy of needing constant production line style moments of genius just to be worthwhile.

I feel slightly and appropriately mad for seeing all this in this episode (and there probably is the odd scene that resists my readings), but, at any rate, I loved this episode on the whole.

Pretty damn magical.

I'll indulge in some Bread and Circuses tomorrow.

Bread And Circuses is pretty hit and miss. I didn't like it much.

Episode 25: Bread and Circuses

Hit and miss is right. I liked some of it and despised the rest. A modern day version of the roman empire is a fascinating place to explore and they do some work in delving into the culture.

Kirk gets a lot of points by simply trying to abide by the prime directive. I'm not sure flipping out the communicator to make friends with slaves quite gels with his oath, but his adamant refusal to give Marcus what he wants is a fine test of his commitment. That whole scene between them was surprisingly tense and amazingly the gladiator fight had nothing to do with it.

Spock almost works as a conjoined unit with McCoy, with most of his character moments revolving around him. There's the typical sarcasm and banter and the obvious saving his life, but the most interesting part is his simple "really?" When McCoy accuses him of not feeling strong emotions. Anytime he gets to be emotional is beautiful.

Speaking of McCoy, I'm usually very tolerant of bullying of Spock, both because that's his role in the narrative and because it's usually clear that they are friends, but, here, he verges on the unpleasant. Even the thank you scene comes across as needlessly mean-spirited. Their shared solidarity over worrying about Kirk is fantastic, though, and if I thought for a second that there would be any real overall progression in this show, I'd almost call it character development.

Scotty figuring out a means to rescue the group that still sort of jives with the prime directive is quite impressive. I almost miss Chekov's "humour", if only so I'd have something to complain about. Uhura almost excited me when she chimed up in the end, only to completely ruin the episode for me.

Septimus and Flavius are pretty bland and uninteresting. Merik fares a little better. He plays weak willed pretty well and makes a decent contrast to Kirk, but he's still a basic archetype.

However, Marcus is genuinely fantastic. Being intelligent enough to recognise the cultural and societal threat of other worlds even existing and ruthless enough to try to blackmail two captains into doing what he wants would be fantastic on its own. But then, fitting for a proconsul, he has enough law savvy to realise that the prime directive limits the amount of actions his enemies can take. He even respects Kirk for being a real man who stands by his ideals and tries to make his last moments as enjoyable as possible, whilst belittling Merik all the way. He comes across as an actual individual from another culture and not just a villainous cypher. Not that it does much good.

On the one hand, certain aspects of this episode are praiseworthy. Respecting the prime directive, having an actual character represent the culture and making him genuinely intelligent and reasonably complex, and even the ending where they just fuck off with the bare minimum of disruption are all great. But on the other hand, we're back in American jingoism territory. They're just slightly more subtle about it. First, we have the law of parallel development, which uncomfortably suggests that American style democracy is an inevitability of all histories. Then, there's the confusion over Sun worshippers even existing. Can't just be wrong about the development of religions, can we? Nope, it's a pointless homophone, which suggests that Christianity is just as intractable as America. Of course, its worshippers insist that its the one true faith, whereas the roman pantheon have sold out to capitalism (another apparent inevitability) just to demonstrate how "fake" roman culture is. (Because that would never happen in America, right?) Everyone is bafflingly confused (and gets their history wrong) about such seemingly primitive faiths still existing and, then, Uhura gives me a moment of hope when she interrupts the smarmy circle jerk to tell everyone that they're wrong. For a brief, beautiful moment, I though maybe the sun worshippers might be shown to have a rich belief system with deep practices. Considering that we know she speaks Swahili, a lesser know language with an even lesser used culture by western standards, maybe we'll even get some insight into her character and any beliefs she may have and whether there's a similarity on the planet. Nope, Uhura kills that and any enjoyment I have for this episode by babbling about the son of god. Because we clearly don't have enough shoehorned references to this thankfully dying faith in this season.

So close, but in the end, it's just shit.

Because I missed yesterday due to playing host for a couple of guests, I'll finish the season later with Assignment: Earth.

Episode 26: Assignment: Earth

So, a pilot for a show that apparently never took off. Cynical, but whatever. Presumably, it would've operated like the early Pertwee era of Doctor Who. I'm seeing a little of Saphire and Steel, as well. (Never seen the show, but I'm aware of its premise and general feel. It's actually next on my list after Star Trek).

Discussing the regulat cast is a mostly pointless errand, although Kirk's optimism winning out over his paranoia is always nice to see. Let's start with Seven, instead. It's sort of amazing how much goodwill gets shown to early installments of beloved franchises. There's a decent chunk of season 1 episodes that I wouldn't have much nice to say about if they came out later, but seeing how a world is gradually built up usually offsets a lot of teething troubles.

I bring this up because if Seven's show actually got off the ground (and wasnt in the way of a Star Trek episode), I might show him more patience. As it stands, while he conveys someone on an alternate emotional spectrum (not unlike Spock, Saphire and Steel or certain incarnations of the Doctor) well enough at times, too much of what we learn is conveyed through meaningless exposition and backstory and he spends the rest looking blankly stoic. He's a synopsis or high concept at best, rather than a character.

His introduction is fine enough. A well dressed mysterious stranger with a cat and inexplicable powers. As said, he has much in common with similar characters. His mission of enforcing a certain way for time to progress might have had some ethical pitfalls, but it's a decent hook. His bank vault teleporter is an absolutely fantastic idea. I'd be concerned about his computer and mind controller (rather like a sonic screwdriver) making him overpowered, but if he's meant to only adopt a light touch approach, there'd be potential for well written stories. Giving him Isis to "talk" with (especially since they're apparently in a pseudo romantic relationship) is pretty cool and can serve up exposition in a much more elegant way that the computer giving him grief. He even has a moment or two of vulnerability, admitting to his own incompetence (strange way to sell him on us). There could have been some potential with him.

It's everything else that falls down. The computer is annoying and could quickly become overpowered. Roberta is insufferably wretched. Considering how this show treats female military professionals, a layperson (who's basically the stereotype of a Doctor Who companion) would be absolutely excruciating to watch. Star Trek is basically saved by having a lot of reasonably defined blokes to fall back on. Replacing them all with a cat, a computer and whatever this creature is, would not work at all, to put it mildly.

There's some production issues, as well. The main one being pacing. Seven has to painstakingly explain his backstory at several points, there's a lot of confirmation with the computer to go through, a lot of waiting for the appropriate time to act, waiting to see if it succeeded and so many gratuitous shots of preparing the rocket and watching it fly. Even with the need to introduce these characters (insomuch as Roberta has a character) and faff about with the Enterprise crew, there doesn't seem to be anywhere near enough plot here to justify the run time. Scotty flicking through channels in an extended sequence is a particular lowlight.

There's a smidge of potential, but it's a crap way to introduce a show and a crap waste of a perfectly good Star Trek slot.

I'll pick through Spock's Brain tomorrow. First, though, the rankings.

End of season 2

Top 7 (no particular order):

Amok Time (a fascinating look into Vulcan culture, with great character moments and fantastic production)

Mirror, Mirror (explores the worst traits of the Federation, gives lesser used characters something to do and manages to be hopeful from a surprising place)

The Doomsday Machine (Moby Dick as a cautionary tale on cold war politics with a slight touch of monster movie. Brilliant)

Metamorphosis (they butcher the ending and a few character moments, but it works often and when it does, it sings)

The Trouble with Tribbles (an absolutely wondrous comedy with adorable creatures that also makes Klingons feel like people)

A Piece of the Action (never expected this show to do a farce, much less for it to be a fantastic satire, too)

The Immunity Syndrome (my favourite plot structure and so well made. Utterly enthralling.)

Bottom 7 (no particular order):

The Apple (Vaal did very little, if anything, wrong)

Friday's Child (barely functional as an episode and completely appalling as an allegory)

Wolf in the Fold (idiots on all sides, including production, and one of the most laughable villains imaginable)

The Gamesters of Triskelion (a lazy clichd production and a bafflingly confused message)

A Private Little War (I was too generous originally. A hideously sexist, overly jingoistic mess)

The Omega Glory (insulting propaganda)

Bread and Circuses (could've been merely mediocre, but they had to have that ending)

Miscellaneous thoughts on some of the rest:

I, Mudd (almost made the top 7, but the other comedy were just that much better)

Journey to Babel (almost made the top 7)

The Deadly Years (almost made the top 7)

Return to Tomorrow (I've warmed to Kirk's speech by quite a bit)

The Ultimate Computer (almost made the top 7)

More Tribbles, More Troubles (unrankable due to being a different show. Kinda brilliant, though)

Assignment: Earth (unrankable due to being a different show. Kinda crap, though.)

Season 3 begins tomorrow

I wouldn't bother with Season 3 if I were you.

Star Trek was cancelled after Season 2 and only a massive letter writing campaign got it a third season. The budget was cut and it was moved to a Friday night 22:00 graveyard slot.

End result 90% of the season is absolute garbage.

Just watch the following episodes and forget the rest:

The Enterprise Incident
The Tholian Web
Day Of The Dove
Let That Be Your Last Battlefield
Elaan Of Troyius
The Savage Curtain

Oh and what ever you do DO NOT WATCH SPOCKS BRAIN I repeat FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DO NOT WATCH SPOCKS BRAIN! It will kill stone dead your watching of the franchise.

CassandraCroft posted...

Oh and what ever you do DO NOT WATCH SPOCKS BRAIN I repeat FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DO NOT WATCH SPOCKS BRAIN! It will kill stone dead your watching of the franchise.

What is brain?!

Season 3: episode 1: Spock's Brain

I already know that this is the silly season. And I'd heard that Spock's Brain was apparently the absolute nadir of Star Trek. So, why did I have so much fun watching this?

Stealing a brain is, of course, a slightly goofy premise. And a society split between man servants and woman leaders was always going to lean heavily into sexism. Add to this, the infantilised leaders and the need for a rational, male brain to govern them and we have one hell of an ethical mess on our hands. It's bad, but again, I had a lot of fun with it.

Kirk is his usual self. Decent in matters of first contact and more than a bit imperialistic with how he tries to console Kara at the end. Loyalty to Spock is commendable and they wrestle some drama out of making the right choice of planet to land on. Shatner, of course, has a tendency to deliberately overact many of his lines which, given the quality of the episode, paradoxically makes him one of the more serious actors (in more senses than one) here. The begging scene is beautiful for all the wrong reasons. Automatically refering to Scotty as Spock got more emotion out of me than it probably should. And, yeah, let's just casually disrupt an entire society for our friend. (I'm only being slightly sarcastic. Frankly, I'd do the same)

Spock isn't here. Even when they get him on the communicator, he's gone beyond detached and into straight boredom. After some standout episodes where he demonstrated immense emotional intelligence, he's entered a state of removed fascination from the fact that he himself is fucking dying. It was kind of sweet seeing him gush about the history of the society. Also, the mechanical nightmare helmet they put on him is hilariously terrifying. The noises that thing makes when he's moving and the glacial pace that we track his travels at is wonderful. I'm fairly certain I've had children's toys with more buttons than Spock's remote control.

It's always nice to see McCoy's (lack of) medical experience be the climax of an episode. He tries to sell the severity of the situation, but he contradicts himself several times when discussing Spock's condition and piloting the clockwork vulcan is just ludicrous. His frustration at losing his medical knowledge feels surprisingly real. Keeps Kirk hanging for a while in sickbay, doesn't he?

One thing I will say in the episode's favour: it had a decent amount of side characters actually doing something. Most of it is trivial, but it's still nice seeing Sulu and Chekov make suggestions about how to proceed. Chekov blasting a rock for warmth is a rare moment of relative intelligence in this mess. Uhura asks some pretty ingenious questions that should have occurred to everyone. And Scotty gets to be part of the adventure and fall in love with tech worse, yet inexplicably better, than their own.

Just in case there is any confusion, the episode is bad and its ethics are as horrendous as usual if you bother to think about them. But there is something bizarrely wonderful about the whole production, despite unconvincing pratfalls, a silly and contradictory script, conveying a lack of intelligence through amnesia of common nouns, ridiculous costumes and a Spock who's barely lucid. There's a breakneck pace at certain points and immense whiplash when it returns to glacial plodding at others. Nimoy seems high as a kite. The cavemen chuck polystyrene. But it bothers to use the cast for once and keeps most of them in character. And, again, i had fun with this mess.

I feel like I'm trying to overly defend this precisely because i enjoyed it despite its many, many faults. I'm barely keeping my own thoughts straight. After the utter atrocities that season 2 threw at me on occasion, something that is merely silly for the most part is a breath of fresh air. And I've never minded silliness in my Sci-fi, nor do i care much for any butchering of science fact.

Kill my watchthrough, you say? I haven't been this excited in a long time. What a daft delight.

The Enterprise Incident could probably be the title to every episode, really. Regardless, it's on tomorrow.

Episode 2: The Enterprise Incident

The return of the Romulans. And they're done quite well here. Bit of a tense mystery to solve, too.

Kirk has to be ooc here. We already know to trust this character and status quo is god, so, the issue is less: "why is he suddenly mental?" And more: "why is acting this way the right thing to do?" Mental Kirk is basically an irritable bully. His ranting at Spock is a little overplayed. The Romulan makeup is delightfully silly. Once he's allowed to return to his normal mood, he seems almost giddy with relief.

Spock gets to be in touch with his emotions more, acting as flirty as its possible for his sardonic nature to be. His throwing of Kirk under the bus is the same type of ooc behaviour that Kirk himself displayed, with the same questions to be asked. It's good that he was genuinely moved by his dalliance with the Commander. Once again he picks duty/logic over love/emotion, but given the themes if the episode, I think we're meant to question this decision more here than its previous occurances.

McCoy gets the opening log, which is a nice change. His outrage at the seemingly stupid order is justified and I liked his house call joke.

The side crew get to be bullied and indulge in the usual competence porn. Having Sulu back in the main cast is good. Scotty gets to get on with shit as usual and keeps a cool, pragmatic head in command.

Tal is pretty much the Romulan version of competence porn. The Commander is fascinating. First of all, given how this show has a reputation for being progressive, it's nice to see it earn that by having a woman in command and not completely belittling her. There's still a trace of sexism to the proceedings, but it's better than most of the previous seasons. Spock's seduction of her, even though its almost entirely a trick, still puts her as a far more equal actor than any of Kirk's shenanigans. Not only that, but she conducts herself with regard to dealing with the Enterprise's intrusion incredibly decently. She arguably had the right to destroy them on principle and yet bothered to hear them out and didn't blame any of the crew for Kirk's crime. She makes decent arguments for Spock to betray the federation, immediately returns to competence mode once the lie is revealed, attempts to sabotage the plan by beaming aboard, is willing to sacrifice herself and graciously accepts her defeat. She even parts with Spock on cordial terms. Brilliant character.

The music was fantastic. The early scenes had a tense leitmotif that seemed to scream out of the background ambience and when the cloaking is successful, its accompanied by a complete fade out of nearly all sound. It's good stuff.

It seems that when the Romulans appear, their existence is meant to hold the federation to account. Consider what the "good guys" actually do in this story: execute a plot that relies on plausible deniability, so, that only Kirk gets blamed for a blatant illegal violation of a treaty (a sacrificial lamb), risk the lives of over 400 people (most of whom are completely unaware of the plot) against an enemy that had both the right and the will to destroy them immediately, perform a cold blooded seduction on someone who is treating them with immaculate decency, engage in infiltration and subterfuge against a presently non hostile power, steal technology from said power and kidnap, if accidentally, a high ranking official. What do the "bad guys" do? Exercise restraint, tolerance and understanding despite being the victims of a crime, insist on decent treatment to the subordinates, offer Spock a command position and a chance for personal happiness (there is no reason to suspect she's lying, especially given the ending), show willingness to sacrifice themselves (as opposed to the federation sacrificing others) and maintain respectability even when they've lost.

This isn't the first time that Spock has been offered a better life and rejected it in the name of duty. But it does seem to be the first to seriously question the logic of that decision. What are the arguments for remaining with the federation? Friendship? He's a minority of one and frequently bullied for that fact. Devotion? It's one sided. Spock and everyone else on the ship are expendable and can be sent to die for the sake of a reckless, illegal plan that only maintains a continuous sense of paranoia and fear. The Romulans have their own issues with duty, with Spock pointing out that the Commander could never commit to a proper relationship with him, and they obviously broke the treaty first in an earlier episode for identical reasons.

What, then, is the difference between the federation and the Romulans? There isn't one, but there is one clear similarity: even if military life doesn't kill you physically, it will destroy your soul and there will be very little gain and even less recognition.

This was a pretty spectacular episode.

The Paradise Syndrome next.

I would say do not bother with the next episode but I know you will not listen to me.

Go ahead and put yourself through the fucking shit torture that is The Paradise Syndrome.

Episode 3: The Paradise Syndrome

So, its definitely bad, but not quite as bad as I was expecting. Attempting to preserve other cultures is a noble goal, but the way its presented is very white man's burden and hideously patronising. The Preservers are a fine conceit to explain a production quirk, but why make this "society" identical to native Americans in the first place.

Kirk is kind of a disappointment. Aside from the usual miserable gushing about an edenic planet, his decision to explore is profoundly reckless and should have resulted in him losing his command. I was surprised by the brief peaks into his internal monologue, but there was nothing insightful to be found there, so, its a waste. Going along with the god guise is frankly bizarre characterisation. Even with the memory loss, he should still be a forceful enough personality to shut that down immediately or at least seriously question their assumptions. Shatner seriously overacts his happiness, with wild gesticulating, but I can't really blame him tbh. Its couched in a patronising context, but I did get a kick out of seeing him try to "improve" things. Musing on whether he deserves happiness was quite a real moment. And he sells the death of Miramanee pretty well.

With Kirk having made some boneheaded decisions, it's down to Spock to clean up his mess. And he seems to do fairly well with an impossible situation. We could argue that it would have been better to ask Starfleet for help after missing the deflection point, but deciding that the Obelisk might have the answers is a fine display of ingenuity. He's quite patronising to McCoy (a common theme in this episode), but he sells the understated guilt of failure fairly well. Having a 1 second rest is funny.

McCoy's explanation of Tahiti syndrome is pretty sinister. Apparently rejecting your culture in favour of one more well suited to yourself is mental illness, now. Being the emotional side of the argument means he loses, but he's happily more in character than Kirk. Admitting he was wrong and showing genuine concern for Spock's well being is a fine moment. The inclusion of moments like this and genuine emotion at times makes it hard to completely hate this episode.

Scotty gets to be a worrywort and whinge about his toys breaking for a bit. Everyone else is competence porn, except Uhura, who's allowed a reaction shot as a treat.

Miramanee frustrates me. She's, amazingly enough, not as gross a sexist caricature as many other female characters. Instead, she's just a little bit racist. She's played quite well by her actress and there are a few moments in her and Kirok's relationship that almost make me feel. She has one line that particularly stands out: when Kirk invents the lamp and she makes a joke about him just trying to keep her cooking all the time. For one shining moment, she actually existed as a character.

Salish got shafted. His dad kept a secret that was rightfully his from him, he's the only one who's suspicious of Kirk's god guise, gets rejected by his beloved and loses his job. I feel bad for this guy. The elder isn't a character and I'm convinced he straight up vanishes midway through the plot.

The Obelisk has a nice design and there are some pretty cool shots that frame it as an imposing structure. The interior is a bit generic, though. The asteroid is a fine design. The sets are generic native American sets.

Obviously, the ethics are hideous. It's a missed opportunity to not make the Preservers a part of native history. Instead, they're nebulous godlike beings who are performing the same task as the federation. Pretty ballsy way to elevate American ideology over other cultures. Despite history showing otherwise, the natives have no understanding of food preservation and the other inventions, regardless of accuracy, are portrayed as so simplistic that a literal amnesiac can rediscover them. Various cultures are namedropped so that they can be portrayed as interchangable. Basic healthcare is mistaken for godly powers. The one sane man is framed as an antagonist. And what passes for culture in this place is childish frolicking in the woods. A return to nature and an exploration of another way of life is portrayed as infantilisation. Its just another sickening example of Americans spouting supremacy.

Perhaps the worst thing about the white man's burden is how it pretends to be a moral perspective. By using the inherent nobility of helping others, they make this rubbish seem palatable. With a remotely critical eye, though, it just comes across as insidious.

There's some decent character work and production values to make it almost watchable, but, yeah, it's pretty bad.

And the Children Shall Lead to a hopefully better episode.

I have got news for you my little buckaroo And The Children Shall Lead is considered ONE OF THE WORST episodes not just The Original Series but of THE ENTIRE FRANCHISE!

Like I said forget the third season. It is utterly horrendous except for the episodes I already mentioned.

Episode 4: And the Children Shall Lead

Yep, this episode was dreadful. We have some more godlike children. I like them slightly more than Charlie, but that's not saying much.

Kirk skirts a fine line between being gentle and pragmatic, at first. Once it's clear that the children are a threat, though, he becomes stupidly passive. Sgoukd just stun them or manhandle them into the brig. I liked his self awareness over his sudden anxiety. His breakdown was decent, even if there was a blindingly obvious solution.

Spock's gotten savvy. His first thought is that something weird and alien is causing this nonsense. He's willing to entertain that a legend could offer some clue to explaining this mess, despite legends being unscientific. (Of course, the legend's existence is a particularly lazy narrative contrivance). Calling Kirk Jim to bring him back to sanity will always win some points with me. Interesting that he can reboot his own mind to get out from under the kids' control.

McCoy is right that expressing grief is healthy. Liked the respect for his opinion that Kirk showed. Fairly certain he vanishes for about half the episode and suddenly reappears at the end.

Scotty is cantankerous whenever someone fucks with his toys. Chapel is sweet to the kids, but has no concept of discipline. Sulu and Uhura are decent to them, too. Uhura's fear being old age seems a little bit sexist. Koenig feels like he's trying to out ham Shatner. Their argument was cacophonous. Could barely make out anything.

Gorgon (whose name we don't so much learn, as suddenly already knew about it) is a complete nothing of a creature, whose actor clearly didn't want to work for his pay. (Apparently, he's a lawyer. I wonder is Fred Freiberger and John Nathan-Turner would get along with each other). The children get some occasional creep factor, but they're not characters and they're dressed hideously.

The plot dances around a blindingly obvious mystery, doesn't even pretend to explain why the obvious solution is untenable, has no understanding of how children actually act and has some really awkward transitions (how long were the main trio hovering in Kirk's room watching Starnes' home movies before we caught up with them? A lot of shit went down and the internal tineline seems ridiculous). Two redshirts are coldly sent to their deaths and Kirk breaks his character to be completely apathetic about that fact. Presumably, the group left on the planet got abandoned. Speaking of redshirts, was Kirk babbling at a mannequin or something? The guy barely shows that he's alive at all, let alone experiencing an emotion.

There was a cool shot panning over the graves and Sulu's sword hallucination is wonderfully surreal. Resolving the plot with an outpouring of grief is a vaguely decent ending for this mess. I don't think the script is competent enough to serve any other themes.

Not quite as incoherent as The Alternative Factor, but just as badly made.

Is There in Truth No Beauty? is an obnoxiously long title.

Is There In Truth No Beauty for a title length cant hold a candle to For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky.

Is There In Truth No Beauty is another mediocre episode.

Episode 5: Is There in Truth No Beauty?

More ambassadorial work. The Medusans are a fine concept for an alien race. Friendly creatures that nevertheless cause madness on sight. We get to explore beyond the galaxy for a bit, too. (Not that there's much to be found)

Kirk is playing the role of bigot this time. He assumes that the Medusans are too ugly to be safely glimpsed, but as Jones points out, maybe it's the opposite. He's quite sexist to Jones, as well, and the rant in sickbay makes him straight up near unlikeable. Having a degree of self awareness over his prejudice and being apologetic over how he treats Jones (plus, the fact that Jones is such a strong character) makes it somewhat tolerable.

Spock is still a sweetheart in his own way. Showing genuine respect to Jones and wearing the special badge at dinner (even if it goes over poorly) to honour her are fantastic moments. Having his Vulcan heritage (and the visor) be the only thing allowing him to resist the madness effect is similarly beautiful. Kollos is a reasonably happy soul. I like that after the merger, one of the first things he does is flirt with Uhura. Its a great way of showing that there are two minds enhancing each other's qualities. His reflection on how limited humanity is is sublime.

McCoy impressed me. There's still some unwelcome flirting, but he shows more respect than Kirk and its big of him to concede the point that his career as a doctor makes just as much sense as Jones'. Figuring out her blindness and keeping it secret until its absolutely vital to reveal is a tremendous display of his professionalism and decency. He's fantastic in this.

Scotty is in full hero worship mode. Social awkwardness seems to be a theme with him, as he just can't take the hint that Marcick does not want to be his friend. He's so excited when he wanders into engineering and has a wonderful moment of dawning comprehension and deflation when it's revealed he's gone nuts.

Chekov gets a fun line or two. Uhura and Sulu are always nice to see. Marvick is a whiny incel who needs to understand that Scotty is right there waiting for him. His madness is fairly unnerving and his babbling has just the slightest iota of sense that you could almost believe Kollos and/or Jones are up to no good.

Miranda Jones is utterly brilliant. A highly driven, highly competent professional who effortlessly navigates blatantly sexist social situations and winds up coming on top. She practically ignores Kirk's flirtations and cleanly returns McCoy's comment with a barb of her own. She rejects any idea that Kollos could be ugly due to his differences and quite rightly resents pity over her condition. Even with the foreshadowing, you'd be forgiven for not figuring out her blindness until McCoy outright states it, since it clearly barely holds her back from anything. She shuts down Kirk's seduction scene with immaculate grace and even insults him by pretending to call him complicated. I am a little in two minds about her jealousy character beat. On the one hand, giving her a flaw to overcome that supports one of the episode's themes is obviously a good idea. On the other, she is a female character on an often very sexist show and her realisation comes about due to an uncomfortably brutal rant from the biggest misogynist in this piece. As mentioned, Kirk believing he may have gone too far almost saves it and it could be a satire on how the rest of the show has been, but it still feels like an excellent idea with a slight blemish on its execution.

The rapid green strobelight for Kollos is a bit obnoxious, but the surreal imagery accompanying it is pretty effective. We got some nice jump cuts during Marvick's descent into madness. The intergalactic void (or... space-time continuum?) Looks beautiful and noticeably weird compared to "normal" space. Got to see the bridge from some uncommon angles. A few weird first and third person shots that sometimes helped with the madness effect, but at other times just got in the way.

Episodes like this are what I think about when i hear about the original Star Trek being so progressive and forward thinking. An absolutely sterling defense of diversity and inclusivity. It is not despite their differences, but explicitly because of their disability and heritage that Spock and Jones are the best candidates for getting anything useful done. Jones even points out that her sensor web arguably gives her better vision than functional eyes ever could, to say nothing of the fact that she's clearly more intelligent than most of the cast. They state that her lack of sight prevents her from piloting a ship, but this feels more realistic and nuanced than self defeating. Kirk's bigotry is overplayed to point of being ooc, but it's consistently shown to be in the wrong and he comes across as a simplistic oaf, especially during the seduction scene. Kollos is a vaguely defined energy based entity that has to be carted like luggage to get around the place, yet his people can navigate far better than humans. Being a creature of pure thought makes communication difficult and dangerous, but his mind is greater and purer than the envy polluted skulls of humans. On paper, he's the most disabled of them all. In practice, he's the most capable. He even says as much when he merges with Spock, stating that from his perspective even the most healthy members of humanity are woefully limited in comparison. Ending with the meaning of Spock's badge being a call to celebrate diversity is probably the perfect way to close.

Like Metamorphosis, the odd character decision potentially ruins the message. Like Metamorphosis, it's absolutely beautiful despite it all.

Spectre of the Gun next.

Episode 6: Spectre of the Gun

Given how indebted the show is to the western mythology, its kind of weird they didn't do an episode like this earlier. Another set of godlike beings to facilitate the plot, as well.

It worked out in the end, but Kirk should not have intruded on Melkotian space, orders be damned. At least he shows some regret when Chekov seemingly dies. In fact, he's back to his former characterisation of the death of a crewman nearly crippling him. Gets some points for trying to persuade the "natives" and ultimately electing not to kill them. Seems to have picked up Sulu's passion for old weapons. Loved him defending Spock from McCoy and Scotty.

Spock is as sardonic as ever. Apparently, he's familiar with colloquialisms now and not too shy about using them. Gets to figure out the solution to the problem. Brushing off Kirk's attempt to defend him just goes to show how much of a loving tolerance he's developed for his crewmates. And, yeah, it is surprisingly easy to forget that he's half human.

Any time McCoy's medical experience gets to significantly factor into the plot is appreciated. Seemed more lucid of reality than the rest when they first entered Tombstone. Swaggering into the dentist's to grab various supplies is more audacious than I'd expect, even with the knowledge that the locals probably aren't real. And I caught his double take when Spock paid him an unexpected compliment.

Scotty is kind of a spare part in this one. There are more than a few scenes where he's accomplishing absolutely nothing. Still, gotta respect a man with an eagerness to expand his palette. Nothing wrong with exploring alcohol. He gets to be angry at Chekov's death, so, there's some character.

Ckekov wastes no time making the most of this situation. It is potentially a bit rapey, since everything treats the residents as real people, but since they're ultimately not, it's a bit excusable. And at least he's decent enough to keep marriage off the table. Seems to genuinely care for the lass. He was a little bit heartbroken after he woke up.

The various townsfolk are suitably creepy and uncanny. They respond to speech just enough to potentially be real, but it's clearly futile trying to have an actual conversation with them. The Melkotian exists, so, there's that.

The set design is fascinating. Permanent red skies and a town made up of blatant props, cardboard cutouts and unfinished materials in general create what is basically a surreal nightmarescape. Clocks hang in midair and the interiors of buildings only exist once you've past their threshold, with such a smooth scene transition that it almost loops back to being jarring, just like a dream, and even then, the walls are missing and the furniture is incomplete. People only seem to exist when there's a use for them in the historical narrative and they always arrive at inopportune times. The passage of time is ambiguous and anxiety inducing. There's a constant, haunting ambience and very little traditional music. One amazing shot, just before Chekov gets ... shot, has the two of the Earps almost float into view in the background. When Spock begins his meld with Scotty, hes offscreen, only to float into view in a similar manner, like his awareness of the fakery has given him some power over the medium. The same trick is repeated, albeit in reverse, with Kirk's meld. The shots lingers on Kirk for a bit, with him looking out the corner of his eye right at us, as though he's seeing the camera for the first time, and understands implicitly what it means for him. This world is my hell and i love being in it. The camera zooming in and out to represent teleportation is a fine effect. The Melkotians have a great design that keeps them almost as blurry and nebulous as the world they've made.

I do feel the plot meanders a bit, particularly with the making on the gas and figuring out both the historical context and inherent fakeness of this world. Despite this, I had no real problems with lingering in the old West.

The theme is obviously about holding the idealisation of the American frontier to account. Much like how exploring the old west was fraught with dangers and ethical quagmires, Kirk's mission involves violating an established society's home and almost results in one of the youngest and lower ranked members of his crew dying. There's no attempt to glamorise the past. Each of the principle players in the history lesson are monotonous ghouls who can only comprehend violence and its only by rejecting that past and insisting that humanity had moved on from it that we're able to get a chance at a happy ending.

Some plot problems, but it's a wonderfully haunting ride and would've made for a better halloween episode than Catspaw. Really liked it.

Tomorrow is the Day of the Dove.

Episode 7: Day of the Dove

An energy based shit stirrer. And another good use for the Klingons, who get to be actual characters again.

Kirk has to face his bigotry once again, though at least he's not alone this time. Even in the midst of his suspicion, he's treats the Klingons with a sense of decency, even beaming aboard the survivors from the wrecked ship. I liked how he was visibly noticing how out of character everyone was. He's clearly struggling with his hatred even when lucid, briefly losing it when he witnesses the attempted rape of Mara. Putting himself at Kang's mercy and even whispering at him to join in the truce order was pretty nice.

Spock was quite level headed for the most part, figuring out the obvious that swords would be a poor weapon to create if you had that kind of technology. Even when he does get angry, he's still relatively sedate, which only makes him more terrifying. Good of him to outright state how awful racism is.

McCoy devolves into a frothing lunatic, even supporting the military nature of Starfleet for once, which makes sense given his passionate nature and the fact that he genuinely believed were dead and dying. Curing himself of the hate plaque is interesting. Given that no one can actually die in this scenario, he probably ran out of any reasons to be angry and spontaneously got a bit lucid because of it. Offering a guilty apology is a nice touch.

Uhura got really stressed out with her panel not working right. She gets very little actual character, so, it was nice to see. Scotty gets a bit flustered, but he has great taste in weapons. Sulu seems to know Chekov better than anyone. I just wish we had more than three scenes showing their relationship.

Chekov falls into apoplectic rage almost immediately. The anger is a little impotent and wimpy, though. The attempted rape scene is shocking and, even if I think its distasteful and completely out of place, I kind of respect it for demonstrating that sexual violence isn't from some maladapted, horrific but vaguely sincere, sense of love and attraction, but instead from a far more accurate place of hatred, anger, contempt and willful cruelty. I honestly expected his dead brother to be played straight. Pleasent surprise, there.

Mara gets a lot of points for being a high ranking female character who is treated with the utmost respect. I did think the constant shots on her reactions to Kirk and Spock chasing the creature were going to lead to her believing them a bit earlier, so, I was slightly disappointed, but we got there in the end.

Kang is a fine character. Has a note of class and respectability about him. A sense of nobility and honour, too. Had some of the better lines. For the first few scenes, he arguably comes across as most in the right, especially when he's unjustifiably accused of sabotage. The hatred's effect on being a sort of near silent, tranquil fury is fantastic. Some good shots of him pondering the creature before electing to disengage. His decision coming from a place of asserting his freewill, rather than suddenly being inherently peaceful is a wonderful ending to his character arc.

I noticed it in a few episodes already, but it deserves mention here: this ship is fucking barren compared to the previous two seasons. I'm aware its due to budget cuts and that said cuts required more bottle episodes than usual, so, I'm not going to fault it too hard, but it is especially unfortunate here. The effect for the actual creature is dreadfully shit. The Klingons can't seem to settle on a consistent design and this lot can be charitably described as a disaster at the tanning beds. Some good sinister closeups on Chekov's face when he gets a bit rapey. Felt like the plot meandered on occasion and the technobabble dumps and speculation occasionally overstayed their welcome.

The anti racism, pro peace angle is obvious and not even particularly new in this show, so, I'm not going to harp on it much. What is interesting is Kirk's speech at the end. The Klingons are obviously a representation of the Soviet Union (and/or communist China), so, suggesting that Kirk and Kang are fighting a pointless conflict under the manipulations of a laughing, shit stirring parasite is clearly a pointed barb at the governments and ideologies of the cold war, which were a bit too good at painting the other faction as a monstrous other that must be killed. Even the human colony and klingon distress beacon as blatant false flag attacks. Despite all the rhetoric, it was a complete brutal farce and the characters laugh at it, as appropriate. Having Kang resolve the conflict by asserting his own will, without making complete peace, is a great way of demonstrating how realpolitik often only serves to ruin real lives, but which avoids the common pitfall of unquestionably conceding the argument to America.

Slightly off pace, but a brilliant episode nonetheless.

For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky is not something I want to type out often.

Episode 8: For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky

Two worlds on a collision course, one of which is actually a Dyson sphere spaceship controlled by a godlike computer. Pretty cool premise. Gets to be a rare McCoy focused episode, too.

Kirk shows a lot of concern over McCoy's condition, trying to keep him out of the action and begrudgingly going along with his decision to stay on Yonada, after some argument. Its clear he'd miss him. Disregarding Starfleet orders and continuing to be involved in the plot is pretty nice. Had to violate the prime directive again, but there's a better excuse than we've had for a while.

Spock gets to show some restrained concern over McCoy's condition, as well. Firmly gripping McCoy's arm to stop him getting up too quick is beautiful and the Vulcan equivalent of blubbing like a babe. Sweet of him to immediately think to check the knowledge banks for a cure. He seems to pick up the social cues of various peoples a bit easier. Compare the light bow he gives when checking for guards to how lost he was with the space gangsters.

McCoy's illness fools precisely no one in the audience, but it's not meant to. Instead, it gives a decent excuse to explore McCoy's character. We discover he's a deeply lonely man who desires companionship. If anyone else had this condition, beating around the bush might be annoying. Instead, it demonstrates his fear and disbelief. He's decent enough to reveal his condition to Natira before she gets too attached and seems genuinely moved by her acceptence of him. He never cared much for Starfleet's military structure and having little left to lose, rejects it the moment he discovers something better. Being willing to convert to her way of life, despite finding it somewhat distasteful, is fantastic. And, of course, this highly passionate man doesn't take too long to rediscover his zest for life.

The rest of the main cast operate as normal, although Chapel gets some brilliant moments during her argument with McCoy.

Natira is a little hit and miss. She falls into many of the sexist pitfalls that plague this show and she's a bit of an ignorant native stereotype, due to not always using pronouns. However, her willingness to stand by McCoy despite his illness, her righteous fury when she discovers Kirk and Spock snooping and hearing and accepting the truth (some might argue she believes a bit too quickly, but I think there's actually a good reason for this) paint her as a pretty decent character.

The design of the Oracle's shrine is quite good, but the outfits worn by most of the Yonadans are vomit.

There's a grain of gnostic thought in this episode. Yonada itself is the most obvious example: an artificial, hollow world, blatantly fake, which boudaries clear enough for those willing to explore them, but believed to be real by nearly all of the inhabitants. As if to deliberately drive home the point, even after the truth had been revealed, Natira refers to it as her universe. The Oracle is the demiurge: a false god that claims to value truth, but actually hides the world's true nature from it's people and demands unquestioning obedience from them, down to their very thoughts. It's telling that he doesn't get some dramatic scene where a paradox wears away at his sanity. Instead, he's almost completely ignored once the truth is revealed and all that his power can accomplish is mild, temporary discomfort. Once the secret knowledge is found and gnosis attained, the greatest power is rendered completely impotent.

The old man wanders in from nowhere, with no clear means and shares his discoveries, highlighting how spontaneously the first hints can occasionally be found. Natira believes perhaps a bit too quickly, but even that is because deep down she already knew. The secret knowledge is always inside us and the path is more one of rediscovery and awareness. Her decision to stay potentially reflects true gnosis, where she's aware of how false the world is, but elects to stay out of a desire to help those still too ignorant to leave freely. Even McCoy, faced with the end of his life, rediscovers his true nature and real reason for serving on the ship: love for others and a desire to explore. To test the boundaries of his world and see how much more he can be. The missile attack and how effortlessly it was foiled could reflect the demiurge's incessant, but pitiful, moves against the pleroma. Converting McCoy and placing the mark of obedience on him could be stealing the pleroma's light and perverting it.

The only problem is that it sort of frames Kirk, his crew and the federation in general, as the aeons of this story, which is where humanistic thought goes from delightful in my mind, to self congratulatory arrogant. Especially since the whole thing is space america and in support of intervention. Much as I can't help but see this thematic strand, I'm not convinced it fully works, but I still love it more than not.

On a purely production based viewpoint, it's probably average at best. But the themes makes it so much more than the sum of its parts and, in the end, I'm glad I watched it.

The Tholian Web is another concept I'm familiar with from Shattered Universe. Kind of excited.