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Episode 9: The Tholian Web

Another alternate universe. Well, sort of. The Tholians didn't disappoint, though I was surprised that they weren't the main threat of the episode.

Getting rid of Kirk for a bit is a great way to let the other characters shine. Don't get me wrong, I like him, but this is clearly his show, rather than the relatively equal ensemble that I remember ds9 and voyager being. His last orders are sound advice that speak to the best qualities of both his best friends.

Spock finds himself in an interesting position and not just because he's suddenly captain. For obvious reasons, he's usually the logical pragmatic side of any debate, yet here he elects to stay in a dangerous space because of his loyalty and friendship to Kirk. He dresses it up in legal obligations, but I doubt Starfleet would've given him much grief if he just fucked off, given the situation. Once they've heard the last orders, his every line is just dripping with hurt and vulnerability. Welcoming back the crewmembers is a nice touch.

McCoy finds himself being unusually pragmatic, although given his focus on the wellbeing of the crew, it comes from a logical place. It's interesting that very few explicit insults are hurled and yet the animosity between Spock and McCoy is at its absolute peak. Gets to give a few guilty apologies and actually stops himself from ranting at one point. Him and Spock defending each other was pretty sweet.

Scotty and Chapel are their usual selves, although i especially liked Scotty leading the moment of silence. Its not in Spock's wheelhouse, so, that quite perceptive of him. Uhura and Sulu showed some impressive initiative at times, though I didn't like the doubting of Uhura's story. Nice to see her during off hours, though. Chekov gets to froth at the mouth a bit. (Is he meant to be weak willed? It seems that he's always the first to fall victim to mental tomfoolery).

Production wise, everything is fantastic. The defiant's sickly green glow paints it as a fantastic ghost ship. Its blatantly the same Enterprise sets, but they do a lot by simply adjusting the lighting and playing with shadows. It's downright beautiful at points. The camera work is great. One standout couple of shots was when Chekov was surveying engineering and it almost seamlessly (seamless by 60s standards, anyway) pans to McCoy doing the same in sickbay. The Tholians have a wonderful design, looking like high contrast colours that blend into their own background. Add this to their harsh, loud and somewhat shrill voices and we have an alien that borders on the eldritch. The actual web is a completely mad idea that only 60s Sci fi can really get away with. The pace is constantly engaging, almost made up of mini episodes structured into one.

I didn't notice any real themes (unless we're considering Kirk's absense) but not every episode needs them.

Just a fantastically made adventure.

Plato's Stepchildren tomorrow.

Oh God forget Plato's Stepchildren. Please.

The only "noteworthy scene" about that utter crap of an episode is Kirk and Uhura's kiss which is often said to be the first interracial kiss on TV but it isn't as there were others before it even on Star Trek.

Episode 10: Plato's Stepchildren

A world modelled on the ideal society of Plato's writings has potential for a story. Pity they do nothing with it.

The main characters are one of the few good things about this. Kirk is at his best again, despite the insanity he is forced to perform, being at once completely unimpressed by the godlike beings and yet incredibly sweet to everyone else. He treats Alexander with the utmost respect, though occasionally it seems like the script is working against him, like his comment to Scotty at the end. Comforting Spock is wonderful and manages to have the air of a parent caring for a child, but without being completely patronising or infantilising. And he finally does the right thing and spirits a good person away from a dreadful society. Talking about how his society is free from bigotry is pretty damn beautiful.

Spock seems to be the first to want to leave this hell hole, which is a nice bit of continuity from his earlier mentions of finding unpurposeful power distasteful. Nimoy really sells his suddenly changing emotions and his brooding afterwards has him in a remarkably vulnerable state, where he almost seems completely out of it. A fairly real tale on what being violated in such a way is like.

McCoy manages to hold firm to his principles, despite watching the unrelenting torture. It's expected, but still nice, of him to offer to sacrifice his freedom for the others. I love how abhorrent he finds the playing with Spock's emotions to be and he joins in on trying to comfort him afterwards.

The portrayal of Uhura and Chapel really annoys me. They get given some token characterisation (Chapel being completely disgusted at the forced kiss is actually pretty amazing. Uhura being timid and inexplicably crushing on Kirk isn't), but they're mostly here to just be tortured. The much lauded kiss, aside from, as pointed out by Croft, being a bit of myth, wouldn't deserve any accolades anyway, since its blatantly rape. They might has well have stuffed these two into the fridge. It'd probably be more honest. Scotty gets to show up, which is more than Sulu and Chekov get.

Parmen is mildly interesting. He's both a crap showcase and a crap criticism of Plato's ideals, but he does speak with a detached flippancy that belies just how drunk on his own power he is. He has a very warped and narcissistic view of other people's emotions, seeming to genuinely believe that McCoy would eventually tolerate their society after his friends' torture. His grand speechs at the end, seemingly calm, but betraying just enough panic, are pretty good. Philana falls into the trap of conflating female sexuality with evil, so, she seems to not merely enjoy, but actually get off on the torture. Her impatience towards the end really says it all. So, I once again find myself liking her for the exact reasons the script doesn't want me to.

Alexander is a potential triumph of a character wasted by a poor plot resolution. Despite being the victim of especially cruel bigotry, he proves himself very early on to be more intelligent, more aware, more compassionate and of having a much richer inner life than any of his supposed superiors. The episode goes to great lengths to show his reactions to various happenings and he's always allowed to offer input and personality during conversations. There's a character arc involving discovering self love and the acting is immaculate. His decision to not accept the power is a fantastic moral stance undercut by Kirk completely stealing the plot's resolution from him. The final "battle" portrays him as a joke, effortlessly banded about by two godlike beings and, thereby, undoing all the work they did to make him an actual character.

The camera work seemed especially workmanlike at best. The sets are somewhat interesting. True, they are bog standard ancient Greek in design, but similar to Who Mourns for Adonais? There is a smallness and incompleteness to them, which enhances the ultimate impotency of the Platonions and how much of a hell that world must have been. Spock's song is pretty miserable and, once you get past the admittedly somewhat compelling sadism of them, the torture scenes feel like utter padding. The antics are, at face value ridiculous, but they come across as more horrifying than anything.

Despite the name, there is no real attempt to actually engage with Plato's philosophy, not even as a criticism. Frankly, though, that's the most minor of the many problems this has. The sheer harrowing sadism of the torture scenes goes a fair bit further than I expected and it is somewhat compelling, if only for shock value, but there's no point to it, apart from the most banal of power corrupts. They can't even get that right, though. Everything points to Alexander being the crux of the episode and there was an obvious resolution of him rediscovering the truth of Plato's ideals, or at least some other philosophy, and it allowing him to bypass the villain's powers. Even if they gave him godlike power, he could have used it to destroy the substance that makes this possible. Instead, we get a boring case of technobabble (that, like most purely technobabble resolutions, makes very little sense if you think about it) and Kirk becomes god for a day. A stronger god who threatens the planet with the full might of the Federation is they don't behave. So, an episode that was trying to be antibullying and antipower, instead suggests that it's acceptable to be a bully, so, long as you are space america.

If we are being very generous, we could frame the kironide as representing loving the thing rather than the form, a common pitfall in Plato's view of faux philosophers. Kirk could then be a real philosopher king who's allowed to have power because of his unparalleled wisdom. Except that its still something that should have been given to Alexander and its still too self indulgent for my tastes. The contempt for women has never been clearer and it commits the same sin as Space Seed: allowing the villain to get away with it all and portraying it as being the bigger man. At least that episode was well made and had a movie sequel which I'm confident will hold Kirk's decision to account. I usually have little sympathy for the vengeful, but Alexander should have slit all 38 of those monsters' throats. At least one of them gets to be the new victim.

Good character work and some surprisingly compelling scenes don't stop this from being a misbegotten waste.

We'll have Wink of an Eye after 40 winks of mine.

Episode 11: Wink of an Eye

Accelerated time is interesting and having a race of beings who live in it is pretty cool.

Today's episode is the Kirk show and he doesn't disappoint. Genuinely wondering if he's hallucinating is a nice moment of self awareness. He seems quite aggressive in this one, angrily refusing to consider negotiation and ranting at Deela when she first appears. Little bit slow on the uptake at times, but he starts to sing when he begins flirting with Deela. Just the right amount of genuine attraction and ruthlessness. Deliberately trolling her after sabotaging the transporter is delightful. Decent enough to offer help after everything, too. I caught that little smile when he noticed that Spock had joined him in accelerated time.

Spock's initial exposition on the Scalos seemed unusually stilted. He gets to be the prime problem solved in this episode. I don't know how much subjective time he spent accelerated, but I imagine he greatly enjoyed working without anyone hassling him. Even got to crack a joke at the end.

McCoy isn't in this one all that much, but it is sweet of him to reassure Kirk that he's sane. Gets to find the tape and figure out what it's about and develop a cure for the acceleration.

Scotty gets to give the captain's log for a change. It's hilarious seeing him permanently on his way to the transporter room. Uhura gets to move away from her panel and contribute more than usual. Sulu and Chapel show up. Chekov seems to be getting less and less to do.

Rael is a creepy weirdo. He's perfectly aware that seducing other races is the only way to keep their people alive, yet he's inexplicably jealous of Kirk. Halting repairs just so he try to kill him is a daft move. Having known Deela since she was a child just makes him nastier. Compton is useless and won't be missed.

Deela is fantastic. Forcefully planting kisses makes her a bit more ethically questionable than was probably intended nowadays, but she carries out her seduction with equal parts pragmatism and genuine enjoyment. Female Kirk, basically. She's clearly having fun with their mutual flirting and the playfulness she shows, especially in the transporter conversation, just makes it clear that she treats this all as a game. Helping speed Kirk along with his tape recording is funny as fuck and seems like a joke at Shatner's expense, given his frequent pauses. Her costume is a wonderful disaster.

What little we see of Scalos is quite nice, especially the city background, even if it is recycled. I don't know if that is one of the updated effects, but design wise, it could do decently in a more modern show. The slow mo phaser fire was pretty cool. Dutch angles are a somewhat overused signifier of weirdness, but it worked fairly well here. When Kirk first starts speeding up, we keep cutting between his face shots, which keep a straight angle, and the shots of the bridge, which are angled. It isn't until he's fully transitioned that shots including him get tilted. Probably the best camera work comes when Spock transitions. It tilts at the appropriate time, lingers on Spock whilst he observes everything, then, when he leaves, the camera pans to McCoy and Chapel, whilst returning to the straight position, just in time for us to return to their timestream, all in a single shot. It's sublime.

The pacing has some issues. There's a completely useless scene where they consult the computer for advice, which boils down to repeating what everyone, audience included, already knows. Likewise, Spock spends far too much time reviewing and fast forwarding the recording. Given the mysterious music playing, it could be a good scene, were it not for the fact that the audience has already known for a while what the connection is and Spock himself said he already figured it out. It should have been played earlier and maybe have had Spock disappear similarly to Compton afterwards. Give just enough hints to your audience, rather than repeating yourself. Some of the ambience in the accelerated world was quite chilling. Like Spectre of the Gun, though not to the same extent, there's a sense that it's an incomplete aberrant world.

A pretty alright episode. At worst, it's merely mediocre.

The Empath sounds promising.

Episode 12: The Empath

The Vians have a lot of similarities to the Talosians. Empaths are a fine concept to play with. Actually quite liked this one.

Fittingly, everyone gets a chance to be an absolute sweetheart in this episode and Kirk is no different. He's incredibly compassionate and gentle towards Gem, whilst still being pragmatic enough to use her as a healing tool. Gives some good outrage to the Vians, especially when they warp everyone away after saying they'd let them go. Some proper panic, there.

Spock is a little bit of an exposition fountain again, but he's getting increasingly more perceptive of human emotions and was clearly concerned for McCoy. Calling Kirk Jim is such a simple trick, but it almost always works to show his vulnerability. I've noticed that the bickering between him and McCoy has lost a lot of the animosity lately (with The Tholian Web being an obvious exception).

McCoy really shines here. Aside from demonstrating his compassion and getting in some good medical work, he picks up on what Gem is pretty quick. He also displays a devious streak, with the sedating of Kirk and Spock. Attempting to push Gem away from healing him is wonderful. Only black mark is believing he has the right to name her without asking her approval (she can still communicate in some fashion).

Scotty seems to be mildly infatuated with Gem just by hearing about her. Sulu gets on with job. No idea what Uhura and Chekov are up to.

Gem is mostly great. Her actress does a lot with just facial expressions to convey her emotions. We see her figure things out, demonstrate fear and discomfort and even silently cry over McCoy. She seemed especially attached to him, almost to the point of loving him. The Vians are alright aliens. Its nice that the lead scientist genuinely considers and ultimately decides that he's in the wrong.

The teleportation effect is a bit naff. The design of the lab is interesting. It's another example in the trend of deliberately half formed worlds. It works here because, with the Vians' illusory powers, its arguable that only the barest minimum of that space is even real. At any rate, it looks a bit like a stage play, which isn't necessarily a criticism. The Vians are a pretty good design. The camera does a lot with closeups on Gem's face to give insight to her thoughts. Combined with the music and impeccable acting, we have some moments that are just as beautiful as Metamorphosis. Some slight meanderings with the plot, but to be honest, they need to hang on Gem's character a lot and they can't reveal the Vians' plan too early.

Its nice to see McCoy actually win in a logic versus emotions debate. Deciding that the value of a society depends on empathy and connections with others is a beautiful enough message in its own right, but they manage to go one step further than that. The logical conclusion of absolute empathy is that of self sacrifice and the Vians, ultimately being rational scientists even if they do value some feelings, recognise that and use it as a means to determine if a society (well, a species, actually) is worth surviving. Without being fully aware of it, though they are visibly guilty when Kirk and Spock persuade them, they've turned interpersonal communication into yet another version of the trolly problem, where the "correct" answer is that someone should suffer and die for the greater good.

Kirk spells it out that for all that they claim to value empathy, they have very little of it to show. Spock points out that Gem has already passed their test in every way that matters and that anything further is pointless. But McCoy has the greatest rebuttal and he leaves it mostly unspoken. He pushes Gem away from healing him because he's grown to care for her and because her own life had value because it is her life. It's telling that after the Vians heal them and take Gem away, no real mention is made of her species. We can infer that they were saved, but it's actually kind of irrelevant, since what really matters is that she was saved. And that actually pretty fucking beautiful.

A true gem of an episode.

Elaan of Troyius next.

Don't skip TAS, when you're done here.

Questionmarktarius posted...

Don't skip TAS, when you're done here.

He has already watched one in More Tribble More Troubles after I politely told him to after he watched The Trouble With Tribbles.

Correct TAS is very important and brilliant.

I was originally going to only watch the live action stuff, but since the Tribbles episode was brilliant, and there's clearly demand for it, I will be watching The Animated Series.

Larry Niven wrote a TAS episode for some reason.

Episode 13: Elaan of Troyius

They're cribbing from Shakespeare again, but who can blame them? "Educating" a foreign princess is quite a problematic idea. Fortunately, they do somewhat criticise it. Plus, they take on a few more issues.

Kirk has no respect for bureaucracy. He can barely keep his patience with the Elasians' arrogance. It's great seeing him snark at Elaan and basically refuse to take her seriously. Spends most of the first half frantically running from one disaster to the next, like a beleaguered assistant. The script forces him to fall into chauvinistic, sexist territory on occasion, but after being infected by the tears, Shatner does a brilliant job at portraying his distractedness and internal warring. When it's all finished, his last lines to Elann have a dark mood to them and there's a very real sense of feeling violated, ashamed and disgusted.

Spock has a show of barely restrained anger when he asks Kirk is Elaan should be on the bridge. He's visibly annoyed by the need for Kirk to keep running about the ship and swapping out who sits in the chair. Figured out that Kirk's love for his ship broke him from under Elaan's spell.

McCoy is clearly still lonely, judging by how delighted he is at the prospect of Elasian women. Spends the latter half of the episode out of the way, looking for a cure. Going from elated to deflated at the end was pretty funny.

Scotty barely restrains his temper this episode and I don't blame him. When you're a space faring civilisation, engineering becomes an even more vital occupation. Becomes the usual worrywort over whether his solution will work. Sulu is still primarily in ultra competence mode, although I loved his growing smile when he realised Kirk's plan. Uhura has a few moments. Don't want to imagine how badly trashed her room is. Chapel is pretty good, too, asking the intelligent questions. Chekov's back, but he's kinda just there.

Petri is overly diplomatic to the point of snivelling. Kirk is right. He's not much better than Elaan deep down. I respect him for giving up on the job after being stabbed. It ain't worth his life.

Season 3 has some pretty outstanding female characters, especially compared to the first two, and Elaan is no different. Her arrogance actually made her initially unlikeable, but as soon as Kirk started responding in kind, I found I started to enjoy her. She's completely right, of course. The idea that she should give up her free will for duty is insane. Her breakdown over not understanding why people hate her is surprisingly believable and I like that confidant look she gives when Kirk touches her tears. Having some curiosity over spanking is a surprising, but welcome way to take some control over an unfortunately sexist episode. She seems much more sedate once she's convinced that Kirk belongs to her, even seeming to show some respect to the other crewmembers and being willing to help out. Her last lines with Kirk are a very miserable way to end their story.

Elaan's many outfits are all gorgeous and it's kind of amazing that she has a new one in almost every scene. Petri is a pretty fantastic design, too, even if he does seem to be mostly recycled. The guards are a bit horrendous, though. I swear we get a new view of the engineering department here. It's interesting that the first half of this episode is mostly a fun comedy and then the second half falls into a more tense action show. Speaking of the comedy, the pace is fantastic. We follow Kirk even through scene transitions and the camera goes back and forth in much the same way as Kirk himself, letting the audience feel just as much of a galactic yo-yo as he is. The dark lighting on Shatner's face at the end is a commonly used trick, but it's still able to really accentuate how painful this experience is for him. When Spock and McCoy catch Kirk and Elaan having at it, the shot remains locked in place, with Kirk's friends constantly standing in the background and talking to him. Given how the camera is clearly using Kirk's perspective throughout, its clear that his friends are noticed, but ultimately background details to him. Even when he, after much agonising, pulls himself away, she's still in the foreground because his thoughts are still on her. He slowly and practically stumbling makes his way to the door and it feels like forever, allowing us to bask in the awkwardness of the situation, as he gets smaller and smaller, both in shot and in his own mind. Even with Shatner's back to us, the directing makes us feel every one of Kirk's emotions.

The point of this is very similar to The Enterprise Incident, where thankless duty and responsibility gets in the way of people living their life. Elaan, unpleasant though she may be at first, was quite clearly living her best life on Elas, but now has be indoctrinated (and the episode straight up uses that word) into a culture she has no patience for because two governments can't grow the fuck up and realise that mutual destruction is probably a bad idea. While the details are quite a bit more rapey here, Kirk is still, once again, giving up a relationship so that he can serve Starfleet some more, even though they constantly give him vague and often miserable assignments.

It's telling that we have two planets with the ability to mutually destroy each other trying for a political marriage. Given that the cold war boiled down to two nations, both with the capacity to end the world several times over, being "subtly" belligerent with each other, we frankly could have done worse than going backwards and starting to pair off world leaders in loveless marriages again. If the situation and the causes and the people involved are all completely insane, maybe the only solution is equally MAD. They even throw in the Klingons, the usual cold war analogue, just so no one misses the trick.

Some especially nasty sexism, but why dwell, when everything else is brilliant?

We'll see Whom Gods Destroy tomorrow.

Episode 14: Whom Gods Destroy

This was a lot of fun. Putting an asylum on a planet of pure poison is more mental than anything the inmates could hope to come up with. A shape-shifting lunatic is a fine idea, but I don't think they fully tap its potential.

Kirk does his best to be decent and compassionate to the inmates, even trying to get Garth to remember who he used to be. His sarcasm game is improving and he (or Shatner, himself) spends much of the episode clearly bored by the various antics. The chess password is a good idea when going somewhere dangerous. Little interest in Marta, but still tolerates some action. During the Kirk on Kirk fight all parties fail to act with the slightest bit of sense. Asking the questions on everyone's mind to Spock at the end. Shatner's turn as Garth is hysterical.

Spock also has some good, though much more understated and politely disguised, snark going. Like Shatner, Nimoy seems to be zoning out at certain points and looking for an exit at others. Pretending to be unconscious is an intelligent move. Pity he ruins it by dripping his brain out his ear in time for the Kirk on Kirk fight. Maybe he just prolongs it out of, not unjustified, given the episode's quality, sadism. Because the identity is meant to be a minor twist, his turn as Garth is barely different from Spock.

McCoy and Scotty share the Enterprise's one brain cell today. Actually, McCoy comes across as pretty rational here. Scotty tries to be useful but the plot won't let him. Must have gotten irritated by endlessly asking for the password. Sulu and Uhura show up.

Cory might as well not even exist. Marta is stereotype in many different ways, but she's just so entertaining that it's hard not to like her. Some Harley Quinn energy here. Killing her lovers to enforce loyalty is an almost interesting idea.

Garth steals the show. His madness is also a cringey stereotype, but the actor is working his arse off. He's camp, flamboyant and immature. His tantrum, first as Kirk, then as himself is marvellous to watch, especially when he uses his coat as a sort of security blanket and just stands there for a bit on the verge of tears, as though his mummy just told him no. His outbursts at, well, everyone, but especially Marta, during the dinner scene are magical, though what he needs food for when he's obviously got a taste for scenery is beyond me. His screams at Spock to be taken away are also a highlight. There's a bizarreness to every one of his lines and mannerisms. He's an absolute riot.

We have some glaring production problems here. There are a number of bad editing mistakes. Marta's dagger seems to teleport between shots and we blatantly have two different quality cameras rolling. Spock apparently gets shot during the opening credits and has already been dragged halfway down the corridor before we rejoin him. Marta's "entertainment" isn't and drags on for far too long. Plot points are barely used. The shape-shifting's only purpose is to have a very bad fight scene. Garth's doomsday device is forgotten about (although the cavalier way its treated and the fumbling attempts to catch it are just as hilarious as anything else). Cory vanishes from the plot for a fair bit. McCoy and Scotty float some ideas about, but accomplish nothing. The failed phaser idea is just padding.

Garth is a delight, but only because everything about him is completely ridiculous. The whole thing is kept watchable by his insane overacting. I had a grin on my face from the moment he had his first breakdown. I couldn't stop laughing at the coronation. Each time the applause broke out I found it difficult to breathe.

The portrayal of the mentally unwell is obviously nasty, but discussing it is more respect than this mess deserves. I will say that turning Garth into a near vegetable at the end, makes his earlier antics seem quite justified.

Just as bad as Spock's Brain. Just as fun.

Let That Be Your Last Battlefield tomorrow.

splodeymissile posted...

His tantrum, first as Kirk, then as himself is marvellous to watch

Garth says: "fuck that chair"

Here is a treat for you enjoy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCARADb9asE

CassandraCroft posted...

Here is a treat for you enjoy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCARADb9asE

Well, that's a Firmly entrenched ear worm you've given me. Thanks(?).

I thought you would enjoy that. It is good isn't it?

Aye, it's good fun.

Episode 15: Let That Be Your Last Battlefield

We're back to morality plays. Nothing wrong with doing an anti-racism story, but they missed the mark a bit here.

Kirk seemed a bit too aggressive towards Lokai, at first. Didn't bother to try to hear him out. As decent and respectful towards Bele as circumstances allow, even offering to let him and Lokai live in the federation. Got to see some of his ruthlessness with the self destruct sequence. Man didn't even blink. Shut down Scotty's brief foray into bigotry. Hiding behind bureaucracy seems like a uncommon move for him.

Spock had a lot of empathy for Bele, using Vulcan history to try to get him to give up on this nonsense. Nice to see logic be used to highlight the absurdity of racism. Interestingly, he started the bickering with McCoy this time. I liked him eavesdropping on Lokai's speech. Some of that seemed to resonate with him. Seemed almost resigned during the self destruct sequence.

McCoy is surprisingly adept at working on unfamiliar species. I'm not sure about his leap to the mutation theory. They've seen enough weird and wonderful species that they should be beyond presumptions.

The side crew all get some amazing moments during the self destruct sequence. Scotty speaks his code in an emotionless monotone, as though he can't fully process it. Sule betrayed a little nervousness, but mostly kept himself reserved. Uhura seemed to be saddened, almost crying. And Chekov was barely holding his panic and fear in check. Don't remember Chapel getting up to much.

Lokai keeps himself quite evasive. He's quick to anger whenever Bele is around. Spends a lot of time arguing and demanding and generally coming across as a little bit weak and impotent. It's interesting that the first thing he does when given free run of the ship is give revolutionary speeches to whoever will listen. There's an implication that for all his ideals, he's ultimately quite cowardly and prone to sacrificing others in his name.

Bele presents himself as more respectable, but it doesn't take too much for him become basically a space nazi. Has some genuine disbelief that Kirk and Spock don't agree with him. Quite bigoted towards them, actually, and suffers from a case of white man's burden. Played to perfection. His actor's inflections and rhythm give a lot of his lines a poetic quality that makes him incredible to watch, despite his unlikeability.

I actually kind of like the black and white makeup for the Cherons. The invisible spaceship is blatantly a cost saving measure, but the plot does a decent job of making it work. The Arianus mission and the first high jacking are clearly padding, but the self destruct scene has a lot of tension. Some interesting directing choices. The constant zooming in and out of the red alert light is obnoxious. Apparently, its a reference to 60s Batman. A strange choice even taking into account the shared actor. Not all of the closeups during the self destruct scene quite worked. I understand the logic: a literal way of seeing who will blink first, but I don't like it. Seeing Lokai's speech through a slightly ajar door makes us just as much an eavesdropper as Spock. Hiding Lokai behind the wall makes him seem duplicitous, even though they go no where with it. I could do without the stock footage of burning buildings, though I like the rest of the final sequence.

The episode is trying to be an especially unsubtle anti racism story. The lack of subtlety isn't really the main problem here. It's that the episode isn't conveying the message it thinks it's conveying. There's an attempt to make the war on Cheron seem like it came about due to mutual irrational hatred. Except that, while it may be true of the majority of both races and of Bele, Lokai doesn't seem to have that. I mean, he obviously hates Bele, but his prime motivation is to liberate his people against their oppressors and see justice done for the ruination of his culture, whereas Bele wants to keep an apparently inferior race in ghettos and the like. One of these guys is a card carrying racist who commandeers the ship twice against Kirk's will. The other is merely desperate and begging for help and asylum. One of these guys seems like a far greater villain than the other. This wouldn't be a problem, except that the script wants us to feel that the two are just as bad as each other. Some of the characters outright say that. The only arguments Bele can pretend to have are a particularly smug flavour of eugenics and that one should follow official procedure, regardless of how slow and obfuscated any progress will be. Pretty much the only point of "official" channels is to delay minorities' attempts at equality as much as possible, while giving the thinnest veneer of hope to maintain peace and quiet. I have no objection whatsoever to protests, riots, noise, obstruction and havoc in general whenever someone's rights are de facto or de jure being threatened. Whatever bad things Lokai has done, he has been living in a shit society for millenia. Comes across as quite justified in light of that. If a society cannot survive without someone losing out, then it simply does not deserve to survive.

Even when they discover that Cheron is a dead world, Lokai is only trying to get back or even just escape, whereas Bele is still insistent on hunting him down. What if Cheron were still a living world? Surely, we would be expected to side with Lokai's ideas of reform, even if lip service is payed to criticism that perhaps he's a bit too violent in his methods. I honestly think that this piece comes from a noble place, its just very confused. There's even the possibility of tieing in the cold war through two arbitrarily opposed sides destroying a planet, which is equally noble and equally muddled.

A well meaning, somewhat well made morality play with a moral that makes very little sense and arguably isnt very moral at all.

We'll see The Mark of Gideon tomorrow.

Episode 16: The Mark of Gideon

This was quite a stupid episode, but there were a fair few things I liked about it. Transporting onto an empty Enterprise is a fantastic hook and a completely overpopulated planet isn't a bad idea at all. They touch on some interesting themes, but completely fail to capitalise on them.

Kirk gets to demonstrate loneliness and misery in a way not seen since This Side of Paradise. Gets a pointless internal monologue at one point. He really should have figured out that it was a fake enterprise much earlier. Needlessly accusatory towards Odona. The first time makes sense and she does betray knowing more than she claims later on, but Kirk's a broken record who's inexplicably right. His arguments against Hodin are pretty great and he's still consistent with trying to peacefully solve his enemies' problems. Given that she's still carrying the infection, sending Odona back to Gideon is the wrong choice.

Spock and Kirk share a sweet moment with Spock looking forward to Kirk's description of the planet. He's picking up some of Kirk's maverick tendencies. Makes for a competent diplomat (by the standards of the script, anyway), even though he has no patience for them. Nimoy manages to convey a lot of barely choked back contempt. His intelligence is just as inconsistent as Kirk's.

McCoy just seems to wander onto the bridge for the sake of making an appearance. He's notable only because there's almost no bickering at all between him and Spock for once.

The side crew get to heckle and insult Hodin in full earshot of him (very well trained, this lot), but accomplish little else. Scotty gets to mutter and grumble for a bit, which was nice. Doohan manages to do quite a lot with very little.

Hodin is a delightfully miserable little shit, at least at first. Completely unhelpful at all stages and clearly enjoying it. Comes across as surprisingly complex after the reveal. Being willing to sacrifice his daughter whilst also truly loving her is more depth than I'd expect.

Odona is mostly just generic girl, although her descriptions of how bleak her world is and how ecstatic she is to finally be alone do a lot for her. Didn't buy the romance with Kirk from either side's perspective.

The various scenes of Kirk travelling through the empty Enterprise are quite haunting. Even when he meets Odona, there's still an eerie feeling. The ambience, the fact that nothing works, the viewscreen revealing a horde of stone faced, green hued hooded figures staring dispassionately at the snogging and the bizarre sounds described like many heartbeats. There is a very good horror themed episode hidden inside this. It would honestly work better if Gideon became background fodder. That said, the huddle of bodies endlessly crashing into each other in the background is fairly arresting. Some cool direction choices like cutting from Uhura contacting Starfleet to Kirk trying to do the same and framing Hodin and Kirk's argument from below the glass. I'm not sure what the intended effect is, but I like it. (Best guess is that they're trying to demonstrate that Hodin is being both transparent and haughty. Not sure how that works with Kirk, though).

Some odd tone and pacing problems. Kirk's sequence on the fake Enterprise is played as a subtle horror, but it's intercut with Spock's scenes which are almost like a crap comedy, given that the side crew keep offering comments and both Spock and Hodin insult each other without actually insulting each other. No one has any real intelligence. They just "solve" the current mystery when the script's had enough of it. The coordinates are painstakingly explained, despite being obvious to everyone. And Spock has his own fake Enterprise runabout which, aside from being padding, undermines Kirk by having the same mystery solved in a fraction of the time. Gideon's problems and perspectives are completely incoherent. The only reason the federation would bother with this world is if they were an advanced space faring civilisation, which would solve overpopulation quite handedly. The lack of immune system shouldn't bother their travellers, since Hodin is perfectly willing to release a plague against a compromised species. This isn't a cull, its straight up extinction.

There's a lot of themes they're trying for here, but they refuse to actually develop them. Spock's little b plot is clearly critical of diplomats and bureaucrats alike, suggesting that they only serve to delay vital action by dancing around language and sending important messages from department to department in the name of somebody else's problem. They drop this halfway through and it's another reason why I feel like Gideon should be background plot. Much as I like his extra depth, Hodin would probably work better for this theme if he were just a miserable annoyance, rather than the main villain.

Overpopulation is an obvious concern and there's a great Sci fi metaphor for the idea here. It ruins the mystery box of the empty Enterprise by giving it an unsatisfactory answer, but Kirk and Hodin's frank discussion on the causes and possible solutions to the crisis is honestly quite brilliant. Every word rings true and its a fantastic satire on the short-sightedness of pro-life, anti-euthanasia and similar philosophies that claim to uphold the sanctity of life without caring about how bearable it is. Making Kirk pro birth control is astonishing now. I cant even begin to imagine how jaw dropping it was at the time. Making Hodin a complete (albeit, complex) hypocrite who sees it as the duty of the young to sacrifice for the (often, elderly) elite is fantastic. So, why do we have such a non ending? Saving Odona is the right call and could have represented more nuance to the issue. Sending her back down to be a plague rat so she can kill her entire generation isn't just monstrous, it feels incomplete, like an extra 10 minutes at least of the resolution was cut.

I want to take a moment to emphasise that I have been enjoying this watchthrough more often than not. Even in episodes that have dodgy politics or that are just plain bad, there's a lot of joy to be had in the weird and wonderful concepts thrown out, the often genuinely beautiful effects and production standards (even in this season, where the budget is clearly gutted) and, above all, just watching the characters be themselves. It's hard not to want to watch these guys, even if they are starring in ridiculous schlock. It's why I begin every review discussing them, first. I'm still excited each day for whatever the next episode brings and I haven't yet considered even a single hour of my time to have been wasted by this show. I'm able to enjoy it as both pulpy fun and as thoughtful drama. It just that one of them usually leads to more interesting thoughts than the other when it comes to the write up. With all that said....

So much potential, wasted. It's frustrating because, more so than most mediocre episodes, it could've been one of the best.

We'll see That Which Survives tomorrow.

Episode 17: That Which Survives

Another fantastic hook, with an impossible planet, a mysterious intruder and a catastrophe that flings that prevents the Enterprise from helping.

No one has much characterisation here, but Kirk is still entertaining as his usual self. Had his priorities in order, made some decent decisions and all that. Seemed quite excited to study this bizarre world. Liked his comment about there being no good ways to die.

Someone who isn't particularly entertaining is Spock, who has tragically lost all of his character development (and character in general, really) to be in pure "logic" mode. A few of his comments are funny, but they quickly wear out their welcome and he just comes off as an idiot most of the time. Shared some of Kirk's excitement at exploring the planet and Nimoy got to engage a few facial muscles at times (I saw him give a look of exasperation and bemusement at one time), but even the actor seems a bit done with the episode.

McCoy (and most of the other characters, really) serves as an exposition fountain and a source for obvious questions. Had a few darkly humorous comments about death, but that's about it. Doesn't even get his own Losira until the final scene.

Scotty gets to bicker a bit with Spock in lieu of McCoy and has a few moments like pacing around engineering in search of his problem, but kind of comes off as woefully histerical. Sulu still has his passion for botany and its sweet that he offers a Russian history lesson. His friendship with Chekov might be mostly offscreen, but it's still nice to have. Where is Chekov, though? Constantly asking pointles questions makes him seem a bit of a dunce. Uhura inexplicably gets a couple of reaction shots (one of which seems to be almost tutting at Kirk and Spock's excitement), but doesn't really do much.

M'Benga shows up, which will never disappoint me. He's not quite as magnificent here, but everyone's suffering a bit. D'Amato is fine. Rahda's very existence is slightly puzzling, since Chekov could've probably filled her role (perhaps Koenig was busy). Losira wrests some decent conflict out of her compulsion to kill and her grief in doing it. Her "I am for you" lines are ambiguous enough to help sell the ghost story vibe.

The story is very pulpy and doesn't try to be anything else. The characters are distilled to their most fundamental essence, the script insists on heavy handed descriptions and similes (it's a ghost planet and it's like a door opened and then closed), everyone is either expositing, staring the obvious or asking the obvious and the whole plot progresses from crisis to crisis in a very artificial way. (Countdowns and malfunctions).

The mystery is intriguing (though the script doesn't trust us to have figured it out), they keep the ideas interesting and there's a decent pace to everything. Having the Enterprise face a problem of its own is a great way to spice up the b plot, which usually boil down to the senior staff watching the same episode we are, with the same ability to intervene. The folding effect for the teleportation is magnificent.

Overall, mediocre, but I still had a fair amount of fun with it.

The Lights of Zetar, next.

Episode 18: The Lights of Zetar

So, that's where Memory Alpha comes from. A cloud of space ghosts trying to possess someone is a pretty cool idea. Not sure about the pressure chamber resolution.

Kirk is a sassy bitch today. From his hilarious quips about Scotty's lovesick antics to his exasperated disbelief about the lack of shields on Memory Alpha, the man's keeping his sarcasm game on point and its an absolute joy. I always like seeing him try diplomacy and evasion before aggression and he's still got that ruthless streak through being willing to crush Mira if it'll save the day.

Spock is back to his usual characterisation. Didn't get up to much aside from exposition, but at least he's no longer in need of a good punch to the face.

McCoy is in pure competence mode. Gets a little arsey with Mira for very little reason, but, in general, he's been much more chill in these last few episodes than he has for most of the series. Even the tiny amount of disagreement with Spock is comparatively understated.

Anytime Scotty is in love is cause for irritation. I appreciate the continuity with his social awkwardness (at least I hope that's what it's meant to be), but for a character who's primarily defined by being a miracle worker, relegating him to gawping at Mira and being an incompetent worrywort is miserable to watch.

Sulu and Chekov (he's actually here for once) get their banter back and it's mildly amusing. Uhura shows her usual initiative. Even Chapel gets some decent snark.

Mira is an alright character. I don't see any chemistry whatsoever between her and Scotty, but she's mostly competent and professional. Got some shoutyness and willpower to her. A few of the usual sexist problems, but season 3's women do tend to be better than the first two. The shifts between her and Zetar are conveyed well enough.

The lights are a cool design, as is the effect when they're attacking the ship in space. Once they get in, though, it's a pretty shit overlay. Weird overhead camera angle on the bridge at one point. Plenty of good zoom ins on Mira's eye. A weird editing choice when Scotty put Mira in the chamber. It might be Netflix's fault, though, since one of McCoy's lines got cut off midway through. Possibly a dodgy stream.

Some odd logic issues and repeated exposition, but they don't really hamper enjoyment. The briefing room scene was blatant padding, though.

A pretty fun and sometimes funny adventure. Not great, but not terrible, either.

There'll be a Requiem for Methuselah tomorrow.

Episode 19: Requiem for Methuselah

This started off really great, but as it got closer to the ending, it fell down more and more in my estimation. An immortal man who has been several historical figures in his time is a fine concept.

Kirk continues his ruthless streak of threatening to glass a planet whenever his crew are in danger. Finding Flint's treatment of Rayna questionable is a good note. Unfortunately, his own romance with her is both uncomfortable and laughably unbelievable. Shatner does his damnest. His voice noticeably trembles when he confesses his love for her, his joy at Rayna developing free will is palpable and his final act of collapsing into a sleep of depression is very real. It's just wasted because, out of all his actual love interests (not just seduction targets) this is the crappist one. Completely rushed and lacking in chemistry. Worse yet, he comes off as such an obsessive lunatic that I honestly thought there was going to be a twist where his mind was being manipulated somehow. Instead, it's apparently sincere. Shatner is a far better actor than the parodies give him credit for, but he can't salvage this.

Spock tries booze for the first time. Good lad. Nice to see him having an interest in art, even to the point of envy. His musical talents return. Still mildly exasperated by Kirk's conquests. Also the only sane man, since the infection on the Enterprise should be priority one. Apparently figured out the mystery early, but kept it to himself. Brainwashing Kirk at the end comes from a good place, but it's ethically suspect to say the least.

McCoy is just as crap a flirt as Scotty and has the same creep factor. Still nice to see medical work be somewhat important to the plot. His observation that Rayna woke up to all emotions, not just love, is fantastic. His banter at the end is atrocious. McCoy's insults have always veered quite close to straight up bigotry, but it's usually saved by the stressful context or Spock's own retorts or even a later apology. Here, it's just sadistic. Smugly and sadistically going on about Spock's lack of love is very much like writing a full on poem that mocks blind people for being unable to fully grasp colour. He's reached unlikeability for me.

Scotty is back in character and Uhura's about, too. Neither get up to anything of much interest. Rayna is played as woefully naive, but intensely curious. She's rather childlike, which only makes the romantic attentions all the more icky. She does sell the idea of her mind expanding and her free will asserting itself fairly well. Shame she dies for it.

Flint is a character that I'm in too minds about. The good is the tremendous acting. Recalling the bubonic plague and the billiards scene where he criticises the federation are particular standouts. He's poetically well spoken in a way that really gives the impression of an ancient life. Some good ambiguity as to his true intentions, at first.

The bad is everything else. The way he treats Rayna is nasty. Not only is she basically a sophisticated child, but she sees him as a father. And he wants to shackle her to a dead, empty planet, so, she can be his mate for all eternity. He doesn't even try to disguise it. Quite happy to use terms like property and only respects free will so long as she makes the "correct" choice of only "loving" him. He's creating life for the express purpose of having a living sex toy forever. None of this would be a problem if he were played unquestionably as a villain, but the episode does not go far enough to condemn him and, combined with Kirk's own problematic behaviour, the way the script treats Rayna at the end and Kirk's comparison of himself and Flint as lonely men, seems to sympathise and almost justify him. Thank fuck, he'll die soon. A "successful" model of Rayna would be an infinite and ignorant vision of hell for the poor lass. An absolutely sickening monster.

The mystery was quite well paced and the clues were space out decently. Filming Flint's TV is an cool choice. The billiards scene is completely brilliant. Tracking the ball was a neat idea, but they butchered it by having a lot of shaky cam. The illness was just another ticking clock, albeit one that was easily ignored by nearly everyone.

I do try to be tolerant of Star Trek's sexism, since I am trying for a good faith attempt at liking this show (and I've mostly succeeded. I do still like it more than not), but I cannot abide a theme that basically states that if we allow women to choose their own fate, they'll get so flustered with their options of men, that they'll have a meltdown and die. Obviously, the episodic nature of the show forbids Kirk from having a lasting relationship, but they could still have Rayna live if they elected to have her reject both and, then, go do literally anything else with her life. Give her an actual personality, at least. No, let's literally put the dead woman out of our minds.

Started strong, but gets progressively nastier and unpleasant.

On The Way to Eden, next.

Episode 20: The Way to Eden

Well, this was a particularly wretched episode. Space hippies probably had to be done eventually, but not like this. Still, it was mildly novel to open with a chase scene and no captain's log.

Kirk is a miserable authoritarian and more than a bit stupid. The stolen ship's engines are overheating from the tractor beam, so, let's increase the power and put them past critical. The god awful racket that Adam thinks is music is distracting the crew from performing their duties, so, let's keep it blaring over the intercom. He gets some points for being decent to Chekov and making some vague, token effort to understand the hippies by using Spock as a proxy. In the end, though, it's probably the one time he's been straight up unlikeable for me.

Spock is pretty great. Having genuine sympathy for the hippies and linking it to his own experiences is a brilliant bit of character work, as is connecting with them by speaking their language and joining in the jam session. He did seem a little quick and two faced to call Sevrin insane. It's ultimately vindicated by later developments, but, at the time, it seemed more like an admittedly irrational, but understandable, reaction to having his freedom necessarily restricted by a health condition that basically caused by advanced technology. Maybe I'm being overly sympathetic due to disliking anti counterculture messages.

McCoy gets saved by having little to do, but his one major appearance does allow him to spit some straight facts at a moron. Scotty grumbles for a bit, Sulu gets in a decent (by this show's standards) flirt until interrupted by Kirk the fascist, Chapel is wonderfully fed up with her job this time and Uhura has apparently been replaced. (I get budget cuts, but surely they could drop one or two of the hippies and spend some money on Nichols).

Chekov is out of character today. Suddenly a straight laced good boy who just can't kiss Kirk's ass enough. I felt nothing between him and Irina and it seems that Koenig was just as fed up as I was. The man is miserable from start to finish and that final sequence of surrendering for disciplinary action is about where my tolerance for Star Trek's military trappings ends.

It will come as no surprise to anyone still reading my babble, that I have a lot of sympathy and respect for counterculture types, but I do not care for these hippy esque weirdos. The clowns paraded in front of us are only meant to be strawmen pointing out how apparently wrong anything other than blind deference to modern society is. There was never anything remotely subtle about this lot, but talking about pretending to be friendly is an impressive level of egregiousness. There's an air of grooming and seducing the youth about them and its all in the service of making the counterculture appear seemingly well intentioned, but, in actuality, insidious. Unlike when they try to conflate female sexuality with evil, which inevitably makes me side with the woman, they actually succeeded in making me despise this lot. Adam's songs are a far worse torture than anything the Platonions could muster. I'm at a loss for words to fully describe how dreadful the future slang is.

Two minor compliments to the production: we got a bunch of extras milling around to make the ship seem populated and the single shot following Chekov and Irina around as they try to have a private conversation was actually pretty funny, especially with the other crew getting nosy.

Even if its only a surface level approach, I usually enjoy typing about the themes in a given episode the most, but I'm loathe to even state the obvious message here. I was, in fairness, warned by several people that certain episodes of Star Trek are abysmal to sit through and I'm really feeling it here. It's almost bitterly ironic that it should come not long after I included a paragraph about how much i am actually enjoying the show, despite how critical I'm often being, but there is absolutely nothing to this. The likes of Spock's Brain manage to still be incredibly entertaining because of their badness and stuff like The Omega Glory usually has a few character moments, interesting concepts or decent production affairs to make it fairly worthwhile to watch, but this piece managed to make Kirk completely unlikeable, excise most of the main cast to bit roles at best, have a braindead zombie masquerade in Chekov's skin, produce a plot that relies on everyone being idiots and give us some of the most annoying villains ever put to camera. Spock is the only one who come out almost watchable and, even then, he's being sympathetic and diplomatic to a bunch of reactionary parodies.

I watch shit like this and it becomes increasingly clear that Star Trek's apparent progressive attitudes are a complete myth compared to what is actually on screen. Our incredibly "diverse" main cast features a fake Russian, a fake Scotsman, a black woman and an Asian man who are lucky to get any screen time at all and a half alien who's frequently subject to speciesist abuse. Our three female leads consist of a woman who was unceremoniously dropped mid season, a second lass who's lucky to appear at all and a third who repeats the same line every episode like a broken record. There is nothing great about seeing a complete non entity of a character like Uhura and feeling inspired to go into space. When you consider that the bar is so low as "exists (but only occasionally) and isn't a complete mockery" then it actually just becomes really fucking sad. The sexism is grotesque and, given what Doctor Who managed to accomplish with some of its female characters in the same time period, I'm no longer willing to accept that it's of its time, except in the same way that Lovecraft's racism was of its time I.e. it wasn't. It was actually pretty monstrous even then. Even the episodes that I genuinely love are only there because of the concerted efforts of a few writers trying to squeeze something artistic out from under the nose of showrunners and executives that only wanted to make thoughtless pro war propaganda with the most banal of Christian symbolism sprinkled throughout.

I'm in a state of complete astonishment that Star Trek is as beloved as it is. It has retroactively almost ruined my enjoyment of previous episodes.

I mean, deep down it probably isn't the worst episode or even the most offensive, but I can't think of a piece of media I've ever felt more contempt for.

Since I'm so close to the end, I may as well finish. The Cloud Minders is next.

that one's my vote for worst ep in the franchise. yes, even worse than that one. and that one, too.

Well I see you watched that utter horse shit in A Way To Eden eh Herbet!

I mean, deep down it probably isn't the worst episode or even the most offensive, but I can't think of a piece of media I've ever felt more contempt for.

Wait till you have seen the entire franchise. I could give you a top 20 episodes I have more contempt for than A Way To Eden.

Episode 21: The Cloud Minders

And we're back to me actually liking this show again. Cloud cities are an absolutely brilliant concept, right at the point where Sci-fi and fantasy are basically the same thing. A planet rigidly divided into two classes lends itself to a very obvious theme, so, thank fuck they actually did it right.

Kirk is back in likeability. First moment I knew he was back was when he half heartedly instructed Uhura to give the usual polite spiel to the city dwellers. The man's not an authoritarian, he's a maverick with a command. Waking up to Vanna's attack was pretty great. Kept his diplomatic side throughout. Clearly outraged by the entire situation and treatment of the Troglytes. His necessary ruthlessness in resorting to kidnap against the orders of his government is further proof of who he really is deep down. The Kirk of yesterday would've twiddled his thumbs until Merak ii died. Shatner's acting when he's exposed to the gas is wonderful. He's sweating and twitching, keeping himself off to side and leaning on a structure, with his arms wrapped protectively around himself and his eyes trained unblinking like a paranoiac on the other two. It's like he's got withdrawal symptoms from intelligence itself.

Spock is alright, too. Didn't care much for his "flirting" with Droxine, but we got some internal monologue during his brooding, even if it was mostly exposition. His appreciation for art is mentioned again. Shares Kirk's outrage at the situation and points out how illogical any sort of bigotry is. Believing he stumbled in on his Captain having another tryst is hilarious.

McCoy might not have gotten much, but what he did get truly surprised me. Aside from arguing against the notion that Troglytes are inherently inferior, he figures out why their intelligence is lowering and manages to have nothing but pleasent interactions with Spock. Most character development may well have been accidental in this show, and any of the few remaining episodes could have him backsliding, but I consider this the pinnacle of his arc. Pointing out difficult it is to fight your own bigotry is probably a perfect moment for him.

After the pain that was That Which Survives, Scotty's banter with Spock managed to be quite entertaining. Uhura did her job and I think Sulu appeared in a few shots.

Plassus has some human moments, like his genuine love for his daughter, but he's blatantly a stand in for the upper class. Droxine is similar, but she at least demonstrates that there is always hope for the next generation.

Vanna is absolutely incredible. Intelligent, driven and fundamentally concerned with justice for her own people, she's the rare example of a genuinely strong female character in this show. Loved her tricking Kirk into being a hostage and being the only one to recognise the effects of the gas and that Kirk and Plassus' bickering had an obvious answer. She is the sort of character that should've been on this show much more often.

The design of Stratos is amazing. It looked like it was ripped out of a children's fantasy book. Some cool shots, like moving behind rocks and tracking Kirk and Spock as they move across the surface and having a bird's eye view of the surface. Linking Spock's flirting to Kirk's fight was pretty great, too.

The themes here are obvious. It's probably not a good idea to have a lower class at all, much less a mistreated one when your entire society relies on them. They actually stick the landing here, though, by demonstrating that Vanna is the smartest one out of the bunch and allowing the Troglytes to win at least one demand for a safer working environment, with the inevitability of many more to come. Plassus, the one holdover, is basically shamed into silence, whilst his daughter begins to start truly appreciating and supporting the drive for equality. And it does all this alongside also demonstrating that many "official" means serve only to delay any real progress.

It probably won't quite make my top list (surprisingly stiff competition despite the warnings on quality), but it is absolutely a breath of fresh air after the last one. Back to being excited.

The Savage Curtain is for tomorrow.

Episode 22: The Savage Curtain

This was a very silly episode, but it was quite good fun. The image of Lincoln floating through space in an armchair is the kind of thing that I come to old Sci-fi for. I love these earnest attempts to craft a serious story out of a fundamentally silly hook. I kind of feel that classic Sci-fi is often braver and more original than some modern stuff.

Kirk didn't believe in space Lincoln for a second, but props to him for recognising that it's wise practice to humour what might well be a godlike alien until you know more. Had a similar "risk is out business" moment when he justifies going down to the planet. Appropriately suspicious of Green, but still willing to hear him out. Had an adorable moment of absolute delight when Lincoln complemented him.

Spock gets to be the voice of reason, as usual, justifying going down to the planet by pointing out that godlike aliens wouldn't need a massive deception to kill them. Has hero worship just as bad as Kirk, even begging forgiveness for showing emotion and sympathising with Surak's desire for peace.

McCoy continues to impress me, despite his lack of focus. Argues against Kirk's decisions, but it's all from a reasonable place. His banter with Spock continues to be inexplicable mutual agreement and its lovely to see.

Scotty felt a bit like McCoy's lapdog, going "aye" to every other sentence. Got a bit flustered with his command as well which is unusual. Sulu and Chekov do their jobs and Sulu even gets command for a bit. Uhura had a slightly uncomfortable moment with Lincoln. While I admire the idea they're going for that true progress can only come about from equality, suggesting that racist words no longer harm her and that they are nothing to fear is a little reductive towards the issue of bigotry, which has more issues that just a bit of rudeness. Well intentioned, but inadequate. Given that the problems of reductive thought are the main theme, its weird that they didn't come back to this.

Lincoln is just Lincoln, in the sense that he's basically the stock portrayal of this guy. Wise, principled, kind, gentle. His reductive qualities have a good explanation, in that he's basically a stereotype drawn from Kirk's mind, but I've seem this guy several times before and not just because he's a historical figure. His confusion over certain bits of knowledge he should or shouldn't know helps with the mystery and I liked that they gave him some time to demonstrate his military mind, as Kirk would've admired him for.

Surak is a little bit of a disappointment. The father of Vulcans and champion of logic should already know that suing for peace with your enemy isn't a great idea when a third party is holding lives hostage unless you fight.

Green is a fine charismatic bastard. His fellow villains are a bit shit, though. Yarnek (since that's apparently his name) is a pretty great design and curiosity is a fine motivator for a godlike alien. I liked him pointing out that the federation is also performing morally dubious actions in its own quest for knowledge.

While I enjoy a good mystery, it does sort of spin its wheels for a bit in the first half without dropping any real clues. The second half has the same problem as Arena, where the actual combat is dull and tedious. Actually, they repeat a lot from Arena, down to having the crew watch it on the big screen. Premises and plots have had a bit of recycling, but this is a little too blatant.

Ultimately, Yarnek's plan nearly fails because it is impossible to reduce anything into something so simple as good vs evil. It's a reductive mindset that loses sight of actual motivations and complexity and, therefore, despite appearing as a binary opposition, makes it seem like there is no real difference between two factions from an objectively neutral perspective. Of course, the episode doesn't go very deep at all into this, ending by suggesting that good and evil still do exist as absolute qualities, they're just separated by their motivations, rather than methods. Still, it's mildly interesting to consider in light of the fact that the historical celebrities are drawn from Kirk and Spock's preconceptions of them.

Silliness never bothered me by itself, so, we have a fun little story here. Even the battle isn't quite as bad as Arena, due to the many characters talking with each other.

Even though I've ranted about a few episodes, I'm actually quite reluctant to finish this. Still much more glad than not that I've gone on this journey.

Tomorrow is for All Our Yesterdays.

Episode 23: All Our Yesterdays

Using time travel to escape an apocalypse is utterly wonderful. Having the device take the form of a library has an almost doctor who level of charm to it. Having to physically prepare one's self for the past is interesting and is possibly related to how air quality and the bacteria in foods would probably be different to the present. I like how the crew have arrived with the intention of rescue, only to discover that there is no need and that they've actually caused more havoc.

Kirk isn't doing anything too new, but, to be fair, it's not really his story. It's kind of funny that Atoz only has to look at him to know that westerns are his thing. Deliberately being awkward with his drink, so, that he can swipe the keys was a decent plan. I've been running out of interesting things to say about the characters for a while now, since they've been properly established into their programmatic roles. He's still fun to watch, but a brief highlight reel is all I've got.

Spock, on the other hand, is brilliant. Gradually returning him to a degree of Vulcan savagery is a fantastic way to explore greater depths of his character. Its quite subtle at first, as well. His attempts to give up are rooted in a sort of logic and his sarcasm when McCoy fails at understanding how trapped they are and at flirting with Zarabeth, while more bitter than usual, still seems mostly standard. It isn't until he nearly kills McCoy for his usual bigotry that it becomes perfectly clear that something is up. What a powerful moment, though. Spock and McCoy's relationship has seen some new developments in recent episodes and I honestly like the new, more mellow doctor than the old one. Even when they disagree, it's done so more respectfully and it isn't until Spock tries to justify giving up that McCoy returns to being nasty. It sort of solidifies the development, though, by making it clear that they cannot backslide to how it was and still keep him likeable.

That said, McCoy's abuse towards Zarabeth is utterly intolerable. Even if it does come from good intentions, its still completely uncalled for. He was perfectly fine, even with the speciesism since it got knocked down immediately, until that scene. There were better ways of getting Spock to realise he was compromised.

Scotty is here in spirit, but that's about it for the side crew. Even though I admire how they've managed to do more with less, considering the meager budget, it is still nice to get off the ship for once. Atoz is alight. Its kind of funny how all the versions are polite and friendly, apart from the original, who's much more grumpy. The one dialogue, two conversations thing he had going with the crew at first was quite entertaining.

Zarabeth is wonderful. The actress perfectly captures her loneliness and infatuation with Spock and, alongside the script, manages to do so in a way that avoids the pitfalls of many female characters on this show and keeps her away from gross parody. Mentioning her family's fate and their fight against a corrupt tyrant is a great way to install some worldbuilding into this culture and ensure that Zarabeth has actual thoughts and feelings and, above all, investment in the plot, as opposed to being just the latest beautiful conquest for someone. She and Spock share a similar tragedy to Edith Keeler and Kirk, but it's more tolerable here because, firstly, there's no obvious solution that's just being ignored and, secondly, there's no anti pacifist political point being made through her death.

The sets for the two time periods, especially the ice age, are utterly beautiful. The library isn't too bad, either. The replicas of Atoz wandering in from behind objects and between shots give a great, almost horror esque illusion of teleportation. The strobe effect for the portal is pretty alright, too, especially when Kirk and Atoz are fighting. The supernova is outstanding.

This was a pretty fantastic episode and it's left me satisfied that, however bad the next episode may be (and I've heard it's pretty bad), the series will end on something of a high note.

Turnabout Intruder will see us off.

Do not bother with Turnabout Intruder. It is fucking horrendous and the second worst way to end a series. It is only beaten by that fucking kick in the balls with steel capped boots called These Are The Voyages the ending to Star Trek: Enterprise.

Well you have only got the following left to say you have watched the franchise:

22 episoes of the animated series

6 movies with Kirk and crew

178 episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation

4 movies featuring The Next Generation cast

176 episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

172 episodes of Star Trek: Voyager

98 episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise

Do not bother with those disgraces to the Star Trek name in those streaming only series. I do not acknowledge their existence.

If you watch one a day with what I have listed you can expect to be finished your run through of the Star Trek franchise sometime in Spring/Summer 2024.

Episode 24: Turnabout Intruder

Against all good advice and sense, I decided to watch it. And, yep, it's utterly horrid. Its a shame because body swap/imposter stories usually lend themselves to some amazing acting. Such a shame its wasted on this mess.

Shatner as Leslie as Kirk is completely wonderful to watch. He hams it up on more than a few occasions, but who can blame him? So many theatrical flourishes are given to his portrayal, that LeslieKirk comes across as camp and flamboyant. Even the way he walks and handles his clothes whilst shirtless have loads of little touches to emphasise that this is a woman in a man's body. Has some interesting sexual energy when he literally leans on Coleman. The ever spiralling meltdown is glorious to behold and even when mostly lucid there's an awkwardness and light fear to every moment that works perfectly alongside the overly formal lines towards the crew. Shatner is a genuinely brilliant actor and, while it's a shame that he wastes his considerable talent on this mess, he comes far closer than you'd think to saving it.

Spock has a few nice little touches himself. The way he walks away after fake Kirk smacks trapped Kirk conveys so much disgust and disappointment. His sarcasm and resolve during his trial is pretty great.

McCoy, as the most emotional of the bunch, is among the first to figure out that something is probably wrong. The two of them pulling rank on each other is fun. His discussions with Spock have returned to the air of friendliness and respect.

It's sort of fitting that a final episode would briefly deal with the theme of mutiny and both Doohan and Kelley sell the severity of discussing it. Sulu and Chekov get to comment on the state of the ship again and I liked the refusal to carry out orders. Just sitting still in passive resistance. Chapel disappointed me and not just because her hair colour changed. Her reaction shots made it seem like she would be the first to figure out the truth, but instead, there's nothing. Uhura is missing, but perhaps she's just lucky.

Lester is arguably in the right or at least far more sympathetic than the script intends. A world where women are arbitrarily barred from a certain occupation is blatantly unjust and I won't fault anyone for doing what they need to to subvert it. The actresses turn as Kirk isn't quite as explosive as Shatner's performance, but she does a good job at channeling his cheeky smile in sickbay and his sardonic pragmatism in the court case.

Coleman is a damp squib of a character, though he must be far more broadminded than the staff intended if he's willing to continue a relationship with Leslie after she's taken Kirk's body.

The ruins set looks alright. The transference effect is laughable. Using blurriness to indicate losing and regaining consciousness is the most interesting camerawork I've seen in this. A few too many logs and internal monologues that rehash what we already know. The mini flashbacks to the transference are obnoxious and unnecessary.

This episode is sexist in a way that makes the rest of the series blush. Lester's quarrel with Kirk isn't really about the lack of opportunities a woman faces, but instead because she's a jilted lover. Despite being told that she's studied every aspect of being a captain, she's demonstrates gross incompetence from the word go. She falls into shrieking tantrums whenever told no and her meltdown during the trial is linked to the inherently sexist concept of hysteria. The two points of absolute nadir are when she indirectly accuses herself of hating her own womanhood and the childlike whining of how she'll never make captain. Just completely infantilising her. And, of course, the boys' club agree to look after her, afterwards.

How the hell did Roddenberry ever cultivate a myth of being progressive?

Season 3 rankings next and, then tomorrow, we'll be going Beyond the Farthest Star.

End of season 3

Top 6 (a lower number has nothing to do with quality, despite what you may think. I try to limit my halls of fame and shame to a quarter of the total episode count, give or take some rounding)

The Enterprise Incident (a tense, mysterious, well made production that criticises the hell of military life)

Spectre of the Gun (sheds the uncomfortable trappings of old west myth in a deliciously horrifying example of doing more with less)

Day of the Dove (fleshes out the Klingons in an exciting thriller and literally laughs off the military industrial complex)

The Tholian Web (a visually arresting ghost story that provides a new direction for Spock and McCoy's relationship)

The Empath (probably the quintessential example of creating absolute beauty out of nearly nothing. Truly sublime)

All Our Yesterdays (should've been the finale)

Bottom 6

The Paradise Syndrome (even aside from the hideous racism, its a confusing mess)

And the Children Shall Lead (truly incompetent)

Plato's Stepchildren (wastes a genuinely good idea in favour of demeaning torture porn)

Requiem for Methuselah (increasingly uncomfortable to watch)

The Way to Eden (seems to go out of its way to hate the audience)

Turnabout Intruder (surely it must be exhausting to hate women this much?)

Miscellaneous thoughts

Spock's Brain (no danger of being in the bottom 6. It's much too fun. And so much else is worse)

Is There in Truth No Beauty? (Could've made the top 6 if it weren't for the bizarrely sudden sexist abuse)

For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky (if the production were as interesting as the themes I read in it, it might have made the top 6)

Elaan of Troyius (on reflection, the sexism and racism have soured me a bit on this one)

Whom Gods Destroy (no danger of the bottom 6. Too much fun)

Let That Be Your Last Battlefield (I actually don't know if this was in any danger of the bottom 6. Its so muddled, yet so well meaning that it's hard to rank)

The Mark of Gideon (would've made the bottom 6, were it not for the first half)

The Cloud Minders (almost made the top 6)

Overall, season 3 was more enjoyable than I expected. With a few exceptions, the bad episodes don't seem to be any worse than their counterparts in the first two seasons. The biggest problem is that the hits didn't come as frequently.

I think TNG comes after the animated series? Or are you doing the original movies as well?

Gonna go through all the shows and films in release order (which might mean jumping around a bit)

Here is a little fact for you since you have now watched the entire third season.

Three episodes from the season (The Empath, Plato's Stepchildren and Whom Gods Destroy) were banned by the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) until 1994.

They had received numerous complaints after showing the episode Miri and decided to look at Star Trek more closely and decided that the episodes had things they deemed inappropriate to broadcast.

Meaning that we didn't get those episodes until they were either A. broadcast on Sky One (a satellite TV channel here in the UK) or B. They were released onto VHS in the early 1990's.

I have to totally disagree with your assessment of a couple of episodes from Season 3.

Spectre Of The Gun better than Elaan Of Troyius!? Er Nope! Spectre Of The Gun is GRADE A SHIT (I freaking hate Westerns) whereas Elaan is a rather good episode,

Yh, I'd heard about the BBC censorship. It's especially baffling because Doctor who alone was just as dark and potentially distressing, if not more so.

Part of the reason I like Spectre of the Gun is because it feels like an anti western in many respects.

The Animated Series

Season 1: Episode 1: Beyond the Farthest Star

It's nice to have a pilot episode that's clearly focused on exploration. An evil, but very lonely, star is a beautiful idea.

Discussing the characters one by one is a little difficult here because, aside from the shorter runtime giving us less to work with, most of them are either squarely in competence mode or sharing in mutual admiration of the alien starship. Spock gets to be a little sarky about humanity being primitive and Kirk shuts him down by pointing out that Vulcans are in the same boat, but, really, the most welcome thing is how Uhura gets to share in the adventure by actually having lines. In just one episode, she feels more like an actual member of the crew here than she did in most of The Original Series (barring a brilliant exception like Mirror, Mirror).

I pointed out Sulu's new friend in the Tribbles episode and, while he does absolutely nothing of note, it's still nice seeing an extra alien on the Enterprise. The animation is really limited, but the detailed designs and vivid colours of everything keep it beautiful. The planet is so hyper detailed in comparison to everything else that it feels alien even before we really learn anything about it. The insect spaceship is a masterpiece to behold in full, again feeling proper alien, and gives off a Jack Kirby vibe when the crew transport to it. I'm repeating myself a bit, but the vividness and detail, along with the angles, zoom outs (keeping the crew incredibly miniscule compared to the world they've arrived at) and panning shots make it feel like a wide comic panel come to life.

Add to this the shorter runtime and very pulpy stylings and we have an incredibly exciting work that keeps moving. Given that a decent chunk of TOS episodes meandered on occasion, this is honestly fantastic. The one minor issue is that, assuming this is the shape of things to come, it does leave me with comparatively little to type about and I was close to scraping the barrel for a few Original episodes as it is.

Three quibbles: while I get the need for different angles and unique shots to keep excitement at a similar level to other shows, without completely bankrupting the studio, some of them do have a weird sense of space to them. Kirk feels like he's floating above the ground at some points when he's talking to the trapped Scotty, as one example. Secondly, I don't want to harp on limited animation too much, because the production is overall gorgeous, but the shaking and explosion effects are quite naff. Finally, while the music is exciting, the sound mixing makes it drown out a lot of the noises from the insect captain at first. The voice of the entity was almost a problem, but it kind of fits with its despair at the end, so, I'm actually okay with it.

If this is the mission statement for the next two seasons, I should be in good hands for the next few weeks.

Tomorrow is Yesteryear.

splodeymissile posted...

Three quibbles: while I get the need for different angles and unique shots to keep excitement at a similar level to other shows, without completely bankrupting the studio, some of them do have a weird sense of space to them. Kirk feels like he's floating above the ground at some points when he's talking to the trapped Scotty, as one example. Secondly, I don't want to harp on limited animation too much, because the production is overall gorgeous, but the shaking and explosion effects are quite naff. Finally, while the music is exciting, the sound mixing makes it drown out a lot of the noises from the insect captain at first. The voice of the entity was almost a problem, but it kind of fits with its despair at the end, so, I'm actually okay with it.

Filmation just does that.

Questionmarktarius posted...

Filmation just does that.

*eye shifting intensifies*

Episode 2: Yesteryear

Because this show is animated (and with limited animation, at that) there's a lot of the actor's performances that is just lost. Spock will probably suffer the worst from this, due to how much of Nimoy's performance involved facial expressions and physicality. Giving Spock his own focus episode, so, that we can actually dive into his character as soon as possible is a pretty wise decision, then.

Luckily, Spock doesn't disappoint. Allowing him to literally revisit his own past (including his younger self) and provide frequent commentary through his logs allows us to understand him more than ever. Given his admitted inability to tell Amanda he loves her, giving polite compliments as Selek is a great way to make it clear how much she does mean to him. We see through young Spock being bullied and Sarek's perfectionism why he considers his human side a disgrace. The whole thing is really just a highlight reel of how beautiful inside Spock really is. Teaching his younger self the neck pinch (it's notable how Spock stumbles over his words when referring to him. It's almost like young Spock is more a little brother than a past self), comforting i-xhaya

Stupid phone.

Comforting I-chaya while he dies and even asking Sarek to try to understand young Spock more, despite it being of no benefit to him due to still remembering the original timeline. The new fate of his pet, while tragic, arguably makes him a better person, since it allows him to come to terms with his two halves and pass that message on to his past self (again, despite that being of no obvious benefit to his present self). He even cracks a joke and seems more personable when he gets back, stating only that "times change". In many ways, its like he's truly matured for the first time.

The other characters are very out of focus, but what little they get is great. Kirk immediately jumps to Spock's defence when he thinks it's an especially cruel joke at his expense, McCoy still grumbles about Vulcans, but it comes from a better and more understandable place of disliking having to do more work, than hating a species for their differences. Sarek (who gets his original actor) is still overbearing. Amanda gets a fantastic silent moment when young Spock decides he's going to follow the Vulcan way, where the animation actually allows her eyes to shift in a decently complex show of disappointment and defeat.

Even Thelin is great. Maybe its just me, but certain points made it seem like someone was deliberately messing with Spock's timeline and that there would actually be a villain to this piece. Thelin would be the obvious culprit. But, no, he's a decent guy who sympathises with Spock's worry over his life and family and compares it to his own culture. In just five or so lines, we get a great example of an alien species. Kind of remarkable.

Similar to the previous episode, while the animation is limited (I got a little tired of seeing young Spock running), the designs are stunning. The Guardian has that same hyper detailed look to it that makes it so alien. The initial shots after Spock arrives on Vulcan could make the cover of Sci-fi novels, they're that good. Its also great seeing a range of alien species about. The winged guy is just there with no reason whatsoever, other than that this is a Sci-fi universe where he and people like him should by rights just be milling about. How did they get Godzilla's roar?

I didn't care for the children's voice acting, young Spock included. Just annoying. On that note, I don't want to criticise Doohan too much, since, as far as I'm aware, he will be doing most guest characters on this show, but the Guardian just didn't sound right.

While it's hard to call a timeline where a beloved pet dies early an improvement, both Spocks do seem to be in a better place after this episode. Time travel stories have an unfortunate tendency to try and justify people's suffering with nonsense like fixed points and such, so, its nice to see a story actually regard improving the timeline as a good thing. Spock is happier (and more alive) in the third timeline than the first two. So, he gets to keep it. Thelin is our one potential casualty, but there's no reason to suspect he's not having a fulfilling life in this new world, so, I can happily ignore him.

I also want to give the episode props (especially since its a little bit more intended for children) for being brave enough to talk about euthanasia. There is no good in prolonging life for life's sake. You don't need to be riddled with tumours to be enduring a cancerous existence. Suggesting that euthanasia is not only a good option to have (and it is), but that it acts as a fusion between emotion and logic and actually shows rather than tells about how Vulcan society might actually be an improvement on our own is some utterly brilliant writing. Additionally, it's nice that the characters get to be fairly intelligent. Selek's true identity is figured out as soon as it becomes clear that this is a time travel story. No pointless mysteries here.

Most Spock centric episodes are fantastic and this is no exception.

One Of Our Planets Is Missing, but I'll learn more about that tomorrow.

splodeymissile posted...

Similar to the previous episode, while the animation is limited (I got a little tired of seeing young Spock running), the designs are stunning.

Again, Filmation.
Any given Filmation production will have an elaborately-painted establishing shot (or several), just to kill some time by slowly panning across it. It's cheaper than animation.

Episode 3: One Of Our Planets Is Missing

Another wonderfully mad concept with a living cloud that eats planets. Pretty fun adventure, this.

One thing I am noticing about the characters is that, compared to the original series, everyone contributed to the resolution and they did so through the fields in which they work. With the obvious exception of Yesteryear, so far, this has actually been an ensemble show.

Kirk takes on his captain role to a far more clear degree than before: giving orders and asking for info, leaving specialist tasks to his experts, weighing up options and having an ethical debate over them. It's all good stuff. I liked his call back to the "I will not kill today" speech and how guilty and broken he was over, in a sense, potentially breaking a personal vow. Asking after Wesley's daughter was a beautiful human moment.

Spock and McCoy are two peas in a pod and seem to agree far more often. Both respectfully discuss informing Wesley about the cloud and both are shocked that Kirk would seriously consider killing the creature. Presumably, speciesism (which is just fantasy racism) wouldn't quite fly in the 79s. They also give sound advice in their respective fields, which is especially needed for McCoy, given how there were more than a few Original episodes where he just seemed to hang about for no obvious reason.

I'm still enamored with how much Uhura is given to do. This should have been the bare minimum from the start. Scotty and Sulu are great and join the rest in being pure competence porn. We learn Arex's name and, while I do sort of miss Chekov (apparently, they couldn't afford Koenig), he's alright. I'm still not sure about some of the voices Doohan is giving the alien characters, but he doesn't offend me any more than the Russian accent did.

It was nice seeing Wesley again (more for the sake of continuity than anything) and he's far nicer this time around. I like that he has a new job. Gives a sense that this world is actually moving forward. The cloud is interesting. Once contact is established, her stilted, beige prose lines do a good job of conveying a genuinely intelligent creature that has never had to communicate with anyone and is still learning what the concept even is.

I'm going to quickly run out of phrases to describe the artwork, but the interior of the cloud is amazing. At once looking like an organic, if very alien creature and an eldritch space in its own right. I still can't get over how beautiful the Enterprise itself is. I'm actually quite surprised how densely packed they made this episode, without it feeling overstuffed.

It's also quite nice to have a resolution that hinges on dialogue and understanding and which manages to have drama and tension and still land on a happy ending.

Really good story.

Gonna catch The Lorelei Signal tomorrow.

Episode 4: The Lorelei Signal

So, space sirens, then? (Yes, Lorelei is in the name). Why not? It's already basically the space navy.

Uhura is fantastic. Figures out immediately that something's up and remains intelligent and decisive throughout. She finally gets command! Has that wonderful pragmatism and ruthlessness that I love seeing. Chapel is also great and has much the same qualities. Again, this is how they (and Rand) should've been originally.

I find it interesting that there's a clear hierarchy of susceptibility among the men folk. Scotty might as well be drunk, McCoy is just having a pleasent moment, whereas Kirk and Spock are able to keep their heads more. I did like that Kirk's logs got slower and more mumbled the further he fell. Spock offering most of the solutions is disappointing. Uhura and Chapel should've resolved the aging.

Theela and her people are truly pathetic excuses for our villains. Aside from being stupid and incompetent, they're just bland. I felt nothing at all for them.

The Opto-aud is a truly rubbish name for a magic TV. Something about that arrangement of syllables just feels wrong. The aging up is alright. It's great that they remembered that Spock ages slower and drew him to match. The painfully slow movement of the Enterprise across the screen while Scotty is singing is hilarious. The need to reuse models for the aliens probably works in the episode's favour, since it gives them a initially creepier vibe. Hiding in the urn feels like needless filler (which is impressive given the short run time) and pausing the plot to put a history lesson up on the screen isn't great either.

The planet is beautiful with a very fantasy esque design. Looks like a Disney film in places (Agrabah, especially), though obviously not as good.

Even though the point of the episode tries to be feminist and almost act as an apology for the rampant sexism of the original show, I don't think it quite works at all. It's a little unavoidable with the siren plot, and it's great that they keep most of the men vaguely lucid, but cleanly splitting the crew on gender giving the franchise's history, probably isn't the wisest move, both for the main plot and apparently job roles. (Women's science team?) There's also the bizarre mention of the aliens' sterility and how they literally drain the life from men. And, Again, having Spock give the final answer instead of Uhura or Chapel is a missed opportunity. It's a little bit nasty, really.

Average and more than a little confused, but still some fun.

We could have more More Tribbles, More Troubles, but that would be weird, so, instead, The Survivor.

splodeymissile posted...

(apparently, they couldn't afford Koenig)

He did write a TAS episode, tho.

Episode 5: The Survivor

Another imposter story, with a slight new angle at the end, although it's a bit undercooked. Get the Romulans again because presumably it would be rude not to feature them.

Always nice to see that Kirk is professional enough to seek a checkup when compromised. Also nice that he's decent to the Vendorian. Spock and McCoy's banter is back and seems fairly friendly. It's good that fake McCoy's lack of imperious and outrage is what tips Spock off that there's something wrong. Mention of McCoy's daughter, too. Shame she never got that episode.

The side crew are back to being ignored again. Sulu does his job. Scotty was apparently having a drunken dose throughout some of the episode, since he twice failed to comprehend that there was a shape-shifter aboard despite an alert saying as much. Uhura is relegated to stock footage (perhaps Nichols was breaking the bank). Instead, we have M'Ress, who has a fantastic design, but not much else. Chapel just about exists.

Nored is a wretched waste of a character. After being kind of decent towards women for the first few episodes, we're back to old tricks with generic personalities and a complete lack of competence. Confronting Winston almost immediately is great and props for accepting the Vendorian as a potential love interest on his own merits, but getting the gun chopped out of her hand is inexcusable (the editing in that scene was really weird, too, even by Filmation standards) and, even with him being helpful at the end, it's strange that they'd allow her to guard him.

The Vendorian has a wonderfully alien design, but not much else. His backstory is reasonably tragic, but too expositiony and turning good happens way too quick. I am loving that most of our resolution have involved making friends of the enemy. Getting closer to the Star Trek I remember as a kid.

An average episode, really.

The Infinite Vulcan sounds promising.

Episode 6: The Infinite Vulcan

Plant aliens, another eugenics warlord and giant clones feels like a game of scriptwriting madlibs, but it actually manages to work quite well together.

Kirk gets to be a little sarcastic and keeps up the wonderful trend of ending episodes with communication and diplomacy. Spock was hilariously smug when chatting with his clone. McCoy once again gets to mention his family, which is nice.

Feels like forever since Sulu got to play a substantial role on an away mission. Handling strange plants is a bit of a dunce move, though. Scotty got to problem solve and Uhura is very outspoken now. It's not just that she's given more to do, it's that Nichols is playing her completely differently and I'm honestly loving it.

Agmar and his people have another wonderful design. Quite similar to the Vendorian. Keniclius is kind of interesting. He's probably slightly nicer than Khan, but still falls into the enlightened despot mode. His scheme of bringing peace to the federation, aside from being needless, is clearly far more about his own ego than genuine goodwill. His actions in the episode itself are obvious enough, but it's pretty telling that, despite clearly not wanting to use himself as the model for his army (else why use Spock?), he still makes his own clone massive. There's also the fact that, upon accepting that the federation is peaceful, his first thought is lamenting that his work was wasted and wondering what he's going to do now. Because apparently just living in a utopia isn't enough? (Mind you, I have my misgivings about how unquestionably utopian the federation is portrayed in this episode. I mean, is having a cold war against at least three enemy powers really all that peaceful? Kirk doesn't give the most persuasive of arguments). Still, it's nice for him to be decent at the end.

I noticed that reuse the same music cues over and over again, especially in fight scenes. The originals had some recycled tunes, but not to this extent. Also, there's a difference between limited animation and sloppy animation. One shot has Sulu lose everything from the neck down. The backgrounds are still magnificent and have a sort of curvature and overlap that appropriately resemble plant growth. I'm aware that it's probably the cheapest trick in the book, but having the characters be silhouettes against a background always works for me. The room with the dead Phylosians is particularly great. And we're back to decent pacing.

Pretty good episode.

The Magicks Of Megas-Tu will be next.

splodeymissile posted...

Episode 6: The Infinite Vulcan

This is the one Koenig wrote.

Episode 7: The Magicks Of Megas-Tu

Exploring the centre of the galaxy, a universe that runs on magic and an appearance from Satan. Yeah, this was pretty wonderful.

I still love Kirk's explorer spirit. He's obviously excited about exploring what might be out there. Quite liked that his defence of Lucien boiled down to he's a living being in his own right and deserves freedom and dignity. Spock doesn't miss a beat going from one school of logic to another. McCoy, surprisingly enough, plays the skeptic in this story. The side crew don't get up to much, although given the power of magic I imagine most people would follow Sulu in creating their dream partner.

Lucien is a delight. Friendly, loud and boisterous, he's fun in every scene. It's much more interesting to portray the devil as a benevolent trickster figure than as a flatly evil monster. His curiosity comes from an interesting place of him being the ultimate and only generalist in his world and loving humanity because of that similarity is beautiful. Even his voice is wonderful. Asmodeus is just a mouthpiece for the humanity on trial portion.

The backgrounds are predictably gorgeous. They look much more paint like than other backgrounds which helps sell that the centre of the galaxy is an increasingly surreal place. The city has that familiar golden age pulp vibe. We even have more animation than usual. The cast have some relatively unique being jostled and picking themselves up sequences and even the ship has some new angles. Lucien replacing Sulu's dream girl is masterful.

Rather obvious theme of has humanity improved? They have some decent depth to it. They're right that witch hunts, while usually using fearful idiots for the dirty work, were typically about power and entitlement, rather than any actual sincere religious motive. And, of course, religion has always been an excellent excuse for moral abominations. Either god wants you to do it or, when that idea might prove too unpopular, the Devil tempted you to it. The only real purpose of most Abrahamic belief is to remove accountability for one's own life. In that regard, Kirk's defence of Lucien isn't just evidence for the federation's commitment to treating all life decently (and I especially like how the federation is stated as a continuously improving entity, not an already completed utopia), nor just proof of humanity rising above ridiculous and harmful superstitions. (Kirk could not give less of a fuck that Lucien is likely the actual Devil). It also reflects humanity taking ownership of their mistakes and attempting to save someone whom they, not god, unfairly cast out. Someone who loved them and had unerring faith in them and trusted that they could one day rise to wander into other worlds and find a little magic of their own. Someone who embodied the curious spirit that marked the difference between a precious few naked survivors starving and freezing and begging in the wilderness and a fully viable, ever expanding species mostly committed towards ensuring every individual has dignity, comfort and the right to live as they choose. What better way to celebrate than with a round of drinks?

Really liked this one. The Devil got his due and it was fucking magical.

Once Upon a Planet, but continue tomorrow.

Episode 9: Once Upon a Planet

It's kind of interesting that a lot of animated episodes are blatant sequels to original ones. Clearly riding that nostalgia train. Kind of makes sense that a computer capable of processing complex thought might develop some of its own.

Didn't catch too many explicit character moments here. Mostly just a fun adventure. Kirk and Spock gets to talk down a computer again. Spock arguably found his own vision of paradise here. Still love his appreciation for art. McCoy gets abused a fair bit in this one. Snaps at Sulu, but then immediately apologises, so, its clear some of his character development stuck.

At first I was excited to see Uhura be part of the plot. Unfortunately, while she's still more of a character than the last show, she sort of just hangs out in the computer's basement. Kind of disappointing. Sulu got menaced almost as much as McCoy. Scotty tries to manage a circus. Arex seems like a strange choice to have the con, given that Scotty presumably outranks him. M'Ress needs to stop purring all the damn time. It feels like a bizarre attempt to be sexy (I mean, its Majel Barret's voice, so, it almost works), but, regardless of whether that's just my freaky mind or not, it kills the pacing a fair bit. The computer makes for a decent villain. There's some sympathy to be had for a being that evolves beyond its subservient programming.

The detail and lighting on the Enterprise still amazes me. The actual planet backgrounds aren't quite as imaginative as other episodes, but they're still beautiful. Even without the obnoxiously sexy cat lady, we have some weird pacing here. The arrival on the planet comes after an oddly long gap once Kirk's opening log is finished. There's a lethargic shot where the Enterprise lazily drifts from left to right that doesn't have any excuse like Lorelei Signal did. On the other hand, the editing can be a bit too snappy at times. The drone grabbing Uhura's hand, the Enterprise flinging itself into space and even the artificial gravity being suddenly shut off all feel visually confusing and jarring.

Still, we're 9 episodes in (excluding Tribbles had upset my count, but I've corrected it now) and have a nearly perfect record of resolving plots through understanding and communication. Can't complain too much.

Some good fun, but not the best we've seen.

Considering the unfortunate sexism he brings, Mudd's Passion sounds like an especially horrifying euphemism.

Episode 10: Mudd's Passion

Not completely awful, but I wasn't far off in my prediction. The horrifying ethics of love potions are almost always completely glossed over and this is no exception.

Despite how violently heteronormative this episode (and most of the franchise so far, really, although this is pretty blatant) is, it I'd very hard to not read Kirk and Spock being good friends as code for something more intimate. I'm not much of a shipper at all and I firmly believe that unlike some episodes, the implications here were entirely accidental, but, blimey, Kirk is one jealous bitch.

Spock gets to have fun with his emotions. Nimoy loses a lot in the transition to animation, but his voice work is pretty good and the animators managed to scrounge up enough pennies to afford some actual facial expressions. The laborious way he tries to explain his emotions whilst the entire bridge crew has their back to him, completely ignoring that he's even saying anything is (perhaps unintentionally) hilarious.

McCoy gets to be a big flirt and he's not completely cringey this time. Scotty also has perhaps his only (pseudo) relationship that felt vaguely sincere, plus I'll appreciate any reference to his drinking habits. Actually, both M'Ress and Arex are impressing me with how much character they really have. M'Ress actually gets to flirt back, rather than just be a blow up doll to be talked at, and her snappy line at Scotty when the hate effect starts is delightful. In just a few lines, she's become one of the strongest female characters this franchise has had, which is kind of sad when you consider that she's a big cat with an inconsistent voice (seriously, certain lines when the potion is taking effect sound like Barret has a throat infection). Arex's voice, meanwhile, is no longer weird to me. He just starts playing some tunes for no reason, before suddenly remembering that there's an away team to keep track of. The long pause after he asks makes it seem like the side crew are honestly mulling over whether they can be arsed to do their jobs or not.

Mudd might bring a lot of uncomfortable sexism with him, but his greasy, sleazy conman act is just as entertaining as ever. Despite his many setbacks, he carries himself with an air of undeserved confidence and imperiousness and its wonderful. Loved his genuine surprise at the love potions actually working. I feel like his animated design looks better than his live action outfits. Something about his permanent smile calls to mind old sprites of eggman.

Which brings us to the weak link, Chapel. There is no excuse for her even entertaining Mudd's spiel. Given that the plot involved the crystals affecting everyone anyway once they got in the ventilation, they could have done this plot much better by simply having Mudd struggle on his way to the brig and accidentally drop some crystals. Instead, they assassinate what little character she had by making her a typical lovesick dunce. Not only that, but a nurse, who presumably has some pretty strong ethics, is perfectly fine with raping her supposed beloved. Again, they didn't need to write her as explicitly culpable. Just have Mudd drop a few in the grill and you have an identical plot with much less nastiness. It's particularly strange given that Barret voices both her and the much stronger M'Ress. Getting taken hostage by an unarmed swindler is just an insult.

The script feels pretty tight and we had some funny editing going on like with the quick shot of the transporter crew dancing. The backgrounds are still beautiful, but still not quite as inspiring as the first few episodes. Spock cutting a trench with his phaser seemed visually off, though. The rock monsters are great and are decently detailed and animated for all the moving they do.

So, at my most generous, we're one and a half out of three for decent Mudd stories.

The Terratin Incident tomorrow.

Episode 11: The Terratin Incident

Busier than I expected, so, I missed a day.

Didn't much like this one. Shrinking is a fine concept, but this just felt like a slog.

The characters are mostly functions here and when they do get character, it's kind of unlikeable. Even with what the Terratins did, Kirk feels a bit too belligerent and aggressive, Spock might as well be a computer, McCoy grumbles for the sake of grumbling and Sulu is a panicky, clumsy idiot. Scotty and Uhura come out unscathed (Uhura in particular is getting some of the better lines).

The worst character is predictably Chapel. Had promise when she showed some initiative, but then she tripped into the fishtank. Aside from incessantly repeating help like a parody of Penelope Pitstop, apparently Barret just didn't want to act for that scene (not that I blame her) because I wasn't feeling any urgency at all. Apparently, drowning doesn't even measure up to an inconvenience. Arex's voice is back to annoying me. And the Mendant is such an insufferable little snot that despite having understandable motives, I'd happily squish him on principle. I truly despise the sound of his voice, as well.

Finding something weird and learning the rules of it is usually my favourite plot structure, but I think this is the point where I reach the limit. So much time is spent on laboriously checking every facet of the ship's operations, including a baffling look at the animals that they apparently have. Actually seems like Kirk is trying to belittle Spock there. Then, there's the technobabble which overexplains and tries and fails to make the shrinking effect make sense. Personally, I think realism is overrated, but if you are going to use real science, at least make sure you understand it and the implications of your fantasy stuff. Otherwise you just needlessly embarrass yourself and have the plot pointlessly spin its wheels. Magic rays make smallness happen is all most members of the audience need. Get on with something else.

There's some fun in seeing the mini crew still in their usual places and using various means to keep up with their jobs, but it still goes on too long. Exploring a day in the shrunken life might actually be a good plot, if the characters were allowed to be characters. On a good note, the crystals on the planet lend it a haunting beauty.

Feels like 5 minutes worth of plot stretched far too thin.

The Time Trap is next.

Episode 12: The Time Trap

Much better. Nothing wrong with doing space Bermuda triangle. Got the Klingons, too.

Still loving Kirk's complete lack of patience for any authority. Couldn't care less about Kuri. Gets one of the better moments of the whole franchise so far at the end, when he states that seeing the stars is what really matters. Spock's chummy turn is funny and fairly clever. McCoy questioning Spock's sanity is also amusing. The rest of the crew do their jobs and make a few remarks about the Klingons, but it's still nice seeing them do more on average now.

Kor becoming a more generic villain is, similar to Koloth, obviously a function of the Saturday morning cartoon vibe, but the moustache twirling is still entertaining. The elysian council is a cool menagerie of designs and the actual characters aren't too bad, except Magen who's voice is bloody annoying.

We're back to decent pacing again. It helps that once the rules of the world and a plan to escape are established, the episode shifts to focusing on Kor's intrigue. The designs of the aliens are cool and the Enterprise itself is still astonishingly beautiful at times. Making the time barrier a whirlpool is brilliant considering the obvious origins.

We don't actually see much of elysia itself, which is obviously partly due to the shorter run time, but I also think it's because, even in-universe, there isn't much to show. Despite claiming to be a utopia, the council are clearly weary and defeated and, with the practical inability to die (won't allow violence), are basically trapped in a purgatory. The biggest crime of utopia, if we're being generous enough to call it that, is that it's boring, stagnant and eternal. Peace without possibilities is just another flavour of hell. The closest thing to a culture they seem to have, the orion dance, is something that Kirk admits to have seen many times before. Even when the crews are minding their own business, the Council apparently just sits and watches. Not even the pretense of life. It's why the most important thing for Kirk is being able to see the stars. The possibility of change and growth and discovery is what life is about, not forced contentment and iron fisted obedience. How fitting that the penalty for threatening any change at all is to be immobilised and locked in an even smaller world.

Really good episode.

The Ambergris Element next.

Episode 13: The Ambergris Element

Fish people have never been particularly interesting to me, not even when the main characters are turning into one.

Kirk's priorities seem a bit strange. His first objection to being a fish is about losing his command, with the fact that he may have no decent standard of life left being secondary. Spock is a bit tactless and bigoted in discussing the Aquans' descent into savagery right in front of them. McCoy is the only sane man in wanting to get the job done as quick as possible. Gets to give a decent amount of technobabble, too. Scotty is his usual self and Arex gets a line that doesn't completely offend my ears. Chapel must still be resting her voice after the "help" debacle, cause she's silent as the grave here. Sulu, too.

I find the Aquans incredibly boring and basically just a stereotypical portrayal of generic natives. The bickering over their politics and the hand wringing over breaking ordainments and traditions does not inspire much interest at all. They have names, but I see little point in differentiating them. On a positive note, their designs are reasonably similar to how atlantians are sometimes portrayed in superhero works, which helps the comic book theme of the visuals.

The backgrounds are still gorgeous. The Sur-Snake is an alright monster. It's fight with the shuttle is ridiculous. Limited animation does it no justice, since it appears that it took Kirk a few seconds of his vehicle being tossed about before he got suddenly surprised by it. The general carnage should have probably caused more damage to everyone. The time frame seems weirdly arbitrary. Saying its been 5 days isn't a substitute for making us feel the passage of time, although McCoy got to convey some brief despair. Speaking of time, the ending feels simultaneously drawn out and rushed. McCoy's running commentary on the operation drags, whereas the Aquans' completely readjusting their culture after a prevented disaster came far too quick. They kill one of the monsters and then decide to capture another instead of just harvesting from the first. As mentioned, the Aquan society doesn't really exist and is just irritating to pretend to explore.

Bad, but not even in an offensive way. Maybe it's being saved by the shorter runtime, but the worst of the animated series seem to be better than the worst of the originals. Still ain't great, though.

On to The Slaver Weapon.