2015 update: another artifact from the old blog.
This year, I thought I'd do a brief rundown listing some of my favorite, for various reasons, holiday movies and TV specials. These are titles I don't tire of seeing year after year. They really do hold up.
I'm working on the next Trek entry, but it looks as though it isn't going to come together until after the holiday (please try and contain your disappointment!). The good part is, the next entry will be a two-episode hot kiss at the end of a wet fist, so prepare yourselves!
So on to the list, in no particular order:
1. How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966) I just can't get tired of this classic Chuck Jones TV special. It represents the spirit of the season as well as being faithful to the book. It's very funny and sweet at the same time. Another thing I appreciate about this version is its efficiency: the program doesn't overdo it or add unneeded schmaltz. FAR superior to the feature film version (and don't get me started on the Horton movie). And if that isn't enough, need I mention Boris Karloff?
2. Holiday Inn (1942) As some of you know, this movie is a tradition with my family: we watched it nearly every year while I was growing up. We all know it so well that we tend to speak entire lines of dialogue from it while it's running. This movie, of course, originated the mega-holiday-juggernaut-hit, "White Christmas." No, it wasn't the movie White Christmas (1954), even though it is more recognized and has a somewhat similar plot. Holiday Inn, despite its cheesiness is a lot of fun for me. Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire are always entertaining with lines like, "A gentle smile often breeds a kick in the pants." Some of the songs aren't exactly Irving Berlin's finest, but they do at least have a certain cheeky fun to them. Heck, the movie is worth watching for Astaire's firecracker dance alone.
3. A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) I don't need to tell you all much about this one. I've been a fan of it since I was very young, so much that I remember making a cassette tape recording of the special's audio so I could listen to it over again. No VCR at the time: I put the microphone of the tape recorder close to the TV speaker. Seriously high tech! Unsurprisingly, the voices used for the Peanuts characters in this special are the ones I still consider to be the "real" voices. The others just don't seem as right to me (ah, impressionable youth!). Looking at the show today, I love the music (classic stuff) and the humor still makes me laugh: "We all know that Christmas is a big commercial racket. It's run by a big eastern syndicate, you know." The animation is crude, but it totally fits the material and this holiday special isn't afraid to come out and talk about the actual holiday. I'm not really a Christian and am as far away as possible from the "war on Christmas" BS, but I've always appreciated the way that this special gets to the point of the holiday in an honest way. It sure beats, "Jesus is the reason for the season."
4. Love Actually (2003) This, in my view can't really be called a classic, (hasn't been around long enough) but I've seen this film often enough to recognize its value as a holiday staple. It may not age well in the long run, but I still find this "feel good" movie to be one of my favorites. Yes, it really does deserve the "feel good" label! The film manages to blend its amusing and bittersweet elements with an overall humanity that really works for me. The film occasionally loses control of its large collection of stories and characters, but manages to pull it together in the end. The conclusion, which tidies up many of story lines, has just enough uncertainty to keep it somewhat grounded in the real world. Not all the relationship issues are resolved happily or with the sentiment of a greeting card. If nothing else, the story surrounding Bill Nighy's aging rock star character makes the film worth watching.
5. It's a Wonderful Life (1946) Again, I don't really need to give this one much explanation. It too was viewed on a regular basis when I was growing up. The movie has enough sentimentality ("sentimental hogwash!") for ten holiday movies and is often dismissed because of it or enjoyed only on that level. Beyond the main message of this movie, the things that keep me from getting bored with the film are the complexities of the ideas, the characters, the great performances of the cast, and the interesting way the film is structured. The guy who writes DVD Savant has a really interesting take on the film here. He talks a bit about the background of the movie and a very interesting theory about the way it's put together. I highly recommend reading it if you're a fan of this film. One quote:
"It would be fun to write a version of It's a Wonderful Life from Henry Potter's point of view. Potter only wants to bring order and frugality to a messy, mongrelized population and that upstart pipsqueak Bailey keeps gumming up the works.
Other character sketches are so rich they seem to indicate lives outside the movie proper. What was the sordid truth behind poor Violet Bick's reputation? Did Uncle Billy's transgressions drive his brother Peter to an early death? Just what did Miss Davis (Ellen Corby) need the $17.30 for? While George was propping up Bedford Falls, did the notorious playboy Sam Wainwright run Harry Bailey for congress on his war record, and warp American values by passing legislation favoring the plastics industry?
And what about Mr. Welch (Stanley Andrews), the unhappy husband of George's kids' schoolteacher, Mrs. Welch? Mr. Welch hits George for making his wife cry. He's the villain of the moment, but imagine a one-act play about life at the Welch family. They have no kids; she's underpaid and he's out of work. They're trying to be cheerful on Christmas Eve when an unreasonable parent accuses Mrs. Welch of endangering a student, Zuzu. Mrs. Welch breaks down in tears. Mr. Welch stomps out to get drunk. It sounds like something from James Joyce." Classic stuff.
6. A Christmas Carol (aka "Scrooge" 1951) This warhorse has been done a lot, but this is maybe the best filmed version. I also get a kick out of the Muppet version.
7. Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964) This is the one Rankin/Bass special I will still sit through and is the standout. Sure, the Rudolph song was written for a retail store jingle originally, but the story is good and has a message of tolerance (those commie 60s hippies!); come on, it has a gay dentist as a major supporting character! The old rickety stop-motion animation makes the Charlie Brown specials look sophisticated, but it's still endearing. And today, the message contained in the song, "There's Always Tomorrow," that you can always put off making your dreams come true, is a bit of a downer if you think about it very much. But really, who cares? We're all residents on that Island of Misfit Toys at one point or another.
OK, that's it for this year. I'm sure I'm leaving something out, but there's always tomorrow...
Have a great holiday, everyone (whatever you're celebrating) and stay ahead of the weather!
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
TOS Rewind #35: "I, Mudd"
This time we take a look at I, Mudd (11/03/1967).
Eric, Rob, Andy, and I did a podcast. Check it out.
I mentioned when talking about "Catspaw" that I felt that the creators weren't always sure whether they wanted to be serious or not. Well, this time they had their tongues surely planted in cheek. This episode has a load of goofy material in it and often goes from one gag to another. A real problem for me is that they have this plot that's all too easy to poke holes in. The whole thing isn't all that satisfying but does have its moments. The first act, where the robot Norman takes control of the Enterprise, is too rushed for its amount of detail (they have to explain how he takes over the ship) and too long for a quick, if unimportant, "get them to the planet" plot point. Kirk and the crew just seem to shrug and wait it out once they become aware of Norman's actions. The whole thing just doesn't seem right for the characters.
Harry Mudd gets a proper introduction with the other robots and even introduces the replica of his ex-wife. Otherwise, all the other robots (save for Norman) are hot women in skimpy outfits, causing Chekov to exclaim, "this is even better than Leningrad!" After the plot is in full swing, it's time once again for those crafty humans to outwit the machines with a full-on Shatner speech: I believe at this point in the series, the Kirk talking the machine to death thing has officially become a joke. The head robot Norman is "smoked" by the humans' erratic behavior and a simple logic loop. Wow, there's some high tech, there! I really have trouble taking their plot to "serve" the galaxy very seriously and wonder why they didn't just go for something simpler. The penultimate scene where they leave Mudd on the planet with 500 "unlocked" ex-wife robots does indeed seem like a suitable fate for Harry (but of course, the character returns in an episode of the Animated Series)
Roger Carmel is back playing Mudd and he's fun to watch as he embraces the part with gusto. I usually resist using the word, "gusto" but it just seems apt in this cast. The rest of the cast gets to do some pseudo-improv during the scenes where they're attempting to overload the robots. Shatner goes between being cranky and whimsically sarcastic. I still find some of that amusing and I believe the cast had fun doing the scenes. Hell, it's a lot more than James Doohan usually got to do.
Interesting notes:
Norman is the only robot who talks, well, like a stereotypical robot. All the female "models" talk normally.
Kirk and Spock are the only members of the landing party not to be at all tempted by something the robot population has to offer. I'm surprised they didn't have some android babe try to go after Kirk. This time, it's all-business for the Captain. Also, I notice how Uhura is potentially "bought" with the offer of an immortal robot body. Chekov is ready to settle down with all the chicks and McCoy and Scotty get tempted by work-related labs and stuff. What does that tell you? That Uhura, always thinking about her looks...
The doors on the planet set look awfully similar to the Krell doors of "Forbidden Planet." Hmmm...
Of course I didn't really care about this stuff growing up. I always liked watching the shenanigans of I, Mudd and found the last half very amusing. The sight of those familiar characters acting like that for one episode was quite entertaining.
I watched the remastered version of this episode. Besides the usual ship/space/planet shot replacements, I noticed that they spruced up the part where Norman reveals the little access panel on his stomach. One of those times where it didn't really add nor detract from the episode.
---
Now let's turn it over to Eric:
This is going to be another short review, partly because of the holidays but mostly because there is nothing particularly profound about "I Mudd." It is essentially a satire, a lighthearted romp through silliness that often strays into surreal absurdity. The only themes that have any resonance are two that we've discussed before and are perhaps overused in original Trek: "Man vs. Machine" and "Man vs. Idyllic existence." (For more satisfying treatments, see "This Side of Paradise" and "Return of the Archons.") With both of these themes, Kirk fulfills the role he has in the past: advocate for the ascendancy of humanity over machines (in this case androids) and pleader for the human spirit's need for freedom and challenge.
The androids, by way of Norman, show the shortcomings of artificial intelligence--it lacks the human capacity to devise its own sense of purpose. (This is an interesting point, although many humans, despite being blessed with "organic intelligence," also suffer from that same difficulty.) In addition, the androids, with the possible exception of Norman, are incapable of original, independent thought. And even in Norman, this capacity is stunted at best. So naturally, it is human creativity, irrationality, and out-of-the-box thinking that wins the day.
Mudd, on the other hand, represents the "evils" of an idyllic existence (albeit one in captivity). Apparently it makes one fat, lazy, and pointless. The lesson is lost, however, when one refers back to the first season episode "Mudd's Women" and sees that Harry Mudd has always been fat, lazy, and pointless. In any case, Kirk and crew are able to escape only when they reject the "gilded cage" offered by the androids. And as a kicker, even Mudd (who clearly relishes having the androids to fulfill his every whim) is willing to join forces with Kirk to win his freedom.
So the themes in "I Mudd" are retreads from earlier episodes, and their treatment and resolution is notably unremarkable. This episode is hardly a gem, but if you watch it expecting nothing more than a light satire, it is still enjoyable.
Next time: "Metamorphosis"
Eric, Rob, Andy, and I did a podcast. Check it out.
I mentioned when talking about "Catspaw" that I felt that the creators weren't always sure whether they wanted to be serious or not. Well, this time they had their tongues surely planted in cheek. This episode has a load of goofy material in it and often goes from one gag to another. A real problem for me is that they have this plot that's all too easy to poke holes in. The whole thing isn't all that satisfying but does have its moments. The first act, where the robot Norman takes control of the Enterprise, is too rushed for its amount of detail (they have to explain how he takes over the ship) and too long for a quick, if unimportant, "get them to the planet" plot point. Kirk and the crew just seem to shrug and wait it out once they become aware of Norman's actions. The whole thing just doesn't seem right for the characters.
Harry Mudd gets a proper introduction with the other robots and even introduces the replica of his ex-wife. Otherwise, all the other robots (save for Norman) are hot women in skimpy outfits, causing Chekov to exclaim, "this is even better than Leningrad!" After the plot is in full swing, it's time once again for those crafty humans to outwit the machines with a full-on Shatner speech: I believe at this point in the series, the Kirk talking the machine to death thing has officially become a joke. The head robot Norman is "smoked" by the humans' erratic behavior and a simple logic loop. Wow, there's some high tech, there! I really have trouble taking their plot to "serve" the galaxy very seriously and wonder why they didn't just go for something simpler. The penultimate scene where they leave Mudd on the planet with 500 "unlocked" ex-wife robots does indeed seem like a suitable fate for Harry (but of course, the character returns in an episode of the Animated Series)
Roger Carmel is back playing Mudd and he's fun to watch as he embraces the part with gusto. I usually resist using the word, "gusto" but it just seems apt in this cast. The rest of the cast gets to do some pseudo-improv during the scenes where they're attempting to overload the robots. Shatner goes between being cranky and whimsically sarcastic. I still find some of that amusing and I believe the cast had fun doing the scenes. Hell, it's a lot more than James Doohan usually got to do.
Interesting notes:
Norman is the only robot who talks, well, like a stereotypical robot. All the female "models" talk normally.
Kirk and Spock are the only members of the landing party not to be at all tempted by something the robot population has to offer. I'm surprised they didn't have some android babe try to go after Kirk. This time, it's all-business for the Captain. Also, I notice how Uhura is potentially "bought" with the offer of an immortal robot body. Chekov is ready to settle down with all the chicks and McCoy and Scotty get tempted by work-related labs and stuff. What does that tell you? That Uhura, always thinking about her looks...
The doors on the planet set look awfully similar to the Krell doors of "Forbidden Planet." Hmmm...
Of course I didn't really care about this stuff growing up. I always liked watching the shenanigans of I, Mudd and found the last half very amusing. The sight of those familiar characters acting like that for one episode was quite entertaining.
I watched the remastered version of this episode. Besides the usual ship/space/planet shot replacements, I noticed that they spruced up the part where Norman reveals the little access panel on his stomach. One of those times where it didn't really add nor detract from the episode.
---
Now let's turn it over to Eric:
This is going to be another short review, partly because of the holidays but mostly because there is nothing particularly profound about "I Mudd." It is essentially a satire, a lighthearted romp through silliness that often strays into surreal absurdity. The only themes that have any resonance are two that we've discussed before and are perhaps overused in original Trek: "Man vs. Machine" and "Man vs. Idyllic existence." (For more satisfying treatments, see "This Side of Paradise" and "Return of the Archons.") With both of these themes, Kirk fulfills the role he has in the past: advocate for the ascendancy of humanity over machines (in this case androids) and pleader for the human spirit's need for freedom and challenge.
The androids, by way of Norman, show the shortcomings of artificial intelligence--it lacks the human capacity to devise its own sense of purpose. (This is an interesting point, although many humans, despite being blessed with "organic intelligence," also suffer from that same difficulty.) In addition, the androids, with the possible exception of Norman, are incapable of original, independent thought. And even in Norman, this capacity is stunted at best. So naturally, it is human creativity, irrationality, and out-of-the-box thinking that wins the day.
Mudd, on the other hand, represents the "evils" of an idyllic existence (albeit one in captivity). Apparently it makes one fat, lazy, and pointless. The lesson is lost, however, when one refers back to the first season episode "Mudd's Women" and sees that Harry Mudd has always been fat, lazy, and pointless. In any case, Kirk and crew are able to escape only when they reject the "gilded cage" offered by the androids. And as a kicker, even Mudd (who clearly relishes having the androids to fulfill his every whim) is willing to join forces with Kirk to win his freedom.
So the themes in "I Mudd" are retreads from earlier episodes, and their treatment and resolution is notably unremarkable. This episode is hardly a gem, but if you watch it expecting nothing more than a light satire, it is still enjoyable.
Next time: "Metamorphosis"
Monday, November 23, 2009
Goodbye, Mr. Barnes
I don't normally use this blog for personal stuff, but I wanted to note the passing of my Uncle Don Barnes, who died early this morning at the age of 94.
Don had suffered from Alzheimer's for the last 5 years so in a sense, he's been gone for a while. Nonetheless, I wanted to make a short note about this person who had a real influence on me.
Uncle Don, who along with my late Aunt Faith lived in the Rapid City area the entire time I was growing up; the Barnes' were a regular part of our lives during those years. We visited their house a lot when I was younger and if you could see what the place looked like, you'd understand the influence. Don was a retired electrical engineer (he worked for the FAA for some of his career IIRC) and a real pack rat. His garage and basement were stuffed full of all sorts of fascinating old electronics junk. I spent a lot of time in that basement (it was a fun place to play for us kids) and have vivid memories of the place. Don was one of the reasons I'm as into technology as I am. He was pretty much always interested in new tech and we had fun talking about whatever the latest stuff was. I often brought over some piece of audio gear, often in non-working condition. He was always ready to dive in and either get his soldering iron warmed up to fix it or show me what had to be done with it. I learned a lot about how electronics work from him and also have my background knowledge of old tech thanks to him (and my Dad, of course).
Don was also extraordinarily generous, as anyone who knew him could tell you. While he collected a lot of old stuff, he didn't hesitate to provide it to anyone who needed it. When I was done with high school and didn't have a car to drive, he gave me his unused 1962 Mercury Meteor. This old car, which was black with a red interior (and often dubbed "The Batmobile") and had rear fins, got me through several years of regular use.
So Don will not be forgotten in my family. His struggle with Alzheimer's was not easy to watch but we're fortunate that we had so many years with him. RIP, Uncle Don: we all miss you.
Don had suffered from Alzheimer's for the last 5 years so in a sense, he's been gone for a while. Nonetheless, I wanted to make a short note about this person who had a real influence on me.
Uncle Don, who along with my late Aunt Faith lived in the Rapid City area the entire time I was growing up; the Barnes' were a regular part of our lives during those years. We visited their house a lot when I was younger and if you could see what the place looked like, you'd understand the influence. Don was a retired electrical engineer (he worked for the FAA for some of his career IIRC) and a real pack rat. His garage and basement were stuffed full of all sorts of fascinating old electronics junk. I spent a lot of time in that basement (it was a fun place to play for us kids) and have vivid memories of the place. Don was one of the reasons I'm as into technology as I am. He was pretty much always interested in new tech and we had fun talking about whatever the latest stuff was. I often brought over some piece of audio gear, often in non-working condition. He was always ready to dive in and either get his soldering iron warmed up to fix it or show me what had to be done with it. I learned a lot about how electronics work from him and also have my background knowledge of old tech thanks to him (and my Dad, of course).
Don was also extraordinarily generous, as anyone who knew him could tell you. While he collected a lot of old stuff, he didn't hesitate to provide it to anyone who needed it. When I was done with high school and didn't have a car to drive, he gave me his unused 1962 Mercury Meteor. This old car, which was black with a red interior (and often dubbed "The Batmobile") and had rear fins, got me through several years of regular use.
So Don will not be forgotten in my family. His struggle with Alzheimer's was not easy to watch but we're fortunate that we had so many years with him. RIP, Uncle Don: we all miss you.
Monday, November 2, 2009
TOS Rewind #34: "Catspaw"
Happy Halloween! We happened to hit this episode, one that's actually Halloween-themed, this week. Funny...OK, so we're a little late. Boo!
So we have Catspaw (10/27/1967), the one original series holiday special, so to speak.
Eric and Rob joined me on the podcast:
So here we have the single holiday-themed episode in Trek history (I think). Sure, it's no Star Wars Holiday Special, but it's pretty weak for a second season episode.
I think the big issue here is that the writers couldn't seem to figure out whether this was going to be a silly/campy "Jiffy Trek" or something with serious concepts. There's a bit of both here, really and the mix just doesn't work. There a number of jokey references which, while amusing by themselves, just add to the muddled nature of this episode. The ending, as Rob points out on the podcast, is a bit odd as well. The idea seems to borrow from other Trek material and the idea of aliens assuming human form and not being able to deal with the accompanying "sensations," (ahem!) gets used again in future episodes. Another problem is that we don't really get what the aliens actually want from Kirk and co.
The acting here ranges from just okay to quite mediocre. I didn't think the actor playing Korob was too bad, but the woman playing Sylvia was often laugh-inducing. Part of it was her lines and costumes. Speaking of costumes, who thought the fuzzy wig on Chekov was a good idea? It looks really bad. They had the good sense to ditch it later, thankfully. The worst performance/character had to be DeSalle, the guy who's left in command when Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beam down (Scotty and Sulu were already missing). He comes off as this stuck-up, annoying throw-back to bad WW2 combat movies: "Maybe we can't break it, but I'll bet you credits to navy beans we can put a dent in it!" Uh, yeah. That'll show 'em! Another great quote: "I can squash you! And that would be an interesting sensation, yes." Tee hee. The scene where Sylvia is trying to get it on with Kirk made Stacie laugh a lot. Of course, right after that when she finds out he's just messing with her is pretty fun. There's also a sequence where Sylvia, in the form of a black cat, grows to giant size to threaten Kirk and the landing party. It looks so incredibly silly that I was instantly reminded of the scene in Team America: World Police where the puppets are attacked by a black house cat.
Growing up, I would watch this one and say the 1970s equivalent of "Meh." Now, it doesn't hold up so well. It happens. I watched the BD/remastered version and aside from a re-done view of the outside of the castle, there wasn't a whole lot to see.
Now let's see what Eric made of this one:
---
It recently occurred to me that my written reviews of late have been nothing more than recaps of our podcasts, so starting with this review, I'm going to attempt a literary analysis (or something bearing a vague resemblance to a literary analysis) of our chosen episode. And I'll ask your forgiveness in advance--it's been a loooong time since I've written anything like this.
To begin, I'm certain there are many who would argue strenuously that there is nothing literary about Star Trek worthy of analysis. I, of course, disagree. As I've mentioned before, almost all of the original Star Trek episodes had underlying themes that were interesting and sometimes even profound. They not uncommonly suffered from poor presentation and/or inadequate development, but they are still there. And with a little coaxing, they can be brought out and examined. So, here goes...
"Catspaw" is about the use and abuse of power and the attendant consequences. Throughout the episode, the experiences and fates of Korob, Sylvia, and Captain Kirk show that a person must have the courage to use power and the wisdom and strength not to abuse it.
Consider Korob. He is the alien who has control of the transmuter, and thereby wields extraordinary power, but he doesn't use it to stop Sylvia until it is almost too late. When he is talking to Captain Kirk, he alludes that Sylvia's instability is the reason their introduction to our galaxy wasn't peaceful. So early on, Korob knew, or at least suspected, that there was a problem and didn't have the courage to act preemptively to head off the impending disaster. Of course, it can be argued that such suspicions aren't adequate to warrant neutralizing one's partner, but Korob also harangues Sylvia for abandoning her duty to their superiors, which should've been sufficient reason for him to act. Again, he lacks to courage to do what must be done, so it isn't until Sylvia has killed, enslaved, and goes on a murderous rampage, threatening to wipe out all human life, that he finally takes action. This gives Kirk the opportunity to defeat Sylvia, but in the process, Korob is killed.
Conversely, Sylvia has no problem whatsoever with using power. In all fairness, her situation is much like that of a drug addict. In taking human form, she is suddenly exposed to a host of intoxicating sensations that overwhelm her. This is understandable, if tragic. She uses her power not so much for the sake of power itself, as is true of so many villains, but rather to get her "fix" of sensations. In any case, regardless of her motivations, Sylvia grossly abuses her power--she commits heinous crimes (murder and slavery) and threatens genocide (credibly, one must assume) against the human race. Her fate, much like Korob, is defeat and death. And along the way, she is manipulated by Kirk, just as she used members of the Enterprise crew.
So now we come to Kirk's role. He is also unafraid to use power, which he has shown numerous times. It could be said that he is irresponsible because he takes sexual advantage of Sylvia, who doesn't understand sexuality or sexual politics. But at this point the question becomes: Do Kirk's actions demonstrate a lack of responsibility and morality, or do they show the strength and courage Korob lacked? The answer lies in Kirk's motivation in manipulating Sylvia, which is to gain the information and influence necessary to save the Enterprise and its crew, and (somewhat melodramatically) all of humanity. As a Starfleet captain, he swore an oath to protect not only his crew but also the entire Federation, so his motivation is rooted in sworn duty, and, in a larger sense, the moral obligation any decent human being would feel when faced with a threat to the human race. Also, perhaps even more tellingly, Kirk does not manipulate Sylvia out of malice or for his own benefit or pleasure. He does what he must do. He has the strength to use his power (masculine wiles?), and although he may be ruthless, he uses that power responsibly. As a result, he survives and is successful.
So "Catspaw" shows us that it is wrong not only to abuse power, but also to allow fear to prevent one from using power when it is called for. The ideal is to be strong enough to use power when needed and to temper that usage with wisdom so that it does not become abuse.
Next time: "I Mudd"
So we have Catspaw (10/27/1967), the one original series holiday special, so to speak.
Eric and Rob joined me on the podcast:
So here we have the single holiday-themed episode in Trek history (I think). Sure, it's no Star Wars Holiday Special, but it's pretty weak for a second season episode.
I think the big issue here is that the writers couldn't seem to figure out whether this was going to be a silly/campy "Jiffy Trek" or something with serious concepts. There's a bit of both here, really and the mix just doesn't work. There a number of jokey references which, while amusing by themselves, just add to the muddled nature of this episode. The ending, as Rob points out on the podcast, is a bit odd as well. The idea seems to borrow from other Trek material and the idea of aliens assuming human form and not being able to deal with the accompanying "sensations," (ahem!) gets used again in future episodes. Another problem is that we don't really get what the aliens actually want from Kirk and co.
The acting here ranges from just okay to quite mediocre. I didn't think the actor playing Korob was too bad, but the woman playing Sylvia was often laugh-inducing. Part of it was her lines and costumes. Speaking of costumes, who thought the fuzzy wig on Chekov was a good idea? It looks really bad. They had the good sense to ditch it later, thankfully. The worst performance/character had to be DeSalle, the guy who's left in command when Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beam down (Scotty and Sulu were already missing). He comes off as this stuck-up, annoying throw-back to bad WW2 combat movies: "Maybe we can't break it, but I'll bet you credits to navy beans we can put a dent in it!" Uh, yeah. That'll show 'em! Another great quote: "I can squash you! And that would be an interesting sensation, yes." Tee hee. The scene where Sylvia is trying to get it on with Kirk made Stacie laugh a lot. Of course, right after that when she finds out he's just messing with her is pretty fun. There's also a sequence where Sylvia, in the form of a black cat, grows to giant size to threaten Kirk and the landing party. It looks so incredibly silly that I was instantly reminded of the scene in Team America: World Police where the puppets are attacked by a black house cat.
Growing up, I would watch this one and say the 1970s equivalent of "Meh." Now, it doesn't hold up so well. It happens. I watched the BD/remastered version and aside from a re-done view of the outside of the castle, there wasn't a whole lot to see.
Now let's see what Eric made of this one:
---
It recently occurred to me that my written reviews of late have been nothing more than recaps of our podcasts, so starting with this review, I'm going to attempt a literary analysis (or something bearing a vague resemblance to a literary analysis) of our chosen episode. And I'll ask your forgiveness in advance--it's been a loooong time since I've written anything like this.
To begin, I'm certain there are many who would argue strenuously that there is nothing literary about Star Trek worthy of analysis. I, of course, disagree. As I've mentioned before, almost all of the original Star Trek episodes had underlying themes that were interesting and sometimes even profound. They not uncommonly suffered from poor presentation and/or inadequate development, but they are still there. And with a little coaxing, they can be brought out and examined. So, here goes...
"Catspaw" is about the use and abuse of power and the attendant consequences. Throughout the episode, the experiences and fates of Korob, Sylvia, and Captain Kirk show that a person must have the courage to use power and the wisdom and strength not to abuse it.
Consider Korob. He is the alien who has control of the transmuter, and thereby wields extraordinary power, but he doesn't use it to stop Sylvia until it is almost too late. When he is talking to Captain Kirk, he alludes that Sylvia's instability is the reason their introduction to our galaxy wasn't peaceful. So early on, Korob knew, or at least suspected, that there was a problem and didn't have the courage to act preemptively to head off the impending disaster. Of course, it can be argued that such suspicions aren't adequate to warrant neutralizing one's partner, but Korob also harangues Sylvia for abandoning her duty to their superiors, which should've been sufficient reason for him to act. Again, he lacks to courage to do what must be done, so it isn't until Sylvia has killed, enslaved, and goes on a murderous rampage, threatening to wipe out all human life, that he finally takes action. This gives Kirk the opportunity to defeat Sylvia, but in the process, Korob is killed.
Conversely, Sylvia has no problem whatsoever with using power. In all fairness, her situation is much like that of a drug addict. In taking human form, she is suddenly exposed to a host of intoxicating sensations that overwhelm her. This is understandable, if tragic. She uses her power not so much for the sake of power itself, as is true of so many villains, but rather to get her "fix" of sensations. In any case, regardless of her motivations, Sylvia grossly abuses her power--she commits heinous crimes (murder and slavery) and threatens genocide (credibly, one must assume) against the human race. Her fate, much like Korob, is defeat and death. And along the way, she is manipulated by Kirk, just as she used members of the Enterprise crew.
So now we come to Kirk's role. He is also unafraid to use power, which he has shown numerous times. It could be said that he is irresponsible because he takes sexual advantage of Sylvia, who doesn't understand sexuality or sexual politics. But at this point the question becomes: Do Kirk's actions demonstrate a lack of responsibility and morality, or do they show the strength and courage Korob lacked? The answer lies in Kirk's motivation in manipulating Sylvia, which is to gain the information and influence necessary to save the Enterprise and its crew, and (somewhat melodramatically) all of humanity. As a Starfleet captain, he swore an oath to protect not only his crew but also the entire Federation, so his motivation is rooted in sworn duty, and, in a larger sense, the moral obligation any decent human being would feel when faced with a threat to the human race. Also, perhaps even more tellingly, Kirk does not manipulate Sylvia out of malice or for his own benefit or pleasure. He does what he must do. He has the strength to use his power (masculine wiles?), and although he may be ruthless, he uses that power responsibly. As a result, he survives and is successful.
So "Catspaw" shows us that it is wrong not only to abuse power, but also to allow fear to prevent one from using power when it is called for. The ideal is to be strong enough to use power when needed and to temper that usage with wisdom so that it does not become abuse.
Next time: "I Mudd"
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
TOS Rewind #33: "The Doomsday Machine"
And now we get to one of the series true classics: The Doomsday Machine (10/20/1967).
The podcast we did for this one can be found here:
This episode has always been a personal favorite and still is today. The episode has a very entertaining action/sci-fi story. Adding to this are some interesting concepts and decent performances from the cast.
Growing up, the whole idea of the wandering planet killer, along with seeing a copy of the familiar Enterprise was just irresistible. Despite the fact that the wrecked Constellation was a cheap toy Enterprise model kit (it was an actual AMT kit) that they altered, it was enough to evoke visions in my imagination of a real wrecked Enterprise sister. Sure, the planet killer looked like a glowing ice cream cone/wind sock dipped in cement (IIRC, that's actually what they used!), but it did the job. Plus, the odd look actually works better than some design with a more conventional look. The weirdness tends to make it more believable as an alien object (at least it always did to me).
Today, the episode still packs a punch and even has some interesting ideas behind it. The scene where Kirk and the landing party encounter Decker aboard the Constellation has a couple of notable points. One, when it's revealed that there is this planet killer/robot out there slicing/dicing planets, Kirk does some thoughtful speculation as to its origin and purpose. That bit of dialogue helps the antagonist rise above the "monster of the week" thing and draws parallels to cold war issues. The planet killer can also be interpreted as an environmental statement (thanks Lee for pointing that out) in that future generations are having to reckon with the destruction wrought by man-made machines. Sure, aliens in another galaxy may have built this thing and could be long-dead, but *someone* has to clean up the mess. This time, it just happened to be our heroes.
The other real point here is the scene where Decker reveals the fate of his crew. Windom, the actor playing Decker, really goes all out in the scene and goes right to the edge of scenery chewing. The performance, in the context of the material is right on. The emotionally-charged lines along with his effectively haggard appearance come across as genuine. Shatner is relatively subdued in this episode, which works well. Nimoy has some very good material to work with. In particular, his confrontations with Decker after he's assumed command of the ship are subtle and still dramatic. The looks on his face really convey the logical realization that Decker's actions will almost certainly assure all their deaths. This realization is even more effective after it's made clear that Spock can't prevent it, at least not yet. There is also a compelling bit of a strategy game going on with Spock and Decker: Spock's strategy will work, but only if he can relieve Decker of command before he kills them all. Decker wants to destroy the thing at all costs. If that means his own death, then so much the better at this point.
McCoy doesn't really get to do much, other than harass Decker. Scotty has some good scenes repairing the wrecked Constellation including some fun interaction with Kirk (Scotty, you've just earned your pay for the week.").
It sounds to me like there were some new musical cues written for this episode. The cues used when the ships are battling the machine sound different and are quite effective in an old-school movie music style: dramatic suspense-building music.
I watched this episode on BD and came away impressed. This is, by far, the best the show has ever looked on video and I liked being able to watch either the original or remastered effects. I've generally been lukewarm on the new effects work, but here it really did make a difference, particularly with the shots of the Constellation. There is real detail to the damaged ship and the debris field around it. They really got this one right. The new planet killer looks more menacing, though they went a bit overboard on the "molten" look of the interior. I know Lee preferred the original 'killer, but I think its modern look was mostly an improvement.
---
And now, Eric chimes in:
We apparently have gotten to the point in the second season where excellent episodes alternate with execrable ones: "Mirror Mirror" (a superb classic) followed by "The Apple" (see our previous reviews/podcast), and now time we're up to "The Doomsday Machine," one of the best original series episodes. After this is "Catspaw" (not completely fetid, but not great either)--It's starting to feel like a roller coaster...
Anyway, on to "the Doomsday Machine," which is certainly one of my top ten favorite episodes, and may be one of my top five. Once again, I'm not going to rehash our entire podcast, but this episode scores high just about every respect. The director, Marc Daniels (who also directed classic episodes such as "the Menagerie," "Space Seed," and "Mirror Mirror") turns in what may be his best work. The acting is well above par--Shatner is good, Nimoy is excellent, and William Windom, who plays Commodore Decker, is outstanding. His portrayal of Decker's haunted anguish is both wrenchingly believable and moving. And the story, written by SF veteran Norman Spinrad, is both an interesting cold war analogy and a great science fiction yarn. In "The Apple" we weren't given any clues or tantalizing hints about the nature/origin/purpose of Vaal (the malevolent mechanism du jour), which worked to the considerable detriment of the episode. With "The Doomsday Machine," however, these questions are asked and some thought-provoking answers are suggested.
But the story is successful as more than an imaginative SF tale, it is also excellent action/adventure. As such, the special effects are extremely important. This is probably the most effects-laden episode in original Trek, and while the original SFX were good (for the time), this is the one instance when I recommend the remastered version. The new digital effects actually enhance the storytelling. The wrecked USS Constellation has always been an affecting sight and presence, but the version in the remastered episode is even more disturbing--it's like seeing our beloved Enterprise crippled and ruined. And the planet killer, always menacing, looks even more macabre and otherworldly.
A few interesting bits of trivia:
· Commodore Decker is the father of Captain/Commander Will Decker in the "Star Trek: The Motion Picture."
· One of the Star Trek novels proposes that the planet killer was constructed by a race from our galaxy as a weapon to fight the Borg.
· Commodore Decker makes a subsequent appearance (yes, after his apparent death) in a fan-produced episode that takes place in the 20th century.
· At Gene Roddenberry's request, Norman Spinrad came up with a design for the planet killer that portrayed it as a massive battleship, bristling with all sorts of evil-looking weapons. He was reportedly disappointed in the design the ended up being used, saying it looked like a "wind sock dipped in cement." Roddenberry's response was that they ran out of money for the episode and had to make do. I think the design actually is more effective--it's quintessentially alien and ominous.
So this is episode is a real gem: excellent direction, superb acting, and a great story. I just wish I could be as enthusiastic about the following episode...
Next time: "Catspaw"
The podcast we did for this one can be found here:
This episode has always been a personal favorite and still is today. The episode has a very entertaining action/sci-fi story. Adding to this are some interesting concepts and decent performances from the cast.
Growing up, the whole idea of the wandering planet killer, along with seeing a copy of the familiar Enterprise was just irresistible. Despite the fact that the wrecked Constellation was a cheap toy Enterprise model kit (it was an actual AMT kit) that they altered, it was enough to evoke visions in my imagination of a real wrecked Enterprise sister. Sure, the planet killer looked like a glowing ice cream cone/wind sock dipped in cement (IIRC, that's actually what they used!), but it did the job. Plus, the odd look actually works better than some design with a more conventional look. The weirdness tends to make it more believable as an alien object (at least it always did to me).
Today, the episode still packs a punch and even has some interesting ideas behind it. The scene where Kirk and the landing party encounter Decker aboard the Constellation has a couple of notable points. One, when it's revealed that there is this planet killer/robot out there slicing/dicing planets, Kirk does some thoughtful speculation as to its origin and purpose. That bit of dialogue helps the antagonist rise above the "monster of the week" thing and draws parallels to cold war issues. The planet killer can also be interpreted as an environmental statement (thanks Lee for pointing that out) in that future generations are having to reckon with the destruction wrought by man-made machines. Sure, aliens in another galaxy may have built this thing and could be long-dead, but *someone* has to clean up the mess. This time, it just happened to be our heroes.
The other real point here is the scene where Decker reveals the fate of his crew. Windom, the actor playing Decker, really goes all out in the scene and goes right to the edge of scenery chewing. The performance, in the context of the material is right on. The emotionally-charged lines along with his effectively haggard appearance come across as genuine. Shatner is relatively subdued in this episode, which works well. Nimoy has some very good material to work with. In particular, his confrontations with Decker after he's assumed command of the ship are subtle and still dramatic. The looks on his face really convey the logical realization that Decker's actions will almost certainly assure all their deaths. This realization is even more effective after it's made clear that Spock can't prevent it, at least not yet. There is also a compelling bit of a strategy game going on with Spock and Decker: Spock's strategy will work, but only if he can relieve Decker of command before he kills them all. Decker wants to destroy the thing at all costs. If that means his own death, then so much the better at this point.
McCoy doesn't really get to do much, other than harass Decker. Scotty has some good scenes repairing the wrecked Constellation including some fun interaction with Kirk (Scotty, you've just earned your pay for the week.").
It sounds to me like there were some new musical cues written for this episode. The cues used when the ships are battling the machine sound different and are quite effective in an old-school movie music style: dramatic suspense-building music.
I watched this episode on BD and came away impressed. This is, by far, the best the show has ever looked on video and I liked being able to watch either the original or remastered effects. I've generally been lukewarm on the new effects work, but here it really did make a difference, particularly with the shots of the Constellation. There is real detail to the damaged ship and the debris field around it. They really got this one right. The new planet killer looks more menacing, though they went a bit overboard on the "molten" look of the interior. I know Lee preferred the original 'killer, but I think its modern look was mostly an improvement.
---
And now, Eric chimes in:
We apparently have gotten to the point in the second season where excellent episodes alternate with execrable ones: "Mirror Mirror" (a superb classic) followed by "The Apple" (see our previous reviews/podcast), and now time we're up to "The Doomsday Machine," one of the best original series episodes. After this is "Catspaw" (not completely fetid, but not great either)--It's starting to feel like a roller coaster...
Anyway, on to "the Doomsday Machine," which is certainly one of my top ten favorite episodes, and may be one of my top five. Once again, I'm not going to rehash our entire podcast, but this episode scores high just about every respect. The director, Marc Daniels (who also directed classic episodes such as "the Menagerie," "Space Seed," and "Mirror Mirror") turns in what may be his best work. The acting is well above par--Shatner is good, Nimoy is excellent, and William Windom, who plays Commodore Decker, is outstanding. His portrayal of Decker's haunted anguish is both wrenchingly believable and moving. And the story, written by SF veteran Norman Spinrad, is both an interesting cold war analogy and a great science fiction yarn. In "The Apple" we weren't given any clues or tantalizing hints about the nature/origin/purpose of Vaal (the malevolent mechanism du jour), which worked to the considerable detriment of the episode. With "The Doomsday Machine," however, these questions are asked and some thought-provoking answers are suggested.
But the story is successful as more than an imaginative SF tale, it is also excellent action/adventure. As such, the special effects are extremely important. This is probably the most effects-laden episode in original Trek, and while the original SFX were good (for the time), this is the one instance when I recommend the remastered version. The new digital effects actually enhance the storytelling. The wrecked USS Constellation has always been an affecting sight and presence, but the version in the remastered episode is even more disturbing--it's like seeing our beloved Enterprise crippled and ruined. And the planet killer, always menacing, looks even more macabre and otherworldly.
A few interesting bits of trivia:
· Commodore Decker is the father of Captain/Commander Will Decker in the "Star Trek: The Motion Picture."
· One of the Star Trek novels proposes that the planet killer was constructed by a race from our galaxy as a weapon to fight the Borg.
· Commodore Decker makes a subsequent appearance (yes, after his apparent death) in a fan-produced episode that takes place in the 20th century.
· At Gene Roddenberry's request, Norman Spinrad came up with a design for the planet killer that portrayed it as a massive battleship, bristling with all sorts of evil-looking weapons. He was reportedly disappointed in the design the ended up being used, saying it looked like a "wind sock dipped in cement." Roddenberry's response was that they ran out of money for the episode and had to make do. I think the design actually is more effective--it's quintessentially alien and ominous.
So this is episode is a real gem: excellent direction, superb acting, and a great story. I just wish I could be as enthusiastic about the following episode...
Next time: "Catspaw"
Monday, September 21, 2009
TOS Rewind #32: "The Apple"
Up now is The Apple (10/13/1967)
Eric, Rob, and I did a podcast. As Kirk might say in this episode, "Podcasts...IN PARADISE!"
Eric gets the first shot:
This apple has a worm in it. Where the previous episode, "Mirror Mirror," is a great example of Star Trek at its best, "The Apple" is a great example of the dregs of the series. It's odd, actually, because the next episode, "The Doomsday Machine," is another classic. I guess the producers, and/or network, decided a sub-par episode might not be noticeable if it aired between two that are superb.
I'm not going to spend a great deal of time repeating the critique we did in our podcast, however. (Go listen to it!) By way of a quick recap, this episode fails in pretty much every category: the acting is wooden, the special effects (especially the paper mache model that was used for Vaal) are pathetic, and worst of all, the story is derivative and devoid of anything resembling a compelling plot. On the plus side (very narrow), there are some good character moments, particularly for Scotty. And the idea underlying the story isn't bad, the problem is that it's an underdeveloped rehash of "The Return of the Archons" from the first season. If the writer and producers has bothered to explain, or at least hint at, how and why Vaal came to be, the episode might have been okay. But they didn't...
All this being said, as I pointed out in the 'cast, original Trek was produced at a breakneck pace on a frayed shoestring budget, so it's amazing a much higher percentage of episodes weren't of the low caliber of "The Apple." And as I mentioned earlier, the next episode is a classic!
---
This episode is a bit of a stinker. I don't think it's one of the worst, but it really stands out within the second season as the rest of the episodes are generally quite good. The ideas expressed here might be more interesting if we hadn't seen them before in the far-superior "Archons." Landru, the society-guiding cyber intelligence of "Archons" at least had a back story and was a much more interesting adversary to the crude and poorly defined Vaal in this episode. Of course, having a planet with a stagnant computer-managed human society where Kirk has to decide whether or not to violate the Prime Directive is a good idea for an episode. Unfortunately, very little time is devoted to it. Much of the running time of the episode is spent killing off Red Shirts (this episode really establishes the tradition with four of them getting knocked off), Kirk repeatedly throwing paradise-lost-themed lines out, and bad "love" scenes between Chekov and Yeoman Landon. In its defense, the Red Shirt sequences are actually pretty funny and can be fully appreciated in the episode's trailer: it stitches together many of the bad/funny scenes in this episode.
Without the subplot of the Enterprise being attacked, perhaps there would have been time to actually explore the implications of Kirk interfering with the society, something that's only really given lip service here. Like the spore-shooting plants and exploding rocks ("Garden of Eden, with land mines." tee hee), the action in orbit is just there to juice up the tension. Of course one could argue that plenty of Next Generation episodes went in the other direction: all character/ideas with too little action. In the end, for this episode, it all comes off as silly and we find it hard to take any of the ideas seriously.
As Rob pointed out in the podcast, Shatner seemed to have dramatic difficulty doing tense scenes without a real villain to play of off. His performance if definitely off. Nimoy goes between overreaction and blandness much of the time here. Not that there aren't points of fun with the characters. I've always liked the back/forth between Kirk and Scotty in this episode and Spock/McCoy get some of their usual sparring in. There's also a very amusing scene between Spock and Chekov where they create a distraction.
As Eric pointed out, the facade of Vaal looks pretty shabby, though I remember it being somewhat more impressive when I saw it growing up. Another victim of large, high resolution screens. The planet sets look like rejects from Gilligan's Island, pretty sad. It's a good thing that the next episode brings the level back up...
Next time: "The Doomsday Machine"
Eric, Rob, and I did a podcast. As Kirk might say in this episode, "Podcasts...IN PARADISE!"
Eric gets the first shot:
This apple has a worm in it. Where the previous episode, "Mirror Mirror," is a great example of Star Trek at its best, "The Apple" is a great example of the dregs of the series. It's odd, actually, because the next episode, "The Doomsday Machine," is another classic. I guess the producers, and/or network, decided a sub-par episode might not be noticeable if it aired between two that are superb.
I'm not going to spend a great deal of time repeating the critique we did in our podcast, however. (Go listen to it!) By way of a quick recap, this episode fails in pretty much every category: the acting is wooden, the special effects (especially the paper mache model that was used for Vaal) are pathetic, and worst of all, the story is derivative and devoid of anything resembling a compelling plot. On the plus side (very narrow), there are some good character moments, particularly for Scotty. And the idea underlying the story isn't bad, the problem is that it's an underdeveloped rehash of "The Return of the Archons" from the first season. If the writer and producers has bothered to explain, or at least hint at, how and why Vaal came to be, the episode might have been okay. But they didn't...
All this being said, as I pointed out in the 'cast, original Trek was produced at a breakneck pace on a frayed shoestring budget, so it's amazing a much higher percentage of episodes weren't of the low caliber of "The Apple." And as I mentioned earlier, the next episode is a classic!
---
This episode is a bit of a stinker. I don't think it's one of the worst, but it really stands out within the second season as the rest of the episodes are generally quite good. The ideas expressed here might be more interesting if we hadn't seen them before in the far-superior "Archons." Landru, the society-guiding cyber intelligence of "Archons" at least had a back story and was a much more interesting adversary to the crude and poorly defined Vaal in this episode. Of course, having a planet with a stagnant computer-managed human society where Kirk has to decide whether or not to violate the Prime Directive is a good idea for an episode. Unfortunately, very little time is devoted to it. Much of the running time of the episode is spent killing off Red Shirts (this episode really establishes the tradition with four of them getting knocked off), Kirk repeatedly throwing paradise-lost-themed lines out, and bad "love" scenes between Chekov and Yeoman Landon. In its defense, the Red Shirt sequences are actually pretty funny and can be fully appreciated in the episode's trailer: it stitches together many of the bad/funny scenes in this episode.
Without the subplot of the Enterprise being attacked, perhaps there would have been time to actually explore the implications of Kirk interfering with the society, something that's only really given lip service here. Like the spore-shooting plants and exploding rocks ("Garden of Eden, with land mines." tee hee), the action in orbit is just there to juice up the tension. Of course one could argue that plenty of Next Generation episodes went in the other direction: all character/ideas with too little action. In the end, for this episode, it all comes off as silly and we find it hard to take any of the ideas seriously.
As Rob pointed out in the podcast, Shatner seemed to have dramatic difficulty doing tense scenes without a real villain to play of off. His performance if definitely off. Nimoy goes between overreaction and blandness much of the time here. Not that there aren't points of fun with the characters. I've always liked the back/forth between Kirk and Scotty in this episode and Spock/McCoy get some of their usual sparring in. There's also a very amusing scene between Spock and Chekov where they create a distraction.
As Eric pointed out, the facade of Vaal looks pretty shabby, though I remember it being somewhat more impressive when I saw it growing up. Another victim of large, high resolution screens. The planet sets look like rejects from Gilligan's Island, pretty sad. It's a good thing that the next episode brings the level back up...
Next time: "The Doomsday Machine"
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
TOS Rewind #31: "Mirror, Mirror"
Up this time: Mirror, Mirror (10/06/1967).
We recorded a podcast with Eric, Rob, Lee, and myself.
Eric starts us out:
"Mirror Mirror" is generally regarded as one of the very best classic Star Trek episodes; it is certainly in my top 10. The story is great SF--it's certainly not hard science fiction (i.e. SF that actually respects and does justice to science), but I can't think of any science fiction TV shows that are (or have been) hard SF. That said, Mirror Mirror is a great example of the kind of wildly imaginative science fiction that you find in the short stories and novels from the 50s through the 70s. It's pure geeky fun.
One of the best aspects of this episode is that there are great parts for all of the characters, not just Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. This is the only episode in which Scotty calls Kirk by his first name, and he's got several good pieces sprinkled throughout. Uhura is at her best--she gets to show her claws, which is always fun. Mirror Sulu is a delightfully malicious and lecherous diversion from his clean-cut counterpart in our universe, and who would've thought sweet little Chekov could be such a conniving, murderous shit? The version of these characters we're used to are shining examples of exceptional human beings, very upstanding and moral and proper, so it's delicious to see them stripped of their veneer of civilization.
Speaking of which, I really would've liked to see more of mirror Kirk, McCoy, Uhura, and Scotty. They are in the brig on "our" Enterprise for the whole episode, but if this had been a two-parter, it would've been great to see them attempt a breakout and takeover. The best mirror character, however, is Spock. He's essentially the Spock we know, but there's a hard edge there that makes him extremely cool. And what's fascinating is that Spock seems to be the constant in both universes. Despite being rather brutal and ruthless in the mirror universe, he's still intelligent, decent, and ethical, and it's this consistency that allows our Kirk, McCoy, Scotty, Uhura to return to our universe. It's also the factor that promises a heap o' trouble for mirror Kirk when he gets back to his Enterprise.
I'll leave my review there. There's much more that can be said about this episode (and we cover much of it in our podcast--go give it a listen). Mirror Mirror is classic Star Trek at it's best!
---
I believe we were all in agreement: this is top-drawer Trek. This episode isn't just thought-provoking, it's also a lot of fun. I have always loved this episode. The charge of seeing Spock with facial hair was something else. It isn't really that big of a deal, but when I was a kid, it certainly seemed like it. The idea of our familiar Enterprise being run by a group of futuristic thugs who happened to look like our heroes was irresistible.
It's easy to poke holes in the concept and science on display here, but the good/evil character ideas are still compelling. It's interesting to contemplate how this mirror universe actually operates. The episode doesn't give us a lot to work with, but we know there is central authority crossed with a gangster/pirate element (example: the hired goons used by the officers). As Lee pointed out in the podcast, this system probably wouldn't get very far in real life, but they manage to pack some interesting ideas into a very limited frame.
The character elements, as Eric pointed out, are the real draw here. Kirk and the landing party adapt to the new situation well. Uhura really does a 180 from being scared, clinging to Kirk, to taking on evil Sulu (complete with facial scar!). Sulu and Chekov are appropriately slimy. Hell, even the uniforms are different. Nimoy really does a great performance as the alternate Spock. His mannerisms are slightly different and he never overdoes it. "Mirror" Spock has this command authority we seldom see from the "good" version. Of course, we all think the Mirror Spock is WAY cooler than the regular one. His costume is cooler, and he's even more of a badass. Some things in the alternate universe aren't so different, like Kirk's relationships with women. This exchange between Kirk and Marlena (evil Kirk's, um, girlfriend?) got a chuckle out of me:
Marlena: "I've been a captain's woman, and I like it. I'll be one again, if I have to go through every officer in the fleet."
Kirk: "You could... I simply meant that you could be anything you wanted to be."
Wow...
Another thing I really like about this episode is how they created the atmosphere of the mirror universe with relatively few changes to the sets and costumes. They obviously couldn't change things too much, but it's enough to get the point across. Besides, the characters are what really convince us that Kirk and co. aren't in Kansas anymore.
Like Eric, I think it would have been fun to have seen more of the evil Kirk/landing party in our universe. The one scene we see has Kirk acting like a bombastic gangster trying to bribe Spock to get out of the brig. This particular plot was mined in other Trek shows to good effect. We would have enjoyed seeing the aftermath with bearded Spock after the evil Kirk returned.
The remastered version had a few enhancements. The Agony Booth got some effects, so we don't just see Chekov sweating in that plexiglass tube. There are a few zapping effects when Spock hits Mr Kyle with the agonizer hoopajoop.
So there you have it. Definitely an episode I always like to watch and one that really makes the most of its limited time/budget. "Captain Kirk, I shall consider it!"
Next time: "The Apple"
We recorded a podcast with Eric, Rob, Lee, and myself.
Eric starts us out:
"Mirror Mirror" is generally regarded as one of the very best classic Star Trek episodes; it is certainly in my top 10. The story is great SF--it's certainly not hard science fiction (i.e. SF that actually respects and does justice to science), but I can't think of any science fiction TV shows that are (or have been) hard SF. That said, Mirror Mirror is a great example of the kind of wildly imaginative science fiction that you find in the short stories and novels from the 50s through the 70s. It's pure geeky fun.
One of the best aspects of this episode is that there are great parts for all of the characters, not just Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. This is the only episode in which Scotty calls Kirk by his first name, and he's got several good pieces sprinkled throughout. Uhura is at her best--she gets to show her claws, which is always fun. Mirror Sulu is a delightfully malicious and lecherous diversion from his clean-cut counterpart in our universe, and who would've thought sweet little Chekov could be such a conniving, murderous shit? The version of these characters we're used to are shining examples of exceptional human beings, very upstanding and moral and proper, so it's delicious to see them stripped of their veneer of civilization.
Speaking of which, I really would've liked to see more of mirror Kirk, McCoy, Uhura, and Scotty. They are in the brig on "our" Enterprise for the whole episode, but if this had been a two-parter, it would've been great to see them attempt a breakout and takeover. The best mirror character, however, is Spock. He's essentially the Spock we know, but there's a hard edge there that makes him extremely cool. And what's fascinating is that Spock seems to be the constant in both universes. Despite being rather brutal and ruthless in the mirror universe, he's still intelligent, decent, and ethical, and it's this consistency that allows our Kirk, McCoy, Scotty, Uhura to return to our universe. It's also the factor that promises a heap o' trouble for mirror Kirk when he gets back to his Enterprise.
I'll leave my review there. There's much more that can be said about this episode (and we cover much of it in our podcast--go give it a listen). Mirror Mirror is classic Star Trek at it's best!
---
I believe we were all in agreement: this is top-drawer Trek. This episode isn't just thought-provoking, it's also a lot of fun. I have always loved this episode. The charge of seeing Spock with facial hair was something else. It isn't really that big of a deal, but when I was a kid, it certainly seemed like it. The idea of our familiar Enterprise being run by a group of futuristic thugs who happened to look like our heroes was irresistible.
It's easy to poke holes in the concept and science on display here, but the good/evil character ideas are still compelling. It's interesting to contemplate how this mirror universe actually operates. The episode doesn't give us a lot to work with, but we know there is central authority crossed with a gangster/pirate element (example: the hired goons used by the officers). As Lee pointed out in the podcast, this system probably wouldn't get very far in real life, but they manage to pack some interesting ideas into a very limited frame.
The character elements, as Eric pointed out, are the real draw here. Kirk and the landing party adapt to the new situation well. Uhura really does a 180 from being scared, clinging to Kirk, to taking on evil Sulu (complete with facial scar!). Sulu and Chekov are appropriately slimy. Hell, even the uniforms are different. Nimoy really does a great performance as the alternate Spock. His mannerisms are slightly different and he never overdoes it. "Mirror" Spock has this command authority we seldom see from the "good" version. Of course, we all think the Mirror Spock is WAY cooler than the regular one. His costume is cooler, and he's even more of a badass. Some things in the alternate universe aren't so different, like Kirk's relationships with women. This exchange between Kirk and Marlena (evil Kirk's, um, girlfriend?) got a chuckle out of me:
Marlena: "I've been a captain's woman, and I like it. I'll be one again, if I have to go through every officer in the fleet."
Kirk: "You could... I simply meant that you could be anything you wanted to be."
Wow...
Another thing I really like about this episode is how they created the atmosphere of the mirror universe with relatively few changes to the sets and costumes. They obviously couldn't change things too much, but it's enough to get the point across. Besides, the characters are what really convince us that Kirk and co. aren't in Kansas anymore.
Like Eric, I think it would have been fun to have seen more of the evil Kirk/landing party in our universe. The one scene we see has Kirk acting like a bombastic gangster trying to bribe Spock to get out of the brig. This particular plot was mined in other Trek shows to good effect. We would have enjoyed seeing the aftermath with bearded Spock after the evil Kirk returned.
The remastered version had a few enhancements. The Agony Booth got some effects, so we don't just see Chekov sweating in that plexiglass tube. There are a few zapping effects when Spock hits Mr Kyle with the agonizer hoopajoop.
So there you have it. Definitely an episode I always like to watch and one that really makes the most of its limited time/budget. "Captain Kirk, I shall consider it!"
Next time: "The Apple"
Friday, July 31, 2009
TOS Rewind #???: Sci Fi in Movies DorkCast
Eric, Rob, Lee, and myself recently had a fun chat where we talked (at length!) about the science fiction genre in movies and some television. We had a lively discussion and listening to it would be a true test of your dorktastic geekiness! Sure, it isn't strictly about Trek, but if the shoe fits...
Monday, July 27, 2009
TOS Rewind #30: "Who Mourns for Adonais" and "The Changeling"
Wow, aren't we the efficient bunch: two episodes in one post!
We did a double-header podcast for this one as well.
Our episodes this time are Who Mourns for Adonais (09/22/1967) and
The Changeling (09/29/1967)
Eric will be starting us out:
"Who Mourns for Adonais" is another episode that was good, but not great. There were some good points, but there were glaring flaws too. John, Rob, and I covered it pretty thoroughly in our podcat, so I'll just recap. Rob pointed out, quite correctly, that this episode has a strong anti-feminist vibe. In fact, it strongly resembles "Space Seed" (from the first season) in this respect. Lt. Carolyn Palamas is overwhelmed by Apollo and rushes headlong into a romance much like Lt. Marla McGivers and Khan in "Space Seed." And in another parallel to that episode, Lt. Palamas betrays her new found love in order to save the crew. To my mind, this redeems her to a certain degree and also mitigates the anti-feminism, but it's still certainly there. Of course, as we note in the podcast, we have to remember that this episode was written and produced in 1967 and naturally reflects the attitudes toward women at that time.
Another aspect of this episode I don't like is that Scotty is portrayed as a hot-headed, testosterone-charged dolt intent on getting himself killed. I mean seriously, Apollo demonstrates quite clearly (early on) that he controls considerable power and Scotty is an expert engineer and a grown man. Regardless of his outrage, he has to know that attacking Apollo with a piece of statuary is ridiculous, pointless, and highly dangerous. Scotty is a great character and deserves better treatment.
What I like about this episode is the speculation that the ancient Greek gods were actually humanoid aliens who settled on Earth and influenced the flourishing of the Bronze Age Greek civilization. It's a well-used (perhaps hackneyed) theme in SF these days, but it was still relatively fresh in 1967. I also like the fact that Chekov gets some development, but what I enjoy most is the poignancy of Apollo's remorse that he (and gods in general) are no longer needed by humanity. This, however, brings up a contradiction. At one point, Kirk says: "Mankind has no need for gods. We find the one quite adequate." This is, in itself, a contradiction--either humanity needs gods (or one god, as the case may be) or we don't. Which is it? The line is all the more peculiar given that Gene Roddenberry was a staunch secular humanist. And with one notable exception, references to god(s) and religion were either vague and equivocal or nonexistent in the rest of the series. If I were a betting man (and actually, I am), I'd wager that "We find the one quite adequate" was inserted at the insistence of the network censors.
Another interesting deletion that was apparently made due to the censors, was a closing scene aboard the Enterprise where McCoy informs Kirk that Lt. Palamas is pregnant by Apollo. It makes me wonder how different (controversial?) original Trek would've been if Roddenberry hadn't been hobbled by network censors...
---
Rob, who sadly doesn't join the written part of the blog, made the quip, "it's Misogynist Week" on the blog/podcast. This episode surely qualifies, though there are examples sprinkled throughout the series. This, admittedly normal for the time, attitude is established right off the bat where Kirk and McCoy are commenting on women Starfleet officers leaving the service upon meeting the right men. This is of course being aimed at the Lt. Palamas character, who Eric skewered, who is being lusted after by Scotty. Like Eric, I was annoyed at the way Scotty was written in this episode; he really comes off poorly.
So yes, the lovely and (perhaps) talented Palamas (OK, that was bad!) finally sees that shagging Apollo long-term might not be the best thing for the rest of the Enterprise crew. Of course she has to be lectured by Kirk before considering this. The idea that Palamas was pregnant at the end of the episode is pretty interesting, but I really can't imagine the network censors touching that one. Trek was an envelope-pusher, but 1967 NBC was not ready for something like this. The other characters also have their moments. Spock, who after being dissed by Apollo for looking like Pan, stays behind on board to find a way out of Apollo's giant energy hand (aka Bigby's Groping Fist). Spock really seems more at ease being in command, much more so than he was in "The Galileo Seven." He even gives Uhura some positive reinforcement. The landing party seems to spend a lot of time sitting around on the temple set, waiting for their next confrontation with Apollo. This waiting time is obviously needed so big A has time to put the moves on Palamas, complete with stock "paradise" footage. Ooo la la! The guy playing Apollo does have the chops to out-scenery-chew Shatner (WELCOME TO OLYMPUS, CAPTAIN KIRK!!!). Shatner seems to play this episode with a clear sense of Kirk's machismo being eclipsed: he looks really annoyed!
I'm also in agreement with Eric about the good aspect of this episode: the concept of advance alien visitors being worshipped as gods in ancient Greece. Cliched, yes, but still a good topic for Trek at that time.
I was mixed on this one, growing up. It had some cool phaser fire and Scotty being struck by lightning bolts, but had sections that were a bit of a bore.
On the enhanced version I watched, the new effects did improve one part. When the hand comes out to grab the Enterprise, it reaches out from the planet they're orbiting. The old effect, IIRC just appears in space. So, some upgrade on this part.
Now, Eric takes a look at "The Changeling."
---
I've always liked "The Changeling." It's an imaginative, interesting story and a well-done episode. (There is vigorous disagreement about this in our podcast, but I'll let that speak for itself.) There are numerous elements of this episode that are recycled in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, most notably, the idea of a probe from 20th century Earth meeting and merging with a much more advanced alien probe. But an in-depth discussion of this will have to wait until we get to reviewing the Star Trek movies.
In "the Changeling" I like that we get to see Spock use the mind meld again, particularly because this is the only time he does so with an artificial intelligence. It should be noted that Nomad is an extremely sophisticated artificial intelligence, which is why Spock is able to form the mind meld. This brings up a subtle and interesting point about artificial intelligence: when does it become so sophisticated that it can be considered to have a mind? And when this happens, does it become a life form?
Anyway, another aspect of this episode that I enjoy is the way Nomad is portrayed. It's voice and appearance, combined with the way it is shot, gives a convincing air of menace. What I like most, however, is the idea of a primitive probe from Earth coming into contact with an alien probe somewhere in deep space and combining. It makes me wonder if the alien probe it met could've been a Borg probe. Given the immense power Nomad demonstrates, it's at least possible. It also makes sense given the Borg directive to assimilate other entities.
And while it has much to be commended, this episode certainly has its share of flaws. As with "Who Mourns for Adonais," I really object to portraying Scotty as a stupidly impulsive hothead who feels the need to physically attack beings or machines that have clearly demonstrated their ability and willingness to kill humans. But the worst flaw is the idea that Nomad could wipe Uhura's memory, or some selected portion of it, and that McCoy and his staff could "re-educate" her in a matter of days so that it was as if nothing at all had happened. Ridiculous.
But we take the good with the bad. I still enjoy this episode every time I watch it. And next time we get to review one of the best original Trek episodes!
---
Here we are with what turned out to be almost a prototype for The Motion Picture (I am looking forward to discussing that one of these days). Eric summed up the concept very well and I am totally on the same page, as far as that goes.
The scene where Spock mind melds with Nomad. I am mixed on that one. On one hand, the idea that Nomad is an artificial form of intelligence that Spock can connect with is interesting and thought-provoking. On the other hand, the scene borders on silliness with Nimoy's robotic "Coneheads" voice. He sounds even more robotic than the actual robot!
Security nitpick. I understand that Red Shirts are there to be vaporized, but it gets absurd when a second set of guards fires on Nomad minutes after another set were fried after doing the same thing. Plus, after knowing that Nomad has extinguished entire civilizations, why would a simple force field contain it? Points for effort I suppose.
Kirk is fun to watch in this episode as he learns to deal with this mechanical menace he's brought aboard his ship. The fact that he seems to wait until the last possible moment to beam Nomad into space seems silly, but is certainly dramatic. I love Spock's line after Kirk has successfully talked Nomad into its own destruction: "Your logic was impeccable, Captain - we are in grave danger." Nomad itself was actually well done for the capabilities of the time. The camera angles and other effects gave the relatively simple robot model a certain amount of life as well as adequate menace.
Of course the thing we all agreed on was how stupid the "Uhura re-education" bit was. Of course the choice line about Uhura (after she'd had her brain wiped) was:
Nomad: "That unit is defective. Its thinking is chaotic. Absorbing it unsettled me."
Spock: "That 'unit' is a woman."
Nomad: "A mass of conflicting impulses."
Wow. But not to worry, she'll be back on the job in a week (complete with her memories?)! I realize that this was done to portray how Nomad had no experience with things like music and singing, but they really should have found a less laughable way to get it across. And what the hell is up with Scotty? Two in a row where he physically challenges powerful alien things and gets zapped.
Growing up, I liked this one about as much as I do today. The idea seemed cool and there was a fun space fight at the beginning. And hey, four Red Shirts get offed!
The remastered version had slick energy weapon effects during the opening scenes, but otherwise didn't really add much. After all, the main action happens on the ship.
One thing that bothered me that I don't remember focusing on before. At the end of the show, after Nomad has dispatched itself, there's this jokey scene on the bridge between Kirk and Spock. "It's not easy to lose a bright and promising son." This seems like an odd place for a "going out of orbit joke." After all, Nomad had killed billions of people and could very well have made it to Earth.
But, all in all this one was pretty good.
So the next episode we cover will be what I am sure are personal favorites for all of us: "Mirror Mirror." It may not be the absolute best of the series, but is certainly one of the most fun. Beards Ahoy!
We did a double-header podcast for this one as well.
Our episodes this time are Who Mourns for Adonais (09/22/1967) and
The Changeling (09/29/1967)
Eric will be starting us out:
"Who Mourns for Adonais" is another episode that was good, but not great. There were some good points, but there were glaring flaws too. John, Rob, and I covered it pretty thoroughly in our podcat, so I'll just recap. Rob pointed out, quite correctly, that this episode has a strong anti-feminist vibe. In fact, it strongly resembles "Space Seed" (from the first season) in this respect. Lt. Carolyn Palamas is overwhelmed by Apollo and rushes headlong into a romance much like Lt. Marla McGivers and Khan in "Space Seed." And in another parallel to that episode, Lt. Palamas betrays her new found love in order to save the crew. To my mind, this redeems her to a certain degree and also mitigates the anti-feminism, but it's still certainly there. Of course, as we note in the podcast, we have to remember that this episode was written and produced in 1967 and naturally reflects the attitudes toward women at that time.
Another aspect of this episode I don't like is that Scotty is portrayed as a hot-headed, testosterone-charged dolt intent on getting himself killed. I mean seriously, Apollo demonstrates quite clearly (early on) that he controls considerable power and Scotty is an expert engineer and a grown man. Regardless of his outrage, he has to know that attacking Apollo with a piece of statuary is ridiculous, pointless, and highly dangerous. Scotty is a great character and deserves better treatment.
What I like about this episode is the speculation that the ancient Greek gods were actually humanoid aliens who settled on Earth and influenced the flourishing of the Bronze Age Greek civilization. It's a well-used (perhaps hackneyed) theme in SF these days, but it was still relatively fresh in 1967. I also like the fact that Chekov gets some development, but what I enjoy most is the poignancy of Apollo's remorse that he (and gods in general) are no longer needed by humanity. This, however, brings up a contradiction. At one point, Kirk says: "Mankind has no need for gods. We find the one quite adequate." This is, in itself, a contradiction--either humanity needs gods (or one god, as the case may be) or we don't. Which is it? The line is all the more peculiar given that Gene Roddenberry was a staunch secular humanist. And with one notable exception, references to god(s) and religion were either vague and equivocal or nonexistent in the rest of the series. If I were a betting man (and actually, I am), I'd wager that "We find the one quite adequate" was inserted at the insistence of the network censors.
Another interesting deletion that was apparently made due to the censors, was a closing scene aboard the Enterprise where McCoy informs Kirk that Lt. Palamas is pregnant by Apollo. It makes me wonder how different (controversial?) original Trek would've been if Roddenberry hadn't been hobbled by network censors...
---
Rob, who sadly doesn't join the written part of the blog, made the quip, "it's Misogynist Week" on the blog/podcast. This episode surely qualifies, though there are examples sprinkled throughout the series. This, admittedly normal for the time, attitude is established right off the bat where Kirk and McCoy are commenting on women Starfleet officers leaving the service upon meeting the right men. This is of course being aimed at the Lt. Palamas character, who Eric skewered, who is being lusted after by Scotty. Like Eric, I was annoyed at the way Scotty was written in this episode; he really comes off poorly.
So yes, the lovely and (perhaps) talented Palamas (OK, that was bad!) finally sees that shagging Apollo long-term might not be the best thing for the rest of the Enterprise crew. Of course she has to be lectured by Kirk before considering this. The idea that Palamas was pregnant at the end of the episode is pretty interesting, but I really can't imagine the network censors touching that one. Trek was an envelope-pusher, but 1967 NBC was not ready for something like this. The other characters also have their moments. Spock, who after being dissed by Apollo for looking like Pan, stays behind on board to find a way out of Apollo's giant energy hand (aka Bigby's Groping Fist). Spock really seems more at ease being in command, much more so than he was in "The Galileo Seven." He even gives Uhura some positive reinforcement. The landing party seems to spend a lot of time sitting around on the temple set, waiting for their next confrontation with Apollo. This waiting time is obviously needed so big A has time to put the moves on Palamas, complete with stock "paradise" footage. Ooo la la! The guy playing Apollo does have the chops to out-scenery-chew Shatner (WELCOME TO OLYMPUS, CAPTAIN KIRK!!!). Shatner seems to play this episode with a clear sense of Kirk's machismo being eclipsed: he looks really annoyed!
I'm also in agreement with Eric about the good aspect of this episode: the concept of advance alien visitors being worshipped as gods in ancient Greece. Cliched, yes, but still a good topic for Trek at that time.
I was mixed on this one, growing up. It had some cool phaser fire and Scotty being struck by lightning bolts, but had sections that were a bit of a bore.
On the enhanced version I watched, the new effects did improve one part. When the hand comes out to grab the Enterprise, it reaches out from the planet they're orbiting. The old effect, IIRC just appears in space. So, some upgrade on this part.
Now, Eric takes a look at "The Changeling."
---
I've always liked "The Changeling." It's an imaginative, interesting story and a well-done episode. (There is vigorous disagreement about this in our podcast, but I'll let that speak for itself.) There are numerous elements of this episode that are recycled in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, most notably, the idea of a probe from 20th century Earth meeting and merging with a much more advanced alien probe. But an in-depth discussion of this will have to wait until we get to reviewing the Star Trek movies.
In "the Changeling" I like that we get to see Spock use the mind meld again, particularly because this is the only time he does so with an artificial intelligence. It should be noted that Nomad is an extremely sophisticated artificial intelligence, which is why Spock is able to form the mind meld. This brings up a subtle and interesting point about artificial intelligence: when does it become so sophisticated that it can be considered to have a mind? And when this happens, does it become a life form?
Anyway, another aspect of this episode that I enjoy is the way Nomad is portrayed. It's voice and appearance, combined with the way it is shot, gives a convincing air of menace. What I like most, however, is the idea of a primitive probe from Earth coming into contact with an alien probe somewhere in deep space and combining. It makes me wonder if the alien probe it met could've been a Borg probe. Given the immense power Nomad demonstrates, it's at least possible. It also makes sense given the Borg directive to assimilate other entities.
And while it has much to be commended, this episode certainly has its share of flaws. As with "Who Mourns for Adonais," I really object to portraying Scotty as a stupidly impulsive hothead who feels the need to physically attack beings or machines that have clearly demonstrated their ability and willingness to kill humans. But the worst flaw is the idea that Nomad could wipe Uhura's memory, or some selected portion of it, and that McCoy and his staff could "re-educate" her in a matter of days so that it was as if nothing at all had happened. Ridiculous.
But we take the good with the bad. I still enjoy this episode every time I watch it. And next time we get to review one of the best original Trek episodes!
---
Here we are with what turned out to be almost a prototype for The Motion Picture (I am looking forward to discussing that one of these days). Eric summed up the concept very well and I am totally on the same page, as far as that goes.
The scene where Spock mind melds with Nomad. I am mixed on that one. On one hand, the idea that Nomad is an artificial form of intelligence that Spock can connect with is interesting and thought-provoking. On the other hand, the scene borders on silliness with Nimoy's robotic "Coneheads" voice. He sounds even more robotic than the actual robot!
Security nitpick. I understand that Red Shirts are there to be vaporized, but it gets absurd when a second set of guards fires on Nomad minutes after another set were fried after doing the same thing. Plus, after knowing that Nomad has extinguished entire civilizations, why would a simple force field contain it? Points for effort I suppose.
Kirk is fun to watch in this episode as he learns to deal with this mechanical menace he's brought aboard his ship. The fact that he seems to wait until the last possible moment to beam Nomad into space seems silly, but is certainly dramatic. I love Spock's line after Kirk has successfully talked Nomad into its own destruction: "Your logic was impeccable, Captain - we are in grave danger." Nomad itself was actually well done for the capabilities of the time. The camera angles and other effects gave the relatively simple robot model a certain amount of life as well as adequate menace.
Of course the thing we all agreed on was how stupid the "Uhura re-education" bit was. Of course the choice line about Uhura (after she'd had her brain wiped) was:
Nomad: "That unit is defective. Its thinking is chaotic. Absorbing it unsettled me."
Spock: "That 'unit' is a woman."
Nomad: "A mass of conflicting impulses."
Wow. But not to worry, she'll be back on the job in a week (complete with her memories?)! I realize that this was done to portray how Nomad had no experience with things like music and singing, but they really should have found a less laughable way to get it across. And what the hell is up with Scotty? Two in a row where he physically challenges powerful alien things and gets zapped.
Growing up, I liked this one about as much as I do today. The idea seemed cool and there was a fun space fight at the beginning. And hey, four Red Shirts get offed!
The remastered version had slick energy weapon effects during the opening scenes, but otherwise didn't really add much. After all, the main action happens on the ship.
One thing that bothered me that I don't remember focusing on before. At the end of the show, after Nomad has dispatched itself, there's this jokey scene on the bridge between Kirk and Spock. "It's not easy to lose a bright and promising son." This seems like an odd place for a "going out of orbit joke." After all, Nomad had killed billions of people and could very well have made it to Earth.
But, all in all this one was pretty good.
So the next episode we cover will be what I am sure are personal favorites for all of us: "Mirror Mirror." It may not be the absolute best of the series, but is certainly one of the most fun. Beards Ahoy!
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Fighting Musicians
A bit of an off-topic post today. As you may or may not know, I've been substitute bass playing with the Minnesota Jazz Orchestra for the last couple of years. As far as I can tell, they're one of the better big bands in the metro area (I've managed to sub for a number of them). It's been really fun to do this kind of music again, something I really haven't gotten to do since my days at U of WY.
The regular bassist in this band, along with several other members, is about to (or already has, not sure) ship out to Iraq with the 34th Infantry Division "Red Bull" band (National Guard, they're supposedly back in February 2010). For a story on this band's deployment, click here. Of course I was totally opposed to W's decision to invade, but I have enormous respect for what these guys are going to be doing over there. The military bands are, more than ever, serving a good purpose. Groups like this really help the people serving in, to put it mildly, an extremely difficult situation. Believe it or not, I seriously considered doing military music when I got out of high school. I don't regret for a minute choosing not to do this, but at the same time wonder how things would have turned out had I done this. Quite different, no doubt, but this kind of thing makes you think, no?
While I am glad to have the chance to play regularly with this big band, my thoughts are with these men and women overseas who are serving their country with live music. I may wish for our troops to be out of Iraq ASAP, while they're there, they deserve some good tunes. My (virtual) hat is off to this group!
The regular bassist in this band, along with several other members, is about to (or already has, not sure) ship out to Iraq with the 34th Infantry Division "Red Bull" band (National Guard, they're supposedly back in February 2010). For a story on this band's deployment, click here. Of course I was totally opposed to W's decision to invade, but I have enormous respect for what these guys are going to be doing over there. The military bands are, more than ever, serving a good purpose. Groups like this really help the people serving in, to put it mildly, an extremely difficult situation. Believe it or not, I seriously considered doing military music when I got out of high school. I don't regret for a minute choosing not to do this, but at the same time wonder how things would have turned out had I done this. Quite different, no doubt, but this kind of thing makes you think, no?
While I am glad to have the chance to play regularly with this big band, my thoughts are with these men and women overseas who are serving their country with live music. I may wish for our troops to be out of Iraq ASAP, while they're there, they deserve some good tunes. My (virtual) hat is off to this group!
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
TOS Rewind #29: "Amok Time"
Welcome to Season 2! Today we'll be tackling Amok Time (09-15-1967)
We did a podcast again, this time under 30 minutes!
And, if you listen to one of these 'casts and have a comment or question, we'll address it in our next round.
I'll let Eric start out the written review part:
“Amok Time” was definitely the right choice to open the second season of classic Star Trek. I hadn’t seen it in quite a while, so I was pleasantly surprised to be reminded just how good it is. As the quintessential Spock episode, it provides much important character development and fills in part of his back story, as well as adding greatly to our knowledge of Vulcan culture—we finally get to see the planet Vulcan and meet some of its full-blooded inhabitants. The story itself is interesting and imaginative, and thankfully free of any overt camp or cheesiness. The direction and acting (particularly Leonard Nimoy’s) are excellent. And the production is quite good, especially the design of the Vulcan set. To top it off, we get to hear the introduction of some of the most memorable music in the series.
With our modern sensibilities, we don’t think twice about the subject of this episode. Sexuality is common theme in today’s TV shows and is depicted both casually and explicitly, but in 1967, it was daring for Roddenberry to even attempt air an episode that dealt with such a taboo topic. I imagine the only way he got it past the network censors was that it dealt with alien (Vulcan) sexuality and was addressed in a circumspect (rather quaint) fashion. Still, this is another example of how original Trek was groundbreaking as a television show.
Another reason “Amok Time” stands out is Nimoy’s brilliant performance. His portrayal of Spock’s torment and embarrassment is completely convincing, as is his “blood fever.” And the final scene, when Spock shows open delight at discovering Kirk is alive, ranks among the best scenes in the entire series. Shatner and Kelley also turn in excellent performances. McCoy’s desperation to help Spock and Kirk’s willingness to sacrifice his captaincy to save his friend are touching. Spock’s request that they accompany him to the ceremony on Vulcan is similarly touching—he reveals that Kirk and McCoy are his closest friends. With Kirk, this is no surprise, but with McCoy, it is a little more surprising given their rivalry. What it comes down to is that the most important subplot of the episode is the affirmation of the deep friendship and affection between these characters.
Additionally, I would be remiss not to acknowledge the late Celia Lovsky’s outstanding performance. T’Pau is a great character. Kirk describes her as “…all of Vulcan rolled into one,” and Lovsky does a superb job portraying this. Arlene Martel also does an excellent job as T’Pring. The character is a stone cold bitch, but Martel plays her wonderfully.
So “Amok Time” scores high in many categories, but I appreciate it particularly because it does so much to develop Vulcan culture. This episode was written by the late Theodore Sturgeon (who also wrote the first season episode “Shore Leave”), and it is a testament to his fertile imagination and skill as a science fiction author. We get used to thinking of Spock as a human who’s a little different, but this story brings out just how alien he and the Vulcan race/culture are. The contrast of the brutal mating ceremony with the peaceful, stoic race we’ve come to know is startling and fascinating. And, when you think about it, logical. Spock established early on that Vulcans were once ruthless and warlike, in the extreme, and that they were saved by the adoption of logic as an overriding philosophy. But as a matter of biology, they still have to deal with the pon farr (the cyclical mating drive) that induces a kind of insanity. So it seems reasonable that as a traditional culture, Vulcans would maintain their ancient ritual for resolving pon farr, koon-ut-kal-if-fee (wedding or challenge). It is implied that the challenge option is very rarely used, but being the thorough, well-prepared people they are, Vulcans are ready for that possibility. And therein lies our story.
So there it is. “Amok Time” is an excellent episode and the perfect choice to begin the second, and arguably best, season of original Star Trek.
---
This time I had a plain old iced tea: maybe in retrospect, I should have picked something stronger!
At the risk of repeating Eric's comments, I want to start out by saying how good this episode is. Like him, I hadn't seen it in a good while and it didn't disappoint.
This is one of the big Spock showcase episodes and Nimoy really rises to the challenge. It would be easy for him to have dialed in a performance that said, "I'M A HORNY VULCAN!!!" Sure, there's a little bit of that going on there, but he really plays out the inner conflict of the character who's quite ashamed that he has to share this with Kirk and McCoy.
I have this impression of the episode from my childhood, that the Kirk/Spock duel lasts far longer than it actually does. The buildup to the confrontation is effective enough that the fight doesn't have to take the bulk of the screen time. And hey, Kirk's shirt gets cut open right off the bat. Those weapons are really nasty!
As Eric mentioned, the performance of the woman who played T'Pau just doesn't get stale. She comes off as pure Vulcan badass. Spock's bride is also a coldly logical operator. Her manipulation of Spock, Kirk, and the whole ritual makes her come off as a woman not to be messed with. Considering the whole arranged marriage business and the Vulcan ideas of women being "consorts" and "property" of the men, the actual female characters are very strong. I have to think that perhaps Vulcan needs to look into the concept of no-fault divorce. Very interesting.
This is another one of those classic episodes where they managed to work in a potentially thorny subject, sex, into 1960s network TV. By inserting it into the ritualistic Vulcan traditions, they mask the real ideas here to a degree. This was not too uncommon in old Hollywood, where some kinds of social taboos were presentable if portrayed as being part of a "primitive" culture. In this case, the Vulcans are ironically the "savages" while Kirk and the other humans come off as more civilized. This is reinforced by the sets, costumes, and the "ritualistic" drumming of the memorable score (reused many times later, of course). What they do, of course, is develop a relatively rich background for Spock's planet and give us a look at the Vulcan people. No other alien race in the Original Series gets nearly that much development.
Of course it's quite hard to top the ending scene where Spock shouts out, "JIM!" after seeing Kirk very much alive. Call it cheesy if you want: I happen to love it. We also are abruptly introduced to Pavel Chekov. After going through an entire season of Sulu+random navigator (with apologies to Lt. O'Reilley), it's good to have another character on board.
I watched the remastered version and actually liked the CG-redone Vulcan shots, They looked good and matched the existing set footage as well as what we've seen of Vulcan from the films. One of the few times that the enhancements did much for the show.
Next time: “Who Mourns for Adonais”
We did a podcast again, this time under 30 minutes!
And, if you listen to one of these 'casts and have a comment or question, we'll address it in our next round.
I'll let Eric start out the written review part:
“Amok Time” was definitely the right choice to open the second season of classic Star Trek. I hadn’t seen it in quite a while, so I was pleasantly surprised to be reminded just how good it is. As the quintessential Spock episode, it provides much important character development and fills in part of his back story, as well as adding greatly to our knowledge of Vulcan culture—we finally get to see the planet Vulcan and meet some of its full-blooded inhabitants. The story itself is interesting and imaginative, and thankfully free of any overt camp or cheesiness. The direction and acting (particularly Leonard Nimoy’s) are excellent. And the production is quite good, especially the design of the Vulcan set. To top it off, we get to hear the introduction of some of the most memorable music in the series.
With our modern sensibilities, we don’t think twice about the subject of this episode. Sexuality is common theme in today’s TV shows and is depicted both casually and explicitly, but in 1967, it was daring for Roddenberry to even attempt air an episode that dealt with such a taboo topic. I imagine the only way he got it past the network censors was that it dealt with alien (Vulcan) sexuality and was addressed in a circumspect (rather quaint) fashion. Still, this is another example of how original Trek was groundbreaking as a television show.
Another reason “Amok Time” stands out is Nimoy’s brilliant performance. His portrayal of Spock’s torment and embarrassment is completely convincing, as is his “blood fever.” And the final scene, when Spock shows open delight at discovering Kirk is alive, ranks among the best scenes in the entire series. Shatner and Kelley also turn in excellent performances. McCoy’s desperation to help Spock and Kirk’s willingness to sacrifice his captaincy to save his friend are touching. Spock’s request that they accompany him to the ceremony on Vulcan is similarly touching—he reveals that Kirk and McCoy are his closest friends. With Kirk, this is no surprise, but with McCoy, it is a little more surprising given their rivalry. What it comes down to is that the most important subplot of the episode is the affirmation of the deep friendship and affection between these characters.
Additionally, I would be remiss not to acknowledge the late Celia Lovsky’s outstanding performance. T’Pau is a great character. Kirk describes her as “…all of Vulcan rolled into one,” and Lovsky does a superb job portraying this. Arlene Martel also does an excellent job as T’Pring. The character is a stone cold bitch, but Martel plays her wonderfully.
So “Amok Time” scores high in many categories, but I appreciate it particularly because it does so much to develop Vulcan culture. This episode was written by the late Theodore Sturgeon (who also wrote the first season episode “Shore Leave”), and it is a testament to his fertile imagination and skill as a science fiction author. We get used to thinking of Spock as a human who’s a little different, but this story brings out just how alien he and the Vulcan race/culture are. The contrast of the brutal mating ceremony with the peaceful, stoic race we’ve come to know is startling and fascinating. And, when you think about it, logical. Spock established early on that Vulcans were once ruthless and warlike, in the extreme, and that they were saved by the adoption of logic as an overriding philosophy. But as a matter of biology, they still have to deal with the pon farr (the cyclical mating drive) that induces a kind of insanity. So it seems reasonable that as a traditional culture, Vulcans would maintain their ancient ritual for resolving pon farr, koon-ut-kal-if-fee (wedding or challenge). It is implied that the challenge option is very rarely used, but being the thorough, well-prepared people they are, Vulcans are ready for that possibility. And therein lies our story.
So there it is. “Amok Time” is an excellent episode and the perfect choice to begin the second, and arguably best, season of original Star Trek.
---
This time I had a plain old iced tea: maybe in retrospect, I should have picked something stronger!
At the risk of repeating Eric's comments, I want to start out by saying how good this episode is. Like him, I hadn't seen it in a good while and it didn't disappoint.
This is one of the big Spock showcase episodes and Nimoy really rises to the challenge. It would be easy for him to have dialed in a performance that said, "I'M A HORNY VULCAN!!!" Sure, there's a little bit of that going on there, but he really plays out the inner conflict of the character who's quite ashamed that he has to share this with Kirk and McCoy.
I have this impression of the episode from my childhood, that the Kirk/Spock duel lasts far longer than it actually does. The buildup to the confrontation is effective enough that the fight doesn't have to take the bulk of the screen time. And hey, Kirk's shirt gets cut open right off the bat. Those weapons are really nasty!
As Eric mentioned, the performance of the woman who played T'Pau just doesn't get stale. She comes off as pure Vulcan badass. Spock's bride is also a coldly logical operator. Her manipulation of Spock, Kirk, and the whole ritual makes her come off as a woman not to be messed with. Considering the whole arranged marriage business and the Vulcan ideas of women being "consorts" and "property" of the men, the actual female characters are very strong. I have to think that perhaps Vulcan needs to look into the concept of no-fault divorce. Very interesting.
This is another one of those classic episodes where they managed to work in a potentially thorny subject, sex, into 1960s network TV. By inserting it into the ritualistic Vulcan traditions, they mask the real ideas here to a degree. This was not too uncommon in old Hollywood, where some kinds of social taboos were presentable if portrayed as being part of a "primitive" culture. In this case, the Vulcans are ironically the "savages" while Kirk and the other humans come off as more civilized. This is reinforced by the sets, costumes, and the "ritualistic" drumming of the memorable score (reused many times later, of course). What they do, of course, is develop a relatively rich background for Spock's planet and give us a look at the Vulcan people. No other alien race in the Original Series gets nearly that much development.
Of course it's quite hard to top the ending scene where Spock shouts out, "JIM!" after seeing Kirk very much alive. Call it cheesy if you want: I happen to love it. We also are abruptly introduced to Pavel Chekov. After going through an entire season of Sulu+random navigator (with apologies to Lt. O'Reilley), it's good to have another character on board.
I watched the remastered version and actually liked the CG-redone Vulcan shots, They looked good and matched the existing set footage as well as what we've seen of Vulcan from the films. One of the few times that the enhancements did much for the show.
Next time: “Who Mourns for Adonais”
Thursday, May 28, 2009
TOS Rewind: "Star Trek" (2009)
I have a bonus podcast up where we talk about the new Star Trek feature film.
I got Eric, Rob, and Lee in on the action.
Download the podcast here.
As always, if you have any questions/comments, leave a note and maybe we'll respond on our next session
I got Eric, Rob, and Lee in on the action.
Download the podcast here.
As always, if you have any questions/comments, leave a note and maybe we'll respond on our next session
Sunday, May 10, 2009
TOS Rewind #28: "Operation -- Annihilate!"
We reach the end of Season 1 with Operation -- Annihilate! (04/13/1967)
I was enjoying a cold Sam Adams (Bawston Laaaaager!) while we watched this one.
We did a podcast, a much shorter one than last time.
When I saw that this was the Season 1 finale, I thought it was a bit odd. Not so much. True, Trek was never produced with modern TV sensibilities like season openers and such and many current fans saw them out of order in syndication or on video. The episode does work all right though as it has a relatively positive outcome after the two previous ones which were pretty bleak.
We always jokingly referred to this one as "The Flying Pancake Episode." I should probably now call it "The Flying Bloody Omelet Episode." Go watch it and tell me if I'm off here!
We had a really good chat about this one on the podcast. The big thing that bothered Eric was the bogus science surrounding the way they kill the creatures. I'm sure he'll mention this, but it's pretty silly. However, to paraphrase my friend Andy, it may seem odd to go after this and not be bothered much by the other tech stuff like warp drive and transporters. I guess you have to pick and choose when to suspend your disbelief here. It does seem like they could have worked out this particular tech issue a bit better since they work conventional radiation/light into the plot. Writer laziness perhaps.
OK, so maybe the science is laughable and the creatures not nearly as creepy as when I saw it growing up, but it does have good Kirk/Spock/McCoy character goodness. The scenes after Spock is blinded are great. The bit where Spock tries to seize the bridge is classic: "Must take the ship!" This line has amusing, if relevant meaning as a phrase I use to get off my ass and do something. Maybe a clever T-shirt is in order...
Other stuff of note:
We meet Kirk's brother, who's dead by the time we see him, plus his wife/kid. I realize they did this to drive home the menace of the alien creatures, but it seems like a waste of a potential character to off him so casually. These last two episodes were pretty bad for our Dear Captain. Last time he's forced to let his true love get hit by a truck and now his brother is offed by some plastic bloody omelets. Sucky.
Nimoy does a credible job playing Spock being subjected to extreme pain; the inner struggle seems on the level. This is really a Spock showcase episode.
The plot of this one has obvious roots in earlier sci fi, which Eric will certainly go into. It also has a fun cold war Body Snatchers-esque paranoia, even if it's a bit undeveloped.
The locations they use for the planetside scenes remind me of 1960s college campus architecture: lots of tall skinny buildings with narrow windows. Fill all the open areas with concrete and you're there. But hey, what were they going to do?
They finally get Transporter Room security down in this one. You may recall that in the last two episodes, the pot-smoking red dudes manning the controls were easily overcome by Lazarus and McCoy. Well not this time! Now the dude is augmented by Scotty who remembers to pack heat, thus preventing Spock's escape. Sure, maybe he was there to get a hit from Mr. Leslie, but he was ready for action. I can just imaging Scotty pointing the phaser at Spock while saying, "This aggression will not stand, Laddie."
So all in all, a pretty good one with shaky science and some fun character interaction. The episode is very well paced, with appropriate suspense in the right parts. A solid, if unspectacular first season ender.
--
And Sir Eric's take:
As I write this, I am about five hours from going to see the new Star Trek movie, which gives me a delicious sense of excitement and anticipation that I rarely feel these days. Everything I’ve heard and read makes it sound like J.J. Abrams has done the impossible—he has successfully reinvented and relaunched Star Trek. This is especially apropos, since the premiere of the “reboot” movie very nearly coincides with the fortieth anniversary of the end of the original Star Trek series. And with this review, we’ve also reached the end of the first season of classic Trek.
To be honest, Roddenberry should’ve ended the first season with “City on the Edge of Forever” instead of “Operation Annihilate.” We discuss this, along with many other issues, in our podcast, so I won’t rehash my entire rant here. In short, “Operation Annihilate” isn’t a bad episode, but the glaring errors in the science make it very hard for me to watch. What’s worse is that the errors are so basic that even a barely competent science adviser would have caught them immediately—ultraviolet radiation CANNOT pass through most solid materials, most notably glass, wood, steel, or concrete!
My other gripe is that this episode plagiarizes both Robert A. Heinlein’s 1951 novel “The Puppet Masters” and the 1956 film “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.” Admittedly, it is Star Trek’s take on the Cold War paranoia themes presented there, but Roddenberry shouldn’t have “borrowed” so heavily and blatantly.
I don’t, however, want to end my reviews of the first season episodes on a sour note, so I will add that there are some really nice character moments in this episode, particularly between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. It demonstrates how far the series progressed in the first season—the cast and crew have have hit their stride, and it presages a great second season.
Next time: “Amok time”
I was enjoying a cold Sam Adams (Bawston Laaaaager!) while we watched this one.
We did a podcast, a much shorter one than last time.
When I saw that this was the Season 1 finale, I thought it was a bit odd. Not so much. True, Trek was never produced with modern TV sensibilities like season openers and such and many current fans saw them out of order in syndication or on video. The episode does work all right though as it has a relatively positive outcome after the two previous ones which were pretty bleak.
We always jokingly referred to this one as "The Flying Pancake Episode." I should probably now call it "The Flying Bloody Omelet Episode." Go watch it and tell me if I'm off here!
We had a really good chat about this one on the podcast. The big thing that bothered Eric was the bogus science surrounding the way they kill the creatures. I'm sure he'll mention this, but it's pretty silly. However, to paraphrase my friend Andy, it may seem odd to go after this and not be bothered much by the other tech stuff like warp drive and transporters. I guess you have to pick and choose when to suspend your disbelief here. It does seem like they could have worked out this particular tech issue a bit better since they work conventional radiation/light into the plot. Writer laziness perhaps.
OK, so maybe the science is laughable and the creatures not nearly as creepy as when I saw it growing up, but it does have good Kirk/Spock/McCoy character goodness. The scenes after Spock is blinded are great. The bit where Spock tries to seize the bridge is classic: "Must take the ship!" This line has amusing, if relevant meaning as a phrase I use to get off my ass and do something. Maybe a clever T-shirt is in order...
Other stuff of note:
We meet Kirk's brother, who's dead by the time we see him, plus his wife/kid. I realize they did this to drive home the menace of the alien creatures, but it seems like a waste of a potential character to off him so casually. These last two episodes were pretty bad for our Dear Captain. Last time he's forced to let his true love get hit by a truck and now his brother is offed by some plastic bloody omelets. Sucky.
Nimoy does a credible job playing Spock being subjected to extreme pain; the inner struggle seems on the level. This is really a Spock showcase episode.
The plot of this one has obvious roots in earlier sci fi, which Eric will certainly go into. It also has a fun cold war Body Snatchers-esque paranoia, even if it's a bit undeveloped.
The locations they use for the planetside scenes remind me of 1960s college campus architecture: lots of tall skinny buildings with narrow windows. Fill all the open areas with concrete and you're there. But hey, what were they going to do?
They finally get Transporter Room security down in this one. You may recall that in the last two episodes, the pot-smoking red dudes manning the controls were easily overcome by Lazarus and McCoy. Well not this time! Now the dude is augmented by Scotty who remembers to pack heat, thus preventing Spock's escape. Sure, maybe he was there to get a hit from Mr. Leslie, but he was ready for action. I can just imaging Scotty pointing the phaser at Spock while saying, "This aggression will not stand, Laddie."
So all in all, a pretty good one with shaky science and some fun character interaction. The episode is very well paced, with appropriate suspense in the right parts. A solid, if unspectacular first season ender.
--
And Sir Eric's take:
As I write this, I am about five hours from going to see the new Star Trek movie, which gives me a delicious sense of excitement and anticipation that I rarely feel these days. Everything I’ve heard and read makes it sound like J.J. Abrams has done the impossible—he has successfully reinvented and relaunched Star Trek. This is especially apropos, since the premiere of the “reboot” movie very nearly coincides with the fortieth anniversary of the end of the original Star Trek series. And with this review, we’ve also reached the end of the first season of classic Trek.
To be honest, Roddenberry should’ve ended the first season with “City on the Edge of Forever” instead of “Operation Annihilate.” We discuss this, along with many other issues, in our podcast, so I won’t rehash my entire rant here. In short, “Operation Annihilate” isn’t a bad episode, but the glaring errors in the science make it very hard for me to watch. What’s worse is that the errors are so basic that even a barely competent science adviser would have caught them immediately—ultraviolet radiation CANNOT pass through most solid materials, most notably glass, wood, steel, or concrete!
My other gripe is that this episode plagiarizes both Robert A. Heinlein’s 1951 novel “The Puppet Masters” and the 1956 film “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.” Admittedly, it is Star Trek’s take on the Cold War paranoia themes presented there, but Roddenberry shouldn’t have “borrowed” so heavily and blatantly.
I don’t, however, want to end my reviews of the first season episodes on a sour note, so I will add that there are some really nice character moments in this episode, particularly between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. It demonstrates how far the series progressed in the first season—the cast and crew have have hit their stride, and it presages a great second season.
Next time: “Amok time”
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
TOS Rewind #27: "The City on the Edge of Forever"
Episode: The City on the Edge of Forever (04-06-1967). Drink: a Martini (classic episode=classic drinky).
Eric, Rob, and I had more trouble than usual getting the podcast done for this one due to scheduling and technical challenges (okay, so that was my particular challenge), but we managed to pull it off. It's long (52 minutes) and is spliced together from two separate attempts so my apologies in advance if there's duplicate material in there (the sound quality varies a bit as well). I think I have the tech problems ironed out so at least we should be good on that score. We hit a lot of points, so I think it was worth it. For those who are willing to brave the commentary, it can be found here:
Eric starts us out with his written version:
“The City on the Edge of Forever” is widely considered to be the best classic Star Trek episode, and for good reason. The direction and acting (particularly Bill Shatner’s) is top notch, and the drama is genuine and touching. And although I usually avoid the term, the “chemistry” between the characters works brilliantly. Best of all (for me at least, and if you’ve read any of my previous reviews, this should come as no surprise), it is superbly imaginative science fiction and a wonderfully dramatic, but tragic, story.
Before we go any further, I should mention the controversy surrounding this episode—“The City on the Edge of Forever” was written by Harlan Ellison who (to this day) feels wronged both by the studio for not paying royalties and Gene Roddenberry for rewriting his original script. I completely sympathize with Ellison’s grievance over unpaid royalties, but I’ve read the original script, and while it was quite good, it clearly wasn’t Star Trek and had to be rewritten to be produced as a Trek episode. In addition, it was (and still is) quite common for producers to rewrite scripts for their shows, and as Executive Producer and creator, doing such a rewrite was Roddenberry’s prerogative. Still, Harlan Ellison is a damn good writer, and he has an outspoken, no-bullshit, populist attitude I admire, so I’m not going to take sides. Both versions of the script are great.
Both versions of the script are also tragic love stories (albeit of a different nature), and both scripts deal with two of my favorite subjects: time travel and the history of World War II. Time travel in Star Trek has often been laughable, couched in ridiculous pseudoscience and technobabble, but in “The City on the Edge of Forever” it’s done through the Guardian of Forever, which I’ve always found to be an awe inspiring idea/concept/being. And, as long as you’re willing to employ a bit of imagination (which is necessary to enjoy science fiction), it’s perfectly plausible. No attempt at scientific explanation is offered or possible. And it is through the Guardian that the history of World War II is accidentally disrupted, allowing Nazi Germany to develop nuclear weapons before the United States. (No need to expound upon why this is extraordinarily bad.) The real drama of the story, however, is that Kirk has to allow a woman he loves to die in order to set things right. And he does, but at a terrible personal cost, which is beautifully, but heart wrenchingly, played out in the last few minutes of the episode. Kirk’s anguish, McCoy’s confused horror, and Spock’s gentle compassion all play off each other perfectly and bring the story full circle.
So what we’re left with is a tragedy in the best tradition of tragedies. And as such, it leaves us with a strangely satisfying sense of bitter completion that Kirk expresses perfectly: “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
---
I don't know if I have a real favorite of this show, but this could be it, along with a few others. As Eric points out, the story has a great premise that stands out even among the generally good episodes of the first season. Back when we covered "Tomorrow is Yesterday," I remember thinking that the whole time travel thing was being covered in a pretty nonchalant way. Sure, they have to correct the changes they've made to the past, but it isn't all that serious and they seem awfully sloppy with regards to how they've disrupted things. "City" sets a far more somber tone to this sci fi concept. Changes, even a minor one, can alter everything that is to come. This comes down to the idea here, doing the right thing at the wrong time. McCoy saves Edith and dooms the world. It's really interesting ponder the significance of everyday choices we all make. Sure, nothing I do will probably change the course of the planet, but you never know. Not that there's really an answer to all this. The only conclusion drawn here is to leave the hell alone and hope things sort themselves out.
I know my friend Lee knocked this one down a bit for not having an outstanding social message or commentary, but Rob presented one quite well on the podcast. I'm feeling lazy, so I'm going to refer him and anyone else to the commentary.
The character interaction here is especially strong in this episode. There is genuine warmth between Kirk and Spock as they go through their often amusing "Odd Couple" sequence in the second act while Spock tries to build his computer device from "stone knives and bearskins" (aka vacuum tubes and random electronics). The Edith Keeler character may not be 100% developed, but she has to be the best female character of the old series.
The acting is decent in this episode, with DeForest Kelley really doing a good job playing the drug-addled doctor. His scene with the street person is particularly good.
We covered a lot of ground for this one on the podcast, so if you want to hear more, go check it out.
I watched both the original and remastered versions of this one. There's one shot where I actually
prefer the old optical effects: the planet.
Sure, the new one looks more like a real planet, but the old effect has that forlorn lifeless look that really works for this episode. Other than that, the rest of the changes were minor (and the improved picture quality, as usual).
Next time: “Operation Annihilate!”
Eric, Rob, and I had more trouble than usual getting the podcast done for this one due to scheduling and technical challenges (okay, so that was my particular challenge), but we managed to pull it off. It's long (52 minutes) and is spliced together from two separate attempts so my apologies in advance if there's duplicate material in there (the sound quality varies a bit as well). I think I have the tech problems ironed out so at least we should be good on that score. We hit a lot of points, so I think it was worth it. For those who are willing to brave the commentary, it can be found here:
Eric starts us out with his written version:
“The City on the Edge of Forever” is widely considered to be the best classic Star Trek episode, and for good reason. The direction and acting (particularly Bill Shatner’s) is top notch, and the drama is genuine and touching. And although I usually avoid the term, the “chemistry” between the characters works brilliantly. Best of all (for me at least, and if you’ve read any of my previous reviews, this should come as no surprise), it is superbly imaginative science fiction and a wonderfully dramatic, but tragic, story.
Before we go any further, I should mention the controversy surrounding this episode—“The City on the Edge of Forever” was written by Harlan Ellison who (to this day) feels wronged both by the studio for not paying royalties and Gene Roddenberry for rewriting his original script. I completely sympathize with Ellison’s grievance over unpaid royalties, but I’ve read the original script, and while it was quite good, it clearly wasn’t Star Trek and had to be rewritten to be produced as a Trek episode. In addition, it was (and still is) quite common for producers to rewrite scripts for their shows, and as Executive Producer and creator, doing such a rewrite was Roddenberry’s prerogative. Still, Harlan Ellison is a damn good writer, and he has an outspoken, no-bullshit, populist attitude I admire, so I’m not going to take sides. Both versions of the script are great.
Both versions of the script are also tragic love stories (albeit of a different nature), and both scripts deal with two of my favorite subjects: time travel and the history of World War II. Time travel in Star Trek has often been laughable, couched in ridiculous pseudoscience and technobabble, but in “The City on the Edge of Forever” it’s done through the Guardian of Forever, which I’ve always found to be an awe inspiring idea/concept/being. And, as long as you’re willing to employ a bit of imagination (which is necessary to enjoy science fiction), it’s perfectly plausible. No attempt at scientific explanation is offered or possible. And it is through the Guardian that the history of World War II is accidentally disrupted, allowing Nazi Germany to develop nuclear weapons before the United States. (No need to expound upon why this is extraordinarily bad.) The real drama of the story, however, is that Kirk has to allow a woman he loves to die in order to set things right. And he does, but at a terrible personal cost, which is beautifully, but heart wrenchingly, played out in the last few minutes of the episode. Kirk’s anguish, McCoy’s confused horror, and Spock’s gentle compassion all play off each other perfectly and bring the story full circle.
So what we’re left with is a tragedy in the best tradition of tragedies. And as such, it leaves us with a strangely satisfying sense of bitter completion that Kirk expresses perfectly: “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
---
I don't know if I have a real favorite of this show, but this could be it, along with a few others. As Eric points out, the story has a great premise that stands out even among the generally good episodes of the first season. Back when we covered "Tomorrow is Yesterday," I remember thinking that the whole time travel thing was being covered in a pretty nonchalant way. Sure, they have to correct the changes they've made to the past, but it isn't all that serious and they seem awfully sloppy with regards to how they've disrupted things. "City" sets a far more somber tone to this sci fi concept. Changes, even a minor one, can alter everything that is to come. This comes down to the idea here, doing the right thing at the wrong time. McCoy saves Edith and dooms the world. It's really interesting ponder the significance of everyday choices we all make. Sure, nothing I do will probably change the course of the planet, but you never know. Not that there's really an answer to all this. The only conclusion drawn here is to leave the hell alone and hope things sort themselves out.
I know my friend Lee knocked this one down a bit for not having an outstanding social message or commentary, but Rob presented one quite well on the podcast. I'm feeling lazy, so I'm going to refer him and anyone else to the commentary.
The character interaction here is especially strong in this episode. There is genuine warmth between Kirk and Spock as they go through their often amusing "Odd Couple" sequence in the second act while Spock tries to build his computer device from "stone knives and bearskins" (aka vacuum tubes and random electronics). The Edith Keeler character may not be 100% developed, but she has to be the best female character of the old series.
The acting is decent in this episode, with DeForest Kelley really doing a good job playing the drug-addled doctor. His scene with the street person is particularly good.
We covered a lot of ground for this one on the podcast, so if you want to hear more, go check it out.
I watched both the original and remastered versions of this one. There's one shot where I actually
prefer the old optical effects: the planet.
 |
| The original |
 |
The remastered |
Next time: “Operation Annihilate!”
Thursday, March 19, 2009
TOS Rewind #26: "The Alternative Factor"
Today's episode: The Alternative Factor
(03/30/1967) I enjoyed a nice Dewars Scotch with our podcast (and no, I'm not trying to rip off Ron Moore's podcasts!).
Eric, Rob, and I did a podcast for this one.
This is one of those episodes that, while having some very interesting ideas, ultimately doesn't work as well as it could for me due to the way it's executed. Back when I saw this one growing up, I doubt I was as critical as I am today. After all, it had some space-like effects and a few fights with funky lighting and effects. Cool!
Here's what I did like about it.
There are some compelling and unusual, for 1960s TV, ideas presented here. The parallel universe concept and the "corridor" allowing someone to travel between them is great sci fi (not SyFy!) stuff, even if it'd probably been written about before in books.
The teaser and first act of the episode work very well. The buildup with the mysterious effect and the somber invasion message from Starfleet (the first time we see Kirk and co. interact with anyone at HQ) cast a somber tone on the show right away. Then, this batshit crazy man named Lazarus appears and we really don't know what the hell is going on. As I said, the intro is very effective which makes the rest of the episode more disappointing.
The interactions between Kirk, Spock, and Lazarus are interesting at times. Kirk comes off as genuinely conflicted as he has to decide what to believe. Spock gets some good skeptical science officer time here and even gets in this jab at Lazarus: "I fail to comprehend your indignation, sir. I have simply made the logical deduction that you are a liar." The scene where Kirk and Spock figure out the nature of the two universes and the potential consequences is actually well done. Here is a scene where nothing exciting happens; the two of them are just hanging out in the briefing room having a chat. The camerawork and music builds up a good tension as it dawns on them what they are dealing with. Sure, it may seem over the top, but it does convey the situation without anything other than the acting and some economical production.
Unfortunately, for me, the episode is undone by a few things.
The guy playing Lazarus manages to seriously out-scenery-chew Shatner. The ranting and raving get old after a while and is giggle-inducing at times. I understand they were trying to portray an insane character, but it doesn't always come off right. Also, other than trying to spot the on/off cut on his forehead, it's almost impossible to tell the two Lazarus' (Lazari?) apart as they both tend to babble on crazy-like. Then there's his endless running around on the planet falling off cliffs. Rob and I laughed out loud one of the times. I understand that some of this was padding to fill in a missing romantic subplot involving Lazarus and the engineering officer. At least that might have made the episode more interesting and fleshed out the middle section, but it was cut from the script and, AFAIK, never filmed. By the way, where's Scotty? And where did his engine room set go? Then there's the strange facial hair Lazarus has. Sometimes it looks glued on and on the verge of coming off. OK, that's nitpicking...
Things sure seem lax on board the Enterprise in this episode considering how easily Lazarus manages to steal two sets of crystals. The red guy in the transporter room is a joke. Kirk has this frank discussion with Lazarus where he threatens to steal the crystals. Next thing we know, Lazarus is waltzing around the ship. hanging out in the lounge/lunchroom, and into the engineering section to steal the stuff without much trouble. Don't you think Kirk would have had him watched? Another odd thing: the planet-side scenes are obviously California locations, as usual. But, when Kirk crosses over into the other universe to meet the sane Lazarus, who now acts calm and rational, the scene is obviously on a soundstage with fake rocks. Hmm...
The effects just weren't able to convey they nature of the corridor and the other universe. The bits where Lazarus and his twin are fighting look silly and I have to assume that the dialogue was written to compensate for this. This is quite obvious where at the end of the episode and Kirk is ruminating about the fate of Lazarus. He gives his dramatic, "How would it be?" bit, as if he is needing to remind the viewers just how significant the resolution of the episode is. "What of Lazarus?!"
I watched the remastered version of this one, but of course the new effects didn't impact the fighting scenes. As usual, the images are extremely clean and the exterior ship shots look modern, but little impact on the episode itself.
And now Eric's:
---
I have always found “The Alternative Factor” to be compelling, but it is flawed. There are continuity problems, such as the dilithium crystals being kept somewhere other than the engine room in the matter-antimatter reactor. And the basic mistakes in the science are glaring—an antimatter Lazarus wouldn’t have been able to exist in our matter universe. The instant he came into contact with a particle of matter, there would have been a BIG explosion. Also, the entire universe couldn’t have been annihilated. But we talk about this in geater detail in the podcast, so I’ll move on to why I have a die-hard affection for the episode.
The setup in the teaser is very well done. It draws you in immediately and doesn’t let go, and this is representative of the good storytelling throughout. (Even a ridiculous story can be engaging, even enthralling, if it is told well. Consider Aesop’s fables and “The Wizard of OZ.”) The parallel universe theme is also a staple of SF that never ceases to be fascinating. And we could no doubt get into a deep “duality of man” discussion based on the “Sane Lazarus” vs. “Nutso Lazarus” situation. But aside from all of this, I enjoyed seeing an epsiode that doesn’t have an overt socio/political message. “The Alternative Factor” exists for no other purpose than to explore the idea that is the basis of its theme. There is also some nice pathos for Lazarus’ plight, but in the end—I know I’ve said this before—I always love the episodes that convincingly convey a feeling of being alone and isolated in the distant reaches of the galaxy.
So, despite its flaws, I have to give “The Alternative Factor” a decent grade for effectively evoking a sense of being in deep space.
Next time: “The City on the Edge of Forever”
(03/30/1967) I enjoyed a nice Dewars Scotch with our podcast (and no, I'm not trying to rip off Ron Moore's podcasts!).
Eric, Rob, and I did a podcast for this one.
This is one of those episodes that, while having some very interesting ideas, ultimately doesn't work as well as it could for me due to the way it's executed. Back when I saw this one growing up, I doubt I was as critical as I am today. After all, it had some space-like effects and a few fights with funky lighting and effects. Cool!
Here's what I did like about it.
There are some compelling and unusual, for 1960s TV, ideas presented here. The parallel universe concept and the "corridor" allowing someone to travel between them is great sci fi (not SyFy!) stuff, even if it'd probably been written about before in books.
The teaser and first act of the episode work very well. The buildup with the mysterious effect and the somber invasion message from Starfleet (the first time we see Kirk and co. interact with anyone at HQ) cast a somber tone on the show right away. Then, this batshit crazy man named Lazarus appears and we really don't know what the hell is going on. As I said, the intro is very effective which makes the rest of the episode more disappointing.
The interactions between Kirk, Spock, and Lazarus are interesting at times. Kirk comes off as genuinely conflicted as he has to decide what to believe. Spock gets some good skeptical science officer time here and even gets in this jab at Lazarus: "I fail to comprehend your indignation, sir. I have simply made the logical deduction that you are a liar." The scene where Kirk and Spock figure out the nature of the two universes and the potential consequences is actually well done. Here is a scene where nothing exciting happens; the two of them are just hanging out in the briefing room having a chat. The camerawork and music builds up a good tension as it dawns on them what they are dealing with. Sure, it may seem over the top, but it does convey the situation without anything other than the acting and some economical production.
Unfortunately, for me, the episode is undone by a few things.
The guy playing Lazarus manages to seriously out-scenery-chew Shatner. The ranting and raving get old after a while and is giggle-inducing at times. I understand they were trying to portray an insane character, but it doesn't always come off right. Also, other than trying to spot the on/off cut on his forehead, it's almost impossible to tell the two Lazarus' (Lazari?) apart as they both tend to babble on crazy-like. Then there's his endless running around on the planet falling off cliffs. Rob and I laughed out loud one of the times. I understand that some of this was padding to fill in a missing romantic subplot involving Lazarus and the engineering officer. At least that might have made the episode more interesting and fleshed out the middle section, but it was cut from the script and, AFAIK, never filmed. By the way, where's Scotty? And where did his engine room set go? Then there's the strange facial hair Lazarus has. Sometimes it looks glued on and on the verge of coming off. OK, that's nitpicking...
Things sure seem lax on board the Enterprise in this episode considering how easily Lazarus manages to steal two sets of crystals. The red guy in the transporter room is a joke. Kirk has this frank discussion with Lazarus where he threatens to steal the crystals. Next thing we know, Lazarus is waltzing around the ship. hanging out in the lounge/lunchroom, and into the engineering section to steal the stuff without much trouble. Don't you think Kirk would have had him watched? Another odd thing: the planet-side scenes are obviously California locations, as usual. But, when Kirk crosses over into the other universe to meet the sane Lazarus, who now acts calm and rational, the scene is obviously on a soundstage with fake rocks. Hmm...
The effects just weren't able to convey they nature of the corridor and the other universe. The bits where Lazarus and his twin are fighting look silly and I have to assume that the dialogue was written to compensate for this. This is quite obvious where at the end of the episode and Kirk is ruminating about the fate of Lazarus. He gives his dramatic, "How would it be?" bit, as if he is needing to remind the viewers just how significant the resolution of the episode is. "What of Lazarus?!"
I watched the remastered version of this one, but of course the new effects didn't impact the fighting scenes. As usual, the images are extremely clean and the exterior ship shots look modern, but little impact on the episode itself.
And now Eric's:
---
I have always found “The Alternative Factor” to be compelling, but it is flawed. There are continuity problems, such as the dilithium crystals being kept somewhere other than the engine room in the matter-antimatter reactor. And the basic mistakes in the science are glaring—an antimatter Lazarus wouldn’t have been able to exist in our matter universe. The instant he came into contact with a particle of matter, there would have been a BIG explosion. Also, the entire universe couldn’t have been annihilated. But we talk about this in geater detail in the podcast, so I’ll move on to why I have a die-hard affection for the episode.
The setup in the teaser is very well done. It draws you in immediately and doesn’t let go, and this is representative of the good storytelling throughout. (Even a ridiculous story can be engaging, even enthralling, if it is told well. Consider Aesop’s fables and “The Wizard of OZ.”) The parallel universe theme is also a staple of SF that never ceases to be fascinating. And we could no doubt get into a deep “duality of man” discussion based on the “Sane Lazarus” vs. “Nutso Lazarus” situation. But aside from all of this, I enjoyed seeing an epsiode that doesn’t have an overt socio/political message. “The Alternative Factor” exists for no other purpose than to explore the idea that is the basis of its theme. There is also some nice pathos for Lazarus’ plight, but in the end—I know I’ve said this before—I always love the episodes that convincingly convey a feeling of being alone and isolated in the distant reaches of the galaxy.
So, despite its flaws, I have to give “The Alternative Factor” a decent grade for effectively evoking a sense of being in deep space.
Next time: “The City on the Edge of Forever”
Saturday, February 7, 2009
TOS Rewind #25: "Errand of Mercy"
Today's episode: Errand of Mercy (03-23-1967)
My drink this time: A Margarita: to mark the passing of Ricardo Montalban. We talked about the Khan stuff back here.
Eric, Rob, and I did a podcast for this episode. The whole installment is late this time due to the fact that the first podcast got trashed due to a Garageband crash and our general busy-ness. We'll try and get the next one out quicker!
Here's my brief take on this episode (more detail in the podcast).
At the risk of repeating myself, this is a crucial episode in the series. It would be important if for no other reason that it introduces the Klingons, quite well I'd say, and sets up a lot of material for Trek material going far beyond the Original Series. The whole point about making the Federation and the Klingons "get along" paves the way for an awful lot of material in The Next Generation. Sure, the Klingons aren't all that exotic, regular guys with dark hair/skin, but the detail that's presented about their Empire really helps get us beyond the usual Trek alien-of-the-week thing.
Kor is a great villain, one of the best Klingons I can think of. He's ruthless and cunning, plus he has a sense of humor: very important in a space opera. Kor can have large groups of innocent civilians put to death at the drop of a hat, but can still be cool enough to have a drink with Kirk, his big enemy, pointing a phaser at his chest. What a guy! As Rob pointed out in the podcast, it's really interesting to watch Kirk, while disguised as a peaceful Organian, virtually blow his cover just because he can't resist being called out by Kor calling him a coward. Classic. We miss the usual McCoy dialogue (one of the few TOS episodes he doesn't appear in) and you'd think Scotty'd be running the ship in crisis after his tough performance in "A Taste of Armageddon." Oh well, he needed the week off. And of course, at the end of the episode, Kirk has to sit back and admit how foolish he was to be pissed at not being able to go to war with the Klingons. Spock has a good smirk at the typical human inconsistencies. If you watch this episode, do it an tell me the Organia sets don't look like a weekend at the MN Renaissance Festival!
And of course, we have the concept of the uber-powerful aliens putting we puny humans (and Klingons) in our place. We really have no true frame of reference with regard to the Organians. Only Spock seems to fully realize this. It's not unlike the situation in "The Day the Earth Stood Still." The aliens aren't going to let us screw things up. The message: knock off the warmaking or we'll take away your ships! Hmm, beats having your entire race wiped out by Gort and Klatuu...
---
And now Eric's turn:
This is going to be a short review, since we covered most of the important stuff in the podcast.
One thing I didn’t mention is that the title “Errand of Mercy" is taken from “The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby" by Charles Dickens: "It is an errand of mercy which brings me here. Pray, let me discharge it." A cool title for a great episode. It is, in fact, one of my favorites. The characters are superb (especially Kor) and the Democracy vs. Dictatorship analogy is well done. But the main reason I like this episode is that it evokes a powerful sense of wonder.
I know I’ve mentioned this before, but it is science fiction’s ability to evoke a sense of wonder that appeals to me. And as “Errand of Mercy" demonstrates, classic Star Trek, when at its best, wielded this ability magnificently. The story draws you in and makes you think that the Organians are meek, ineffectual simpletons. Kirk and Kor strut around, waging their interplanetary pissing match, secure in their superiority only to be brought up short when the Organians reveal that they are actually incredibly powerful, highly-evolved beings who have a problem with the lower life-forms disturbing the peace. So they put a stop to it. Conclusively. This is the kind of story that makes you think about humanity’s place in the universe and the possibility that their could be other intelligent life out there that is significantly more advanced than we are. Heady stuff. I guess I’m just a junkie for anything that will spark my imagination.
Next time: “The Alternative Factor"
My drink this time: A Margarita: to mark the passing of Ricardo Montalban. We talked about the Khan stuff back here.
Eric, Rob, and I did a podcast for this episode. The whole installment is late this time due to the fact that the first podcast got trashed due to a Garageband crash and our general busy-ness. We'll try and get the next one out quicker!
Here's my brief take on this episode (more detail in the podcast).
At the risk of repeating myself, this is a crucial episode in the series. It would be important if for no other reason that it introduces the Klingons, quite well I'd say, and sets up a lot of material for Trek material going far beyond the Original Series. The whole point about making the Federation and the Klingons "get along" paves the way for an awful lot of material in The Next Generation. Sure, the Klingons aren't all that exotic, regular guys with dark hair/skin, but the detail that's presented about their Empire really helps get us beyond the usual Trek alien-of-the-week thing.
Kor is a great villain, one of the best Klingons I can think of. He's ruthless and cunning, plus he has a sense of humor: very important in a space opera. Kor can have large groups of innocent civilians put to death at the drop of a hat, but can still be cool enough to have a drink with Kirk, his big enemy, pointing a phaser at his chest. What a guy! As Rob pointed out in the podcast, it's really interesting to watch Kirk, while disguised as a peaceful Organian, virtually blow his cover just because he can't resist being called out by Kor calling him a coward. Classic. We miss the usual McCoy dialogue (one of the few TOS episodes he doesn't appear in) and you'd think Scotty'd be running the ship in crisis after his tough performance in "A Taste of Armageddon." Oh well, he needed the week off. And of course, at the end of the episode, Kirk has to sit back and admit how foolish he was to be pissed at not being able to go to war with the Klingons. Spock has a good smirk at the typical human inconsistencies. If you watch this episode, do it an tell me the Organia sets don't look like a weekend at the MN Renaissance Festival!
And of course, we have the concept of the uber-powerful aliens putting we puny humans (and Klingons) in our place. We really have no true frame of reference with regard to the Organians. Only Spock seems to fully realize this. It's not unlike the situation in "The Day the Earth Stood Still." The aliens aren't going to let us screw things up. The message: knock off the warmaking or we'll take away your ships! Hmm, beats having your entire race wiped out by Gort and Klatuu...
---
And now Eric's turn:
This is going to be a short review, since we covered most of the important stuff in the podcast.
One thing I didn’t mention is that the title “Errand of Mercy" is taken from “The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby" by Charles Dickens: "It is an errand of mercy which brings me here. Pray, let me discharge it." A cool title for a great episode. It is, in fact, one of my favorites. The characters are superb (especially Kor) and the Democracy vs. Dictatorship analogy is well done. But the main reason I like this episode is that it evokes a powerful sense of wonder.
I know I’ve mentioned this before, but it is science fiction’s ability to evoke a sense of wonder that appeals to me. And as “Errand of Mercy" demonstrates, classic Star Trek, when at its best, wielded this ability magnificently. The story draws you in and makes you think that the Organians are meek, ineffectual simpletons. Kirk and Kor strut around, waging their interplanetary pissing match, secure in their superiority only to be brought up short when the Organians reveal that they are actually incredibly powerful, highly-evolved beings who have a problem with the lower life-forms disturbing the peace. So they put a stop to it. Conclusively. This is the kind of story that makes you think about humanity’s place in the universe and the possibility that their could be other intelligent life out there that is significantly more advanced than we are. Heady stuff. I guess I’m just a junkie for anything that will spark my imagination.
Next time: “The Alternative Factor"
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