TOS Rewind #71: The Lights of Zetar

Today, let's take a look at The Lights of Zetar (1/31/1969)

Here's the podcast:


Eric gets the first crack at this one:

The term, “mehpisode,” which I coined in my last review, fortunately doesn't apply to “The Lights of Zetar.” It definitely has some problems, such as Scotty's patronizing sexism, but the basic idea behind the episode is decent science fiction, and the story is reasonably well told.

The theme of aliens inhabiting and/or taking over a human's body is hardly new. (You don't have to go any farther than “Return to Tomorrow in the second season.) But the idea was presented in an interesting, if unnerving, way in “The Lights of Zetar.” When I was much younger, I was disturbed by how the Zetarians use Mira Romaine to communicate, and the way the woman on Memory Alpha dies is still a bit unsettling. One aspect of this episode that is not disturbing, however, is that the tension mounts in a measured way that doesn't seem contrived. And the idea of Memory Alpha is really cool, so the drama connected with it being destroyed is genuine. It reminds me of the ancient Library of Alexandria that was burned in the first century BC.

But now we come to the problems. First, it is established early on that Mira Romaine is being ferried to Memory Alpha, so why do they act like she's a permanent crew member. Is it a big deal that she has trouble adjusting to deep space starship duty? She won't be doing it for long. Further, at the end of the episode, the Zetarians are driven out by pressure. No basis for this is offered. Some sort of scientific explanation is badly needed, even if it's pseudo-science or techno-babble. Finally, the worst part of this episode is the way Scotty behaves.

Don't get me wrong, Scotty is one of my favorite characters, but they have him acting wildly out of character in this episode. To begin with, he is shown fawning over Mira Romaine in Sickbay when he should've been in Engineering. Seriously?! One thing that was crystal clear in the original series is that Scotty would never abandon his post in Engineering, especially in an emergency. It is a gross bastardization to suggest otherwise. But what is much worse is that the writers and producers portray him acting like a condescending, sexist douchebag to Romaine. In the other episode where he is smitten (“Who Mourns for Adonais”), he is overly protective of Lt. Palamas, but he is also respectful. When watching “The Lights of Zetar,” however, it's hard to imagine any woman putting up with the demeaning sexism Scotty shows Mira Romaine, cooing at her like a child and dismissing her concerns without taking her seriously. But she does accept this treatment without complaint, which just ratchets up the glaring misogyny. And the fact that it's a show from the 1960s is no excuse.

So the overt and offensive sexism is a serious black mark on this episode, but the strength of the story and the way it's told are better than many third season installments. As I've mentioned in other reviews, this smacks of damning with faint praise.

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Today's episode actually has a decent idea or two behind it. The concept of a group of aliens who have been reduced to energy beings is a solid science fiction story foundation. Unfortunately the concept isn't really, ahem, fleshed out nearly enough to make the idea really compelling as a science fiction story. The details behind the Zetar beings are mostly left out until some rushed explanation near the end of the episode. The episode already used its budget to depict the aliens, why not devote some of the running time to exploring what the Zetarians are about? Well, they had to make space for the awful Scotty/Romaine romance!

Okay, look,  I love the Scotty character, as I've said before. More Scotty isn't usually a bad thing. However, in this episode, I wanted his scenes all left on the cutting room floor. I would be the last to deny Scotty some character development in the form of a relationship with someone who's not the Enterprise engines, but this goes so far overboard that we never want more Scotty scenes. And that's a shame. Scotty was overdue to get some romance, but not at the expense of his integrity as a character. It all goes back to the old problem of Third Season character writing. Spock shouldn't be played like a total asshole and Scotty shouldn't be a pandering,  unprofessional, love-sick schoolboy.  The Mira Romaine character is fine, really. She's obviously a professional who has her own life and all that but the way she's treated by everyone on the Enterprise is so sexist. It's as if we have to rely on Scotty's feelings for her to take her seriously as a person in the episode. There's the Enterprise patriarchy for you. 

As I said before, the basic idea here is good but isn't developed well enough. This isn't helped by the way the the main characters, until they happen to think of throwing Romaine into a pressure chamber, seem so ineffectual. Because so little is explained, this becomes another episode where Kirk and the rest are just along for the ride, waiting for things to be revealed. We the audience are often a step ahead of the main characters. It's back to the problem of the story following some sort of rules. Another thing that bothered me is that the aliens story didn't seem to know whether it was trying to be science fiction or a ghost story in space. The way that the half-baked "premonition" scenes were done makes us think this is being done by spooky ghosts. Which is it? It's fine to have horror movie-style atmosphere and other elements in science fiction--that can be very effective--but the writer just didn't seem to want to figure out what this one was all about, which is also a shame. Some of the scenes with the Zetarians and the aftermath of their attacks are well done while creating suspense. Plus, the idea of Memory Alpha, the galaxy's great library, is pretty cool. Maybe they should rethink the whole "no-defenses" thing. Heck, even the smallest town library in America has a lock on its front door. 

In the end, they had all the components of an at least good episode of Star Trek. The show runners just couldn't be bothered to make the effort to give it to us. And that's a cryin' shame.

Next time: “Requiem for Methuselah”

TOS Rewind #70: "That Which Survives"

Greetings!

Today's fun is That Which Survives (1/24/1969).

Our podcast for this one was doubled up with the previous episode.


As we near the end of the series I find it difficult to avoid repeating my opinions and observations. The main reason for this is that the flaws in these late episodes become all too familiar.

• Decent, if not amazing ideas; often retreads of earlier stories.
• Questionable writing regarding the regular characters. 
• A general sloppiness and lack of consistency with the pacing and flow of the shows.
• Lower budgets which sometimes result in more so-called "bottle shows" (stories that rely only on the existing shipboard sets)

This time around, we have an episode that seems like more of a throwaway story. The one chance this  episode had at being interesting was the exploration of the people that made this what I assume is an artificial planet. The mystery of this and the obviously immense power of this civilization is mostly summed up at the tail-end of the episode with a few unsatisfying lines of dialogue. A shame, as this might have slightly salvaged the episode or at least softened the blow of how flawed this one is.

The biggest issue is the way the characters behave. Spock and, to a lesser extent, Kirk are dismissive and occasionally sarcastic towards their fellow crew. Spock stands out in this regard; he's really an asshole. There have always been times where Spock would be dismissive or contrary towards others, especially McCoy (this was of course part of the two characters' dynamic) but it appears that the writer here just decided to go whole hog and blow it out of proportion to create additional "drama". Like some other Third Season episodes, when Spock is in command, the other bridge officers feel free to question his commands and decisions. We'd like to think that by this time they'd have a bit more respect for the guy. However, even taking this into account, Spock's dialogue is really a stretch and just feels wrong. 

The scenes back on the planet start out well but the situation quickly becomes ridiculous. While it's nice to have Sulu doing more than sitting at the helm, he's wasted here and becomes a target for Kirk's dismissive putdowns. The whole story begs the obvious question:  if the computer running this outpost has the power to transport the Enterprise light years away, why does it need to resort to sending slow-moving replicas of the last inhabitant to pick off the landing party one by one? The idea of these things being "matched" to the cell structure of each victim is, by itself, a somewhat interesting but is pretty dim when looked at within the story as a whole. The computer goes to similar trouble to get the Enterprise to overload its engines and explode. Why? Did the alien computer need to make someone think this was an accident? As we're given no real explanation or story "rules" by which the people and things of the episode operate, we're left with a head-scratcher. Or the conclusion that the story just wasn't thought through very well. Shows like Star Trek don't need to be 100% realistic (or even close) but to be successful, the stories need to at least make some sort of sense within their own rules. 

My old friend Lee maintains that this is the worst Original Series episode. I am withholding final judgment until we get to the tail-end but I don't anticipate that this one will be on the bottom. Lee's main gripe, if memory serves, is the character issues I addressed above. This is a huge problem for the episode but I will probably spare this one from last place if for no other reason that I enjoy the scenes with Scotty doing his usual "fixing". This line by Scotty, "I'm so close to the flow now it feels like ants crawling all over my body" which was a favorite of my Dad's, saves it for me just a tiny bit: . Oh, and the visual effect of Losira disappearing is still kind of cool.

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Eric gets his shot now:

This is going to be another short review. “That Which Survives” may be the king of meh episodes. In fact, I'm going to coin a new term, “mehpisode,” which, unfortunately, could be applied to many of the third season installments.

So what is there to say? The basic idea, a planetoid that can't exist but does, is reasonable enough, if lackluster. But after the teaser, there are about ten minutes of uninteresting story and forty minutes of annoying filler. The only marginally good things about this episode are the Spock-Scotty interaction (Scotty has some good lines) and the end of the episode where the plight of the Kalandans is revealed. I also will admit that the way Losira kills is effectively creepy and unsettling.

In addition, there was apparently an effort to introduce some elements of mystery by way of the nature of Losira's killing spree and the molecular transport of the Enterprise. And the producers clearly tried to insert tension via the ship being on the verge of exploding. In both cases, however, it comes across as contrived. And lazy.

We talk about this, and other aspects of the episode, in a bit more depth in our podcast, so if you're interested, give it a listen. Otherwise, that's all I have, except that my overall feeling at the end of this episode (besides meh), is the same as my feeling after most of the first through third season episodes of “Enterprise:” So what.

Next time: “The Lights of Zetar”

TOS Rewind #69: "The Mark of Gideon"

Today we tackle The Mark of Gideon (01/17/1969)

We recorded podcast reviews for this episode and the following episode on one recording.


I am going to add this episode to the pile of ones that worked better when I was 12 than it does today. Well, perhaps a little better. I chalk this up to the somewhat effective first act where Kirk has to figure out why he's on an empty Enterprise and that the weird people in body stockings were showing up on the view screen. That and the weird sounds, supposedly of all those people pushing against the walls of the "ship", added up to some decently spooky atmosphere. It's a shame that the rest of the episode doesn't hold up.

The basic idea being explored here is of course quite legitimate. Overpopulation and the sanctity of life are debates we are still having today and I would normally welcome an episode of Trek that addressed this within its universe. Alas, the way this episode plays out is so ridiculous that it's hard to take the concept very seriously. There are far too many plot holes to list here; the main aim of the situation seems to have been to get Kirk alone with Odona mess with his mind. The fact that the planet is advanced enough to recreate the Enterprise enough to fool Kirk makes the whole thing seem even more goofy.

Despite this, I did somewhat enjoy the interactions between Spock and the Gideon leader. The verbal sparring and Spock's obvious irritation at the leader's stonewalling was entertaining. Unfortunately this is somewhat undone by the fact that Spock and the crew come off as somewhat dim when they are so easily fooled by those transporter coordinates. Wait, they don't match!!!!

As Rob has mentioned on our podcasts, this show often loses its way when Kirk and Spock are separated. This episode is a good example of this problem. The usual energy of the Kirk/Spock/McCoy interaction is sorely missing for 90% of the episode's running time. This seemed to happen far too often during this disappointing season. The Odona character doesn't come off as very convincing, partially due to the way she's played. She is so hippy-dippy that we don't really see what Kirk would see in her other than a one night stand...or something like that. We never really get the impression that Kirk would even entertain the idea of staying with her while she takes one for the team.

In the end this episode is pretty dumb even if we see glimmers of something that could have been good if not great. The Season 3 curse continues.

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Eric's turn:

Ah, the first Trek review of 2015. Too bad it has to be for such an awful episode. I never appreciated how stupidly absurd “The Mark of Gideon” is until we did our podcast. Like many other third season episodes, it has a worthwhile message: overpopulation is bad and must be controlled, but the multitude of glaring, ludicrous plot bunders makes it impossible to appreciate that message. It seems like the producers must have been incredibly stupid and/or lazy to let so many blatant errors get through, but Fred Freiberger (third season Executive Producer) is reported to have been satisfied with the end result. I find this incomprehensible. And sad. But I'm not going to waste time pondering the imponderable, so here are what I consider the worst blunders:

• At one point, Ambassador Hodin tells Kirk that the Gideonite sent to negotiate with the Federation learned of Kirk having had Vegan Choriomeningitis. (As opposed to Carnivorous Choriomeningitis?) Seriously? Are we to believe that Starfleet Medical would share the confidential medical files of a starship captain with an applicant for Federation membership?
  
  
• Similarly, the Gideonites would need the construction plans for a Constitution Class starship in order to build an exact replica of the Enterprise. How would they get those plans? It seems like Starfleet would be a bit touchy about keeping such things classified.
  
  
• Assuming the Gideonites could get the plans for a Constitution Class starship, how would they build a convincing replica? They would need the tools, specialized technology, and materials available to the Federation. Given Gideon's plight with overpopulation and extreme lack of space, it seems wildly improbable.
  
  
• Kirk knows every inch of the Enterprise. There is no way the Gideonites could accurately replicate it in the minute, excruciating detail it would take to fool Kirk. He would instantly spot it as a fake.
  
  
• The Gideonites have the scientific expertise to create a detailed replica of the Enterprise, but they can't solve their overpopulation problems?
  
  
• What's with trying to get Kirk and Odonna together. Once they had the pathogen from Kirk's blood, he wasn't needed. What the Kirk-Odonna tryst smacks of is filler. They didn't have enough real story to fill 52 minutes, so they contrived a pathetic sub-plot.
  
  
• Regardless of whether “every organ renews itself” in all Gideonites, they still would have to have food (protein, fats, carbohydrates) as the raw materials for that renewal to happen. If, as Odonna says, every square inch of dry land is occupied, how did they grow and raise food? The oceans? Maybe, but it wouldn't last long. Here on Earth, we're well on our way to depleting the food available from the ocean, and our overpopulation isn't even close to the severity depicted on Gideon.
  
  
• Finally, what may be the worst offense is that the plot (such as it is) hinges on no one noticing the discrepancy between the two sets of coordinates. To begin with, this is the only time in the entire series that coordinates are transmitted verbally, so it's a glaring error in consistency. But what is beyond ludicrous is that nobody (not even Scotty or Spock) notices that there is a difference! 

Anyway, I did find an interesting blurb on the Memory Alpha wiki about Stanley Adams, the actor who co-wrote this episode and played Cyrano Jones in “The Trouble with Tribbles:”

Reportedly, Adams was deeply concerned about the issue of overpopulation and had some casual discussions with Gene Roddenberry, during the production of “The Trouble with Tribbles,” in which he suggested that Star Trek do an episode reflecting that subject matter. This episode is the evident result of those conversations. Adams' writing this episode was influenced by advice from his son. Explained the writer, “My son says, 'Dad, you're in a position to really say something about the overpopulation problem.' He stood over my shoulder while I wrote around the beehive society.”

Both Adams and his son were not, however, pleased with the episode's final form. In hindsight, Adams commented, “[My son] sees the TV version. He says, 'What did they do?!' But they do it to you. When you write for TV, there's an old expression: 'Take the money and run.'”

So there we are. His is probably more commentary than “The Mark of Gideon” deserves.

Next time: “That Which Survives”